“Yes ma’am. He’s been a fine dog, a good companion.”
“I don’t have much use fer a dog lessin’ they are hounds…to hunt with.”
“He hunts, when needed.”
Sam stared hard and long at Mavis, taking in the full figure of the woman, and the way she curled her lips at him when he looked at her. She was a right smart looking woman, Sam thought as his eyes strayed to the ample cleavage she seemed bent on displaying to him. The top two buttons of her dress seemed to strain to contain her, but Sam wasn’t complaining any. After all, this was a black woman. A woman of his kind. A woman he could probably have if he wanted her. At least that was the impression she was giving off.
“Well, since we’re all headed for Dallas way, maybe we should hook up,” Sam suggested.
“Won’t a wagon slow us down?” Riley asked almost immediately.
“Not that much,” Sam replied, not looking at Riley but watching Mavis’ smile curl around him. The woman was endowed with more than her fair share of womanly charms and there was no way she could hide that fact; Sam smiled at her. “We ain’t in that big a hurry, Riley.”
Sam glanced at Riley after a bit. “You and Nodog follow along, Riley, I’ll drive that team for you, Mrs. Mavis,” Sam offered.
“Right kind of you.” Mavis smiled and cast a quick smile at Riley. She scooted over on the wagon seat to give Sam some room and beamed at him as she handed him the reins. She jiggled a finger in her ear and laughed. “Lord it’s nice havin’ a man drive them dern mules of mine.”
Her cheeks shined at his intense gaze.
Riley called Nodog toward the back of the wagon.
Sam felt the warmth between him and Mavis and realized this woman wasn’t mourning her man she’d lost, but then maybe he was no account in the first place, Sam figured. Being with Riley so long had reinforced the fact that he needed some real female companionship. Mavis sure seemed willing enough.
They sat so close that it created a friction between them as his arms grazed hers almost constantly; she didn’t seem to mind and she didn’t move away.
Her confidence grew quickly when she looped her arm in his. Sam didn’t seem to mind. This might be just what he needed to distract Riley away from him.
After a long silence, Mavis glanced up at him and moved closer so he could feel her hips jaunting next to her.
“Why you helpin’ that white kid?” Mavis asked as she stared straight ahead of them.
Mavis didn’t mince her words, and he hadn’t formed any answers for her yet. “Somebody’s got to.” Sam shrugged, his voice going low and contrite. He didn’t want Riley to overhear and get her feelings hurt.
“He’ll cause you trouble and you know it. You should dump him in Dallas and come on out to my sister’s,” she suggested as though they were talking about night and day. “You’d be mighty welcome, there. I mean, well, my sister is a widow too. The two of us could keep you happy, I’m sure.”
Sam cast her a slight smile. “You think so? Two, huh? I ain’t sure I could handle two women at once.”
“I sure do, honey. I know it. That kid…he ain’t your kind of people. He’ll just stir things up fer ya when you get there. But I can provide a roof over your head and a ready-made family and plenty of work,” Mavis said, scooting closer to him. “Not to mention a few other things you might be interested in.”
Sam began to feel that crowded feeling and scooted away. “Well now, I’ll think on that. I sure will.”
Mavis smiled.
“You do that…just don’t take too long.”
Sam realized this woman hadn’t mourned her man at all if she could sidle up to him so easily. It bothered him and he tried to let go of it in favor of a willing woman, but something made him uneasy about Mavis. She latched on too quickly.
“That kid is a fool notion, and you know it. You’d do well to come with me. I got a warm bed I’d share.” She scooted closer and smiled. “I don’t mean to be so forward, but I could tell the minute I laid eyes on you that you was interested. The way you eyed me, all of me. Some things a man can’t hide. Been without a woman for a while, haven’t you?”
“Am I that easy to read?” Sam chuckled.
“You shore are, honey.”
Sam felt trapped, but he did need a woman. Riley proved that. Maybe it would take the edge off to take what this woman offered freely, and then he wouldn’t be so rangey around Riley. Yet, he couldn’t quite get the kisses he and Riley shared out of his head. No woman had put that much into a kiss for him before. He’d never been so heated up in his life. His response was something he’d been pondering for a long while and he’d have to distract himself if he didn’t want a repeat. Because the fact was, he sure enjoyed kissing Riley, even though she was white.
“That’s a right tempting offer, Mavis. But now Riley’s got business in Dallas,” Sam explained. “And I gave my word.”
“Then let him tend it, like a man, and you can come with me,” she tempted. “Kids don’t grow up, less you make them.”