Longarm stepped down off the chestnut and handed his reins to Wingate’s orderly.
“Christ, I almost took you for an Indian when you were coming in,” the one-time brevet colonel said, “dressed the way you are.”
Longarm himself had as good as forgotten his rather bizarre costume, which consisted more of items borrowed from Tall Man than his own clothing, still damp from his swim the day before. And of course he had no hat. Dammit. A man accustomed to wearing a hat is unduly annoyed by sunlight in the eyes, and Longarm had been blinking and complaining to himself the whole way down from the agency.
“Here. Go ahead inside,” Wingate said, taking him by the elbow and propelling him through the tent flap into the shade and relative cool within. Longarm stopped dead in his tracks.
“Deputy Marshal Long, I would like you to meet-“
It was the randy, skinny, insatiable blonde with the hot pussy and deep mouth who’d been his traveling companion on the stagecoach north.
“-my wife Amanda,” Wingate concluded.
It was a good thing Longarm didn’t have false teeth. He would have coughed them right out of his mouth and into the dirt if he had.
As it was, he bent double in a fit of wheezing and hacking meant to cover his confusion.
Amanda Wingate, on the other hand, seemed quite thoroughly at ease with the situation of seeing her husband and a recent lover together. But hell, it likely was a situation she’d faced often enough before now, Longarm thought uncharitably.
After all, the woman was the one who’d practically raped him.
And come to think of it, she’d gotten into Deadwood at the exact same time he had, but it had taken her a couple of extra days to make it out here to join her husband. The logical explanation for that was that she’d wanted to see what kind of males she could find to suck dry—and he was thinking of that in the sense of a black widow spider, not as the term sometimes related to the pleasures of sex—before she drove out here to join Captain Wingate.
Longarm managed to regain control of himself, and made a small bow while Wingate completed the formalities of introduction.
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”
“Likewise, I am sure, sir.” Amanda Wingate laughed and fluttered her eyelashes shamelessly.
“I believe you will find, Longarm, that my Amanda has a perfectly devilish sense of humor. She pretends to be the flirt, you see, but she is really the sweetest lamb possible, and I do love her most dearly.”
“Yes, I can see that you do,” Longarm said.
Poor sonuvabitch, he was thinking. It was a good thing a cuckold’s horns weren’t visible, or Wingate would have been wearing a trophy-sized rack on his head.
“You will join us for dinner, sir?” Mrs. Wingate suggested.
“It would be my pleasure, ma’am.”
“Sir?” The orderly, or another just like him, was peering in through the headquarters tent flap.
“What is it, Boatwright?” the commanding officer asked.
“Wagons coming, sir. Should be that load of supplies you’ve been looking for. You said you wanted to know.”
“Excellent,” Wingate said with a smile. “Thank you.”
The orderly saluted, the gesture perfunctory and poorly executed, and withdrew.
“If you two would excuse me,” Wingate said, “I have to see to the unloading and distribution of these supplies.”
Longarm touched his forehead—he wasn’t wearing a hat but had forgotten that small detail at the moment—and hurried out on Wingate’s heels. He suspected it would be a good idea for him to avoid spending any time alone with the lovely Amanda lest she bring up things best forgotten now that she was back in the company of her husband.
Besides, there is always something delightfully fascinating about watching others hard at work.
Chapter 29
Pale moonlight entered the small, low-ceilinged dugout as the green elk hide nailed over the door was pulled aside.
There was light to see by for only a few seconds. Then a body filled the space, and quickly thereafter the elk skin dropped back into place, closing out the moonlight.
Longarm was not startled. Hell, he’d been more or less expecting the visit.
He heard the faint sound of cloth rustling in the silence of the night. He’d heard the same thing before. This time, though, it was not something he’d been looking forward to. If there had been a lock on the door into the dugout, he would have bolted it. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been.
“Go away,” Longarm said, his voice low. “Go back to your husband, Mrs. Wingate.”
“What? No hello kiss, Marshal? And after all we’ve been to each other. Imagine that.”
“Like I said, ma’am. Go back to your husband. I don’t want you here.”
“You wanted me before, though. Didn’t you?”
“An’ I gave you what you wanted too, but that’s past now. Leave it be.”
“But dear, I didn’t know then that I was fucking a real United States marshal. You should have told me. It is so exciting, darling, thinking about all those vicious criminals you’ve brought to justice. Have you ever had to shoot any of them? Tell me what it feels like to kill a man.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had to shoot nobody.”
“Now why is it that I have the feeling you are lying to me, darling?” She laughed, her voice brittle in the night. He felt her come nearer to him, although it was so dark inside the dugout that he could not see her. “Can you believe it, dear? That was one of the reasons why I chose to marry Tom. He looked so dashing in his uniform. So … martial.” She laughed again. “A strange twist, isn’t that? My martial lover has been a huge disappointment. But not my marshal. You were quite good, you know. You know how to please a woman. Poor Tom doesn’t know anything more about women than he does about killing. A store clerk, that’s all Tom is. A dull and dreary little store clerk. And he hardly knows what to do with that pathetic little thing between his legs. Now you, darling, that is a hammer you have. And you know how to use it. It makes me wet just thinking about how it was being with you. Why, you are the best I’ve had in … months and months. Truly you are.”
Longarm felt the touch of her hand. Finding his waist. His crotch. Slipping inside his trousers to cup and tickle his balls and gently squeeze his cock. “So big,” Mrs. Wingate whispered as she continued to stroke him. “I love that, you know. Is it true that in Mexico they put on performances where ponies fuck human whores? Have you ever seen any such thing? Do you know how excited it makes me feel, thinking about having a cock that size rammed into me? Tell me they really do that sort of thing, dear, and I’ll head straight for Mexico when I leave here.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course, dear. I have no secrets from you.” She laughed. “Well, hardly any. And none at all that are important.”
“Why’d you come here now? I mean, you’ve already as good as said your marriage was a mistake. I know good an’ well you don’t lack for mate companionship. So why’d you come here in the first place?”
“But darling, didn’t I tell you? Tommy’s family is very rich. I have to see about my allowance, dear. I need an increase. So I’ll spend a month or so letting Tom paw my body, and then when I have what I need I’ll go down to Mexico and find out if they really do that down there. Tell me, won’t you? Tell me the truth.”
“I don’t know if they do any such a thing,” Longarm lied. “Don’t care neither.” That was certainly the truth.
“Oh, this feels so nice,” she cooed as she stroked and pulled at his erection.
“Go back to your husband, Mrs. Wingate. I don’t want you.”
“You’re lying now, dear. I can feel in this tool of yours that you want me. Your prick wants me, dear, even if you think you don’t. Your prick knows. Always trust your prick, darling. It won’t lead you astray.”
Now there was some sage advice, Longarm thought. Sure. You bet. “Go back to your husband now. Please.”