Please note: This series depicts soft nonconsensual/consensual sex. If this bothers you, do not read it. Also, I DO NOT condone violence against women, sexual or otherwise.
This is going to be a series, if there is enough interest. It takes a while to get going, so if you just want the sex, scroll to the end.
Otherwise, enjoy. Intelligent critique welcome.
*****
The dust was thick in the still, hot air. The sun blazed across his shoulders and the back of his neck as he swayed with the motion of his scraggly horse. Sweat barely trickled down his face, no longer stinging his eyes or burning his parched lips. His bloodshot eyes swept the desolate brush stretching out across the desert valley, broken here and there by rocky outcrops, and occasional saguaro, or a mirage that promised water but offered only a hot death.
Yeah, he thought, fucking southern arizona is a real paradise during the nine months of summer they have here.
Hours dragged by, no hint of a breeze, no water to be found. The few watercourses he found only had water during spring runoff, or during the occasional flash flood. He was standing on the edge of a dry gully desperately trying to keep his legs under him, when he heard it...the sound of an axe striking wood. His head snapped around and his ears strained, his brain sluggishly becoming aware that he had been hearing the wood chopping for some time. A stumbling, shambling run took him to the rim of the arroyo, and he fell to his knees in relief.
A small weathered house stood against the base of the hill on a small bench above another arroyo. His blurred vision had trouble making out the pole barn, but, there! A well! Oh sweet, blessed cool water, Elixir of the Gods! Before he was aware of it he was lurching through the brush toward the well. He would recall those hundred and some yards as the longest of his life. The brush tore at his shirt, cholla slid their needles into his flesh...he felt none of it.
He stumbled through the brush at last and was making his weaving way across the hardpack of the dirt yard when he heard a gasp. A young woman in a gingham dress stood staring at him in shock, and a little fear, near the side of the house. He tried to croak out a word or two, but a dry rasp was all he managed before he fell on his knees next to the well. Frantically, he dropped the bucket, hearing the splash, feeling the coolness coming from below. Then, the bucket was in his hands. Desperate to guzzle, he knew to do so was sickness or death. He carefully rubbed water on his face, letting a small drizzle into his mouth so that the piece of leather that used to be his tongue could renew an aquaintance gone too long. He was still on his knees trickling water into his mouth when he heard the "ahem" behind him.
A woman stood twenty feet away, between him and the house. The double barrel shotgun she was holding did not waver an inch as he looked at her.
"Who are you, and where did you come from?" Her tone was firm, bordering on impolite, he thought. He cleared his throat a couple times, then tried some words. "Jared Su...Sullivan." The lie required no thought.
"What are you doing out here?" she reiterated. Words and lies were easier now. "I was riding the grubline down to Sonora, was going to get work with Javier Fernandezs' crew." He looked her over while she stared into his eyes. A bit bony, dishwater blonde, barely bumps on her chest, but her hips had a suggestive width that he found slightly pleasant. Maybe 5' 8'', blue eyes that showed intelligence, strength, and a great weariness. Hard to guess her age, frontier women looked anywhere from 30 to 85 at thirty. Probably getting close to forty though. Beyond her, the younger woman watching from the porch.
"either you run into bad luck, ran afoul of the law, or are just plain stupid. You have a mount out there somewhere? Are you alone?" She still held the shotgun on him. He sighed. "I am alone, I did run into bad luck, and I have a very tired and sick horse out there about two hundred yards. I'd appreciate it if you would let me up to go get him." Her eyes flicked to the brush. "Jamie, go out there and get this man's animal. I'm not letting him out of my sight."
The daughter jumped of the porch, a lithe motion she made sensual somehow. He watched her firm ass as her long legs carried her into the barn. Two clicks brought his eyes back to the mother. "Thoughts like that usually get holes blown into a man,"she said conversationally, "and if I were you, I would water my horse and get clear of us before something happens to you or us. I have a daughter to raise, so trust isn't high on my list of things to apply to strange men." He was forming a reply, when the dirt hit him in the face.
'Horseshit. Hell smelled like horseshit,' he thought. 'Just my luck. Wonder where the heat is? Always heard you could fry an egg in the air down here.' Vaguely. the sound of horses munching hay came to his ears, the smells of a barn wafted into his consciousness. An experimental roll told him that he was lyting in hay, and also that his muscles were so stiff he could be run through a sawmill for 2x6's. He was still pondering the mystery of his teleportation when the darkness closed around him again.
The sky was gray when he woke again. In the dimness he could make out the haymow of the polebarn, and see a light down below him. Someone was quietly humming, and he heard hay being pitched. Muscles protesting, he slowly levered himself to the ladder and made his way down.
"Good morning, Mr. Sullivan." The daughter, Jamie if he recalled, was tossing hay to a couple draft horses, his own horse, and two swaybacked nags. He stretched, taking her in. Around 19 he figured, chocolate hair, maybe 5'7'', nice full breasts under the front of her blouse. She wore a white Mexican style "peasant' blouse, and a light brown skirt. The bit of ankle showing was trim, but thick enough to indicate muscular legs. A giggle brought his gaze back to her face. Blue eyes like her mother, not a pretty girl, but not ugly. Just rather ordinary features. "When a man looks at a woman like that, momma says there is either going to be a wedding or a shooting." Her eyes danced with mischief.
"Well, if you were a woman instead of a half-grown young'un, I suppose that might apply." Her eyes flashed but he cut her off. "Wasn't your mother running me out of here yesterday?"
"Oh she was, but then she found your badge and papers in your saddlebags." she tossed another fork of hay over a stall. He laughed til he cried inside. The very dead Jared Sullivan might not find it funny, but he found it hilarious that a simple badge and papers of a dead man cleared him of distrust like a lightning bolt lights up the midnight sky.
"Well good. I hope your mother understands that when I told her I was a grubline rider, I was having to use a litlle professional deception." He started to head for the door, but her voice stopped him. "I may be only half grown, but even I know a man should bathe when he smells like pig shit." With that she tossed the pitchfork aside and made to indignantly flounce by. He grabbed her arm and pulled her close, delighting in the surprise and anger in her eyes. "Missy, you're old enough now that you should be careful how you talk to a man. Someone might take it into their head to teach you some manners." "What, like a spanking?" she shot back. Her hand dipped into her apron pocket and came out with a two barrel Derringer. "I dare you, Mr. Sullivan." He laughed and released her arm, stepping back. Puzzlement warred with anger on her face as he said, "You are gonna make some man a fine woman someday." She was still staring at him like that when he went out the door, to find something to bathe with.
The sun was barely over a ridge to the east when he heard a bell ringing. "Breakfast!"
He put on his shirt, still wet, and walked over to the front door. Inside, the kitchen/dining room smelled like bacon, eggs and coffee. A small table had three plates on it, loaded with flapjacks, bacon and eggs. Jamie stood by the stove, grabbing a worn and dented coffeepot, while her mother was already seated at the table. Her ankles and a few inches of calf showed under the table, surprisingly curvy and toned for a woman who looked like she weighed 130 pounds. His eyes shifted up and he caught her blush, and he smiled at her. "Good morning, Mrs..."
"Holloway, Mr. Sullivan. Jessica Holloway. You may call me Jessica." She blushed again and looked down. "Forgive my rude welcome yesterday. Two women alone can't be too careful when it comes to men, not with the closest law being 35 miles away."
"Think nothing of it, Jessica. Besides, with two such pretty women around, caution is understandable. I don't mean to be rude, but where is Mr. Holloway?"
Jamie spoke from the stove. "Buried. Dad was murdered a year and a half ago. But, how could you not know that? didn't you come out here to investigate his death?" Both women looked at him intently, and Jessica frowned at the surprise on his face.
"No," he said slowly. "this is the first I have heard of anyone named Holloway. I was working a different case entirely when I stumbled across you." He saw the suspicious frown on Jessica's face. "I have written four letters to you since my husband died, asking the Marshall's office in Tuscon to send someone to investigate."
"Ma'am," he replied, "I can honestly say I have never seen a single one of your letters."
Jamie turned to him while Jessica's frown deepened. "How long do you think you will be here?"
Feeling he had missed something important, he took a bite of bacon-wrapped flapjack before answering. "A few days at least. My horse is done in, and I am pretty stiff and sore." Under the table, he briefly let his knee bump into Jamie's thigh. She looked up quickly, but he was looking at her mother.