Coyote (22 page)

We travelled by moonlight to within half a day's ride of Santa Fe.

Our horses needed a rest and food and water. Coyote Jack insisted we halt at a secret site he knew called Talking Waters. He said it was safe, that before the whites came, all the nations used to come from hundreds of miles away to use it, but now came only rarely. And that the whites didn't know about it at all.

Talking Waters was a pond tucked into an overhanging cliff. It looked out over the silver plains to the rising moon. I tasted the water and it was fine so I let my girls drink. Coyote Jack stood by with his stallion and did the same.

He hadn't lied; this spot had been an ancient meeting place. There were petroglyphs, rock carvings, and the land still held the mark of horse-borne traffic.

I unsaddled my three girls, rubbed them down, then gave them the last of their grain. The palomino stallion snorted at the luxury and then wandered off into the bushes to find his own meal.

I stared down at the still pond. ‘It's not very talkative at the moment.'

‘Talking Waters is around that corner.' He pointed off to the right. ‘But that water is sacred, so we have to leave the horses here.'

Around the corner, in a rocky gully, sat a series of geothermal pools, bubbling and steaming in the chilly night air.

Oh yeah, I could get into those things all right! I shivered with pleasure at the sight, then remembered I couldn't take a damned stitch off.

I was supposed to be a man.

Standing right next to me, Coyote Jack pulled off his stiff-brimmed hat. His long black hair slithered down his back like silk …

Uh-oh …

He peeled off his embroidered fawn riding coat, then unbuttoned his white shirt, letting it slip off his tanned shoulders. He flicked back his silky midnight hair. It slipped and slithered down his muscular back with each new movement, framing his chiselled chest and abs.

Oh God!

He was doing a leisurely strip tease …

I wanted to fan myself.

He went to work on his boots, shedding them to stretch and bend each muscular foot with a deep sigh of pleasure.

I smothered my reaction. I didn't want to appear too interested but I couldn't look embarrassed either.

He was a man …

I was supposed to be a man …

This was the frontier …

I settled for spitting into the bushes, lounging across a flat rock at the edge of the pool and
pretending to take off my boots. At least it was warm by the water.

Coyote Jack undid his fawn trousers, revealing heavily muscled hips.

I shook my head. All this riding was doing something crazy to my libido!

When he dropped them, I sucked in a breath … there was nothing underneath.

Damn!

I gave myself a mental slap. I was really going to have to do something serious about my love life when I got back from this mission! I'd spent way too long on the bench.

Completely naked, Coyote Jack knelt at the side of the first pool, said a silent prayer, then, using his cupped hands, poured water over his body. Earlier, he'd taken a root from the yucca plants growing near the pond, now he used it to lather up and clean himself.

His wet flesh glistened in the moonlight …

It was incredibly erotic.

I rolled my eyes up to the starry sky above with a plea for intervention of some kind. Then went back to watching …

He was just too gorgeous a sight to miss.

He had tanned smooth skin and shining midnight-black hair that hung to his taut arse. It was a superb body. Muscular, sleek, good shoulders and arms, strong legs and back. It was a natural body, one carved from living in and with nature — not from machines at a gym.

The water slipped further down his moonlit flesh. Cripes, this was like a porno show.

I felt a scalding flush rise — soon I'd be steaming like the bloody spring! From embarrassment … and
probably some other, more powerful feelings best left unexplored.

Now rinsed off, Coyote Jack rose, still shining with droplets of water, to face me. I kept my eyes firmly fixed on his. ‘You must clean yourself before you enter the pool,' he instructed. ‘That is the law here. It's a matter of respect.'

His golden eyes gleamed with mischief … and something else.

I knew that look …

I'd seen that same hot look on Honeycutt's face just before I left.

Oh no. Don't tell me Coyote Jack's gay … Cripes.

I shook my head. ‘You go right ahead, Jack. I'll stand guard.'

Jack smiled at that, showing all his white teeth. It was an invitation. ‘You can relax, we're safe here.' He turned towards the water, dipped one toe in, then slipped the rest of his gracefully sculpted foot under.

I groped around for an excuse to stay clothed, but none presented itself.

He sank in further, to his thighs. ‘While we are here, we can rest. And talk.'

Coyote Jack sank down a little further, his lap finally covered. He patted the steaming water and smiled straight into my eyes. ‘Get in, this will relax you … completely.'

Oh God, I certainly did know that smile. That was an invitation. Jack was definitely gay.

Then I remembered he had descendants, so he must've had children. Did that make him bi?

‘Come in,' he purred. ‘We have so much to talk about.'

My brain went numb. If I could speak I would've said, ‘Doh.' I settled for muttering, ‘Like what?'

He gave me a grin, brimful of mischief. ‘Like the fact that you are female.'

 

I gasped; even the Abbess hadn't picked me.

I gave up and said, disgruntled, ‘How did you guess?' I at least wanted to make sure that I didn't make the same mistake next time I went undercover.

‘You would fool most people.' Coyote Jack studied me with a lot more interest than was comfortable. ‘You are tall, strongly built and at ease with weapons and warfare. You have a fierce heart. And you have the intimidating swagger down perfectly. But then I think that is you anyway. In your time you are also a warrior, aren't you?'

I raised an eyebrow. ‘So what blew my disguise?'

He shrugged. ‘I am Coyote … I see what others try to hide and I can …' He paused, as though with discretion.

‘You can what?' I demanded.

‘I can smell you — your female essence.'

‘Great!' I scowled. My scent. That really peeved me. I hadn't had a shower or changed my clothes in days. I must stink.

That did it … I started pulling off my dusty boots.

Coyote Jack smiled, his golden eyes full of satisfaction.

Damn him. He'd found a way to make me strip after all.

He watched every inch of me as it emerged … as though he thought I had some kind of message tattooed on my skin.

‘Don't get any ideas!' I warned.

He didn't answer.

‘I'm just going to get clean and change my clothes and that's it!'

He didn't respond. He was too busy watching me peel off — like I was an exotic fruit he was about to sample.

When I unwrapped my breasts, I stretched in pure relief. Coyote Jack dropped his head back and gave a coyote-like yip of pleasure.

‘Yeah, boyo, that's not gonna happen. You can watch but you can't touch.'

He shot me a disbelieving glance then went back to enjoying the show. ‘You must be from the future. It should be impossible to contain so much soft flesh in such a way.'

I stripped to my skin, then knelt and, using my cupped hands, poured water over every inch of me.

Coyote Jack was too quiet. I gave him a quick glance.

His playful expression had become intent … intense. I didn't have to be psychic to read it. I had something he wanted and he was trying to work out how to get it.

Using the yucca root, I began lathering myself clean.

It was bliss … total bliss.

Well, almost total bliss …

I could feel Coyote Jack's eyes on me … as if they were his strong hands.

That hot, naked man lounging in the water opposite me was oozing enough sex hormones to ignite a wet towel.

I rinsed off, lost in thought.

But what about Alex? And Honeycutt? I didn't sleep around … never had. I was just too damn picky. But the fact was that at this very moment I almost wished I had slept around, so that I didn't feel so … so … ready to burst into flame.

I slid into the bubbling water and shut my eyes. Oooooh, those hot bubbles felt so good! I surrendered to it for a precious few moments, feeling every knotted muscle unwind.

‘Why won't you permit yourself to sleep with me?'

I opened one eye to scan his face.

‘I know you want to.' Coyote Jack spoke without vanity, as though it was just right and natural that I would.

I opened the other eye and sighed.

It was an honest question, so I sought for an explanation he'd understand. ‘I'm on a mission; it's not appropriate.'

He nodded. ‘I see … It is good that you take your mission so seriously.' Then he gave me another glance. This time it was sly. Coyote Jack the Trickster was back. ‘But that is not the whole truth, is it?'

I shot him a look. ‘I don't sleep with someone I hardly know.'

He raised his eyebrows. ‘But how can you pass up the opportunity to sleep with Coyote?'

I curled my lip. ‘Do you really think you are a god? Or is that just a line you use?' Not that looking at him, he'd need much of a line.

Coyote Jack grinned seductively. ‘Why don't you try me and see? Just a kiss. Just one.'

‘No.' I shook my head. I didn't say that was because I didn't trust myself, even less than him.

He lay back in the water, as though offering himself to me, a delectable but highly dangerous treat. The steam rose between us … and it wasn't just from the hot water.

‘Just one,' I said.

He immediately floated towards me, a hunter on the prowl.

‘No other touching,' I said.

He kept his yellow coyote eyes fastened on mine and came in …

His lips were hot, wet and they slipped over mine to feast … His questing tongue slid in searching, finding mine … and spiralling.

God, he was good!

My whole body went limp, as though I was floating on a strong current.

I felt … swept away.

Then I felt like I was glowing. I wanted more … much more.

I grabbed his head to mine. I went deeper, swirling him into me …

What the hell was I doing?

I shoved him away.

Coyote Jack laughed, his narrowed eyes saying he almost got me.

‘You're trouble,' I said, standing up and stepping out of the water. The sooner I got into my clean clothes, the better!

‘Of course I am,' he said proudly. ‘Didn't everyone tell you that?'

 

We'd eaten and the campfire was making me drowsy. I leant back into my saddle, stretched my legs right out and enjoyed the last few sips of my hot coffee. We sat facing the rising moon. In the middle distance a coyote gave two fast yips and then a long mournful howl.

Coyote Jack bent his head back and gave a full throat yip, then a long howl followed by two more yips. It was so loud it hurt my ears.

The landscape came alive with hundreds of answering coyote voices, from every which way, some so close they had to be on the cliff line above us.

He listened to the cacophony for a moment then said, ‘All clear. We can sleep safe tonight.'

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Yeah, right! That kind of crap might work on his crew but it didn't cut it with me. ‘If you are a god then why are you so concerned about finding Hector Kershaw? Why concern yourself with human affairs at all?'

He eyed me with a look full of mischief … as though I'd asked him exactly what he wanted me to.

‘Because, my time-travelling warrior, Captain Bull's ambition will destroy my people. If there is war, if they are moved to reservations, there will be no one to protect the land, the Earth itself … as is needed. And then all humans will suffer.' He studied my expression to make sure I was taking in his logic.

I didn't reply. I could understand his reasoning.

‘What about you? You don't believe I am a god but you say you are from the future. Surely that is even more difficult to believe?'

He had a point … The thing was, I knew I was telling the truth and he couldn't possibly be.

He narrowed his eyes. ‘Now the question I want an answer to is why are you really here?'

I wasn't telling him a scrap more than I absolutely had to. So I lied. ‘I told you. To solve who really committed the massacre.'

‘I don't believe you.' He grinned a coyote smile, full of cunning. ‘If you can really time travel then why didn't you go back to witness the massacre itself … why come here two weeks after it happened?'

Damn he was good. And the closer we got to Santa Fe the better his English became. Where had he learnt it?

Coyote Jack persisted, ‘Why are you really here?'

‘I can't tell you, so don't ask,' I snapped. It would change too many events. I wasn't going to mess with anything that could possibly hinder my mission to find Hector's diary.

He studied me, his eyes slightly unfocused.

That specific stare made me deeply uneasy. He'd used it on me at Coyote Rock. It was almost as though Coyote Jack could see through me … no, into me.

‘You are searching for something.' He nodded to himself. ‘You are really here to find something.'

I didn't reply. How could I? I'd have to be careful of this one — he was just too damned sneaky.

Jack got the message and lapsed into a silent study of the moon.

I sat back and planned my strategy. Hector had to be back in Santa Fe by now. He was due to get on that Wells Fargo stage the day after tomorrow. I eyed Coyote Jack. One thing was for sure … I wasn't going back to Santa Fe with him. I didn't trust him.

I nonchalantly felt in the top pocket of my saddlebag and eased out the blowpipe.