King Blood(40)

'Uh-hah! So's you could start yourself another fight, huh?'

'No. No more fight,' Kay promised. 'But Joshie gotta go with me. Is right thing to do.'

'Well, but – ' Arlie hesitated, awkwardly, cast a half pleading look at his brother. 'Critch, I don't want t'do no buttin' in on your squaw – I mean, kind of your squaw even if she ain't really – but – '

'Kay is right,' Critch agreed handsomely. 'Joshie, you go and help your sister!'

Joshie tossed her head. 'Ho, ho!' she jeered. 'Looka who's talkin'. What you say I tell you go to hell?'

'He don't say nothin'!' Arlie snapped. 'He just plops you over his knee and pounds your happy ass off! I mean,' he added hastily, with a deferential glance at his brother, 'I mean, uh, that's right, ain't it, Critch? Paw an' Grandfather Tepaha don't favor beatin' up a woman, but they got nothin' against a good ass-paddlin'.'

'My own sentiments exactly,' Critch declared firmly. 'Joshie' – he pointed. 'Go and help Kay catch those ponies.'

'Huh! An' you gonna pound my ass if I don't?'

'You're damned right he is,' said Arlie. 'Right, Critch!'

'Uh, right,' Critch mumbled. 'I mean, I certainly will.'

Joshie bowed her head meekly… with false meekness. Inwardly titillated, warmly content with herself, she departed with her sister. They started across the field, moving ahead and to the side – each intuitively accepting her role in catching the horses so as to come up and close in on the animals from opposite directions. The two men watched them for a few moments, Arlie opining that there was nothing like exercise for taking the orneriness out of a squaw; then, satisfied that the girls intended no more mischief, they sat down on the bank of the roadside ditch and lighted cheroots.

There was an amiable silence for several minutes. A silence at last broken by Arlie's good-natured declaration that the girls' quarreling was really Critch's fault.

'I mean it, little brother. You just bounce that Joshie around in a bed, like you ought to've done long ago, and there wouldn't be nothin' for her an' Kay t'fuss about.'

'You mean marry her?' Critch laughed irritably. 'Why, I barely know the girl.'

'You know her well enough. How the hell you gonna get to know her if you don't marry her?'

'Forget it,' Critch said. 'It's out of the question.'

'How come it is? You don't figure you're too good to marry an Indian, do you? After all, you're part Indian yourself.'

'On Maw's side,' Critch nodded. 'Paw's, too, for all I know – or he knows. So, naturally, it's not a question of being too good for Joshie. I'm simply not ready to marry anyone yet.'

'Well,' Arlie grumbled. 'It'd sure save a hell of a lot of trouble if you was ready. Anyways, it just ain't natural goin' on like this. You need a woman, an' Joshie needs a man.'

Critch carefully studied the tip of his cheroot; cautiously remarked that he could not disagree with his brother's belief anent the need of man for woman, and vice versa.

'I find Joshie highly desirable, and she is obviously attracted to me, so there's no problem _per se_ about going to bed with her. But – '

'Sure, but you can't do it without marryin' her,' Arlie nodded. 'Naturally. An' you don't figure to marry her – not yet, anyways – so what's the use of talking about it?'

'Right,' murmured Critch. 'You're absolutely right, Arlie.' And from the corners of his eyes, he studied his brother with veiled incredulity.

For Arlie's face was guileless, utterly free of mockery. He undoubtedly had meant what he said. He could not accept the notion of extramarital sex with a granddaughter of Tepaha.

'Lookin' kinda puzzled, Critch,' Arlie opined, giving his brother a direct look. 'Somethin' I can help you with?'

'What?' Critch blinked. 'Oh, no, not at all. I was just thinkin' that, uh – uh – '

'Yeah?'

'Well, uh – about us pairing off. I mean, you and Kay taking one area and Joshie and I covering another. Do you think I'm ready for that yet? Paw was saying this morning that we might give it a try – if you thought it was all right, of course.'

Arlie hesitated, chewing a stem of Johnson grass. 'Why not give it a try?' he suggested. 'Ain't really no other way of finding out whether you're up to it.'

'Right,' Critch said, adding that they'd still be ahead of the game even if the experiment proved unsuccessful. 'At least, we won't have to worry about the girls fighting for a day.'

'Now, you're talking!' Arlie declared, and he stood up, dusting the seat of his pants. 'Well, guess we're 'bout ready to ride.'

The two girls returned, each riding a horse and leading one. The four animals were portioned out to their proper owners, and the sisters were apprised of the change in plans. Then, Arlie and Kay rode off down the road together, and Critch and Joshie cut out across the field to the south.

Joshie kept her mount reined in close to Critch, ostensibly to advise him on the day's routine. As their legs brushed repeatedly, Critch attempted to pull away, but each time he was defeated. Ramblingly chattering of this and that – he could only guess at what was important – she clung close to him, pressing her thigh against his until he could feel its heat, and his nostrils were filled with the sweet smell of fecund flesh.