Sarah smiled faintly. She said, “One who goes around in an old blanket made into a robe? One who carries out your dirty dishes and your slop bucket? That seems like a lady to you?”
He was still trying to get his feet under him. He had stood up the moment she had come into the room. Now he clutched the sheet tighter around himself and said, “No, no, no. It’s not that. It’s just … I don’t know how to say it, Sarah. You seem so dispirited, as if you had given up on everything. I could no more grab you and stab you than … well … I could see myself courting you, if you can understand that.”
She said, “Well, I’m all you get. When Richard set off, he left orders that if you asked for a woman, it was to be me. So you either use me or do without. That’s all I can say.”
Longarm said, “Richard? Who’s Richard?”
She smiled her faint smile. She said, “The one you call Mr. Brown. The boss. The big honcho. The one whose word is law. The maniac.”
Longarm looked at her closely. He had noticed the bitterness that had crept into her voice as she talked about the man. He said, “You sound as if you know him mighty well.”
“I do.”
“Then why don’t you tell me about him?”
She shook her head violently. She said, “No, thank you. This isn’t much of a life, but at least it’s better than being dead.” She lifted her head and looked at Longarm. “What should we do? You’ll give me great embarrassment if you send me away now.”
Longarm sat back down on the bed. He said miserably, “Hell, I don’t know what to do. What can I say?”
She said, almost smiling, “For one thing, you can tell me why you are wearing a sheet like a Roman senator.”
Longarm said, “Well, I ain’t never seen a Roman senator, but I’m wearing the sheet because I’ve just had a bath and my clothes aren’t all that clean. I didn’t figure to put them back on once I was slicked up for the lady that was coming to see me.”
“I’ve never seen one either, only in drawings, But they wear something called a toga, which is the way you’re wearing that sheet.”
Longarm laughed slightly. As he did he realized that it was perhaps the first time he’d laughed in several days. He said, “Well, I guess it’s fitting then, if I recall what little I learned in my schooling about those Romans. They were always shutting one another up or else stabbing them with knives.”
She said, “We can’t go on talking about Roman senators. Can’t you change your mind about me?”
Longarm said, “I don’t know. You just took me so by surprise.”
“Maybe this will help,” she said. She took two steps closer to him and then untied the light robe and let it slip from her shoulders.
Longarm drew a soft, deep breath in spite of himself. The lamp light flickered off her pink and white body. She had exactly the kind of figure he liked. She was small-boned and much smaller naked than she had appeared in the bulky outfits she had been wearing. She had large breasts with big brownish-red nipples. The pubic hair that began at the vee of her legs was a curly light brown. He looked her over carefully from her straight legs to the little mound of her stomach up to her breasts and then up to her slim neck to her generous mouth and her wide, blue-gray eyes. Her hair was loose, framing her face, falling just below her shoulders.
He said huskily, feeling himself stir inside, “Why don’t we get up here on this bed and lie by each other and see what happens.”
Without a Word she crawled up on the foot of the bed and then made her way to the headboard, then turned over and lay on her back. Her eyes were fastened on the ceiling.
Longarm shrugged his way out of the sheet and then climbed up on the bed. He lay on his left side, looking down at her, his eyes still full of admiration. He said, with that husky tone he always got in his voice, “I don’t know if anybody’s ever told you, but you are one damned good-looking woman.”
She said in almost a monotone, “I’ve heard it before but it’s been so long, I’ve forgotten.”
Longarm said, “You’re not helping anything by laying there like a sacrificial lamb.” He tried to make it funny but it didn’t come out that way.
“I can’t help it. It’s been so long, I don’t know if there’s anything left in me.” She turned her head toward him. “I want you to understand that I am glad this happened. I’m glad Richard did this. He thinks he is punishing me more, but he’s not. This is a chance for me, a chance with a good man like you. I was getting so desperate, I was thinking about approaching one of the Mexicans. But then you Were here and I heard them talking about a woman for you. I had hoped it would be me, but now that I’m here, I’m not sure what to do anymore. You’ll have to help me.”
Longarm sighed. He said, “Well, there’s the rub, lady. I’m of two minds about this myself. I’m not sure I know how to go about stirring you up. My own fire hasn’t completely been lit and I don’t know where your coals are so that I can blow on them.”
Now an almost pleading tone came into her voice. She said, “Just do it. Perhaps I will feel something and it will all come back to me. You must know that I haven’t felt anything for a long, long time. I don’t even feel like a woman anymore. I feel like this is my last chance and I’m asking you to please help me.”
Longarm’s mind was still confused, but it seemed that he had no choice in the matter. He leaned over and kissed her on the mouth. Her lips were thin and dry. He pulled back. He said softly, “Sarah, you’re going to have to loosen up more than this.”
She said, “I’ll try but I’m very nervous.”
Longarm leaned over again, this time slowly forcing her lips apart, completing the kiss. He held it for a good half moment, feeling her slowly starting to respond. After that, he began kissing her on the neck and then down her front toward her breasts. He had his right hand on her side. He felt the tremble run through her as he took her nipple into his mouth. He worked it with his tongue, feeling it grow hard under his caress. Now her lips had parted slightly and he could hear her breathing increase.
He took her small hand, surprisingly smooth in spite of the work she was forced to do, and put it on his penis. Almost involuntarily she began to stroke him. He could feel desire rising.
She said, “Please do it. Do it now. I’m so afraid of what I might miss if you don’t hurry.”
He wanted to tell her that she wasn’t ready yet and he wanted to tell her that he wasn’t ready yet, but he guessed that she wanted to practice. He thought he would do the best he could. He got up on his knees and carefully worked his way over her legs, slowly spreading them in the process. Then he leaned down on her and guided himself into her vagina. She was dry and it was difficult to penetrate. At one point, she let out a half-muffled scream and he could tell that it had hurt her. He worked slower, trying to get an arousal, trying to get her juices flowing. Finally, he was in her but still she lay inert making no move to participate. His mouth was next to her ears. He whispered, “Sarah, put your arms around me and raise up and lock your legs around my hips.” She did it in a mechanical fashion.
If it had not been so long, he doubted that he could have accomplished his part. As it was, he had to conjure up visions in his mind of Molly Coy and the acrobatic dressmaker back in Denver. But finally, his natural healthy appetite took over and he began to stroke himself into her with greater vigor and deeper thrusts. He could feel her becoming moist as he worked. He took his mouth from her ear and clamped it onto hers, forcing her mouth to open and her tongue to come out. He grasped her tightly with his strong arms and he could feel her arms pulling at his neck. But the good feeling lasted all too short. He had too much pent-up sex in him to have prolonged the pleasure. All of a sudden, he exploded inside her, raised up and let out a moan as he ejaculated. He could feel her rotating her hips trying to help him, but it was just a fleeting thought in the midst of the tumbling myriad of flashing lights and noises that were going on in his head.