Irene felt herself frown at Sam.  Did he forget what she had been doing for a living for quite some time, now?  Men who came here weren’t all proper gents, that was for sure.  And, her own husband had bordered on the dangerous side of rough when he’d had anything to drink.<br/><br/>“I’m aware of the beast that lives in some men.  Women, too, you know, can have a streak of mean that would give some men cause to turn tail.”<br/><br/>She crossed to the drawers and pulled open a middle drawer, drawing out a bit of worn cloth that, when shaken out, revealed itself to have started life as a man’s nightshirt.  Irene had removed the sleeves from the plaid shirt and used the fabric to make a ruffle around the V neck.  It wasn’t very feminine, but it wasn’t exactly masculine; no man would probably ever be caught wearing it.  She dropped it over her head and shifted the shoulders about until it hung right.<br/><br/>“I’ll be happy to help catch the bastards who killed Tim.  I think one was in the bar yester...earlier today or yesterday...  I have no idea what the time is,” she mumbled.  “He had Tim’s big hunting knife.  I was too slow to react...I lost them in the town,” she said.  “I was just stunned.  I guess part of me began to believe that it had been an accident...and then I saw the knife.”<br/><br/>“And, generally, I wear something.  People have been known to walk into the wrong room and we’ve had a few emergencies where we’ve had to run out in the middle of the night...  So, I wear a big shirt or this.”  She chuckled and walked up to Sam.  “It’s not like it’s a chastity shirt,” she said, smiling.  She lifted his hand and placed it on the shirt over her breast.  “The fabric is worn thin.”  She moved his hand on her, smiling broader as her nipples hardened.  “And, it’s not like I’m trussed up in a pair of drawers, either.  So...you know...as the mood moves us...”  Irene kissed his chest and then backed away to lead the way to bed.<br/><br/>“Mr. Markham, settling down just doesn’t sound like something I’d ever be able to do.  But, maybe if there was a reason to settle down, if there was something exciting in the prospect of settling down...moving somewhere no one has ever heard of O’Rourke...perhaps I might be convinced,” she said, yanking back the sheet and thin blanket to slip into bed.<br/>