But now, in the city, the streets seemed to have been washed clean with the melting snows and the brief spring showers of the past few days. Yes, it was only a smell of freshness. How the warm sun fell against her bare arms. She had waited so long for this.
Stepping out onto the street, waiting for a cable car to clatter by in front of her, Eugenia had to laugh when she stared downward onto the paved street below her. How she had dreamed of these streets being paved in gold. What a shock it had been to have found out that was only a tale, a tale of half-truth, with the streets actually having been paved in low-grade ore from the mines. The ore was a part of the gold mined each day in Cripple Creek's mines.
After a stagecoach drove past her, Eugenia lifted her skirt and hurried along, now worrying about Frederick. He had looked so different this day. Something about his eyes. So tired. And he hadn't had much to say. Just sat there watching her with his right hand beneath the left lapel of his suit jacket. She had questioned him about this, but he had only scoffed at her, told her she was beginning to nag like a true wife would do. He had told her not to worry. But she couldn't help it. When she would leave him each day he was alone. He hadn't asked anyone else to live with him, saying she was all that he needed. She smiled knowingly to herself, knowing that wasn't entirely the truth. She had found out, many months ago, that he frequented another parlor such as her own, getting his sexual desires quenched in this manner. She had been glad to find this out, knowing that he would never expect such favors of her. They had, indeed, conformed to a "friendly" relationship.
Walking up the front steps of The Old Homestad Parlour, Eugenia could already hear the merriment from within. She knew that she had remained much longer than usual with Frederick this day, and hadn't arrived back home in time to greet the influx of men who had made appointmets for this afternoon and evening's callings. Turning, Eugenia stared openly at the horses tied up at the hitching post. One in particular caught her eye, resembling the one horse that she had loved back home on her parents' homestead. Its coat was as sleek, and as rust in color, making her want to go and run her hand over it, whisper into its ear to receive a nuzzle of thanks in return. But she shrugged her shoulders and went on inside.
Pausing only for an instant, she looked into the parlor and saw that everything seemed to be under control. Only Nell and Lola were still in the process of serving French champagne to two gentlemen callers, which had to mean that the others were already entertaining… upstairs in their own rooms.
Sighing heavily, Eugenia climbed the steep staircase then paused at the head of the stairs. She noticed that the door leading into the small room where the special window had been placed was open. Wondering why, she inched her way toward the door and opened it slowly, only to find the room empty. She could hear the giggling surfacing from the twins' room and couldn't stop herself from going to the curtain. Opening it only enough for her to see, she felt her heart begin to pound in skips as her gaze fell on the passionate scene before her. With one hand, she pulled the door shut, locked it, then continued to watch the twins at work. She hadn't ever taken the time to do so, but now she was mesmerized by it all.
Making sure the curtain wasn't open enough to reveal her standing there, Eugenia watched as Aimee and Denise performed their sensuous act of arousing a man very identifiable to Eugenia, making her feelings mount at a more rapid rate. It was Adam Harper, a man who had been pursuing her, trying to get her to allow him to have her for one full evening by showering her with gifts of chocolates, gorgeous bottles of French perfume, and even satin underthings that had taken her breath away knowing that a man had chosen them with her in mind.
Continuing to watch, she began to feel an ache between her thighs and in her breasts, making her feel like moaning with the need pressing in on her. Aimee and Denise were completely nude, with the light color of their skin visible beneath the twinkling lights reflecting in the mirrors on all sides and above them. There were so many of them to watch. Their numerous images would entice anyone who might be watching what they were doing to Adam, who was also lying nude, stretched out in the middle of the red-satin covered mat on the floor. His skin glistened, almost like satin itself, from the perfumed oils being rubbed all over his body. Eugenia watched the erotic scene being played out before her closely, suddenly aware of what she had been missing by not having accepted a man's touches and kisses, and her not having touched a man since Drew. She had been wrong to refuse herself these pleasures, and was now in need of it so badly she could hardly bear it any longer.
Her fingers went to her breasts and began to knead them as Aimee knelt down over Adam and began to run her tongue over the hardness of his manhood while Denise continued to rub more oils on his chest, pinching his nipples, giggling loudly as his fingers began to search her own body between the deep cleaveage of her womanhood. Then as his manhood disappeared from full view inside Aimee's mouth Eugenia knew that she couldn't stand any more. She straightened the material on her dress and hurried to the twins' door. She swallowed hard, wondering if she should really do it. Then decided, quickly, that yes, Adam had been wanting her. He could have her now. She raised her fist and knocked lightly. She could hear the giggling stop and the room grow silent.
"Aimee?" she said, waiting.
Aimee opened the door a small crack, and looked outward with questioning in her eyes. "Aimee, I want you to tell Adam that I'm waiting for him in my room. Yes?"
Aimee's brows tilted, then she turned and walked away.
Eugenia rushed to her room, feeling almost lightheaded by her hasty decision and by what she had been observing. Would Adam even come? He had been fully enjoying the two girls. And Eugenia knew that he had to have paid gold to be in the room with the girls. Would she be enough for him now? Could she compare with what the two Oriental girls had been doing with, and to him? She didn't know. But she would prepare for his entry just in case he would decide to do so.
Hurriedly, she pulled the blinds on her window, lit the gaslights, then threw the bedspread from her bed. She had only just begun to undo her dress when there was a knock on her door. Trembling, she went to it and opened it to find Adam standing there with a Japanese kimono wrapped around his still-slick body.
"You wanted me, Madam Eugenia?" he asked, smiling widely.
Eugenia cleared her throat, then stepped back away from the door. "Yes, Adam," she said in a low whisper. "If you wish to spend time with me instead of the twins I'd welcome your presence in my room."
She didn't have to ask twice. He walked into the room. The closer he drew to her, the more her heart pounded. She had admired, from a distance, his red, short-cropped hair, the roughness of his skin, the blotches with freckles that dotted him clear down to his chest. And now, today, Eugenia could see the sunburned creases of the small streaks of wrinkles on his face. Even his nose was sunburned. A nose that was broad. But his smile took away from that one minute flaw of his facial features. A smile revealed more the redness of his lips, always seeming to be traced with small tinges of purple. When he dropped the kimono from around him, she felt a grip of panic, seeing his manhood still erect, ready for the plunge.
"I've been waitin' for so long," he mumbled, then took her into his arms, crushing her against him. When their lips met—at first softly, then demanding, probing—Eugenia felt as though the feelings surging through her would make her faint. She had forgotten how it could feel to be touched, to be kissed by a man. And what a man! She couldn't get undressed fast enough as he pulled back, waiting.
"I'll get you a mite greasy, madam," he teased, pulling her down onto the red satin sheet.
"Get me greasy, Adam," she whispered, waiting for him to cover her body with his. And when he did, it only took three thrusts inside her to make her mind whirl with deep feelings of ecstacy, so great she could see fireworks exploding all around her in millions of colors. It had taken no preliminaries, no foreplay. The preliminaries had taken place in that little room while she had watched.
"God, woman," Adam sai
d thickly, lying limply on top of her. "How long's it been since you've been with a man? I've never seen a woman come so fast."
"Let's not talk," Eugenia whispered, her fingers traveling, sliding over his skin, touching, feeling, enjoying. She inhaled deeply. She still could smell his manliness beneath the deep layer of perfumed oils. It was a smell so undeniably male, arousing lust in her to proportions unbelievable to her.
"Touch. Touch. Just touch. And lick, Adam," she mumbled, squirming on the bed as he began to do as she bid.
She moaned as his lips searched, first on her mouth, then downward, sucking, biting the nipples of each breast, then downward as she spread her legs apart. She pressed his head as his tongue began to activate her love mound once again.
"Please. Now," she demanded loudly. "Please take me. Now."
Adam changed positions, moving upward, then lowered his body over hers once again. He entered her, slowly, then more frenzied, his flesh oiling hers as their bodies moved against each other's until she began to feel it happening in her brain all over again. The mushiness, erupting into lapses of memory as warm surges of pleasure sent her into another world. She began to toss her head back and forth but stopped when his lips captured hers beneath his. She opened her mouth to accept his tongue as it lunged inside her mouth, making the sensation complete between her thighs as she thrust her body upward, trembling, being fulfilled for the second time.
Panting, Adam slid from her and stretched out beside her. But she couldn't get enough. Her fingers were searching his body once again until she found the limpness between his legs. She wrapped her fingers around it and began to knead and fondle.
"Woman, what are you tryin' to do to me?" Adam groaned, laughing. "First you refuse to take me to your bed, and now you can't get enough of me. You're a hard one to figure."
"Adam, do you think me as desirable as the twins?" Eugenia asked, removing her fingers from around their plaything, putting them to his lips, tracing them, teasingly.
Adam pulled her atop him and found her lips once again. "Ma'am, you're better than anyone I've ever known," he said thickly. "Why'd you wait so long for this? Just look at the weeks we could've been sharin' this."
Eugenia laughed softly. "Even now I don't know why," she answered. "But that doesn't matter. We have many tomorrows, don't we, Adam?"
"Yes, ma'am," Adam said, moving his body once again.
Eugenia continued to stay atop him, clinging to his shoulders as he entered her once again.
"Do you think we can… already… once again… ?" she mumbled.
"Ma'am," he said, his voice shaky. "You don't know my duration. I've just begun. Just ride me. Like you'd be ridin' a horse. Get me?"
Eugenia laughed. "Yes. I get you," she said, then closed her eyes, enjoying, feeling as though she would never get enough of this man beneath her. It wasn't Drew, but it was a very good substitute.
"God!" she moaned, feeling the trembling begin once again.
When it was over once again, she climbed from the bed and went to her closet and pulled a robe from it.
"I'll be back in just a minute," she whispered, not caring about her appearance if she should run into someone out in the hall. She had just become a woman again, for the third time in her life, and it was reason to celebrate.
"Where're you goin', ma'am?" Adam asked, pushing himself up on his elbows. Eugenia's eyes captured him, the whole of him, lying there nude on her bed, just for her enjoyment.
"I'm going to go and get us some of that French champagne that we've been serving in the parlor," she giggled. She turned and started to leave, but turned instead toward Adam.
"And, Adam… ?"
"Huh?"
"Will you please quit calling me ma'am? My name's Eugenia."
Adam looked serious for a moment, studying her. "But you're the madam of this house," he stammered. "Are you sure you want me to call you just Eugenia?"
Eugenia laughed. "To you? I'm just Eugenia. Remember that. As long as you want to share my bed with me. I am only Eugenia. Get it?"
Laughing, hitting the bed a loud pop with the slap of a hand, Adam said, "Yep, I get it."
"I'll be back in just a minute, love," Eugenia purred.
"I'll always be waitin' for you, Eugenia," Adam said, then stretched back out on top of the bed. Eugenia took one last look then stepped out into the hallway. She was relieved to find it empty. As she passed each closed door, she could hear small titters of laughter, some moans of pleasure, and in some, nothing.
All seemed to be going well with her girls, which was good. The only thing of importance to Eugenia at this moment was the feeling aroused once again for a man. Feelings that she had kept hidden for way too long. She had to get back to him, survey this desirous longing inside herself.
But she had a dark, gnawing feeling, remembering why she had waited so long, knowing how Drew had always rushed away from her, leaving her after he had had his desires filled. He did not truly love her, but what she had always so willingly given him.
But surely Adam wouldn't be the same. He had been pursuing her for way too long. Surely she could depend on him. She knew that she didn't love him as she had loved Drew, but she loved what he could give her, his body, his touches, his kisses.
She was a woman again.
* * *
Chapter Eighteen
The feel of a horse beneath her was one that Eugenia had sorely missed. Riding atop Adam's own horse, the one that she had so admired in front of her establishment the day before, she threw her head back and laughed loudly.
"Adam, I'd forgotten how it felt to be on a horse," she shouted to him as he rode ahead of her.
The wind whipped Eugenia's hair around her face as she raced the chestnut mare on in front of Adam, so glad to be away from the town and its confusion. She was finally able to mingle with nature once again, and on her mountain. She inhaled deeply, smelling the pines and spring flowers dotting the ground around her. She recognized them all; the coral-colored wild geraniums, brown-eyed Susans, and mountain daisies intermingling as though they had been painted, skillfully, onto a large canvas.
"Hey! Wait up!" Adam yelled from behind her.
Eugenia yanked on the horse's reins, until the horse was only clopping along in a slow gallop, then pulled it to a halt. The horse stood, panting, restless, stomping its right foot, stirring rocks on the path beneath it. Eugenia ran her hand along its neck as she leaned to comfort her.
"It's okay, girl," she whispered, waiting for Adam to pull up to her side on the nervous roan that he was riding.
"I'd never have guessed Madam Eugenia could be so skilled at riding a horse," Adam said, lifting his cowboy hat from his head, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.
"There's a lot you don't know about me, Adam," Eugenia said, tossing her long, auburn hair back behind her shoulders.
Adam took the reins from Eugenia, smiling, while his dark eyes gleamed invitingly in her direction.
"This looks like a good enough spot to enlighten me, hon," he said. "How 'bout parkin' our carcasses beneath that big ol' blue spruce over there?"
Eugenia studied the ground beneath the tree. "If you'll spread a blanket," she said, laughing lightly. "I don't care to be picking pine needles from my skin all night."
"Oh? You plan to be unclothed? Out here in the open?" Adam teased, as he climbed from his saddle.
Even though Eugenia and Adam had made passionate love the day before, she still looked to him as a stranger and could feel her face reddening because of his implications. She scooted from her own saddle and quickly smoothed down her heavy, brown riding skirt. She stood, watching him remove his saddle, then a blanket from atop his horse. Then she walked by his side until he stopped to spread the Indian blanket beneath the tree.
"After you, madam," Adam said, bowing, gesturing with the sweep of a hand.
Eugenia lifted her skirt and sat down, crossing her legs in front of her. Her gaze moved around her, remembering the last time she had sat
in such a place as this. She had been with Drew. She could even hear the faint splashing of water as it tumbled down the mountainside, and moved into the slow moving stream only a few yards from where she and Adam had chosen to take their rest.
Adam sat down beside Eugenia and plucked a stem of grass. He put it in a corner of his mouth and began to suck on it.
"See that creek there, hon?" he said.
"Yes. Peaceful, isn't it?" she said, feeling calm, but not sure if it was the area around her causing this sense of tranquility, or the man at her side. She wanted him to pull her into his arms, now.
"It's a funny story about that creek," he said, stretching out, leaning back on one elbow.
"What kind of story?" she asked, leaning back on an elbow of her own beside him.
"The name Cripple Creek? It was named after that particular creek that you're now lookin' at."
"Really?" She wanted to act interested, but she was ready to rekindle their passions of the day before.
"A rancher named the town after his cow fell and crippled herself in the creek," he answered. "Now how's that for a bit of history?"
Eugenia laughed softly. "And, Adam, where did you hear such a ridiculous story?"
"It's true," he argued. "Honest. Everybody in Cripple Creek knows that." He spat the grass from his mouth, eyeing her in silent amusement.
"I live in Cripple Creek," she said stubbornly. "I never heard that before."
"Hon, I'm sure you don't hear much history bein' discussed in your establishment."
Eugenia eyed him darkly, wondering what he truly did think of her for being a madam.
He sat up and began to yank at his boots and struggled at getting them off.
"I've been wanting to ask, Eugenia," he said, still struggling. "How'd you get in such a profession? You don't act as any other madam I've ever met."
"And you've met many, huh?"
"Now, I didn't say that."
"But, it's true, isn't it?"
"Yep. A few," he admitted. "But you're the only one I ever stubbornly pursued. I knew you were different the first time I saw you. Then when I heard that you were untouchable, I could believe it. Your appearance only radiates your inner shyness."
Eugenia's Embrace Page 21
