Twice Blessed

by Jo Ann Ferguson

  Tipping his hat to her again, Mr. Atherton bid them a good day.

  Noah smiled as he turned her in his arms and locked his hands together behind her waist. He brought her lips to his. Although the kiss was swift, she could see his longing for more.

  And she longed to share it with him.

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  “For the kiss?” She laughed. “I should say it was my pleasure.”

  “For all of this, sweetheart.” He whispered against her right ear, “My muscles are going to be very weary tonight. Do you think you could rub them for me?”

  She quivered as his breath caressed her, enticing her to toss all caution aside. “I would be glad to.”

  “Good!” He released her and chuckled. “That’ll be much better than the concoction Gladys calls liniment.”

  She took his hand as they went back to where the framing for the walls was already nearly done. Each wall was lying on the ground near the foundation. Even as she paused on the road that once had led to the barn, she heard shouts. One team was ready to raise their section into place.

  “Be ready to help all my tired muscles,” he murmured as he gave her another swift kiss before running toward one group of men who were calling to him.

  Leaning back against one of the trees, Emma smiled as she savored the thought of her fingers stroking his brawny back and shoulders. She closed her eyes as she imagined touching him even more intimately. For more than seven years, she had not wanted to become involved with any man. Friendship, yes. A bit of innocent flirting. That had been all right, too. But nothing more. Then the most outrageously enticing man she could have ever met burst into her life and tempted her to break all her vows to keep everything simple.

  More shouts came from the direction of the barn, and she cheered when she saw two sections of the wall slowly rising. The men knew that, even if it was a contest, they must take care with this work so no one was hurt. Most of the members of each team pushed on what would be the outside and lifted the skeleton of the wall. Two men stood on the barn floor ready to nail support boards to the wall to hold it in place until the rafters could connect the roof to the walls.

  Although she wanted to see which team was done first, her eyes focused on Noah, who was swinging his hammer with smooth strokes. He was laughing with the others on his team, and she could see how delighted he was to be working with wood and building something. He had not said much about the woodlot, but she knew there had been even more damage than he had led her to believe.

  Applause and shouts rang out as the first wall was secured into place. The winning team was congratulated. Then the men continued their work. The guttural rasp of saws cutting through wood matched the rhythm created by the thud of hammers.

  Alice Underhill walked up the hill carrying an empty bucket. Two cups rattled inside it, and Emma knew the schoolteacher had taken water to the workers.

  “It’s coming along well,” Alice said with a smile.

  “At the rate they’re going, the whole barn will be done by tonight. I’d thought we might be dancing tonight under the moonlight.”

  “The dance will have to be postponed a few weeks. Everyone will dance next at Sally Young and Isaac Smith’s wedding.”

  “That’s not until …” She laughed. “Time slips away from me when I am busy with the store and with Sean.”

  Alice smiled. “And Mr. Sawyer?”

  “Yes, he does keep me from thinking about other things,” she said with a laugh. Denying what must be a favorite topic of the town’s gossips would be worthless.

  Especially when it was true.

  The soft radiance from the moon glistened off the new barn as Emma came out of the house to look west, where the lingering sunset was fading. She wiped her hands on the damp towel. At last, all the dishes were done. Belinda and Sean were asleep upstairs, finally settling down after Emma had agreed to tell them a story. It had been about a fairytale princess at Belinda’s request, and a train engineer—Sean’s preference.

  She smiled. Tonight Sean should not wake with a sick stomach. Emma had watched him with the desserts, but she had not worried after she saw how he took the smallest piece of chocolate cake.

  The peepers were singing their songs from every direction. Frogs provided a deeper undertone to the melody of the twilight song. Looking up, she saw a bat swooping to catch its supper. Even as she watched, the first star pricked through the night sky. She took a deep breath of the air and let it sift back out of her in a sigh.

  “That sounds very tired.”

  She glanced to her left to see Noah’s silhouette as he stood from where he had been leaning against the porch railing. Smiling, she said, “Not as tired as you, I’m sure.”

  “It was a long day.” He cupped her chin and tilted her face up toward his. “A most amazing day. I never expected anything like this when I came to Haven.”

  “Haven is a special town.”

  “I’d never argue with that.” He stepped back, holding his hand out to her. “Do you want to see the work up close?”

  Emma nodded. If she spoke, she might blurt out how she had thought he would kiss her. Really kiss her. Not just the brief, teasing kisses of earlier today. Putting her hand in his, she tossed the towel over the porch railing. Dew oozed through her shoes as they walked down the hill to the new barn. A hint of chill came from the direction of the river, but vanished with the breeze.

  “Can Belinda and I escort you and Sean to the wedding the week after next?” Noah asked quietly.

  “Escort us?” She laughed. “The church is just on the other side of the village green from my house.”

  He kneaded his shoulder and grimaced. “After the work today, I’m not certain how much farther I’ll be able to walk even by then.”

  “We don’t need to go to look at the barn now.”

  “I’m jesting.” He grimaced as he continued to rub his shoulder. “I think.”

  “I promised I would massage your shoulders for you if you wished.”

  “I do, but I thought you’d like to see the barn.” He ran his curved finger along her cheek. “If I sit down, I’m not sure I’ll want to get up again for a long time.”

  “But if you’re that exhausted—”

  He laughed and, tugging her hand, led her down the hill at a near run. She almost tripped, but regained her feet and drew her skirts up so she could match his steps. When they reached the bottom of the hill, he twirled her about as if they were both as young as Belinda.

  As they slowed, she said, “Now I am exhausted! I didn’t save any stamina for dancing tonight.”

  Noah brought Emma’s lips to his. When he lifted his mouth away after only the briefest kiss, he heard her soft moan of denial. It tempted him to lean her back in this damp grass. Instead, he led her to where an opening in the barn wall was waiting for the door to be hung.

  Their footsteps echoed hollowly on the barn floor, which was littered with sawdust and curls of wood from where the rafters had been planed smooth. He watched as she slowly turned around in the milky light that poured through what would be the hayloft windows once the hayloft was finished and glass was put in place. As the moon’s glow accented her face and her beguiling curves, he walked to her.

  Drawing her into his arms, he asked, “What do you think?”

  “I think you all did a lot of work here today.”

  “I did doubt this much of the barn would be finished by the time we quit for supper.”

  “You’ll have more faith in the folks of Haven after you have been here for a while.” Emma reached up and brushed Noah’s hair back from his eyes. “We may argue like family, but that’s because, in so many ways, we are family.”

  “Family?”

  “In a way.”

  “I just wanted to make sure you and I wouldn’t be considered brother and sister. It’d make things much more difficult when I want to do this.” His lips captured hers.

  When his fingers combed through her hair, her hairpi
ns clattered to the floor. Emma’s hands glided up his back, and she tasted the need in his deepening kiss. She gave herself to this passion, wanting more. She gasped against his mouth when his hand curved down her back, pressing her hips to his hard male muscles.

  He put one arm under her knees and lifted her to lean against his chest. Against her hair, he whispered, “I hope you saved a bit of strength, sweetheart.”

  “Noah, we should—”

  “Yes, we should.” His mouth slanted across hers as he carried her across the barn.

  She opened her eyes when he paused and lowered her toward the floor. They were surrounded by shadows, but this spot was awash with the cool, smooth light from the moon. When she discovered he was placing her on a pallet, she knew what she should have guessed from the moment she saw him on the porch. He had been waiting for her … just as she had been hoping to find him waiting for her.

  He knelt beside her and ran his fingers through her hair. Then he leaned over her and whispered, “I always seem to be thanking you, sweetheart, with words. Now let me thank you without words.”

  “Noah, you know this is crazy, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know if it’s crazy, but I know it’s right.”

  “Do you always do what you think is right?” She ran her finger along his hard jaw, which was surprisingly smooth. He must have shaven after dinner, for his whiskers had been visible then.

  “Always.”

  “Even—”

  He silenced her by reclaiming her lips. Her hands swept up his back. She wanted to touch him, to assure herself that this was really happening, that this loving man wanted her.

  Pulling away enough to speak, she protested weakly, “You should rest. You worked hard today.”

  “That’s what you told me the first night I stayed at your house.” He laughed. “You also told me you don’t need me to feel obligated to you, but debts must be repaid. You did something very nice for me today. Let me do something very nice for you tonight.” He pressed his lips against her throat, and a cascade of yearning billowed up from within her.

  “Only very nice?” she murmured.

  “Much more than very nice.” His tongue etched a path of fire along her skin, and she swayed toward him.

  He did not resist the invitation. He drew her beneath him, so she could discover the so-very-male texture of him.

  Her eager hands slid beneath his shirt to stroke the warm skin along his back. When he gasped and whispered her name against her neck, she wanted to cede herself completely to this pleasure which enfolded her to him.

  His tongue teased her ear as he whispered, “I was sure I would go mad before I could persuade you to come here with me, sweetheart. I thought you’d never finish those accursed dishes tonight.”

  She framed his face so she could see the desire softening his stern features. “Neither did I!”

  “Think how much more quickly you’d have finished them if …”

  “Would you stop talking and kiss me?”

  With a laugh, he whispered, “Gladly, sweetheart.”

  His fingers brushed her breast as he slipped his arm beneath her. At her gasp of excitement at his bold seduction, he pressed his mouth over hers, refusing to be denied what she had dreamed of night after night when he slept on her sofa. Each audacious caress of his tongue elicited a stronger need within her. She had been the proper storekeeper for too long after giving up her dreams to a man who turned them into nightmares. Now she was going to savor this sweet dream coming true.

  The buttons on his shirt undid with such ease that she smiled. That smile became a soft whisper of his name when he began to unbutton her blouse. The touch of his fingers on her breast added to the heat deep within her. When each side of her blouse dropped to the pallet, his eyes glowed like the stars overhead.

  The quiver focused on that growing warmth as he leaned over her again. The caress of his skin against hers above her corset and shift was as fiery as that light in his eyes. He held her gaze, not releasing it, as his finger looped over the lace along the top of her corset and popped the first hook. Then the next … and the next. His eyes narrowed as he peeled it away from her. That was her only warning before he drew down her loose shift and ran his tongue between her breasts.

  She grasped his shoulders and pulled him closer. With a laugh, he found her lips again. All gentleness vanished from his kiss. It demanded she give every bit of herself to this pleasure. Stroking his bare back and letting her hands curve down over his hips as he had caressed hers, she pulsed with the accelerating need within her as he overpowered her senses with his kisses.

  He refused to be satisfied with her lips as he drew off her blouse. He tasted her cheeks, her eyelids, the curve of her jaw. His lips burnished her skin, setting it afire with longing. Teasing her ear with the liquid heat of his tongue, he laughed when she whispered his name again as she fought to keep from being overwhelmed by this untamed passion. The caress of his breath fanned the flames into a wildfire.

  Her fingers splayed across his back when he slid the straps of her shift down along her arm, and he probed beneath the soft cotton over her breasts. The sensation of his mouth against her was an exquisite delight. She wanted this craving, but it would shatter her if it lasted a second longer.

  Pushing his shirt aside, she dropped it to the floor atop her discarded clothes. She swept her fingers along his broad chest. His skin was becoming the inferno she could see in his eyes. A hint of a smile curved his lips as he loosened the button holding her skirt in place.

  She laughed and pushed him away. When he regarded her with astonishment, she held his shoulders to the pallet. He groaned with the longing that also taunted her as she ran her tongue along her curves of his ear. She continued to explore each flavor of his delicious skin as he rid her of her skirt and petticoats.

  He rolled her onto her back, then sat. His gaze swept over her as he unbuttoned one of her shoes with the same slow, fascinating caress as he had her corset.

  She sat up so she could unhook the other. He laughed and pressed her back onto the pallet.

  “I’m just trying to help,” she whispered, barely able to recognize her own husky voice.

  “I’ve been waiting for this, and I want to enjoy every moment.”

  “Of taking off my shoes?” She laughed as he pulled off her other shoe. “You have strange fantasies.”

  “Not so strange.” His hands curved along the top of her stocking, and he slowly rolled it down her leg. Drawing it off her foot, he ran his hands up each side of her leg again.

  She gasped with the craving that was becoming a hunger that must be sated when his hands slipped across her from one thigh to the other, then slowly rolled down the other stocking. He tossed it away, before sliding his hands back up her leg again.

  She could not withstand much more of this without losing all of herself in the mindless bliss. When he had kicked away his boots and his own socks, she saw him reaching for the buttons on his denims. She playfully slapped his hand away and sat.

  “I have fantasies of my own,” she whispered as she put her hand on the topmost button.

  “Do you?” His voice was as unsteady as hers, which thrilled her more.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to share them with me?”

  “I want to share more than my fantasies.”

  With a groan, he grasped her face and brought her mouth to his. She knew her fingers were fumbling on the buttons, but she did not pause as she undid his denims. Drawing them down and dropping them somewhere in the shadows, she smiled at him as she ran her hands up his strong leg. She did not stop when she reached the top. Stroking the silken skin that reacted to her very touch, she did not hurry to slide her hands away down his other leg. Her gaze absorbed the firm lines of his sculptured body

  He reached for her as she began to let her fingers wander down his other leg. She paused and stared at him when they touched puckered skin that was broader than her palm and more than twice as long as
her hand.

  “Noah?” she whispered. “What happened?”

  “Don’t ask now, sweetheart.”

  “But you were hurt.”

  “Nothing hurts now but this longing to be part of you.” His mouth took hers again. Creating a pattern of joy along her skin, he seemed determined to leave no part of her untouched.

  Seized by the eager cadence of his breath, she moved with the tempo of a song created by two hearts and two bodies in perfect harmony. She gasped as the song became a crescendo when his fingers swept along her legs again to seek the fire within her. Touching him as intimately, she lost herself in the longing that flowed from her to him and back again in a wild rhapsody.

  He drew her beneath him. His fingers brushed her hair back, framing her face, imprisoning her gaze within the passion blazing in his eyes. He brought them together, and the emptiness that had taunted her for so many years was filled with desperate desire. With his lips over hers, he dared her to reach for every delight waiting for them. She matched his motions and his need. She relinquished herself to the splendor that merged them into one perfect moment of ecstasy.

  Emma stared up at the moonlight and smiled. When Noah shifted, she kept her head on his shoulder. He tipped her face up.

  “I want to see that smile,” he whispered.

  “I shall wear it every time I remember this moment.”

  He kissed the spot on her neck where her pulse still pounded. “You shouldn’t have to remember it too often.”

  “What?”

  With a chuckle, he said, “This can’t be the only memory you want to make with me, is it?”

  She laughed too as her fingers stroked his chest. Her other hand ran along his leg. As they encountered the scarred skin, he drew his leg away and caught her hand in his, keeping her from touching him.

  Looking up at his face, she saw his smile was gone. She leaned across him. “Noah, tell me, please.”

  “Some memories I prefer not to recall now.”

  “Don’t you trust me with them?” She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling.