Thief of My Heart (Watty Awards Finalist 2012)

Chapter 33

Evie was in heaven.  The late afternoon sun was warm but not hot.  A cool breeze blew in from the south carrying with it the scent of blue bonnets and cedar.  She was sitting on the back of her trusted mount Rusty, who she thought was lost forever, and now he belonged to her.  And best of all, she was leaning back into the warm and safe embrace of the man of her dreams. 

Heyes was in misery.  The closeness of Evie's tempting body was burning him up.  He was actually starting to sweat a little.  The breeze that was blowing did little to cool him.  It only made the faint scent of the lavender water she had recently bathed in waft into his nostrils, evoking images of her naked in the bathtub.  And Rusty was such a well trained animal that he didn't have to concentrate at all on the horse, but was able instead to focus all of his attention on the fact that her breasts rested against his forearm as he held the reins.  But worst of all, her darned shapely bottom was nestled right up next to his most manly of parts causing his insides to twist into knots.

"Gosh, it seems like a lifetime ago that we rode together like this heading for Alpine,"  she reflected out loud.

"But it's only been two months."

"It's hard to believe that in two months our lives have changed so much.  I never would have dreamed I could be this happy after that horrible day.  Or that I would be riding double with you again only this time not with Joshua Smith but with Hannibal Heyes." 

"And I never would have dreamed then that you would know who I really am and that you'd love me any way."

"Did you really think it would change how I felt about you?"

"Well, I admit, I had my doubts there for a while."

"Sorry, Mr. Heyes, but by the time I found out who you really were I was already hopelessly in love with you.  You could have rode into the next town and cleaned out the bank and then robbed a train during the getaway and it still wouldn't have changed how I feel about you.   How do you do that by the way?  Get all those trains to stop for you so you can rob them?"

"There's lots of different ways.  The most dangerous is to blow up a railroad bridge just before the train gets there.  That forces them to stop.  But we only did that a couple of times.  The sound of the explosion could be heard for miles and lawmen crawled out from under rocks to find out what had happened, so we quit doing that.  When we first started pulling train jobs, me and Kid would just jump on the train and climb across the top of the cars until we got to the engineer and we'd pull a gun and make him stop.  But we figured out that the easiest way is just to put an obstacle on the tracks, a big log or a rock and that forces them to stop."

"And what about the safes?"

“Now that was my specialty.   I learned real early how to open a safe by manipulating the tumblers.  It’s just a gift I was born with.  Sort of like you and the piano.  You can work magic with a keyboard.  I can work magic with a combination.”

"Silver tongue, nimble brain, magic hands.  What else could a girl ask for?  You know, in a way I'm glad you became an outlaw.  If you hadn't been an outlaw you would have been snatched up by some other girl a long time ago and we never would have met."

He pulled her  hair aside, exposing the creamy smooth skin of her neck.  "And I never would have been able to do this."   He plied the side of her neck and shoulder with kisses.   Her eyes drifted closed and her head lolled back on his shoulder, giving him greater access.  As he kissed his way up her neck and across her jaw he let the reins drop and trail on the ground.  The well trained horse stopped and stood still.  His free hands spanned her ribcage then moved slowly upward to cup each of her rounded breasts.

 She turned slightly in the saddle seeking the lips that were causing such torment to her neck and shoulder.  She found them.  His mouth was gentle at first then grew more demanding.  She was up  to the challenge.  If he stripped her naked and took her virginity right here on the back of this horse she wouldn't protest.  In fact she wished he would.  The image of it in her head was causing that tightening again in her womb.  She didn't know how much more of this she could take.  And she had no idea what this even really meant.  But she so wanted to learn.

Heyes could tell by the way she returned his kisses and the way she arched her body towards him she was ready to take that step.  He knew that he could take her right here on the back of this horse and she would let him.  His hands tightened into fists in her hair at the images of it in his head.  He didn't know how long he was going to be able to keep himself under control.  He was just about to the breaking point.  Maybe he should have taken Kid's advice and gone into town to visit one of the saloon girls.  No. He knew she wouldn't understand and he didn't want to hurt her that way.   "Maybe we better get down and have our picnic before the daylight's all gone."    His voice was thick and deeper than usual.

"Alright," she managed to say, breathlessly  with quivering lips.

They chose a spot under a huge oak tree that grew near the same creek where they had skipped rocks.  The tree was enormous with branches that opened up like a lady's parasol providing shelter underneath it's low hanging limbs.  He watched her as she spread the blanket on the ground and emptied the contents of the picnic basket Georgia had packed for them.  Watching her shapely bottom maneuver around in those snug pants was like a match on dry kindling.   The sparks had started on the ride out and now they were being fanned into full blown flames.  

"Come sit down,  I want to hear more about your outlaw days."

He came and lowered himself down on the blanket beside her.  "What do you want to know?"

"How many times have you been arrested?"

He laughed out loud.  "Too many to count."

"What's it like in jail?"

"Terrible."

"Have you ever been shot?"

"Uh huh.  A few times."

"Where?"

"In my right leg once, my left arm once, and I got shot in the head once."   He put his finger to the faint scar that still remained from the bullet that had left him unconscious for two days.  She leaned over and gently kissed the scar. 

"What about Jed?  He ever been shot?"

He laughed again.  "Oh, yeah.  He's been shot in both legs several times.  The shoulder a couple of times.  His side a few times.  His hip once and his foot once."

"Why has he  been shot so many more times than you?"

"Because he would always ride behind me, so I wouldn't get shot.  No matter how many times I told him not to he would still do it every time."

"I'm so glad you  two aren't doing that anymore.  I don't know what I would ever do if anything ever happened to you."

"Just because we aren't robbing trains and banks anymore doesn't mean the danger of getting shot isn't still there.   If the wrong person recognizes me and they want to turn me in dead, they have the legal right to do so.  Without the amnesty that is a real possibility."

She vigorously shook her head.  "I don't want to think about things like that.  I've finally got you alone, all to myself and I'm not going to let talk of posses or amnesty ruin it.  Oh!  I almost forgot.  The surprise I have for you."

"Oh, yeah, where is it?"

"It's not something I can give you.  It's something we can share together.  Only not now, but in the future."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense, what is it?  No wait, let me guess,  Olivia's hiring a string quartet and she's having the fatted calf slaughtered for Sunday.  Like all the fuss she's done made over everything isn't enough."

She gave him a scolding look,  "She just wants it to be special for us.  Anyway it's not like she can't afford it.  And pretty soon, I'll be able to afford it too."

He stared at her, waiting for her to explain that last comment.

"Well, it seems that in two years, I'll be rich."

"Huh?"

"Apparently my grandfather started a trust fund for me when I was a baby and when I turn twenty-one, it's all mine, or I should say all ours.   It's quite substantial."

"Just how much is 'quite substantial'?"

"Seventy-five  thousand."

He was speechless. 

"Don't you know what this means?  If you can keep from getting caught before I turn twenty-one,  even if the amnesty doesn't come through, we'll have enough money to build a fort if we want to.  We can move to Mexico or Europe or build a house out in the middle of nowhere so nobody can find us.  We won't have to worry about the future.  We can disappear to wherever we want.  All three of us.  You and me and Jed."  She sat smiling and staring at him waiting for a response. "Well, say something."