Longarm 245: Longarm and the Vanishing Virgin (23 page)

She smiled. “Then I'll just have to prove you wrong.”

She was as good as her word. There was no false coyness, no hesitation on her part when they were in her compartment. She undressed eagerly and openly, and she was just as eager to see Longarm's naked body. Her only moment of hesitation came when she saw the length and thickness of his shaft, and that slight nervousness was quickly replaced by anticipation as she wrapped her fingers around it. “It's rather ... large, isn't it?”

Longarm managed not to laugh. He leaned forward instead and occupied himself with tonguing one of her erect pink nipples. Her breasts were fuller than he had thought they would be just by looking at her fully clothed. He cupped and molded them and sucked at the nipples until she was shivering with need.

“Oh,” she said softly. “Oh, Custis ...”

He eased her back on the bunk and parted her legs. The triangle of finespun hair that covered her mound was a shade darker than the honey-blond hair on her head. Longarm dipped a finger into her cleft and found her already wet and ready for him. He moved over her, positioning his hips between her wide spread thighs. The tip of his shaft found her opening and eased inside. She gasped at the sensation as her feminine folds parted to receive him.

He thrust forward slowly. There were two ways of doing this: fast and hard, so that the pain was over with quickly, or by taking his time so that she was thoroughly aroused and might not notice the discomfort as much when the moment came. He was going to proceed deliberately, he decided. He bent down to kiss her, and her lips parted under the stroking of his tongue. He eased his manhood more deeply within her as he reached down between them to tickle the little sentry just above the gate he had penetrated.

Nora started to squirm and buck under him, and she took her lips away from his to whisper urgently, “Now, Custis, oh, please, now!”

Well, if that was the way she wanted it ...

Longarm drove his hips forward, feeling the fleeting resistance as the barrier met his shaft and then gave way. Nora might have screamed had her mouth not been pressed hard against his. Her bottom came up off the bunk to meet his thrust. Her hips pumped in time with his, falling into the age-old rhythm despite her inexperience.

The heat and the tightness of her sheath insured that Longarm's climax swept over him quickly. That was all right, he supposed, because by that time, Nora had already spasmed a couple of times herself. He drove himself as deeply into her as he could and held himself there as his fluid began to pour out in spurt after throbbing spurt. Nora clutched him tightly, her fingernails digging into his buttocks as he emptied his seed into her. Her head thrashed from side to side in ecstasy.

When Longarm stopped shuddering, he held himself up with his hands so that his weight wouldn't crush her and leaned down to kiss her. They were both breathless and covered with a fine sheen of sweat. Nora looked up at him and smiled. “You see,” she said, “I told you I wouldn't cry.”

But as Longarm looked down at her in the dim light of the sleeping compartment, he saw something shining in her eyes.

That was all right, he told himself. Right about now, he was feeling a little misty-eyed himself.

 

That was just the beginning. Nora had a lot to learn, and evidently she was determined to learn it all in one night. The lessons stretched on into the next day, and by the time evening was approaching again, there wasn't much about Nora Canady that could be regarded as virgin anymore, Longarm supposed. But she was happy about it, and if she was happy, so was he.

Unfortunately, evening wasn't the only thing that was approaching. The lights of Denver were already twinkling on the horizon.

Longarm and Nora left the train at the station and went straight to the Federal Building. Billy Vail knew when their train was supposed to arrive, and he was waiting at the office for them. He was alone, Henry having long since gone home for the day.

“Damn it, Custis—” Vail began, then stopped short and took a deep breath. “Begging your pardon, Miss Canady,” he said to Nora. “I'm mighty glad to see that you're all right. You had a lot of folks mighty worried.”

“I'm sorry, Marshal Vail,” she said.

“When you hear her story, Billy, you'll understand why she left Denver like she did,” said Longarm.

“I hope so.” Vail looked at Nora. “But what I want to know is why this big galoot of a deputy practically ordered me not to say anything to your father and Senator Palmer about him finding you.”

“It all ties in together, Billy,” Longarm told him before Nora could say anything. He slid a cheroot from his vest pocket and went on. “We'd better all sit down. Miss Canady's got quite a story to tell.”

Vail's eyes got wider and wider as Nora explained about the land swindle being planned by Bryce Canady and Jonas Palmer. His face flushed red with anger as he heard about Palmer's efforts to have Nora killed. When she was finished, he banged a fist on his desk and exclaimed, “Blast it, Palmer probably thinks he can get away with anything just because he's a senator! Well, he's about to find out different.”

Longarm cocked his right ankle on his left knee and asked, “Do you know if he's in town, Billy?”

Vail nodded. “He's here, all right. Paying me a visit nearly every day wanting to know if I've heard anything from you. It wasn't easy lying to him the past couple of days, but now I'm glad I did. If he knew the two of you were on your way here, he'd have probably had somebody waiting for you at the station.”

“Somebody with a gun,” Longarm said dryly.

“How do you want to do this, Custis?”

Longarm leaned forward in his chair, glancing at Nora as he did so. She still seemed to be all right, a little pale but determined to go through with whatever was necessary.

“Send word to Palmer to meet us at Mr. Canady's house in an hour,” said Longarm. “I reckon it's time for a show-down.”

 

Jennings, the bald, solemn-faced butler showed Longarm and Vail into Bryce Canady's study later that evening. Canady and Jonas Palmer were both standing near Canady's desk, each of them holding a glass of brandy. Canady put his aside hurriedly and stepped forward to meet the two lawmen. His face was drawn tight with tension.

“Gentlemen,” he said. He looked at Longarm. “I assume that since you've returned, Marshal Long, you have word of my daughter.”

He thought Nora was dead, Longarm realized. He saw the grief in Canady's eyes, barely contained by the man's iron self-control. But it would have come pouring out if Canady had heard the bad news he was expecting to hear.

Longarm was glad he didn't have to deliver such news. There was that much to be thankful for in this mess anyway.

He glanced at Palmer. The senator looked tense too, but it was a different sort of anxiety. For the most part, though, Palmer's stony expression was unreadable.

“Yes, sir,” said Longarm with a nod. “I do have word of your daughter.” He stepped over to the door Jennings had closed behind them and grasped the knob. “She's right here.”

Canady gasped in surprise as Longarm threw the door open. Nora stepped through the doorway into the study, clad in a black dress and hat, with a veil over her face. She lifted her hands to the veil and raised it, and Canady cried out, practically sobbing with joy, as he saw his daughter's face. He took a step toward her.

A hell of a lot happened in a short time after that.

Longarm saw Palmer's right hand dive underneath his coat. The senator had to know that by now Nora had told her story to Longarm, Vail, and God only knows what other authorities. His career was ruined, and he faced years in prison, if not a hangman's rope. All that was left to him was vengeance—vengeance on the woman who had ruined his plans.

Longarm's Colt came out of its holster only a whisker of time after Palmer jerked a pocket pistol out of his coat. Vail yelled a warning and tackled Canady, knocking the railroad baron off his feet. Both of the middle-aged men sprawled on the expensive rug on the floor of the study. At the same instant, a huge form practically flew through the door, knocking Nora aside. O‘Shaughnessy bellowed in rage as he threw himself toward Palmer. The gun in the senator's hand cracked once, and O'Shaughnessy stumbled under the impact of the bullet. Longarm fired an instant after Palmer.

The slug crashed into Palmer's right shoulder, shattering it and sending the gun flying from Palmer's suddenly nerveless fingers. Palmer screamed in pain and fell back on Canady's desk, his arm flopping loosely.

Longarm stepped over to him and kicked the gun away, then grabbed Palmer's shirtfront and jerked him upright.

“Quit your caterwauling, Senator,” Longarm told him through clenched teeth. “You'll live. Live to hang, more than likely.”

Billy Vail was on his knees by now, looking down at Canady. “I hate to say this, Mr. Canady, but you're under arrest for trying to defraud the United States government.”

Canady sat up. “So it's all come out, has it?” he asked heavily. He looked at his daughter, who was crying now. “Nora, you knew....”

“I'm sorry, Father,” she practically wailed.

Canady climbed to his feet. Under Vail's watchful eye, he stepped over to her and put his arms around her. “Don't worry,” he told her, patting her back. “Are you all right? Were you hurt?”

Nora shook her head as she buried her face against his chest.

Canady smiled and hugged her. “Then that's all I care about. None of the rest of it matters. I've got my little girl back.”

“No thanks to Palmer here,” said Longarm. “He did his damnedest to have her killed, Canady.”

The tycoon turned his head to look at his secret partner, the man who might have been his son-in-law. His lips drew back from his teeth. “I hope they put us in the same cell, Jonas,” he said softly.

Judging from the sag jawed expression on the senator's face, thought Longarm, Jonas Palmer had just found himself looking right into the pits of Hell.

Jennings was fussing over O'Shaughnessy, who was holding a hand over a bloody patch on his shoulder. “Oh, Lord, you're hurt, Fergus!” Jennings said.

“‘Tis naught but a scratch,” insisted O'Shaughnessy. “Ye did not think a wee gun like that could hurt me, did ye?”

“I'll summon a doctor,” Jennings said before he rushed out of the room. Obviously, the hostility he had demonstrated toward the big Irishman during Longarm's previous visit to the Canady mansion was just a facade.

“Well, now,” Billy Vail said as he looked around the room, “looks like it's all over.”

Longarm looked at Canady, who was still holding his daughter as she cried against his chest. “Maybe,” he said. “Maybe some of it's just starting.”

 

The streets of Denver were quiet, and a hint of a cool breeze drifted down from the Front Range, relieving the warmth of the summer night. Longarm was walking because he felt like walking. He could have ridden in the wagon with Billy Vail and the two prisoners and the other deputies who were guarding them, but he hadn't felt like it. He probably could have stayed back at the Canady mansion for a while, where Nora was being looked after by Jennings and O'Shaughnessy and the other servants.

Instead he had felt the need to stretch his legs, to walk downtown and maybe get a drink, play a hand or two of cards.

Put this case and its tangled emotions behind him.

He drew deeply on the cheroot that was smoldering between his teeth. He and Nora had parted friends, and that was good. She had known that he and Vail were only doing their jobs. And she had whispered to him while they were momentarily alone that she didn't regret a thing they had done on the train, not a thing. But it would be a while before she would want to see much of him again, if ever, and he could understand that. He had to.

He wondered how Billy Vail would feel about giving him some time off, time enough to ride back down to Texas and see Beth Jellicoe again....

The whisper of boot leather on pavement was all the warning he had.

Longarm spun around and spotted the figure lunging out of an alley mouth, heard the screamed curses, saw the gaping twin maws of a double-barreled shotgun pointing at him.

“Shit!” said Longarm.

He had forgotten all about Badger Bob McGurk.

He went diving for the ground as McGurk triggered both barrels of the Greener. The orange flare of the muzzle blasts lit up the night and cast the ugly features of the vengeful outlaw in a garish light. Longarm's gun was in his hand as he landed on his belly and felt buckshot sting his back as it grazed him. He fired twice, and both bullets caught Badger Bob in the face, making him even uglier as well as dead. McGurk flopped backward, dropping the scattergun.

Longarm stood up, dug out a lucifer with his left hand, and flicked it into life. The light from the match showed him Badger Bob's sprawled body. The outlaw would never hurt anybody again. Longarm dropped the lucifer and ground it out under his boot heel.

Somewhere in the distance, a whistle was blowing. One of the Denver policemen must have heard the shot and was summoning help before he came to investigate, thought Longarm.

He holstered his gun and sat down on the curb to wait. After a moment, he said, “Huh.” He had just realized that he still didn't know if the fella called Ross, Badger Bob's old cell mate, had been hired to kill him by Senator Palmer, or if Ross had come after him as a favor to McGurk. He might never know, because McGurk and Ross were both dead and Palmer wasn't likely to ever admit to anything he didn't have to.