Love's Sweet Revenge (12 page)

“Jake, I love you so,” she said softly. “If anyone takes you from me again, I'll die.”

He pushed hard, his life spilling into her once more. He kissed her over and over. “I'll not let it happen,” he groaned.

They kissed hungrily, feeling as though they couldn't get enough of each other. Finally, he settled beside her, pulling the blankets over them and wrapping a leg over her, keeping her close. “It's been one long day,” he said.

“And you're hurting, aren't you?” Randy asked.

“I hate to admit it, but wrestling down calves and then wrestling down my wife have done me in.”

“I didn't exactly fight you like those calves do.”

He grinned. “Not exactly.” Jake kissed her hair. “Did I tell you what a beautiful bottom you have?”

“In so many words. Just don't expect that too often, Jake Harkner.”

“We'll see. All I have to do is touch you in the right places.”

“Is that so?” Randy turned and kissed him. “Well, you're right.” She kissed him again. “All I really need is that handsome smile.” Another kiss. “I love you.”

He caressed her hair. “In another month we'll go to Denver—you and me, Katie and Lloyd, Brian and Evie. The girls can stay here with Teresa, and the boys can stay in the bunkhouse. They get a kick out of that.”

“Oh, Jake, heaven only knows what they see and hear around those men!”

He snickered. “Being around
me
isn't a whole lot better. They're itching to be men themselves. Spending time with Pepper and that bunch will certainly teach them a few things, and Little Jake will give those men a run for their money.”

Randy smiled. “I can't believe the way he walked up and threatened Hal Kraemer! That child has not one ounce of fear in him. He is so much like you it's comical. Little Jake couldn't be a more fitting name.”

“He's going to be something to deal with when he's grown, that's for sure.”

“We've produced quite a family in spite of all the things that tried to stop us.”

“Hey, it's you and me against the world, woman, and that's okay. We can handle it.”

Randy studied his eyes. “When you told me the other day that you talked to the boys about your past, I was so glad you were able to do that. For so many years you wouldn't talk about it at all. Big and strong and able as you are on the
out
side, you've grown so much stronger on the
in
side.”

He kissed her eyes. “
You
keep me strong.”

Their lips met again, their passion no different than it was nearly thirty years ago when he took her for the first time…when he was a lost soul…when she showed him everything he didn't know about love. The only thing that could change that and bring back Jake the outlaw was if his ugly past found a way to revisit him.

Early July

Gretta winced with pain when her customer bit at her breast. “I don't go for that, mister, so if you're going to try to hurt me, you can just get off this bed.”

The man grinned. In spite of a Z-shaped scar on his chin, Gretta found him nice-looking, but his cruel smiles made him ugly.

“Hey, I'm a payin' customer, lady.”

“You paid for sex, not for hurting a woman, so get off!” Gretta shoved at him, but he grabbed her wrists and pushed them over her head.

“I'll get off when I'm
done
, lady!” He rammed himself hard, deliberately squeezing her wrists until it hurt. Finally, he released himself, then bent down to bite her breast again, this time hard enough to leave teeth marks. He finally let go of her, and Gretta quickly got off the bed and slapped him hard across the side of the face.

The man stood up and shoved her against a wall, half choking her as he held her there. “You're awful damn choosy for a whore!” he growled.

“Even whores don't like it rough,” she said in a near whisper, hardly able to find her voice.

“
Some
do!”

He let go of her, and Gretta bent over, gasping for breath. “None…that I know,” she answered. She reached for her robe, quickly pulling it on and walking over to her dressing table.

“I ain't got my money's worth yet,” the man told her.

“You have as far as I'm concerned.” Gretta reached under a handkerchief on her dressing table, where she always kept a pistol hidden. When her customer came at her again, she quickly grabbed the gun and held it straight out. “Leave!” she ordered.

The man froze in place. “You wouldn't.”

“
Wouldn't
I? I have an agreement with someone very important in this town, mister. I can shoot anyone who abuses me, and I'll get away with it, so if I were you, I'd get out of here!”

“I don't believe you.”

The bite on her breast made Gretta wince again. She didn't doubt she'd have quite a bruise there by morning, which would hurt her business. “
Believe
it,” she answered, her voice still raspy. She cocked the pistol. “And I want your name. I usually don't bother with names, because it's easier not knowing, but I intend to warn the other prostitutes around Denver about you. Once I tell them about that odd scar on your chin, you'll be recognized by all of them, and you won't be sticking that thing into
any
of them!”

He backed away more. Gretta wanted to smile at the way his penis began to wilt. “You're real lucky, lady. I spent three years in prison for
rape
!”

“And that's exactly what you've just done to me!”

“Whores can't be raped!”

“Can't they?” Gretta had a strong urge to pull the trigger. “What's your name?” she demanded again.

“Mike Holt.” He raised his chin, bragging the name proudly. “Maybe you've heard it in the news. I'm one of the few men who've gone up against Jake Harkner and lived to tell about it.”

Gretta kept the gun pointed straight at him. “Seems I read something about that in the newspaper not long ago.”

Mike grinned. “Sure you did. I'm practically as famous as Harkner is.”

“For all the wrong reasons. The way I heard it, the woman you raped was his daughter, a fine woman and the wife of a physician.”

“You
hear
d
? Or you
know
?”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Harkner has a reputation for bein' favorable toward women like you. Maybe he's paid you a visit, and you got all the details straight from him.”

“I've never met the man,” Gretta answered. She kept the gun on Mike through the conversation, suspecting he'd try having at her all over again if she didn't. She grinned slyly, wanting to mock Holt. “I did see Harkner in town last summer, and from what I saw,
I'd
pay
him
for a roll in the hay. God knows he'd be better at it than you are with that little pecker of yours.”

Mike glowered at her. “You bitch!”

Gretta laughed, enjoying his embarrassment. “Get dressed and get out of here!”

Mike walked over to the bed to grab his long johns.

“‘The handsome outlaw,' I've heard he's been called,” Gretta added. “What are
you
called? Little Pecker?”

Mike pulled on his underwear. “I ought to kill you.”

“Try. Please. Then I can have the satisfaction of shooting you.”

Mike finished dressing. “I think Harkner
has
been here, and you know more than you're lettin' on. He likes women like you.”

“The man has a beautiful wife and a big family and runs a ranch four or five days from here, or so I'm told. I've seen the wife when she didn't know I was looking, and if you had a wife like that, you wouldn't be visiting whores either. Those two look at each other like the world would come to an end if they lost sight of each other.”

Mike broke into more laughter. “Ole Jake pretends to be the family man, but don't you underestimate that sonofabitch. He's mean as they come and fuckin' ruthless. I seen the article in the
Denver Post
about him killin' seven or eight rustlers not long ago. He about got himself arrested, but the article said as how he had a right. I'm thinkin' the law ain't too happy about it.”

Gretta lowered her pistol slightly, frowning. “What's your interest in the man?”

Mike buttoned up the front of his long johns. “Can't you figure it out?”

“You're after him?”

Mike grunted with more laughter, pulling on his boots. “I'm after his
son
. That kid shot my brother in a shoot-out back in Oklahoma…shot him in the
back
. I aim to repay him in the same way.” He looked her over. “Have you ever met the son?”

“Lloyd Harkner? Sure, I've seen him and his wife, too—same time I saw Jake and his wife. They were all shopping and walking up the street together. They didn't notice me, because I was watching out a window as they walked by, but I got a good look, and the son is even better-looking than the father, if that's possible.”

“Well, take a good look next time, 'cause when you see Lloyd Harkner again, it will be for the
last
time. How often do they come to Denver?”

Gretta still held the gun on him, not trusting him for one second. “I really don't know. Not often. Most ranchers tend to stay right on the ranch most of the time, except to come into the city for supplies once in a while, or to bring in cattle. This is the time of year for that, so I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up in Denver in the next week or two.”

Mike pulled on his pants. “Good. I'll be ready for 'em.”

Gretta smiled. “Mister, the only reason I told you they might come around is because from all I've read about Harkner and his son,
you'll
be the one who's dead if you try going after them, and I will truly enjoy seeing you sprawled in the street, your body riddled with bullets.”

Mike reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a plug of tobacco, biting some off and pushing it down between his cheek and his gum. “Depends who sees who first. Onliest thing I know is I ain't gonna try goin' after him at his ranch. Most men I've talked to say nobody gets on Harkner land without bein' noticed, and after hearin' about them rustlers, I figured I'd wait right here. Here, he'll be out of familiar territory, and there are plenty of places to hide instead of goin' after a man in the wide open spaces.”

“You'll go back to prison, you fool!”

“Not if I do it without gettin' caught.”

“You're the first one they will suspect, and now
I
know your plans.”

He looked her over. “Don't matter. Like you said, I'm the first one they'll suspect, but I don't intend to be found. I've staked this city out pretty good, and there are plenty of places to hide till shit blows over.”

He smoothed back his hair. “The only way for men like Harkner to die is lyin' in mud and horse dung in the street, all shot to hell, their women cryin' over their bodies.” He rose. “The man's daughter is as much of a looker as his son is, and she was sweet between the legs, let me tell you.” He walked a little closer. “Want to know what she did after Harkner found her and shot up most of the men at Dune Hollow?”

Gretta just glared at him. “You're
scum
, Mike Holt.”

He grinned. “Maybe so, but scum or not, she
forgave
us. Can you believe that one?”

“Forgave you?”

“Yup. She's the reason I'm alive. After all the shootin' and things was said and done, she told her pa not to kill those of us still alive. Ole Harkner, you could tell he wanted to blow our heads off, and he would have if there weren't men from town with him to see him do it. Even at that, I think he would have done it anyway out of pure meanness. But that daughter of his said she forgave us, and she'd be real upset if he killed us outright, so he had to bring us in for trial. The bastard wouldn't let his daughter testify, so we all got nailed for rapin' her, even though some of them didn't.”

“But
you
did.”

Mike rubbed at his privates. “Sure I did. But I got out of prison on account of they couldn't really prove it, and she wouldn't testify, so the judge let me go.”

“You should have left well enough alone and gone someplace else to start life over.”

He shrugged. “What fun would that be?” He began pulling a belt through the loops on his pants. He stepped a little closer. “You want to know the best part?”

“I don't think I do.” Gretta raised the pistol again.

“The best part is, Harkner's daughter was blindfolded when I went at her. I could walk right up to her, and she wouldn't know I was one of 'em.”

Gretta shook her head. “You're crazy. Jake and his son know your face. You'll never get close to that young woman.”

“Oh, I'll wait till they ain't around.”

“I hope they kill you. I've just met you, and
I
want to kill you! When I'm through, there won't be one prostitute in Denver who will let you touch her.”

He shrugged. “Then I guess I'll have to find a woman who
ain't
willin', won't I?”

Gretta raised her chin. “If I hear of anything like that happening here, I'll report your name to the prosecutor.” She stepped a little closer, holding the gun out again. “I happen to know him well.”

Mike's smile faded. “So that's how it is, is it? Well, I heard the prosecutor ain't real happy with Jake on account of one of them rustlers Jake killed was his nephew. So I expect the man will be glad to find a reason to throw ole Harkner in jail—his son, too—if they survive what I have planned for them.”

“And that will mean you're
dead
. Have you thought about it that way, you fool?”

“'Course I have. But I'm not worried. I've got it all planned.”

Gretta shook her head. “I'm guessing you never had any schooling, because you have to be the most ignorant man on the face of the earth.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“You done in there, Mike?” a man asked.

Mike looked Gretta over scathingly. “I reckon so. She ain't much good at what she does, so she ain't worth her price.” He walked over and opened the door. “You get a good lay?”

The stocky, younger man shrugged. “She was okay. She likes it in the mouth, so I obliged her.”

Both men laughed, and Gretta grimaced at the remark. She took a hard look at the young man at the door. He was perhaps in his twenties and built like a bull. She knew he'd picked Sondra for his lay, and she hoped the brute hadn't hurt her. Gretta liked running a clean place, mostly for wealthier men or men of prominence who knew she could keep their trysts secret. One of them was Harley Wicks, a city prosecutor who was also wanting to make trouble for Jake Harkner. She hoped Harkner wouldn't show up this year, for his own sake. She decided that if she saw him or his son anywhere, she'd warn them Mike Holt was in town. She didn't know the younger man's name, but she figured he was no better than Holt and probably also dangerous.

Holt came inside for his hat and plopped it on his head while the younger man looked Gretta over as though she were a fresh piece of pie. She just glared back at him. “Your friend isn't a very nice man,” she told the younger man. “Get him out of here.”

The younger man just smiled. “What'd he do?”

“None of your business.”

Mike picked up his leather vest and pulled it on. “Come on, Brad. Let's go have some drinks and find a card game.”

The one called Brad tipped his hat to Gretta and left with Mike. Gretta walked to the door and closed it, then slid the lock shut. She decided neither man would be allowed in the Range Club again.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.
She shuddered to think what Harkner's daughter must have gone through.