Chapter 7
THIS THIRD VISITATION HAD HARDLY TAKEN ITS gradual departure when a fourth seized her, with Jeff never pausing or faltering, but continuing his measured tempo-back and forth, back and forth.
Each time the visitation" made itself known to her he could feel her clutching at him from within and he noticed, before long, that the series of clutchings were evincing their presence more and more frequently. For a spell he wondered about this. He had never before known a partner to cross the divide so often, and they had been on the big bed for well over half an hour when he realized that Charity Breeden was experiencing one of those rare phenomena of nature-the continuous sexual climax.
Back in Boston, a friend attending medical school had tried to explain this to him, but at that time he had thought the friend was trying to pull his leg. Now he knew better. The girl beneath him was proof of it.
For now there was no let-up in the clutchings from within. They were a continuous thing which afforded him the most delightful sensation. Readjusting his position to a more comfortable one, he settled himself for a long session. Charity-was absolutely motionless now, and with her eyes closed and her lips parted, breathing somewhat heavily but saying nothing.
Jive minutes passed, and because of the delightful massaging she was offering from within, once more the dam inside him ruptured and the roaring thunder gushed from him, clenching his teeth and changing his rhythm from its measured pace to one of erratic starts and jerks. Though he never ceased it altogether, and when he recovered his normal breathing he returned to his smooth, measured tempo. This he continued for another several minutes, with the big dam inside gathering to burst once more from the delicious massaging afforded by Charity from within, when he spoke to her in endearing terms. When she failed to answer, he spoke again. When she again did not answer he stopped the action and lay looking down at her face a couple of inches away.
"Are you all right?" he queried quietly. When she still gave no hint that she heard,' it slowly dawned upon him that her need had been so great that the repeated attacks of the visitation of supreme rapture had gently pushed her into unconsciousness. Even when he withdrew completely, straightened her on the bed and stretched out beside her she made no move, save from breathing. After studying her nude young loveliness for a spell, he relaxed on the bed, and because he had been up most of the night with Susan Crowder and because he was a healthy young animal, he soon drifted off to sleep.
At midday he was awakened, wonderfully refreshed, by the lilting sounds of Charity's joyous singing from the kitchen. She must have sensed his awakening, for he had barely erased the dregs of sleep from his mind when she entered the bedroom. Her lovely face lit to a warm glow when she saw he was awake. She wore nothing but a small apron around her tiny waist and as she sat down on the bed her ripe young breasts jogged comfortably together.
"Hello, Jeffery," she whispered softly, leaning over to plant her full lips on his, a radiant smile on her face. "Did you sleep well?" she continued, when the kiss was over.
"Very well," he replied, his lips burning from hers' and desire moving sluggishly in his lower belly at sight of her dressed only in the apron. "Yes. I slept very well. And you?"
"I passed out from your-treatment, Doctor Hudson," she giggled suddenly, hugging herself deliciously. "Nothing so wonderful has ever happened to me before." Then a deep blush crept slowly up over her neck and spread over her face. "You think I ort to feel like a hussy for runnin' around naked like this?"
"You're not naked," he chuckled. "You've got the apron on. And besides, I'm naked."
"Mmm," she murmured, bending down to kiss him just above the navel. "Ain't it the very truth? I run around naked in the house a lot when I'm here by myself. Are you hungry? I've been cookin' while you slept."
"And what have you been cooking while I slept?" he asked, pulling her down to him and taking one of the nipples of her plump breasts in his mouth.
"John-John-Johnny cake and ven-ven-venison stew," she gasped raggedly. "But if you keep that up, Jeff Hudson, it'll never get et."
"Are you sure?" he grinned up at her.
"Real sure." Then her blue eyes grew large as she looked at him in wonder. "Jiggers," she marveled. "What a real he-man."
"A real he-man who right now is interested in Johnny cake and venison stew." he said, still grinning
"Humph," she said with a toss of her head. "I've got somethin' better than venison stew." A slow smile spread over her pretty features. "Ain't I?"
"You have," he assured her. "But after the workout we had I've got to get something in my stomach. I had a big breakfast, but I've done a lot in between. And besides," and here he cut his eyes sideways at her as he swung his feet over the side of the bed, "I've given my word I'll find Bonnie O'Brian and bring her back."
"And I've given my word I won't tell where she is," Charity said.
"Then you do know where she is?" He rose from the bed and began drawing on his clothes.
"I know," she said, lowering his eyes to look at her hands in her lap. "And I suppose you will too, before long. What makes you want to force her to return to Bully Crowder? All he wants to do is get her in bed."
"I don't really want to take her back to him. I don't believe in the bond-servant system, but I've given my word."
"Jeff!" Charity got to her feet and stood close to him, her eyes shining with excitement, "did you tell Bully when you'd bring Bonnie back if you found her?"
"What are you getting at?" he smiled, wondering what she had in mind. From her sparkling eyes he knew she had thought of something.
"Well," she said, still excitedly, "when you locate Bonnie, and I reckon you will before long, you don't have to return her to Bully right then, do you?" She stopped, her blue eyes studying his face intently. "I mean, can't you take her back next week or next month? Or even next year? As long as you take her back, you'll be keepin' your word. Won't you?"
For a long moment he stood looking down at her as she stood there clad only in the little apron, her ripe breasts, and most of the rest of her for that matter, exposed to his view. "I see what you mean," he fold her slowly, a gladness welling up in his chest. Then his mind made the decision for him and his lips pronounced the words. After all, it was a way out of a bad bargain he had regretted from almost the moment he had made it. "I see what you mean," he repeated. "Why did Bonnie run away?"
"Because she wants to be her own woman for a spell. She just wants to get away from Bully for a while and think things out. To get her head back on straight, is the way she puts it. Bein' a bond servant ain't easy for a person like Bonnie, who's always been free and her own boss."
"Then if you see her before I do," Jeff said, resolutely, "ask her if returning by the end of the summer is too soon."
"Oh, Jeff!" With this, Charity raised quickly on her toes and threw her soft arms around his neck, drawing his face down to hers. It was along and tender kiss, but with fire smoldering underneath. "I think you're wonderful. Will you be comin' back soon? I mean-you are aimin' to leave, ain't you?"
"After you feed me I am," he chuckled happily, greatly relieved that the problem created by Bully Crowder had been solved. "And if you don't do that real soon, we might never make it to the table."
"Ain't that the truth?" she snickered gleefully as she took his hand and turned toward the door. "But if you don't come back soon I'll come lookin' for you." She glanced over her shoulder as they entered the kitchen. "Do you understand?"
"I'll be back," he said, thwacking her playfully on her bare buttocks, "and that's a promise. I'll be back soon. Just see that you're dressed in nothing but the apron when I return."
"Law' me," she smiled happily as he seated himself at the table. "What with Mandy Hanks tellin' everybody that I'm havin' fits, and maybe even got the plague why, there won't be anybody even near this place."
After the meal, Charity watched disconsolately when Jeff gathered his rifle and gear from where they had been deposited against the wall on his arrival. She stood in the center of the main room of the cabin, still wearing nothing but the little apron, a sadness in her blue eyes he had not seen before.
"You ain't comin' back," she said contritely, her eyes lowered, her fingers working nervously at the hem of her single garment. "You're aimin' to go back to that cabin of yours, with all them wild Indian girls, and you ain't comin' back."
"I'll be back," he promised, placing an arm about her shoulders, drawing her close. "Truth is, I don't want to leave-but I've got to cook up a story for Bully Crowder that he'll believe. And as far as me returning to my cabin-well, I just might stop by a certain cabin on the way to mine and ask a certain blue-eyed, blonde haired girl to go with me. That is, if she doesn't mind sharing me with a couple of wild Indian girls." He intended this as a joke, for he had never touched a one of the young Indians for fear of endangering his friendship with Chief Wild Hawk, though Wild Hawk made no secret of the fact that he would be pleased if Jeff took his daughter, whose name was Naomee, off his hands.
"I wouldn't mind sharin' you, Jeff," Charity said honestly and solemnly. "A healthy young man like you needs several women to keep his head on straight." Then a gladsome smile blossomed over her soft features. "You really mean it, don't you? About askin' me to go with you, I mean."
He nodded, watching her closely. "And what would your answer be?"
"I'd go," she said promptly, happily, the smile spreading. "Just you see if I don't."
He left her then, after a dozen feverish kisses which almost decided him to remain, with the invader bucking rebelliously against the confining material of his trousers and his desire lurching sluggishly in his belly. Nor was it absolutely necessary for him to leave. He knew this. But the germ of an idea had started growing in the back of his mind and he wanted to think on it alone, out in the forest where a man's thoughts had full play without the hampering customs of civilization.
The idea was this: Why not take Charity Breeden and Susan Crowder both with him to his cabin? It was so far back in the wilderness in Indian country no white-settlers ever ventured there, and Chief Wild Hawk had given strict orders, since peace had been established with the whites, that none of them were to molest him in any way. The idea of sharing his cabin with both Charity and Susan fascinated him, yet there were certain aspects which had to be carefully thought out, with the most important one: Would each of these lovely young women feel content in sharing him with the other?
Yet both of them had told him the same thing, and practically in the same words-that a healthy young man needed more than one woman to meet his requirements. Still, it was a matter which needed more thought.
Now, when Jeff left Charity's cabin he had headed straight for the deep woods across the rutted road leading into Franklin, and without him consciously directing his footsteps he soon realized he was heading away from the settlement. He had no objections to this path, for it took him deeper into the wild forest where he felt more at home, more content, than he did in the stuffy, crowded atmosphere of the settlement. Soon he crossed the small river where he and Susan had last night spent such delightful hours, stepping on the stones projecting above the surface of a small shoal, and turned west around the toe of a high ridge which separated the settlement of Franklin from the wilderness proper. It was then he knew he had unconsciously headed in the direction of a secret pool where he frequently bathed on his way into town.
The pool itself was much like Susan's of the night before, though hardly as big. The sparkling, crystal clear water reached hardly to his chin and the bottom was of sand. He topped the ridge above the pool with long strides and headed down noiselessly, as was his nature to move in the woods, and had reached the base of the ridge fifty yards from the pool itself when he stopped suddenly, his mouth open for better hearing, his ears atuned to the sounds of. the forest. He remained motionless beside the trunk of a giant spruce for several seconds, listening intently. Yes! There they were again! Someone was splashing about in his private, secret bathing place!
Using extreme caution after checking the flint of his rifle he moved silently, but as a swift shadow moves, through the underbrush toward the source of the sounds. A few yeards from the water's edge, in the heaviest underbrush on this side of the small river, he came across a tidy heap of feminine garments. Immediately he recognized the large, checkered apron. Already once this day he had seen it. Yet the person in the pool simply could not be whom he suddenly suspected. He crept closer for a better look. It was.
Prudence Goodbody!
The settlement's one and only insatiable man-teaser was bathing in his pool-stark naked and at least two miles from the nearest cabin. For a full minute he stared, dumbfounded, his head above the underbrush, then he quickly withdrew to where her clothes were neatly piled. For only a moment did he hesitate, then he began to shed his own, tossing them in a heap near hers.
On a number of occasions in the past, when he had been in the settlement buying supplies, such as salt, nails and other items not provided by the forest, he had encountered Prudence Goodbody, and on their very first meeting she had flirted with him outrageously and in a manner no respectable frontier wife would. At least not in the presence of others. Following their first encounter Jeff had been wildly elated and wallowed in a glory of anticipation, envisioning a secret rendezvous frought with tender caresses and burning kisses. Later that same day he overheard a casual conversation between two men at; the tavern in Franklin which somewhat deflated his-'dreams and inserted a measure of caution into his .next move in Prudence Goodbody's direction.
Without saying so outright, Prudence had implied that he. should drop by her cabin after sundown but Jeff, enjoying a full measure of male ego where females were concerned, had no desire to make his call and be rebuffed. And this is exactly what would happen, if he was to believe the conversation he had innocently overheard. The conversation informed him in no uncertain terms that Prudence was nothing more than a tease.
So Jeff had not waited until after sundown. Late that same afternoon he had casually happened by the Goodbody cabin while Prudence was working among some flowers in the yard. Even though the cabin was .situated so that none of the neighbors could see them, even-,, if they had gone inside, after a first warm greeting, Prudence had become frigid and haughty in her manner and finally asked him to please take his leave.