My Desperado by Lois Greiman Page B

shade of scarlet.
    'There," said Margaret, casually tugging her chemise a half inch lower. "Just above your nips."
    "Just above..." Katherine gasped, her hands flitting upward to cover the twin globes that pressed into view.
    "Now, miss," Daisy crooned, hurrying to take her hands. "You'll look like livin' 'eaven."
    "And," proclaimed Margaret, hurrying behind, "we'll cut it down to here in back."
    Katherine turned, trying to see where they pointed.
    Margaret flung an arm around Katherine's shoulder to squeeze her tightly. "And the men'll love it."
    "Begging for favors."
    "Dyin' for more," chirped Daisy.
    "And you'll just lean into their faces like this," added Dory, rising to her knees on the mattress and leaning forward to show every inch of bosom above her nipples. "So they're looking right straight into heaven."
    "And if that doesn't work..." began Julia, who then lowered her voice to a whisper.
    In the next room, Travis gritted his teeth, yanked savagely at his cotton bonds, and tried not to hear the giggles. He'd lain in purgatory for hours now, listening to the women's chatter from next door and wondering what they had planned. Goddamn them all. If they soiled her, he'd drown every one of them in their own toilet water. He yanked again, but the bed did little more than groan a complaint. Damn them all to hell!
    Footsteps sounded in the hall. Dinnertime?
    Travis narrowed his eyes and waited.
    A mattress moaned, voices mingled. Minutes passed. Finally a key turned in the lock, and Katherine entered.
    Travis lay flat on his back, his arms stretched above his head as he watched her draw near.
    She moved hesitantly, bearing a covered tray and showing by her expression that she'd not considered until now just how he would eat in such an unlikely position.
    She stared at him in mute dismay. Silence stood between them.
    "You gonna feed me?" he asked finally, "or just let me starve and use me as a paperweight?"
    Katherine bit her lip. He looked mad enough to eat her alive, bones and all. Her hands were shaking, she realized, and hoped he hadn't noticed the tremble of the tray she held. "If I untie you—will you promise not to try to leave?"
    He was silent—staring at her, then, "Lady," he said, "hell will freeze solid and the devil himself move out before I promise you anything."
    Katherine's back stiffened and her hands stopped trembling as she lifted her chin in a characteristic gesture of fledgling pride. “Then I suppose I'll have to take measures to ensure you don't injure yourself further. Daisy." She needed to raise her voice only slightly, and in a moment footsteps pattered quickly down the hall and a blond head peeked in the door. "Daisy," Katherine said again, her mouth pursed, her gaze unbent from Travis's. "Mr. Ryland is being difficult again."
    "And the sun still rises in the east," quipped Daisy. "So what's new?"
    "It seems he's too stubborn to make a sensible bargain, so I'll need help tying him in a seated position."
    "What's this?" questioned Margaret as she crammed in beside Daisy. "Our livin' ghost still breathing fire? Hey, girls," she called, "we got us some live entertainment. Come on."
    In a minute there were two women holding each of Travis's arms while Katherine tried to loosen his bonds. He laid still and silent, staring past half-bare bosoms to glare at her as she worked. But the endeavor was hopeless for he'd pulled the cotton strips into an impenetrable lump.
    "It's no use." Dory gave up first. "We'll have to cut the bandages."
    "Then what?" Garnet questioned, scrunching her face into a frown.
    "Ropes," Julia supplied quickly. "I'll get some ropes from the stable. You wait here."
    She hurried away. Silence fell. Travis glared.
    "Does he always look so mean?" Margaret asked, staring boldly down at his long, tight-muscled body as it lay taut and ready upon the narrow mattress.
    "Always," said Daisy. "If 'e ever smiled, 'e'd scare the nose right off 'is face."
    "I think it's the beard," stated Garnet.