Miracles and Mistletoe

by Cait London

  “Yes, you are. And mean at times. You’re closed-minded about things you can’t see or smell or touch. You’re irrational and moody and you act too quickly. And those are your good points.” Since Harmony’s ship was sinking, her methodical plans for the evening scuttled, she held him tight.

  He nuzzled her cheek, filling her senses with his textures, his scents, his warmth. “I’d like to be quick right now, but I know you prefer the now-we-do-this, now-we-do-that method.”

  “Do I?” she asked, running her fingertips lightly over his mustache. “Schedules can be changed.”

  ~**~

  Chapter Ten

  “Buckaroo, you are fast,” Harmony declared unsteadily as Jonah settled over her. She arched into the hard thrust of his body and he gathered her closer, his body trembling. Or was it hers? “I didn’t know a cowboy could take off his boots that quickly.”

  In the space of two heartbeats, Jonah had eased Harmony to her back, removed his boots and settled over her. She lay beneath him, breathing hard with her emotion, with what was to come...

  Moonbeams slid through the cottonwoods, laying silver on Jonah’s black hair as he braced over her, studying her. The grass crushed beneath the quilt released a fresh new scent of lives beginning and a new time. Harmony savored this time, enveloping herself in the fragrance and nuances of this loving season.

  Jonah ran his fingers through her hair, arranging it over the old quilt, spreading it out to the moonlight as if preparing for a ceremony that he would remember throughout his lifetime.

  “There is no one but you,” he said slowly, huskily. “Sometimes I wonder if I didn’t love enough.”

  Dimmed memories of another love tugged at him briefly as Harmony smoothed his forehead. She ran her fingertips across his eyebrows and across his closed lashes. “You loved enough, Jonah.”

  “This is different.” Jonah slowly lowered his lips to hers, kissing her with tiny, testing, tantalizing bits of heat and desire as his hands reached beneath her to cradle her hips, lifting her to him.

  “You’re a part of me, rosebud,” he stated unevenly against her throat.

  “Jonah, you’ve got way too many clothes on,” Harmony whispered unsteadily. She loved him, eager for them to be one.

  Harmony’s detached, in-control, calm, inner-self groaned. There goes the evening schedule, shot to pieces. I knew I couldn’t trust you next to this cowboy. You completely disregard your warning system whenever you’re around him. You’ve got him staked out, ready for... whatever!

  Harmony closed her eyes and inhaled. I’m busy here. Do you mind?

  The reason for her self-control debate rolled to his back and lay looking at the starlit night, his hands folded behind his head. He looked delicious with delectable as a bonus.

  Harmony lay stiffly at his side, her body longing for his and wondering what new twist Jonah had decided upon.

  “I’ve never had a woman undress me before. It’s been my fantasy,” he said whimsically. Jonah sighed leisurely as though he had all the time in the world.

  Harmony lay very still, considering her options. Jonah was unpredictable, too unreliable. She’d just lie here and maybe sleep a bit, because she wasn’t jumping to his tune. She ordered her tensely poised, humming, Jonah-need to relax. She tried a quick dart into his thinking and found he was successfully blocking her. Left to his own devices, Jonah might revert to... to sleeping. He hadn’t been getting enough lately.

  No longer contemplating her schedule, Harmony-empowered woman quickly rose to her knees. She disregarded the tearing of her straps as she tugged off her dress, and placed her hand on his flat stomach. If he needed a claiming, another determined effort on her part, she’d give him one.

  Jonah took her wrist and tugged her over him. He slid away her bra and against her lips, asked unsteadily, “Are you coming for me, Miss Harmony?”

  “You bet I am. And you’re not getting away,” she returned, welcoming the warm pressure of his hands easing over her breasts. She closed her eyes, drawing in the pleasure of his callused palms cherishing her. When Jonah kissed a trail to her breasts, tasting first one then the other, Harmony caught his head and held him to her, her body hungry for his.

  “You love me— I can’t believe it’s true,” Jonah noted shakily, as she caught his hips with her thighs and gripped him tightly. When her hand found and caressed him, he tensed. After a heartbeat, he brushed his lips against hers, and then tasting her lips with his tongue.

  “There’s just you and me, rosebud, and love,” he whispered, trailing very warm kisses to her ear. “Can you smell it? Like new grass growing and shedding the old. Feels like when meadowlarks welcome the morning sun and soft as the spring rain dripping from a flower into a pond.”

  She sniffed the scents, reveled in the sensations within her, and attempted a western endearment. “Sweeter than a honeybee on a field of clover?”

  He smiled slowly and stretched leisurely beneath Harmony as though snuggling beneath a comfortable downy quilt. “You’re good.”

  “So true,” she returned breathlessly as she concentrated on the mysteries of men’s western belts and jeans. She dismissed Harmony-in-control’s warning to return to The Schedule.

  “Jonah, I can’t undo your belt—” she exclaimed desperately as he skimmed away her briefs.

  Jonah moved very fast for a big man, she thought in the next second, when he stretched out over her again without his clothes.

  “Hello, rosebud,” he whispered gently as he found her intimately with his stroking fingers.

  Someday we’re going to do this nice and slow. Jonah’s determined promise gave way to a hungry, longing groan.

  Harmony’s controlled Other Self muttered as a sensual, tight ping shot through her body. Fine. Just fine. Lack of control all the way around. At least one of us has enough sense to keep calm. Your receptive reading talents never were in gear when your emotions take charge, you know. You could manage this whole thing better if you’d just not rush— Oh, shoot... there goes that one...

  She began to shiver, her heart trembling within her breast, her body aching to be his.

  “Oh, rosebud,” Jonah whispered longingly as if he were waiting for a homecoming he must have to survive.

  When he slowly, luxuriously filled her, Harmony gripped him fiercely.

  “This is where you belong... this is where you belong,” she repeated urgently, holding Jonah so close that their bodies were one, that nothing lay between them.

  “Yes...” Jonah smoothed her hips, lifting her higher and filling her so tightly in a way she’d never known before. They were so locked, so loving, as if they had always been part of each other.

  Harmony began to tremble, her body tightening, and she held him closer, closer. Her teeth caught his shoulder, delicately tasting his skin, as they moved closer to the fire.

  “We’re in the flame,” Jonah said against her skin, breathing heavily.

  “Yes...” Harmony wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him. Jonah Fargo was hers, and she was his and their hearts were racing together.

  Jonah trembled wildly, running their race. She fought for control and lost it. Trusting Jonah, she cast her fears into the night as their hearts beat, as their passion soared and burst and—

  A horse nickered wildly, stomping in the field, and Harmony heard her high-pitched cry soar up into the night. Jonah held her close, his body poised very still, thudding deeply, intimately in hers.

  Harmony looked up at him, her fingers locked to his tense shoulders, reluctant to free him to let him move into his separateness, away from her.

  “You’re mine,” she whispered as Jonah breathed heavily, his arms trembling with the effort of holding his weight from her.

  He laughed then, looking glorious and delighted and very cocky. With love in his eyes, he looked down at her. “You bet I am,”

  Love lay on him, shining in his hair, in his eyes, in the curve of his lips touched by moonlight. It was just a matter of time be
fore he truly knew it himself. Meanwhile, Harmony would love enough for both of them.

  She stroked his tense shoulders and slanted a wicked look at him. Harmony never been this sensuous in her lifetime and Jonah was proving he could withstand her Amazon strength. She longed to pit herself against him, to enter their passion again. “I suppose we can eat now.”

  “Come here, you,” Jonah said with a wide grin, as he eased down and rolled her over him.

  “This is very...” she began, unsettled with the idea of straddling him in the moonlight.

  “Intimate?” he asked as he arranged her trembling thighs closer and caressed the soles of her feet.

  “Very.” She gasped as Jonah nuzzled her breasts, the caress leisurely when her tempo needs ran to overdrive. Harmony closed her eyes, reveling in his tasting, tempting exploration of her... now the inside of her elbow, now the tips of her fingers, the sensitive outer curve of her breast and slowly, too slowly down to circle her navel.

  He was tracing her, exploring her, running his thumbs across her hipbones, then lower to her soft, sensitive femininity.... Tiny electric currents began rippling through her, Harmony’s body tightening to hold him closer.

  Harmony realized her fingers were rummaging through the hair on Jonah’s chest, learning his textures, testing the beat of his heart beneath her palm. Jonah was her eternity; she’d circled her life, seeking and cold, and now with him she was whole...

  “I like looking at you,” Jonah whispered, the deep sensuous tone curling around her like a caress as he drew her down to him.

  “Oh, Jonah,” she returned unevenly, meeting his kiss with her hunger.

  “We fit together,” he said. “More than this, deeper than this, longer than this....” Then the heat wave hit them too quickly, shattering her leisurely enjoyment of the moment.

  “Jonah?” Harmony cried out, stunned by the pleasure rippling through her, holding her poised and breathless as the midnight stars burst and her pulse hurried to match and run free with his.

  Jonah curled his fingers into her hair and caught her close. His free hand caressed, anchored, and kept her with him. Harmony fought leaping into the fire; she wanted to make the pleasure last...

  He suddenly turned her beneath him, demanding everything. Harmony captured his mouth with hers and rode the passionate waves as each crest rose and broke and began again—

  “Harmony...” Jonah captured her hands, and slid his fingers through hers. They gripped hands as they leaped into the fiery heat.

  Heartbeats later, Jonah breathed unevenly against Harmony’s throat, his hand caressing her breast. He kissed the cupid riding her chest and his lips curved against her throat as she shivered. “Embarrassed?”

  “No,” she said too quickly and too righteously. Harmony dug her fingertips into his back; his skin rippled delightfully beneath her touch.

  Jonah nuzzled her breasts and kissed the cupid pendant. “Mmm. Tiger woman captures man. Purrs while making love to man, then defeats man. Man is happy. Good to hear woman purr beneath him. Man want more, but man too tired.”

  She lay very still, the textures of Jonah new upon her, this new playful Jonah stunning her. “Are you teasing me, Jonah?” she asked carefully.

  He chuckled and eased to her side, his fingers toying with her hair. In a cheery tone, he stated, “I’ve been roasted.”

  Harmony tensed, remembering now that she had held him with her heart and soul and body just as tightly as she could. She’d frightened him, taken more than he’d wanted to give— Her mind stopped rolling over problem rocks because her lanky cowboy mood-changer was very busy. “Jonah, stop blowing in my ear. This is a serious moment.”

  “Oh, right. Serious,” he agreed, then placed her hand on his chest, looked at the stars and began to sing “Home on the Range.” When Harmony glared at him, he shifted into humming the song.

  She didn’t feel too badly herself if her smile could be measured. She felt powerful, yet light, happy and aching and filled with wonder, somewhat like a child presented with a Christmas present she wanted very much. A happy, teasing cowboy humming an old western tune by moonlight was quite a present.

  Harmony sat up, curled her legs beneath her and lightly tugged his chest hair. His “ouch” was satisfactory and she smoothed the slight injury. Because uncertainty had touched her, she needed to sweep away the remains.

  Jonah’s hand smoothed her shoulders, staying her hand when she would have shielded herself with her dress. She held it up in the moonlight to study it.

  “I tore my dress,” she exclaimed.

  “Yes?” he prodded in an encouraging drawl and a wicked grin.

  “Well. I certainly was... was engrossed at the time.”

  “You were mine and you knew it. Just like I knew part of me had finally come home. There is more to come, rosebud,” Jonah said tenderly.

  An image of Jonah’s future lovemaking plans soared by Harmony and she gasped. “Jonah, you kiss me there and I will not be held responsible for your safety.”

  He arranged her hair over her shoulders, smoothing the curls with his fingertips until his dark hand covered her pale breast. “Now tell me how you’ve never made love like this before... like we were fused together too closely and so much a part of each other that nothing could tear us apart. Tell me that you’ve never made love so tight and fierce, like you do with me... because it’s true, isn’t it? You’ve been afraid to let go.”

  Harmony cleared her throat, shielding her blush with her hair as she looked away. She remembered her dream when they first met, of this exact scene, the tender, loving, teasing Jonah. “Well... true. This has been a unique experience. I mean I had a schedule for tonight, Jonah. You wrecked that immediately.”

  How many times had she whispered she loved him in that hot, fierce, wild flame?

  “Are you sorry?” he asked gently as he stroked her back.

  “No,” she returned fiercely. “You’re what I want.”

  Jonah lay there in the moonlight, staring at her as though he could look until his life eased through the years. Harmony knew it was new for him, too. Their fierce passion kept them locked in heart and body, but the gentle understanding would come later. Lifting her hair, Harmony unclasped her necklace and placed it around his throat.

  Their eyes met. Each knew that more would come, their relationship would grow and bloom and— Harmony frowned slightly as Jonah’s expression changed, shifted and an image slid by her. She blinked just once as the hungry heat poured from him, his desire for her. Her passion soared instantly, fueled by the currents running between them, images of dark and light skin, of hard and soft bodies tangled together. Jonah’s desire took away her breath, but it was no less than her own.

  Jonah suddenly pulled her to him, their kiss hungry and urgent as they began again.

  ~**~

  Jonah stirred restlessly at Harmony’s side, her bed settling around them like a nest, easing them closer together in sleep. He dozed, cuddling her closer. He swept his hands over her body, reclaiming her to him as he had done many times in the past two days.

  Harmony arched against his touch, snuggling against him as she sighed, and Jonah knew he was home. All that remained would settle into place—

  When he awoke next, he was in a cold sweat, his body shaking. Or was he still wrapped by the tentacles of the nightmare?

  “Jonah?” Harmony was shaking him, holding him fiercely, and smoothing his hair from his damp forehead. “Jonah, wake up.”

  The child was crying… The dish containing rose potpourri near Harmony’s bed slid off the nightstand; the tulip-shaped lamp was rattling— Jonah was running. Running toward the corridor. He was frightened... the blizzard was too fierce to leave Grace alone—

  “Grace?” he cried out, awakening fully. “Are you crying?”

  Harmony’s worried amber eyes peered over him and Jonah realized that he was holding her wrist too tightly. She’d have bruises— and then he read the fear in her eyes.

 
He surged out of the bed they had shared. They had shared the entire house, making love slowly, tenderly or in a wild melody of happiness that they were together.

  Harmony sat up in the froth of sheets and their clothing, and the bells on her wrist tinkled warningly. He jerked on his jeans and sat with his back to her to tug on his boots. “I’m leaving.”

  He had to run, to take his pain away from her.

  Her fingers soothed his shoulders; Harmony’s breasts nestled against his back as her arms came around him. “Jonah, don’t move. We haven’t... we haven’t had time to talk about—”

  “Leave it.” Jonah moved from her, afraid that what was in him would terrify her, would hurt her. It was better this way. Was he crying?

  Harmony was at the door before him, looking magnificent in a wild swirl of hair, her head held high as she pitted herself against him. She flattened her back to the door and shook her head.

  He had to take his pain away—

  “Jonah, you are not going anywhere,” Harmony stated firmly, gathering her ruffled cotton robe around her—one that he had often stripped away from her, so hungry for their joining, so hungry for her warmth and the peace he knew with her.

  “You don’t know what is in my mind,” he said slowly. “Now isn’t the time.”

  He wanted to gather her to him, to bury his face in that wild magnificent mane and tell her...

  “Tell me, Jonah,” Harmony stated too quietly.

  He stared at her, his body rigid, trembling, sweating, barely leashed by his need to protect her. “No. Move away from the door, Harmony. I’m not certain now what’s happening to me, but—”

  She moved into him, against him before he could take a step. Harmony placed her hands on his damp cheeks, smoothing the beard she had enjoyed against her. Something sweet and warm quivered inside Jonah, remembering how she had loved him— how she had whispered of her love.

  “Hold me, Jonah,” she asked simply and lay her body against his, into his care.

  That gentle movement, her coming home, stopped him. He was already gathering her to him, but he began, “Harmony, now isn’t the time...”