by Jenny Penn
That vow became a burden. He honestly didn’t know how much longer he could hold true to it. Not when, evening after evening, Mary Anne made him wish and long for things that just wouldn’t be practical at that time.
Mike had a plan for his life, and it did not include seducing his friend’s sister. It did include beating the crap out of Richard for putting him through this hell. And it was hell. Sweet, rosy smelling hell.
Actually, Mike would have rather battled Satan in his demonic lair than have to pass another night with Mary Anne. He worked hard everyday, more than necessary, to make sure he passed out before doing anything too stupid at night.
It worked and it didn’t. He slept all right. Deeper and more solidly then he’d ever had, thanks to her tea. It didn’t matter to him if it left him passed out on the bench more than once and waking up in pain. What bothered him were the dreams.
Even in the haunting abyss of oblivion, he couldn’t escape the need that burned through every second of every day. The lusts he denied with eyes open came to torment them when his lids fell. So vividly erotic, Mike could swear his ears actually rang with her screams and the wall actually shook with the pounding of the bed frame as he rode her hard toward completion. He could smell the sex all around him, feel it thickening in the air as their sweaty bodies slapped into each other in an ever increasing tempo that matched her moaning pleas and her panting breaths as she grunted and fucked him back even harder.
Mike blinked and swallowed hard. He had to stop thinking about those damn dreams. During the horrors of his daylight imagination, he feared that he might wake up in the throes of one of those dreams and take from Mary Anne what no man had a right to take from any woman.
It had become hard enough for him to even look at Mary Anne and not want to rip the clothes from her body to see if she was just as beautiful as he imagined, to test just how wet and snug that little body actually felt around his dick.
God help him, when she bent over to pick something up or clean something, he had to look away for fear he’d bust the buttons on his jeans. That ass had to be a test from Heaven because it tormented him with its beauty and the assured knowledge that he could never, ever have it.
Richard would kill him. He’d kill him twice over once he realized it wouldn’t just be Mike warming Mary Anne’s bed. Even if Mary Anne didn’t run off screaming to her brother, he’d find out eventually. Then Richard, right along with the rest of his brood, would come, gun in hand, to end the Tanner family line.
That might happen anyway if the sick feeling in his stomach meant anything. During the long years of war, Mike learned to trust that feeling. Even in the face of having no facts, his gut never lied to him. That’s the point he found himself at now with an itch that just wouldn’t take a rest.
It had a lot to do with the recent glow Mary Anne had taken on. The look that had been growing in her eyes had very little to do with innocence. In fact, if she’d been a man, Mike wouldn’t have thought twice in concluding that the lucky fellow got laid well and repeatedly. For that to be true meant she either had to be molesting him in his sleep, which Mike didn’t buy, or Malcolm had been up to no good, which Mike could easily believe. Of course then Mary Anne would be just as guilty.
For the past five days, she remained true to her claim that the fever still held Malcolm in a delirious state. His brother didn’t look sick to him. A little sweaty, sure, but Mary Anne kept the fires stoked swell enough to make the devil himself sweat.
Something was going on, and the sick feeling in his stomach told him he knew just what. If Malcolm seduced Mary Anne into his bed, Mike would kick his ass all around the house before having to figure out what to do with the two of them.
What to do with the two of them? The answer wasn’t to join them because Mike would not let Malcolm bend his honor. Mary Anne deserved a husband who could cater to her kind and sensitive nature. One who could give her a house with servants to go on their hands and knees scrubbing the floor every day. She deserved to be treated like the lady she was, and if his brother treated her any other way, Mike would kill him.
“Mr. Tanner?”
The door behind him opened and Mary Anne peaked out. Even though she didn’t step out, he could see she donned her winter cloak, and it made him smile. So small and delicate, she had to have the biggest heart he’d ever seen.
“I know you said you didn’t have time for breakfast, but I put some coffee into a canteen and made a sandwich out of last night’s bread with some of the eggs and bacon. A good breakfast is the best defense against winter illnesses.”
She said it like she knew what she was talking about, but Mike knew she didn’t have a clue. It was part of her charm, the way she prattled out little pieces of wisdom he knew she just made up on the spot to prove her point.
Mike didn’t argue with her, though. He already learned to just smile and accepted whatever it was she wanted him to. Right then it was the canteen and sandwich wrapped up in a cloth rag. True to her nature, Mary Anne didn’t even step a foot out of the house but stretched all the way forward, bending at the waist.
“Thanks.”
“You’ll be home early today?” she asked, and he felt that prickle again, as if there was something more to her obviously innocent question. “I could have a warm lunch ready. You probably shouldn’t be working in the snow.”
“I got to work until the work is done,” Mike returned with a smile, but in his head he made the decision to come in for that lunch. In his attempt to escape Mary Anne, he avoided the cabin during the day. Now he wondered if maybe he needed to leave the barn door open for Malcolm.
“All right then,” she didn’t argue or question that non-answer. “All the cold is getting in so, I gotta shut the door.”
That’s just what she did. Mike stood for a second longer and came to a decision. He would be coming home early, and if his gut turned out right, heaven help Mary Anne and Malcolm because he didn’t honestly know what he’d do.
* * * *
Mary Anne bit her lip as she watched Mike finally strut down the three porch steps and saunter off toward the barn. The breath she’d been holding came out in a rush. Hiding the truth from Mike had become harder and harder. She didn’t do well under the tension of mischief, though Malcolm appeared to truly enjoy the moment.
For Mary Anne, the acid-like sensations ate at her stomach. The alternative of telling Mike didn’t make her stomach settle in the slightest. Malcolm’s little comments about sharing her, about how Mike liked his women and his sex, began to build up like logs on a fire. A fire Mike started just by being himself.
Much more than a good man, he was an honest one, a hard working one, the kind of man that got grumpy, but apologized when he did wrong. The nights spent reading and talking to him by the fire filled her with the same pleasure as being snuggled up next to Malcolm.
Standing there staring after Mike, Mary Anne knew she’d gone and lost her heart to two men. The only thing left was to give them both her body. She swallowed as sweat prickled down her spine at the thought, but she accepted that things had to be the way they were meant to be. That also meant she had to accept that she couldn’t go on sleeping with Malcolm behind Mike’s back.
Now she just had to convince Malcolm of that fact. Mary Anne sighed and turned back to the plates of bacon and eggs. Absentmindedly, she began to build Malcolm’s breakfast plate. She needed to make him understand that things had to come to a temporary stop and convince him not to go running his mouth off to Mike.
Then all she’d have left to accomplish was moving a mountain with her bare hands. She had no real hope of winning the argument, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying. She just needed to figure out a good reason Malcolm would have for sleeping alone in his bed.
Lost in her thoughts, it took her a moment to realize Malcolm was awake as she scurried into his room. Giving him her biggest smile, she greeted him with his morning kiss before presenting him with his breakfast. Unnerved at the coming confr
ontation, Mary Anne kept up a fast pace for her normal morning dialog.
Nervously rushing about, she straightened things around the room, changed the water in the wash bowl, the top sheet and pillowcases, got oil for the lantern, and refreshed the wood pile by his fireplace. By the time she ran out of things to do, he finished his breakfast and set the tin plate down on his nightstand.
It dawned on her that he’d been very quiet to that point. The kind of quiet that made her nervous, especially when she turned to see him studying her. The large bulge stretching the sheet up like a teepee said at least one part of his body was ready for step two in their morning ritual.
Mary Anne licked her lips and started with her best firm tone. “Listen, Malcolm, these past few days with you have been a real treat—”
“A treat?” Malcolm looked insulted by that word. “No, angel, the last few days have been a decadence, and don’t you think of finishing that statement the way I think you’re considering.”
Mary Anne didn’t shy away from it, seeing no point on playing the coward. “We have to stop, Malcolm.”
“Stop? Stop what? And don’t you even think of saying this relationship because I’ll have that ass on a horse in under an hour pointed toward the nearest preacher, and I don’t give a shit how cold it is out there. You understand me, angel?”
“But, Mike—”
“But Mike, nothing. If that dumbass wants to play the good boy, then let him. I don’t care if he knows or don’t because as soon as you have my ring on your finger and my babe in your belly, everybody is going to know who you call master at night.”
“I call you Mr. Tanner,” Mary Anne snapped. “Which is just what I call your brother and I ain’t going to continue to do what we been doing behind his back.”
“Well, shit, then let’s do it in front of him. Mike likes to watch.”
“Damnit, Malcolm! You are intentionally being bullheaded, and it’s starting to piss me off.”
“Piss you off? Angel, you are really a second away from that paddling I’ve been warning you about. I suggest you get your ass naked and over here, as in now.”
Mary Anne knew all along she wouldn’t win this argument. That didn’t mean she couldn’t get her licks in. With that challenge, there would only one response that made him understand just how serious she was.
“All right, we’ll do it your way.” With that, Mary Anne fled out of the room.
* * * *
Ah, hell.
Malcolm sighed as he threw his legs over the edge of the bed. He should have seen that coming with the way she pointed her chin at him. Well, she could get as feisty as she wanted, but Mary Anne wouldn’t be telling him no now.
Naked, he went after her. It didn’t take but a dozen steps to catch her fleeing down the hall. Locking his arms around her, he let their forward momentum carry them the short distance to the table’s edge. He even let her turn in the cage he corralled her into. Trapped in his arms with the table at her back, Mary Anne tried to ward him off with her hands pushing against his chest.
Ignoring her feeble attempts to free herself, he fisted his hand in her shirt. “How many shirts do you have left?”
“Please, Mr. Tanner,” Mary Anne whispered as her lips quivered. “This needs to stop.”
If she thought that’d soothe his temper, she got her answer when he ripped the front of her shirt clean off and waved the rags to the side so he could clinch the lacy fabric of her chemise in his fist. He met her wide-eyed gaze and could see the violet already darkening toward rich hue. He knew that look, and it was all the invitation he needed to press on.
“How many?”
“This isn’t right,” Mary Anne pleaded. Still, stubborn to the core, she clung on to her conviction. “Mike has every right to call me wife, but shouldn’t be pressured into it by—”
The silky material of her chemise ripped with a slightly higher pitched sound but ended up as rags none the less. Free of any barrier, his gaze dropped to the glorious sight of her full breasts. Flushed and topped with puckered, pink berries, they lifted under his gaze, tempting him to take a bite. He would not be distracted.
Looping his fingers under the waist of her skirt, Malcolm just looked at Mary Anne. She shivered in his grasp, and he could almost feel the heat radiating out of her mound through all the layers of fabric between them.
“Two,” she finally whispered.
Malcolm grinned and tore her skirt clear off her body. When his fingers lassoed the waistband of her petticoats, she began to beg. “Please, Mr. Tanner, I don’t have any more petticoats left.”
“Too damn bad,” Malcolm grunted. “You should have thought of that before you defied me.” He shredded the white cotton undergarment in his grasp.
She shrieked and lifted her combined fists to pound him on the shoulder. “Damnit! Malcolm! How am I going to explain to your brother why I don’t have any more undergarments?”
Ignoring her indignation, Malcolm palmed the lush bounty of her ass before gripping it. Without even a slight strain, he lifted her right up onto the table’s edge. His little angel might still be prattling out objection, but her legs parted easily for him. Lined up for full entry into heaven’s embrace, Malcolm paused with his head at the gate of her sheath to finally answer her.
“Tell Mike petticoats are for pussies that you don’t want easy access to.”
Her eyes rounded with shock, and she managed to gasp out a “You—” before he slammed himself all the way home.
Buried to the hilt in the tightest sheath he ever possessed, Malcolm grinned down at her outraged face and added, “I hate to break this to you, angel, but once Mike knows what we been up to, he’s going to have to punish you for the very naughty, naughty things you’ve been letting me do.”
“Me?” Mary Anne gasped, fully indignant in spite of the fact that her pussy pulsed and creamed all around him. “What about you?”
“Mike expects that kind of thing from me.” Dipping his head, he captured one sweet tit in his mouth and showed her just what kind of thing he meant. Instantly, she arched, moaned and tightened all around him. Letting his hands slide up the outsides of her legs, he palmed her ass. Lifting her up, he began to slide her up and down his cock, slow and easy, making her twist and pant.
Turning his attention to her other tender nipple, his hands picked up speed, forcing her faster, harder onto his cock, but it wasn’t enough. He released her, pushing her back down so he could lift her knees so wide and high her feet balanced on the edge of the table.
Gripping her hips to hold her steady, Malcolm began to piston himself into her as hard and fast as his straining muscles could bear. He could hear her screaming, felt her bucking around him as her fiery haze began to consume his world. An inferno of need gripped his balls, and he knew it would only be a second more before orgasmic waves of lava released themselves right out of his straining dick.
All around him, he could feel his angel’s body tightening down. Her sheath convulsed with the fury of a tornado as it spiraled toward climax. In a nearly painful decision, Malcolm ripped himself free of her seductive sheath and clamped a fist around his own cock. It took two hard pumps and he groaned out under the sudden satisfaction as his seed flowed uselessly onto the top of her mound and down her legs.
“Ah!” His gaze met hers at her shrill shriek, and he couldn’t help but grin at the outrage on the self-proclaimed innocent’s face. Especially not when he went stumbling backward as she clubbed him with her bound fists.
“How could you do that?” Mary Anne’s feet hit the floor as she stood there naked and demanding an answer. “Damnit, Malcolm! That wasn’t right!”
Malcolm shrugged. “You deny me and I deny you. Consider that your punishment. Now I’m going to go take a bath, and when I get back we’ll discuss just what we’re going to do about Mike.”
Malcolm didn’t even wait for her to blast him again. Turning and heading for the washroom door at the end of the hall, he ignored all the obscene insu
lts she shouted out after him. They did make him smile, and he gave over to the laughter once he had the relative safety of a closed door behind him.
Mary Anne was insane, he decided as he picked up the flint box and went to his knees to ignite the little wooden fire that would set the coals to burn before he filled the tub with water.
And she’s out of petticoats.
That thought made his grin. As contrary as Mary Anne was, she’d be walking around naked by the end of winter, and he’d be damned before he bought her new clothes.
Chapter 9
The first layer of snow already started to collect by the time Mike finished corralling all the cows they herded back to the ranch over the past few weeks into the barn. The rest of the herd would be left to free range and survive the winter on their own. They just didn’t have the resources or the money to keep that many safe through the winter. Maybe next winter.
Instead, they picked the two strongest bulls and several heifers they bred with them. Come spring, they’d be assured of having some solid cattle to build on. They’d also be able to brand the calves before the round-up and the rustlers got a chance to steal from them. If everything went well in the next five years, they’d have a second barn just as big as the first.
The massive structure reminded him of the stories of Noah’s ark. Off the far side of the barn, they extended the wall to include a chicken coop and another one right across for rabbits. Around the massive corral that made up the center of the barn, they built rows of stalls to house the rest of the livestock.
Digger insisted on a few sheep despite what his brothers thought. There were the dogs and the horses, and he had plans to try to round up some of the wild mustangs that roamed farther south and expand their ranch in that direction. Charlie, on the other hand, insisted on building a second alley of stalls to fit in a few cows that provided better milk.
