Sam liked the kisses.  They were soft, warm, and tender.  But what she said gave him pause.  Sam was lying on his side as he watched her pad over to the armoire. He loved watching her.  The sway of her hips as Irene walked away from him and her body as she got dressed made him sigh.  She wasn’t wearing much but it was enough for what she was going off to do given where they were. She gave him a look as she went out into the hall from the room.  He tried to smile back at her and then flopped back onto the bed as the door latched.<br/><br/>“She half expected me to be gone?” He mused with a furrowed brow.  “What the hell is that about?”<br/><br/>Sam was feeling anxious and a bit agitated as the source of his anxiety was absent.  In his usual manner he paced about the room as he tried to sort out what Irene could have meant.  It certainly wasn’t what he expected to hear from her immediately after her sweet ‘good morning love.’   To work off some of his tension until she returned he straightened up the bed and sorted out her pillows and retrieved some of his clean clothes to wear after they bathed.  He took the rifle out and wiped it down and checked his ammo and the sights and then stowed it all away.  When he heard her fussing at the door Sam walked over and opened it for her and held it open wide as she hustled past him to the tub with two buckets of steaming hot water.<br/><br/>“What the hell Irene?  I thought you were ordering the water, not carrying it yourself.  I would have helped you with that . . . Jesus woman . . . and should you be straining yourself carrying heavy buckets if you’re pregnant?  I’m sorry . . . I’m a bit worked up from before . . . what did you say?  Are WE going to the fort?  NO . . . WE are not.  I might be going out there at some point with my Sharps and the Marshal if he’s a mind to join me . . . but you’re not for the first trip.  Riding in there the first time out would be foolish without scouting it out first . . . seeing who and what we’d be up against.”<br/><br/>He sat beside her and stroked her back.<br/><br/>“When it’s time to take them in or take them out . . . you’ll be there for that.  After all you’re the one that’s seen ‘em . . . but Irene . . . this is my job that I came here to do . . . and we’ll be doing it my way.  There’s no more reward in it financially because we rode in there with guns blazing and got ourselves all shot up.  And the reward ain’t any less nor is the justice any less sweet if I take ‘em down from afar with the Sharps.”  He paused for a beat.  “Your Marshal impresses me as one mean tough son of a bitch . . . so I take his warning to heart . . . and I want you to too.”<br/><br/>He looked her over trying to see if he could see any outward difference in her that might tell the story of whether she was or wasn’t with child.  Irene’s breasts seemed a bit fuller but he knew that could just be his eyes and his growing desire for her.<br/><br/>“Irene . . . Darlin’ . . . before we go trailing of out into the desert, we have some things yet to finish or settle.  First off . . .  I don’t know what you were meaning with what you said before you went to order up the water and some food.  Second of all . . . the men you saw don’t impress me as the type that would just ride out and shoot somebody unless they’d something for ‘em in it.  We need to see who they done it for.  We stand a better chance of doing that if we don’t shoot ‘em dead and get it out of them and if we finish up reviewing the clerk’s records.  And third but not last . . . I want us to be married Darlin’ if we’re not.  I got some savings and a bit of money owed me if the worst should happen and I want you set to get it.  I want you taken care of and setup no matter what.  So . . . how much grief you fittin’ to give me for all this and how long before we can clean up?  You need it . . . the bath . . .  no more than I do.”<br/><br/>