Wyoming Fierce

Tank looked in past her and sighed. “Thank God,” he mused. “I was afraid he might try to get out of hand.” He looked her over, and apparently didn’t see anything to concern him. She was mussed, but that could have come from manhandling Cane into bed. Or so she guessed.

“He’s a handful all right. I thought I’d never get him into the bed. He’s heavy!” she muttered, trying to bluff.

“Yes, he is.” He shook his head. “I wish he’d stop picking up women in bars,” he added coldly. “At his age, he should be thinking about a family.”

“Some men never settle down,” she replied, going ahead of him downstairs. “He seems to be one of those.”

“You never know. We’re in your debt, again,” he emphasized, and smiled gently. “Isn’t there something we can do for you?”

She smiled and nodded. “Yes. Drive me home, please. I still have to study.”

“Come on. Yes, I remember finals. No fun.”

“Yes, but I only have one more semester to go. If I pass everything, I get my degree.”

“Then what?”

“Then, on to my master’s.” She sighed. “With digs in between and a nice full-time job this next summer to help pay for it all.”

“We could…”

She held up a hand. “You’ve done so much for Granddaddy. You don’t need to do anything for me. I’m happy to help out, any way I can. You’re a nice family.”

He smiled. “Thanks. Your granddad was one of the best wranglers we ever had. Shame he had to go and get old,” he added gently.

“I feel the same way!”

* * *

HE DROVE HER HOME. She went inside, just in time to catch her grandfather in a conversation on the telephone.

“But where would I go, Will?” he was asking heavily. “This was my daughter’s place…yes, I know you own it. But I can’t pay that much in rent! My little monthly check from the Kirks helps, but I’m still trying to get on disability…yes, I know. I know. All right, I’ll try to come up with it. You wouldn’t really…? Hello?”

She walked into the dining room. He was standing by the telephone table that had belonged to her great-grandmother, with the freedom phone held in his hand, frozen.

“Granddaddy? What is it?”

He glanced at her, started to speak, thought better of it and just hung up the phone. “Aw, nothing. Nothing at all. You go back and work on that biology. I’m going to read a book. See you in the morning.” He even managed a smile.

“You sleep well,” she said.

He hesitated. “Oh, did you get Cane home okay?”

She nodded. “Tank drove me back. Cane passed out.”

He sighed. “Cane’s a good boy. Tragic, what happened to him.” He shook his head. “Just tragic.” He went into his room and closed the door.

Bodie went into her own room and sank down on the side of her bed, speechless from what had happened in Cane’s bedroom. He’d never once touched her. He’d told her things, shocking things, like the intimate details of his dates. But this was different. This was the first time he’d treated her as an adult woman.

She didn’t know whether to be outraged, angry or flattered. He was much older than she was. He was rich and handsome. He had a disability that made him forget how dishy he really was to women. But she couldn’t forget the look on his face just before he sank back into the pillows unconscious. That had been shame. Real shame.

She sighed. Her whole life had changed in the course of one night. She’d had her mind on education, on getting degrees, getting a job in her field, making some worthy and famous discovery that would set the world of anthropology on its ear. Now, all she could think about was the feel of Cane’s mouth on her body.

She couldn’t afford to let those thoughts continue. She was poor. Her grandfather was even poorer, and it sounded as if her stepfather had been making threats to him about raising the rent. She grimaced. Will Jones was horrible. He kept all sorts of explicit magazines around the house, and her mother had been furious at the cable and satellite bills because he watched pornography almost around the clock. She’d kept a close eye on Bodie, made sure that she was never alone with the man. Bodie had wondered about that, but never really questioned it, until her mother’s death.

The day after the funeral, which her stepfather had actually attended, dry-eyed, he made an intimate remark to her about her body. He said he knew about college girls and he had a new way to make money, now that her mother wasn’t around to disapprove. If she’d cooperate, he’d share the proceeds with her. He was starting an internet business. He could make her a star. All she had to do was pose for a few photographs....

Shocked and still grieving for her mother, she’d left his house immediately and gone to her grandfather’s rented home with only a small suitcase containing her greatest little treasures and a few clothes. Her grandfather, grim-faced, had never asked why she’d moved in with him. But from then on, they were a team. Her stepfather had tried to coax her back, but she’d refused and hung up on him. He had a friend who liked her. The friend, Larry, wanted to go out with her. She didn’t like the look of him, or the way he spent time with her stepfather. She imagined that he had the same taste in reading matter and film viewing as the older man. It gave her the creeps. She opened her biology textbook and sprawled on the bed. She wasn’t going to think of these things right now. She’d face them when she had to. At the moment her priority was passing biology, a subject she loved but was never really good at. She recalled her first biology exam. She could understand the material; her professor was an excellent teacher. But she ground her teeth together during the oral biology lab. Her professor, a kind but terrifying man in a white lab coat during orals, had grinned when she rattled off the information about circulation through the lymphatic system. It had been harrowing. But that was only a test. She was certain that the final would be much worse.

She sighed, closing her eyes and smiling. Her physical anthropology class was her favorite. She was actually looking forward to that final. Her roommate, Beth Gaines, a nice girl with whom she lived in a small apartment off campus, was in the same anthropology class. They’d spent days before Bodie came home for the weekend, grilling each other on the material.

“Bones, bones, bones,” Beth groaned as she went over the dentition yet another time. “These teeth were in this primate, these teeth were in a more refined primate, this was in homo sapiens…aaaahhhhhh!” she screamed, pulling at her red hair. “I’ll never remember all this!” She glared at Bodie, who was grinning. “And I’ll never forgive you for talking me into taking this class with you! I’m a history major! Why do I need a minor in anthropology?”

“Because when I become famous and get a job at some super university as a professor, you can come and teach there with me.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “I’ll have connections! Wait and see!”

Beth sighed. Her expression was doubtful.

“Only a few more years to go,” Bodie teased.

Beth’s green eyes narrowed. “I’m not taking any more anthropology classes, period.”

Bodie had only grinned, as well. Her best friend was like herself, out of step with the world, old-fashioned and deeply religious. It was hard to be that way on a modern college campus without getting hassled by more progressive students. But Beth and Bodie stuck together and coped.

Bodie opened her eyes. She was never going to get this biology committed to memory by thinking about other things.

She frowned as music started playing. She got up to answer her cell phone, which was playing one of the Star Trek themes.

Bodie opened it. “Hello?”

There was a pause. “Bodie?”

Her heart skipped. “Yes.”

She moved to the door and pushed it shut, so she wouldn’t disturb her grandfather.

“About earlier tonight,” Cane began slowly.

“Yes?” She was beginning to sound like a broken record.

He cleared his throat. “If I said anything out of the way, I’m sorry.”

She hesitated. “You don’t remember?” she asked.

He laughed softly. “I was pretty much drunk out of my mind,” he said with a long sigh. “Honest to God, I remember getting into the truck with you. The next thing I remember is waking up with a pounding headache and so sick that I had to run to the bathroom.” He hesitated again, while Bodie’s heart fell like lead. All that, and he didn’t remember anything?

“You should stop treeing bars,” she said quietly.

“If I’m going to have memory loss like this, yes, I guess you’re right.”