Desert Hearts by Marjorie Farrell

flirted with Lieutenant Cooper, Thomas.” She lowered her head as though she was a fallen woman but when he put his finger under her chin and lifted her face, he saw that her eyes were dancing.
    “Lieutenant Cooper, Lizzie? I thought you detested the man? Now, if you had said anyone else…Sergeant Burke, for instance, then I’d be jealous,” he joked.
    Elizabeth had been pretending her penitence, but when she heard Sergeant Burke’s name, her face colored for a moment.
    “I am sure the sergeant has plenty of female attention directed at him, Thomas. The likes of Mrs. Casey always find these Irishmen charming.”
    “He’s a competent soldier, Lizzie, and seems a fine man to me. And for the men who aren’t lucky enough to be married…well, you know as well as I do that we’re lucky to have the laundresses, er, available,” said Thomas mildly. His wife was clearly determined to dislike Burke, but there was no reason to make him out as worse than anyone else at the fort.
    “Thomas, you would speak well of the devil,” said his wife. “And anyway, it is Mr. Cooper we were talking about.”
    “Ah, yes, you were flirting with him.”
    “Yes, but it was for a good purpose, Thomas. Not that he thought it was for any reason but his own irresistible self!”
    “Now, Lizzie , he is an officer and a gentleman.”
    “I am not so sure about the gentleman part.”
    “He has never done anything to you, has he, Elizabeth,” asked Thomas, turning serious and putting his arm around her protectively.
    “Oh no, Thomas.” Though I think he would like to, she thought with an involuntary shiver. “I just meant that a true gentleman is not so arrogant and full of himself that a helpless little puppy could affect his self-consequence.”
    “A puppy?” Thomas was completely lost. “What has a puppy got to do with Cooper?”
    “Everything.” All the indignation that Elizabeth had suppressed in the stable was rising now. “His greyhound gave birth to three puppies today.”
    “Misty? He’s been looking forward to that for days. He has high expectations for those pups, being sired by the major’s Major.”
    Their eyes met and they smiled at the dog’s name, which was a source of humor for everyone on the post.
    “Evidently Misty was too free with her favors before she met Major, Thomas,” said Elizabeth demurely.
    Thomas’s face creased into a smile. “No!”
    “Yes. And an Indian dog at that. Or so it would seem.”
    Thomas’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. “But we still haven’t gotten to the flirtation part, my dear.”
    Elizabeth became serious again. “He had Private Stack drown the other two, Thomas. He was going to drown the third but I convinced him to leave the puppy with his mother.”
    “That’s my Lizzie.”
    “Um, for a few weeks, Thomas. Then he is mine to care for. I hope you don’t mind?”
    “Of course not,” he said, giving her a hug. “A dog is just what we need around here. And such a dog too: a good mix of purebred East and the Wild West! He’ll be good company and then good protection for you when I am away.” He did not add, And a good substitute for the child we never had, though he thought it.
    “You are too good to me, Thomas,” she said as she turned to kiss him on the mouth. It was rare that she initiated their lovemaking and the weariness of the past few days fell away as he responded. Their mating was gentle and sweet as always and he fell asleep satisfied, believing that he had satisfied her.
    Which he had, thought Elizabeth as she lay awake beside him. He always satisfied her need to be held and loved and kissed. She had guessed a long time ago, from the other women’s conversations, that there were other ways a woman might be satisfied, but if it pleased her to please him, if it felt good to hold him while he shuddered and poured himself into her, then she didn’t mind what else she might be missing.
    As she drifted off this evening, however, she felt something