Shalane

Shalane's grasp on Angus's arm tightened and her voice shook when she called to the other woman, "Prissy, I told you I wasn't interested."

Angus looked down at Shalane, meeting her eyes looking up at him. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he spoke to Prissy telling her he didn't mind the drive. The back seat of Prissy's car was really too small for a passenger.

As the two couples separated to go to their vehicles, Prissy turned her head to call back to Shalane. "I'll see you at home. You'll enjoy it, Shalane. You just have to loosen up a little."

Although it had stopped raining, the parking lot was almost a lake. Even if most of the water was only an inch or two deep, there was no way anyone could walk through it without getting their shoes wet and most of the women were holding their long dresses up to their knees to make sure they didn't get them wet.

There was probably no need this time to help Shalane up to the running board of his truck, but Angus enjoyed touching her. He had been so careful during the dance to keep his distance. He was almost startled at how badly she was now shaking.

As soon as he was seated behind the wheel and had the engine running so he could add a little heat inside the pickup, Angus asked, "You want to tell me what that was all about?"

Shalane did not turn her head toward him to answer, "Not really," she answered softly. Then she did turn her head to him. "Angus, without asking a lot of questions, will you just take me to a hotel so I can get a room for the night?"

"I could," he answered and was quiet for a moment. "Or, I could offer you the use of my guest room for the night."

"You don't need to ..."

"Shalane, you have no luggage. Dressed like that, the hotel isn't going to ... Well, taking you home with me is just better."

* * *

Awakened in the very early hours of the morning by an unfamiliar sound, Angus silently rose and pulled on his sweatpants. He was in the upper hallway looking over the banister to the large room below before he recalled he had a guest in his house. Outlined by a distant flash of lightning outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the large room below was the tall slender shape of a woman. Wearing nothing more than one of his t-shirts, she had her arms wrapped around herself, looking out the windows.

Angus made no effort to be silent as he moved down the stairs, but only when he was standing behind her did she seem to realize someone else was in the room. Her body jerked but she did not turn away from the window.

In a trembling voice, Shalane whispered, "Weather is a very powerful force, isn't it?"

Angus's deep rumbling voice sounded loud even to his own ears, although he did not speak loudly, "Yes, it is. Are you frightened of lightning?"

Shalane nodded, but also shrugged shoulders, "A little, yes. When I was small I hid in the closet." Her voice was even quieter when she said, "My parents locked their door at night."

Angus moved nearer and gently put one hand on her shoulder. Feeling a tremor in her body, he acknowledged to himself that it was dangerous to be this close to the woman. His erection had subsided as he slept, but it was returning, slowly building. The pressure and the heat against the inside of his thigh was something he could ignore for a short while, yet he knew there was something about Shalane that was stronger than he could resist.

"If it bothers you, then why do you stand here?"

Shalane laughed quietly, but it was not a happy laugh. "I'm facing my fears."

Angus moved his other hand to her shoulder, squeezing lightly, giving her support, just letting her know someone else was with her. He moved a step closer to her, applying a little pressure as if to turn her around, but she resisted.

"Come on, Shalane, you should be in bed."

She did not turn her head to speak to him. Instead, she nodded her head at the lightning outside the windows. Her voice broke when she said, "I can't, not with that out there."

Angus removed his hands from her shoulders and walked around in front of her. She let him take her arms, wrap them around his neck, and he stood there with his hands on her hips, letting her hold him. After a few moments, she was holding him tighter with her head resting on him, occasionally shifting her weight, inching closer to him, yet he knew she was still watching over his shoulder. Moving slowly he lifted his hand from her waist, putting his arm around her back and then did the same with his other arm.

Over the next few minutes, her trembling ceased and she began to breathe deeply, resting more and more of her weight on him, not seeming to mind that his erection was pressed against her. Shalane seemed almost asleep. Concerned that if he remained standing he might grow so relaxed he would allow her to fall from his arms, he chose to lean over and put his arm under her knees and take her upstairs. Without letting go of her, he settled back in his bed and pulled her tighter into the curl of his body, spread the thin feather duvet over them, and went back to sleep.

* * *

The audible gasp of a woman's indignant voice startled Angus fully awake.

"Angus ..."

In his sleep-roughened voice, Angus commanded, "Shalane, don't move."

Despite her rapid breathing, and her prior movements against his hand, the command in her voice was unmistakable. "Get your hands ..."

"Hush," he muttered and continued with his movements. His upper arm was across her hip, his hand between her legs with two fingers slowly circling her clit, moving his fingers down, slipping into her, and then dragging them back up, covered with her juices, as he continued with the stimulation. Her head was on his other shoulder and his other arm was beneath Shalane, under the thin t-shirt with one lush breast in the palm of his hand as he opened and closed his fingers around her softness. Her pointed nipple slipped in and out from between his index and middle fingers.

She started to move away, until he tightened his arms and commanded, "Be still, dammit."

Only then did she realize his hard cock was slowly moving against the small of her back. Shalane felt the cushion of hair covering the hard muscles of his upper chest at her back as his body moved against her. Only the front of his sweatpants prevented her from feeling the hair on the lower part of his body.

"Angus ..." Shalane whimpered her hips twisting, "Please, please ... don't ..."

"Don't what? Don't stop? You're almost there, let it go, honey. Take a deep breath, and let go," and she did.

Shalane inhaled, arched her back, and held it as her whole body shook with the intensity of her orgasm. It was followed only moments later as warmth spread across the small of her back when Angus growled against the back of her neck as he held himself rigid. The palm of his hands still cupped her, pressing her against him. The musty smell of their climaxes seeped from under the top edge of the duvet that held their body heat in the crisp coolness of the early morning.

He held her, feeling the waning tremors going through her, waiting for her breathing, and his own, to return to normal before he removed his arms from around her. Only when she began to move did he let her go, telling her, "Go take your shower. Be quick about it or I'll be in there with you."

As Angus half sat up in bed, Shalane scampered into the bathroom, giving him nothing more to look at than the white t-shirt covering her back and a glimpse at the fullness of her round bottom above her long tapered legs. He fell back onto his pillow, stifling a groan, calling himself every kind of a fool. He could not excuse himself for turning to a warm soft woman he found in his bed, even if he did so when he was not yet really awake.

Minutes later, when Shalane opened the door of the bathroom Angus was standing in the middle of his bedroom, as if he had stood there the whole time waiting for her. He looked at her, from her feet all the way up her legs. A towel barely covered her, leaving uncovered her bare shoulders, graceful neck, and long slender legs. She stared straight at him. Her red hair, darkened from being washed, was hanging down to the top of the towel wrapped around her and wet ringlets hung all the way down across her shoulders and upper arms. He wanted to touch her more than he wanted to breathe.

He jerked his head toward the half-open closet door behind him, "Find something in there to wear."

He allowed her to take a few steps into the room before he walked around her and closed the bathroom door behind himself. He took several deep breaths and half turned back to the door. He wasn't sure if he could stop himself from opening the door to go back into his bedroom, rip the towel off her, and throw her back on the bed to finish what he'd started while he was still half asleep.

When he walked out of the bathroom, he was still drying himself off. Bunched in his hands, was the thick towel he was using to dry his chest hair and down the center of his body, with the remainder of the towel hanging down barely covering his cock and scrotum. When he heard Shalane gasp, Angus looked up.

"Damn," he muttered, and closed his hands into fists.

He had assumed she would find something to wear and take it back to the guest room, or that she had already gone downstairs.

His second comment was more forceful, "My God."

Shalane was wearing one of his long sleeve shirts, in the process of rolling the cuff of one sleeve up her forearm. She had not yet buttoned the front of the shirt, which allowed him to see the deep cleavage between her breast, her belly button, and a glimpse of the hair of her pubic mound, which he already knew was soft. However, it was also red, a darker red than the hair on her head, but she was definitely a natural redhead.

As if it were something he did everyday, Angus walked to his dresser, which allowed him to turn his back to her so he could drop the towel. He opened a drawer and removed clean underwear that he stepped into and pulled up before turning around.

Shalane was calmly buttoning the front of the shirt she had selected. He recognized the shirt. He had last worn it in Chicago when he had participated in a symposium. After one particularly heated discussion between himself and a rather obnoxious feminist, there had been a short break. A man who had been in the audience had commented that it took a brave man, one who had no doubt of his masculinity, to wear a pink shirt in front of almost a thousand people, more than three-fourths of whom were women. Most of the women within hearing of the man's remark had applauded.

There is something undeniably sexy about a woman wearing a man's shirt. A woman with red hair, wearing a pink shirt was even more startling. Angus did not know if Shalane was aware of the effect she was having on him. The tingle in his groin was certainly responding to the picture she made standing in the middle of his bedroom wearing his shirt. On her, the oversized shirt hung half way down her thighs. At her side, the shirttail hem rose to within a few inches of her hip.

Angus could not ignore her as he felt the weight of blood slowly filling his genitals while he moved about his room getting dressed. He quickly found a clean pair of jeans and pulled a shirt out of the closet then snapped the front sides together as he opened the bedroom door and held it for Shalane to walk ahead of him as he stuffed his shirttail into his pants. Both of them could smell the coffee and frying bacon.

He was startled to see two place settings on the kitchen table. Then he recalled he had left Shalane's jacket on the back of the couch when she had kicked off her wet shoes and placed her small handbag on the table behind the sitting area. Maria would have seen the jacket, shoes, and handbag and known he had a woman in the house.

"Good morning, Maria," Angus greeted his cook and housekeeper as he held a chair for Shalane. "This is Shalane Fraser."

Maria did little more than nod at Shalane, but she gave Angus a hard look, which he chose to ignore for the moment.

When he was seated, he asked Maria, "Is Jose in the barn? I need him to run an errand for me when he takes you to church."

"Si, Senor. Tell me how you want the eggs. You eat and I bring Jose to you."

Angus looked at Shalane, waited for her to order her eggs, and then told Maria how he would like his own breakfast done. As soon as Maria placed their plates in front of them, she left to get her husband.

"I'll send Jose to Prissy's for your things. I guess that means a suitcase?" Shalane nodded and Angus asked, "Is there anything else you need from there?"

"No, I suppose my car is still at the service station. Maybe it was towed to the dealership. I need to get an estimate on the repairs."

"If they need to order parts, do you need me to take you home this afternoon?"

"No, I was going to take part of this week off. Prissy said she would ..."

He did not try to keep the disgust from his voice, "Shalane."

"Angus."

"Drop it ... you'll stay here. Next subject."

However, there was no time for another discussion as Maria, followed by Jose, walked into the kitchen. Angus tried to avoid giving Shalane all of his attention, but he also wanted to watch the various reactions on her face when he told Jose what he wanted done.

"Jose, when you take Maria to church, Miss Fraser's suitcase needs to be picked up at Priscilla Roundtree's house. Billy's there, too. I don't care if you have to dump him in the back of the truck naked, drunk or sober bring him home. If he's not there, find him."

Angus stopped addressing Jose to turn to Shalane, "Would you like me to call Prissy and tell her to pack your bag, or would you prefer to do that yourself?"

Shalane lifted her eyes from her hands clasped in her lap and looked at Angus. "Either one, I need to get the rest of my things from my car, too. I guess I need to get a rental."

"I have a car you can drive while you're here. Let's wait until you know about repairs before you decide that."

"Okay, then I'll need just my suitcase, please."

Angus turned his attention back to Jose. "Before noon, go by that mail service for my office mail. Look through everything to see if there's a notice of something too large for the mailbox. I have some large envelopes and flat boxes that should be arriving in the next few days."

After finishing his breakfast, Angus stood and started to put his hand on Shalane's shoulder but she had stiffened her back again, sitting rigidly in her chair. Angus dropped his arm to his side. He wanted to touch her or brush her hair away from her face so he could look at her. Oh hell, he wanted to do a lot more than that. Instead he simply said he was going to his study to make the telephone calls.

While waiting to talk to someone at the auto dealership about the repairs to Shalane's car, he watched out the window as the ranch truck rumbled across the cattle guard. He swiveled around in his chair and saw Shalane standing in the doorway of his office. He motioned her to come in then had to return his attention to the telephone call. He quickly grew frustrated that the only people at the dealership on a Sunday were an operator, one mechanic, and new car salespeople.

He watched Shalane walk around the study, looking at various photos on the walls and books and knick knacks on the shelves as she listened to him speaking about the engine problems with her car.

After completing his call, Angus stood and moved to stand near Shalane. Then he backed up a step when she began to move away from him. "They won't be back until near noon. Is there anything you'd like to do?"

She shook her head, and turned away from him, "No." Her answer was tinged with a little humor as she pinched the fabric of his shirt at the top of her chest, lifting it away from her body. "I'm not exactly dressed for ..." The remainder of her comment died for lack of words to describe how naked she felt.

"Shalane, I'm sorry about this morning." He really didn't know what else to say. He'd been waking up from an erotic dream involving Shalane's description of what Prissy had planned for Billy's birthday. Her voice had been shaking with anger as she told of Prissy's attempt to include Shalane in an all night threesome fulfilling Billy's request that the other female be a redhead.

"It was ... I was just surprised."

"I know. I went to sleep angry about why Prissy asked you to spend a few days with her. When I woke up, all I knew was that I had a luscious woman in my bed. I won't deny I wanted you. Nor will I deny that I still do."

"Its okay, Angus, really. It's alright."

"No it isn't. I'm not ... I don't bring women here, to the ranch. I guess you understood that Maria wasn't very pleasant this morning. Like most of the people on this ranch, she's lived here her entire life." His short bark of laughter was more embarrassment than humor. "She changed my diapers and bandaged my skinned knees. She won't say anything. She's sort of protective of me. But I also need to get Billy back here to the ranch to keep him from running off at the mouth."

"I didn't thank you for taking care of me during the storm. You don't need to keep taking care of me, Angus."

"Yes I do. Or at least, I want to." Angus would have touched Shalane, but she seemed to back away and turn to take a small step when he was within arm's reach.

Rather than invade what she needed for her personal space, Angus described the relationship between Billy and himself. "Five generations of McCall's have kept the members of Billy's family out of jail for one reason or another. Every White Feather man has been a cowboy on this ranch and more than half of them were drunks when given the opportunity. Billy's just a little worse than most of the others have been."

"You don't think he would ..."

Angus tried to make his voice gentle, "No, he's not dangerous." He was so familiar with Billy's alcoholism he knew what the man would do when he woke up for the first time if someone wasn't around to control or subdue him. "But if Prissy won't give him any whiskey this morning when he wakes up, he'll find some place to buy a drink, even if it's under the counter. He's well known. Someone will sell to him just to get rid of him. He'll keep at it until he passes out. You already know how he talks when he gets drunk."

Shalane didn't try to hold back her laughter. She had encouraged Billy to talk the previous evening. She had laughed at least as loud as anyone else at the table, over what he said was family history, most of it obviously well-laced with exaggerations.

"Well, I don't have a reputation to ruin. There aren't many people around here who would know who he's talking about."

Angus cringed, considered remaining silent, and then decided he could tell Shalane enough that she would understand. "They'll know, because of your hair."

Putting her hand on top of her head, Shalane asked, "My hair?"

"Yeah, it's red. There aren't many red-haired women around here, at least not natural red heads with fair skin. My older sister had red hair, a lot lighter than yours or mine; I think the color is usually referred to as strawberry blonde. Billy stalked her, in a friendly way, but it was stalking. It was a lot worse when he was drinking. He'd get drunk and talk about what he'd do to her as soon as she figured out she loved him as much as he loved her. She teased him and then wouldn't give him the time of day."

"You said 'had'?"

"Yeah, she was in the Murrow Federal Building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City when it was bombed."

Shalane's voice showed surprise and a tinge of horror, "She was killed?"

"No, Casey was only slightly injured. She couldn't handle the emotional stress. She came home when she couldn't continue to work, mostly because of depression. She used to go to town with Billy."