Chapter Five
A cloud passed over the face of the moon. Emmie watched as the world around her grew dark then illuminated again as she moved through it.
The two moved side by side in silence for a good quarter of a mile before Emmie noticed that Virgil was walking strangely. She focused her attention on his movement until she was sure that he was favoring his right leg.
“You were hurt, weren't you?" Her voice sounded betrayed as if he'd intentionally kept important information from her.
"I'm fine," He didn't look up at her and she knew that he was trying harder now to overcompensate for his injury.
“You’re not fine.” Emmie watched Virgil as he stubbornly continued forward, “I will walk and you take Red.” Emmie leaned forward, ready to slide off the saddle but Virgil put out a hand to hold her in place.
“You are in no shape to be walking either,” He paused and exhaled. Then, grabbing the horn of the saddle so that his arm wrapped tightly around Emmie, he swung himself up on the horse behind her. He adjusted his body but there was no way for them both to sit atop Red without their bodies touching.
Emmie felt acutely every place where her limbs made contact with his. His breath touched the back of her neck and the side of her cheek. She could feel the warmth of his body heat radiating into her own skin.
“Do you know what happened to my friend?” It was easier for Emmie to ask while her eyes looked out away from Virgil. She felt him stiffen for a moment behind her then he took a breath and let it out slowly.
“I don’t really know, I wasn’t there at the moment but Otis said that your friend accused Max of being a cattle thief.”
Emmie sat with the new information running through her mind. It made sense, Kate wasn’t usually so outgoing with her opinions so she must have had good reason to think so.
“I guess something happened on her family’s ranch and we’re new in town so…” Virgil’s voice drifted off.
“So you didn’t take them?” Emmie heard herself ask before she had time to reconsider.
There was a heavy pause behind her but she refused to speak until he’d responded.
“I heard from someone else that there’s an animal problem, not a human problem.”
Emmie’s brow furrowed. “You’re right, I saw a pack of coyotes… wolves maybe… harassing our cattle.” Admitting it felt like a betrayal of Kate. “But you think that’s a good enough reason for your friend to hurt my friend?”
“Of course not, don’t put words in my mouth.”
Emmie and Virgil sat in a heated silence as Red moved on toward the ranch.
“I’m really sorry about your friend,” Virgil’s voice came clear and soft and immediately began to melt down Emmie’s hardened feelings.
Emmie let herself lean back the slightest bit into Virgil, “Where are you from?”
The two walked slowly into the moonlight as Emmie told Virgil about growing up the only daughter of a widowed rancher. She even got to hear Virgil laugh, his low voice sounding like music when it came out. As soon as she heard the sound she knew she wanted to make him laugh again.
Virgil told Emmie the story of the four men working their way across the West. Otis one of the other men was Max’s brother, and Levi was the one with the injured foot. They’d all grown up together more like brother’s then friends and now they were following Max who had an idea of wrangling cattle and eventually making their way out to California.
They talked half way to the Ward Ranch then decided to take a detour to let Red have some water and graze a bit. They could easily have made the trip three times over but there was something nice about ambling forward in the dark with Virgil at her back.
Emmie wondered if her father was still awake if he was waiting for her, but she thought better of it. Silas had always let Emeline do her own thing. He would be worried if she wasn't at the breakfast table but she would be back long before then.
The night got later and later as the two talked. Emmie had never met anyone who had traveled or seen so much of the country as Virgil had. He was different from anyone she’d ever met, yet familiar in some ways too.
When they got back on Red to make the final distance to the ranch Emmie felt something stir within her. Her body and all her senses were alive. Virgil’s physical presence, so close behind her, made her feel something she’d never felt before.
“When will you leave?” Emmie finally summed up enough courage to ask the question she’d been thinking. Virgil paused again and she felt his absence as if he’d already left.
“In the morning.”
Emmie felt a different sort of panic begin deep in her stomach. “You have to?” It was a stupid question but the panic had bubbled up in her and she felt greedy for Virgil’s presence.
Virgil didn’t say anything for a long time then Emmie felt the whisper of his fingers across the back of her neck. She sucked in a breath and waited to release it.
“You’ll be safe again with Max gone,” Virgil’s voice came at last but it wasn’t what Emmie had wanted to hear.
After another few paces, Emmie pulled on the reins and brought Red to a stop.
“Is everything ok?” There was a tinge of worry back in Virgil’s voice and Emmie felt him look around.
Emmie sat very still for a long moment before turning halfway around in her saddle.
“Are you—”
Before he could finish the words, Emmie’s mouth was on his. He tasted perfect, his lips left open with surprise. She paused as she pulled back from the kiss, worried that she’d offended him, that she’d been too impulsive, that she should have just gone home like a normal girl. Then Virgil’s mouth found hers. She felt the hunger within him.
His fingers and hands moved to her face as he pulled her closer. She felt a deep dragging longing for the man in front of her, a longing she’d never experienced before. Her heart was thudding fast. She leaned into his neck and kissed around his wound.
Her fingers slipped under the collar of his shirt and she felt the hairs that were scattered across his chest.
Virgil pulled back and looked into Emmie’s face.
“We should get you home,” He held her gaze as her breath heavily lifted and lowered her chest.
Emmie slowly shook her head, her eyes sparkling in the night, “No.”
Virgil held her gaze for another moment before jumping down from Red. Emmie leaned forward again but Virgil was too fast for her. His hands held her waist as she leaned in, but he merely held her in place for another long moment.
“You’re sure?” His fingers almost touched as they circled around her waist.
Emmie bent boldly and took Virgil’s mouth in her own, showing him her answer. He lifted her, slowly lowering her feet to the ground, her body settling into his. Her fingers moved around the buttons of his shirt and he moved them back off of the road.
As her dress slid off her body the cold night air hit every inch of her skin. Her nipples hardened and Virgil lifted one nipple in his mouth. He kissed her skin like he was worshipping her. The warmth of his body pulsed into hers and she pressed herself against him, trying to melt into him.
They lay their clothes on the cold ground. Emmie felt Virgil’s eyes on her like a heat. He was devouring her with only his look. When he pulled her toward him she opened for him, craving him, needing him to be one with her.
Her eyes were locked on his as he slid inside of her. Emmie sucked in a sip of air but she couldn’t take her eyes away from his.
His body moved over hers, her head lifting off the ground, her breath pulsing in short pants. Virgil adjusted to her reactions.
Emmie’s body was throbbing, new sensations flooding every nerve. She gasped and his lips plunged down for her.
A deep quiver began within her. With every movement, it grew and her body became less and less her own. Control left and a new wave of feelings overtook her.
Another gasp dragged through her throat. Virgil's rhythm changed to match her rising intensity. Emmie's eyes locked onto the pure gray of his eyes as her body lifted and an explosion burst through her cells.
Virgil’s mouth opened part way as his body contracted and the two froze together, barely moving as surges of energy ran through them.
It was a few minutes before Emmie remembered the cold around her, her clothes lying chilly beneath her. She turned and curled her body into Virgil’s not ready to give herself up to the reality of the cold that was even now moving in.