Set Fire to the Rain 2, Ch. 5 "Cimarron"

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 fanfiction bear absolutely no resemblance to actual Kansas geographical features or historical fact.  I’m making this stuff up as I go.

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Kitty rubbed the pastel orange fabric between her fingers admiringly.  It was a simple dress, modest enough to wear to Sunday service, but serviceable and delicately pretty to boot. 

“The color suits you.”  Kitty started as a deep yet soft-spoken voice came from behind her.  

She turned to face kind, brown eyes beneath a dark Stetson.  A young man with a shy smile and straight, white teeth was looking at her with his hands in his pockets.  She noticed his pistol and gun belt immediately.  His neat, clean appearance made her self-conscious about her mud-stained dress and unbound hair as she stood in Simms’ Cimarron Mercantile looking for some quick purchases to get her through the next couple of days: two dresses and underwear, a new pair of shoes and toiletries, perhaps a nightdress. Matt was selecting clothing for himself at the back of the store with Mr. Simms.  Thankfully, Mrs. Simms had been able to help Kitty find what she needed as well. 

She felt herself at a definite disadvantage without her pretty clothes or paint.  But this young man seemed to take no notice.  She answered, “Do you think so?  I wasn’t sure, what with my hair color and all.”  Kitty laughed self-deprecatingly.

His smile lit up his eyes.  “Oh, I think it will look just fine.  I can’t imagine any dress you choose not looking pretty on you, Miss.”

His pleasant manner and charming compliments put her at ease about her unkempt appearance.  “Why, thank you, Mr…?”

“I apologize.”  He held out his hand.  “Ware.  Virgil Ware.  And whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?”

She took note of his softly drawling Southern accent as she took his hand.  “Kitty Russell, Mr. Ware.”

“Oh please, call me Virgil.  Nobody calls me Mr. Ware.”  He scrubbed a hand over his cheek ruefully, but grinned and loosened her hand at last. 

“I must apologize for my appearance, Mr…”

“Virgil.”

“Virgil…” she smiled, and her cheeks turned a little pink as she looked down at her dress, “but I have come through some bad weather to get here.”

Ware looked taken aback.  “You mean you were out in the storm when it hit?  Whereabouts were you traveling from?”

“Dodge City.  It should only have taken a day to get here, but unfortunately…”

“I can imagine, Miss.  I’m sorry that you had such a hard time, but I hope your stay in Cimarron will be more pleasant.”  Virgil Ware withdrew a gold watch at the end of a chain from his pocket and flipped open the cover.  “Miss Russell, I wish that I could stay and talk with you longer, but I have an appointment to keep.  Will you be in town long?”

“A couple of days I suspect.”

“I hope to see you around town, then.”  He chuckled and added, “It’s a new town, and very small, so we won’t be able to avoid seeing each other.”  Kitty knew what he was talking about.  Everywhere she looked was new construction, and every building she entered smelled of new-sawn boards and fresh paint.  The town had recently been built at the head of the shorter, dry route of the Santa Fe Trail divide.

Virgil reached out to shake her hand again with his shy smile, and Kitty was struck by the thought of how nice he had been to her, even without all her saloon girl trappings.  And she looked a mess to boot!  She returned his handshake and said goodbye, then turned with a sigh to choose two dresses before she went to find Matt and make sure he had selected that new union suit she’d insisted he buy. 

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Kitty sat wearily on the edge of her hotel bed in the new ivory dressing gown she had splurged on at Simms’, waiting for Matt’s door to close for the last time signifying that the tub she’d had sent to his room was at long last full of hot water.  She peeped her head out to make sure the coast was clear, then tapped quietly next door.  Matt jerked his door open quickly, his mouth opening with surprise when he saw it was her.  Quick as a wink, she slipped in without being invited, smiling up at him as she pecked him affectionately on the cheek. 

He grinned.  “Hey, Kitty, I was just gettin’ ready to take a bath.”

“Yeah?” she said, sashaying over to the window.  “Me too.”  She closed the heavy drapes for some privacy since they were on the first floor.

Matt’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead.  “You were, too, huh?”

She stood next to the tub with her hands on her dressing gown sash and looked at him expectantly.  

“Yep.”

“You mean…”  His voice rose a notch.  “...with me?”

She untied her sash and let the dressing gown fall in a puddle to the floor.  “What do you say, Marshal Dillon?”

Wordlessly, Matt hastily began unbuttoning his shirt.

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Matt finished pouring a pitcher of clean water over Kitty’s soapy hair, and she sighed happily, wrapping her legs around his waist and settling her cheek against his chest, listening to his heart beating a steady, comforting rhythm.   His big hands stroked her slick back and he pressed her closer to him, reveling in the feel of her bare breasts against his body.  They sat entwined like that for a long time, until Matt at last broke the silence.  “Who was that fella’ I saw you talking with at the mercantile, Kitty?”

Her lips curled into a quiet smile.  “Oh, no one, really.  Just a nice man.”

Matt grunted a wordless response and trailed his fingers up and down her arm until she had goosebumps. 

“Why?”

“Oh, no reason…  I just saw you talking is all…”

She looked contemplatively up at Matt and revealed, “Matt, that man was really nice to me.  And I looked terrible.  My clothes were a mess, and my hair stringy and no paint.  Can you imagine a man paying attention to me when I look a fright?”  Kitty coughed a little, a remnant of their morning adventure on the riverbank.  Had it only been hours since they’d both been buried alive in mud?

Matt held his palm to her cheek and looked into her big blue eyes and laughed quietly.  “Kitty, honey, you’re pretty as a picture no matter what you look like.”

“But, Matt, my clothes were raggedy and my hair…”

“Kitty, it’s not just your pretty face and figure…”  He sighed in exasperation.  “It’s hard for me to explain.  You’re not just beautiful on the outside.”

She bit her bottom lip as he spoke.  Matt was a man of few words and she held her breath just listening to him.  He realized she was waiting patiently for him to continue, so he stumbled out, “…Kitty, you’re the smartest, nicest… and honest…  Honesty is very important to me.”  He blew out a breath.  “You’re just a good, caring person, inside and out.  What man wouldn’t want to pay you attention?  Even if you were covered in mud?”  He laughed and she laughed and he brushed his lips over hers as she hastily wiped a tear that’d slipped from the corner of her eye.  Then she shivered in the cooling bathwater, so Matt resignedly stood up, pulling her with him and wrapping a towel around her, saying, “We’d better go get something to eat before the restaurant closes.  It’s pretty late.”

Kitty wrapped her arms gratefully around Matt’s neck, her voice muffled against his damp chest, “I’ll go anywhere you want me to, Matt Dillon.”

tbc

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