The wiry-haired head of Neetie popping between them prevented Court from asking another question.
“We stop soon?” Neetie asked.
Giving him an affectionate rub of his head, Maggie answered, “When we get to the Remember Tree we’ll stop. It isn’t far ahead.”
Maggie had a knack with children. She’d make a magnificent mother to Neetie. There would be no wife or child in his future. He had nothing to give, or if he did he refused to. Opening himself to the possibility also exposed him to pain and misery. He couldn’t give a family what they needed most—his unguarded heart. “Remember Tree?” Court asked.
“Yeah. That one we were just talking about.”
“Why Remember Tree?”
“Because it is the one Neetie uses to remember how to get home.” She smiled back at Neetie.
“I still don’t get it.”
“When Neetie left to go to school in Teligu he was afraid he wouldn’t remember how to get home. We picked out landmarks along the way so that he would know his way back to his village. So this tree became the Remember Tree.”
“I see,” Court said quietly. Remembering was something they weren’t allowed to do in his family. Lyland, his twin brother, was never mentioned. Maybe if his parents would let themselves, let him, remember, Court could find his way back to his family. Unlike Neetie, Court still searched for his Remember Tree.
By the time they had reached the tree it was approaching noon and the temperature was nudging a hundred. Maggie instructed Court to pull the truck well under the tree to protect them from the heat as much as possible.
Pulling a box out of the backseat, Maggie said, “We’ll eat on the tailgate.”
Neetie climbed into the back of the truck, while Court and Maggie stood and ate their sandwiches.
“How often do you make this trek out to the village?” Court asked between bites of sandwich.
Maggie picked up a piece of fruit. “Usually once a quarter, but more often if necessary.”
“How do you know if you need to go more often?”
“This is the main trek to the south so someone is always coming through from this direction. They’ll stop and tell us if we’re needed.”
“Is the village much farther?”
“We should reach it before nightfall.”
“Really? That much farther?”
“It takes two days in the rainy season but in the dry it’s one long day. Tired already? Want me to drive?”
“No. I’m good.”
Maggie started packing the remaining food into the box. “Neetie, would you get the water jug for me? You can show Mister Doctor how we take a shower.”
The boy scrambled over the side of the truck and returned with a large container of water, handing it to her. At Court’s questioning look, she smiled.
“Shower?” he asked. “Sounds interesting.”
The pink in her cheeks wasn’t just from the heat. He sure enjoyed teasing her. She always had such a pretty reaction to it.
“It isn’t that kind of shower. We’ll easily dehydrate in this heat, especially riding in a closed truck. We need to counteract that by wetting ourselves down.”
Maggie poured water over Neetie’s head. With the bottle empty, she went to the cooler on the side of the truck and refilled it. She upended the bottle over her hair, face and across her shoulders. It gradually soaked her navy T-shirt.
Court watched with rapt attention as wetness continued to flow across the fullness of her pert, round breasts, defining them. His mouth turned dry but not from the sweltering heat. He fervently wished her T-shirt was white. He swallowed. Did the woman have any idea what she was doing to him? Snarling low in his throat, Court put his back to Neetie before the boy got a lesson in the birds and the bees.
Maggie glanced at Court, and away. Her eyes returned and widened. Her mouth formed an O.
“Hand me that bottle and get Neetie in the truck. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“But—”
“Damn it, Maggie, just this once, do as I say without an argument.”
Maggie knew desire. She’d experienced it. She’d had boyfriends, a fiancé, but never had a man respond to her so swiftly and visibly as Court had.
At his intense stare, her nipples had puckered and her breasts had grown heavy. A river of heat had flowed through her body and pooled low, creating a throbbing that still beat. A slight tremble shook her body.
The corners of her mouth lifted. There was a sweet giddiness to having sexual power over a big strapping man. She liked it that she could stir Court so. But something told her not to push him too far or he’d turn and bite, leaving her hurting.
Neetie had settled in the backseat by the time Court opened the driver’s door.
“I’ll be glad to drive,” she said in as even a tone as she could muster with her nerves in a jumble.
“I’ve got it.”
“Okay, if that’s the way you want it.”
He gave her a piercing look. “You have no real idea what I want.”
Hours later, with the sky turning red on the horizon, she could see the village in the distance. Neetie with his skinny arm stretched between them squealed, “The kissing well.”
“And that is?” Court remarked.
“It’s where his mother last kissed him goodbye.” She’d said the words so softly he’d glanced at her.
“Forever?” he said the word quietly.
“Yes, forever.” She gave a little nod, wondering at the shadows in his eyes before he turned away.
* * *
Maggie’s heart rate always picked up from excitement when she entered the village. Court drove along the path as she directed him between mud-brick huts with their pointed roofs.
“That’s a mighty big smile on your face,” Court commented, with a hint of teasing.
“Yeah, I love coming here. These villagers have a better sense of what life is about than most people I know. Here life is hard, and many die young, but they understand the value of laughing and loving. They love despite it all. They’ll party tonight because we have arrived.”
She sensed more than saw him tense. Had something she’d said bothered him? “Don’t worry, you won’t be expected to dance unless the chief asks.”
“Thanks. I happen to be a good dancer.”
“Make a right. The chief’s huts are those sitting off by themselves.”
“Huts?”
“Yes, huts.” She turned and grinned. “The one in the center is the chief’s and the others surrounding it are his wives’.”
Court’s brow rose in a charming manner, making Maggie’s stomach dip. “As in more than one?”
She chuckled, “As in ten, and he’s still a fairly young man.”
“I’m impressed. Not even one wife sounds like a good plan to me, much less ten.”
“Not man enough to handle it, Doctor?” she quipped.
“Questioning my virility? No, it’s all the other stuff that comes along with being a husband I’m not comfortable with. I assure you—” he looked her straight in the eye “—I can handle the lovemaking part with no trouble.”
Maggie’s stomach flittered, and she warmed all over. She had no doubt he could.
Thankfully she was saved by the children and a few young adults running up to the truck to greet them. In the backseat, Neetie chattered loudly and non-stop in his excitement to be home.
As soon as the truck stopped, Neetie was off and running. Court climbed out and came round to stand beside her. She hugged a number of the children and spoke to others, explaining that Court was the doctor who had come to help them. Maggie noticed a group of young women huddled together. They were looking at Court and whispering. Each of those women would no doubt have some prefabricated illness by tomorrow’s clinic. Maggie couldn’t blame them. Court was a fine-looking man.