by Nan Ryan
“Ask me now.”
“How come you and me never got together?”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing.”
“Well, you reckon I could come call on you one of these evenings?”
“Is tomorrow night too soon?” was her quick reply.
Anna smiled with amused pleasure as she watched Sally and Buck spin around the dance floor. Sally was obviously thrilled that Buck had noticed her. And from the wide grin on Buck’s face, the feeling must have been mutual. When the song ended and another began, the couple stayed on the floor.
Anna continued to sip the smooth champagne and converse with the attentive Dr. McCelland. The two of them were discussing how much they were looking forward to the midnight fireworks display when they were abruptly interrupted. A young Regent vaquero came rushing up to the table, out of breath, excited.
“I am sorry, Dr. McCelland. Por favor, forgive me, señorita,” the man said apologetically. “Doctor, it is time. My Maria, she has gone into labor. She needs you!”
Dr. McCelland was on his feet immediately. Calmly patting the shoulder of the nervous, expectant father, he said, “I’ll get my bag out of the carriage, Rio. You hurry on back to Maria and I’ll meet you at your adobe in ten minutes.”
“Sí. Gracias, gracias!” The young man turned and rushed away.
To Anna, Dr. McCelland said, “It’s Maria Alverez’s first child, so I probably won’t be back for the fireworks.”
“I’m sorry you have to miss them,” said Anna.
The doctor smiled. “Next year perhaps.”
“Yes, next year,” Anna replied. “Now go. Maria needs you.”
“Good night, Anna,” he said, and left hurriedly.
“You haven’t danced with me all evening,” Beverly complained for the dozenth time. “Please, Brit. Let’s dance.”
Tired of hearing her whine, Brit said, “All right. One dance, but then that’s it.”
Certain she could make him change his mind, Beverly gave him a full-lipped smile and said, “Whatever you say, darling.”
They rose and headed down toward the dance floor. As they wove their way through the crowd, Brit took the opportunity to glance at Anna’s table. He saw Dr. McCelland rise, bid Anna good-night and leave. Brit’s heart kicked against his ribs.
He and Beverly reached the dance floor just as the orchestra changed tempos, began a romantic Latin ballad.
Anna took a drink of champagne. The band suddenly changed tempos. A slow Spanish love song floated on the still night air. Anna sighed, closed her eyes dreamily and imagined herself floating about the floor locked in Brit’s long arms.
She could almost feel his lean legs brushing against her own, could nearly catch his clean, masculine scent. Inwardly shivering, Anna opened her eyes, took another drink of champagne and turned in her chair to look down on the dance floor.
In the sea of couples swaying to the music, her attention was drawn to something winking and gleaming in the lights from the Japanese lanterns. She carefully focused. Several small silver disks were sparkling, reflecting the light.
Anna’s face immediately fell.
Those shiny silver disks winked and glittered from the long, black-trousered leg of Brit Caruth. He was turning slowly about on the floor, and in his arms was a radiant Beverly Harris. Anna swallowed hard as the strikingly handsome pair swayed and spun and moved gracefully to the slow romantic ballad.
Sick with jealousy, Anna bit her lip and fought the overwhelming desire to rush down to the floor and snatch Brit from the tenacious grasp of the sophisticated, red-haired temptress. To rebuke him scathingly for dancing with Beverly. To make it crystal clear that he was never to hold any other woman but Anna herself in such a sensuous, intimate way.
“Anna, where did Dr. McCelland go?” LaDextra’s firm voice shook her from her troubled reveries.
Anna forced a smile to her face and, speaking loudly to be heard, explained the doctor’s abrupt departure. “Maria Alverez is having her baby.”
“Ah, good,” LaDextra said, nodding. Then, motioning, she added, “Move on down here by Will and me.”
Anna complied. She pulled up a chair beside LaDextra.
“You having a good time, child?”
“The best time of my life,” Anna assured her, knowing that’s what LaDextra wanted to hear and feeling, somehow, that before the night ended it would be the best time of her life.
LaDextra beamed.
Anna spent a few pleasant minutes visiting with LaDextra and Will. At the same time she managed to steal covert glimpses at Brit as the love song ended and he and Beverly headed back to their table. She saw Beverly say something to Brit, then leave him to weave her way alone through the crowd and up toward the house.
Anna tried, but could not hide her restlessness. Astute, LaDextra sensed it.
“You’ve spent enough time with us old folks, Anna,” said the older woman. “And you’ve spent the entire evening at this table. Why don’t you walk around a little? Mix and mingle. Circulate. Meet some new young folks. See what mischief you can get into.” Her light eyes twinkled.
Anna smiled, kissed LaDextra’s wrinkled cheek and whispered, “You’re a wise woman, LaDextra Regent.”
LaDextra chuckled merrily. “I don’t know about that, but I was once a young woman, and after all these years I can still remember what it was like.” She inclined her white head toward the dance floor. “I see lots of good-looking young men who’d be thrilled if you said hello.”
Anna took one last drink from her champagne glass, set it aside and rose. “Good night, LaDextra. Good night, Will.”
“You be careful, you hear?” said the fatherly Will.
“You enjoy yourself,” said the understanding LaDextra.
Anna wandered away.
Brit noticed the moment she left the table. Grateful that Beverly had decided to go to the house and freshen up, he hurriedly rose to his feet.
Anna did as LaDextra had suggested. She mixed and mingled, moving unhurriedly through the crowd, introducing herself, shaking hands with men and women alike. But she managed to always keep Brit within sight, watched him as he, too, maneuvered leisurely through the gathering, greeting people, sharing a word here and a laugh there.
For the next half hour the two of them distractedly circled each other. Both migrated steadily toward the far north end of the packed dance floor. As if they had verbally communicated, had told each other exactly where and when they would finally meet, each gravitated toward the same spot.
Without a word being spoken, the two of them shared an exciting secret. They were, both knew, now on a steady course toward that long-awaited clandestine meeting. Players in an exciting drama, they were the principals, obeying a strange, bewitching mating call. They were partners in a seductive, well-orchestrated, perfectly choreographed dance of desire.
It was a marvelous, magical game that only they knew they were playing. Each was adept at his and her part. When Anna stopped to talk with guests, she never failed to look at Brit and let him know she was aware he was following her and that she wanted him to continue to follow her.
If Brit, moving through the multitude, was temporarily lost from Anna’s view, he made it a point to step out into the open and nod to her. The game proved to be great fun. So much fun they were reluctant to end it. They purposely made the thrilling exercise last, stretched it out, played hide-and-seek with each other. And with every moment that ticked away, their shared excitement grew, their mutual anticipation heightened.
Finally they could stand the sweet agony no longer.
At last they met.
Face-to-face, they stood in the shadows just beyond the lighted dance floor. As naturally as if it had all been preordained, Brit gently took Anna’s hand in his, clasped it close to his chest and commandingly led her a few yards farther into the star-light.
He stopped beneath an old elm tree, turned to her and, gazing into her sparkling eyes, anxiously took her in his arms and kissed her.
It was a long, intrusive kiss of such fiery passion that Anna shuddered against him, melting completely. As if he were afraid to release her lips lest she run away, Brit continued to kiss her hotly, masterfully, molding her mouth to his, teaching her how to kiss, taking her breath away. Her wits scattered, her heart pounding, Anna clung to him and gloried in the prolonged, devastating kisses. Deeply penetrating kisses that thrilled her, overwhelmed her, conquered her.
Brit’s hot lips and probing tongue drew all the strength from Anna until she was weak and totally limp in his arms.
Finally he tore his burning lips from hers, again took her hand and eagerly drew her along with him, moving steadily away from the lights and the music and the crowd.
Hurrying to keep up with his long, determined strides, Anna could only nod when he said, “The house is full of guests, we don’t dare go there.” Again he stopped, bent his head, kissed her, then said, “There’s only one place where we can be alone.”
He held his breath and waited for her answer.
“Take me there,” she said, putting her hand to his tanned cheek and drawing his face back down to hers so that she could kiss him.
And in her kiss was all the need, all the passion, all the love she had saved for a lifetime. Brit’s knees buckled and his heart thundered in his chest. He quickly moved his booted feet apart to brace himself, wrapped his arms around her, tore his lips from hers and pressed hot, desperate kisses to the warm curve of her neck and shoulder, waiting for his strength and his equilibrium to return.
When finally they did, he scooped Anna up off the ground and sprinted down a narrow, winding path toward the only place where they could be alone without danger of being caught. Brit was so eager to get her there, he ran every step of the way, while Anna, her arms looped around his neck, clung trustingly to him.
In minutes they reached a sturdy stone structure totally isolated from all the other ranch outbuildings. With Anna held high against his chest, Brit ducked inside the stable where he housed his prized stallion, Captain.
The stallion whinnied happily at the sight of his master, anticipating a soothing rubdown or a few cubes of sugar. Ignoring the big gray, Brit shoved Anna none too gently up against the wall and hungrily kissed her. His tongue aggressively delved deep, touching and stroking all the sensitive places inside her mouth.
And as he kissed her his hands captured and flattened hers against the wall, and he firmly thrust his trousered knee between her legs, boldly pressing his hard muscled thigh flush against her groin through the skirts of her white eyelet dress.
He sighed into her open mouth when she eagerly began to rub herself against his bent knee. On fire, completely carried away, Anna slipped her hands free of Brit’s and lowered them to his slim hips. Her eyes closed, her tongue stroking and mating with his, she moved rhythmically against him, seeking the partial balm to this burning passion that his hard, muscular thigh afforded.
For a time they stood there like that, mimicking the erotic movements of full-fledged lovemaking. Her hands on Brit’s hips as they moved together, Anna grew so excited she twisted one of the silver conchos on his trouser leg until it came off in her hand.
She was clutching the silver disk tightly when Brit’s hot lips finally lifted from hers. Her eyes came open as he raised his head and said in a husky baritone, “You’re not going to kill me if I make love to you, are you?”
Breathless, yearning so much she actually hurt, Anna whispered, “I will kill you if you don’t.”
Sixteen
“Ah, sweetheart, you’ll let me hold you and love you all night?” Brit murmured, scattering kisses over her face, her throat, her bare shoulders.
Tingling from head to toe, Anna, sagging weakly back against the wall, whispered, “For as long as you want to love me, Brit.”
Pressing a kiss to the sensitive spot just below her left ear, Brit inhaled deeply of the fragrant red rose tucked into her golden hair and said, “God, baby, I’ve been going crazy watching you tonight, wanting you, waiting for this moment.”
“Me, too,” she said with appealing honesty.
Knowing he had her now, that she wouldn’t bolt and run away, Brit warned himself to slow down, to take it easy, to love her the way a woman liked being loved. To make this encounter as pleasurable for her as he knew it would be for him.
He raised his head, smiled down at her and said, “Will you do something for me, sweetheart?”
“Yes. Anything,” she quickly replied.
“Unbutton my shirt, please,” he urged. “Take it off.”
Anna didn’t hesitate. Her nimble fingers went to the buttons of his snowy white shirt and in seconds it was open down his dark chest. She pushed the shirt apart, looked up at him and said, “May I… I want to kiss your chest.”
Brit shuddered. “Sure, honey,” he answered, then cupped the back of her head as she bent to him and brushed her soft lips to his hot flesh.
It was then, while she was sweetly sprinkling kisses over the broad expanse of his naked chest, that the midnight fireworks display began. A boom reverberated, then a great profusion of light illuminated the inside of the stable. And the couple embracing there.
Her golden hair shimmering in the rocket’s fleeting light, Anna did what she’d wanted to do since she had danced with Brit earlier in the evening. Slowly she slid her lips up his chest across his collarbone to his throat. Her hands gripping his ribs, she raised herself on tiptoe and, whispering, “I’ve wanted to do this all evening,” opened her lips against the firmly beating pulse at the base of his throat.
She pressed the tip of her tongue to the powerful throbbing there and shivered with pleasure at the strange sensation. His heartbeat was pounding into her open mouth. Toying with him, she stroked that throbbing pulse with her tongue and playfully plucked at it with her lips. At last she sighed, released him, raised her head and said, “Is there anything you’d like to do to me?”
“So many things,” he said huskily, and whipped off his shirt in one fluid, masculine movement.
Shirt in hand, he turned and walked away from her. From a shelf he took down one of Captain’s newest, softest horse blankets, one that had never been used. Anna watched as he spread the blanket atop a bed of hay against the far wall. He dropped his shirt, turned about and sat down on the blanket with his bent knees spread. He leaned back against the wall, looked at her meaningfully and extended his hand.
His voice low, caressing, he said, “Come. Sit here beside me, sweetheart.”
Before she could take a step, a great shower of fireworks lit the night sky and sent a burst of light through the darkened stable. For a few seconds it was as bright as day, and the thought struck Anna that if the fireworks display continued, it would be intermittently bright as day when they made love. She shivered at the thrilling prospect.
As Anna crossed to Brit, the gray stallion loudly snorted and blew, clearly demonstrating his disapproval. His big eyes wild, he reared his forelegs high in the air and brought them down with a loud thud.
Sinking to her knees before Brit, Anna said, “I don’t think Captain wants me here.”
Brit smiled, reached out, encircled her narrow waist with his hands and slowly drew her forward to kneel between his raised knees.
“Doesn’t matter. I want you here,” he said. “Don’t worry about Captain. He’s showing off. Ignore him and he’ll settle down.”
She nodded, placed her hands on his steely biceps. “I hope so.”
“Don’t worry about anything, baby. Just relax here in my arms and allow me to love you.”
Brit leaned closer, kissed the warm, shadowy valley between her breasts, where the ruffled white blouse dipped low. Anna exhaled anxiously and threw back her head, arching her throat, giving him better access. Brit’s burning lips slid slowly upward and he kissed the delicate hollow of her throat, painting it with his tongue. Anna’s eyes closed and she gripped his upper arms so tightly her nails cut into his flesh.
; When his mouth began its downward slide, Anna held her breath, wondering where he would stop.
If he would stop.
Brit’s hot face reached the top edge of the wide white ruffle going around her bare shoulders. Anna gasped when he snagged the ruffle’s edge with his teeth and steadily eased it down until finally a pale pink nipple was exposed.
“Brit, Brit,” she said breathlessly as his handsome face hovered a scant two inches from her bared breast.
He said, “You asked if there was anything I wanted to do to you.” He lowered his lips to her breast. “This is what I want to do, sweetheart.”
And before she could respond, his warm, wet mouth closed gently over the nipple. Anna involuntarily gasped with pleasure. She arched her back, breathed through her mouth and watched, transfixed, as Brit’s full, sensual lips plucked and sucked at her breast until she felt a strong infusion of heat radiate outward from where his mouth was. She winced and wiggled when she felt his sleek tongue tease and toy with the now diamond-hard nipple, and secretly she hoped that he wouldn’t take his marvelous mouth from her aching breast.
Brit was an experienced, perceptive lover. He could tell that Anna was, like most women, thoroughly enjoying this particular part of lovemaking. He had learned long ago that a woman’s breasts were incredibly sensitive, that females wanted, needed, had to experience this ingredient of lovemaking to be absolutely satisfied.
So, with his lips never leaving her flesh, Brit gently drew her down, carefully turned her about and laid her across his lap, cushioning her head against his supporting arm. She sighed softly, snuggled close, closed her eyes and lay there in his arms while he continued to suckle, lick and playfully bite her stiffened, stinging nipple.
Anna was so completely carried away with this new kind of pleasure she was hardly aware that as he kissed and caressed her swelling breasts, he was skillfully sliding the full skirts of her dress up until finally they were gathered and bunched around her thighs.
Anna whimpered in protest when Brit’s magical mouth left her breasts. Her eyes opened and she looked up at him questioningly.
