Soiled Dove (3 page)

“Does the idea make you uncomfortable?”

“A little. Perhaps you would rather spend the evening and your money with someone more experienced.”

“No. I am quite satisfied with our arrangement,”

Jo answered with a grin. She brought her hands up and touched Loretta’s rib cage. “I’m quite certain this corset cannot be comfortable. Please feel free to remove it.”

Here it comes
, Loretta smirked.
She’s no different
than my male customers. Ready to get to the goodies.

“Why don’t you remove it for me?” Loretta replied seductively.

Jo laughed. “We have all night, my dear, and I am in no hurry, although it is an extremely provocative offer.”

“Then could you at least unbutton my dress?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Jo said.

Loretta turned around and lifted her hair away from the neckline of the dress. She wasn’t accustomed to such a slow and deliberate pace with her customers. Jo was an unusual woman. Not exactly beautiful, but striking looking. Her facial features were angular, almost severe, but strong and attractive nonetheless. Loretta liked the gentleness and softness in the woman’s voice when she spoke. She was obviously accustomed to spending intimate time with other women and that intrigued Loretta. How different could it be? Sex was sex.

Warm fingers caressed Loretta’s shoulders as the dress was pushed down over them. Loretta reached up and untied the cord holding her corset tightly against her body. She heard the sharp, quick intake of a breath behind her as the corset loosened.

“Perhaps you should remove the corset privately.

I’m not quite ready to see you unclothed…yet,” she said as she leaned closer to Loretta’s ear. “You’re an accomplished temptress for one so young.”

“So I’ve been told,” Loretta said. “But apparently not good enough...yet.”

“Never underestimate your talents, my dear.”

THE CLOCK ON Loretta’s bedroom wall chimed ten o’clock. Jo was still lounging comfortably in the upholstered chair and Loretta was curled up on her bed, her feet beneath her as she rested against the headboard.

Jo looked at the clock and smiled. “I didn’t realize it was getting so late.”

“It’s still early yet.”

“Would you like more wine? I can order another bottle.”

“No. This is more than I usually drink. But it was very good wine.”

Jo stood and stretched, then plopped back down in her chair. “You might have to assist me with these boots,” she said. “They’re a little snug and always create a problem.”

Loretta bounced off the bed and turned her back to Jo. “Give me your foot,” she ordered. “Then push against me with the other one.”

Within a few seconds Jo was contentedly wiggling her toes on the carpet in front of her chair. “God, that feels better than anything I can imagine,” she breathed.

“Anything?”

A smirk raised Jo’s lips. “So far.”

Jo stood again and stared down into Loretta’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said. Before she realized what she was doing, Loretta began slowly pulling the shirt from Jo’s waist, her hands stroking the hot, fevered skin beneath. She watched Jo’s face become more relaxed under her touch and spread her fingers across Jo’s soft back.

Jo’s hand rose to caress Loretta’s cheek and she leaned closer, allowing her hands to move into the front opening of Loretta’s robe. “You’re incredibly beautiful,” Jo whispered. She pressed her cheek to Loretta’s before bringing her mouth closer to the young woman’s. “May I kiss you?” she asked.

Loretta couldn’t restrain a laugh. “No one’s ever asked my permission before.”

“I am.”

“I’ve never kissed a woman.”

“A kiss is a kiss,” Jo said with a slight shrug.

“And if I say no?”

“Then I would not, much to my regret.”

While they were speaking their lips remained centimeters apart. Loretta felt the hot breath of her customer. “Then who am I to refuse such a request,”

Loretta said.

A brief smile crossed Jo’s lips as they met Loretta’s tentatively. As the kiss deepened slightly, Loretta’s lips parted, inviting her in. She drew Loretta’s tongue into her mouth and traced its edges with her own, her arms lifting the smaller woman closer.

Loretta had been kissed many times, but never had anyone kissed her so gently and with such controlled desire. She wrapped her arms around Jo’s neck as she was lifted from the floor and pressed her mouth hard against Jo’s.

When the kiss ended and Jo lowered her to the floor, Loretta was light-headed from the contact.

“May I touch you?” Jo breathed heavily.

“Will you please stop asking permission before every movement,” Loretta snapped. “It’s driving me crazy.”

Jo looked down at her and smiled. “That’s the idea, my dear. To drive you crazy…with want and desire.”

“You’ve succeeded,” Loretta said as she began unbuttoning Jo’s shirt. Her efforts were hindered by the feel of Jo’s hands lightly caressing her breasts.

Fingers rolled her nipples between them, the pressure sending jolts of desire through her abdomen and between her thighs.

“If you don’t stop that, I’ll never get this damn shirt off of you,” Loretta said through clenched teeth as she tried to concentrate on what she was doing rather than what she was feeling.

“You may be disappointed at what you find,” Jo said, her lips trailing kisses over Loretta’s ear and down her throat, further distracting her.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Loretta said, finally giving up on the buttons and ripping the shirt open.

She was surprised to find no brassiere beneath, but rather a lovely pair of the smallest breasts she had ever seen. With a smile, Loretta brought her mouth to a breast and sucked it between her lips, running her tongue in circles around the nipple which responded quickly. She felt Jo tremble in her arms.

“I…I must lie down,” Jo stammered. “It would be most embarrassing to fall to the floor in a heap during this delightfully intoxicating moment.”

A laugh rumbled from deep in Loretta’s chest and she turned them halfway, gently pushing Jo backward onto the bed. She slipped her robe from her naked body into a pile at her feet before joining her client.

LORETTA’S EYES FLUTTERED open and she stretched an arm across the jumbled covers on the bed. She felt the coolness of the sheets and sat up. She was preparing to get up when the door to her room opened and a woman with strawberry blonde hair, now covered by a small hat perched toward the front, and wearing a floor-length, deep blue dress with a white lace collar, stepped inside. Round, gold-framed glasses perched on the bridge of Jo’s nose, giving her a studious appearance. Her cheeks flushed when she saw the naked young woman sitting up on the bed, staring at her.

“I’m sorry, my dear. I didn’t mean to awaken you,” Jo said.

“You didn’t,” Loretta said. “I rolled over and you were gone.”

“Yes. My train will be arriving soon and I cannot afford to miss it.”

“You look like a different person,” Loretta smiled.

“I am a different person.” Jo moved to the side of the bed and reached out to stroke a finger over Loretta’s cheek. “Thank you for a wonderful night.

You are an amazing young woman.”

“Thank you. I hope it was everything you anticipated.”

“And much more, my dear,” Jo said with a slight grin.“Will you ever come through here again?”

“Possibly, but you and I will likely never see one another again. It’s safest for both of us, I believe. I cannot afford to have my personal proclivities known and one day you will find happiness with a good man.”

Loretta reached out and grabbed Jo by the forearm when she started to turn away. “No one has ever treated me as well as you, Jo. Or loved me as well.”

“Thank you, Loretta. Some day someone will.

Someone who doesn’t have to hide their desires in the shadows. You are an exquisite young woman. Don’t let this life scar you.”

Jo pushed her glasses farther up her nose and picked up her valise. “I wish you well, Loretta. Please take care of yourself.”

Loretta nodded dumbly, watching Jo leave her room in the pre-dawn hours. She took a deep breath and fell back onto the bed. Truly, she had spent a night like none she could have dreamed of. She hadn’t known such pleasure between two people was possible. For the first time in her life she felt cared for rather than used. Even though money had been involved, she hadn’t been treated as property. Jo hadn’t forced herself upon her, taking her cues from the way Loretta’s body reacted to each touch and kiss Finally, Loretta scooted to the edge of her bed and stood up. Maybe she could get a relaxing bath before the other girls awakened. As she passed her dressing table and reached for her robe, she noticed an envelope leaning against the mirror. She opened it and withdrew several bills. She counted it and was stunned to find one hundred dollars Jo had left for her. The bills were wrapped in a piece of paper containing a note and a business card. “Thank you for an unforgettable evening. The best of my life. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need assistance. Jo.” She flipped the business card over and read the inscription “Josephine Barclay, Esquire. Attorney-at-Law. St. Louis, Missouri.”

Loretta was mildly surprised that Jo, who obviously led a secretive life, had entrusted her with her identity. She moved the table next to her bed and pulled up a loose floorboard. She dropped Jo’s card and the money into a small box hidden beneath the board. She should receive another fifty as her percentage of the money Jack had charged for her services. She was getting closer to her goal. Perhaps before the first of the year she would be able to leave this life behind.

Chapter Three

HETTIE TOBIAS READJUSTED her small brown valise in her hand while holding her wide-brimmed hat on her head with the other as she peeked down one side of the train platform and then the other. The covered area in front of the busy station in St. Joseph was overflowing with people milling around. Burly men in blue and gold uniforms labored to pull huge rolling carts with metal wheels, loaded with mail, supplies, and baggage down the length of the wooden walkway toward boxcars waiting to head north, south, east and west. St. Joseph was the entry point into the great unknown everyone simply referred to as the West. The accounts she had read in the Indiana newspapers regaled readers with what she suspected were heavily embellished stories of the golden plains of Kansas and the majesty of the mountains in the Colorado Territory and beyond.

Always a bookish young woman, she had been rather thrilled when she received a reply to her query concerning a teaching position in the town of Trinidad in the southeastern corner of the Colorado Territory. Even though she lived a predictable and stable life in Germantown, Indiana, Hettie longed for adventure and the call of the west had been alluring.

She took the hand offered to her by a smiling porter and stepped off the train. No matter how she had planned her trip there would still be a layover in St. Joseph, Missouri and she would have to use part of her savings to find a decent room for the next few nights. She had never traveled by train before and found the continual stopping and starting to load and unload passengers, freight, and mail exhausting.

Every time she closed her eyes she was jolted awake by the shudder of the locomotive braking. It hadn’t been what she expected in the least and she hoped the remainder of her journey would be more pleasant.

She cast a smile in the porter’s direction and walked carefully across the platform to avoid running into small children and harried adults. Despite standing on solid ground her body felt as if it was still in motion. She dusted off her skirt and pushed her spectacles back up onto her nose as she thought about where she should go next. Finally, she approached the ticket window and waited for the man behind the bars to look up. A black visor encircled his head and he finally peered up at her over his round framed glasses.

“Can I help you, miss?” he asked as he set aside the paperwork he had been engrossed in.

Hettie stepped closer with a slight smile. “My train west will not be leaving for a few days. Do you know of a nice but relatively inexpensive place nearby where I might find suitable lodging until then?”

He scanned Hettie’s face and body from the waist up and said, “There’s a nice rooming house about two blocks from here. Mrs. Covington usually has an extra room and the price ain’t bad.”

“And which direction might that be?” she asked stiffly. She needed a bath and a change of clothes. She had just spent two long days in a crowded, smelly passenger car, surrounded by any number of unsavory looking characters and crying children.

The man leaned forward and stuck his hand between the bars to point to Hettie’s right. “That way two or three blocks. It’s a white two-story with a white picket fence. Two large bougainevillea in front.

Can’t miss it.”

Hettie turned to walk away, but paused for a moment. “I’m traveling from here to Trinidad in the Colorado Territory. Can you tell me how long that trip might take?”

“Depends on how many times the train has to stop, but I’d count on at least three days. Maybe four.”

“Four days!”

“Could be three,” the man shrugged. “Lots of little towns have sprung up along the railroad right of way in the last few years. Course, the train only goes to Pueblo right now. You’ll have to take a stagecoach the last sixty miles or so.”

“And what about my luggage?”

“We’ll keep it locked up in here until your train arrives and then load it.”

Hettie began walking toward the rooming house, her mind filled with thoughts. Possibly four more days crammed on a train car. God! What had she been thinking? She knew absolutely nothing about the people or the town she was traveling to. Calvin wanted to marry her. Why hadn’t she accepted?

Because Calvin was boring. Just another farmer looking for a woman to cook and clean and bear children. She stopped and smiled to herself. She had read that families in the west were large, sometimes more than six children so they could grow up and help work their homesteads. But this would be an adventure. Hettie nodded in an attempt to convince herself. She stopped in front of the large two-story boarding house, took a deep breath, and made her way up the steps.