by Mary Wine
“You shouldn’t be thanking me.” Sloan’s voice was full of reprimand. Brianna frowned at the chastisement. He sounded like he was attempting to shift into the role of parent, but the memory of his kiss made that an inappropriate vision if ever there was one.
“I value my life, which was why I thanked you.” Adding a nod to her words, she watched his frown darken. “Being alive this morning sort of has me in the mood to leave the details behind me. What matters is I’m among the living.”
His lips twitched as he shrugged out of his duster. With one large hand, he hung it on a hook that was driven into the thick timber framing the doorway. The black oilcloth draped the wall like a slice of midnight that he’d carved out of the heart of the night.
“Good. At least I won’t have to listen to you complain about Warren.”
Brianna frowned. “That’s something altogether different. Placing me under guard is quite out of line.”
“Not to my way of thinking.” His voice told her that he wasn’t willing to budge on the matter. He considered her face for a moment before taking a long step towards her. A shiver shot down her spine as she fought to keep her feet firmly in place. An annoying reaction, but chastising herself didn’t change the sensation coursing through her.
His mouth curved up in response. She couldn’t seem to control her reactions to him and something flickered in his eyes that said he enjoyed that fact.
“I suppose we’ll simply have to agree to being on opposite sides of that issue.”
Sloan crossed his arms over his chest as frown lines appeared on his forehead. “As in we agree to disagree?”
Brianna nodded and his eyebrow rose.
“That’s just like a woman.”
The way he uttered his words made her temper flare back to life. Propping her hands on her hips, she lifted one shoulder. “Well yes, I suppose it is. Men, on the other hand, much prefer to fight, so they never give up a reason to let their fists talk for them. You’d much rather fight than be civilized and understand that sometimes people disagree. I really don’t see that as something to boast about.”
A deep rumble of amusement shook his chest. His gaze flashed with warning as he closed the distance between them. Brianna lifted her chin as he loomed over her. Sloan’s eyes were full of heat as he tapped the end of her nose with the tip of one finger.
“You’ve got a temper hidden inside your respectable shell. You should be careful who you show that to.”
“I call it confidence. Besides, I’m not frightened of you, Sloan.” Even if it would have been smarter for her to transform into a mouse whenever he showed up. His mouth was set in a firm line reminding her just how good his kiss made her feel. She’d never believed a man’s lips could make her head spin with delight, but Sloan’s had. She’d kissed him back too. If she’d cowered or cried, she’d bet he’d cast her one long disgusted look before hightailing it away from her weak-kneed body. A man like Sloan wouldn’t waste his time on a woman who couldn’t stand up to him.
“You really should be, honey. I’m not a gentleman.” His gaze dropped to her lips and the tender skin tingled in response. She caught a whiff of his warm scent. It triggered a response that made her shudder. Heat filled her cheeks instantly, like some signal her body wanted to display in the hopes of attracting his attention. His eyes shifted to her face, lingering on the scarlet stain. He stroked a single finger across the blush. “But I already told you that.”
His touch slid all the way across her cheek. It was a deceptive caress, so soft and tempting. The illusion ended as his fingers threaded into her hair and tightened into that grip she recalled so well. Strong and unbreakable, but still painless unless she moved. His head angled as he leaned forward to connect their mouths in another firm kiss. But it wasn’t hard. He teased her lower lip with the tip of his tongue before pressing her to open her jaw for a deeper taste.
It felt too good to resist. Brianna let him push her mouth wide as she lifted her hands and allowed her fingertips to explore the hard chest that fascinated her. A low groan shook his torso as an arm clamped around her waist. Her hands slid up to his shoulders as he pulled her against his body, securing her in his embrace. The cotton of his shirt frustrated her. She longed for the warm male skin hidden beneath the garment. His tongue thrust deep into her mouth, teasing her own with a hard stroke. Brianna shivered as hot need flowed down her body to that spot between her thighs. It throbbed for attention as she twisted towards Sloan, gripping his shoulders in an attempt to get closer. Her skin became alive with acute sensation, causing her to hate her dress and corset. She wanted to be bare for his hands, so that she could enjoy being stroked.
The grip in her hair pulled her away from his kiss. A muffled word got caught behind his clenched teeth as he broke their kiss but didn’t relax the arm that bound her to his body. Hunger brightened his eyes as he looked at her like a starving man. She felt his huge body shudder before he let her go.
Brianna bit into her lower lip to contain the little whimper that wanted to spill from her mouth. Being turned loose was like setting out into the snow with your face ruby-red and warm from standing over the coals. The icy wind slapped you like tiny, frozen daggers when you set off without a scarf to protect your face from the harsh elements.
“I need to go home.”
Sloan grunted. His gaze moved down her frame before he slowly nodded. “Yes, you do. Before I do something irreversible.”
Wicked temptation taunted her to challenge his control. The look on his face said he didn’t want to stop touching her and a large part of her wondered just what it would take to push him past his limit. But that was a coward’s way. She looked at the floor as she tried to scrape up some composure. Dignity was out of the question, because she flatly didn’t want to be honorable or any kind of proper. All she wanted was to press herself back into his embrace and discover just how much better the sensation might get.
Life was somehow more precious today and she wasn’t so willing to miss out on anything because of someone else’s rules. Her body wanted Sloan to take her down that dark path that was hidden behind shadows of ignorance that all the good wives in town called modesty.
Respectability felt like a poor trade for the delight she knew Sloan could produce with a single touch. But she wasn’t willing to taunt him for it and she wasn’t quite bold enough to demand it from him. Yet.
“Is my house still standing?”
At least there was something to funnel her frustration into. The harsh reality of looking at bare cupboards stole every scrap of composure she’d dredged up. Her face turned red, this time with her temper. Wrath might be a deadly sin, but at that moment she was a little more interested in handing out a well-deserved thrashing to the thieves who’d stolen her hard work. Most of the fruit had come by way of trade. It was the same as lifting coin out of her purse. A hard hand curled around her upper arm as she rose onto her toes to peer at the few remaining jars in her pantry.
“That glass will cut your feet.”
Sloan gave her a tug and she stumbled right back into the middle of the cabin. A hiss escaped her lips as she faced another dilemma brought on by last night’s robbery. Food and now shoes, both were necessities. But providing them would prove hard with the river full of ice today. The best she might hope for was hiding the worry seeping into her brain from Sloan. Poor comfort but better than nothing.
“I’ll pull down some of my old shoes.” Her gaze landed on the rifle resting in the gun rack over her father’s bed. She’d pull the weapon down first. She couldn’t count on luck to save her life again, so that left cold steel. Sloan didn’t miss where her attention went.
“You know how to use that?”
Brianna nodded. She forced her head to move in a firm gesture because she couldn’t afford to be timid. Paying the bank note on the mill was apparently not the only hurdle she had to clear in order to maintain her home.
“I’ll manage.”
A harsh snarl startled her. J
erking her eyes off the rifle, she looked at Sloan. Heavy disapproval darkened his face. “You need to pack up and move into town for the winter. Today. I’ll bring a buckboard around to help you.”
“No, thank you.” Her spine straightened with the aid of her temper. “I’ll manage just fine.”
“Like you did last night?” Sloan scowled, but it only reinforced her determination. She was not going to collapse into his care.
“That’s right, Sloan McAlister.” Her hands propped on her hips as she stood firm. “Last night I managed to make sure I didn’t end up violated and murdered. Rather decent accomplishments if I do praise my own efforts.”
Sloan snaked a hand back out and captured her wrist. He held it secure in his grasp for a long moment, showing her that she didn’t have the strength to escape. He yanked her forward and she tumbled into his hard body as he clamped his arm around her waist to hold her captive against him. He cupped her chin and raised her head up until their eyes met. She felt his breath hit her lips as he leaned down towards her.
“Sure about that, Brianna? There’s not a whole lot more to bed sport than you ended up getting last night from me. You were on your back with my hand between your thighs.”
She slapped him. Her palm cracked across his face as her eyes flared with outrage. He didn’t turn his head to ease the force of her blow but kept his eyes locked on her face.
“Stop trying to scare me, Sloan. You’re a better man than that. Maybe not a gentlemen, but you don’t lack integrity. Don’t shame your mother.”
An angry handprint appeared on his skin but he didn’t flinch or slacken his grip on her. Brianna stared at him, unwilling to back down. Something inside her refused to believe he was anything less than a decent man. She couldn’t bear the disappointment of finding out otherwise.
“I told you not to trust me, honey.”
The endearment stoked the fire that had begun in his cabin. She melted against him, her curves some sort of perfect fit against his harder male body. Smoothing her fingers over the red spot where she’d struck him, she enjoyed the sensation that rippled down her arm from the skin-to-skin contact. “Trust isn’t something you decide about, Sloan. You can just walk out the door, too, if you’ve got the notion to turn your back and forget you ever laid eyes on me. I didn’t decide to trust you, it just grew somewhere inside me. A lot like the idea that I like the way you make me feel when you touch me. I’ve failed to talk myself out of it. But not from a lack of effort.”
“You’ve got that part right.” He shuddered as she stroked his chin again, drawing a harsh breath as she gave in to the temptation to touch him.
“You should tell me to leave.” His mouth landed on top of hers before she took a single breath. Her brain refused to continue to dwell on reasons or rules. The scent of his skin was intoxicating, taunting her with just how good it felt to be bare against his body. She reached for his shoulders as she touched his tongue with her own.
A hard male groan shook his chest and it fed her budding confidence. Lifting up on her toes, she sent her tongue along his in a long stroke making delight race down her spine. The arm clamping her to his body shifted and his hand smoothed down past her waist to her bottom. He cupped one cheek through her petticoat and skirt. A little gasp from her broke their kiss while the front of her sex throbbed with demand. It was thick and hot this time, leaving no room for contemplation. Like a starving woman, she pressed her mouth back against his to renew their kiss.
But his kiss was no longer enough. She needed to feel him, like he had stroked her last night. Her hands slid down his chest and lingered when her fingers found his male nipples. She’d seen them, but never touched them. Rubbing them, she felt his chest shudder as a deep sound of appreciation rose from his mouth.
“Go on, honey, touch me.”
His voice was husky. Daring her to follow where her hunger dictated. She was drunk on confidence. Unwilling to continue on as head of the household while clinging to girlish ignorance. If she shouldered the load, she wanted to sample the darker pleasures that went along with being an adult.
“Unbutton my shirt.” Her fingers stilled on his nipples as her eyes flickered between his button and his face. Sloan gently squeezed her bottom as he watched her decide what to do with his demand. She was a live coal in his grip, but he was enjoying the heat too much to care about the burns it would leave behind. All his well-thought-out reasons didn’t make much of a barrier against the pure enjoyment of having her against his body. His cock was hard with need as he caught the delicate scent of her arousal. It rose from her thighs as she unwittingly pressed her hips towards him.
“All right.”
The tip of her tongue slid over on her lower lip before she moved her hands to the center button on his shirt. She pushed it through its hole and found the next one. Anticipation tightened his gut as she opened all the buttons above his waist before stroking his chest through his open shirt. Her touch sent bolts of pure fire across every muscle his body contained. It raced down to his cock where it transformed into blinding need.
But he couldn’t rush towards that final moment of penetration because he was a slave to the slow exploration of her fingers as she pushed his shirt open to expose his nipples. Her eyes fastened on them as she teased each tip, sending pleasure rippling through him. It was a torture he’d only dreamed of enduring. Even if it killed him, he was going to die a happy man waiting on her whim.
Her mouth went dry as she stroked his chest. His crisp male body hair felt so good between her fingers. She slid her hand all the way up to his nipples and back down to his waistband as she absorbed the pure delight of how different they were. Male and female were opposites, but somehow their bodies combined into a stunning concoction of delight and sensation. She brushed his waistband as indecision filled her. Raising her head, she found his obsidian eyes watching her.
“I think it’s your turn.”
A small smile lifted his mouth, taking the hard edge off his expression. The fingers clasping her bottom smoothed over her buttock cheek in a soft circle before the hand in her hair released the brown strands.
“You sure about that?”
He didn’t sound like he enjoyed asking the question. The resolution in his voice refilled her confidence with the fact that he found her as irresistible as she did him. Stroking his firm abdomen once more, she continued up, stopping when her fingers reached his nipples and she shivered as she contemplated letting him return the touch. Beneath her corset her nipples tingled before tightening into hard points that poked the sturdy poplin of her undergarment. She had never detested the thing so much.
“As sure as I know how to get.”
A warm male chuckle was his response. He brushed the side of her neck, sending ripples of enjoyment down her spine.
“That’s honest enough, honey.” His voice was laced with approval. A far different sort of praise than she had ever received. Hidden in his husky tone was a promise that heightened the excitement racing through her blood. Her heart thumped beneath her breasts in a frantic rhythm that should have alarmed her, but instead she opened her eyes wide so that she wouldn’t miss a single detail.
“I like the idea, a whole lot.” Rich with promise, his voice sent a shaft of delight through her.
He moved and she gasped when he grasped her waist. He lifted her right off her feet and placed her on the small kitchen table. His bare chest filled her sight as he shrugged off his open shirt and tossed it over a chair. One large hand curled around her face, lifting her chin until their eyes met.
“I shouldn’t like the idea.” His hand cupped her chin as a frown covered his lips. “But it’s the truth that I do.”
Indecision flickered in his gaze. Reaching up, she laid her fingers on his firm jaw. His skin was rougher than hers, but it seemed so perfect because they complemented each other. “I like it, too, in spite of trying to talk myself out of it.” It might have been one of the most honest statements she’d ever spoken out loud. A
person’s thoughts were always purely honest, but you learned from your parents to whitewash your words. It just wasn’t working with Sloan. Maybe she needed him to understand her. To test out whether or not he wanted her and not some model of a ladies’ finishing school.
His hands landed lightly on top of her chest. Her breath caught in her throat as he teased the swells of flesh pushed up by her corset stays. The worn calico of her dress felt too tight as he stroked her. The need to touch him in return filled her. It felt so natural to lift her hands and lay them on his bare sides. His fingers popped the first button on her top open. He moved through the rest of her buttons far faster than she had done with his shirt. There was no hesitation on his part as he pushed her bodice open and right down her arms. Her corset was hooked down the front with laces at the back for practicality. The undergarment pressed her breasts up into a tempting display now that her bodice lay on the table behind her.
“You still sure?” His fingers traced the front closure of her corset. A shiver raced down her back, but she was even more intoxicated than before.
“I’m not sure I’d find the strength to leave even if you told me to.” His hard voice sent a ripple of excitement through her. She should have been frightened, but her body leapt at the idea of knowing he wanted her too much to leave. The first hook on her stays opened and he worked the rest with quick fingers. “The sight of you has haunted me.”
As an endearment it was perfect. Brianna moaned as he closed a hand around each of her breasts, cupping the tender flesh and rubbing each nipple with his thumbs. His gaze was on her bare torso as he brushed her nipples once more. He kneeled down to lick one hard tip. A cry escaped her lips as heat seared across her nipple. It poured down her body to that spot at the top of her sex. She wiggled on the tabletop as sensation made it impossible to remain still. A soft chuckle came from her partner as he slid a hard arm around her body, pressing her back over his arm. The position thrust her nude breasts upwards into a display that made her blush.
