Disorder in the House [How the West Was Done 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (19 page)

It had aroused Levi to hear Garrett read that chapter aloud. “This pleasure is different from the pleasure that you get from a woman,” one character had claimed. “A woman may be soft and inviting, but a man is more challenging and rewarding in the ultimate pleasure.” He had never held a man’s penis in his mouth before, but just looking at the bulging, dusky cock throbbing in his fist made Levi dive on in, sucking more than half the length down his throat.

From the sounds of Garrett’s gasps, Levi knew he’d hit the right combination of sucking and reaming. It was difficult at first to coordinate the two actions. He found he could do them in tandem at the same speed, raising his head to the humid crotch at the same time as he inserted the dildo and withdrawing both at the same time. Listening to Liberty’s catlike mewling let him know she, too, was close to climaxing against Garrett’s face, so he swiftly learned to synchronize his toying.

He was proud to know that, being a man, his mouth was bigger than Liberty’s and he was able to inhale more of the impressive penis. When it lodged up against his tonsils he nearly choked on the cockhead and was gratified that he learned to back off a tad and continue.

Nudging the dildo as far up as he could, Levi jiggled it around, to find the sensitive spot he knew was there.
Ah.
He knew he’d found it when the anal ring grabbed at the dildo.

Ah, yes
. Several energetic blasts of seed filled his mouth, and he swallowed quickly, enjoying the pungent, salty seed as it flowed down his throat. The cock pulsed and jerked in his mouth as he fucked the smooth ass with the implement, and his loud slurping sounds made him even hotter, more eager to sup every last drop of jism from his friend’s prick.

Meanwhile, he could tell by the guzzling sounds on the bed above him that Garrett was putting his all into his pussy-licking. When Liberty’s choking cries lodged in her throat, Levi knew she was coming. A wave of satisfaction rushed through him to know she was being pleasured, too. He didn’t need to climax himself, as long as he knew the others were satisfied.

When he milked the last succulent drops from Garrett’s prick, Levi raised himself on his elbows and watched over the edge of the bed. Liberty still jumped and twitched at every stroke of Garrett’s tongue, her toes planted on either side of his torso, curled up toward the ceiling. She gripped Garrett’s shoulder and dug her nails in, her mouth open in a soundless curse. She looked heavenly with her long black curls all spread out over her heaving breasts, just a wide-open spitfire reveling in the pleasure her men gave her.

Levi stroked the soft instep of her foot as the book had instructed, causing her to gasp and slap his hand away. “You
animal!
” she said playfully. “Not my foot!”

Garrett panted with the exertion of his activities. He slumped down to the floor next to Levi, his cock moving like a giant slug against his thigh.

Levi grinned crookedly at his partner. “So how was it? Delicious, no?”

Garrett wiped his face with his hand. “Oh, land’s sake, Levi. I haven’t eaten a woman’s pussy in ages. Forgot how juicy and tasty it is.” He reached up blindly to grab ahold of Liberty’s toes. “You come like a house on fire, my dear.”

“Not her foot,” Levi reminded his friend, who promptly released the toes.

Normally Levi would have been jealous and irritated to hear someone else call his woman “my dear,” but coming from Garrett, it didn’t irk him. The dinner with Mr. Hudson had gone smoothly. Hudson was full of questions about fort and Indian life, and Levi had been amused to see how openly Hudson accepted Caleb and his visionary antics. Apparently Caleb had earlier cured Hudson’s gout with herbs, and he seemed hell-bent to believe that Caleb had not only overtaken the body of the bald eagle but earlier had possessed a bison that somehow assisted Marshal Tempest to arrest a murderer.

Levi felt good about his prospects in Hudson’s eyes. Hudson seemed to like him. But then, Hudson seemed to like everyone, including that odious Cole Waters character. It was the monetary situation that troubled him. Maybe Hudson didn’t know how little an Indian agent made. Or if Hudson did, maybe he was waiting for a quiet moment to inform his daughter that her choice was unacceptable. That she had to marry one of the Freund brothers. Or—the worst outcome of all—maybe Liberty herself scoffed at Levi for being a pauper and was just stringing him and Garrett along because it pleased her. Because it gave her expertise and talent she could later practice in her marriage bed.

Rising, Levi went to the other room to pour himself a whiskey. He refilled Garrett’s and Liberty’s sarsaparilla cups, too, and sat. Soon Liberty came into the room. Since she had thrown her chemise back on, Levi couldn’t gaze upon her shaved mound, but she made up for it by sitting in his lap and stroking the side of his face. She had a new, troubled expression.

“Now you can leave tomorrow morning and find Shady.”

Levi couldn’t tell from her expression if that was a good thing or a bad thing. “Yes, it’s part of my job. I have to bring that jackleg to justice.”

“To find Garrett’s ring.”

“To find Garrett’s ring, to get whatever recompense I can from the supplies Shady stole. Whatever I can salvage from the land he hasn’t sold.”

“Don’t forget about sorting out that crooked
wakan
man who is in cahoots with Shady.” Liberty sighed. “I’m going to miss you, Levi Colter. I dearly wish I could accompany you.”

Levi sipped his whiskey and regarded the woman. She did seem genuinely sad to see him leave, even if it was only for a week. “Now, you know we can’t do that, Liberty. Your father would throw me a necktie party, for one thing.”
Good.
He had steered the conversation around to her father. But now he was stuck bluntly asking, “What does your father think of me?”

“Oh, he likes you very much.”

“As a…bodyguard? Or as a…friend?”

Liberty made an exasperated face. “No, silly. As a beau, of course. He’s aware of our feelings for each other, as much as my father can be aware of anything.”

Nervously, Levi wrapped one of her curls around his forefinger. He couldn’t even look her in the eyes when he said, “So the idea of us marrying has come up?”

“Not in so many words, no. But a man’s intention is obvious if he is courting a woman, is it not? I mean…” Now Liberty’s voice became uncertain, with a shaky undertone. “That
is
the intention, no?”

Levi was relieved he could honestly soothe her. “Of
course
it is!” He sank his fingers into her thick mane of glossy locks. “I would never compromise you if I had no marriage intentions. I fell irrevocably in love with you the moment I saw you on the train, Liberty Hudson. I knew then that you’d be the only woman for me. I pined away, absolutely hopeless until I saw you again. Even then I was convinced you’d never have me as your beau.”

Liberty frowned. “Why not?”

He had no choice but to be honest. “Because an Indian agent makes as much as a town postmaster. And that is no life to expect a lady to endure.”

Liberty smiled with apparent relief. “Oh, who cares, Levi? I’ll soon make money as a teacher, and I’m sure my father will give me a stipend. It’s the least he can do for abandoning us in Hyde Park to die as spinsters.”

“I don’t want your father’s money.” If his pride wouldn’t allow him to accept payments from Hudson, what were his options? He didn’t even want a wife of his to have to work as a schoolteacher to make ends meet. At the moment he was just happy that Liberty appeared to see nothing wrong with his financial status.

And now she fingered the tattoo on his collarbone. He was glad to change the pointless subject, but now he was chagrined to realize the subject would be a sore one. “What meaning does this tattoo have? It seems to have some religious significance, as there’s a cross.”

“Yes, it’s religious,” Levi agreed. “The snake around it means double-crossing, snakelike behavior.”

“About something religious,” Liberty prompted him.

Levi sighed. “Yes. When I was a journalist in Chicago, I was engaged to wed.” He felt her stiffen, so he rushed to reassure her. “My fiancée, however, broke it off, only a week before the wedding.”

“Why?” Liberty breathed, her eyes round.

Levi had to look away, at one of the new student’s desks Garrett had built. “We held different religious beliefs. I had not thought that would be a problem, as I was aware of her views, but she thought it an insurmountable impasse. I offered to convert to her religion, but she didn’t think that would suffice. It didn’t matter to me which version of the Bible I read from, but she wanted someone baptized in her faith.”

“I’m so sorry. That must have been painful.”

“I was so full of anger and despair that I had this tattoo made, to remind myself to be skeptical. That lurking under the apparent love of women can be a…”

“A snakelike venom? That was terrible of her to throw you over for something that doesn’t really matter, Levi. Don’t you worry about me and my beliefs?”

Levi smiled. “As long as we both believe a man can turn into an eagle, I think we’re safe.”

She looked lovely with her head thrown back like that, wide open and honest with him. “Yes, we do have all those beliefs in common, don’t we? We both believe in the afterlife and that the spirit of some Irish fellow can force Garrett’s hand to write prophecies that later turn out to be true.”

Levi had to laugh, too. “And that someone’s spirit can soar over the mountains and watch a hornswoggling toad scare the bejesus out of some Indians.” It did all sound completely loco, but Levi had seen too much cracked stuff lately turn out to be true. He didn’t think he had a screw loose. People who didn’t believe were the ones who were out of their heads.

Garrett had gone out the back door, and they could hear him now hammering something together. Levi asked, “When do you plan to open your school? We’ll need a new place to meet once that happens.”

“Yes, which is why I’m not in any particular hurry to open,” Liberty admitted. “We don’t have enough desks and chairs, for one.”

“Did you receive the slates and books you wanted?”

“Oh, blue blazes, no. I only sent the telegram asking for them a few days ago. Although with this new fast train, it’s entirely possible they could arrive any day now. Still, I don’t have nearly enough desks, so you needn’t worry about having no meeting place for a while.”

Levi stood, placing Liberty on her feet. “I’m going to go help Garrett with the furniture. I want you to be able to open up your school as soon as possible.”

As he turned to go, he thought he heard Liberty say something. He couldn’t be sure, though, so he turned back to face her. “Excuse me?”

She looked so prim and proper, her hands folded in front of her lap. “I said I love you, Levi Colter.”

Such happiness had never filled him! Levi’s heart actually felt about to burst with emotion.

He was so overcome he could only reply stupidly, “I love you, too, Miss Hudson.” Then he put on his Stetson and went to help Garrett hammer.

They had found the lone pine tree sticking out of the rocks easily enough. After a twenty-mile ride out of Laramie City, they had followed the railroad tracks to where the workers had actually jogged the track aside to preserve the tree. On the trip into town two weeks earlier, Levi had just been too preoccupied to notice it.

As the duo rode up, they noted a fellow standing by the tree. He wore a leather vest and looked appropriately grizzled as he apparently watered the tree from a wooden bucket. As the train was stopped nearby, Garrett assumed he was an engine driver or a stoker, but it did look suspicious that he was even standing there atop one of the huge boulders that surrounded the tree.

Dismounting, Garrett and Levi walked around the tree, kicking up stones here and there. Having finished his watering, the engineer gazed reverently at the tree. Garrett and Levi shared questioning glances, and finally Garrett spoke.

“Why do you water this tree?”

The engineer didn’t answer immediately, as though Garrett had interrupted his prayer. At last he allowed, “This is where old Grenville Dodge was nearly murdered by Injuns in sixty-five when he was surveying this route. He rode lickety-split like greased lightning past here to reach Cheyenne. So us engine drivers have agreed to water it, to keep the memory alive.”

This didn’t sound any less suspicious, although Grenville Dodge was the Union Pacific’s chief engineer. Garrett heaved himself up onto the rock formation and noted the earth the geezer watered looked recently disturbed. Sliding down into the depression, Garrett kicked some earth until he uncovered what looked like a body part. But it was dark in the hollow, so he squatted down. Squeamishly he used his bowie knife to move aside a few lumps of the clay soil. Sure enough, a moccasin was revealed, and Garrett clambered back up the rock.

He gestured with his knife. “You ever notice that there’s a foot sticking out down there?”

The engineer looked but didn’t seem surprised. “I been watering this tree for weeks on this leg of the journey, and I never noticed no foot before.”

“And you’d remember if you saw someone hauling a body and tossing it down there?”

“I think I’d remember that. I’m not a drinking man.”