Her brow creased in a frown. Maybe a drink would calm her down a little. She nodded. Yes, a drink would help. So would a move to another part of this big house.
Elke slipped out of her sheer pink nightie and tossed it on the bed. She turned toward the dresser, opened the top drawer and selected a white half-bra and matching bikini panties from her multicolored assortment of unmentionables. She dropped the half-bra on the dresser top and shook the skimpy briefs out of their fold. She knifed forward to step into them. She lifted one leg, then the other, and momentarily the elastic waistband was tugged into place around her hips and beneath her pouting navel. She patted her crotch, smiled, reached for the bra. She reversed the half-cups so that she looked as though she had breasts on her back, locked the snaps, then twisted the hammocks around and under her full, cherry-tipped tits. Bra in place, she told her mirror image, "Joe will go off his stick when he sees my titties in this rig."
Sparks of smug satisfaction glinted in Elke's dark eyes as she whirled away from the dresser mirror and crossed over to the spacious walk-in closet. She removed a pair of sand-colored Levis from a white plastic hanger and stepped into them. The pants hugged her hips, thighs and buttocks as though they had been sprayed into place, and she knew without checking that the rim line of her panties was being outlined through them. A smile curved her lips. The too-tight jeans were being worn for Joe Dooley's benefit, for occasionally he enjoyed spanking her without wanting to disrobe her. If the mood hit him tonight, she wanted to be ready… for anything.
"The way I feel right now," Elke murmured as she donned a sweater and gave her pointed breasts an affectionate pat, "it wouldn't take more than two or three whacks across the fanny to make me cream my kitty."
She laughed as she sat down on the edge of the bed to cover her dainty feet with white socks and black Justin walking boots, and she was still laughing when she heard Bruce roar, "I'm coming, I'm coming!"
You're coming, Elke thought as she slipped out of the bedroom, and I'm going.
She picked up a bottle of vodka on her way through the living room and carried it into the barn-sized kitchen. She mixed herself one of Bruce's favorite drinks at the kitchen sink, then carried it over to the table and sat down with a weary sigh. She was getting ready to light a cigarette when she heard the clearing of a throat, and turned to find Trish Asher standing in the doorway, watching her with narrowed eyes.
Elke forced a smile to her lips and asked, "Where's Bruce?"
"In bed," Trish answered as she crossed over to the cabinet above the sink and plucked a glass from the middle shelf. "That last suck job did him in; he was too weak to scratch a match to light my cigarette by the time I drained his tank."
Elke laughed. "I'm not surprised. I didn't expect him to last as long as he did."
Trish went on as though Elke hadn't spoken. "An hour from now he'll probably be pawing the floor again. But for the time being he's had it." She kept chattering while she opened the refrigerator and removed a bottle of champagne. "I'm sorry if we kept you awake, hon."
Elke glared at the naked redhead's beautiful backside and thought, I doubt that, you dirty bitch. I don't think you've ever been sorry for anything or anyone in your entire life.. You've never had the time. You've always been too busy reaching for the old brass ring. Well, I've got news for you, doll. You missed catching it the night Daddy died and got his ass dumped in that well in Lonesome Valley, and when you and that prick partner of yours find the money… you're going to miss it again. Sorry? Don't try to con me, you greedy bitch!
And aloud she said, "That's all right. Maybe Gabe Penner will tranquilize me when he gets back from town."
Trish joined her at the table. She frowned as she glanced at the wall clock. "Damn, it's nearly midnight. Gabe should have been back by now."
Worry clouded her face. "I'd better make a few calls to see if he's all right." The telephone rang before she finished speaking, and without thinking she added, "That's gotta be him."
It was.
"Trish?"
"Yeah, Gabe, it's Trish. What's up?"
"My dander, mostly. I had to call a tow truck for my pickup. Someone sabotaged it."
Trish's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Care to take a wild guess as to who did the job?"
Gabe sucked wind, then said menacingly, "If you're looking for another dumping, that's a good way to get it, puss."
"Sorry."
"Fuck the sorry bit. Just get your ass over here to pick me up, okay?"
"Sure, Gabe. Where will I find you."
"At the bus depot."
"I'll be there in an hour."
"Make it sooner than that."
"I'll try."
"Don't try, do it."
Elke saw the anger that masked Trish's face and asked, "What was that all about?"
"Nothing that concerns you," Trish snapped as she walked out of the kitchen.
Nothing? Elke's lips curved in a sneer. Who does the bitch think she's fooling?
Elke waited until Trish took off for town in that knocked-up roller skate Bruce had bought three summers back from a local lemon peddler who called it a sports car. Then she finished her drink and slipped out her rendezvous with Joe Valley. the back door to keep Dooley at Lonesome
Chapter 10
The night moved around Elke as she picked her way along the narrow path used by steers to reach Axehandle Creek whenever they became thirsty. She had no trouble seeing. The sky overhead was laced with stars and a lopsided, nearly full moon rode low above the treetops. A gentle breeze stirred a nearby stand of cottonwoods, making them whisper like a whore desperate for rent money and causing Elke to smirk at the sound and say aloud, "If everything goes according to plan, Trish Asher will be whispering like those cottonwoods… and for the same reason."
"I always knew you were a goofy broad," Joe Dooley said as he stepped from the shadows of a lone pine and startled her. "How long have you had this habit of talking to yourself?"
"You bastard," Elke hissed on the heel of a nervous laugh. "Did you have to pop out of the shadows and scare me like that?" She made a face. "Jesus, I almost jumped out of my panties!"
The lanky, homely-faced hunting guide who enjoyed rather than suffered from chronic unemployment, trapped her in the circle of his arms and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Sorry about that, little monkey. I thought you saw me coming."
Elke's heart stopped hammering. She mashed her breasts against his lower chest and said, "Your apology is accepted." She looked up at him and frowned. "But I still don't understand what you're doing here. You were supposed to meet me at the cabin."
Dooley grinned boyishly. "So I came to meet you halfway. Blame it on loneliness."
Her hand dropped to find his tool, and soft laughter bubbled out of her throat. "Loneliness, my fanny. Heat drove you out of that hot cabin. Cripes, you're as bad as Bruce and Wellman when it comes to doing the orgy bit." She waited for his laugh. It didn't come. She looked up at him again. "Your cock is ready for action, but you aren't. Why?"
He chucked her under the chin. "You know I don't like doing my stuff on the ground. Come on, let's head for the cabin."
Elke slipped free of his embrace and fell into step beside him. Silence walked with them for a few seconds, then Dooley chased it away by saying, "I saw headlights of a car cut out toward town a few minutes ago. Trish."
"Yes."
"Bruce go with her?"
Elke shook her head. "He was in no condition to go anywhere by the time Gabe Penner phoned for help."
"Drunk?"
"More like a fuck-out funk. Trish screwed and sucked him to sleep." She became serious. "Frankly, I'm worried about Bruce."