Black Conley Read online

  Beside him, Belle stirred and from downstairs, he heard the mantle clock strike five times. As much as he wanted to take her again, it was time to start the day.

  After disentangling himself from her arms, he got up, lit the lamp and poured water into the basin in order to wash up and shave. In the mirror about the washstand, he saw her stretch as though she was a cat welcoming the new day.

  "Good morning,” she said, her voice still heavy with sleep. “Any idea what time it is?"

  "I heard the clock strike five a while ago. I thought it was high time I got up and dressed for the day so I could give you some privacy while you cleaned up."

  "What about your privacy?” she questioned.

  "Men aren't the same as women. It doesn't take us long to clean up and get a start on the day. Women are completely different. They need time to primp and the privacy to cleanse those more personal parts of their bodies."

  He scraped the last of his whiskers from his face before getting dressed. He was surprised to see a new pair of long johns laid out for him along with clean britches and shirt. After pulling on his clothes, he left the room, all the while wishing he could stay and watch her do her morning ritual. He knew it was a foolish wish. He'd seen enough of her magnificent body last night to satisfy any curiosity as well as make him anxious for the night to come.

  On his way to the outhouse he saw Annie in the kitchen, but bodily needs overcame his manners. It was one thing to use the piss pot in the middle of the night, but something else entirely once he was up and dressed.

  By the time he returned to the kitchen, Annie was more than willing to sit down and share a cup of coffee with him.

  "I suppose I have you to thank for moving my things last night,” he said, once she joined him at the table.

  "It was Roy's idea,” she replied. “I only agreed. It's high time some man paid attention to Belle."

  "Didn't you think you were pushing things a bit?"

  "Not after seeing the two of you yesterday when you rode in from taking those cattle back to Clayte. I would have had to be blind not to have realized that you'd awakened the woman inside of her while you were gone. I expected you back by two and when you didn't get here until after four, I knew something went on. She's a beautiful girl, and not one who should be alone for her entire life."

  "If you're suggesting that I should stay on here, you'd better rethink your position. Once this assignment is over, Ed will send me somewhere else. He always does."

  Annie took a long sip of her coffee. “I know you'll be leaving once Clayte and the others who are responsible for the rustling are caught, but while you're here, you can at least give Belle a taste of what it's like to be loved by a man."

  * * * *

  After the passengers from the stage finished breakfast and left, Kate gave out the assignments, telling Black to ride with Janna and check to make certain there were no more breaks in the fence.

  Belle went into the study in order to do some of the bookwork that always seemed to be waiting for her.

  "Did it bother you that I sent Black and Janna out together?” Kate asked.

  Belle jumped at the intrusion into her silent thoughts. “A little, I guess. Of course, if we don't treat Black like any of the other hands, it might arouse suspicion."

  "But he's not just another hand, is he?"

  Belle shook her head. “If he was another hand, he wouldn't still be here. He would have run off like all the others who didn't want to work for a woman. He's here to do a job, and it has nothing to do with either the Double Bar B or any of us."

  "Do you think he can get enough proof against Clayte to get him arrested?"

  "It's not going to be easy. You should have seen the expression on Clayte's face when we brought back those cattle yesterday. Just by that I was convinced of his guilt, but you can't arrest a man because of his expression."

  "What about the men who were driving the cattle? Did any of them say anything?"

  Belle searched her memory for what Black had told her. “Two of them were dead before they could get to them. Black thinks he got both of them and winged the one who got away. The one that Roy shot lived for a little while, but he didn't know who hired him. He said that someone came up to him in the Purple Moon and offered him money to join with the others. Being a stranger in town, he didn't know who it was. Considering he died before he could say more, we know absolutely nothing other than our gut feelings. It's quite possible that it was one of the other rustlers who hired the man, but that's nothing to go on. I have a feeling getting the evidence that we need isn't going to be easy."

  "What about you, Belle? How will you react once this is all over? From the looks Black was giving you, coupled with the fact I saw him come out of your room this morning, I have a good idea about what's going on between the two of you. If you ask me, it's high time, but what happens when he moves on?"

  "I'll continue on in the same way as I always have. I thought I loved Ronald, and he destroyed me. I won't fall into the same trap with Black. He's here to do a job, and if in doing it he ends up in my bed and gives me pleasure, I'll take it as just that. I might as well act the part I've been accused of playing for so long."

  "The only thing is, you aren't acting. I can tell you're falling in love with him. If you weren't, you certainly would have put up more of a fit when Annie moved his things into your room. Just a word to the wise from a more experienced whore, don't let this destroy you, because he will leave and when he does, you'd better be ready to find a replacement for the man or you could fall apart."

  Kate went out to start the morning, leaving Belle alone with her thoughts. She was falling in love with Black, hell, she'd been in love with him from the first moment she laid eyes on him.

  It wasn't like when she'd first met Ronald. She was no longer a cowed child who took attention from the first man to give it to her. No, this was different. Black had swept into her life and turned her emotions to mush. She couldn't help but wonder if that had been part of Ed's plan from the very beginning.

  Thoughts of Ed brought to mind the first time she'd seen him after returning from Ohio. At the time, she thought she needed a man in her life, but Ed wasn't interested. He did kiss her once, but it had been the kind of kiss a woman got from her brother, not someone who would love and cherish her for the rest of her life.

  Since then he'd corresponded with her, always telling her that someday the right man would come to the Double Bar B and when he did, she'd know it.

  Well, Ed had sent that right man, and she did know it. The problem was that just as Ed sent Black here, he would be taking him away to a new assignment and Belle would still be alone. It wasn't fair, but what could she do about it at this point?

  * * * *

  Black rode alongside Janna to the east range, all the while thinking about the turn of events that had come about since he arrived on the Double Bar B. He'd expected nights of lovemaking with the whores, but he'd never thought he'd be in the boss’ bed so soon after his arrival.

  "Will you be visiting my bed, Black?” Janna asked as they rode along the line of fence that separated Double Bar B and Diamond A land.

  "No offense meant, Janna, but I don't think so."

  "That's what I thought. I knew that first morning after you had Kate that it wasn't any of us that you wanted. Belle's a fine figure of a woman and you could do far worse."

  "This is just a job,” Black replied. “Belle and I, well, that's between the two of us. When the men who are behind all this rustling are caught, I'll be sent onto another assignment. It's the way that I've lived my life for the past ten years."

  "And before that?"

  "I thought you all knew what I did. I was a hired gun. It isn't easy living with the fact that I've killed over thirty men. It wasn't what I thought I'd be doing with my life, but it's the hand I was dealt. My ma had big plans for me, but when she was killed, that all changed."

  Janna nodded. “I know what you mean. I was going to get marrie
d and have a whole brood of kids, but Pa decided to come west. When he was killed in an Indian raid on the wagon train, I was left to fend for myself. The only thing a woman alone is good for is spreading her legs for money, at least that's what the wagon master said when he left me at the first town we came to. He took me straight to the saloon and told the owner to put me to work. It took a while for me to come to enjoy what I was doing. At least I had a friend there who told me that I should find something special to do with the fucking so that I could get more money. She suggested a lot of things, but I preferred using the feather that she gave me. At first it was just an old bird feather, but one day a peddler man came to town and he had genuine peacock feathers. I was the first in line to buy one. That dollar was the best money I ever spent. I've made it back many times over in the extra money the men pay after I use it on them."

  Black laughed at her comment. “I don't doubt that you did. The whores at my ma's ranch all had their special ways of fucking, but I never knew what they were. I was too young for such things, I guess."

  Talking about home brought a lump to his throat. He'd known so little about life when everything he held dear had been ripped away from him. Coming to the Double Bar B had brought back memories and made him well aware of what had been taken from him.

  His other assignments had led him to areas where there were no ranches to work and no soft beds to enjoy. He'd spent his time on the open range as well as in rooms about the saloons in whatever town he found himself in with a paid companion.

  For the first time in far too many years, he was part of a family like the family he'd grown up in. Belle was, in no way, anything like his mother. She didn't take men to her bed; at least, she hadn't until last night. He was honored to think that he was the first in over ten years to enjoy the delights between her legs.

  "Do you know how to use that thing?” Janna asked as they pulled the lunch Annie had packed from their saddlebags.

  He looked to see what she was pointing at and realized that she had focused on the bullwhip that hung on the opposite side of his saddle as his rifle. “Yup. My ma couldn't shoot a gun, but she could wield a bullwhip. It was the death of her, too."

  "How so?” Janna questioned.

  "We had a neighbor who wanted our ranch, just like Clayte wants this place. What we didn't know was that he had killed my pa in order to get it. Ma held out for almost ten years before he came to the ranch one day when she was alone and got her whip away from her. He beat her to death with it and claimed the land as soon as the sheriff ran me and the girls off."

  "What did you do?"

  "I took the only proof I had that the taxes had been paid on the land and that Mike had no claim to it with me when I went to Mexico to bury my mother on my grandfather's ranch. A year later, I came back. By that time, I was as good with a gun as I was with the bullwhip. After I killed Mike Slade, I knew where my future would take me. I left the ranch that held so many memories both good and bad behind and never looked back."

  "Do you still own it?"

  "No, I was fourteen when I sold it to a man I knew would make it prosper. I went back once, but no one knew I was there. There were steers grazing and he'd made a lot of improvements to the house. It was enough to know that the place was loved and well taken care of. Back then I had no intentions of ever being a rancher. Now I wish I had kept that place, but I was a kid and I couldn't run it alone. After I killed Slade, I knew there would be no one who would want to work for me."

  "What about your grandfather?"

  "I don't know if he's dead or alive. I've been thinking about writing him a letter, but I hardly know where to start."

  "How about with ‘Dear Grandpa'? After that, the words will come real easy."

  "It sounds like you've done this before."

  "I have. I'd been working for about three years when I wrote my grandparents about what happened to Pa and the life I was living. They told me that no matter what I did for a living, they loved me and prayed for me. It was all I could ask."

  Black took a bite of the sandwich and chewed on the meat, along with what Janna had said. He'd been thinking about writing to his grandfather. Maybe now was the time for him to send a letter to Mexico. It wasn't like he expected an answer, but it was worth a try.

  While Janna took a short nap, he pulled a pencil and paper from his saddlebag.

  Dear Grandfather and Grandmother,

  It's been a long time since I left your place. A lot has happened to me, and now I think it's time to tell you about my life. I went back to Ma's ranch and killed the man who killed her. It was a fair fight. He drew first. After that, I retrieved Ma's treasures from beneath the floorboards of the kitchen and sold the ranch.

  I spent a lot of years as a gunslinger, but now I'm working as a U.S. Marshal. I'm not proud of the number of men I've killed, but it was never murder.

  My latest assignment has me on a ranch in Montana, working for a woman named Belle Barton. If I were the kind of man who was set on getting married and settling down, it would be with someone like Belle. She is beautiful and like Ma, she gets what she wants out of life.

  There is a man here that reminds me of Mike Slade. He wants Belle's ranch, but it's my job to arrest him for the rustling he's been doing in this area. Once that's done I'll be off to my next assignment, but I will keep in touch.

  If you feel that you should reply to this letter, you can write to the U.S. Marshal's Office in care of Ed Heath, in Denver, Colorado. He's my boss and will get your letter to me no matter where I am.

  I know I never told you that I loved you, but I really did. Whenever I get into a town that has a church, I go and say a prayer for all that you did for me when I was a kid.

  "I guess I fell asleep,” Janna said, just as Black was finishing the letter to his grandparents. “That was a damn foolish thing to do, but on the mornings after the stage rolls in, I'm right tired."

  Black smiled. He knew all about that kind of tired. After last night with Belle, he wasn't as wide-awake as he should have been. Life on this ranch would certainly take a lot of getting used to.

  Once they remounted their horses, they rode south along the line of fence that ran across the entire boundary of the ranch, with the exception of the area leading into the dooryard from the north. By the time they got back to the house, it was already getting dark.

  Black looked at the clouds that appeared to be full of either snow or rain. The way the temperature dropped while they were out, he was certain there would be snow by morning. This was the time of year he disliked the most. The darkness of night came far too early for his liking and if what he'd heard about Montana winters were true, they would be snowbound from the first of October until the middle of April or maybe even longer.

  He knew once winter set in, Clayte would slink back into his hidey-hole and not come out again until spring, when tracking him would be a hell of a lot harder without the snow.

  * * * *

  Belle stood at the window in her office, waiting for Janna and Black to return. She knew it was foolish for her to be jealous of Black riding with Janna, but she couldn't help herself. After one afternoon and one evening with Black, she felt as though he was her man. If only he wouldn't be leaving once the men responsible for the rustling were behind bars, she would be happy. Black was the kind of man she'd dreamed of all her life. He was well spoken, extremely handsome, and a considerate lover. What more could a woman ask for?

  At last, she saw them ride into the dooryard. As he had the day before, Black allowed Janna to dismount and come into the house while he took care of their horses.

  "Did you find any more breaks in the wire?” Belle asked as soon as Janna entered the kitchen.

  "No, everything was good. Black doesn't think they'll hit us again until spring. He thinks we'll get snow tonight. It was good to ride with Black today and get to know him better."

  "Better?” Belle asked, almost afraid to hear what Janna would say next.

  "Not in the way
you're thinking. I asked if he'd be coming to my bed, and he turned me down. That man has it bad for you, even if he doesn't want to admit it. Why don't you come up to my room while I get cleaned up for supper and I'll show you what to do with one of my feathers? I think that man would purely love it if you were to torture him so delightfully."

  "You mean he didn't...” Belle couldn't bring herself to finish the last of her sentence.

  "No, Belle, he didn't fuck me out in the open the way he did you yesterday. He's one of those odd men who once they find a woman they want, they don't dally with whores or anyone else who crosses their path. I did ask him about that bullwhip he carries on his saddle and he assures me he can use it as expertly as he does his guns. Can't see where that would come in handy, but then again I don't know how to use one. I plan to ask him to teach me over the winter. We have to have something to do to pass the time. It won't take much to keep an eye on the cattle and if he's right and the rustling calms down, he won't be able to do any further investigation until spring. Do you think Annie's son planned it that way?"

  Belle pondered Janna's question as they went up to her room. “I don't know,” she said, entering the bedroom. “I know he didn't come himself, and that could mean that he figured it would take all winter for Black to get all the evidence he needs to arrest Clayte, if he is the one behind the rustling."

  Janna stripped off her trail-dusty clothes and poured water from the pitcher into the basin. From the steam that came from the pitcher, Belle knew that Annie had filled it with boiling water as soon as she saw Black and Janna ride up to the house. If this pitcher were filled with hot water, the one in her room would be filled as well so that Black could clean up before supper.

  Rather than watch Janna take her sponge bath, Belle concentrated on the trappings of the room. It was a house rule that the girls had to keep their own rooms clean. It was too much to ask of Annie, and Belle knew there were things that were private; the girl's bedrooms were one of those things. The only time Annie came to the girl's rooms was when she brought up the laundry and filled their pitchers with hot water.