Page 94 of Texas Destiny
Houston hadn’t detoured by the settlement in years. He’d forgotten how dismal the place appeared at midnight, but it had what he needed to distract him from all the unsettling thoughts running through his head, and it had what Austin wanted. It’d do.
He brought his horse to a halt in front of the two-story wooden framed house and dismounted.
“This it?” Austin asked as he slid off his bay gelding and absently wrapped the reins around the hitching rail.
“Yep.”
Bending at the waist and peering through the dust coated windows, Austin paced the rattling wooden porch. “Ain’t much light. What if they’re closed?”
“They’re not closed,” Houston assured him as he stepped on the porch. He wondered if he’d ever been as young as Austin appeared now, ever held that much exuberance about anything. Houston had been eighteen the first time he had paid a woman for her services. He’d felt like an old man, with no excitement, no anticipation. Just something to do so he could say he’d done it. “You don’t need much light for what we’re gonna do.” The door squeaked on dry hinges as he shoved it open. “Come on.”
Austin bounded through like a puppy being tossed a bone. He swept his hat from his head, his eyes larger than a harvest moon as he took in the drab surroundings. The vacant seats of the wooden chairs had been polished to a shine by the backsides of all the cowboys who had sat waiting their turn over the years.
A woman with fiery red hair, violet eyes, and full lips painted blood red sauntered over and trailed her fingers from Austin’s shoulder to his elbow and back up. She purred like a contented cat that had just lapped up the last of the cream, her smile one of appreciation.
“Hey, darlin’,” she cooed in a voice as sultry as a summer night.
“‘Howdy,” Austin croaked, his voice changing pitch three times. He’d latched his gaze onto her bountiful bosom which Houston thought might bust free of that shimmering red corset at any moment. He watched his brother’s Adam’s apple slide up and down and figured Austin was thinking the same thing.
“Maria still work here?” Houston asked.
The woman yelled over the din of a distant off-key piano. Maria shoved herself away from the lanky cowboy over whom she’d been draped and sauntered over, smiling when she recognized Houston.
She appeared older than he’d remembered, worn as thin as the wood on the chairs. The red paint she’d smeared on her cheeks didn’t stop them from sagging and the dark circles beneath her eyes had little to do with the kohl she was wearing.
Because she knew him, had serviced him before, she placed her hand inside his thigh, embarrassingly close to his crotch. He was uncomfortable as hell blushing in front of his little brother.
“Been a long time, cowboy,” Maria said in a weary voice. “I got that handsome fella over there interested in me. I don’t know if double will make me forget him.”
“Triple, then.”
Her smile grew, but never reached her eyes as she wrapped her arm through his. “I’m yours.”
He looked over his shoulder at Austin. “This is his first time. Be gentle with him.”
The woman’s throaty laughter spilled past her curved lips. “Ah, honey, I’m always gentle.” She tugged on Austin’s hand. “Come on, sweet thing.”
“Shouldn’t we talk first?” Austin asked, and the woman’s laughter grew.
“Don’t worry about him. Velvet will give him a time he won’t soon forget,” Maria said as she led Houston toward the stairs, leaving Austin standing and stuttering in the front parlor. “You want it the same as last time?”
The loneliness swept through him as he gave her his answer. “Yeah.”
Houston stepped on the porch and drew in a long deep breath of the brisk fresh air. No smoke. No heavy perfume. No musky stench of stale bodies rutting like dogs.
The night air was clear, as clear as the stars twinkling above him. He thought he’d never again be able to look upon the night sky without thinking of Amelia curled in his arms.
He’d watched Maria undress … and felt nothing but a desire to leave. The woman’s naked body hadn’t been half as alluring as Amelia’s shadow. He’d apologized for his lack of interest, paid her what he’d promised, and walked out without touching her. Since Amelia had come into his life, he was doing one hell of a lot of apologizing.
He crossed the porch and dropped to the top step where his younger brother was leaning against the porch post, gazing into the distance as though he’d fallen in love.
“Didn’t take you long,” Houston said as he settled against the opposite post. He chuckled low. “Course, as I recall, didn’t take me long the first time, either.”
“I didn’t go with her,” Austin said quietly. “I was thinking about Dallas and Amelia—”
“Well, don’t,” Houston snapped.
Austin turned his head slightly. “I wasn’t thinking nothing personal or anything. I just thought all women were like Amelia, all clean and sweet smelling and smiling like they were glad to see me.”
