Chapter Nine

"You really do talk too much," Jessie stated as she and Langley rode into a tiny town four days after leaving Harper.

"I warned you about that the day we met at the cabin. I don't know why you keep acting so surprised," he countered with a grin. Langley glanced around the town. "Have you been here before?"

Calling this place a town was being real generous. There were tents and crude huts filling a muddy field behind a ramshackle building that Langley assumed was a saloon based on the crude drawing of a whiskey bottle on the sign out front. There didn't seem to be a solid, sturdy building anywhere around.

"Yeah, I came here a few times with pa," Jessie replied as they brought their horses to a stop outside the saloon. "It's just a stopover place for travelers. Nothing fancy."

Before Langley could let her know that was a huge understatement, a man in an army uniform came running out of the saloon and scooped Jessie into a tight hug the moment she slid from her horse. Jealousy burned in Langley's gut as he too hopped to the ground.

"God, Jess, it's been too long!" The man said as he stuck his nose in her golden hair. Langley barely fought the urge to pull his gun and shoot the man—perhaps he was more like his pa than he realized.

"I've been a bit busy I guess, Clinton," Jessie replied, attempting to wiggle herself out of the man's grasp.

"Where is your pa?" Clinton asked, slowly releasing his hold on her and looking loathsome to do it.

"Dead." Jessie's voice was flat. "He got himself shot." She turned sideways and pointed at Langley. "Clinton this is Langley."

Clinton's eyes narrowed. "And just what are you doing with him?" he snapped, sounding every bit the jilted lover.

Langley kept his gaze on Jessie and she offered him a small smile. "He's my partner. He found me shot up and now he's riding with me to go after my pa's killer."

"You're riding alone with that boy?" Clinton demanded.

Langley clenched his fists and was about to show the twenty-something year old bastard a thing or two about boys when Jessie laughed. "What in the blue blazes are you so worried about, Clinton? Are you afraid he's gonna steal my virtue? Hell, I haven't had my virtue in so long I've forgotten what it looked like. And besides, Langley ain't the kind of man who would ever force a woman."

"He doesn't look like much of a man at all," Clinton sneered.

Langley had spent years perfected his imitation of Marston. He'd perfected the posture, the tone, the expression. He used them all. "How about I shoot you in the face and correct your damn vision?"

Clinton shook his head and stepped away. He was clearly still angry but unwilling to fight any longer. "I better get back to my cards."

Jessie let out a sigh of relief but it died on her lips when she saw the strange way Langley was staring at her. "What the hell is your problem?" she demanded.

"Not a thing," Langley grumbled, hitching his horse to a rickety rail. No doubt if the beast got distracted by a feather in the breeze, he could follow after it and simply drag the hitching post along with him.

"You're jealous aren't you?" Jessie demanded, her laughter filling the evening.

Langley felt his ears burn. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You are jealous!" she slapped him on the back. "Don't worry, Langley. There's no one I'd rather be partners with than you."

She winked and Langley simply shook his head and walked around her. He stepped into the saloon with his fists clenched. It wasn't just realizing that Clinton wanted Jessie that had him bothered, it was realizing that she no longer had her virtue.

While Langley knew that some women had no choice over whether or not to lose it, he had hoped that Jessie would still have hers. Did that make him wrong? Or was it normal for a man to want to be his woman's first? Just the same as she would be his first. Not that Jessie was his woman yet, but Langley sincerely hoped that one day she would be.

"Clinton seemed awful fond of you," Langley noted as Jessie sat beside him at the bar. "You sure you don't want to go join his card game?"

Jessie laughed into her hand. "Clinton has been after me for two years. Ever since my pa got drunk one night and gave him his permission to woo me. The man beats all I've ever seen. Flowers. Cards. Candy. He even wrote me a poem once..." Jessie's laughter grew and she snorted with it.

Langley found laughter bubbling up from his own chest as well. "I haven't known you very long but I would think that if a man wanted to woo you, he'd be best off buying you a box of ammunition and some saddle oil."

"I don't know," Jessie winked. "I've always wanted a sturdy pack mule."

"There's a point in my favor," Langley chuckled. "I got a good mule."

"That you did," Jessie agreed before grabbing her beer and downing a large swig just as the bartender sat it in front of her.

Langley shook his head. "I've never met a woman like you."

"And I've never met a man like you either," she replied before turning her back to the barn and propping her elbows back on it as she scanned the saloon.

Langley grabbed his beer and turned as well, taking in the dirty, unkempt men occupying the crowded space. "Have you told Clinton you aren't interested in him?"

"Not in so many words. But I've certainly never told him I was either. What kind of woman wouldn't appreciate a big, strong soldier fawning over her?" Jessie clicked her tongue. "I'm sure he'll finally quit fawning now that I've told him about my long lost virtue."

"So you were just saying that to get him to leave you alone?" Langley asked hopefully.

Jessie waggled her brows. "Maybe," she replied before taking another swig of beer.

"Excuse me, ma'am," a drunken man in a uniform slurred as he staggered over from Clinton's table.

Jessie scowled and pushed back her hat as she looked up at him. "You're excused," she assured him, her voice so sickly sweet it had Langley chuckling into his beer glass.

The man seemed taken aback a minute and then he cleared his throat and tugged at his jacket. "My friend over there would like you to come sit at our table."

Jessie raised her brow and glanced over at Clinton and the smug expression on the man's face as he lounged in his chair. "Why don't you go tell your friend over there to come invite me himself?"

"Well I..." The man shifted his feet. "That is to say he.. uh.. he said you'd be willing to come over and entertain our table."

Jessie felt Langley tense beside her and she quickly laid her hand over his arm. It was flattering in a way, the protective nature that seemed to fill Langley, but it was also annoying as hell. Jessie could handle herself.

'I would be more than willing to entertain your table," Jessie breathlessly agreed as she stood.

Jessie felt Langley's eyes burning holes in her back as she sauntered to Clinton's table with her half-full glass of beer.

Langley watched on with shock and anger filled his blood when Jessie settled herself down on Clinton's lap. Langley was debating simply walking out and when Jessie ran her finger down Clinton's cheek and Clinton's hand closed around her thigh, Langley shoved himself from his stool.

He was heading for the door when Clinton yelled out. "What the....!"

Langley turned back around just in time to see Jessie bring her glass down hard on Clinton's head. Jessie leapt from his lap and took several steps back, her violet eyes flashing. "That's what you get for mistaking me for some jezebel whore!"

"After what you said outside was I supposed to think you were a prude?" Clinton demanded, checking for any blood mixing with the beer running down his face.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I said what I said outside because I wanted you to leave me the hell alone?" she hissed.

Clinton's face contorted with rage. "You bitch!"

Clinton raised his hand to strike her and Jessie was about to deliver a well-placed kick to the bastard's groin when a blur of movement caught her eye and suddenly Langley was there.

All six and a half, broad, angry feet of him.

"I think you need to watch your mouth mister," Langley warned, his voice low.

"Langley, I can take care of myself," Jessie snapped.

Langley nodded but didn't move. "I know you can."

"Then why are you still here?"

"Because I can take care of you too."

Clinton sneered. "Well isn't that sweet. The little boy is protecting his whore."

One of the other men at the table laughed. "I wouldn't call him a little boy, Clint. He's a good seven inches taller than you."

Jessie rolled her eyes. Every one of these soldiers were drunk. So much for protecting the county and what not.

"What he needs to not do is call Jessie a whore," Langley countered. "Now I know you're upset and hurt because she's not interested in you and I understand that. But that's no reason to treat her like a...."

"Whore?" Clinton interrupted. "She's nothing but a whore just like her mother."

"I'm not a whore!" Jessie snapped, stepping forward and clenching her fists into tight balls. She was angry with him but angrier with herself and the tears that burned in her eyes at the mention of her mother.

"Just think, kid," Clinton scoffed. "If she quits letting you in her skirts you can always go have her mama for a couple of coins."

Jessie saw red. She swung out with all her might and caught Clinton in the jaw. He stumbled back but shot forward with a scowl. He neaely grabbed Jessie but he was stopped when Langley's fist connected sharply with his temple.

Langley's punch had more of an impact and sent Clinton sprawling to the dirty floor.

Within moments the saloon was sent spiraling into chaos. Men leapt to their feet. Kicks, punches and tackles were delivered with no real rhyme or reason.

Langley and Jessie quickly became caught up in the madness. Langley delivered a punch to one drunk and glanced over his shoulder when he heard another howl in pain. Laughter flew from his mouth when he saw Jessie biting down on the arm of one man as she lay on the floor pinned beneath the backside of another.

Langley yanked the man off of her and sent him stumbling into the wall. He pulled Jessie to her feet. She tilted her head and Langley ducked to avoid the hit she delivered to a man behind him. Langley did the same to the man behind her.

"This is fun!" he exclaimed just before a chair collided with his back and Langley went stumbling forward into the wall. He braced his hands against the rough wood and delivered a back kick into the fat belly of the man coming for him.

"Come on. We better get out of here," Jessie said, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the door. Langley glanced toward the bar and saw the bartender lifting up a shotgun.

Langley and Jessie ran out into the night, still hand in hand and laughing. Jessie spun around and tripped over her feet. Langley caught her in his arms, pulling her body close against him.

Their eyes caught and simply locked. Adrenaline was coursing through their blood. Jessie stared up into his clear blue eyes and felt a longing so sharp that it couldn't be ignored. She wanted to know what those firm lips would feel like against her own. For the first time in her life, Jessie wanted to kiss a man and have it be real.

No con. No end game. No motive. Jessie simply wanted to kiss Langley.

Slowly Langley lowered his mouth to hers. She let her eyes slip closed. Their breath mingled between them and sparks flew from her body to his as they remained close together in the night breeze.

Shattering glass had Langley jerking his face from her just before their lips touched. He threw Jessie behind him as the fat man Langley had kicked earlier came crashing unconscious through the window.

Jessie and Langley looked at one another and laughed. They continued laughing as they hopped on their horses and took off into the night. They rode hard for several miles before beginning to look for a place to make camp.

"Look, what we almost did back there outside of that saloon... That can't happen again," Jessie warned.

Langley frowned. "Why not? From where I stood you seemed to want it just as much as I did."

"Langley this has nothing to do with what I want. You and I can't be anything more than partners. I've learned the hard way that anything more than that is a mistake. I've watched enough people be hurt to know it's the truth and I don't want to risk it."

"What makes you think I would hurt you?" Langley asked gently.

Jessie shrugged and the look on her face was resigned. "You would hurt me. I would hurt you. That's the way it goes, Langley. People hurt each other. Some people simply break things."

"Not always," Langley insisted.

When she didn't respond Langley knew the conversation was over. For the first time in his life Langley had nothing to say. What could he say? Obviously she believed very strongly in what she was saying and no amount of words from him would change her mind. He would simply have to prove to her through his actions that he would never hurt her.

His mind was made up. Jessie was the one he wanted. He would win her trust and then her heart and he didn't care how long it took him to do so. If there was one thing Langley had plenty of, it was patience.

***

Langley heard birds singing as the early morning sunlight streamed on his face. He sighed as he sat up and stretched his arms over his head.

Cracking open his eyes, a realization dawned on Langley and his heart fell into his feet.

The mule was gone. The palomino was gone. Jessie was gone.

There as a note nailed a tree and so Langley went to it.

Langley,

It's been fun, it really has, but I think it's time for me to be moving on. The truth is, I like you, but I don't have time for caring for nobody. Thanks for all the help so far and for sticking up for me even though I didn't need it. Take care of yourself.

Jessie

PS. Thanks for the mule. You did say it was a gift last night, didn't you?