Devils on Horseback: Lee, Book 4

by Beth Williamson

  She stepped out of her dress and stood in only her chemise. The lamp behind her illuminated her to the point where she didn’t even need a chemise because she was naked as far as Lee was concerned. Sweet luscious curves abounded, revealed inch by inch as she pulled off the cotton garment. As he drank in Genevieve completely nude, he promptly forgot to breathe.

  She was exquisite.

  Her long brown hair glowed like a copper sunset in the light from the fire. It hung in waves down her back, caressing the top of the most beautiful ass he’d ever seen. Round, perfect globes, pale and plump. She wasn’t thin or bony, but blessed with a body a man could hold onto while he plunged in.

  His head swam with images of Genevieve beneath him, above him and beside him, and best of all, kneeling in front of him. Lightheaded and sweating, Lee hung onto the windowsill as if it were a lifeline. It seemed that every drop of blood in his body had rushed to his dick, which was now hard enough to actually hammer a nail. It throbbed in his britches, pushing against the fabric and begging for release.

  She turned to step into the tub and Lee was able to see her breasts. Her skin was like honey, warm and sweet, with nipples peaked in the cool air. They were puckered as if waiting for his mouth, his tongue, his teeth. A tiny moan burst from his throat and he had to duck to swallow the howl that rose from his center.

  The tall grass around him scratched at his pants as Lee clenched his jaw shut and tried to calm his arousal. He had never been so horny in his life, even with Fiona. With her he’d been eager and needy, but it was nothing compared to what he felt now.

  Even just looking at Genevieve nude, without touching her, had sent him into a spiral of pure lust that would likely last for hours. He knew his hard-on would.

  When the window above him opened, Lee held his breath intentionally this time. He was lucky he had squatted onto the ground below the window. Now all he could do was pray she didn’t look down.

  “Hello? Is anyone there?”

  The smell of female wafted over him, a combination of roses, the sweetness of sugar in tea and delicate perspiration. It shouldn’t have any effect on Lee, but it did anyway. He wanted to lick her skin, absorb her into his body and savor the taste of Genevieve on his tongue. Scrambling to control his breathing, his heart and his stupidity, Lee pressed his fist against his forehead. She mustn’t know he was there, drinking his fill of her without her knowledge like a common bastard.

  When the window closed, seemingly an hour later, Lee let out a small shaky breath and stayed put. No need to move just yet and he might hurt himself if he did. The achingly hard piece of wood between his legs was wedged in his drawers and twisted in the fabric a bit now. If he stood too quickly, there could be damage.

  What the hell was he going to do now? Apparently let his dick control his actions.

  Against his better judgment, he stood to peep in the window again. Genevieve was just getting into the water, surrounded by wisps of steam rising from the heated bath. He could only stare helplessly as she disappeared into the tub. To his delight, her breasts remained above the water, bobbing gently. The nipples were a deep rose color, and the sight of them in the dim firelight made him lick his lips.

  His hand drifted to his trousers and unbuttoned them, freeing his constrained erection. He let out a small sigh as his hand closed around the throbbing hardness. What he wouldn’t give to have her hand circling his dick instead of his own. As he stroked and squeezed his hardness, he watched her bathe. With each swipe of the cloth against her wet skin, he tugged at his own.

  It was wrong and he knew it, but there was no way in hell he could stop. Not now. He pinched the base of his dick as he grew closer to coming.

  Splash, moan, splash, grunt.

  Like a secret ballet, his calloused hand slid up and down his sweat-soaked dick matching her movements in the water. Just as his balls tightened and his orgasm swept over him, she stood, water sluicing down her body. He slid into a crouch and came into the dirt beneath him, biting back the howl that threatened to explode from his throat as the pleasure coursed through him.

  God he wanted to fuck her, to lick her, taste her. He wanted her.

  As the pulses of pleasure receded, he managed to suck in a breath and tried to focus on what he’d just done without wincing in embarrassment. Genevieve was going to drive him mad, that was a certainty. If he kept on behaving like a horny teenage boy, he’d be getting himself off several times a day.

  With heated cheeks, he kicked dirt over the evidence of his self-pleasuring and crept away into the dark to fasten his pants.

  As she dried herself, Genny resisted the urge to linger over her painfully hard nipples. After hearing the noise outside, she had the silly fantasy that Lee had been observing her bathe. She even took extra time getting undressed to prolong the game for herself. The foolish thing was, she wanted him to actually be there. Her body still throbbed with the hum of arousal from watching him, fantasizing about him.

  Playing sexual games really wasn’t like her, and that’s what bothered her the most. There weren’t many things throughout her life that were under her control, but one of them had always been her physical reactions, particularly to men. Henry was a shitty lover, selfish and clumsy. Genny hadn’t gotten a single moment of pleasure from having sex with her husband at all. It was like one of her farm chores, boring but necessary. Her experience before Henry had been horrific, the stuff of nightmares she still experienced now and again.

  She shook her head to dislodge the dark feelings that always overtook her when she started thinking about Camille. She’d promised herself when she moved to Tanger that she’d stop thinking about her life before Texas, the squalor she’d been used to, and the disregard for human beings she witnessed daily as a child. Nothing about the farm reminded her of the dark street in New Orleans so there was no need to dwell on it.

  No, she’d much rather remember why she’d been aroused in the bathtub in the first place. Truthfully, she had never experienced pleasure with a man, only by her own hand.

  Right now though, she ached for release. One day with Lee and she was fantasizing about being intimate with him, without even a smidge of interest from him. He grunted, answered in one syllable or ignored her. There was no rhyme or reason to her body’s apparent infatuation with the man. It should set off warning bells inside her.

  Genny couldn’t risk being distracted by a man when she needed to focus on getting the wheat crop in. Too much depended on her keeping her mind and her body on that task and not on Lee Blackwood. She knew her options with men were limited, even if widows had the freedom to choose a bed partner. Until the blond one-armed man had swaggered into her life, there hadn’t been a man she would choose.

  As an intelligent, strong woman with needs, sometimes she just had to let herself feel. And at that moment, she was feeling quite a bit. As the towel rubbed across her skin, it pebbled up, sending shivers through her. God how she wished it was a calloused hand instead of the rough material. She could look for him, but knew it wasn’t a good idea even if her mind raced with the possibility of what would happen if she found him. What would happen if he was just as willing as she was.

  A shiver wracked her body at the thought. No matter how much she wanted to, it just wasn’t a good idea, and that was that. With something like remorse, she picked up her nightdress to put it on. A small knock at the door had her jumping out of her skin.

  Heart pounding, she had to swallow before she answered. She knew who it was, yet she called out anyway. “Who is it?”

  There was a pause. “It’s Lee Blackwood. I, uh, wondered if you were done with the tub. I can empty it and take it out for you.”

  He sounded strange, almost talkative, and she hadn’t yet heard him speak so fast either. Perhaps her fantasy wasn’t hers alone. Tingles raced through her at the thought and a single heavy throb resounded in her lower belly.

  “Not
yet. About five more minutes.”

  The sound of boots scraping on the wooden porch sounded outside the door. “Well, fine. I’ll just sit a spell out here and wait then.”

  Her pulse pounded through her veins as she stared at the door, knowing he stood on the other side. All she had to do was open it and ask him in, her nude body the only invitation required. Dampness coated her pussy as she trembled with a nearly overwhelming arousal. She needed him quite badly at the moment.

  What would be the harm? She was a widow and he wasn’t married—a perfectly acceptable arrangement done all the time, discreetly of course. Folks in town, including Hettie and her posse, had to know Lee was there with her alone. They’d never openly shunned her, but they also never opened their arms to Genny or Sophie. Part of that was because Henry had been such an ass he put people off. However, part of it was the fact Genny appeared one day at his side, wide-eyed and angry with a wedding band on her finger. She had not been exactly friendly to the people in Tanger that first year, and she was sure they had long memories.

  So why should she care if they knew Lee was at the farm? Gabby must’ve told the townsfolk about her need for a farmhand, and everyone knew Henry had passed on. After all, he died at Aphrodite’s saloon with a beer in one hand and a whore’s tit in the other. No one would blame Genny for turning to another man for solace in her bed.

  Her nipples ached to be touched and her body craved a release, one that didn’t involve her hand. Growing up, she had been witness to the ways men and women could be together, and many of them were still crystal clear in Genny’s memory. She wanted to try them with Lee, even if it meant she was a loose woman, because she sure as hell wasn’t a whore. No money was changing hands between them, simply work and trade for goods.

  She wanted him, that was for certain. The question was, how much? Water puddled on the floor around her feet as she stood there, heart thumping like mad, and continued to stare at the door. Genny knew she wasn’t pretty but she’d been told her raspy voice was nice by several men. Her breasts were large and she was curvy, if not particularly tall. If she offered herself to Lee, he might say no. Was she willing to take that risk?

  Genny stepped toward the door and reached for the knob.

  Lee stood on the corner of the porch and stared up at the night sky. Stars winked in the velvety blackness, reminding him of just how different things were in Texas than Georgia. Even the sky looked different. He sometimes wished so hard life was like it had been before the war. It was an ache deep in his chest that could bring tears to his eyes.

  He scratched at the stump of his arm and recognized the stark reminder that life would never be the way it was, no matter how hard he might wish for it. God couldn’t give back an arm, and he sure as hell couldn’t make life from the ashes of Lee’s soul.

  The door to the house opened and he turned, expecting Genevieve to wave him inside for the tub. His melancholy meanderings must’ve made him slower than molasses because he had to blink twice before he realized that she was only wearing a towel.

  Holy shit.

  His arousal, partially sated by his own hand, roared to life like a locomotive. He stood frozen in place, unsure of exactly what he should do. She saved him the trouble of deciding when she turned to look at him.

  The first thing he noticed was she was flushed, and he wasn’t sure if it was entirely from the hot water. The second thing was, her mouth was slightly open as if she was breathing hard. His heart slammed against his rib cage and he swallowed hard.

  “Miz Blanchard?” he managed to croak.

  “Genny please, call me Genny.” She fiddled with the towel under her arm, but she kept her focus on him. “Do you want to come inside now?”

  Jesus, please us, that was a question with a hundred meanings. Lee’s body, however, knew what meaning he wanted it to be.

  Genny.

  Yes, that fit her better than Genevieve, a mouthful of French name he had trouble wrapping his tongue around. No doubt he’d have no trouble with her breasts though. They strained against the towel, the nipples obviously hard beneath the material.

  “Mr. Blackwood?” She cleared her throat. “Lee?”

  Without a sound, he strode toward her and she backed into the house. By the time she was through the doorway, he was right in front of her, his body more than ready. After he closed the door behind him, he wasn’t sure what to do next, until she dropped the towel and he dropped to his knees.

  Her breasts were beautiful up close, the dark pink nipples tight and begging for attention. He cupped the left one, the weight perfect in his palm, and swept his thumb across the turgid peak. She hissed in a breath, which became a strangled moan when his mouth closed around the right.

  “God, yes.” Her whispered exclamation let Lee know he was doing it right.

  He laved the nipple, then skimmed it across his bottom teeth, before he gently bit it. She trembled at his touch, and a sheen of perspiration broke out across her beautiful skin. As he sucked the nipple deep into his mouth and tugged, her knees almost gave way. She stopped herself by grabbing his shoulders.

  “Bedroom.”

  He didn’t need to know which one. No doubt the brat was sleeping in her own room, which left Genny’s room. He hoped the door had a lock because he planned on being naked with her for a few hours and didn’t want any interruptions.

  When Lee scooped her up with his right arm, she let out a short squeak but quickly wrapped her legs around him, pressing her damp cunt into his belly. He could feel the heat through the fabric and could think of no other moisture he wanted christening his shirt. Her breasts pressed into his chest, the nipples reminding him they were still in need of attention.

  “Lee.” She breathed his name and he looked up at her. Her pupils were wide with arousal and her cheeks were still flushed. Genny wasn’t plain at all—he’d been completely wrong about that. She was stunningly beautiful with her wide mouth and cinnamon-kissed freckles, and her expressive brown eyes told him everything he needed to know.

  She’d been hurt, probably physically and emotionally, and still she was so damn strong. Yet it seemed as though she needed him just as much as he needed her. Genny was more like him than he even imagined.

  Lee stepped through the door to his room, and she gently closed it behind him. He set her on her feet, and the feel of her body sliding against his made him groan with anticipation, particularly when her heat touched his throbbing dick through his trousers. God, he didn’t remember being so aroused with Fiona. With her it had been more of a frantic fucking in the alley or in a dark corner of a tent, since she always had only five minutes for him.

  Lee glanced behind him and with a satisfaction he didn’t expect, he turned the key in the lock above the doorknob. It was time.

  His body had never been so hard, or so ready, not that he’d been overly experienced at sex. Deep down at an elemental level though, he knew this was different, very different, and he welcomed it because it made him feel. He hadn’t felt much but darkness and fury for too long. Genny’s magic wound its way around him, drawing him into her arms, into the lightness of her soul.

  Words didn’t seem necessary.

  She undressed him slowly and he let her. What he wanted to do was throw her on the bed and fuck her until neither one of them could see straight. Yet he didn’t because he craved this, whatever it was, and his own rash actions were never to be trusted. So he let her lead and show him what she desired, although he shook with the need to act.

  With each button she opened, Genny kissed the exposed skin. Her lips were soft and warm, almost hot, and occasionally her tongue would reach out and lap at him. Lee couldn’t stop a small moan from escaping the first time she did it. He hadn’t had a woman pleasure him like that before.

  She pulled the shirt from his trousers and slid it off, then she pressed her breasts into his bare chest. He closed his eyes, almost com
ing in his drawers at the sensation of skin on skin. It was pitiful to think he hadn’t actually ever been nude with a woman before, not that there were more than a handful, but they had been whores without time for this kind of mutual pleasuring or even to take all their clothes off.

  Genny was a lady, a widow who needed him as much as he needed her. This was no pity fuck, no money changing hands. It was a mutual joining of bodies and he could hardly stand the wait, but he did because she wanted him to.

  She ran her hands across his chest, lightly scratching at his nipples. The sensation shot straight down his belly to his balls, which were tighter than a pair of walnuts at that moment. She leaned forward and licked his flat nipples, followed by a bite for each one in turn.

  He loved it.

  Then she touched his shoulders and his arms. He held his breath, waiting for her to be revolted by the scarred remains of his left arm, but she continued touching him, and he could breathe again.

  “You are a beautiful man, Lee Blackwood.”

  Before he could respond to that ridiculous notion, she pulled his head down and kissed him. Oh, sweet heavenly saints, her lips were even better against his own. Soft and warm, pliable and firm, she kissed as if she knew exactly what he needed, what he wanted, what he craved.

  Her breath mixed with his as their mouths opened, tongues dueled and the temperature in the room rose exponentially. Sweet, hot wet kisses that melded them together until he couldn’t tell where his mouth ended and hers began. Their tongues rasped in unison as he pressed his hardness into her softness and her arms wrapped around his neck, drawing him closer to her.

  They kissed for what seemed like hours and Lee was surprised to find he wasn’t as impatient as he had been. As if the kissing were as sexually satisfying as plunging into her, or at least pleasurable enough that he wanted to kiss her all night. It was all mixed up in his head, but he did know that Genny fit him as well as the key in the lock behind him. He wouldn’t have believed it if she wasn’t standing there kissing him, her naked and him half-naked with a dick harder than a steel bar.