In the recent struggle between the Northern and Southern states it was often said by members of the Yankee press that were it not for the hot blooded temperaments of their Southern brethren, the whole affair might have been settled peaceably.  Even Southerners would admit that they were all too quick to 'get their blood up', having a measure of passion in nearly everything they did, and taking no small amount of pride in it as well.<br/><br/>Jessie's blood was up.  She'd been exposed to....well, 'exposed' members of the wagon train the entire time she had been on watch, and had been treated to quite a carnal show.  And it had been a long time since she had enjoyed her own husband's attentions.  As a result, although her face flushed hot with the sinful suggestion the Yankee woman implied as to her intentions, she was feeling quite aroused, even at the notion that she was supposed to be 'faking a show' with the other woman sharing the bed.  As she lay between Penelope's spread legs, she became all too aware of her exact positioning, and her face flushed hot with the blush that rose to paint her cheeks in the darkness.<br/><br/>In the silent moment between when she'd finished her urgent whisper in the ear of the recently widowed woman, and the moment when her other companion admonished them to be quiet and gently separated the two of them, Jessie's breathing told the tale of her excitement that even she wasn't ready to acknowledge.  And then just before Bethie intervened, Jessie felt distinctly the hips and pelvis below her rise up to increase the contact between them.  The sound she made in response was partly a gasp of surprise, partly a moan of need at the pleasurable contact.<br/><br/>But the sound was all but lost in the words of her 'wife', urging her to let it go.  Confused about just what it was that she was feeling, Jessie let herself be guided away without resistance.  Bethie's gentle but firm hand on her shoulders brought to Jessie's mind the awkward attempt to kiss her earlier in the evening, and the resulting look on Beth's face.  She had no experience with whores, and for all she knew, the look she'd received had been a genuine display of feeling for what she'd done to defend the younger woman.  That look hadn't been far from Jessie's thoughts all evening.<br/><br/>And then the quietly spoken words as Beth's hand slid through her hair: "You have to lead..."  Once again, Jessie's heart raced in her chest, and her breathing increased apace.  What did it mean?  Was Beth saying she shouldn't be arguing with the Yankee woman because she should lead the three of them as the 'man'?  Or was the meaning more personal, as in she should take the lead in engaging in their amorous deception?<br/><br/>Jessie had to climb over Beth's body to get on the side she was supposed to be sleeping, away from Penelope, and in the process, she paused once again just as she was straddling the younger woman's body.  She leaned down to whisper in Beth's ear, "I thought to make a show of....well, of making love to you.  You know, just to further the act of us being husband and wife.  Just play along and make some noises.  I'll make the wagon shake and rock.  Anybody listening or watching will think we're, uh, going at it, you know?"<br/><br/>Jessie lowered her voice an octave, and raised the volume, giving out what she hoped would sound like a manly groan of pleasure as she hovered over Beth's prone form.  Adding a couple heaving sighs for emphasis, she began to slowly rock fore and aft over Beth's body, as if simulating the motion of a man having sex with his wife.  She wanted the wagon's movement to look realistic to any outside observer.<br/><br/>As Beth joined the charade with her own sounds of passion, Jessie had to admit the prostitute was really selling the performance.  Her heated moans and soft sighing cries, passionate whimpers, and whines even began to convince Jessie's body that they were doing more than what she knew they actually were.  At first, her own moans, grunting, and play acting had been an equal part of the sounds emanating from the wagon.  But as Bethie really began to perform her act, Jessie found herself listening, entranced every bit as much as any witness outside the wagon.<br/><br/>The sounds were stirring up the recent memories of the sights and sounds she'd witnessed earlier in the evening, and soon it was all running together in her mind: naked bodies entwined in each others' arms, moans and cries and heated carnal grunting, the sounds and smell of sex in the night air, Bethie's emotion filled eyes looking at her after their kiss, (which now seemed much more romantic and successful in Jessie's memory than it had at the time.) Pennie's hips thrusting the heat of her body up into Jessie's groin, and Bethie's moans and sounds of passion!  Jessie's rocking motions had stopped, and her body lowered astraddle Bethie's as she just stopped and listened, all her thoughts running wild with all the stimuli of the evening having it's effect on her.<br/><br/>Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness within the wagon now, and she could make out Beth's form below her, see the tossing head, feel her squirming slightly under her.  Jessie felt a sudden hot flush course through her and impulsively, she leaned down and captured Beth's lips in a heated, hungry kiss, letting her body lower to rest on top of another woman's for the second time that night.  The kiss squelched the sounds Bethie was making in mid-moan, but the feeling of soft lips crushing against hers after so long inspired Jessie to take up the sound where Bethie left off.  She moaned into the kiss, "Mmmm!" and let her eyes close to concentrate on the feeling stirring within her.<br/><br/>Now it was her turn to let her hips respond to the urges she was feeling, and she rolled her pelvis in a slow grind against the body of the woman under her, deepening the kiss.  'What am I doing?' her mind screamed at her.  But her body only knew to respond to what it was feeling, and she didn't want to stop now that she'd started.<br/><br/>Her hand slipped under the blanket, running up along Beth's arm to her face to cup and caress her cheek tenderly in the palm of her hand as she kissed her, then began to glide slowly back down Beth's body.  Soon Jessie felt the warm swell of a breast beneath her palm, and her fingers closed in a gentle squeeze.  How odd it felt to be feeling something so familiar, yet so different at the same time, the landscape the same, but the perspective of experiencing it from the one doing the feeling instead of the one being felt.  Yet it did feel good, and much to Jessie's surprise, she found it gave her a certain thrill to know she was touching another so intimately, even another woman.  Perhaps especially because it was another woman.<br/><br/>For the moment, Jessie forgot she was only pretending to be a man.<br/>