Death in High Places (A Renegade Western Book 7) Read online

  He thought of opening the porthole as he finished undressing, and decided not to. It wasn’t too hot, this late, and you never knew when a bad roll would ship green water over the side. So he was all too aware he was not alone in the darkness as he got under the sheet. The blackness was filled with the smell of her perfume and the musky undercurrents even a clean person sheds indoors on a tropic night. He had a raging erection now. The damned drink was going through him, too, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to come or piss. He decided both but tried to ignore it, since neither was imperative and he didn’t want to disturb his cabin mate.

  He listened for her breathing. She seemed too quiet to be sound asleep. The ship rumbled and groaned around him as the rough seas twisted its hull. Somewhere water was gurgling in a pipe and it made him think harder about his own plumbing, damn it. He sniffed and, yes, he definitely detected a faint whiff of urine in the stuffy darkness. It wasn’t fair. He didn’t really have to go, but he decided he’d better try. He’d have genital dreams if he didn’t drain his bladder well before falling asleep, and the dreams he’d been having the last few nights had been pissers. He didn’t think he talked in his sleep, but if he did, it was small wonder that Liza seemed more nervous each time they locked themselves in here together for the night.

  He sighed and swung his bare feet to the floor. He waited until the steamer was at the top of its roll and rose to grope his way toward the closed bathroom door. As he reached for the knob, it opened and he flinched as his hand encountered the unexpected feel of thin silk over human flesh. He didn’t scream, but Liza did, as the ship took an unexpected hitch and threw them together in the doorway. He kept his hand cupped against her hip bone to steady her as he braced them both in the doorway by grabbing the jam. He said, “Easy, it’s me – Dick. I didn’t know you were in there. What happened to the light?”

  She moved his hand up to her waistline as she said, “The bulb blew out. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Then, as the vessel rolled the other way and she fell against him, she stiffened and gasped, “Oh, my God, you’re naked!”

  “Hey, it’s dark and we’ve been through all that before. Can you make it up to your ivory tower, or do you need a boost?”

  “Let go of me, I’m fine,” she gasped, a bit -breathless.

  So he did, and he would have ducked inside and closed the bathroom door, had not he heard her gasp again and fall to the floor as the ship rolled treacherously again. He knew it would be an awkward time to switch on the cabin light, so he groped his way to her and bent to help her up, saying, “Stuff’s sliding out from under the bunk. Are you okay?”

  She said she was fine as they both lost their balance and crashed into a corner together. He held her against him as he got his bearings, saying, “Easy, now. I don’t want people saying I’m a wife beater. Let’s just take this slow and easy and feel our way to beddy-bye, right?”

  She tried to push him away, but he was naked everywhere she could feel and she whimpered, “Please, Dick, you’re making me feel awkward.”

  “Well, stop squirming around, then. I’m not trying to rape you. I’m trying to get you back up in your bunk without a fractured skull.”

  He felt her relax slightly and said, “That’s better. Now, it’s like dancing, see? You let me lead and I’ll waltz you across on the next roll.”

  “All right, but would you please move your, uh, hips away?”

  He hadn’t noticed his semi-erection in the area just below her belly button until then. He pulled back as it suddenly started to rise to the occasion with a mind of its own, the little bastard. He said, “All right, I’m hot for you and we both know it. We’ve established that you don’t want to play, so let’s stop acting so damned coy. Here we go, just relax and … voila, your bedchamber awaits, my lady.”

  He put one hand on the rail of her bunk as he still held her with the other and said, “Grab the rail and I’ll make a stirrup for you with my hands.”

  But she fell closer as the ship rolled, moved back to brace herself against the bulkhead and said, “Just take your hands off me, damn it.”

  “Hey, you’re trembling like a leaf.”

  “I know what I feel like, Dick. Just get away from me!”

  “No. You’re acting hysterical for no good reason and it’s time we put a stop to this bullshit. We have to pass, in public at least, as man and wife. We can’t do that if you jump ten feet every time I get within a foot of you.”

  “I know how to play the part, Dick. Please let go of me.”

  “Not until we thrash this out, doll. We may never see one another again, once we reach the sábana country. But we face another week in intimate travel, with others watching. You think this cabin is intimate? What are you going to do if we have to share a railroad berth or a sleeping bag on the trail?”

  “If you don’t let me go I’ll scream!”

  “That’s what I mean. I don’t know what sort of man messed up your pretty head, honey, but you’ve got to learn to trust me. I know this is a hell of a thing to say to a lady, but I can take you or leave you, doll. I’m not an animal that has to be serviced every time it becomes aware there’s sex to be had within a mile.”

  “Dick, I know you’ve been a gentleman. Maybe it’s me. I don’t know why you scare me so. You just do!”

  He put a hand gently under her chin in the darkness and said, “Look, you’re not going to be as scared of the whirlpool if you stick a toe in and find out how easy it is to take it out.”

  He bent to kiss her as she tried to turn her head, whimpering. “Please don’t. It could be dangerous – for you, Dick.”

  He held her chin firmly and pressed his lips to hers. They were hot and oddly dry until she suddenly started to respond to his questing tongue. The ship rolled and they were thrown closer together. He went with it, and she melted in his arms for a moment, wrapping her arms around him hungrily. But when he came up for air, she stiffened again and said, “I warned you not to kiss me, Dick. Now I have to tell you something rather disgusting about myself.”

  “Later,” he said, and moved to kiss her again. But she put a palm between them and sobbed, “Dick, I’m a consumptive!”

  He grimaced in the dark, but held her as before. He said, “Okay, you have TB. One out of twenty people you meet these days has a touch of it.”

  “You’re not … frightened?”

  “I’m frightened for you, honey. I know what you’ve been living with. But a German doctor named Koch has discovered the cause and he’s working on a cure, right?”

  She shuddered in his arms and said, “I know all about the work of Robert Koch. I’m personally involved. Consumption was considered rather romantic when I was a girl. We didn’t know about bacillus tuberculosis when so many Mayfair poets languished among the camellias with consumption. Nobody knew it was contagious, you see. But it is, Dick, and you just kissed me.”

  He kissed her again and said, “It can’t be too catching, or we’d all have it. I keep meeting you people everywhere I go. Although most of them aren’t as pretty.”

  She sighed and leaned against him, saying, “I’ve tried so hard to be strong, Dick. I know they say my condition stimulates one sexually, but it’s not fair to any man and—”

  “Hey, relax, kitten. We don’t have to dive off any cliffs together. I’ll be good if you want me to. Now that I can touch you without having you flinch like a spooked colt.”

  “I think we’d better stop right here and now, then, Dick. I have feelings, too. But I want to get up in my bunk, alone, now.”

  He nodded and said, “Sure. This is just for the road,” as he started to draw her close again.

  The ship suddenly tripped over a wave and the deck bucked under them, throwing his aim off, and instead of grabbing her shoulder he flattened a palm against her chest. He could feel a turgid nipple between his fingers and her rib cage … and that was all!

  He rubbed experimentally as the hairs on the back of his neck rose and somebod
y poured ice water down his spine. Then he bared his teeth and started to run his hand down her body in a direct no-nonsense way.

  She gasped, “Oh, no, what are you doing?”

  “Frisking you for some answers, lady. And if you’re not a lady, you are in a hell of a mess!”

  “Please, don’t!” she gasped, trying to twist away as his hand slid over her mons, cupped between her trembling thighs, and suddenly became more gentle.

  He relaxed and said, “Sorry, ma’am. You just gave me a fright.”

  She thrust her pelvis out and slid her own hands down his bare flanks as she complained, “I gave you a fright? I thought you said we’d be good, you rat!”

  He didn’t want to tell her he’d never felt such a flat chest before, so he just kissed her some more as he continued to massage her between the legs, gathering material up with his fingers an inch at a time as he felt her moistness through the cloth between them. Liza slid her own hand between them and grasped his shaft with a muffled moan against his lips.

  But as he felt her bare thighs against his own, she twisted her face aside and said, “No, we can’t. I’ll try to satisfy you, but … not that way!”

  And then she slid down between him and the bulkhead to her knees, kissing him all the way as she stroked his erection. He braced himself with his hands against the bulkhead where she’d just been, frowning down in the dark. As hot breath from her open mouth enveloped his turgid glans, he stiffened his legs expectantly, but said, “Let’s get on the bunk and I’ll do you that way, too.”

  But she didn’t answer. She couldn’t speak with her mouth full.

  He groaned with pleasure as she began to suck, and he knew she’d done this sort of thing before. Liza tucked her lips over her teeth to form a soft tight rim as she let him use her mouth as a responsive vagina and she didn’t gag as he gently but firmly drove it deeply in and out while she moved her tongue teasingly. He’d been almost there to start with, so he warned her, “You’d better finish with your hand, I’m getting ready to …” and then she swallowed hard, until her nose was buried in his pubic hair and her helping hand was rubbing his scrotum over her wet chin and he exploded deep in the softness behind her palate!

  He moaned, “Kee-rist!” as his legs turned to jelly and he tried to fall back away from her. But Liza clung to him with her hungry mouth like a velvet-jawed bulldog and as he sank, seated on the edge of his bunk, she shoved him over backwards with her free hand and went on sucking.

  He relaxed all but his genital muscles as she aroused him again with her incredible fellatio. He cupped her flushed cheeks in his hands as her head bobbed, and groaned, “That’s so good it’s torture! But what about you? If you’re afraid to go all the way I’m willing to speak French with you. Get out of that damned nighty and swivel your fanny up where a guy can show a little common courtesy in return!”

  But she mumbled something negative and by now it was too late to insist. He came again, and she never missed a stroke as she went on making wild oral sex. Something wet ran over his thumb, near her nostril and he blinked in astonishment and throbbed harder as he realized what was running out of her nose. He’d made love to consumptives before, and it was true they-seemed to be hotter than their more healthy sisters, but this one was absolutely crazy for cock!

  She didn’t stop until he’d come a third time. Then she gulped, slowly withdrew as she teased with her tongue, and asked, “Did you like that, darling?”

  He said, “I’ll let you know when I get down from paradise. But what about you?”

  “Have I convinced you I’m really a girl, even if I’m a little flat-chested?”

  “Yeah, I know that was a dirty trick, but you obviously had your engine running, too. What are we going to do about your poor neglected boiler room, doll?”

  She giggled and said, “I was playing with myself. Thank God it’s so dark. I think I came as many times as you did.”

  “You sure acted like you did. But, hell, anyone can come with their own hand. It’s supposed to be the last resort. Slide up here and let me pet you right, at least.”

  She said, “No, thanks, I told you I’d satisfied my own needs and – well, it would be messy.”

  “Oh, oh, you should have told me it was that time of the month.”

  “Would you have stopped?”

  He laughed and said, “Probably not without a lot of whimpering. I know this isn’t delicate, but neither of us seems to be blushing virgins and you must know the advantages of a damp towel and a shower afterwards.”

  She said, “No, I couldn’t have done it that way the first time.”

  “What about the next time?”

  “We’ll see. I’m almost better and I think I’d rather wait, dear. I’m relieved we broke the tension, too. I feel ever so much comfortable with you now.

  “You know, I was very angry when I caught you with another woman that night on the other boat. I knew it was silly, but you were supposed to be my husband and, damn it, I felt betrayed.”

  He said, “I was acting in the line of duty, I think.”

  “I saw how you were acting when she popped off your shaft. You know I wanted it the first time I saw it, don’t you?”

  “It’s all yours, doll. Why don’t you crawl up here and we’ll talk about it.”

  She said, “No. I’d better get up in my own bunk. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

  He shrugged, leaned forward and made a stirrup of his hands to boost her into the top bunk after she kissed him firmly good-night. He went into the bathroom and relieved himself. He didn’t have to wash it off. But he dried it on a towel.

  He found his way back to his bunk in the dark and got in. It wasn’t empty. Liza was stark naked under the sheet as he slid in beside her. He took her in his arms as she took him by the shaft to guide him between her welcoming thighs and he didn’t say a word until he was on top of her, thrusting into her, with his chest pinning her boyish upper body to the mattress.

  She sobbed, “Oh, yes, that’s what I needed.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Going ashore through customs was anti-climactic after all the worry. It was Gaston’s theory that the touring theatrical company took a lot of pressure off them as the harassed-looking Colombian customs officials went through their many cases of props and scenery. The fifty-peso note wrapped around the cigar he offered the man at their counter might have speeded things up, too.

  They got to the railroad depot in plenty of time and booked a compartment on the English-style coach. But then they had to wait, and wait, until everyone else who’d come ashore from the same steamer had made it to the train.

  As the little wood-burner tooted and dinged its way out of Buenaventura, the compartment door opened the Divine Rowena swept in with her two huge dogs. She said, “I wanted a private compartment, but you people can stay here, since we’re all white, and obviously going the same way.”

  Gaston slid over in his seat as Liza stared amazed at the flamboyant blond and Captain Gringo eyed the dogs thoughtfully. They seemed willing to rough it on the floor, but they took up a hell of a lot of room. He glanced at Gaston with a raised eyebrow. The Frenchman said, “The more the merrier. Or perhaps the more diverting, hein?” and the American decided not to throw her out after all. Who was going to look twice at journalists when there was a hat like that one to stare at?

  The countryside away from the seaport was flat and seemed devoted to growing sugarcane where it wasn’t rice paddy or coconut trees. The locomotive was having a hard time pulling them along level ground and he knew they’d be going even slower as soon as they crossed the coastal plains to the foothills.

  The conductor came in to punch their tickets. He looked sadly down at the dogs and said, “I am sorry, señora, but livestock is not allowed in first class.”

  The Divine Rowena said, “They’re not livestock, they’re my friends, and if you call this first class, I’d hate to see second. I’m not used to traveling with strangers. I prefer more roo
m. Would you be good enough to arrange a private compartment for me, once we’re under way?”

  The conductor looked pained. “No, señora. I am sorry, but the train is crowded, as I told you before. And the regulations are most clear as to animals in the first-class coaches. I shall have to ask you to let me put your dogs up front in the baggage cars.”

  “You can ask all you like, my good man. However, if you molest my pets I’ll have you arrested. I happen to be very important, anywhere, and I am in your country as a guest of Senator Vargas.”

  “Well, as long as none of the other passengers object …”

  The Divine Rowena glared about her as if the very idea that anyone might object to having a wolfhound on his or her feet was beyond comprehension. Gaston winked at the conductor and said, “It’s all right. If the train breaks down, we may want to ride.”

  The conductor shrugged and left. The Divine Rowena sniffed and said, “Peones are such a bore.”

  Captain Gringo took out a smoke and started to light it. The blond said, “I don’t allow smoking in my compartment, sir.”

  He said, “Tough. Call a peon.” Then he struck a light and leaned back to enjoy his smoke more than he’d really expected to. The Divine Rowena turned to Gaston and asked, “Are you going to stand for that, sir?”

  Gaston said, “Oui, he’s bigger than me.” He didn’t look at his friends. He knew they’d be smart enough to see that the blond hadn’t connected them. It could be another advantage, if anyone was expecting a threesome. They were pretty sure they’d covered their tracks so far, but in a game of life and death, any chips fate placed on the table for you were worth betting on.

  One of the dogs raised its head, sniffed, and placed its muzzle in Liza’s lap. She patted it and said, “Hello, old chap. What’s your name?”

  The Divine Rowena said, “Horsa is not allowed to associate with strangers, miss.”