Emerald City

Author: Crystal Goddess
Category: hetero fiction
Archive: Yes
Summary: ALIAS SMITH & JONES -Alternate beginning to The Great Shell Game. Curry chooses another path out of Hidalgo that leads him down the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. The boys discover if any woman can come between them & how much their lives are worth.
Characters: Kid Curry/OFC, Hannibal Heyes
Rating: FRAO, NC-17
Warnings: Graphic sex, humor
Feedback: If you know what’s good for you.
Chapters: 7
Disclaimer: boys aren’t mine, blah blah blah, not for profit, blah blah blah, just like to play with them, blah blah blah sue away sparky.


Hidalgo, Mexico is where one man died. Hidalgo, Mexico is where another started to live again. It’s a long story; but I’ve got the time if you do.

I rode hard for nearly a week carrying a document and a promise of fifty dollars gold on delivery. ‘ No sense in both of us eating dust’, Heyes had said. So, he stayed behind in El Paso. In a hotel with poker, whiskey and food. When I made it, the address wasn’t there. I mean gone. Now how on earth could a building just git up and go? I was turnin’ this over on my head when a pretty American woman pointed out that my horse could now be counted as missing. She was right. When I turned back around, she was missing too. I mean gone. I was hungry, tired and this side of mean. I had no money and six inches of dust down my throat. No hotel, no poker, no whiskey, no food. I actually eyed the local bank seriously. I knew I couldn’t pull one of the easier cons Heyes had taught me for a few dollars. Heyes had taught them to me in English not Spanish. I will certainly mention Heyes’ lack of foresight at my first opportunity. I walked into the saloon and ordered a beer, that much Spanish I did know. And I didn’t care how I was going to pay for it. What could it be? A night in jail, hell I was tired, so that could work out. That was the best beer I ever tasted.

I noticed over in the corner, the pretty American woman I had seen on the street earlier. I decided to go over and see if there was anything she could remember about the man who took my horse.

“ It’s not, cowboy.” Came a soft voice from next to me. I hadn’t even noticed anyone that close to me, I must be slipping. The silver rimmed hat rose up to uncover a woman’s face with the greenest eyes I had ever seen. It was darn near unnatural. Her black hair was braided and pulled over her shoulder to the front and came to rest near the buckle of a gunbelt.

“ Not what?” I just couldn’t help my self from asking.

“ The best beer you’ve ever tasted. If you look closely, there are little things floating in it; and I didn’t notice the barkeep wash the glass after the last customer used it. I wouldn’t even drink that if I were you. You’ve just found a cantina with undrinkable beer. Pretty sad, isn’t it?”

That’s it; I was through with the beer.
“ Thank you so much,” I said sarcastically.

I noticed the pretty lady in the corner and I could swear she was trying to catch my eye. Her dinner caught my eye. My stomach was pretty sure my throat had been cut. I tipped my hat to the lady at the bar and walked over to the table where she sat. It wasn’t long before I joined her and her dinner.

His silver rimmed hat rose up to uncover the bluest eyes she had ever seen. That is how I had first seen him. Standing tall in the middle of the street. I knew he was in trouble, but he didn’t show it. Cowboys didn’t. And that he was, born and bred. Covered in dust and sweat, he was still a magnificent sight to behold. Sex in a gunbelt.

I had seen the other American lady here for the past couple of days also. I’m here to bury my father; you’re here to bury someone alive. I just know things sometimes. It would come and go. I couldn’t count on it, but I had learned when to trust it.

Curry couldn’t help but steal glances back at the lady at the bar, now with her back to it so she could watch them openly. Her long riding coat had fallen open to reveal she was wearing leather pants and a vest. He’d seen women wearing pants before. Just not like that.

“ Bannerman detective, here?” the Kid questioned. Her hips were wide and legs slender, she wore a shirt under the vest that looked like it was straining to keep her ample breasts inside.

“ Yes, ma’am, I do need a job.” He watched her finish a shot of tequila and suck on a piece of lime with those full lips.

“ You can’t find a better bodyguard.” It finally dawned on him, how did she know what I was thinking when I was at the bar? The American lady was saying something about a room and what time the stage would leave tomorrow. He stood and nodded a polite goodnight as she left. Then his eyes went immediately to the bar but the cowgirl was gone. He sat back down to finish his glass of tequila, when a soft voice nearly knocked him out of his chair.

“ I don’t know. Just did, that’s all.” The petite lady had already sat herself down at the chair behind him. I need sleep, the Kid thought, or my hearing checked.
“ Know what?” he questioned

“ What you were thinking.” she replied.

“ And what am I thinking now?” he challenged.

“ About taking that job.” She looked him dead in the eye. “ and you’ll regret it.”

“ Why?”

“ How should I know?”

Kid shook his head, “ you just know…” he guessed sarcastically.

“Yep,” was the only reply. Her eyes just seemed to draw him in. “ Victoria Morgan.” She held out her hand.

“ Thaddeus Jones, ma’am.” He awkwardly took her hand to shake it and felt something electric pass into him. I really need some sleep.

“ I know you do, so let me just tell you two things. Number one, she isn’t waiting on a Bannerman detective. She’s been waiting on you. Number two – I need an escort also and I’ll pay you triple whatever she’s paying you. Just don’t get on that stage tomorrow with her.”

“ Well, ma’am” Curry stood to leave, “ I have already given my word to the nice lady. I’m sure you find someone to help you out. I’m sorry.” He turned to leave.

“I’d sure want to see inside the bag.” Victoria countered. “There will be a horse for you at the livery if you’re smart enough to change your mind. Just head north and I’ll find you.” With that she walked out of the cantina with a flip of her long coat.

“He’s the deputy mayor,” Curry explained with a hint of annoyance to the lady as they stood waiting to board the stagecoach. Without knowing why, Curry looked her dead in the eye and asked to look in the bag.

She clutched it to her chest with an incredulous look on her face. “ You can’t be serious!”

“ ‘Fraid so,” he explained politely. “ You’ve already telegraphed the news to everyone standing next to us. I really like to see inside that bag.”

“ Why I never heard of such a thing!” she protested loudly.

“ I really do insist. I want to know what I’m responsible for.” Curry pressed again.

“ I most certainly will not put on such a display.”

“ I’m not so sure about that.”

“ What did you say, Mr. Jones?”

“ I’m not so sure about what time we’re leaving. I’ll be right back. You just stay here and clutch your little bag.” The Kid went into the stagecoach office and right out the back door. He thought he should feel terrible for abandoning this lady, but he didn’t. In fact, he felt the same way he did whenever he and Heyes had slipped out of jail. He rode hard and fast north until he thought the horse was too strained and then slowed down to a trot.


“ Hey, cowboy.” Came a voice behind him.

“ Oh come on!” Curry nearly yelled as he turned to see Victoria and a packhorse following him. “ It’s a desert! Not even sagebrush or a cactus! Where did you come from, underground or did you just fall from the sky?”

“ From Hidalgo, same as you!” she protested at his loud voice. “ Do you need your eyes checked? When is the last time you’ve been to a doctor?”

Curry reined his horse up short and leaned on the saddle horn. “ I am not going any farther until you show me what’s in your bag!”

“ What are you talking about? What bag? If you mean the pack horse, its just food…”

“ Tell me who you are and what is going on.” He demanded firmly.

“ Victoria Morgan.” She rode up next to him and held out her hand. “ We met last night.”
Kid shied back from her hand. “ Put that thing away and quit being so…”

“ Sorry.” She seemed genuinely puzzled. “ My father died in Hidalgo and I came from Kentucky to bury him and collect his personal effects. I didn’t want to ride back on the stagecoach and I didn’t want to ride alone.”

“ What’s wrong with the stagecoach?” Kid questioned.

“ Other than the fact the wicked witch of the west was on it? “ She cocked her head to one side. “ Isn’t that enough?”

“ How do you know ….no, don’t answer that.” He corrected quickly. “ Hasn’t it occurred to you that we are going to take the same route as the stage? Whatever is going on, we’ll catch up to it sooner or later.”


“ No, we’re going across the badlands.” She informed him as she spurred her horse forward.

“ You are insane.”

“ I have a map! See look.” She thrust a tattered cow skin in his direction.

“ I’m not going to trust that thing.”

“ We’ll cross the badlands and enter Texas at Laredo instead of El Paso.”

“ You’ve been in the sun too long.”

“ I’ve been out here as long as you have.” She protested. “Plus, I’ve been right about everything else so far.”

“ How do I know that?” Kid was about ready to turn his horse around and try to catch the stage.

Victoria turned her horse around and came to stop next to him. She looked into his eyes intensely and replied matter-of-factly, “ You just do. Now come on, we’re burning daylight.”

“ It’s your money, ma’am.” The Kid finally relinquished.

“ Just exactly how much am I paying you?”

“ Triple is a hundred and fifty a day.” He said without blinking.

“ And you are a good bodyguard?”

“ The best this side of the Mississippi.” He assured her.

“ Since Kentucky is on the other side of the Mississippi, does that mean as soon as we cross the river, you turn into the village idiot and I get shot?” she inquired.

I might shoot you myself Kid thought.
“ No, ma’am. I’m sure I can hold my own on the other side as well.”

They rode in silence for most of the day until they came upon a large outcropping of rocks jutting up from the desert floor. Victoria thrust the cow skin toward Curry again and pointed to a spot on it. “ See, right where it should be. This is the best spot for the night.”
He took the map and looked at it for the first time.
“ You’ve gotten it upside down.” She said as she dismounted and went about dismantling the bundles from the packhorse.

Curry turned it around when he thought she wasn’t looking and inspected it closely.” What are the wavy lines on the rocks?”

“ The stream.” She pointed to a small crack in the rocks barely big enough for a man to squeeze through.

“ There is no way there’s water in there.”

She threw down the pack she was unloading and walked over and grabbed him by the hand. “ C’mon, Mr. Doubting Thaddeus. Lord almighty, if you lead a horse to water and he doesn't drink, sometime you have to force his head under water.” She pulled him toward the crack and pushed him in. It just didn’t seem big enough for a man to go through.

“ Sure it is, just suck in your gut.” She instructed sarcastically.

“ ... and you just suck in your chest.” He snapped. Just then, he heard the faint trickle of water and the crack seemed to magically get larger. He ended up looking at a small creek feeding into a pond.

“ Let me get the drinking water out of it before you jump in.”

“ I’m not going to jump in.” He was increasingly tiring of her knowing what he was thinking.

“ Was too. Well, I am. Would you check it for critters before I do?”

“ Don’t you know that already?” he challenged quickly.

“ I don’t know everything! I just seem to know some things sometime. And I never know if I should say something or just be still.” She tried to explain.

“ Lord, just be still” he thought and then froze expecting her to turn and throw anything at him; but she was busily unpacking a cold dinner of jerky, bread and dried apples as there was certainly no firewood to be had. They ate in relative silence as the sun began to set.

He brushed down the horses after dinner and then grabbed a kettle to bring some of the pond water to them. He squeezed through the crevasse, and heard Victoria screaming. His hand went immediately to his gun as he dropped the kettle. Then, in the dusk, he could make out the form of Victoria in the middle of the pond in her underwear. It was silk and lace, clinging to every curve; he could just make out her erect nipples through the translucent material.

Stop looking, ’ he told himself. This is just business and profitable at that. He didn’t want anything to mess that up. Heyes was always chiding him for getting involved with most of the women that crossed their path. Good girls got kisses; bad girls got the whole ten inches. Victoria saw the gun pointed at her and screamed again.

“ What are you doing?” she screamed.

He holstered his gun, pointed back to the horses and the dropped kettle; but for some reason he couldn’t get any words to come out.

“ You were going to check this pond for critters before I got in!” she reminded him urgently.

“ I didn’t know you were…” he started.

“ Then you haven’t done a critter check.”
She protested as she began to look at the water around her. “ Eewww!” she began to move slowly toward the water’s edge, stepping carefully around imagined slimy things. For every step she took toward the edge, Kid was taking one backward. He made it out of the crevasse and the next thing Victoria knew, a blanket came sailing over the top of the rocks and hit her in the head.

“ Gosh, thanks.” She yelled to him.

“ Yes ma’am. I’ll just water those horses in a minute.” He took a deep breath and tried to think of dead puppies and Kyle’s dirty teeth. Anything. Cow carcasses, vultures circling. Anything but what he had just seen. Saddle sores, dead horses, Heyes stripping for a bath. Okay, that’s better, he sighed, more in control.

Victoria emerged, wrapped in the blanket, from the crevasse to find the Kid laying out the bedrolls around a lantern he had found among the supplies. She dug in her pack for sleeping attire and went back into the rocks to change. “ While I’m gone, would you kindly move the bedrolls up on the rocks?”

Kid almost laughed. “ You want to cross the badlands but you don’t want to sleep on the ground? “

“ Things crawl around on the ground…”

“ That can easily crawl up the rock.” He stressed, almost annoyed with her.

“ Then what difference does it make to you?” she shot back with a raised voice.

“ The ground usually isn’t as hard as a rock!”

“ Oh, quit being a whiner and move the bedrolls. You’ll find a couple of goose down pads on the horse”

Whiner he thought. I’ll show you whiner. Miss checks the pond for critters. Wait, how much could she have packed on this horse anyway?

But, he thought better of sassing his new employer too hard. It was going to be a lucrative payday and he wanted to make sure he collected it all. It was going to take at least a week to get to Laredo and that would be………..ummm, say a thousand, and then another ten days to get to Kentucky. Maybe around $2,500! Hey maybe he could get Heyes in on the deal as soon as they crossed the border. He could suggest taking the train from Texas to Kentucky, no wait, I think that would definitely lose us money. Horseback is better... with maybe a couple of layovers in hotels to give us and the horses a rest. I have never seen a pair of long johns look like that. No, stop that. Just look at the bedrolls.

Victoria had emerged wearing a pair of long johns that she had cut up to make a better fit for the female figure. “ Are you sleeping in your clothes?”

“ Yes, ma’am. We whiners usually do.”

“ Gonna take a bath first?”

“ I’ll wait until the critters go to sleep.” He watched in appreciation as she scrambled up the rock face to the flat top he had chosen. No! Dead puppies, cow carcasses…………

“ She looked around from her perch and then looked straight up. “ This will do.”

“ Oh, thank God.”

“ Did you say something?”

“ I said GOOD!”

She climbed down and strolled over to her bags and searched around until she came up with a cloth pouch. She then proceeded to walk around the rock, muttering something to herself and spreading some kind of dust on the ground at the base of the rock. She didn’t seem to notice Curry’s mouth drop open slightly. He wanted to ask, but on the other hand, he wasn’t quite sure he wanted the answer. He went to the pond to wash up a bit and then climbed up to the rock flats to join her. She was stretched out, looking at the night sky and pointing at seemingly invisible dots.

“ I just gotta ask.” Curry relinquished.

“ I’m reading the stars.”

“Read, you mean like a book?”

“Exactly! Do you read them also?” she sounded excited.

“I read a book or two.”

“Don’t be contrary, Thaddeus.” She grabbed his hand and laying hers over his and brought it up overhead. “That star right there is the tip of Taurus the bull’s horn, see?” she directed their arms to trace, the horns, the head, and the legs.

Kid leaned over a little closer. “So, what does it say?”

“Well, with the moon at half, and the bull in the northeast sky, we’d better get an early start and we’ll be able to bed down long after twilight because the moon will light the way. We’ll make good time tomorrow. We’re also on track to the next watering hole the day after tomorrow.” She let out a long sigh as she continued to stare upward. “That’s where I want to be; I want to fly to the stars.”

“ That’s absurd,” Curry chuckled, “ No one’s ever going to fly to the stars.”
He turned to look at her, not removing his hand from underneath hers. “Who taught you to read the stars?”

“I come from sea faring folk.” She laughed.

“And who taught you to throw dust at rocks?” he mocked.

“Injuns.” She laughed.

“Are you serious? Indians in Kentucky? I haven’t heard of any reservations in Kentucky.”

“Tell them that. They don’t listen to me. “

“What else are you made of?” he noticed she made no move to take her hand off of his either.

“Well, there have been southern belles, pirates, a princess, prospectors, financiers, horse trainers, an English knight. Just toss ‘em all in and shake well, that’s me.” She yawned. “What are you made of?” She gazed intently at him.

He looked at her dumbfounded and speechless. “I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

“What would it matter? I am what I am, not what anyone was before me.” He turned suddenly on his side. “You going to jaw all night long?”

“ ‘Night, cowboy.”

He had been awake for a while, just sitting up staring at her. Her dark hair was down and fell in soft waves over her and the rock. She had managed to turn so that her lower half was on its side and the top half was lying on her back. He watched her breasts rise and fall with her breathing. They were so large and round, they were captivating. His eyes traveled down the length of her body again, pausing where her shirt rode up to expose her firm belly and then coming to rest on her hips. His eyes traveled back to her face to discover her eyes open and looking at him. She made no move to cover up or turn her back to him, so the Kid stretched out on his stomach next to her.

“Did you sleep at all?” she asked.

“Enough. I had a body to guard.” He joked. “ It will be dawn soon.”

“What do you want for breakfast?”

‘You’, he thought quickly. No, stop! Dead puppies, Kyle’s dirty teeth…He was glad that he was lying on his stomach so that his morning hardness wasn’t apparent to her.

She looked up into his eyes while she stretched out her body to work the kinks out. Her eyes were so inviting, that he moved closer.

“I’m not hungry.” Was his answer.

He took his eyes from hers and looked at her lips just as she licked them. He bent slowly down toward her lips, never taking his eyes off of them. He was close enough now to feel her breath upon his face, and it was getting faster. He started to close his eyes and kiss her gently when there was a sudden smack! across his cheek that almost turned his head completely around.

“There was a mosquito on your cheek.” She explained.

“Did you have to hit me that hard?”

“It was a big mosquito, Thaddeus. Enormous. ”

He let his head fall to his arm and shook it, trying to figure out where he went wrong. I can read women like Heyes can read a poker hand.

Victoria looked at him, puzzled that he had abandoned his advance. May be he wasn’t really going to kiss her, she thought. May he was just going to whisper what he wanted for breakfast. She had dreamed of him last night. All night. They were in the woods, in the rain. He was kissing her hard and taking her clothes off, and she was enjoying it. She was urging him on like they were running out of time.

“Nothing.” Curry moaned.

“What?” she shook herself out of the daze.

“Not hungry. Thanks anyway. Let’s get our gear packed up and get on down the trail. We can stop later to eat.”

“Dust for breakfast,” she complained. “Yummy.”

Their first day had been spent in stubborn silence, each one not wanting to be the first to speak. Finally, this morning, Victoria had brought her horse up next to his and held out a small jar.

“Your lips look parched.” Before he could take off his glove she had leaned over and slowly rubbed some of the soothing contents on his lips. Then she leaned too far and promptly fell off of her horse. She looked up at him and dissolved into a fit of laughter.

He looked down smiling and offered his hand to her. After that, he swore there was no shutting her up. Not that he minded so much, her voice was so soft and relaxing, it helped pass the time. He discovered her well educated as was to be expected from an Easterner. She had traveled to places he hadn’t heard of and spoke eight languages. She loved the outdoors and especially riding. He raised his eyebrow slightly when he found out she had a bullwhip on the packhorse and she claimed to know how to use it. A requirement from her ranch foreman, she said. Her ranch was called Black Cove and it was a few miles ride from Emerald City, Kentucky. She spoke often of her father and his love of exploring. All Curry was sure of was that she was way out of his class.

Victoria couldn’t keep this up much longer. She had talked herself just about out and Thaddeus didn’t seem engaged in the conversation at all. A nod here or a ‘yep’ there was all he said, nothing about himself. Even the horses were slowing down. He thinks I’m beneath him, she decided.

“Do you think we’ll lose the horses soon?” she asked, mainly to see if he was paying attention at all.

“Nope.” Came the measured reply. “We’ll know right where they are. They’ll just be dead underneath us.”
He reined his horse up short, leaning on the saddle horn until Vic caught up to him.
“It’ll be fine. Look, I’ve got a map.” He mocked. “You know, there’s a reason they call this the badlands. There’s a reason clear minded folk don’t cross this way.”

“Then why did you follow me?” Vic snapped.

“Starting to regret it…” Curry dismounted to walk his horse for a while. “No, I do believe I passed regret about ten miles back. There was a big vulture circling over it.”


They had to find the watering hole soon. It had been two days and all of the water for the horses in the goatskins was gone as were the contents of the canteens. Vic’s mount was beginning to struggle, and Curry had turned to see her dumping the hot leather saddle onto the barren sand, mounting up bareback. There wasn’t any sound except the hoof beats, the ragged breathing of horse and rider. No wind, no birds, no animals. Soon they would be able to hear the sound of the sun scorching the desert underneath their feet.


The Kid pulled his horse up short and turned around when some time had passed without her saying anything. Her horse continued to plod along past him, and he could clearly see that she was asleep. She was asleep and riding a horse. And not falling off. He took the reins that had fallen from her hands and led her mount along side of him just so he could keep an eye on her. That’s how they went on, for hours it seemed. He was definitely reconsidering the choice he had made over the stagecoach ride; upon further reflection a hundred and fifty a day didn’t sound like a whole lot of money.

All of the sudden, his horse whinnied and pulled hard on the reins. He looked back to see the packhorse having the same reaction.

“You smell it, don’t ya fellas?!”

He reached back and loosened the knot of reins from his saddle that held the packhorse and let him go. He was having a hard time holding his own back; he looked over at Victoria and her mount that continued to plod along. He dropped the reins of her horse and gave his horse his head to go. Up and over a small sand dune they went to discover a veritable lake in the desert. Both horses were already drinking their fill. Curry dismounted and grabbed a drink and wet his head and neck. He turned around to see Victoria’s horse stopped at the top of the hill, stumbling up the dune. Then it collapsed. Victoria went down with it and didn’t move.

‘How can she sleep through that?’ he wondered. Kind of slow, the realization hit him and he took off back up the hill. She lay unconscious next to the struggling horse with her leg trapped underneath.

“ Victoria!” The Kid dropped to his knees and began to dig and alternating pulling at her.
“ Vic!” he yelled. Nothing.

He picked her up and walked back to the lake and began to wade out in it. When he was waist deep, he dropped her and wished for luck.

She had been dreaming of the rain in the forest again when it all seemed to drop on her at once from the sky and she seemed to be swimming in it. She burst forth from the water line, coughing and wiping the hair from her eyes in wonder. “ What the ...”

“ Surprise!” laughed Curry with relief. She did look surprised, he noted. Then she started to laugh and throw water in his direction.

“ I told you!” she sputtered out between mouthfuls of the water the Kid was splashing at her.

“Well, when you talk as much as you do, you’re bound to hit on one thing right.” He joked. He stopped laughing when he saw the look come over her face. He had forgotten her horse.

“No!” she screamed as she scooped up water in her hat and ran back up the hill to where her horse lay. She bent down and tried to force the water down the horse’s throat.

“ Bring more!” she instructed.
“ Vic, he’s not getting back up. I needed to take care of you first before I put him down.”

“ Well, you are wrong.” She said as she flung her hat at him. He picked it up and walked up beside her and knelt down.

“ He’s suffering.” Curry looked her dead in the eye.

“ He just needs some rest and plenty of water. And we’ve got plenty of water now. ”

Curry took her by the hand and stood up. “ C’mon. You know what he needs.”

She refused to stand up and he kept trying to pull her to her feet.

“ Go back to the lake,” he said softly. “Stop the other horses before they drink too much and get sick. I’ll take care of things here.”

She leaned over and whispered something in the horse’s ear and stood up, to face Curry. She stared silently at him for a moment and walked past him to the water’s edge. She jumped when she heard the shot blast across the desert and tried to pay it no mind. He soon joined her and she tried to pay him no mind at all either.


They worked in silence for a while, unsaddling and unpacking the two horses, brushing them down with water until they perked up. They started to refill water bags and break out the bedrolls and pads. Wordlessly, they knew they would stay there for while, until horse and rider had recovered.

As twilight approached, Curry finally broke the silence. “ Do you want to take a bath? I’ll check for critters for you.” She shook her head, still looking at the body of the horse up at the top of the sand dune.

“ We need to bury him.”

“ Who?” Curry was confused.

“ The horse.”

“ This close to the water?”

“ Well, you grab one hoof, I’ll grab the other and we’ll just drag his fat butt a respectable distance then. He’s rotting where he is, on top or underneath.”

“ You want to bury the horse?” he clarified.

His only answer was her sharp stare. “ A hundred and fifty a day.” was all she said.

“ We’re burying the horse.” He said to himself as he stood up and walked with her up the dune.

Curry shifted nervously with his hat in his hand as Vic spoke a few words over the grave. I can’t believe we are doing this.

“ And Lord, I didn’t know his name, but he gave his life for me, so reward him with green pastures, cool water and plenty of fillies for eternity. Amen.”

Is she done yet? He shuffled, looking down at his feet. Still in shock that they had not only buried a horse, but had given him a nice send off as well.

She walked past him to the water’s edge and began to take her clothes off. “ I’m going for a swim.”

‘Now, there’s good news,’ Curry thought. He had come to discover that she had some of the fanciest under things he’d ever seen, and a seemingly endless supply at that. She was constantly ‘freshening up’ by making him turn his back while she changed under clothes. During the day, that is. It was odd that come nightfall or a watering hole, her modesty blew off with the wind. Not that he was a complainer. Just noticing, that’s all.

“ Want some company?” he sat down to take off his boots.

“ That would be nice, when you find some send them over.” She watched him take off his shirt, unbuckle his gun belt and carefully lay it down on top of the pile. He took one look at her to see if she was watching, but it was getting dark and the small fire they had rummaged around for just didn’t give off enough light.

She watched him unbutton his trousers and lay them on the pile also. She could see the muscles in his arms ripple in the firelight and then his sturdy chest as he stood up. It reminded her of one of the chiseled statues she had seen in Europe, and she longed to touch it.

He could feel her watching him, but he didn’t let on. He calmly walked out in the water until it was up to his waist and then threw his pants back on the sand. Her jaw dropped open and she started gliding backwards slowly so he couldn’t hear where she was.
“ Marco.” He called as he started swimming. She was speechless. There was a naked man swimming towards her.
“ Marco.” He called again, this time stopping to listen.

“ Polo.” She said quietly and quickly, still swimming in the other direction. She could hear his strong strides making good headway in the water and she started to panic.

“ Marco.” It was directly behind her and she let out a little scream and turned around.
“ Howdy, Ma’am.” He grinned.

“ Polo.” Was all she managed to get out.

The moonlight was reflecting off of the surface of the water now and he could barely see the top curves of her breasts as the waves bounced off of her.

“ Nervous?” he asked.

“ Certainly not.” she answered quickly.

“ Screaming kinda gives it away.” He found her hands under the water one by one and interlaced his fingers with hers. She had the look of a wild mustang about to bolt. They were both managing to stay above water but occasionally they would kick each other in the process.

“ Hold on.” He said as he started to move backwards until his feet could touch the bottom. She was still kicking to stay afloat. Slowly, he pulled her to him and wrapped his hands around her waist to hold her up above the water. It wasn’t until then that he had truly noticed how petite she was next to his frame. Somehow, it thrilled him and he knew he was in control at that moment. He slowly lowered his lips towards hers, but stopped within a hairs breadth to whisper.

“ Are there any mosquitoes around?” He could feel her laugh quietly and ease up a bit. Finally his lips touched hers and he felt like a bank safe exploding.

She felt a lightening bolt strike her when he kissed her, and it traveled the length of her body, making every nerve sing. He kissed her again and again, softly and then began to kiss her cheek, her ear, her neck. Slowly down her neck until it made her heart pound so loudly, she was certain he could hear.

The Kid swore he could hear her heart beating wildly as his lips made their way down her throat and neck, covering them with kisses. His hands slid slowly from her waist to her magnificent ass, parted her legs and helped her lock them around his waist. His shaft was caught in between them and as she came to rest at his waist, he thought the pressure would make him come on the spot.

She stopped him suddenly to look him in the eye as if searching for something. He decided she found it because she placed hers hands behind his neck and pulled him down for another series of kisses. Her hands trailed down to his chest and across his arms. His kisses became harder and more passionate. He breached her lips with his tongue, seeking hers, and she pulled back instantly. Wordlessly, they looked into each other’s eyes. He waited to see what her next reaction would be. She took his face in her hands and kissed him again, this time opening her mouth and running her tongue across his teeth. He let his tongue find hers and they danced leisurely with one another until he thought he heard her moan. The gentle movement of the waves breaking against them caused her to move against him, up and down, ever so slightly. It was driving him mad.

Curry slowly brought his hands to the front of her camisole to find the silk ribbon that tied it. He brushed against her breasts and found her nipples hard and erect. He paused to fondle them gently and let his kisses trail farther down her throat until she threw her head back. With one hand bracing her back, he began to untie the ribbons with his other hand. As each inch of new skin was revealed, he covered it with kisses. He nearly had the top completely open in the front and he just kept leaning her back into the water, taking his time to remove the camisole and finally kiss her breasts. Now, it was his turn to moan with pleasure. He delivered soft kisses until he reached her nipples and then he took one into his mouth, sucking gently with just a nip of teeth. He straightened up to see her in the moonlight, floating in the water, arms spread out, breasts high and erect, legs still wrapped around his waist, and he nearly came.

Vic felt like she was floating on a cloud, almost overloaded with the sensation of being this close to Thaddeus, kissing him. Letting him put his hands all over her. She felt the warm night air move across her breasts, and she opened her eyes to see the night sky with its thousand points of light in front of her. She felt herself being lifted up and saw Thaddeus pull her close to his chest. She felt her skin on his bare chest and his breath in her ear.

“ I want you.” he whispered, not sure how much more of this he could stand. He wanted to feel her warmth around him; he wanted to be buried inside of her.

“ To do what?’ she asked.
All of the sudden, she was looking around and saw her camisole go floating by on a wave. She looked down to see her naked breasts pressed against his chest, and she started to panic.
“ To do what?” She pushed away from him, grabbed her camisole and headed for the shore.

His mouth fell open in astonishment. . Oh hell no. She is not getting out of this lake! He turned around to see her already at water’s edge, heading for the campfire. He looked down at his empty hands and tried to figure out exactly where he had lost control. He went down his mental checklist to see if he had missed something important. Hellfire, Jesus Christ on a crutch. Dead puppies, cow carcasses, buried rotting horses, his schoolteacher back at the home for way wards.

“ Throw me some pants.” He yelled.
Heyes stripping for a bath, Heyes’ smelly feet, a posse headed by an Apache………..
“ Lady, you ought to come with one of those warning labels like they put on nitro!”

“ I ought to?! You were taking my clothes off!!!.”
“ Well, that is usually how it goes, but if you wanted to leave them on, that wouldn’t be unheard of!” he yelled back as he attempted to put wet trousers on in the water. “ This is NOT worth a hundred and fifty a day. We get to Laredo, I get paid and that’s it, you find another bodyguard. You just go your way and I’m just gonna go mine. And that’s that.”

“ And that’s that!” she kicked some sand in his direction and stormed off into the darkness.

“ There are critters out there!” he called after her, not sure if he was warning her or the critters.

They stood looking between the two horses and themselves.
“ Well, we can’t leave the supplies behind.” Kid stated simply. “ And that horse can’t carry you also.”

They still stood looking between the two horses and themselves.
“ We can take turns between riding your horse and walking. “ Vic countered stubbornly.

“ That would take too long and believe me, I am highly motivated to get you to Laredo.”
They still stood looking between the two horses and themselves. Curry finally swung up on his horse and held his hand down to pull her up. “ C’mon.”

Vic stood with her hands on her hips looking around for any other possibilities. She was just plain nervous to get that close to him after last night. Finally, she relented, grabbed his hand and jumped up behind him.

“ Let’s make tracks,” he said as he spurred the horse to a gallop nearly throwing her off of the back. Vic kept trying to hold onto the saddle itself instead of putting her arms around Thaddeus. She finally gave up and grabbed on.

They traveled in silence the entire day. Stopping to eat or water the horses, they would just glare at each other wordlessly. Eventually the landscape began to change with sagebrush, cactus and Joshua trees sparingly springing up out of the cracked land. Kid’s only thought was that this would be the last night he would have to spend with her out here before reaching the town.

Vic wasn’t sure when they had exactly crossed out of Mexico into Texas, but the map still showed them dead on to civilization. Her only comfort was that this would be the last night she would have to spend with him out here in the middle of hell.

Right at twilight they came upon a stream and a grassy patch for the horses to graze on.
“ We’ll bed down here tonight.” Curry stated flatly.
He noticed a nice rock to one side big enough for the devil woman to sleep on. He busied himself unsaddling the horse and unpacking the bedrolls. Vic had gone down to the stream to stick her feet in. He went off to gather firewood, and when he came back, she was still in the same place. Standing very still. He found enough rocks to make the fire circle and noticed she was still standing in the same place. Standing very still. Curiosity being one of Kid’s baser features, he started over to her and stopped just shy of her. In front of her lay a rattlesnake, coiled, rattling and ready to strike.

“ I’m here,” he whispered to Vic not wanting to startle her, “ just shoot it.”

“ I just wear this thing, I don’t know how to shoot it.’ She whispered back angrily.

“ That’s right comforting.” He eased his Colt out of the holster, but before he could take aim, the snake struck out. Vic grabbed it mid-strike right behind the head with one hand, closed the jaws and started twisting the head with the other. It finally popped off and she threw it over her shoulder and turned around.

“ Let’s put him on the fire for dinner.” She stated as she nonchalantly passed him by, heading for a rock to skin the snake on. “ You don’t want the skin, do you? Because I’ve got someone at the ranch that would be tickled to death to get it.”

“Ah, no thanks. I’m good.” was the reply. He realized that he was just standing there with his gun still drawn, and felt suddenly silly. But then he thought about how silly it was to wear a gun you couldn’t shoot.

They sat on opposite sides of the fire eating rattlesnake & biscuits. Every so often, Kid would catch her looking at him, then she would quickly avert her eyes and feign interest in something else. She finished and took her dishes down to the stream to wash up. Then she just sat there for a long spell with her feet in the stream looking up at the sky. Kid stretched out on his bedroll and put his hat over his face, intent on sleep. Eventually, he heard her walk past him to the rock and begin her walk around the base, spreading her dust. She changed into nightclothes watching him cautiously to make sure he didn’t start to raise his hat, and then she jumped up onto the rock to settle down for the night.
“ Did you just say something?” She sat straight up.

Curry raised his hat to reply, “ Nope.”

“ I thought I heard something.”

“ You thought wrong.”

“ Well, there’s certainly no need to be rude.”

“ I’m not rude, just pointing out that you weren’t right.”

“ Saddle tramp,” she muttered, turning her back to him.

“ Shrew.” He answered and turned his back as well.


He tried but couldn’t get to sleep, his mind was involuntarily returning to last night at the lake. He still couldn’t figure where he went wrong; had no idea what happened. He had wanted her so badly. He still did. She had responded to his touch and seemed to want loving as much as he did. She wasn’t like any other woman he’d ever run across. She was fearless and childlike all at once and that confounded him. So beautiful, with the moonlight and water glistening off of her bare breasts. She had made him feel…so alive. Last night he had felt like nothing else existed except for the two of them; he had felt like nothing could touch them.

He wished Heyes were nearby to talk this out with. Somehow, things could make sense when he talked to Heyes about it. He would telegraph Heyes as soon as he got into town and plan on where to meet up. Then he realized; he was going to walk away and not see her again. Who would she get to escort her back to Kentucky? He couldn’t abide by some low-down gunslinger taking up to see her home. He had already told her he didn’t want to have anything else to do with her; it’s pretty hard to take that back. He rolled over and tried to quiet his mind.

Up on the rock, Vic was having no better luck getting to sleep either. She was amazed, ashamed of herself and the way she had reacted to his touch, his kisses. The sensations were too many to deal with and they had overloaded her good senses. She had never experienced anything like that before and she had been ready to act like a common hussy right out there in the open. Thaddeus had been angry, but he hadn’t forced anything. He had every right to be angry with her. What they had was a total lack of communication, she decided; and it was going to be fatal. He had made his decision pretty clear. He wanted his money and he wanted gone, in that order and with great speed.

She sat braiding her hair and finishing her coffee while she watched him finish loading the packhorse. Smiling at his awkward attempt to fit everything back on. She had caught him eyeing her, but she wasn’t so sure that he wasn’t sizing up his chances of cutting her throat.