He wondered if she was doing the same thing to Coffin. From the way he glared at her when she wasn’t looking and muttered under his breath and clenched and unclenched his hands, Longarm figured she was.
But at least there had been no sign of El Aguila. Sheriff Sanderson was convinced that the bandit leader and his gang were still on the other side of the Rio Grande. As far as Longarm was concerned, they could stay there.
On the evening of his fifth full day in Del Rio, Longarm was strolling back across the street toward the hotel after eating dinner at the Red Top when he heard someone call softly from the mouth of an alley, “Senor Long.”
Longarm stopped, recognizing Sonia’s voice. She went on. “Please, Senor Long, I need you.”
Longarm wasn’t in the habit of walking into dark alleys, no matter how seductive the voice summoning him might be. That was a good way to wind up dead. Instead, he asked in a quiet voice, “What is it, Senorita Guiterrez?”
She came out of the alley mouth then, stepping into the light from a window that fell across the gap in the boardwalk. Longarm could see that she was unarmed.
Well, not exactly unarmed, he thought. The long red skirt and the white peasant blouse she wore concealed the real weapons she carried, but just barely. The neckline of the blouse was scandalously low. She looked like the sort of woman who ought to be in a cantina somewhere, dancing sensuously to the music of a guitarist, rather than the daughter of a wealthy, powerful diplomat.
Longarm walked toward her, still cautious, and she came to meet him. She caught hold of his left hand as she stepped up to him. “Senor Long, you have tormented me enough,” she said.
“Tormented you?” said Longarm. “I figured it was the other way around.”
“No! Day after day I have watched you and felt my need for you growing.” She tugged him toward the alley mouth. “I would have you at last. No longer can I stand the tortures of desire.”
She had a high-flown way of talking, that was for sure. Longarm allowed her to lead him into the alley. Maybe the time had finally come. It took only a moment for his eyes to adjust to the gloom of the alley, and he saw that they were alone.
Sonia came into his arms and lifted her mouth to his. Her kiss was searing as her lips pressed hard to his. Longarm put his arms around her and pulled her against him, feeling the soft cushions of her breasts flatten against his chest. He slid one hand down her back to the swell of her hips and caressed her bottom, squeezing hard on each cheek. She thrust her tongue between his lips, the tip of it fencing with his own.
After a moment, Sonia reached down to caress his manhood through his trousers. She broke the kiss and uttered a small cry of delight at the size of him. “Ah, Senor Long, she sighed, “you will fill me so well!”
“You intend for us to have at it right here in the alley?” Longarm asked her.
“Yes! Take me like you would a puta! That is what I am tonight, Senor Long. I am your whore.”
Well, if that was what she wanted, thought Longarm, he supposed he ought to oblige her. It had been his experience that some women, even fancy ladies, liked to act anything but ladylike on occasion.
“Do it to me standing up,” Sonia hissed as she reached down to hike up her long skirt. In the faint light that filtered into the alley, Longarm could barely see the smooth, straight columns of her bare legs. She spread her legs a little and leaned back against the wall of a building, her skirt up around her hips now so that he could see the thick forest of dark hair at the juncture of her thighs. She closed her eyes as she breathed hard and waited for him to ravish her.
Longarm was ready to do just that. His pole jutted out from his trousers as he undid the buttons. He stepped up between her spread legs and heard her crooning obscenities in Spanish under her breath. “Hard and fast, Senor Long,” she whispered. “Take me hard and fast.”
She was really something, thought Longarm. But he gave her what she wanted—hard and fast.
Her channel was wet and ready for him, and the feminine muscles clasped him in a hot, buttery grip as he filled her. “Yes, yes!” she chanted. Longarm thrust in and out of her, not bothering to try to delay anything this time. She was more than ready. She was, in fact, way ahead of him. He hadn’t stroked into her more than half-a-dozen times when she began to spasm around him. Her hands grabbed his shoulders and hung on tightly as her climax shook her. Longarm kept driving into her, and each time his shaft socketed home, she gave a sharp little cry of passion.
He felt his own climax boiling up with an intensity that was surprising considering the short time he had been inside her. With Sonia Guiterrez, though, time didn’t really mean much. A few minutes with her packed in all the desperate craving that might take an hour with most women. With a grunt of effort, Longarm slammed into her again, almost lifting her off her feet, and began spurting.
Sonia flung her arms around his neck and pulled his head down so that she could kiss him again. Longarm groaned as the last of his climax rippled and swept through him. Even though the lovemaking with Sonia had lasted only a few minutes, it had been every bit as good as Longarm had anticipated.
So good, in fact, that it was a few seconds before he heard the yelling and the gunshots over the pounding of the blood in his head.
But then the sounds penetrated his passion-numbed brain and caused him to jerk around, pulling out of Sonia’s embrace. “What the hell!” Longarm exclaimed.“Senor Long! What-“
The thunder of galloping hoofbeats came from the street. Longarm was already heading in that direction, buttoning up his fly as he hurried toward the sound of trouble. He palmed out his Colt as he came out of the alley mouth and bounded up onto the boardwalk.
Several riders were galloping along the street toward him. Bright orange muzzle flashes split the night, accompanied by the boom of shots. Over the racket, Longarm heard the yells of alarm. “El Aguila! El Aguila!”
“Damn it!” Longarm grated. The outlaw leader had come back after all.
What was he after now, since he had already cleaned out the bank?
Longarm lifted his gun and squeezed off a shot at one of the galloping, shooting raiders. The darkness made for uncertain shooting, and he didn’t think he hit anything. The shot drew the attention of the outlaws, however, and a second later Longarm was forced to dart back into the alley as a hail of owlhoot lead raked across the boardwalk where he had been standing.
“Senor Long!” Sonia screamed from somewhere down the alley, but there was no passion in her voice now, only fear.
“Stay back!” Longarm shouted at her. “Get back in the shadows and stay down!”
El Aguila’s men pounded past the mouth of the alley. Longarm threw himself onto the ground, expecting them to throw more lead in his direction, but something else had already caught their attention and they were shooting at it. As the raiders swept past, Longarm scrambled back to his feet.
If the bandits were following the same pattern as before, they would make several passes through town before fleeing. Enough time had passed since the first raid for the banker to have replaced at least some of the stolen cash with more currency from the reserve bank in San Antonio, Longarm realized. Maybe that was what they were after.
He leaped back onto the boardwalk, hoping that Coffin would have the sense to stay where he was in the hotel and keep the members of the diplomatic parties there too.
Except for Sonia, of course. She had already slipped out of the hotel, so it was too late to do anything except hope that she would lie low until after the raid was over.