by Merry Farmer
Julia shifted her stance, but kept her arms crossed. “Your friend Mr. Montrose said he was going home to his wife, didn’t he? And I heard someone say Sheriff Knighton was married too. Are they old dogs and tame horses?”
Sam stared at her. There was a struggle going on behind his eyes, but Julia didn’t have a clue what it could be about. Why would anyone fight against a peaceful, comfortable life? She’d gone to daring lengths to secure a peaceful life for herself, a stable home, a reliable husband. And she was convinced that Sam was stable and reliable, even though they’d only just met. The whole time they’d been discussing how gruff and untamed he was, he’d been washing the dishes, straightening the furniture, and making sure his home was tidy and comfortable, after all.
“Well, we can save this discussion for another day,” she said, letting her arms drop and heading back to the wardrobe. She reached up to undo the buttons of her blouse. “It’s about time for bed anyhow. If we’re going to be a real married couple, then we should do the things that married couples do.”
“Excuse me?” He sounded incredulous.
Julia finished unbuttoning her blouse and pulled it out of the waist of her skirt before turning to him. “We should go to bed.” She was well aware of the tops of her breasts swelling above her corset.
She was also instantly aware of Sam’s gaze dropping to study her breasts. “Uh.”
“Come now, Sam. You can’t stand there and tell me that a rough and wild saloonkeeper doesn’t go to bed with women who are offering, no matter how averse to settling down he is.” She shrugged out of her blouse, set it aside, then reached to unfasten her skirt where it clasped in the back.
Sam still hadn’t said anything by the time she stepped out of her skirt and petticoat, set them aside, slipped off her boots, and stood in front of him in her chemise, drawers, long socks, and corset.
She went to work on the hooks of her corset before he burst out with, “Are you sure you’re ready to do this so soon?”
She paused halfway through undoing her hooks and glanced up at him. “Aren’t you?”
He continued to stare at her chest, although the look in his eyes was as much uncertainty as appreciation. “I…well…as a man, I’m pretty much ready for anything.”
That’s what he said, but the way he stood, shoulders tense, hands restless at his sides, hips shifting uncomfortably, told a different story.
Julia went on with her corset, undoing the last few hooks and setting that too aside. “I may be young, but you don’t have to worry about me being any sort of fearful, fainting virgin.” She blinked up at him. “I mean, I am a virgin. But I’m not scared. Like my Aunt Lydia always used to say, if you’re not afraid to have a man between your legs then the whole experience won’t give you anything to be afraid of.”
She reached for the bottom of her chemise, then paused. “Of course, Aunt Lydia wasn’t afraid of much of anything. She probably should have been afraid of picking mulberries at the top of that huge tree, though. She landed on the basket of berries we’d gathered, and it was hard to tell what was berry juice and what was blood.”
Sam made a strangled, snorting sound. Julia spared a moment of prayer for her aunt’s soul, then pulled her chemise up over her head. The second noise Sam made carried an entirely different sort of emotion. Julia set her chemise aside, took off her drawers and socks, then turned to face him, completely unsurprised that he was staring at parts of her. Only after she was naked did she realize it might be awkward to stand like that in front of a man she barely knew, even if he was her husband.
“Oh! This feels stranger than I thought it would,” she gasped, moving her arms as though she might cover herself. That didn’t seem right either, though. She twisted to look around, then darted toward the bed. Only once she was between the sheets, the covers pulled up to her chin, did she say, “Are you going to join me?”
Sam hadn’t moved a muscle from the moment she started taking off her clothes. He stared at her now, disbelief in his eyes. Then he blinked. “And you’re certain you’re ready for this,” he said.
“Mmm hmm.” Julia nodded and smiled. She scooted to the far side of the bed and lifted the covers to prove that she was.
Sam moved slowly into action, shaking his head and muttering something she couldn’t make out. He walked to the side of the bed and sat to remove his boots, setting them neatly at the end of the bed. He reached for her boots too, while he was at it, and lined them up neatly next to his. That made Julia smile. So did the sight of him unbuttoning his vest and shirt to reveal a strong chest and flat stomach. She wiggled restlessly against the cool sheets as he stood to fold his shirt and vest and deposit them in the wardrobe, then to remove his trousers. It wasn’t the first time she’d felt overheated at the sight of a man’s body, but she’d never seen one up close, and never in its entirety. The sensations that bubbled up just looking at him, as forbidden parts of him were revealed, were hot, aching, and delicious.
She just wished she’d gotten more of a look before he slipped into bed beside her. He cleared his throat and tentatively reached for her. She couldn’t suppress a giggle as she moved eagerly into his arms.
“Ooh! I say!” She gasped as her body pressed against his from their legs to their chests and several interesting areas in between. “This is exciting.”
He made a noise that didn’t quite translate into words, then tried again with, “Are you sure this is what you want to do? Really sure?”
“Yes,” she said, then shrugged, causing even more delightful friction between them. “Why not?”
“Because we just met this afternoon? Because I could be anyone, including some dastardly villain out to hurt you?”
She scooted her head back enough to send him a questioning look. “Are you some dastardly villain out to hurt me?”
“Absolutely not,” he said. He shifted a little, bringing them into even closer contact. Julia’s breath caught, and her heart—and lower parts—fluttered. “I’ll do everything I can not to hurt you.”
“See?” She smiled, feeling like a whirlwind was building in her gut. “So show me what I’m supposed to do.”
Sam tensed for a brief moment. “Was that an order?”
She giggled. “I suppose so. But I mean it. Show me what I’m supposed to do. I know I’m supposed to be on my back, but we’re on our sides right now. That can’t be right, can it?”
“Well,” Sam began, lifting himself enough so that she could scoot to her back while he balanced himself on his arms above her, “there’s more than one way to do it, and not all of them have you on your back. But we should probably start simple before working our way up to fancy.”
Julia gasped, her eyes blinking wide. “You mean, there are fancy ways to do it?”
Sam just stared down at her, like he wasn’t sure whether she was a woman or a mountain lion. “Woman, you’re going to be the death of me, aren’t you?”
“I certainly hope not,” she answered with all due seriousness. “But my family does have a terrible history with that sort of—”
He silenced her warning with a kiss. It wasn’t just any kiss either, not like the one they’d shared at the church during their vows. This one was far deeper. This kiss demanded that she open her mouth to him so that he could slide his tongue along hers. It sparked fiery, aching sensations all through her—sensations that flared hotter the more she focused on all of the places that their bodies touched. Deep, delicious urges filled her, pushing her to do…something. She wasn’t entirely certain what. All she knew was that if she didn’t move her legs apart so that the secret, central part of her was bared to him, she might crawl out of her skin.
Her wriggling movements caused him to fit more tightly against her in a way that had the both of them making surprised, delighted sounds.
“Yeah, you really are going to do me in,” Sam growled.
He kissed her lips, her jaw, and her neck. Each new location brought with it an exciting new sensation. His lips were
warm and soft in contrast to the rough stubble of his chin and cheek as he worked his way even farther down to her shoulder. She delighted in both sensations, squirming even more against him.
He made it to her chest, just inches away from kissing her breast before he stopped and lifted his head to stare sharply down at her. “Sweetheart, if you don’t quit wriggling down there, this is all going to be over much sooner than either of us want it to be.”
“Oh. Sorry,” she gasped. “It’s just that it feels so nice, especially down there when I do this.” She rubbed against him in a way that brushed the hot, hard part of him that stretched between them against a certain tender spot between her legs. Just that demonstration made her want to writhe against him like that more and more as the liquid heat inside of her intensified.
“Good Lord, woman,” he growled, and before she could ask what he meant, his hand slid between the two of them.
She gasped in earnest when he raked his fingers against the exact spot that she wanted so desperately to be teased. And while she wasn’t too proud to admit she’d touched herself there before, it was a thousand times nicer to have him stroke her. She let out an appreciative sound and inched her legs farther apart as his fingers circled her. His breath came in ragged rushes above her, which only helped her to give in further to the joy of the moment. She liked the way his weight felt above her, she liked the sounds he was making, and she loved the swirling, straining pleasure that coiled tighter and tighter inside of her as he stroked her.
All at once, that coil snapped, and hot waves of pleasure rushed through her. She let out a deep moan, then gasped as he shifted his hand to slip two fingers inside of her. Her eyes snapped wide at the sensation of squeezing him. She barely had time to register that newly unfolding wonder before he slanted his mouth over hers again in a kiss that prolonged the deliciousness racing through her body.
He groaned through his kiss, then pulled away just enough to shift their positions. “So much for me being patient in order for you to enjoy yourself,” he muttered, lifting one of her legs up over his hip. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were a wanton little minx.”
She opened her mouth to reply to that, but before she could, he pushed inside of her, hard and hot. She gasped at the sensation, hardly able to believe the way he filled her. He stretched her from the inside, so perfect and so intimate that she barely noticed the split-second of resistance on her body’s part. He shifted again, holding her with her hips tilted toward him and raised up enough for him to rock into her with several swift thrusts. Her body responded with magnificent pleasure, from where they were joined all the way out to her fingers and toes. He may have been uncertain about whether this was what she really wanted when they’d started, but he moved inside of her now with absolute purpose and abandon.
In no time, she was rolling with another fit of pleasure as he plundered her. She threw her arms around him and dug her fingers into the muscles of his back as he moved with a relentless rhythm. It was all so good that she found herself sighing loudly with each thrust, so filled with emotion that it almost sounded like she was crying. But tears were the furthest thing from her mind. Joy encompassed her.
That joy didn’t leave her when Sam reached his climax with a strangled cry, then slowed his thrusts. He came to a gradual stop, then collapsed beside her with a long exhale. “Didn’t expect that,” he panted, then chuckled.
“Me neither,” Julia admitted, laughing.
She curled against his side, unable to wipe the smile from her face. She’d known this would be a good idea. Her heart felt even more satisfied than her body. Sam had showed every sign of being a good, trustworthy man from the moment she’d stepped off the train, and now she was sure of it. Now she could begin to do her part to make his life as perfect as he had made hers.
Chapter 4
Julia woke the next morning, full of sunshine and ready to embrace every aspect of her new life.
“I’ll go to the dry goods store first,” she announced to Sam as she served him a simple breakfast of eggs and bacon. “Your cupboard is shockingly bare.”
Sam glanced up from shoveling eggs into his mouth as though he hadn’t eaten in a month. Then again, he had expended quite a bit of energy the night before. “I have plenty of food,” he defended himself.
“Of course you do,” Julia agreed with a smile. She returned from setting the frying pan on the counter and gave Sam’s cheek a kiss before sitting at the table across from him. “If twenty cans of beans, a sack of flour, and a tub of lard count as plenty.”
Sam’s back stiffened. “It’s what I’m used to eating.”
Julia grinned, half triumphant, half mischievous. “Well, now you have a wife who knows how to cook. Isn’t that what all men want?”
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and bit off half of a piece of bacon.
“You’ll see,” Julia went on. “I’ll have you comfortable and content and glad that you sent away for me in no time.”
“Will you?” he mumbled.
Julia shook her head at him and dug into her own breakfast. Honestly, she didn’t understand why the man was fighting his new status so doggedly. She had every confidence that he would embrace married life with open arms as soon as she made the changes she had in mind. He’d certainly enjoyed the marriage bed the night before, and as far as she was concerned, that was the perfect gateway to contentment with everything else domestic.
She spent the rest of their breakfast making a mental list of everything she would need at the dry goods store. When she finished her eggs, she stood, took her plate over to the counter, and set it beside the dirty frying pan.
“Well, I’ll just be off, then,” she said with a smile, crossing to fetch her shawl from the wardrobe. “If you could just point me in the direction of the dry good store and let me know what your credit there is like I’ll—”
“Aren’t you going to clean up?” Sam interrupted, standing with his empty plate and coffee cup in hand.
Julia blinked, glancing to the counter. “Oh. I suppose I should take care of that before I go.”
She walked back to the counter, tying her shawl around her waist. Sam headed for the counter at the same time. He set his plate down at the same time as she picked the frying pan up, bumping into her. Both of them lost their grips on the dishes, sending them crashing to the floor. Sam’s plate cracked in half.
“Oh, dear,” Julia sighed. “I suppose I’ll have to buy new plates too. Let me just clean this up.”
She bent to scoop up the mess, but Sam stopped her. “Never mind. Why don’t I just clean up.”
She straightened with a smile. “Really? That’s so kind of you.”
Sam arched a brow. “I’m considering it a safeguard to my property.”
Julia laughed at his joke. She lifted onto her tip-toes to kiss his cheek one more time, then turned to leave. “I’ll see if the dry goods store has tin plates.”
“Good idea,” he drawled. His wary look hung on for a moment before transforming into a smile. “Kline’s Mercantile is just across the street and down a few doors. Why don’t you get yourself something pretty while you’re there.”
Julia’s heart fluttered at the sweet suggestion. “Thank you. I don’t think anyone’s been so nice to me in all my days.”
She left Sam with a smile and a faint blush on his cheeks as she headed out through the hall and the main part of the saloon. In the morning, with the shutters closed and no patrons loitering at the bar, the saloon felt cavernous and empty. Julia glanced up at the high ceiling and around at the bare walls, brimming with ideas of how she could make the place more welcoming. Curtains would be a good start. Samplers on the walls, maybe.
She grinned as she reached the door. Sam would thank his lucky stars that she’d come along once she was done with the place.
Kline’s Mercantile was as easy to find as Sam implied it would be. Julia hopped down from the boardwalk that ran in front of the shops on one side of Haskell’
s main street, dodged a wagon on its way into town, and stepped up onto the boardwalk on the other side of the street. The town was bustling, as far as she was concerned. At least for a frontier town. She hadn’t known what to expect from the West, but so far it was worlds away from the rough-and-tumble world of the dime novels she’d read.
The dry goods store was another surprise. It was every bit as organized as the stores she’d frequented back East. Goods of all descriptions lined the walls and shelves. She hadn’t brought a shopping basket with her, but there were several to borrow sitting near the door. In no time, she had it loaded with everything Sam’s tiny kitchen lacked, including spices and fresh vegetables. There were so many other items that caught her eye as well. She added lace and ribbons, several yards of a delightful muslin that would make charming new shirts for Sam, delicate fabric for curtains, and even a precious porcelain rabbit that would make the perfect centerpiece for their table, to her basket. As far as she was concerned, the heavier the basket grew—and the more of them she needed to carry all of her purchases—the better a job she was doing of being a good wife.
It was only once she had two baskets filled and waiting by the register counter that she noticed the rack of dime novels.
“Ooh!” She stepped over to peruse them just as a trio of women entered the store.
“I don’t want this to take all day,” the tallest of the women—a blonde with her hair piled under a hat of the latest fashion and a dress that was stylish last year—said to the other two.
“It won’t take all day if Bebe can avoid being an embarrassment for more than two seconds,” one of the others said with a sniff, turning up her nose at the third.
Julia’s brow shot up and an excited smile spread across her face. Bebe. This must be Bebe Bonneville, Hubert’s sweetheart.
