Longarm #399 : Longarm and the Grand Canyon Murders (9781101554401) by Tabor Evans Read Free Book Online Page A

stagecoach for two or three days?”
    “It will be an adventure,” Longarm told her. “Remember how you told me that you love adventures?”
    “Yes, but not alone.”
    “You won’t be alone,” he told her. “There will be other passengers on the stagecoach. You’ll probably meet some nice and interesting people.”
    “I doubt that.”
    “Heidi, try to be reasonable. This is the best way.”
    “Custis,” she whispered, “my heart tells me to get on a horse and ride a hundred and forty miles…but my head says otherwise.”
    “I want those lovely silken thighs to stay lovely and silken,” he told her as he slipped his hand between her legs and kissed her lips.
    “All right,” she finally agreed. “I’ll wait. But what am I supposed to do for the next three days in this lumber town?”
    “You’ll think of something.”
    She wasn’t pleased, but she was resigned. “Let’s get into the bathtub while it’s still hot.”
    “I’d like that,” he said. “Nice things can happen when a man and a woman get in a bathtub.”
    “You’d probably drown me if you got excited.”
    “You could be on top,” he said, chuckling.
    “Then I might drown
you
!”
    Longarm scooted her off his lap and began to undress. He figured that this bath was going to be just the thing to take their mind off the difficult days that most surely awaited them both.
    “When are the drinks coming up to our room?”
    “Any minute now.”
    “Then maybe we ought to wait a few minutes so we don’t shock the nice Chinaman like we did that poor fella on the train when he stuck his head into our compartment.”
    Heidi, remembering, burst into wild laughter and started undressing anyway.

Chapter 7
    Longarm left their hotel room early the next morning while Heidi was still sleeping. He had a slight hangover and was tired from lack of sleep, but he figured that a good breakfast, a few cups of strong coffee, and he’d be up to snuff again. He had his rifle and personals and was ready to get started on his journey up to Lees Ferry.
    The Pine Cone Café was just opening when Longarm entered, and he finished a hearty breakfast as the sun came up over the eastern horizon. By seven, he had gone to the livery to meet John Wallace.
    “My wife won’t be coming along on horseback,” he explained. “She’s never really ridden before, and I convinced her to take your stagecoach up to the Grand Canyon along with your other passengers.”
    “That’s probably a smart idea,” the liveryman grudgingly admitted, “but I would have made more money if you’d have rented two horses.”
    “How many passengers have you got booked on the stagecoach coming up on Wednesday?”
    “Three, and now your wife makes four.” Wallace smiled. “There are always a couple more that buy tickets at the last minute, and a full coach is six.”
    “Save a seat for my wife, who will be by today or tomorrow for her ticket,” Longarm told the man as they went to get the horses.
    “The truth is,” Wallace said, “if the word got out that a man could sit close to your lovely wife for three days in a stagecoach, I’d have a line of ticket takers stretching out into the street.”
    Longarm chuckled. “Heidi is a looker, all right.”
    “Prettiest woman I’ve seen in years,” the liveryman said, “maybe ever.”
    Longarm couldn’t argue the point.
    “You sure are a lucky man to have a wife that beautiful.”
    Longarm felt guilty about the deception, but he and Heidi had just decided it would be easier all the way around for them both if people thought they were married. So he nodded and said, “Let’s get the horses saddled. I want to get a good start on the day.”
    “It’s going to be warm,” Wallace told him. “But not too hot. You should make good time.”
    “Think I can be up to Lees Ferry by tomorrow night?”
    “You might be able to do that, but you’d have to really put the move on.”
    “Tell you what,” Longarm said. “How about I forget the