Over the Barrel (8 page)

"That is obvious.
 
Maybe we should rub this on our skin to
keep away the insects."

"I'm glad to see you have not lost
your sense of humor.
 
Drink
more.
 
It will help your head."

"I was serious."
 
She smacked at a fly and then clutched
her head.
 
"Dear God, what
happened last night?"

"Your experiment with whiskey
backfired on you.
 
How are you
feeling?"

"Like I ate a cactus and all the
prickles got stuck in my head."

"I bet you are glad I took that
bottle from you when I had the chance.
 
Whiskey is a man's poison and has no business touching a ladies
lips."

"I am begging you.
 
No lectures.
 
Please.
 
And no spankings!"

"Here is water.
 
Keep drinking.
 
I'll save the lecture for later.
 
The only reason you aren't getting
paddled is because it was your first experience, and you asked if you could try
it.
 
I figure the whiskey could
teach you a better lesson than my palm could right now."

"You should have stopped me
sooner.
 
When is this going to get
better?"

"I have some willow bark
brewing.
 
That'll help a bit.
 
In the meanwhile, you just gotta walk it
off and keep drinking water."

"I think I'm going to be ill,"
Blair moaned.

"Go to the bushes.
 
Watch for snakes," Sloan said,
unsympathetically.

"I need your help.
 
Please?" Blair pleaded
miserably.
 
With a sigh, Sloan
helped her to her feet and led her to a thicket.
 
As she emptied her stomach, he brought
back his hat filled with cold water from the stream.

"Wash your face.
 
Do you remember anything that
happened?" Sloan placed a cool, wet piece of cloth on the back of her
neck.

Blair splashed water onto her face.
 
"Not really.
 
We were talking about … oh, Mother in
Heaven."
 
Blair paled, looking
down and realizing that she was only dressed in her undergarments.
 
"I'm begging you.
 
Please tell me that I did not throw
myself at you like a barmaid."

"Truthfully," Sloan answered
wryly, "you made the barmaids I've met look rather amateurish."

"I am so sorry.
 
Truly, I am.
 
I will never drink again.
 
I swear."
 
Blair hid her eyes behind her
hands.
 
"The things I did were
… they were not me."

"Oh, I think they were certainly
you, Squirrel.
 
You have a heap of
hot-blooded passion in your veins.
 
You are gonna make the right man very happy one day."

"I don't want to have …" she
turned mid-sentence to the bushes once again.
 
"This is so humiliating."

"You're not doing anything that I
haven't done myself, little one.
 
Let's get you into the stream."

Blair did not have the strength to argue
with him as he took her hand and led her down a small sandy bank.
 
He pulled her boots from her feet,
removed her stockings, and helped her step into a shallow pool.

"Settle down there, and don't worry
about your underthings.
 
They'll dry
quick enough in the sun."

"I, uh," Blair blushed,
"They are extremely thin, and when they get wet …"

Sloan ran his palms across his forehead.
 
"Girl, I am doing my best not to
get annoyed with you, but my patience is running low.
 
I am not leaving you unattended here,
especially dressed like this.
 
There
could be wanderers following the river."

"Like Indians?"
 
Blair's eyes widened with fear.

"Or worse:
 
outlaws, miners, strays … I won't be
looking at you, so you have no need to worry."

With a resigned sigh, Blair lowered her
body into the cool pool and began to splash the water over her face and
arms.
 
She dipped her long hair
under the water and floated on her back for a while, enjoying the clean,
refreshing bath and the warmth of the morning sunshine.

"You could come join me if you
wish," she said quietly.

"I'll take my dip a bit later when I
know you are feeling better.
 
Alone."

Blair looked over her shoulder, catching
him staring at her.
 
"I thought
you said you weren't going to look, Mr. Adkins."

Sloan quickly turned his head and tossed
some rocks into the bushes.
 
"I
apologize.
 
Please forgive me."

"And what if I chose not to?"
Blair asked, with a hint of a smile.

"Then, madam, I will have to find a
way to live with myself and my indiscretions."

"Truly, Mr. Adkins, you are no fun
to tease."

"I gather you are feeling
better?"
 
Sloan cleared his
throat.

"Much so, thank you.
 
I am getting quite cold, though."

"Let me help you so you do not
slip," Sloan said, averting his eyes from her breasts, which displayed
hard, pointed nipples through the filmy material.

Blair accepted his hand and picked her
way to a rock.
 
She sat down and
began to squeeze the water out of her hair.
 
"That truly was very
refreshing.
 
Your turn."

"Are you going to sit there and
stare at me as though I were a pretty dress for sale?" Sloan asked, with
his hands on his hips.

Blair grinned, "I think I
might.
 
This is a time for
adventure, and I have never seen a partially unclothed man before.
 
Beyond his chest, that is."

Sloan tilted his head.
 
"Then, my dear, prepare yourself
for more than a partially unclothed man."

Blair gasped, placing her hands over her
mouth as he deftly stripped all his clothing from his body and entered the pool
naked.
 
His body was hard and lean,
every muscle clearly defined through golden flesh.
 
His buttocks were tight and
well-developed, stretching to long legs that had spent a lifetime on the back
of a horse.
 
He turned to settle
into the pool, and Blair boldly studied his manhood, safely nestled in a mass
of dark, curly hair.
 
It began to
grow as though it knew it was being observed, and Blair quickly turned her face
in sudden embarrassment at her own brazenness.

"Do you like what you see, Miss
Farbor?" Sloan chuckled.

"Stop doing that," Blair
answered with her back to him.

"Doing what?
 
Asking you questions?"

"Making it, you know, rise like
that.
 
It's discomfiting."

"Honey, this part of me has a mind
of its own.
 
It knows that a pretty
lady is looking upon it with interest and can't help but react."

"It is simple curiosity and nothing
more.
 
Do all men … react ...
 
like that?"

"Liar.
 
Did your aunt ever teach you about the
ways between men and women?"

Blair reddened again and shook her
head.
 
"We were taught in
school how a wife was to behave.
 
She is to cook, clean, sew, and submit quietly to her husband.
 
We were told that she was to permit him
access to her body as he saw fit and that she was required to sleep with him so
that she would produce many children after she was wed."

"Do you understand that sleeping
with your husband does not literally mean sleeping?"

"It doesn't?"

"Babies are not made that way,
Squirrel.
 
You never saw an animal
pairing?"

"They aren't?
 
How is it done?
 
I lived in the city and such a thing,
this animal pairing, was not a frequent occurrence.
 
Is there something wrong with me that I
don't know this information?"
 
Blair wrinkled her forehead with concern.

"No, no… you are just innocent in
the facts of life."
 
Sloan sat
up in the pool with a solemn expression on his face.
 
"I need to ask you a serious
question, Blair.
 
Were you even
aware of what that man was preparing to do to your body?"

"Of course.
 
He was going to rape me."

"Do you even know what that
means?"

"It means he would take me
forcefully."

"Yes, but how would he take
you?
 
Dear Lord," Sloan rubbed
the back of his neck as she shook her head, "you don't know, do you?
 
Why are you crying?"

"You are making me feel as though I
am a stupid, ignorant child."

"You are an ignorant child, but you
are not stupid.
 
Let me
explain," Sloan stood and walked to sit next to her, covering his naked
crotch with his shirt.
 
Blair's
tears turned to horrific gasps as he carefully described the 'parts' and how
they worked.
 

Blair shook her head in disbelief.
 
"It all sounds so distasteful!
 
How horrible it must be to be
married!
 
How is it that prostitutes
practice such acts?"

"It is only distasteful if a man and
woman are not paired in a right way, Blair.
 
A marriage, if a compatible one, can
bring pleasure to both people."

"I cannot see that as true."

"Sharing a bed with my late wife
brought me much pleasure.
 
In fact,
it was the only pleasure I experienced with her.
 
That was the only compatibility we
shared," Sloan said quietly.

"Late wife?"

"Yes.
 
I lost her and her child to a raid about
five years back."

"Oh, Sloan …" Blair said
softly, touching his naked thigh with her hand.
 
Realizing what she had done, she quickly
pulled it back.
 
"I beg your
forgiveness.
 
I did not mean to
…"

"Squirrel, let me fill you in on
some things in these parts.
 
Women
are scarce.
 
Because of that, men
here go through great lengths to obtain one.
 
I even know a few who send for women
they never met through the mail.
 
Entertainers and prostitutes are not looked down upon here as they are
in the city because they provide a needed service to lonely men, and those who
can afford it pay them quite generously.
 
Items crafted by gals out here, including homemade pies, clothing and
blankets, are held in the highest value.
 
A woman who proves herself to be of use is cared for, and if she is
harmed, the town will protect her."

Blair turned her head from him.
 
"I have no value, then.
 
I cannot do any of the things that a
woman of value is said to achieve.
 
Does this mean I am to become an entertainer, should I decide to live a
life independent of a man?"

"You are well-educated and can
teach."

"I have no desire to be surrounded
by children.
 
This is decidedly wicked
of me to say, but I do not know if I desire to have children of my own, much
less be around other people's brats."

"You don't care for children?"

"I find them cruel and
selfish."

"Were you bullied as a child?"

"Quite frequently.
 
My aunt felt the need to remind me that
my odd behavior provoked such cruelty and did nothing to stop it.
 
She would invite guests over and send me
away with their children, knowing what would occur."

"Those particular children were
spoiled and undisciplined.
 
Raised
correctly, children are a wonderful addition to a healthy marriage.
 
As for your aunt, well, she does not
sound as though she is a very pleasant person."

"She is not.
 
Hence, you see my reservation regarding
teaching."

"There are many men who wish to
learn to read.
 
The local Indians as
well.
 
That would be very profitable
for you.
 
However, you would need to
have an escort or be married so as not to provoke jealousy from their
wives."