by Norah Hess
"Whenever you're ready. I was only gonna dig out my traps and start greasin' them up."
Word of Kane and D'lise's marriage spread through Piney Ridge and the outlying areas like a fire burning out of control. The news was received with surprise, disbelief, and no little disappointment. Kane's friends cursed the luck that the little beauty was to be taken out of circulation before they could court her. They discussed their disbelief among themselves that the perennial bachlor was giving up his freedom, settling down to the mundane routine of marriage.
It was voiced among them that the newness of a wife and home fire would wear off and that Kane would be carousing with them as usual. And it was agreed that the delicate Miss Alexander could not long please their friend. There would be no riding her as he was used to doing with squaws and whores.
And while the area wives made preparation for the big event, bustling around, baking pies and cakes, roasting hams and great pieces of venison, their daughters privately either shed tears or gnashed their teeth. There wasn't a single girl in the hills who hadn't wanted Kane for herself.
From the number of wagons and mounts tied to trees, everyone living in Piney Ridge was inside the church, Kane thought as he and D'lise approached the small log building. He looked at his soon-to-be bride and was filled with pride. How beautiful she looked in the white dress Sarah had made for her. He was glad that Sarah hadn't been able to find a veil, although he knew that D'lise would love to have one to hide behind. She was nervous, he knew. Her white-knuckled grip on the reins gave her away.
He was nervous too, Kane admitted to himself. Niggling doubts had jabbed him a few times in the past couple of days, especially an hour ago when he was donning a new pair of butter-soft buckskins, preparing for that time he'd stand before Reverend House. After today he'd be giving up that freedom he'd sworn he never would, and if that wasn't enough, he was tying himself to a woman of extraordinary good looks, the sort of woman he had shunned all his life.
Lottie, his uncle's wife, had come to mind many times in the past twenty-four hours.
Although D'lise was shy and retiring around men now, how might she become once he had taught her the many pleasures of the marriage bed? What if her eyes and attention should begin to wander to those men who would always want her, watch for the chance to take her away from him?
It's too late to mull that over now, Kane told himself as he swung out of the saddle and tied the two mounts beneath a maple whose fall colors had deepened from each succeeding frost. He smiled up at D'lise. "You ready?" When she nodded, he lifted her to the ground, helped her to smooth down the gown's full skirt, then led her into the church.
There was a stir of bodies; then everyone was turning around and watching them walk slowly toward the preacher standing before the pulpit, flanked by Ellen Travis and David Patton. The men's eyes kindled, and a murmuring sigh went up from feminine throats as all eyes looked at D'lise. I might as well not be here, Kane thought wryly, for all the attention I'm getting.
They were in front of Reverend House now, and the two witnesses were taking their places. It grew quiet as the tall, angular man opened his Bible and began to read from it.
"We are met here today to join this man and woman in holy wedlock."
The sonorous voice receded to a dim murmur as near panic gripped D'lise. Was she making the biggest mistake of her life? Was her neighbors' good opinion so important that she would marry a man who didn't love her? Would their approval of her marrying Kane keep her warm and content through long, loveless years?
She came back to the present with a jolt when Ellen secretly nudged her into awareness. The ceremony was coming to an end. She gripped the bouquet of fall asters that Sarah had sent along with the dress and gave her full attention to the preacher. It was too late to do otherwise.
"Do you, Kane Devlin, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife in the eyes of God? Do you promise to love and cherish her in sickness and in health, for better or worse, until death do you part?"
Kane's "I do" came loud and clear.
"Do you, D'lise Alexander, take this man to be your wedded husband? Do you promise to love and cherish him, to honor and obey him, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, until death do you part?"
D'lise's "I do" was spoken in such a low tone the preacher had to lean forward to hear her.
He nodded and said the words that united them. "By the power vested in me, I pronounce you man and wife." He gave Kane a doubtful look. "If you have a ring, Devlin, place it on your wife's finger."
You old goat, Kane thought angrily, bringing the gold band from his breast pocket. Did the preacher think he was so uncivilized he didn't know he needed a ring for his wife?
As Kane slid the ring on D'lise's finger, he saw by the look on her face that she, too, was surprised that he had thought of a wedding band. Damn, he thought, keeping his face calm, didn't anybody have any kind of faith in him?
"You may kiss the bride now," the preacher said as though reluctant to say the words.
Kane slipped his arm around D'lise's waist and pulled her to him. The kiss he dropped on her lips was warm and gentle and respectfully short. As he led her back up the narrow aisle he heard male voices whispering something about a shivaree. Well, he thought with dry humor, his friends were going to be in for a big disappointment. There would be no serenade of rattling pots and pans, no long blowing of horns. He and D'lise weren't spending their wedding night at the cabin. When it came time for them to slip away, they would go to Ellen Travis's cabin down by the mill.
The thoughtful young widow had suggested it, knowing that D'lise would be nervous enough without a bunch of crude trappers racketing around.
Out in the church yard, everyone gathered around the newlyweds, the men shaking Kane's hand and slapping him on the back, sometimes unnecessarily hard. Ribald jokes were passed, making D'lise blush to the roots of her hair.
"Don't you pay any attention to them ignorant jackasses," Sarah said, giving the trappers a scolding look. "They ain't never had no manners."
Kane saw that the men were trying to gather the nerve to kiss the bride. The cold warning look he directed at them made them flush and move on toward the tavern where the food, a fiddle, and a banjo awaited the wedding party. Kane placed D'lise's arm in his, and together they followed them.
One end of the bar practically sagged with the food placed upon it. In the mundane lives of the hill people, a wedding was a big event and everyone took part in it. Wives had brought roasts of pork, beef, and venison, and someone had brought a large platter piled high with fried chicken. Next to the meats were bowls of every vegetable imaginable, as well as a large basin of late-maturing corn on the cob. Taking their own place were at least a dozen cakes and pies.
There was no evidence of spirits. It was a firm rule that no alcohol was to be served at any celebration. When rowdy trappers drank too much, there were always fights.
D'lise couldn't believe how fast the food disappeared. She was reminded of a wave of locusts swarming over a garden patch so quickly that everything was consumed in seconds. She wondered how the men managed to dance when the fiddle and banjo struck up a tune.
But the wooden floor bounced and creaked as, with much hopping and jumping, men swung their partners around the room. She and Kane decided that they wouldn't join the dancers. Once they did, every single man and woman would converge on them, wanting their turn with the bride and groom. By the time the festivities were over, they would be worn to a frazzle. Kane thought privately that he didn't want a tired bride on his hands when he took her to bed. He preferred to wear her out himself.
D'lise watched the merry-makers but didn't really see them. Her mind was on what was going to happen later, in Ellen's bedroom. Could she bring herself to do what was expected of her?
An hour later, her nerves tightened when Kane leaned over and whispered, "It's ten o'clock. Let's slip away while everyone is dancin'."
She wanted to pull back when Kane
closed his fingers around her arm and brought her to her feet. But even as the thought crossed her mind, he whisked her outside and they were running for their mounts. Kane swept her into the saddle and climbed onto the stallion; then they were galloping away. No one but Sarah and Ellen noticed their hasty departure. They smiled at each other, each remembering fondly her own wedding night, neither aware of D'lise's unnatural fear.
D'lise forgot for a moment what lay ahead of her when Kane opened the door and she walked into Ellen's pretty parlor. A cozy fire and two lit candles on a small table welcomed them.
"Isn't this a lovely room, Kane?" D'lise asked in awe. "I've never seen anything lovelier." Her hand stroked the surface of a highly polished table as her other hand started a thickly padded rocker in motion. She walked over to the mantel and gazed up at the porcelain figurines there.
"Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"
Kane didn't hear her question. He was thinking of the rough quarters he had asked D'lise to share with him. There was no beauty there for a woman to gaze on. Suddenly he wanted to change that, was determined that he would.
He joined D'lise at the fireplace and, putting an arm around her waist, said, "It's too late in the season now—snow will be falling before we know it—but come spring I'm gonna build the nicest and largest cabin in these parts. You can have all the little gee-gaws you want to fancy it up."
"That will be nice." D'lise gave him a small smile, but Kane knew by her tone that she didn't believe him. She'd have to believe the evidence of her eyes when he started building, he told himself. He took her hand, and with anticipation and apprehension, he led her to a door that had to be a bedroom.
It was a very feminine room, the kind that Ellen Travis would have, D'lise mused, looking around. The comforter on the bed was bright green, its frilly white dust ruffle matching the curtains at the window. There were no clothes hanging from pegs on these walls. She imagined they hung in the large piece of furniture with two long doors. She walked over to a narrow table with a gilt-framed mirror hanging over it. It must be what Auntie had described as a dressing table, she thought, gazing down at a comb and brush, a matching receptacle holding wire hairpins. There were three small jars with lids capping them.
She was about to unscrew one when Kane moved up behind her and put his arms around her waist. "Let's go to bed," he murmured, his hands sliding to her rib cage.
With a tightening of nerves, D'lise felt his hands cup her breasts, and she closed her eyes against the image of them in the mirror.
"Come along, honey," he whispered, his voice rough and unsteady. "I've waited a long time for this night."
When he released her and took her hand, D'lise allowed him to lead her to the bed. A pretty night-gown of sheer muslin had been laid across the foot of the bed, a gift from Ellen. She reached for it as Kane turned down the covers, but he caught her hand.
"Leave it, D'lise. I want nothin' between us. I want to feel every inch of your soft, bare body against mine."
"But, Kane." D'lise shrank from the idea of his seeing her naked.
"But nothin', wife." Kane's fingers were already working at the small buttons of her bodice. "Didn't you promise the preacher that you'd obey me?" He quirked a teasing eyebrow at her. "Are you goin' to disobey my first order?"
She wanted to—God, how she wanted to. Everything within her cried out her desire. But she knew she would only be prolonging the inevitable, so she might as well swallow her reluctance and get it over with.
She stood quietly, her eyes closed, too embarrassed to look at Kane as he slowly pushed her dress down past her hips to settle around her feet. She felt the tug of the ribbon tied around her waist, then the slide of the petticoat joining the dress.
She gave a small gasp when her knee-length, lace-trimmed pantaloons followed the path of her other clothes. There remained only her camisole. The unheated air wafted over her, making her nipples pucker and push against the material. The twin peaks did not escape Kane's notice. With a low groan, he whipped the last remaining cover over her head and the warmth of his mouth closed over one uptilted breast.
At first, D'lise tried to push his face away. Then, without warning, her pulse quickened and she let her hand drop. She grew as weak as water when waves of pleasure flooded through her as Kane suckled first one and then the other breast. Her hand cupped the back of his head, pressing him closer to her. A low moan of satisfaction sounded in his throat.
He ran a palm down the smoothness of her stomach, coming to rest on the tight black curls between her thighs. When he felt a moistness there, he placed one arm across her back and the other behind her knees, lifting her effortlessly and laying her on the bed.
As D'lise lay there, her blue eyes limpid with desire, a sensation she'd never known before making her seem to float, Kane shed his own clothes, never taking his eyes off her silken body.
In her craving for his body to join hers, there was no shyness or shock as D'lise ran her gaze over the first full view she had ever seen of a man completely bare. Her husband's body was magnificent, his shoulders broad, his chest lightly furred, his midriff lean, his hips narrow.
A flicker of uneasiness washed across her face when her inspection encountered the object that had pressed against her bottom a few minutes ago. She had thought then that even through their clothes he was large, but freed of all constraint, stiff with erection, it looked fearsome to her. There was no way in the world her body could accept it.
She looked up at Kane, her eyes large and reflecting her thoughts. He came down on the bed beside her, a gentle smile curving his lips. "I'll fit inside you," he whispered, stretching out beside her and drawing her into his arms.
"Oh, Kane, please, I don't think it's possible." D'lise drew back her head and looked at him imploringly.
"You'll open for me, honey," he whispered, and cupping her head with his hands, lowered his lips to hers.
At first Kane only traced her lips with his tongue, teasing, inviting. But when she sighed a protest and pressed closer to him, his lips firmed over hers, forcing them to open, to accept his tongue. When she moaned softly, he moved one hand from her head and caressed it down her throat, stopping to let it lie on her breast. Deepening his kiss, his fingers stroked the rosy nipple that was rigid with the excitement that shuddered through her. Lifting its heaviness in his hand, he left off kissing D'lise and drew the nipple into his mouth.
D'lise's body convulsed with spasms of pleasure as he suckled her. Her arms went around his shoulders, her fingers threading lovingly through his hair. He raised his head and whispered hoarsely, "Touch me, D'lise."
She gently stroked her finger down his cheek. "No, honey, not there." He took her hand and pushed it down the flat plane of his stomach. "Here," he whispered in a raw voice as he curled her fingers around his arousal. When her hand only held him, stiff and uncertain, he coaxed, "Stroke it, honey, can't you feel what it wants?"
Timidly, still uncertain, D'lise tightened her fingers around him, and cautiously moved her palm up and down. Kane groaned and searched her lips as she felt his life-force pulsating in her hand.
D'lise gave a choked moan of her own when Kane's hand moved down her body and found the little nub of sensitivity hidden in the short curls. His fingers teased and tormented it until she was arching against him, wanting more, but not sure what it was she wanted. But Kane knew, and he continued to stroke her until the soft whisper of his name escaped her lips.
With a ragged sigh of relief, he removed his hand from her and slid a thigh between hers. Another stroke of her hand and he would be erupting inside it.
As he hung over her, the tip of his erection nudging at her virgin opening, D'lise stiffened and gazed up at him, dread in her eyes. Now he would hurt her like Rufus used to do to Auntie.
"What is it, D'lise?" Kane gave her a puzzled look. "You can't stop now. You've got me too worked up."
D'lise lifted a trembling, beseeching hand to his cheek. "Please, Kane, don't hit me too
hard."
"Hit you hard?" Kane's puzzlement changed to bewilderment. "I have no intention of hitting you hard or otherwise. What made you think I would hit you?"
"Rufus always hit Aunt Anna." D'lise almost sobbed.
"Ah, honey." Kane kissed her gently on the forehead. "I thought I told you not to compare that bastard to other men. I would never hurt you."
D'lise gave him a tremulous smile. "You promise? Never?"
"Well," Kane hedged. "I will hurt you a little the first time I enter you. It can't be helped. You're a virgin and there's a thin little skin protecting you down there. I have to break through it. But I'm told it doesn't hurt long."
Convinced that Kane didn't lie, D'lise relaxed, and tracing a finger around his lips, teased, "How many women told you that?"
Kane smiled ruefully. "None. You will be my first virgin. Big Beaver told me. So you will have him to thank when I try not to hurt you too badly."
He dropped his head and suckled her until she was again arching her hips to him, then took his hard length in his hand to enter her. Still he hesitated, wondering whether to go slow, or make one plunging drive to break the thin membrane.
When he started to enter her, D'lise took the decision away from him. Her body on fire with the need of him, she brought her legs up around his hips, the pressure forcing him inside her, burying deep, filling her, stretching her. She gave a small cry of pain, but did not loosen the grip her legs had on him.
"Oh, God," Kane gasped, "how good you feel, so hot and tight." Bracing himself on his elbows, he looked down at her and whispered, "Are you in pain?"
D'lise shook her head. "Not now, it's going away."
"Does it feel good?" he asked hopefully.
D'lise blushed and nodded. "I think so."
"You think so?" Kane laughed softly and gave a small thrust of his hips.
