Outlaw Hearts(153)

***

Miranda breathed deeply as Jake took her slowly, both of them trying to be quiet about their lovemaking. She arched up to her husband, the feel of him inside her as glorious and fulfilling as ever. Age had not changed this for either of them. There were more nights now when they were simply too tired or ached too much to make love, but the desire had not changed, nor their ability to please each other.

Jake licked at her breasts, savoring the taut nipples that had been offered only to him for the past nineteen years. He was still feeling good about the successful roundup, about the way the Parker herd had bounced back from the last few lean years since the terrible winter of 1880. It was good to be home again, good to have a few days off to just be with his family, to relax and make love to his wife, the woman who had been so faithful to him.

He pressed close to her, ignoring the pain in his hip as he moved in circular motions that he knew excited her. She felt the muscles deep inside her pulling at him in her climax, and he met her mouth, licking and tasting in response to her groans of pleasure. Her own sweetness was on his lips, for he had tasted her intimately, slowly, quietly pleasing that part of her that only he could satisfy, the passionate woman deep inside who was so bold and free in his arms. He figured if he died tomorrow, he would die the richest, happiest man on earth.

His life spilled into her, and for a moment he felt the sudden ache he often felt when he thought how she could not take that life and have it blossom into another child. He knew she suffered silently the pain of never having been able to have more babies. He didn’t care so much for himself, but she was such a good woman and good mother, it didn’t seem fair that she should have been denied the chance to have as many children as she wanted.

He kissed her several times over before pulling away from her. He pulled her against him then, her back to him, and he caressed her breasts as they lay there quietly for a moment. “That lieutenant we met today worries me a little,” he told her quietly.

“Why do you say that? Did he say something?”

“No. He didn’t do or say a damn thing I can pinpoint. It’s just the way he looked at me, like he was trying to remember me. I could swear I’ve never met him before, except for one thing—that brown mark on his neck, like a birthmark. I’ve seen that before, and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Maybe you saw a similar mark on someone else.”

“No. It’s too distinctive.” He sighed deeply and rolled onto his back. “I don’t like it, Randy.”

She turned and raised up on one elbow, studying him in a ray of moonlight that came through the window. “Jake, it’s been nineteen years since you left Missouri. I doubt there are any wanted posters left anywhere around, if that’s what you’re worried about—or any lawman left back there who remembers you. Maybe after a certain number of years you can’t even be arrested anymore. Is that where you think you know him from?”

“I’m not sure I know him at all. If I do, it isn’t from Missouri. It must have been before that.” He sat up, lighting the oil lamp beside the bed so he could roll himself a cigarette. He took a deep drag on the smoke and turned the lamp down again, lying back in the bed and smoking quietly. “Damn,” he muttered. “I just don’t know what to make of it.”

Miranda moved an arm around his middle. “You’ve got to stop worrying about things that haven’t happened, Jake. It might be nothing at all.”

He sighed deeply. “A man with my past always has to be alert. If it was just me, it wouldn’t be so bad. But there’s you and the kids…if they ever found out about me…”

“Jake, they love you. They will always love you.”

He finished his cigarette and put it out, settling in beside her and pulling her into his arms. “What would I do without you, mi esposa? You’ve been my strength all these years, you know. If you hadn’t come along when you did, I’d probably be dead by now from some man’s bullet, maybe hanged. If I wasn’t dead, I’d be some drunken, worthless bastard wasting my life away at Robber’s Roost or Brown’s Park or some other hole along the Outlaw Trail.”

She raised up and kissed his mouth lightly. “I don’t believe that. You were wanting to change your life, and I think you would have done it even without me.”

He grasped her hair and pulled her to him, returning the kiss she had just given him. “You’re a damn good woman, Miranda Hayes.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “It’s Miranda Harkner, and I never would have been ashamed to use your real name, Jake.”