Chad sensed a presence in the dark barn a split second before he heard the gut wrenching sound of the shotgun being cocked.  His gun cleared the holster as a woman’s voice said, “I wouldn’t try it.  My eyes are used to the dark.  Drop it and kick it this way.”

        When Chad paused, the voice took on a harsher edge.  “I don’t plan to kill you mister, but I’ll cut you off at the knees if you don’t do as I say.”

        Chad dropped his gun and pushed it a few feet away with his foot.  “What do you want?”

        “Well, actually what I’d hoped for was that pretty Ranger with the fancy clothes, but when I heard your friend send you over this way, I decided you’d do.  You’re pretty enough.  And you got a certain cockiness that’s pleasin’.”

        The woman had a slight accent Chad couldn’t place, Arkansas maybe.  “Now turn around and light the lantern hanging on that post.  Keep your back to me.”

        Chad complied.

        “Now take that bandana you have around your neck and make a blindfold out of it.   You don’t tie it right and I’ll blind you with kerosene from that lantern.  Keep the lantern at your feet.”

        When Chad had his eyes covered with the bandana, she had him turn around to face her.   “Take your shirt off.”

        When he’d tossed his shirt on the ground, he faced the direction of the voice and cocked his head in question.   Her disembodied voice came out of the dark.  “Not bad,” she said appraisingly,  “maybe you’ll be even better than the dandy.  He looked a little soft come to think of it.  Now, the boots and the pants.”

        “They’ll be some other Rangers in here any time come to check on their horses.”  Chad stalled.

        “Don’t think so.  I heard you tell that big Ranger you were going to check on things.  I think the rest of them are going to be tied up with beer, poker and barmaids for a good chunk of the night.  Long enough to suit me anyway.  Now, boots first then the pants.”

        Chad pulled off his boots and thought about throwing one.  She anticipated him.  “Just put 'em down easy.”

        He decided to bide his time and just follow instructions until he got a chance to grab the shotgun.  He unbuttoned his pants and let them drop to the ground.  He stood facing the voice in his long johns.

        “Keep going.”

        Chad hesitated longer this time.

        "Would you rather have me look at it or shoot it off?"

        He dropped his drawers and stood there naked in the light of the lantern at his feet. She didn’t say anything for a minute.  He'd never felt this naked.

        “You’ll do.  You’ll do good.”  She sounded pleased.  “Now move over to that empty stall to your left and sit down with your back against the back wall.  Careful of the lantern.”

        Chad felt his way to the stall.  His foot touched some blankets stretched over a pile of hay as he started inside.   Feeling his way around the side walls, he got to the back and sat down.  He heard her come closer.  A second later a rope hit his right foot.

        “Put that loop around your ankle and tighten it.”

        After he’d done so, a loop hit his left foot and he did the same thing with that foot.

        Then he heard a metal object clank on the blanket next to his thigh.  “Put one cuff on your left wrist.  Loop it around the back post there and put the other one on your right wrist.”

        Chad reached out and found a pair of wrist shackles.  Probably from a Ranger’s saddle bag.  Maybe even his own.  He did as she ordered, fumbling to get the shackle chain through the stall boards, around the post and onto his right wrist.  He tried to fasten them loosely enough that he would be able to slide his hands out, but she caught him at it.  As soon as he’d fastened them to her satisfaction, he felt himself being dragged flat as she pulled the ropes that were looped around his ankles.  Once he was flat on his back with his arms stretched above his head by the wrist shackles, she tied off the ropes that bound his ankles.  He was helpless to move.

        “Are you going to tell me who you are?  Or at least what you want?”  He made his voice sound firm although he was obviously in no position to give orders.  Hell, he was in no position to order tea.

        He heard her hang the lantern on a post in front of the stall.   Some of the light was visible from the bottom of his blindfold but he couldn’t see much.  She gave his left leg a push with her toe as she stood over him.  “I’m Chance McDermott’s woman.  You Rangers been chasing him to hell and back.”

        They sure had.  Chad and Joe had been part of that chase which had ended at the border and truth be told a few miles over it.

        She continued.  “He got hisself shot up bad.”

        This was a surprise.  None of the Rangers had reported anything.  “Not by a Ranger,” was all Chad could think of to answer.

        “No, weren’t no Ranger.  A bounty hunter.  If it’d been a Ranger, I wouldn’t be treatin’ you so nice.  I’d be here killin’ Rangers, the same way I blew apart that bastard bounty man.”

        “So what do you want from me?”

        “Chance was gonna marry me once he got his stake together.  Now he’s got the stake, but he’s all shot up.”

        “He’s dead?”  That would save them a lot of trouble, Chad thought.

        “No, he’s getting better.  But he was shot in . . .  well, he ain’t gonna be performin’ no husbandly duties no more.  So he says why should he marry me.  So I tell him I think I’m probably carrying his baby from the last time we fucked before he got shot up.  Hell, even if he ain’t a whole man no more, I still love him.  And all that money should be half mine.  I waited long enough.  Anyways, he don’t exactly believe me.  But he don’t exactly not believe me.  You know what I mean.  So he’s just going to wait to see if my belly gets big.”

        She paused as though waiting for Chad to comment.  “Sounds like a plan,” was all he could think of.

        “Except, I ain’t really havin’ no baby.  Had my time of month two weeks ago, just after Chance and me fucked for the last time.  So that’s where you come in.”

        “Me?”

        “Well, I can’t go fuckin’ none of his friends to get a baby.  They’d talk.  So I figured since I had to go somewhere for supplies, I’d come down here and find some dark-haired, light-eyed Ranger to give me a baby.  Saw that fancy boy Ranger and thought he might be nice.  But now that I get a good look at you, a real good look, well maybe I woulda chose you anyway.”

        “I’m flattered,” Chad answered dryly.  “But a Ranger would be just as likely to talk as anyone else.  We’ve all heard Chance had himself some might fine women.  Be hard not to brag about being with one of them. ”

        In a flash, Chad felt a knife at his throat, a big knife.

        “Chance ain’t had no woman but me for over a year.  I’ll kill anyone who says different.  And I’ll kill any woman who claims she was with him.”

        Chad backtracked fast.  “You’re right.  We heard he’d found himself a keeper.  I just meant he had a reputation in Arizona for always being with a beautiful woman.  You must really be something special to have gotten rid of all that competition.”

        That seemed to mollify her.  She stretched out next to him on the blanket.  “If you know Chance’s reputation, then you know I’m a pretty fine woman.  That should help you give me what I want.  If not, then this will.”  He felt the edge of her knife travel down his chest, over his belly and to an area where he would prefer not to feel anything that sharp, ever.

        “And I don’t think you’ll be talking.  You really gonna brag to your Ranger friends about how some little woman trussed you up and had at you?  And you can’t even describe me.”

        “I guess you have a point there.”  A good point, Chad thought.  Imagine the boys in the barracks hearing this kind of story.   “But if this is going to work it would really help if you put that away.  I don’t operate so well with a knife . . . there.”

        “Hell, I heard you Rangers worked best in dangerous situations.  Hard fighters, hard drinkers, hard lovers.  That’s all I want.  A hard lover.”

        “You deserve more than that.  I sure know how to please a woman but I need my hands free to do it.  Just let my hands loose, I’ll show such pleasure, you might even forget about Chance.”

        Wrong thing to say apparently.  The knife was at his throat again.  Pressing harder this time.  “No fucking Ranger is going to disrespect my man.  He give me enough good lovin' to last a lifetime.  And he shows me he loves me by buying me nice things.  He’ll still do that if I have his baby, specially if it’s a boy.  Now shut up and let’s get started.  What’s the best way to get you goin’ boy?”

        “You could start by putting that knife down.”

        “OK, but it’ll be right here.  And if you don’t give me what I want real fast, they’ll find you in the same condition my man is in.  Only I’ll use a knife instead of a rifle.”

        “You do that, I won’t be much use to you.”

        “No, but I can always find that pretty Ranger with the fancy clothes if you don’t work out.”

        Chad shut up.

        “Now I ain’t gonna kiss you or nothin.  That would be disloyal.  But I guess I could touch you however you want.  And since you can’t see them, I guess I could rub my breasts against you.  Men seem to get hard fast enough when I do that.  Now you be still while I take some of these clothes off.  Course I don’t suppose you’d wanna yell and get your friends in here now anyway.  You’re kind of a pretty sight but you’re friends might not let you forget it in a hurry.”

        Chad thought of Reese or Erik rushing in here.  He bet they’d take their time setting him loose.

        She felt naked below the waist when she stretched out next to him again.  And her shirt was open.  He could feel her naked breasts resting against his ribcage.  She ran her hand over his chest and belly.  “You got a nice body boy.”  And then as she traced his cheek bones with her finger.  “Nice face too.  Bet you don’t have no trouble getting women.”

        “I’m not so popular any woman’s tied me up before.”

        That made her laugh a little.  Then her hand was on his belly again, and lower.   She encircled him with one hand and moved it up and down on him.   She was pleased when he responded quickly and got hard in her hand.  “Good boy.  I hoped you wouldn’t disappoint me.  Be a shame to mess up a pretty thing like you.”

        She didn’t waste any time.   She straddled him and in a moment had him inside her.    She placed her hands just above his shoulders to support herself and rocked hard against him.  Chad got lost in it.  Damn, it felt good.  He hadn’t been with a woman for some time, waiting for RJ to come back.  When he exploded inside her, he gasped involuntarily with a pleasure intense from being so long denied.

        She slid off to his side, still breathing a little hard from her effort.  She laid her head on his shoulder and traced little patterns with her finger in the sweat on his chest and belly.   “How quick can you do that again?”

        “Again?  Why would you want to do it again?”

        “I want to make sure I get a baby.  And maybe I could take more pleasure from it if it took longer.  You finish pretty fast.  Chance takes longer and can do it again right away.  We do it five times some times when he’s been gone for a while.  I won’t be able to have any pleasure from a man once I go back.  So can you make it take longer next time?”

        “You warned me to give you what you wanted real fast.  If you wanted to take pleasure from it, you could have let my hands loose.  I could have given you something to remember for a long time.”

        “You sure brag a lot on your love makin'.  I guess that's just the Ranger way.  I ain't takin' that chance.  You just stay hard longer next time.  Now what can I do to get you going again?”

        Chad considered.  “You got anything to drink on you?  I’ve got a powerful thirst.”

        That made her laugh again.  “Sure.   I thought maybe I’d have to use whiskey to get you feelin’ ready.  Chance gets a big thirst too."

        She got up and took the lantern someplace.  Her horse must be in one of the stalls.  When she came back she lifted his head up a little and put a bottle to his lips.  She poured it a little too fast, making him choke.  Some of it ran out of his mouth.  That made her laugh again.  “Chance never wastes his whiskey like that.”

        “I bet he hoists his own bottle.”  Chad said coughing in between words.  “Could you try that again, a little slower.”

        “I will if you will.”  She laughed at her own joke.  She put the bottle to his lips again.  This time he just got a small sip and it felt warm going down.

        “Your friend in the saloon called you Chad.  What’s your last name?”

        “I think I’d rather that stay a mystery.”

        “I could find out.  Can’t be that many Rangers named Chad meetin’ your description.  I just wanna know the name of my baby’s father.”

        “Wouldn’t you rather think of Chance as his father?”

        She considered this.  “That’s smart.  I could always find out later if I needed to.  You ready yet?”

        “You said maybe you’d rub your breasts against me.  You said that gets men hard.”

        “OK,” she said cheerfully, seeming happy to oblige.  She lay on top of him, rubbing her breasts against his chest and at the same time rubbing against his cock with her hips.  It seemed to be showing signs of perking up.  Then she surprised him by putting a nipple to his lips just like she’d placed the whiskey bottle.  He ran his tongue in circles around it until it got hard, nibbled lightly, then sucked it vigorously.  She giggled in delight.  She pulled it away and put the other nipple in his mouth.  He gave it the same treatment.

        “This could be so much better if you just let my hands loose.”

        “Shut up on that.  It’s good enough this way.  And if you start to bite too hard, I can get away.”

        Chad figured that was a comment on Chance’s lovemaking, but he didn’t want the knife at his throat again so he let it pass.  Besides, damn if he wasn’t getting hard again.

        She noticed too.  “Good boy.  Now you keep it up longer this time.”

        “Yes ma’am.”

        She slid him inside her again.  This time she lay almost flat on top of him and slid her body slowly back and forth.   As she started breathing harder, she moved more vigorously on top of him.  She kept saying, “not yet, not yet” as though he was going to go off without warning.  But he always lasted longer the second time.  As long as a woman wanted.

        She finally came.  And as she came, she kept saying “now, now” as though now he was going to make her work too hard.  He whispered hoarsely,  “a couple more, just a couple more.”  She obliged as she moved hard a couple more times on top of him and he obliged by coming inside her with the same force as the first time.

        She collapsed on top of him for a moment.  “That was nice.  I think you’re a sweet man Chad.  I’m glad.  I want my baby to be sweet.”

        A moment later she got up and got dressed.  “I gotta go now Chad.  I hope I got your baby.  If I don’t, I guess I won’t be able to try again.  Chance would know if the baby came too long after we fucked that last time.

        Chad was suddenly very apprehensive.  “You aren’t going to leave me here like this are you?”

        “You’ll be alright.  Got to get some distance before you can raise an alarm.  Don’t want you trying to follow me to get to Chance.  When you don’t come back, your friends will come find you.”

        “Exactly.   I’d never hear the end of it.  I’d have to quit the Rangers.  You let me loose.  I’ll stay here ‘til you get out of Laredo.  Anyway, you don’t think anyone’s going to take it seriously if I go around saying we’ve got to get a posse out after this woman who forced me to make love to her.  Besides, I don’t even know what you look like.”

        She considered.  “OK, if you promise.”  He could hear her lead her horse out of its stall.  Sounded like two.  Maybe one for the supplies.  With the horses waiting, she untied the ropes looped to his ankles.  She came over and put the key to the shackles in his mouth.

        “You’re a clever boy.  You’ll get them off.”  With that she blew out the lantern, mounted and took off.

        It wasn’t easy getting the shackles off.  He dropped the key a couple of times and had to find it again in the dark under the hay.  He worked at it for about fifteen minutes before he got the key in straight and kept it straight while he turned it.  Finally the left cuff opened up.   The right followed quickly.   He hurriedly slipped on his long johns, pants and boots.  While he was looking for his shirt in the dark, Joe came in with a lantern.  He just stood there leaning against a post while Chad found his shirt, shook the hay out of it and put it on.

        Finally, Joe spoke up.  “Some boys came in from Bubbling Wells with a good storyright after you left the saloon.  Seems Chance McDermott got himself shot up big time.  Some bounty hunter.  Bounty hunter got himself killed by McDermott’s men and they dragged McDermott off.  Bounty hunter’s partner who was supposed to be covering him, got away.   The local sheriff found the bounty hunter’s body but no sign of McDermott.  The Captain is going to send us up there tomorrow to make sure McDermott’s dead and get the rest of the gang.”

        While he was speaking, Joe moved the lantern around.  The light landed on the revolver lying where Chad had pushed it with his foot.

        “Lose somethin' Chad?”

        Chad scooped up the revolver and flipped it into his holster without a word.

        Joe kept moving the light around until it exposed something else.  Those damn shackles.  Chad scooped them up and tried unsuccessfully to stuff them into his back pocket.  He finally threw them into the tack room.

        Joe just stood there with an irritating grin on his face.  “Have fun Chad?”

        Chad said nothing.

        “RJ got herself in the middle of a big poker game over at the saloon.  I got worried that maybe she’d left you in something you couldn’t get out of so I thought I’d better check.”

        Chad shook his head.  “You know we’d never hurt each other Joe.”

        “No, but sometimes I think she overrates your intelligence.”

        Joe started to walk toward the saloon, expecting Chad to follow.

        “I’m going over to the barracks to wash up and change my shirt.  I think I might like to rest up by getting into that poker game.”

        Joe shrugged and started toward the saloon again.  Then he turned, “Chad boy, is RJ ever going to ride into Laredo and just run into your arms and kiss you like a normal lover?  Ain't you ever gonna get tired of these games?”

        Chad grinned.  “Not a chance, Joe.  Not a chance.”

This story was inspired by our favorite scene from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance where Sundance has Etta disrobe at gunpoint before we find out she's his girlfriend.  So we took it a little further.