Burke thanked him and Lexie noted that he threw several bills on the table. She’d have to ask him how much, and also write down his day’s expenditures. But for now, she just wanted to get away from her favorite professor.
* * *
Lexie’s uneasiness didn’t let up when Burke unlocked the door to the honeymoon suite. If anything, her anxiety grew. She’d planned to make love with him. He assumed they’d make love. Every soul in the entire hotel and half the town knew Lexie and Burke would be intimate with each other.
The entire sham sapped her will to carry on, but in the back of her mind, a niggling fear told her to grab the opportunity. A professorial career would more than likely preclude marriage and the mysteries of the male member.
Little things Burke did made her heart do a flip. Sometimes merely catching a glimpse of him did the same. She’d been around attractive men before, although never one who could hold a candle to him, and none of them had had this effect on her by half.
She took off her bonnet and gloves as she walked into the room. Burke shut the door, came up behind her, and rested his hands on her waist. Such warm hands, and such nimble fingers.
He nuzzled her neck, then kissed it. Her breath caught.
“Your bustle is in my way.”
She’d spent a pretty penny on the negligee, and it wouldn’t go to waste. “Undo my dress and loosen the laces. I’ll go change.”
“I’d rather do the undressing, and you don’t need to change into anything.”
“I have a surprise.” She pulled away from him and fetched her other gift from the bedroom. “Open this and put it on.”
“Anything to please you, but first, let me unlock the greatest gift I could ever have.”
The dress loosed with each button he undid, and when the entire back of her gown was open, he slid his hands around her waist, then up the busque to the bottoms of her breasts, but he stopped there. She remembered touching his chest and his nipples. It stimulated the desire to explore him even more, and she wondered if touching her would have the same effect on him.
He loosened the laces—seemed to take forever. She took a deep breath and her head cleared some but her desire to put her hands on him magnified. She wouldn’t yet, though.
“Finished.”
“Wait until I call, then come in.”
“First, I want you to remember why you’re in there.” He turned her around and kissed her, softly at first, then harder, demanding. A veil of sensuousness enveloped her and she forgot about everything except his lips, his body against hers, his heat. She leaned into him, wanting more, and touched his lips with her tongue. He groaned and a primal desire to make him want her over any other woman drove her to run her hands down his ribs to the front of him, that lower part that bulged in his britches.
Burke broke the kiss and pushed her to arm’s length. “If you don’t want me to rip that beautiful dress off you in about fifteen seconds, you better go in and do whatever you planned.” His voice was more a growl, his eyes dark with passion.
The little victory thrilled her—he seemed to want her just as much as she wanted him. But did he want only her? She wouldn’t think of it now. Or ever. Burke O’Shaughnessy was a wandering gambler, beholden to no one, least of all her. This one night, though, he was hers. This one night.
She rushed into the bedroom, shut the door, and leaned against it while she tried to recapture her breath. Her lips tingled and she felt so alive! With one motion, she whisked off her dress and hung it on the armoire hook, then did the same with her bustle and petticoat. Her corset, she jammed into the bottom of the cabinet. Off came her slippers and stockings.
Then, all she had on was her chemise, the last bastion of her old self. She wouldn’t mull on it, but pulled it off and put on the filmy silk negligee. The emerald necklace matched it, for it was nearly the same sea-green as her dress. Her hair, she decided to leave up. She’d once heard that men enjoyed letting women’s hair down. If Burke didn’t, no matter—she could free it in a minute.
Now or never.
She opened the door. He turned to face her, eyed her up and down, then whistled low.
He’d put on the bottoms of his lounge pajamas only—the waistband came to a couple inches under his navel, the line of hair leading to the part of him that showed he definitely appreciated her. And his chest was naked in all its glory.
“I’m ready.”
“Not as ready as you’re gonna be.” He took the pins out of her hair and when it fell around her shoulders, he traced the locks with his fingers. “I like your hair down.”
Her doubts reared again, but they didn’t have time to shake her into reason because Burke wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her close. He picked her up and carried her to the bed.
“You did your field research—now it’s time for me to do mine.”
His hands glided down the smooth silk, leaving a trail of wanting everywhere he touched—and he touched everywhere, except those pertinent parts that were driving her wild.
“Ah, so smooth.” He kissed her again. She tried to pull him closer but he resisted. “Not so fast, Lexie-girl. We have the whole night.”
And that’s all they’d have so she wanted to milk every bit of it.
“Nervous?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Curious?”
She nodded again, not able to make her voice work.
“I’m curious, too. Curious to know what every inch of you feels like and tastes like, and I aim to find out.”
“Taste? That’s...uh, not in the book.”
“Field research, remember? It’s not in the book.” He ran his hand over her breast lightly, but he might as well have struck a match for all the heat she felt. “Some things are too good to put in a book.” He tweaked her nipple with his thumb, much the same as she had done to him before. She nearly came off the bed, it felt so grand, and a thunderbolt zinged from her breast to her woman parts. She squeezed her legs together.
“Like that?”
She nodded. “But I’m not supposed to, am I.” She not only let him have his way with her, they weren’t even married. None of that mattered.
“Yes, you are. The Big Dealer in the Sky would never have given us such intense pleasure if we weren’t supposed to enjoy it.”
That made more sense than anything she’d ever read. “Proceed, then.” She pulled his head down and kissed him with all the passion she’d stored up for the past week. He explored her breasts until she thought she’d go out of her mind.
“Too many clothes,” he muttered. He rolled off the bed and shucked his pajama bottoms. It was the first good look she’d had of his manhood, and it stood tall.
“Let’s get your nightgown off. He lifted her up and pulled it off, then stood back and eyed her up and down. She started to cover her breasts with her arms but he held them to her sides. “I’ve wanted to see you naked since the moment you shot a hole in my hat.”
He did? “Do I measure up?”
“You break the ruler.” He nudged her back on the bed. “Now for the tasting.”
He kissed her breast and took one nipple in his mouth, laving it with his tongue, then gently suckling. She nearly flew to the stars and back. Just when she could finally breathe again, he did the same to the other one. She ran her fingers through his hair and over his muscular shoulders. But then he trailed kisses lower, flicking her navel with his tongue, and then lower yet.
Resting his hand on her lower belly, he raised up and kissed her on the lips again, slow and easy, but every inch of her body was aware that his magic fingers were edging lower until they reached the folds between her legs.
“Lexie-girl, you need to relax your limbs so I can show you what the books won’t tell you.”
How he expected her to relax when he was driving her wild, she had no idea, but she tried. He delved into her most private spot, at first gently, then pressing harder, and everything he touched burned with need. A ball of pleasure built
inside until just when she thought she’d explode, he stopped.
“You’re wet and hot for me, darlin’. I want to be inside you, but if you want to stop now, you have to say so.”
She ran her hand down his chest and lower, taking hold of him, marveling at how hard it was, but at the end, there was a drop of slick moisture.
Burke sucked in a deep breath. “You better let go or we’ll have to fold before the deal. I’ve been waiting for you too long.” He moved his legs between hers. “Sometimes the woman feels a little pain the first time, but I’ll go as slow as I can.” He rubbed his manhood between her folds and then took his attention back to her breasts.
She knew he was supposed to insert his member into her vagina and he was taking his own sweet time about it. She wanted him in there and she wanted him now.
“Then do it,” she gasped. “Do it now.”
She felt his hardness probing against her.
“Concentrate on relaxing. I’ll go in a little now.” He pressed harder, then eased off and pressed again.
“It’s not going in.”
“Patience, Lexie-girl.” He pushed again, a little harder. It wasn’t comfortable, but not painful, either. With her overwhelming desire for him, she didn’t care a whit. He kept doing that, pushing slightly, pulling back, pushing again. Finally she reached down to his hips and pulled her to him as hard as she could.
With a gasp of pain and a tear in her eye, she held still and so did he.
“Just rest with me in you.”
She felt his fingers down there, gently rubbing that most sensitive part between her womanly folds until the divine pleasure built back to an inferno. Then he eased out and pushed in again.
“That better?”
Nodding, because she couldn’t remember how to talk, her hips began to move in rhythm with his. What she thought was pleasure before couldn’t compare to the storm building within her now.
“Oh, please!” she cried, her voice sounding strange to herself, as if she were another person on this glorious road of carnal joy.
“What would you like?” Sweat beaded on his brow and she could tell he was holding back.
“Um, more.” What she wanted was a mystery but the intensity spiraled.
He thrust all the way to the hilt. She gasped, not quite ready for it, but the second time she was and met him halfway. More and more, harder and harder, and while he drove into her, he cupped her breast and rolled her nipple. The combination built to an explosion and she heard herself half-keen, half wail as the pulsing racked through her body.
And then he came into her hard and stayed, roaring his pleasure.
Lexie lay in his arms, her mind a jumble and her senses still heightened.
Burke petted her hair. “Have you ever thought about getting married?”
“No.” If she had, she’d only set herself up for disappointment, and now that she had a professorship—assistant, at least—she couldn’t pass up an opportunity of a lifetime. “Long ago, I figured out that women like me don’t marry.”
“Why not?”
“Because a man doesn’t want a wife who’s smarter than he is, for one thing. For another, he wants a woman who’ll stay home and tend house and children. I’m of no mind to do that.”
“Remember that house you asked me about?”
She’d asked him about a house?
“Just because I haven’t lived in one doesn’t mean I might not like it.”
“Not for long. When the next big game calls, you’ll be gone. And when the university calls, I’ll be gone.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Papa sent me a wire. I’m the new assistant professor of mathematics at Cedar Crest College. I start August first.”
He hugged her a little tighter. “Where is this college?”
“Pennsylvania.” Did he want her to stay? She wondered if he’d ask.
“I, uh, congratulate you.”
That answered her question, and made her decision simple, if not painful. She’d enjoy what time they had together, but after August first, he’d be a fond memory, and her life would carry on. Brokenhearted, but carrying on.
* * *
Manitou Springs was behind them. At noon, Burke registered Mr. and Mrs. O’Shaughnessy for two rooms in the St. James Hotel. Lexie had wanted to register in her own name, but when the clerk assumed they were married, Lexie let it go. Burke couldn’t explain why, but he was happy to go one more day as man and wife.
He puzzled over her behavior. How could such a passionate and responsive woman be so distant? She hadn’t said two words to him on the train trip to Denver, preferring to read the newspaper instead.
The only answer could be that he’d disappointed her. How, he couldn’t have said. She’d made love not just to his body, but to his mind. In a way, she’d made it seem like his first time, too. Her polite indifference that day cut him to the quick. Maybe she was right—he should find Patrick and let her go to Pennsylvania.
He asked the hotel concierge when the high-stakes game was held.
“Nine o’clock at the Golden Antler Gentlemen’s Club just down the street. Are you playing?”
Burke nodded. “Thought I might join in for a hand or two. I played last year.”
“Might I ask your name?”
“O’Shaughnessy.”
“Burke O’Shaughnessy?”
“Yep.”
“You were the big winner!” He clapped Burke on the shoulder. “I’m sure they’d be delighted to deal you in. The man who organizes the whole thing is my brother-in-law. If you’d like, I’ll send him a message.”
“I’d be obliged.” Now that the man knew he was a high roller, he’d get excellent service—but expect even more extravagant tips. “One more thing. Is my brother playing this year? His name is Patrick O’Shaughnessy.”
“He came through here a week or two ago, but he wasn’t playing. I mistook him for you at first—he said that happened a lot.”
Wasn’t that the truth. Burke had to bruises to prove it.
The concierge went on, “Couldn’t even get him to sit in on a friendly game of faro, which he normally enjoys.”
“So he’s not in town?”
“Nope. Asked me to buy him a ticket to Virginia City.”
“Did he say why?”
“No, sir. He didn’t.”
Burke whipped out some money. “Would you please buy two tickets for Virginia City? We want to leave in the morning.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Another thing. Is Miss Charity Ann Templeton staying here?”
“I don’t remember that name. I’ll ask the clerk to look in the register, and send a note to your room later.”
Burke thanked him and headed up to the room, but midway through unlocking his door, he changed his mind and knocked on Lexie’s door instead.
She opened the door but didn’t let him in, so he kissed her. She melted into his arms as if she’d been waiting to kiss him all day. That wasn’t the case but he’d sure like to think so.
When the kiss ended, he didn’t let go of her, just backed her into the room and shoved the door closed with his elbow.
“I can’t get enough of you, no matter what you think of me.”
“You can’t?”
“No.” He kissed her again, full on the mouth, ready for her then and there. Other matters were more pressing, unfortunately. She rested her forehead on his chest and ran her hands around his middle, driving him to such distraction he had to hold her arms.
“Lexie-girl, Patrick’s not in Denver.”
“Drat!” She frowned. “But we just got here—how do you know that so soon?”
“The concierge told me. My brother went to Virginia City. With luck, he’ll stay there long enough for us to find him.” He crushed her to his chest. “Meantime, we might as well make a night of it.”
“Are you playing in the game you mentioned?”
“I want to. The first deal’s in three hours and I have t
o raise seven grand to buy in—and I have no capper.”
She bit her lower lip and gazed at him. “Three-card monte?”
“Easiest way, long as I don’t step on Jeff Smith’s toes.”
“Who’s Jeff Smith?”
“You might have heard of him called Soapy Smith. He runs—er, he’s an entrepreneur here. He’s also a friend of sorts. I don’t mess in his business and he backs away from mine. We’ve also helped each other out on occasion.”
Her raised eyebrow indicated she didn’t buy it. “So why don’t you ask him for a stake?”
“One thing about Jeff and me—we don’t ever mingle our money. Bad for friendship.”
“About that capper... how about me?”
Her mouth smiled but her eyes questioned. Was she ready? Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“You’re not comfortable with it, I can tell.”
“No, but I want to do it.”
He was confused. She made passionate love to him last night, ignored him all day, kissed him as if she wanted to pull him into bed then and there, and now she volunteered to be his capper? Women. Men were easy, they try to one-up you, you try to one-up them. That’s about it. But women? A man’s always one card short of a straight.
“You don’t have to. I can go it alone—I’ve done it before.”
She lowered her gaze and frowned. “Oh. You don’t want me, then.”
He tightened his hug. “Yes, I do. You have no idea how much.”
“Then I’m going.” She broke away from him to put on her bonnet and gloves, and get her handbag. “I’m ready, but I have an errand first. I’ll meet you in the lobby in half an hour.”
“I’ll go talk with Jeff while you’re doing whatever you’re doing, then.” Burke wanted to find out what areas Smith was working and if he knew of a good place to set up. It was just as well that Lexie didn’t come along, because Burke didn’t want to do a whole lot of explaining.
* * *
When Lexie decided to make memories for her elder years, she didn’t want to include an illegitimate child. In six months, the family would have one such child to deal with. She’d almost chickened out and resisted making love to Burke again. But she wanted him! And while birth control wasn’t certain, it would at least help.
9 Ways to Fall in Love Page 178
