Nelly shook her head. “Marshal, you truly are a grand-prize fool.”
Longarm limped around her and went over to the deputy. “Nelly, where’s the cemetery?”
“Yonder,” she said, pointing. “You can’t miss it at the edge of town.”
“Thanks,” he said, “for nothing.”
He tried to pick up Deputy Trout, but his head began to spin and he dropped to one knee.
“Jezus,“Nelly said, “if I get any blood on this new dress, I’ll … I’ll finish what them others didn’t finish with you, Marshal.”
Nelly grabbed Trout by the arms and dragged him over to the back of the medicine wagon. And then, to Longarm’s surprise, she took hold of the man’s pants and the back of his shirt and heaved his body into the wagon as effortlessly as if Trout had been a little sack of potatoes.
“You’re a damn strong woman,” Longarm said. “And a handsome one too.”
“Well,” she said, “you’re a mess.”
“I expect that is so,” he told her as he tried to climb back up into the wagon but couldn’t.
“For crying out loud, Marshal!” Nelly exclaimed. “You need doctoring!”
“Thanks for the advice.”
“You even got a shovel?”
“No.”
Nelly turned around. Harry!” A man appeared in front of a saloon. “Yeah, Nelly?”
“Get a couple of the boys and come help the marshal bury his fool deputy!”
“Yes, Miss Nelly.”
“Now,” she said, “why don’t you do something intelligent for a change and come let me take a look at those bullet wounds before you bleed to death and poor Harry and the boys have to dig two graves.”
Longarm was hanging onto the front wheel, dizzy as could be. He nodded and took a step toward Nelly, but that was when the lights went out and he fell into a deep well of darkness.
Chapter 9
Longarm awoke at mid-afternoon in a sea of pain. For several moments he gazed at the ceiling, and then he tried to sit up, but his ribs were on fire and he lay back with a grunt.
“What’s your hurry?” Nelly asked, coming over to his side. “Marshal, you need to learn the art of relaxation.”
He took a deep breath. “I haven’t got that luxury. You see, I’ve got a prisoner to recapture and some scores to settle with the men who ambushed me and Deputy Trout.”
“If that’s the way you’re thinking, then you also want to die,” Nelly said.
Longarm forced himself into a sitting position. “Maybe so, maybe not, but I damn sure can’t accomplish anything lying here arguing with you.”
“I cleaned and bandaged your wounds,” she said when Longarm’s feet hit the floor and it became clear that he could not be dissuaded from leaving. “But I expect that the next ones won’t need cleaning because you will be dead.”
Longarm climbed unsteadily to his feet. He had been undressed, except for his underclothes, and now, when he reached for his pants and rummaged about in his pocket, he was mildly surprised to discover that he still had cash.
“Ten dollars?”
“Keep it,” she said. “When you get killed, I’ll take your horses and wagon.”
Longarm started to tell the saloon owner that he’d already promised them to the blacksmith, but changed his mind and just nodded. If he was killed, they could haggle it out later between them.
“Where are we?”
“Upstairs in my room above my saloon.”
“Is there a back door from this upper floor that leads down to the alley?”
Nelly smiled. “So, you are thinking about slipping out and avoiding any more trouble. Well, now you’re finally making sense!”
Longarm managed to get his pants on, but failed when he attempted to drag on his boots.
“Here,” she offered, “I’ll help you with those.”
When Nelly leaned over, Longarm could see all the way down her bodice to her belly button. Nelly had exceptional breasts, and Longarm couldn’t help but stare. “You are still a very desirable woman,” he said a little thickly.
She yanked one boot on, then grabbed another. “Men keep telling me that. But I don’t know, I think all they want is just to get me in bed and then have me support them with the income from my saloon.”
“I don’t want a damn thing from you, Nelly,” Longarm said. “Except to say thanks for your help and I hope that I didn’t cause you to lose any business.”
“Naw!” She got his other boot on. “I made a little announcement downstairs to the customers and employees. I told them that this business was finished and that you were a federal marshal and shouldn’t be killed.”
“How was that received?”
“They seemed to agree,” Nelly said. “They realize that killing a United States marshal could bring big trouble to Lone Pine. We don’t want the feds coming here and trying to lay down the law. We like things just the way they are.”
“I gathered as much,” Longarm said. “It’s pretty much the law of the jungle in this hellhole of a town. The biggest, toughest, and quickest rule.”
“Yeah,” Nelly admitted, “that’s about how it works in Lone Pine.”
“And that suits you, I suppose, because you’re big and tough.”
“Tough as boot leather,” Nelly assured him. “I have to be! If I show any weakness, my competitors, even my employees, would skin me out of money or worse.”
“I understand,” Longarm said. “But you have certainly shown me a lot of kindness.”
Nelly looked up, and seemed a little embarrassed by his flattery. “Maybe I have,” she admitted, “but now you’re either about to leave town in a hurry, or someone will finish killing you. Either way, you pose no threat to me, so I can afford to be generous and kind.”
Nelly handed him his shirt, and he was aware of the scent of jasmine in her hair. Longarm glanced down at his bandaged ribs. “Are any broken?”
“I don’t think so,” she said, resting her hand on his bare chest for a moment. “Here, let me help you get that arm into the sleeve.”
Longarm appreciated the help. When he got both arms into his shirt, Nelly pulled it over his shoulders, then placed her hands on his bare chest. “You clean up nice,” she said with a smile. “You clean up real nice.”
Longarm felt Nelly slip her arm around his back. He saw her close her eyes and felt her lips on his mouth. “Nelly,” he whispered, “I’m not up to this.”
“I didn’t take any of your money,” she whispered, “but I never do a service entirely for free.”
He chuckled. “Nelly, you just got through pulling my damn boots on!”
She pushed him back down on the bed and began to undress, her eyes smoky with desire.
“Nelly, I ain’t even up to pulling my boots off.”
“Then leave them on, big boy,” she said, quickly slipping out of her green velvet dress and beginning to unbutton her underclothes.
“Nelly, for crying out loud,” Longarm protested. “My ribs are on fire and this could reopen my wounds and cost me blood.”
“You’ll decide it was a good trade,” she promised, slipping out of the last of her underclothing and then pushing out her magnificent breasts for his admiration. She cupped them both and bent over close to his face. “Like ‘em?”
“Yeah,” he said with a gulp, “but …”
“Then shut up and let me worry about your wounds. I bandaged them once, I can do it again.”
Longarm nodded as she hovered over him like a beautiful beast about to pounce on its prey.
Nelly unbuttoned and pushed down his pants. Her lips parted and she licked them with her tongue as she began to stroke his manhood. “Why don’t we just let the little man down here decide what he wants to do?”
Longarm already knew what his “little man” would do. Moments later, when Nelly’s moist lips touched the “little man’s” bald head, Longarm knew he was a complete goner. He closed his eyes and let Nelly have her way.
“You are good,” he moaned, running his fingers through her thick red mane. “As good as they come.”