Two in the Saddle

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  She stepped out of his arms, took both of his hands in hers, and began backing toward the door to her suite. “Come into my bedroom,” she said softly, “and we can discuss it.”

  He gazed at her flushed face, her lips red from his kisses and her thick hair falling from its arrangement on top of her hair. He pictured taking that hair all the way down and burying his face in it. And that was just for starters. “Lady, I’d discuss inviting Godzilla for a trial visit if we can talk about it in your bedroom.”

  13

  CLOTHES WERE A damn nuisance, Travis decided as he stood beside Gwen’s four-poster struggling with her outfit while she helped him get rid of his. The only good part of the undressing was when he stopped to kiss whatever part of her body was currently available, but mostly he wanted to remove every stitch as quickly as possible so he could get down to business.

  He used to be the king of the slow seduction, peeling a woman’s clothes off inch by tantalizing inch, teasing her with the long unveiling. It seemed like a stupid game he didn’t have time for now. This was for real.

  While he pulled off his last sock, Gwen turned and threw back the comforter on the bed, filling the room with the delicate scent of lavender. Then she climbed in. He followed, and promptly sank into what felt like a giant marshmallow.

  “What the heck?” Without quite meaning to, he rolled on top of her and nearly lost her in the billowy mattress.

  She laughed as she wrapped her arms around him. “Feather bed. Extra thick, extra soft.”

  “No kidding. Put another one of these things on top of us and we could be shipped anywhere without getting broken.” When he tried to lever himself up on his outstretched arms, his hands sank in past his wrists. “A guy could have trouble getting any traction on this thing,” he warned, waggling his eyebrows at her.

  She smiled up at him. “I’m confident you’ll find a way.”

  “Guess I’ll have to keep myself steady as best I can.” He leaned down and nuzzled her breasts. “Ah. Here’s an outcropping I can latch on to for balance.” He captured a nipple in his mouth and drew it in.

  She sighed and arched upward. “That works.”

  Oh, it sure did. He began to get the hang of maneuvering in the fluffy mattress, and they were definitely in it and not on it. As he felt more cradled and less smothered, he began thinking he could get used to making love this way. As long as he had Gwen, he’d learn to make love standing on his head, if that was the only available option.

  Her bedroom was dappled with sun filtered through the lace curtains over her windows, and he made the most of this daylight chance to love her with his eyes as well as his touch. Her skin was golden and smooth, and he had to pay close attention, deliciously close attention, before he found the small birthmark on her left breast, over her heart. The freckle on the inside of her right thigh took even more effort to locate, but once he found it, he decided to linger and explore the territory thoroughly.

  She writhed beneath him, bringing his need to a frenzied pitch with her eagerness. “Please,” she cried, breathing hard. “Now, Travis.”

  “Hope I can make it back into position,” he said as the mattress billowed with his movements. “Roadblocks,” he said, managing a grin even though his heart was pumping a mile a minute. “Always…road…” His grin faded as he absorbed the sweet invitation of her body beneath his and the glow in her eyes as she shifted, opening her thighs. His body quivered in anticipation when he realized how easily he could slip right into her, how easy it would be to forget birth control and love this woman the way she should be loved.

  Damn, he was crazy about her. The idea of making her pregnant with his child kept swirling through his mind. He was pretty sure he’d accidentally fathered Lizzie, and now he understood how sad that was, when the most complete joy he could imagine would be creating a child on purpose with a woman he loved. The woman he loved. This woman.

  He managed to reach the condom on the bedside table. “I want you like you wouldn’t believe,” he said, panting. “But you’ll have to help. If I try to balance on this mattress while I put this thing on, I’m liable to kill us both.”

  She took the package immediately, tore it open and tossed the wrapping away. Then she did the most arousing thing he’d ever experienced. Holding his gaze through the entire process, she reached down and carefully, expertly sheathed him without once losing eye contact. She did the whole thing by feel. By the time she’d finished, he was a lit fuse.

  “Now,” she murmured, lifting her hips as she continued to look into his eyes.

  “Yes, now.” He pushed home, glorying in her soft cry of pleasure and the way her face seemed lit from within. This was good. So good.

  He marveled at how easy it was to make love when you were holding the right woman. No thought of technique. Only the wonder of sinking deep, followed by the warm friction of retreat, all the while anticipating the fun waiting for him on the next forward thrust. He and Gwen moved with such togetherness that he didn’t know if he matched her beat or she matched his. Or if they’d created this special rhythm together.

  All he knew was that he’d found something rare, something he would never find again with any other woman. She urged him on, faster, faster, faster. He watched her eyes widen and her breathing grow ragged. Her gaze burned into his as she dug her fingers into his hips.

  “Kiss me now,” she said, gasping. “So I don’t wake the baby.”

  His heart bursting with love for her, he leaned down and took her cries of release into his mouth, and then he let her absorb his. His body rocked with the force of his climax, jolted as if he’d been hit by lightning, and he kissed her so hard he felt the imprint of her teeth against his mouth.

  When their cries softened to whimpers, he lifted his mouth from hers and kissed her gently. Then he sank against her soft breasts while his body continued to celebrate with little rocket bursts of sensation.

  She stroked his hair and took a shaky breath. “End of discussion,” she murmured.

  “Discussion?” He could barely move, let alone think.

  “Can you live without this?”

  The answer came before he could censor it. “No.”

  “Neither can I.” She took another shaky breath. “So you have to bring your mother here. We have to try it.”

  He supposed they did. The joy he’d experienced here in this bed with Gwen was a miracle. He closed his eyes and prayed there were more where that came from. “Okay. We’ll try it.”

  SEVERAL DAYS LATER Gwen’s stomach churned with nervousness as she gazed across the kitchen table at Matty. “Good Lord, what have I done?”

  “The right thing,” Matty assured her, reaching over to squeeze her hand. She’d packed up Elizabeth and driven into town to spend the afternoon with Gwen while she waited for Travis and his mother to arrive. Mother and son had left Utah the day before and had spent the night in Durango. They were due any minute.

  Gwen desperately needed the moral support Matty was providing, even though the plan had been entirely her idea. But she’d discovered that once Travis had committed to it, he was hell-bent to see it through. He said they had to find out if it was a workable plan, or if, as he predicted, it was the worst idea of the new millennium.

  He’d reminded her that Matty and Sebastian would begin running cattle soon and he’d be needed for that, so if they were going to entertain his mother, it had to be right away. The minute Matty and Sebastian had returned from their honeymoon, Travis had driven to Utah to invite his mother to spend a week at Hawthorne House. Gwen didn’t know what he’d said to convince her, but she’d agreed.

  And Gwen had the horrible feeling she’d bitten off more than she could chew. “Maybe I should have held off for a few months, until fall.”

  Matty put down her coffee cup. “Why? Strike while the iron is hot, I say.”

  “Ga-ga!” shouted Elizabeth from her position on Matty’s lap.

  Matty smiled down at the baby. “See? Even Elizabeth agrees
with me.” She glanced back across the table at Gwen. “You have to try to make this work with Travis, and there’s no time like the present to get started.” She grinned. “Speaking from experience, the honeymoon alone is worth all the aggravation these guys put us through.”

  “I’m happy you had a great time.” Gwen was also glad she and Travis hadn’t called them when the baby got sick, for many reasons. Sure as the world, Matty and Sebastian would have cut short their honeymoon, and Travis and Gwen would never have discovered each other.

  “Great doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Matty said. “Except for the one day we checked out private detectives, we did nothing but play.”

  “You both needed that. You work so hard.” She took a drink of her coffee and decided she should make a new pot, so it would be fresh when Luann Evans arrived. She stood. “Excuse me. I’m going to make coffee.”

  “This is only ten minutes old, Gwen.”

  “I’m making fresh coffee.” She ignored Matty’s sigh and walked over to the counter. “You know I have mixed emotions about putting a detective on Jessica’s trail.” She ground the beans swiftly and poured them into the coffee filter. “In a way, considering she might have conceived Elizabeth with Travis, I’d rather not drag her back here and have to deal with her. I know that’s selfish, but—”

  “If it is, then I’m guilty of the same thing. Don’t forget it might have been Sebastian she slept with.”

  “Do you really think so?” Gwen couldn’t imagine Sebastian in that role at all.

  “I think it’s possible. I found out he gets pretty wild and crazy when he’s had a few drinks. I’d never seen that side of him, but in Denver the hotel gave us a bottle of champagne, which we polished off, and Sebastian really…well, um…”

  Gwen turned to stare at her friend. “Matty! You’re blushing!” She loved it. If she’d ever been worried that Sebastian was too tame for Matty, she could forget that concern right now. She added the water to the pot and started it perking before she returned to the table and sat down. “Are you going to tell me about it?”

  “Nope.” Matty fanned her red face with her hand. “Let’s just say that I think it’s entirely possible that this baby belongs to Sebastian.”

  “My goodness.” Gwen couldn’t stop grinning. “Still waters run deep, I guess. Okay, so we don’t know whose kid she is, at this point.”

  “No, and that’s just it. I think we have to get it settled. We can’t have those two guys wrangling over this baby forever. It might work as a TV sitcom, but in real life, it sucks.” Matty took another sip of her coffee. “Which reminds me, how are you planning to explain Elizabeth to Travis’s mother?”

  That problem sobered Gwen up real quick. “I’ve thought about that.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Travis and I considered having him tell her about the baby on the way over, but then we were afraid that would put her in a bad mood before she ever got here. I mean, how can she be happy about Elizabeth? Either the baby’s proof that her son got drunk and acted irresponsibly, or Elizabeth’s not even her granddaughter. But that’s the only way to present it to her. We’re not going to lie, because if Elizabeth is Travis’s baby, then Luann will be a part of her life.”

  “True.” Matty gave Elizabeth a spoon to play with and the little girl banged it on Matty’s arm. “I sure hope Luann is flexible.”

  “Travis gave me the impression she’s very inflexible.” Gwen’s stomach began to knot. She watched Elizabeth sucking on the spoon and pushed back her chair. “I think I’ll polish the silver.”

  “Gwen, sit down. The silver doesn’t need polishing.”

  “Maybe not. But you know what? I think I forgot to dust the windowsills.” She started to get up again.

  “For heaven’s sake, sit down. Do you want your future mother-in-law to find you with a feather duster in your hand? That sets a terrible precedent, if you ask me. Might as well put on an apron and a little cap to go with it, because you’ll be cast in the role of maid for the rest of your association with her.”

  Gwen sighed and leaned her head in her hands. “Maybe she’s not as bad as Travis makes her out to be.”

  “I’m sure she’s not.”

  Gwen lifted her head to look at Matty. “But after the way he’s talked, I can’t help picturing some six-foot-tall, overbearing, demanding, obnoxious bully of a woman.”

  “She’s six feet tall?”

  “Well, Travis never exactly said, but—”

  “Anybody home?” called a deep male voice.

  Gwen’s heart lurched into a faster rhythm and her mouth went dry. She clutched her coffee cup in both hands and stared at Matty. “Oh, God. They’re here.”

  “Hang tough,” Matty murmured. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to her son, and don’t you forget it.”

  An unfamiliar female voice floated in from the porch. “These wild colors on the outside make it look like a cathouse, son.”

  Gwen glanced at Matty.

  Matty raised her eyebrows and squared her shoulders. “It does not,” she said under her breath to Gwen.

  “I like it, Mom,” Travis said, his voice getting closer. “It’s cheerful. Hey, Gwen, where are you?”

  He’d risen to her defense. Gwen loved him more at that moment than she ever had before. “Coming!” she called. She gave Matty a shaky smile and stood, smoothing her hair and straightening the skirt of her dress. “Do I look like a Madam?” she asked Matty.

  “Of course not!”

  “Then here goes nothing.” Heart pounding, she walked into the hall.

  She nearly collided with Travis.

  “Hey, there.” He caught her by the shoulders and gave her one quick glance of approval. “Nice.” But he didn’t kiss her, Gwen noticed. He turned. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Gwen Hawthorne. Gwen, this is my mother, Luann Evans.”

  The hallway was cool, but Gwen felt sweat trickle down her back. She widened her mouth in what she hoped was a smile and not a grimace as she braced herself for the Amazon woman she expected to be filling the hallway with her bulk.

  But Luann Evans was tiny. The front door stood open, blocked by a large suitcase, and the light coming from it cast her in shadow, but she couldn’t be more than five feet tall, and probably wore a size two dress. Her suitcase was bigger than she was.

  Gwen controlled the desire to laugh. Travis jumped through hoops for this little bitty thing? She stepped forward and her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the hall.

  Luann wore her gray hair cropped short and obviously didn’t believe in hair dye or makeup to disguise her fifty-something years. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt, and her eyes were the same tawny gold as Travis’s.

  Gwen decided this would be a piece of cake. She stretched out her hand. “Mrs. Evans, it’s a pleasure.”

  Luann grasped her hand, and her grip was extremely firm. Amazingly firm and strong, for such a small woman. “Call me Luann.”

  “All right.” Gwen smiled. Yes, this would be just fine. Travis had exaggerated the problem.

  Luann released Gwen’s hand. “And we might as well get this out in the open right now. Are you sleeping with my son?”

  Gwen’s mouth dropped open. She glanced at Travis, who had suddenly bolted toward the door, abandoning her.

  “Let me get this suitcase upstairs for you, Mom,” he said. “Would you like to freshen up? Your bathroom’s upstairs, right next to your bedroom, and I’m sure you’ll love it. The wallpaper’s curling a bit, but that will be fixed soon. Gwen has those cute little soaps you like, the ones with the pictures that stay in the soap clear through.”

  “Never mind about my bedroom and little soaps and wallpaper, son.” Luann didn’t take her gaze from Gwen’s. “I’m more concerned with your sleeping arrangements at the moment.”

  Gwen felt heat climbing into her cheeks. She waited to see if Travis would step forward and say something, but he lingered by the suitcase, as if ready to take his cue from her.
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  Apparently he hadn’t made his relationship with her crystal clear to his mother. But she could hardly blame him. The idea was to win Luann over, not throw their sexuality in her face. Still, she’d vowed to be honest with this woman from the first, so now was not the time to tell a lie, even a socially acceptable, little white one.

  She cleared her throat and gathered her courage. “Yes, Luann, I am sleeping with your son.”

  Luann nodded.

  Gwen let out her breath in grateful relief. The woman had accepted the situation gracefully. One hurdle crossed.

  “I’d like you to stop doing that,” Luann said.

  “What?” This time Gwen heard Travis echo her question.

  He came forward. “Listen, Mom, I don’t think that’s any of your—”

  “I’m a guest in your home, Gwen,” Luann said, still looking directly at her. “This is an old house. I don’t want to have to put up with any thumping and bumping in the night. It’s unseemly for a mother to hear those kinds of goings-on.”

  Score one for Luann, Gwen thought. She was a guest, and no telling how much sound carried from downstairs. Now that Gwen thought about it, she remembered being privy to a few thumps and bumps coming from upstairs over the years of running the bed and breakfast. Couples came for a getaway, after all.

  Of course she and Travis would have been very careful. In fact, they might have been so intimidated they might have stayed celibate the entire week, although Gwen wasn’t sure they could have stood that. But what could she do, assure Luann that she and Travis would be quiet when they made love?

  “Uh, you have a point, Luann,” Gwen said. “I’m sure Travis will be happy to sleep upstairs in the bedroom next to yours during the week of your visit.”

  Travis definitely didn’t look happy. His scowl could have curdled milk. Gwen glanced at him with a small smile. She was inventive. They’d loan his mother one of their trucks and suggest she explore the town. Or Gwen would bribe Matty to invite Luann to the ranch for lunch. They’d get her out of the house one way or another, at least for a couple of hours.