Spit and Grit Read online

  Spit and Grit

  Jeanie Johnson

  This is a work of fiction. All characters in this book is out of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is a mere coincidence.

  Story by

  Jeanie Johnson

   Copyright 2017

  All Rights Reserved.

  OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR

  Native American books

  Across The River

  Apache Pride

  Beyond The Heart

  Cherokee Courage

  Gentle Savage

  Gedi Puniku (Cat Eyes)

  Kiowa White Moon

  Kiowa Wind Walker

  No Price Too High

  Paiute Passion

  Savage Land

  Shadow Hawk

  Son of Silver Fox (sequel to Gentle Savage)

  Within The Heart (Sequel to Beyond the Heart)

  Historical or Regency/Victorian Romance Books

  A Bride for Windridge Hall

  Defiant Heart

  Highroad

  Indentured

  The Deception

  Wild Irish Rose

  Winslow’s Web

  Contemporary Western Romance Books

  Georgie Girl

  Grasping at Straws

  Passion’s Pride

  Single-handed Heart

  Historical Western Romance Books

  Elusive Innocents

  20 th Century Historical Romance Books

  Italy Vacation

  Moments of Misconception

  Radcliff Hall

  Taxi Dancer

  Action and Adventure Mystery Romance Books

  Ghost Island

  Futuristic Action and Adventure Romance Books

  Chosen

  Pony Up

  Surviving

  The Division

  The Dominion

  The Mechanism

  Time travel/Reincarnation Romance Books

  Egyptian Key

  Seekers

  Seekers Two

  Seekers Three

  The Locked Room

  Non Fiction Books

  Dream Symbols Made Easy (how to analyze dreams)

  A Collection of short stories (some true)

  Chief Washakie (short history of Shoshoni Chief)

  Peaches (inspirational)

  The Prune Pickers (my childhood)

  Whimper (true story of racial conflicts)

  Children’s Picture Book

  Dandy The Horse

  CHAPTER ONE

  I lay face down on my belly with my head hanging over the stream. I’m so hot, my shirt is soaked with sweat and I’m wanting it to be soaked with cool water instead so I start to splash water over my neck and face. Then I just take my hat off, pull the pin holding my hair in place, and dunk my whole head in the water. The water is shockingly cold and I pull my head up, slinging my wet hair as I start to sit up. The sprays feel cool against the rest of me as the water soaks through my shirt and my hair slaps back down against my back. It is then that I notice Granger Snider sitting on his horse watching me.

  My eyes narrow as I try to wipe the water out of them and the sun glitters through the droplets on my lashes as I squint up at him.

  “What do you think you are looking at?” I growl at him as I take my long hair, squeeze the water out of it and wrap it around itself at the nape of my neck. Then stick the pin back in, and slap my hat on my head again.

  “You,” he sort of drawls slow and easy.

  “Well, you can just take your thieving eyes off of me,” I yell as I stand up and brush the grass from my denims.

  “First of all, I ain’t no thief, and second of all, I can look at you all I want,” he sort of smiles and then he leans his arms across the horn of his saddle and glares down at me. When I see where his eyes are aimed, I look down and realize that several buttons on my shirt have come undone and he can see my wet undershirt clinging to my body, molding out the shape of my breasts.

  I hastily turn my back to him and start to button up my shirt and I can hear him laughing. I turn back around in defiance and glare at him.

  “What you doing on our property anyway?” I demand as I grab up Rocket’s reins and start to mount him.

  “Looking for strays,” he says in that deep voice of his. “You seen any of them?”

  “If I see any of your strays, Granger Snider, I’ll just shoot them so you won’t have to come on our property anymore.”

  “What you got against me anyway, miss spit and grit?” he asks.

  “You should know! It was you and them lazy brothers of yours that stole my father’s stallion,” I accuse as I swing up on Rocket. Rocket sort of starts turning in circles cause he can feel my anger and I am pulling on his reins too hard.

  “We never took that horse,” he defends. “Besides I wasn’t even with my brothers when they let that horse go.”

  “Doesn’t matter. The whole lot of you ain’t worth a hill of beans. All you ever do is look for trouble and because of you, my father met his death trying to bring Thunder back in. So you just keep away from me and my land!” I warn, and I give Rocket a kick and he jumps, almost unseating me and then he tears up the hill kicking pebbles and sod behind him.

  I head Rocket towards my cows that I am bringing in because there is a storm coming up and we need to put them in the corral. Since Pa died, there is only me, Ma, and little Billy left to work the ranch and I think if I had a bunch of brothers, like Granger, life on the ranch would be a lot easier.

  The Snider brothers don’t even seem to care about their father’s spread though. They are either drinking or gambling or shooting something, fighting with whoever will take them on, or chasing women. I am surprised that Granger was looking for strays. He is just probably lying to have an excuse to be watching me. I have seen him watching me before, and considering his brothers will chase anything in a skirt, I figure he takes after them.

  Granger comes galloping on his Roan up beside me.

  “I’ll help you,” he says.

  “I don’t need any help from you,” I snap. “I told you to get away from me.”

  I put my hand on the butt of my rifle that is in its sheath on my saddle.

  “You don’t have to shoot me over it,” Granger half laughs.

  “Go work your own spread,” I tell him, “I can take care of mine on my own.”

  “How can you?” he asks. “You’re just one half sized girl, with nothing but a little brother to help you.”

  “I can manage,” I inform him. “And even if I did need help, you would be the last person I would ever ask!”

  “Your cows are getting away from you,” he says and he takes out and starts to tighten up the herd again, while I run Rocket on the other side to bring in that side. As we pull them up, he grins at me. “See, ya do need help,” he points out.

  “Not from you,” I respond, but I can’t make him leave and he just keeps helping me bring the cows in, whether I like it or not.

  I steal a glance over at Granger. He’s not that bad looking, only he is just not someone I want to mess with. He’s got dark hair and lets his sideburns grow long. His eyes are a penetrating blue, and when he looks at me, it is kind of shocking to see such light eyes against his tanned skin and dark hair. I think he is the youngest of his brothers but I don’t really know how old he is. I only know he is probably older than I am. I’m twenty.

  Granger rides ahead and jumps down to open the gate, while I herd the cows through the opening, and when I get to the gate, I jump down and wrest it out of his hand.

  “I said I did not need your help,” I tell him firmly. “Don’t think cause you got away with it that you can do whatever you damn please around here!” I bawl
in his face.

  “Listen, miss high and mighty, no wonder they call you Crazy Mazy!” he sneers. “You would slap away an umbrella when it was raining elephants!”

  “When it starts raining elephants, you can bring your umbrella, but until then, keep off my property!”

  I slam the gate shut and climb back up on Rocket and ride back to my house.

  “Who were you talking to?” my mother asks as I ride up to the porch.

  “One of the Snider brothers. He said he was looking for strays,” I tell her.

  She gives me a worried look and then she shrugs.

  “Better put that horse away and get Billy to find all the chickens and shoo them back in the coop. I don’t know how bad this storm is going to be, but we need to make sure everything is all snug and tight before it hits.”

  The wind is already starting to whip up, so I yell for Billy and he comes trotting around the side of the house with his mutt, whom he calls Mutt.

  “Get all the chickens in,” I tell him and I lead Rocket to the barn. I glance over at the holding pen and I notice the cows look restless. Just as I look towards them, a lightning bolt shoots out of the sky and a large clap of thunder erupts, almost over the house, and I see the cows jumping against each other. It is then that I notice that the gate is ajar and I realize I had not closed it good because I had been distracted by Granger.

  I turn and jump on Rocket’s back, just as another clap of thunder shakes the ground, and I see the cows pushing against the gate. Before I can get to it they are stampeding out through the gate.

  Billy has just put the chickens in and is starting to run to the house.

  “Billy,” I scream, “The cows are out, I gotta go get them. Tell Ma for me.”

  Then I kick Rocket just as the sky opens up and the rain starts pouring down. It is raining so hard and furious that the yard is already turning into a sea of mud and Rocket is slipping a little as I guide him towards the open field. Damn that Granger Snider! If he hadn’t of been distracting me, I would have paid closer attention, I am bemoaning. But I realize it is my own fault and it was my temper that made me be careless.

  When I get to the open field, it is not so muddy because of the grass, so Rocket can get a better footing. Only the rain is coming down so hard, I can barely see in front of me. Suddenly there is another rider, pulling up beside me.

  “I saw your cows running when I was halfway back to my place,” Granger calls. “What do you think you are doing?”

  “I gotta go after them,” I tell him.

  “Not in this storm,” he yells.

  “We can’t lose them! They’re all we have,” I say, and I kick Rocket harder, but Granger stays right beside me.

  “You’re gonna kill your horse,” he warns. “He can’t run in this! The ground is going to start sliding out from underneath him once it gets saturated.”

  Just as he says the words, another earth-shattering clap of thunder roars overhead and Rocket almost jumps out from underneath me.

  “Give it up, Mazy,” Granger yells.

  “No!” I say, and I urge Rocket forward but I can’t even see the cows now.

  “Come on, Mazy, you can’t look for them in the storm. Wait until morning and then I will help you look. There’s an old cook shack up ahead, we can stay there until the storm lets up a little. If it lets up before light, you can go out then if you want. If you stay out here, you are going to get hit by lightning or something.”

  I know he is right, but I am frightened. I feel responsible for the cows getting out, and if we lose the cows, I don’t know what we will do? I discover that I am crying and I am soaked to the skin and am starting to shiver.

  “Follow me, Mazy,” Granger calls, and I have no other choice so I follow him.

  We ride for about a half hour before we come across the shack and Granger gets down from his horse and ties it up to the post in the front, under the shelter of the porch. I tie up Rocket beside his horse. The shack is used during branding when the ranchers hire extra help and they use it to cook the meals in so there is usually something to start a fire with and even some foodstuff in tins and bags.

  I can see Granger in the dim light fumbling around, trying to get a fire going in the fireplace, while I stand shivering by the door. After a few moments, a flicker of fire starts to light the room and then he is adding wood and the fire gets bigger.

  “You are crazy, Mazy,” Granger says. “Get your body over here by the fire and take that shirt off so it can dry without turning you to an ice sickle first.”

  I see him taking his shirt off and hanging it on a peg sticking out of the mantle. I just stand there and look at him.

  “Stop gawking at me and being so damn shy,” he says, and he comes over and drags me to the fireplace.

  “Don’t you touch me,” I warn.

  “I’m not going to stand here and see you catch your death,” he says, and he starts unbuttoning my shirt.

  I slap at his hands and am about ready to slug him if he goes any further.

  “Stop it, Mazy,” he bellows. “I’m not trying to rape you or anything! You can keep your undershirt on, it will dry fast enough, but you better take those britches off.”

  Granger kicks his boots off and unsnaps his trousers and starts to peel them off. I am relieved when I discover he has long johns on under them. I am wearing long johns as well, but they have been cut short above my knees. I take my boots off and then I slowly unsnap my denims and pull them off and hand them to him. Granger hangs them on a peg as well.

  “Get closer to the fire,” he tells me, and he pulls me over closer to him.

  I am not wearing a hat any longer, because it had blown off a long time ago, and my hair had fallen down around my waist. Now it is dripping onto the stones of the hearth we are standing on.

  “How are you doing?” he asks.

  I don’t answer him. I am freezing but the fire is starting to warm me a little and I notice the steam rising from my undershirt and his long johns. His chest is bare and I have never seen a man without a shirt on before. I am sort of just looking at how his muscles glisten in the firelight. He gives me a crooked grin and I look away.

  “It’s okay,” he says. “I don’t mind you looking at me. You look pretty good yourself.”

  “Keep your eyes off of me,” I sort of hiss.

  “Can’t help it,” he grins, and I notice that his eyes are looking straight at my breasts, where my undershirt is clinging damply against them.

  “When we dry off, there is a cot over there, but we will have to share it,” he informs me.

  “I’m not sharing nothing with you,” I say.

  “You can’t stand here all night and the floor is dirt. You gonna sleep in that rickety chair?” he asks.

  “No, you are,” I say.

  “Like hell I am,” he responds.

  “What kind of gentleman are you, anyway?” I demand.

  “Gentlemen enough to keep my hands off of you,” he insists.

  “Ha!” I spit.

  “Well when you get tired of standing here, you can come over and share the cot with me,” he drawls, and he walks over to the cot and sits down on it.

  Then he leans back and folds his arms over his chest and watches me as I stand in front of the fire.

  “Throw some more wood on the blaze since you like standing there so much,” he directs, and I glare at him, but I bend over and take a couple of logs from the box and toss them on the flame.

  “You tired yet?” he asks.

  I’m tired, but I won’t admit it.

  “Suit yourself,” he yawns and turns over with his back to me.

  I stand there for several minutes, and then I sit down in the chair and I feel myself starting to nod off and catch myself from falling out of the chair.

  “You don’t know what’s good for you,” Granger says, and then he gets up and comes over, picks me up out of the chair and puts me on the cot next to the wall.

  Then lays down beside me
, so I can’t get out.

  “Lay on your side so there is more room,” he tells me and then he is molding his body against mine and I can feel his bare chest against my back.

  Granger brings his arms around my middle and holds me against him, then chuckles when I stiffen.

  “I’m not going to bite you,” he tells me.

  I lay and listen to the rain pounding against the tin roof of the shack and the sound of it starts to lull me to sleep. I finally start to relax as I feel Granger’s breath on my neck. His arms never loosen up though, as he holds me snuggly against his hard body. In spite of my self, I finally fall asleep.

  When I wake up, I can still hear the rain on the roof but Granger is not in bed with me anymore. I am sprawled on my back, my undershirt is sort of twisted, with the ends showing my bare midriff, and then I notice the low neckline has been pulled to one side exposing one of my breasts. I look up and Granger is sitting in the chair, just looking at me.

  I try to straighten my undershirt and he just chuckles at me.

  “Sort of like shutting the barn door after the horse got out,” he drawls. “I seen ya already, miss spit and grit, so covering it up now, anin’t gonna wipe it out of my memory.”

  “How long you been sitting there?” I ask.

  “Long enough for my heart to start beating fast just thinking about touching that tit of yours. Only I restrained myself,” he reassures me when he sees the look on my face. “Stop getting all uppity about it. I’ve seen naked women before.”

  “Yeah, I bet you have,” I say, as I sit up. “That’s one reason I don’t want you coming near me!”

  I walk over to the mantle and grab my shirt and put it on and button it all the way up to my neck and Granger starts laughing.

  “Lighten up, Mazy. If I had wanted to touch you, I would have done it a long time ago when you turned in bed and was laying all over me with that tit of your’s hanging out.”