Set Fire to the Rain, Ch. 6 "Burning Nights"

This fanfiction is intended for mature readers due to the vivid depiction of a consensual adult relationship.  The setting is First Season, post-The Preacher.  The locations/events in this story bear absolutely no resemblance to actual Kansas geographical features or historical fact.  And canon be damned.  I’m making this stuff up as I go.  That’s what the “fic” in “fanfiction” is all about, buckaroos.

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Matt lay in his hotel room bed alone, gloomily wondering if Kitty were doing the same thing next door.  They’d closed down Corky’s Café, staying until Corky himself good-naturedly told them it was time to ‘mosey on back to the ranch.’  It’d just been so nice, sitting with Kitty in a restaurant, undisturbed by shootings or robberies or barroom brawls.  They’d enjoyed the whole meal and had two extra cups of coffee each without Chester loping in hollering, “Mr. Dillon!” and dragging him away.  Not once. 

He’d loved talking and laughing with Kitty and being able to openly admire her in her pretty new yellow dress with little white ruffles around the neckline and sleeves.  He was so pleased she still wasn’t bothering to cover her natural beauty with paint, and that he could enjoy her freckles beneath those sparkling sapphire eyes.  The pale freckles on her nose kinda drove him crazy, truth be told, because they led his eyes in a speckled line down her neck and chest and…and he knew for a fact exactly how far they extended.  He’d taken another hot swallow of coffee and consoled himself that they were going back to the hotel later.  He sincerely hoped he’d get a chance to enjoy Kitty’s natural beauty firsthand again soon…

But, unfortunately, when they’d come back to the hotel, the clerk was planted firmly in the lobby watching their every move.  Kitty had squeezed Matt’s hand and said under her breath, “Goodnight, Marshal Dillon.”  Then as she disappeared behind her closed door she blew him a silent kiss.

So here he was, tossing and turning and lying alone, feeling sorry for himself.  They’d only been sleeping together a few nights, but already he missed the warmth of her soft body next to his, the smell of her hair wrapped around his throat, the feel of her breath as she pillowed her head on his shoulder with his arms enveloping her.  He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told her earlier today that he couldn’t get enough of her.  He’d been lying awake for two hours now with no sign of sleep on the way.  He couldn’t get Kitty’s smooth, creamy skin, her ripe lips, perfect for kissing, or her raucously infectious laugh out of his head.  Matt punched his pillow and turned over once again, trying to find a comfortable position.  He was afraid it was going to be a long night.

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Something woke Matt.  Dammit, he’d finally managed to fall asleep, and now here he was awake again in the middle of the night.  But what had roused him?  He scrubbed a hand tiredly over his stubbly face and then listened.  He couldn’t hear anything...  But…it was a smell.  

Was someone in the lobby smoking?  At this hour?    His lawman’s instincts bade him check it out.  He kicked his way clear of his tangled sheets and slipped on his pants hurriedly, then peered out into the lobby, dimly lit by only one lamp.  The smell was quite strong here, but there wasn’t a soul around, not even the desk clerk.   He peered down the hallway to Kitty’s door, and his heart nearly stopped. 

An eerie orange light glowed from beneath her door, and black fingers of smoke curled slowly upward.  Matt immediately began yelling for help, calling “Fire, fire!” all the while yanking his boots on his feet.  He ran back to her door, steadying himself, then gritted his teeth and kicked with all his might.  The door burst open with a blast of fiery heat and smoke.   Matt covered his face with his arms and jumped back as burning splinters and flames flew past.  Squinting his streaming eyes, he agonized as precious seconds ticked past while he waited for the smoke to clear.  Finally, he was able to rush headlong into the inferno. 

Luckily, the room was small and the bed easy to find.  She was still asleep, or maybe unconscious--he was not sure which.  Matt shook her shoulders, and she roused groggily, her eyes widening when she saw the flames licking around her.  “Come on, Kitty,” he coughed.  “I’ve got to get you out of here!  Wrap your arms around me!”  Matt hurriedly folded the quilt around her body and easily scooped her into his arms, clutching her tightly to him.  He carried her out the door into the lobby, then dashed outside. 

Townspeople were starting to gather, hotel guests were running outside alongside him, and a bucket brigade had already begun.  The fire seemed to be concentrated in only one area, Kitty’s room.  He couldn’t see the building burning anywhere else.  Coughing the suffocating smoke from his lungs, he collapsed wearily on the grass beside the hotel and cradled an unconscious Kitty in his arms.  She was breathing, he told himself.  She was still breathing.

He raked her hair out of her eyes and urged, “Kitty, wake up, honey.”  He anxiously stroked her cheeks and then her arms.  “Wake up, Kitty.”  Her eyes opened at last, bright blue against her black soot-smudged face.  Matt gave a mirthless laugh and hugged her to him.  “You don’t have to talk right now, Kitty.  Just lie still.”  Her only response was a deep cough that shook her whole body.

 Just then a man approached, crouching beside them, and his eyes blinked in recognition when he looked at Kitty’s face.  “My name is Ware, Virgil Ware.  I’m the sheriff here in Cimarron.  I hope that Miss Russell is not seriously injured.”

Kitty tried to sit up. “I’m alright,” she whispered hoarsely, then started coughing again. 

“Oh, no you don’t, Kitty,” Matt said sternly.  “You just lie back until we get the doctor to look at you.”

Sheriff Ware spoke, “And you are…?”

“Matt Dillon.  U.S. Marshal.  Sorry I don’t have my badge on me right now.”

“That’s perfectly understandable, Marshal Dillon.  And Miss Russell is your…?” he asked curiously.

“Traveling companion.  I was escorting her here from Dodge on a business trip when the big storm hit.  The whole trip has pretty much been one disaster after another, to tell the truth.  Do you have a doctor here in town?”

“Yes, we do…” Ware looked hesitant, but then continued, “Dr. Henry Crandall’s office is right down the street.  We can take Miss Russell there now.  I think they’ve nearly got the fire put out since it was confined to one area.”

Ware shouted to a deputy that he would return later, and he walked alongside Matt while he carried Kitty down the street. 

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From the deep shadows of a nearby alley, cold gray eyes watched as the two lawmen took the red-headed saloon girl from Dodge to the doctor’s office.  If Crandall’s track record was any indication, she wouldn’t stand much of a chance.   He couldn’t help but think it was a waste of a pretty whore, but, truth be told, she wasn’t much of a whore.  His face burned when he remembered how she acted with him.  Like she was too good to touch him...  The other girls would do what he asked.  Not her…   But she sure did manage to take her clothes off in a hurry for that big marshal.  Well, she wouldn’t be able to turn him down anymore, the little bitch.  She was getting what she deserved…

tbc

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