by Stacy Reid
“Men like those wouldn’t stop with a word. They would have drawn on me, thinking I was a tenderfoot.”
He was so sure of his convictions.
“Your mother told me about the girl you rescued from the stagecoach robbery. That took a lot of courage, knowing you were one against six.”
He said nothing to that, and they stayed silent for a while. Beth was painfully aware of the need crawling through her for him, and she would probably have to be the one to seduce him. Her entire body flushed, and she bit her lower lip.
“I saw you this morning, riding the range by yourself.”
“And what of it?” she asked archly.
“It was the first time you were heading out so far on your own.”
“I had my knife and a gun.”
His lips curved into a smile and she glanced away grinning.
“Do you feel safer?”
She turned her head to face him once more. Because of you. The awareness settled over her like a warm blanket. “In some instances,” she whispered.
Knowledge lit in his eyes. He brushed his fingertips along the curve of her throat. “Like now?”
He was so much bigger than her first husband. So much less predictable. He possessed the deadly grace and power of a mountain lion, yet he had never hurt her. “Like now.” Kiss me, Joshua.
At that moment, the certainty that Beth had always felt that she would never marry another man trembled. Yearning struck her in the stomach, thick and undeniable. Just perhaps there could be a life with Joshua, they could be a family, and suddenly she wanted it more than her next breath. But, Joshua Kincaid was apparently a man of violence. No sort of man she would ever have met or taken a walk with back at home in Virginia, and certainly not the sort of man she should be hungering after. Except he made her feel intensely alive and desired. If the world were a different place and if he were a different man, just perhaps she would marry again, and just maybe, she would marry Joshua Kincaid.
“Bethany?”
“Yes, Joshua?”
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” she asked achingly soft, though she knew. There was a hunger brewing inside for his touch, and she did not want to deny its existence or argue it away.
“Like you want to be broken in to ride.”
The words were crude, but his voice was tender, questioning.
“Only by you, Joshua Kincaid.”
She felt as if the layers of her dress were being stripped away until there was nothing left to shield her from his burning gaze. With a wild daring she hadn’t dreamt she possessed, she drew her legs up so that the soles of her feet were flat on the thick grass. Her dress rode up to her shins, and further up to her thighs when she splayed her legs wide to his shocked, aroused, gaze. A hiss slipped from him, and he slapped a hand to his forehead, staring at the night sky.
“I’m not an easy lover, brown eyes. That night in the saloon I took it easy on you.”
The sensations that burned low in her belly had her licking her lips. “If I wanted easy, I would have already been on a train to Boston days ago.”
Beth lay there, her heart and her breath trembling, waiting for his next move. It came without words. He launched to his feet and held out his hand. She gripped it, he tugged her up and started to climb the trail where the forest got denser. They said nothing else, nor did he release her. The tension mounted inside Beth, along with blistering arousal. She could not explain the desire she had for him, nor did she want to. She only wanted to bask in the delight of the moment, and the pleasure she knew he would share. The trail got denser, the pale moon splashing against the sky.
The night was alive with the sounds of the crickets as they made their music and the whispering of the wind between the trees. Beth swore she could hear the thunder of Joshua’s heartbeat. She could certainly feel the tension and the raw power in him. At this moment she could feel nothing restrained about him, nothing tamed. Yet she didn’t feel threatened, just treasured.
She wasn't sure how long they walked, then they burst from the woods into a clearing. Her breath caught at the beauty of the place. A large log and stone cabin with a wraparound porch loomed. Tall pine trees surrounded the cabin, and a gentle breeze rolled down the mountains swaying the grass. He led the way on a beaten path toward the steps leading up the porch. The door was opened, and he went inside first, his gaze scanning the large room. He pulled her inside, and she had the faint impression of somewhere large and rustic before all other thoughts vanished under the hot lash of his mouth claiming hers.
He swung her into his arms, made several steps, then tumbled with her onto a mound of blankets, splitting her legs wide. Joshua came over her with his powerful body, never once releasing her lips. Finally, they broke apart, her lips felt bruised and well kissed.
With frantic fingers she dragged his shirt from his trouser, helping him to push it over his head. The raw, untamed power of his body enthralled her. Muscles shifted and twisted over his chest, and her mouth went dry. His body was a beautiful work of art, and she wanted to worship him. She pressed several kisses against his jaw, desperate to taste his lips once more. Joshua tugged down her gown, the simple style of the dress giving him easy access.
Her nipples throbbed. They were so tightly swollen they ached with the need to be touched. She whimpered, then moaned as he trailed kisses over her neck and down to her breast where he sucked the swollen nub of her nipple until it throbbed.
Sweet heavens. He groaned, releasing her nipple, trailing hot licks and kisses up to her throat, along her jaw, and then to her lips, kissing her with carnal hunger. Impatient hands pushed the bottom part of her dress up to her hips and ripped open her pantalets. The callous tip of his finger stroked up her inner thigh until he reached the aching heart of her sex. Unbearable excitement twisted through her veins. His fingers delved between her swollen folds to caress. He jerked open his belt buckle, unfastened his pants. Joshua wasn’t gentle, but she didn’t need that. The wait had been too long, the ache had been too deep.
He dragged her hips beneath him, grabbed her buttock, nudged his manhood at her already wet entrance, and stabbed deep. Beth whimpered as her flesh tingled and her muscles fought to accommodate his entry.
She pulled her lips from his, dropping her face into the crook of his neck, breathing through the brutal arousal that seized her. He withdrew, thrust deeply and unrestrained and started to ride her. Oh God. A wild cry tore from her at the fierce way in which he claimed her, her body shaking under the jarring impact, her breath hitching at the bite of pain twining with ecstasy, her soul shaking at the wanton who rose inside of her. “Oh God, Joshua, please!”
“Please what? Ride you slower…?” When she made no answer, the muscles of his back flexed beneath her hands, his hips snapped harder, and the pressure increase tenfold. “Rougher?”
A whimper tore from her throat when he repeated the delightful motion.
“Is it rougher you want, brown eyes?”
She could barely breathe, let alone speak. “Oh God, yes.”
His masculine chuckle of appreciation made her blush, but then she forgot everything as he hitched her legs higher to wrap way up his back almost around his shoulders. Then he rode her rough, hard, and for a very long time. Her legs trembled, her hips lifting as he worked her with hard, penetrating strokes, causing her to whimper with the edge of pleasure-pain. Sweat slicked her body as his skin slid against hers, her fingers tangled in his hair, and her breath trembled from her lips to his. Beth forgot to scream, to even think, lost in the bone-jarring pleasure that consumed her. All the months of emptiness fled, all the doubts as to who this man was to her disappeared, and she could only burn with him as he loved her over and over. A wave of breath-taking heat consumed Bethany, and she convulsed in his arms, screaming her pleasure into the crook of his neck.
She held her breath when he pulled from her, her thighs falling wider apart as his broad shoulders wedged between them. He licked he
r. She sobbed. It was all too much, and then it was never enough. Beth grabbed his hair as he stroked her sex over and over with his tongue, dragging wild pleas and demands from her throat. He rose above her, and she gasped when strong hands gripped her and flipped her onto her stomach. The heat of him pressed along her back, and he parted her thighs, and slowly invaded her quivering channel.
Beth fisted the blankets beneath, holding on as her man pulled her to her knees, arched her back, and started to ride her. It was agony and ecstasy all rolled into one, and she didn't want it ever to end. The sound of damp skin meeting damp skin echoed in the cabin. The pressure built inside, and far too soon pleasure rolled over her in hot, devastating waves. She screamed into the blankets when he rode her through the release, peaking her desire once more. Bringing her to another release, his thick manhood thrust through her clenching muscles with mindless fervor until with a hoarse shout he found his release in the warmth of her body.
Chapter 12
Hours later Bethany trembled in Joshua’s arms, her eyes dark with passion, her lips swollen from his kisses. She gasped as he pulled from the tight, wet heat of her body. Dipping his head, he kissed the corners of her mouth, eyes, lips, soft kisses meant to soothe for he had been insatiable in his demands, already taking her twice, and he was not done yet. He wasn’t even close to being satisfied. Joshua had carried her with him for two years, her sweet taste, her innocent passion, the pain of her eyes. The reality of being with her again was nothing like how he’d dreamed. He trailed his fingers down her throat, loving the smooth, silky feel of her skin. Thick, red wavy hair tumbled past her shoulders and around her face in a halo of fire.
“I like you, brown eyes, more than I’ve dreamt possible.”
Her lips curved, and something sweet glowed in her gaze. Then she ran the arch of one foot over his legs, up to his thighs, pressing her heels into the muscles of his ass. “I quite like you too.” Her voice was breathy, low, and sensual. “So, do you think I am broken in for riding now?” she demanded provocatively.
He touched his thumb to her damp, swollen lips, picturing them wrapped around his cock. His gut clenched with sensual need, and he had to repress the urging of his body. He'd already been too demanding, and there would be enough time to explore passion with her. But wasn't that the crux of it, he had no idea of how long he would have her, and his instincts warned him tonight was all they would have. Her eyes did not commit to him and the west.
He settled his hand behind her neck, his touch dominant and possessive, but he was unable to temper the instincts. “Only by me.”
“That I can promise you, it has only ever been you, and will only be you.” Then she smiled, and the heat of it hit his chest like the summer sun.
“Does that mean you’re staying?” he demanded gruffly.
“It means I am more inclined to return after I’ve visited my mother.”
That was more than he expected. Though he wanted to woo and marry her, there was a part of him that didn't believe it would happen. She hardly knew the manner of man she lay beneath, and one day, be it a month or years from now something would happen to peel away the bandage, and she would peek at the merciless heart he possessed.
He untangled their limbs, shifted, and she groaned. Joshua rubbed the muscles of her calf, kneading the knots. He’d had her legs high above his shoulders for a long damn time.
“You’re beautiful.” Her form was so sensually shaped, his teeth ached.
Though she had borne his son, her breasts stood taut and firm, her stomach smooth and flat with rounded hips. There were a few spidery white lines on her belly, which he traced with his tongue. He turned her onto her stomach, and a chill of violence tore through him. Scars marred her beautiful skin. Two on her upper shoulder, one on her mid back, and the other a long stripe across her left hip. The welts bespoke a time of violence. Emotions clogged in his throat. He kissed the one of her hips.
“What caused these?”
She stiffened, then relaxed slightly. “I…” She pushed a tendril of her hair behind her ears. “Benjamin beat me with a crop.”
Joshua turned her over. “The shame I hear in your voice, why is it there?”
She stared at him mutely.
“Do you blame yourself for his vile actions?”
A heavy sigh slipped from her. “At times. I was incredibly stupid in marrying a man I only knew for a few weeks.”
Joshua didn’t miss the implication that she also only knew him for a couple of weeks.
“It is foolish to linger in the past when the future beckons. We must learn from it, not be a slave to it.” His gut tightened at his words, for that was what she did with her insistence to travel to Boston. A lady like her would never have been prepared emotionally and physically for the harshness of the west. The lessons taught to her were that the west was never to be trusted.
She shifted on the blankets. “Why don’t you have a bed?”
The night sky shimmered with thousands of stars, and his skin itched to be riding, then he glanced at her, and everything settled. He frowned, wondering if there would ever be a time she could ride with him across the trails. Would he even want her to?
“There are no beds on the trail. Just grass and leaves and whatever you find to lie on. At times I find it more comfortable to sleep with the hardness underneath me.”
“We are going to need a mattress at least,” she said archly. The hint of permanency pulled a smile to his lips.
She shivered, and he turned and added some more logs to the fire he had started sometime during the night.
“Your back!” She scrambled up, and the warmth of her pressed into him from behind. Her fingers danced over his skin, tracing his scars, all seven of them. “How did you get these?”
“During the war.”
“You were in the army?”
“I was. I thought the cause noble, and I wanted to watch Elijah’s back. You know, I never killed a man in the war.” He frowned, wondering why he’d even made the admission.
She leaned over his shoulder so she could peer into his face. “Truly?”
He kissed her nose, and she grinned. “Each man was fighting for what they believed was right. The men fighting and dying were not the ones who owned slaves. Hell, hardly any had money and property. They were fighting for the well-heeled plantation owners to maintain their wealth, not for themselves. I reckon most of them didn’t have a choice in the matter.”
Joshua liked the admiration he saw in her eyes. It made something in him go warm.
“When I am forced to defend myself, I do so without taking their lives. I don't kill harmless men. I don't kill for money. I kill to make women and children safer. I kill to protect those I love.”
“Do you think you could never kill again?”
She saw an injustice, where he saw justice. “As long as you aren’t in any danger, brown eyes.”
“I would never want you to kill for me.”
“If you are ever threatened I wouldn’t hesitate—”
“To shoot them in the knees?” Her eyes gleamed with amusement.
He smiled. “To shoot them in the knees. Tell me about your family?” In the days when they had driven to the ranch, she had mentioned her mother at times, and there was always a faraway look in her eyes. He’d known Thomas and not once the man had said he had a sister called Bethany. It was like she hadn't existed, and Joshua wondered what her family life had been like. Though at times he loved the quiet of the mountain and the wild call of the land, there was still nothing as peaceful as being with his family.
She was silent for a bit, then she spoke of her home in Virginia, how beautiful the fields had been, the friends she had, and how much her mother and father had loved each other. She spoke of the girls her brother Thomas had courted, and the boys who had courted her. The soft tones of her voice transported him to a different time as she painted the picture of what her life had been like. “I was only sixteen when the war came. My father, William Gallo
way, owned a cotton plantation, over a thousand acres. He’d always been a man of strong principles, and he had struggled with his conscience for he had slaves. Though he freed several, there were still men and women laboring in those fields without the benefit of wages. It was one of the only sources of an argument between my parents. Mamma hated the very idea, and papa argued we’d be poor if not for slaves. There was a riot on our plantation several months later, and a man shot my father. A boy really, for he was about my age, and he was a field slave. I had a rifle in my hand, and he looked so terrified.”
“What did you do?”
“I gave him food, the rifle and told him to run. My father never forgave me. But I knew they would have hung him when he had only been fighting for his liberty. Father packed us up and sent us away, and we never saw him again. Word was sent that he had died, and our home had been burned to the ground. Mother tried to make a life for us in St. Louis, but Thomas was restless and hungry. He made his way to England, but I stayed with Mamma. I got a teaching job at a girl's academy, but I felt so very restive. I thought…somehow when I met Benjamin Hardin I thought that was what I'd been waiting for. I traveled West with him, and it was the worst mistake of my life…and the most rewarding. For if I hadn't come, I wouldn't have met you…and I wouldn't have known I could feel like this…so hot and needy, and so comforted. And we wouldn’t have Grayson.”
Her words ripped his damn heart out of his chest. He dragged her up to his chest and kissed her. “I have a gift for you…well more like two,” he murmured.
She pulled back slightly. “Gifts?” Her gaze swept across the room. “Where?”
“Outside.”
He drew her up, swaddled her in the blankets and lifted her in his arms.
“I can walk you know,” she said tartly.
“I know.” He smiled. “I just like feeling you in my arms.”
He strolled with her to the porch, holding her close. The chill rolled off the mountain and settled across them. She shivered, though wrapped in his warmest quilt. Then she looked across to the edge of the trees, and right there was a horse, a stallion he’d broken in.
