Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] (33 page)

“I don’t want to miss out on the fun.”

“Yo’re wantin’ to watch me screw his bitch? Is that it?”

“You mess with that snooty bitch that way, and I’ll cut your pecker off with a dull knife.” She grabbed his crotch, squeezing so hard that he winced. “This is mine.”

Homer laughed with delight. “I’d kiss ya, but two fellows are comin’ this way on horseback, and I don’t want to draw their attention by kissin’ a
boy
.”

“I could take off the cap.”

“Ya leave it on till we get outta here.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll beat yore ass.”

“Try it, you’ll have a fight on your hands.”

Homer laughed and squeezed her cheek between his thumb and forefinger.

“Shucks. Yo’re more fun than pinnin’ the tail on the donkey at a kids’ party. We’re goin’ to have to have us one of them fights soon, but not tonight, little pussy. I got to think of how I’m goin’ to get even with that cowboy.”

“Is that all you think about?”

“No. I’m thinkin’ how we can get the money off that fool that let ya get away from him.”

Chapter 25

B
RADY CARRIED ANNA MARIE
to the back of the truck and waited for Margie to climb inside, then lifted the child to her waiting arms. She laid her on her bunk and took off her moccasins. It was so dark that she had to feel her way around, but she managed to take off Anna Marie’s dress and slip the nightgown over her head. She was very aware that Brady stood at the end of the truck.

“It’s going to be hot in there tonight.” His low voice came out of the darkness.

“I won’t cover her.”

“Are you going to come out for a while?”

“I … hadn’t planned on it. You’d better get some sleep before you take your watch.”

“I’ve got a while. I’m taking the two-to-four.”

“Wake me and I’ll sit with you.”

“No. I don’t want you out of the truck at that time of night.”

“But you’re wanting me out now.”

“For purely selfish reasons. I want to be with you for a little while.” She couldn’t be sure, but she thought he grinned.

“You were with me all day. I’d think you’d be sick of my company by now.”

“Are you sick of mine?” He reached for her and lifted her down, but kept her close to him.

She said nothing because she knew that she couldn’t tell him that this was one of the happiest times in her life, that she had stored up memories to bring out and replay over in her mind when they were no longer together.

“Are you afraid that I’ll be rough with you again?”

She tried to pull away from him, but he locked his hands behind her and refused to let her go. “I’m not afraid of that. I realize that what happened that night was as much my fault as yours.”

“How so?” His hands moved to slide up and down her arms. When she didn’t answer, he said, “Why do you think it was as much your fault as mine?”

“Well.” She licked her lips and wondered where to put her hands. Finally she put them on the arms holding her. “I was easy. You said there was no harm in a few casual kisses, and I just let myself—”

“They were not as casual as I led you to believe.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry I made such a to-do over it. I was just … overstrung. Elmer had rattled me by saying what he did.”

“I’ve never done such a rotten thing in my life. Our parents raised us to be respectful of women. I want you to know that I’m sorry.”

“Let’s agree to forget it. We have no future together. At the end of this trip, maybe even when we reach Albuquerque, you’ll go your way and I’ll go mine. I don’t want to do anything during this short time that I’ll regret.”

“Like what?”

“Like becoming too fond of Anna Marie and … you.”

“Is there a danger of that?”

“Of course. Anna Marie is a darling little girl. If I had the means to take care of her, I’d take her in a minute and love her as my own.”

Brady wanted to know badly if she could love him too, but feared to ask the question. When he hesitated, she rushed into speech.

“You’ve got your ranch to go to. I’ve got the sights of Hollywood to see and—”

“I thought you were not so sure about that anymore.”

“Well, heck. What else is there for a girl to do?” She tried to keep her voice light.

“You could come and make a home with me and Anna Marie.”

Damn his heart for beating so fast and making him feel so inept.
Without realizing it, his hands were pulling her closer. This feeling of being totally alive when he was with her, even butting heads with her, and seeing her face behind his closed eyelids was so damn new. Yet here he was asking this lovely, sweet girl to turn her life over to a man that she scarcely knew. It was only natural that she would have some misgivings.

The air in her lungs refused to come out. When it finally did, her voice came in a quivering whisper.

“What does the job pay?” She refused to believe that he was offering any more than a job.

“There won’t be much money involved. It will be years before we do more than just make a living.” His voice was husky. His hands moved up to her shoulders. “But I can guarantee you a lifetime of … devotion. I’ll bust my butt to take care of you.” He rushed on before she could say anything. “It would not be the kind of life you see in the movies. My house on the ranch is just a rough cabin right now, but it’s tight and warm and we’d have plenty of beef to eat.”

Margie felt the wild hammering of her pulse as she looked up into his dark face. Her heart was beating in a strange and disturbing way as she struggled to get sufficient air into her lungs. His hands had moved from her shoulders down over her arms. He was waiting for her to speak.
He had not said, “Marry me, I love you.” He had offered devotion, food and shelter.

“Is this so you won’t have to leave Anna Marie with Opal?” She asked the question even as she thought it.

“It’s true that I don’t want to leave my brother’s child with a stranger, but I’m not asking you to share my life just for that, although I know you would be a much better mother to her than the one she had. And it would please Brian to know that his little girl was with someone who loved her.” He hesitated. His throat worked as he swallowed repeatedly. When he continued, his voice was hoarse. “He asked me to take care of her. I just didn’t see how I could do it alone. I planned to send money to her aunt for her keep.”

There was a long moment of silence, dominated by the pounding of their hearts. She stood with her head bowed, her forehead a whisker away from his shoulder. A thin thread of panic ran through her. Was she getting in too deeply too fast? Was she setting herself up for living a lifetime with a man who only wanted her to provide a home for him and his niece? It was not the loving relationship she had dreamed about.

When she spoke, it was so softly that he couldn’t hear. He lifted her chin with the tips of his fingers.

“What did you say, honey?”

“I said, can I think about it?”

“If you have to think about it, it means that you’re not sure that you want to take on the two of us.” He looked down into her upturned face and slowly shook his head. “You said that you’d take Anna Marie if you had the means to take care of her. I’m offering you the means. But in order to have her, you’ll have to put up with me. Is that what you have to think about?” There was huskiness in his voice as if this was terribly important to him.

“No, that isn’t what I have to think about.” His words had ignited a spark of anger in her, and she spoke sharply. “I have to decide how having a sweet little girl who, if I’m lucky, will someday think of me as her mother compares against living my life with a man who
someday
may fall in love with a woman and leave me to fend for myself.” By the time she finished speaking, tears were rolling from her eyes and she was terribly ashamed of them.

“Ah … honey, this can’t be easy for you.” There was genuine regret in his voice. “Why are you thinking that?” His hands moved to her back and pulled her up against him. The bristles on his chin caught on her hair. Her palms flattened on his chest in an attempt to hold herself away from him.

The intensity with which he longed to make her his was causing his heart to jump out of rhythm. He was sure that he had found the woman who was meant for him. He loved to look at her, to talk to her, to be with her. She had responded to his kisses. He was confident that if she didn’t care for him now, she was on the verge of it. She was just confused because things were happening too fast. He had to convince her that they were meant to be together.

“Sweetheart, remember me telling you that my mother said God made a certain woman for a certain man? I’m convinced that you’re the woman he made for me. I feel it in my heart, in my bones.”

“You never said anything about—you said come make a home with you and Anna Marie.”

“I’d not ask you to come with me, share my life, if I didn’t care deeply for you.”

“I thought you wanted to hire me to take care of Anna Marie—”

“And then I’d fall in love with another woman and leave you?” he finished for her.

“Something like that. I’ve not known of many truly happy couples except in the movies.”

“My mother and father were in love until the day they died. Look at Alvin and Grace. She’s the light of his life. I’m sure she feels the same. Are you thinking of my brother and Becky?”

“And Elmer and Mr. Luker and any number of people back home who practically hated each other but stayed together either because they had kids or she had no place to go.” Soft brown eyes looked pleadingly into his. “I’ve got to be very careful that when I give my heart, it’s to a man who loves me as much as I love him.”

“Honey, I understand that. All of this has happened too fast for you. I can wait for you to think about it.” He folded her gently in his arms. “Sweetheart, you’re a treasure, a prize at the end of the rainbow. I want to kiss you, but I haven’t shaved and I may scratch your face.”

“You never let that stop you before,” she said on a breath of a whisper.

With a swift look into her face he lifted her chin and fitted his lips to hers. He kissed her as openly and as intimately as a man could kiss a woman. Margie’s arm moved up, and her hand caressed his nape. She had never felt anything like the sensual enjoyment she was feeling now.

When he lifted his head, he looked down at the pale, luminous oval of her face. His face was creased with smiles.

O Lord, he is so handsome, so sweet. Thank you, God, for letting me come on this trip and meet him!

“Your eyes glow in the dark. Did you know that?” The softly murmured words sent tremors of joy through her.

He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. It was over too quickly for both of them. He lifted both her arms to encircle his neck, and his arms closed around her. There was no haste in the kiss this time. It was slow and deliberate. He took his time, with closed eyes and pounding heart. He held her so close against him that she could feel the hard bones and muscles of his body. His hoarse, ragged breathing accompanied the thunder of his heartbeat against her breasts.

With a sigh Margie gave herself up to the pure joy of kissing and being kissed, to the thrill of wanting and being wanted. She offered herself willingly. Her mouth opened under gentle pressure, yielding, molding itself to the shape of his.

He lifted his head. Hungrily his eyes slid over her upturned face. Their breaths mingled for an instant before he covered her mouth again. When next he lifted his head, he pressed his cheek to hers.

“Ah … sweetheart,” he murmured, his hand stroking the nape of her neck. “I’m never going to get enough of kissing you.” Slowly he moved his head until his lips touched hers again as if, having tasted them, he couldn’t stay away. His kiss deepened, and he dropped his hand from her nape to wrap her tightly in his arms, driven by passion, sparked by the touch of her tongue on his lower lip. He wanted it to go on and on but knew it had to end.

She became conscious of his hand stroking her back and his low voice speaking in her ear. “I’ll be careful with you, darlin’ girl. I want more, much more, than your sweet kisses. But I can wait until you’re ready to give it to me.”

She tugged on his hand and lifted his knuckles to her lips. They had spoken no words of love, but something wonderful throbbed between them. He pressed her head to his shoulder, and they stood close together, he leaning against the truck and she against him, in companionable silence and sweet intimacy.

Glancing skyward, Brady was jarred out of his contentment when he glimpsed flashes of lightning.

“We may get a rain.”

“Where will you go?”

“In the car.”

“I don’t like to think of you out in the rain. You could get in the truck.”

“It would be a mite crowded, honey.”

Honey. Sweetheart.
Margie closed her eyes and prayed that this was real, that she wouldn’t wake up and find that she had been dreaming.

“Being in this bunk reminds me of when we were first married.” Grace giggled softly. “Remember that little half-bed we slept on that first year?”

“Sure do,” Alvin whispered. “Some of my happiest hours were spent on that little half-bed.”

“We broke the bed slats one night, and the old man downstairs came up and pounded on the door—”

“And I had a heck of a time getting untangled from the bedsheets and climbing over the bed rail to get to the door.”

“We were silly happy and didn’t have a dime.”

“I’m still silly happy when I’m with you, love.”

“Almost twenty-five years. I can’t believe the time has gone so fast.” She kissed him on the chin. “And you’re just as randy as you were back then.”

He chuckled soundlessly. “Not quite, love.”

“Randy enough for me,” she whispered.

“I’m glad. I was afraid you were going to trade me in for a new model.”

“You were not. You know that no one would put up with me but you.” She nestled her face in the curve of his neck. “Alvin? Rusty is so happy. I think he’s in love with Mona.”

“Puppy love, honey. I was about his age when I fell in love with you.”

“She’s the first girl he’s spent much time with.”