Mail-Order Cinderella (Fortune's Children: The Grooms Book 2)

by Kathryn Jensen

  “No,” she insisted with surprising emotion. “You shouldn’t make light of your heritage.” Tears streamed down her face now, and she didn’t bother to wipe them off.

  “I didn’t mean any harm,” he protested.

  She shook her head violently at him and turned away.

  Tyler went to her, wrapped his arms around her then turned her against his chest while she wept softly. “Tell me why this place and what I’ve said are so important to you.”

  “I can’t explain,” she choked out.

  “Try.”

  Julie looked up at him tearfully. “You have such a wonderful family with rich traditions. I would give all I own to have had what you grew up with.”

  He looked down at her, astonished. She was serious.

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Sometimes I forget how lucky I am.” He splayed the wide fingers of one hand across the back of her head and smoothed down the mussed strands of her silky hair. Then he did it again, just because it felt good. “Forgive me, Julie.”

  She gazed up at him, a lost child, and he wondered if there was something more she still hadn’t told him and was keeping in her own heart.

  “Remember, my family will soon be yours, too,” he whispered.

  She nodded but said nothing. He consoled himself with the thought that, in time, he’d learn her moods and how to soothe her when she was troubled. They had time…plenty of time.

  If Julie had fears, he would seek them out and conquer them. It didn’t seem particularly important to him that neither of them could say the words other couples said: I love you. He wasn’t even sure such a thing as love really existed. But maybe Julie was right about legends and vows. There seemed to be something powerful at work in this sacred place, something drawing him to her. He certainly hadn’t meant to be irreverent. He’d just needed a way to break the tension.

  Tyler lifted Julie’s chin and looked down into her eyes—mossy-green with flecks of amber in the lantern’s flickering light. “I’m going to enjoy coming home to you,” he murmured.

  She flung her arms around his neck and pulled him down with such unexpected strength, he didn’t have a chance to take a breath before her mouth locked over his. “I don’t…don’t want…don’t want to leave!” she cried in little gasps between urgent kisses.

  “Leave?” He chuckled, pressing his lips to the faint worry lines across her forehead. “We don’t have to go anywhere. We can stay here for a while if you like it.”

  She looked up at him as if she was going to say something more, but didn’t. “Yes,” she agreed at last, “for a while. Here.” Unexpectedly, she stepped back a few paces and pulled her bulky sweater up over her head and off. Spreading it on the stone floor, she sat down then reached for his hand and drew him down beside her onto a corner of the soft wool.

  He was amused and pleased by her gentle insistence on remaining in the cave.

  “Would it be offensive to your ancestors if we…you know…?” she asked timidly.

  He raised a puzzled brow. She couldn’t mean…? “Made love in the cave?”

  Julie nodded quickly.

  Tyler roared with laughter. “I expect when my grandfather used to speak of couples pledging themselves to one another here, he was referring to a physical as well as a spiritual union. We Papago are a very passionate people.”

  “Will you?”

  “Make love to you here?” Another unexpected mood swing? But this one was a delightful surprise. Then it struck him that he’d brought no protection with him. “Are you sure you’re ready?” he asked doubtfully.

  “Yes.” Her lips settled into a firm line, and her eyes held steadily on his. “I don’t want to wait for the wedding.”

  “You won’t be very comfortable on this hard floor. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t, Tyler.” She gave him a charmingly lopsided smile. An attempt at being brave, he suspected. “I thought I saw a blanket in the back of your truck.”

  “I don’t know how long the kerosene will last,” he said. “Maybe an hour or two.”

  “Wouldn’t that be long enough?” she asked innocently.

  He wanted to throw himself on top of her that very instant. She looked utterly delicious with the light of the lantern tossing golden shadows across her features. But he knew they’d end up bruised and scraped from the cave floor if he didn’t go for a blanket.

  She had just better not change her mind before he got back!

  Tyler raced down the side of the hill to the truck and hastily fetched two hand-loomed blankets from the bed of the truck. When he returned, out of breath and beaded with sweat, Julie had removed her shoes and was kneeling before a wall, tracing the rough, faded lines of a cave design with her fingertips. She seemed utterly calm, until she turned to look at him. Then a passion as fierce as the desert sun fixed on him. Tyler hesitated for a moment in the cave’s mouth before shaking out the blankets and laying them one atop the other. “No one will disturb us,” he whispered.

  “I know,” she said, sitting in the middle of the woven pattern. “It feels safe here.”

  “Safer than the condo?”

  She puckered her lips and gave him a strange look. “Yes, in a way. More than that, it feels like the right place to make our baby.”

  A lump the size of Texas swelled in Tyler’s chest as he gazed down on her. Emotions bombarded him. Perhaps it wasn’t really lust he’d just now observed in her eyes. Maybe all that mattered to her, still, was the baby she’d wanted for so long. A family. And he was the vehicle to get what she wanted. He was just a tool.

  Tyler felt the sting of rejection as fiercely as if she’d struck him.

  He nearly turned and walked out of the cave, but stopped himself. Now wasn’t the time to surrender to male pride. If Julie didn’t love him, what was so bloody wrong with that? He hadn’t wanted that in the beginning, and he shouldn’t feel the loss now. Tonight he would make love to his Julie the best he knew how. Tomorrow they would marry and they’d both have what they wanted. At least he would. The baby, her share of the bargain, might take some time.

  Tyler lowered himself beside her. “You realize,” he murmured, “a woman doesn’t usually get pregnant on the first shot. We might have to work at this for a while.” With any luck, he thought, it will take months…years.

  She smiled, suddenly shy again. “I know, but don’t you think that if it’s meant to happen, it will be here?”

  She was beautifully naive. So much so he hated to change her. But fulfilling her destiny as a woman was going to change her. No doubt about that.

  She stretched out on the blankets and gazed trustingly up at him. “Should I do anything?”

  “Yes,” he said, smiling, “kiss your husband-to-be as if you love him more than life itself.”

  Her eyes widened in the split second before he lowered his head and pressed his lips over her cool mouth. Her shock didn’t last long. He felt her lengthen her neck, tip her head back and open her mouth to his. He tasted her, delicately at first. Unable to satisfy himself he plunged deeper, with a thirst that surprised him.

  Julie looped her arms around his neck and pulled him down on top of her. Suddenly, he couldn’t recall what she was wearing, what he was wearing…or where they were. Everything other than her body and his evaporated in a blue mist of passion. He let his hands explore, sliding beneath layers of clothing, seeking out the warmth of her flesh wherever they traveled. He found her breasts, rubbed the callused pads of his thumbs across already peaked nipples, enjoyed feeling her arch into him.

  Each kiss seemed to last an eternity, yet none was long enough to satisfy him. He felt suddenly overwhelmed by her, as if she were the aggressor, the seductress—although she had done nothing but react to his touch. He’d never felt like this before; it shocked him. And confused him, because he liked this feeling of not being in control. Everything felt fresh, new, intensely erotic—forbidden yet perfectly natural.

  Yes, there had been other women. T
oo many, perhaps. But something about Julie was uniquely stirring. A primal connection seemed to grow between them, filling the cave. She matched his rhythms and hunger, met the flow of his hormones with her own, driving him higher. Silently begging him to be gentle while inviting him to be wicked—the contrast was delicious.

  Tyler lifted her blouse and slipped her bra above her breasts. A tiny flinching motion from her reminded him of how new and mysterious this was to her in a way he, as a man, would never understand. “I won’t hurt you,” he breathed as he lowered his head and smoothed his lips from her navel upward across butter-soft flesh. Her stomach muscles quivered; he quieted them with the gentle pressure of his cheek then continued distributing kisses.

  “I want to kiss you everywhere. Everywhere,” he repeated with emphasis.

  “Oh.” It was a combination moan and yip of surprise.

  “Is that a yes or a no?”

  “Ah…oh my…” She groaned deep in her throat as his mouth closed over her nipple and drew the dark, round circle of flesh between the sharp edges of his teeth. “Yes-s-s-s,” she hissed as her body tightened along every feminine muscle from fingertips to toes.

  He was delighted and toyed mercilessly with her breasts with the tip of his tongue and his lips and teeth, until her breathing grew ragged and raspy. Until Julie let out a sharp cry she choked off by thrusting the knuckles of one hand against her open mouth. He wasn’t sure that she recognized the significance of what had just happened—this first of many climaxes he’d give her. But he was delighted she was so responsive to him. He felt a surge of power, followed quickly by a warning voice. Slowly. Slowly now.

  Too much too soon, and he’d frighten her. He didn’t want to have to abort like the other night. Above all, he didn’t want her to feel cheap or dirty or used. Tyler needed her to know how richly she was cherished at this moment, but he wasn’t sure he knew how to show her.

  Slowly, he stripped off her clothing, piece by piece, until he could see every inch of her pale skin in the orange glow of the lantern. It was the first time nothing had separated him from her. He ran his hand down the side of her body, past her waist, slowing to savor the delicious curve of her hip. His palm smoothed across the top of her thigh to cup her. There, he forced himself to wait and meet her glazed eyes…and hold them. Just long enough to let her know she still had the power to end this with the tiniest shake of her head.

  She smiled then let her eyes drift closed.

  He angled his hand to stretch his fingers cautiously toward the delicate center of her womanhood. He found what he had expected. Julie was already drenched with her honeyed response to him.

  “Now what am I going to do with you?” he whispered, grinning down at her. “You’ve beat me once already.”

  Her eyes flew open in astonishment. “You mean I…already? I did, really?”

  “Really.”

  She looked worried and clutched anxiously at his shoulders. “But you didn’t even… I mean, does that mean it’s all over?”

  He shook his head slowly. “Not by a long shot, darlin’.”

  Her lips lifted in the sweetest smile he’d ever known. “Good. Now kiss me, husband-to-be, as if you loved me more than life itself.”

  And he did.

  He kissed her with such feeling that he more than half believed it was true. And as he kissed her deeper and deeper still, he moved his fingers up between the delicate folds of silky skin flowing with her ecstasy, and he carefully pressed against the seal of her womanhood until he felt it give way. She let out only the smallest whimper of pain. When he tried to lift his head to catch a glimpse of her face to make sure she was all right, she pulled him down and captured his mouth and kissed him long and hard.

  “Are you ready?” he asked at last. He knew that he’d prepared her physically, but emotionally he could only hope for the best. If he did anything too fast, too hard, too anything—he’d frighten her, and he’d never get her back and never forgive himself.

  In answer, she reached down and unzipped his jeans, then shyly touched the front of his briefs. The ridge of his manhood stood clearly evident beneath the fabric. She looked up at him as if for permission.

  He winked at her.

  Blushing, she pressed her hand over him. Even through the fabric he could feel her trembling, and a lick of fire shot through him.

  Don’t take too long! a voice inside his head begged.

  But as urgently as he ached to lose himself inside her, he also wanted this time to last forever. These few moments before she finally understood what it was all about. These final precious seconds before her innocence was gone forever and she figured out that he was neither more nor less than any other man. For now, she was looking at him as if he were a god, and tomorrow he would be just Tyler Fortune, a guy who could read a blueprint and weld an I-beam. He desperately wanted to hold on to that worship in her eyes.

  Tyler edged his jeans and briefs down over his hips, revealing himself to her, full and heavy with need.

  “Tyler,” she breathed and reached out for him, less shyly than before. When her fingers closed around him this time, they felt warm and were no longer shaking. She moved her hand along him, and Tyler dropped his head back and closed his eyes on the agonizing bliss.

  He quickly clamped his hand over hers.

  “I did something wrong?” she asked, sounding worried.

  “No,” he ground out. “That was…perfect. But do it one more time and we won’t be making any babies today.”

  She smiled a little too coyly for his comfort. “Oh?” Already she was learning.

  “Yes, oh.” He kissed her quickly on the lips, easing her back down onto the blanket. When he was over her, he looked into her eyes and said, “Now you can let go.”

  She did, but her hand—intentionally, he was sure—brushed downward across sensitive flesh, flicking her fingernails lightly over intimate regions, sending him miles into the stratosphere. The woman’s a natural, he thought as he soared. How could he have ever assumed that making love to Julie was going to be a chore? This was a responsibility he’d enjoy for a long time.

  But now he must concentrate on making her first experience as special as he could. She’d already climaxed once, at least. He wanted to define her limits, discover how many times was just right for her. Once was generally all he needed. With her, he’d be sorely tempted to try for more. But he’d better make sure he thoroughly satisfied her first before taking his own pleasure.

  Her hands came down to rest lightly on his hips as he guided himself between her thighs. He felt her tighten for a moment, then relax as her eyes sought out his and found reassurance. “It won’t hurt anymore,” he whispered. “We’ve already taken care of that.”

  She nodded her understanding, opened herself to him, and he moved inside her in one long, slow passage. He quickly reached her limit.

  “I’m too small,” she whispered apologetically.

  “You’re just right.”

  “But you—”

  “—and I fit one another,” he finished for her. “And the more times I make you mine, the farther I will be able to go until you take all of me. It will happen. Believe me.”

  Tyler smoothed tendrils of glossy hair away from her face, tenderly kissed her hot cheeks, sweet mouth, silky throat. He moved within her in the timeless rhythm that links man and woman, joining them in a single moment of euphoria and legacy of love that foretells new generations.

  He felt her instinctively lift her long, elegant legs and wrap them around his hips, opening herself a little more, pulling him deeper. He held on for as long as he could, reveling in her fire and her sweet whimpers, burying his face in the soft cove between her throat and shoulder as he lost count of the times she rose in ecstasy then settled limply beneath him, only to rise again.

  Flames engulfed him and burned, burned, burned…until all he could see was a red wash before his eyes, mounting like a tidal wave. And all he could feel was building pressure in his loins and a b
laze so intense he’d be consumed in another moment.

  He felt Julie quiver violently then close tightly around him as she climaxed once more. Attempting to hold off any longer would be futile. He arched and lengthened his strong back, supporting himself above her on the heels of his hands, gripping the blankets in rock-hard fists. As he thrust fiercely into her one final time, he released his very soul in a long hot stream. From his open mouth, the echoes of a warrior’s cry filled the cavern as Tyler Lightfoot Fortune claimed his woman under the approving gaze of his ancestors.

  It seemed to Julie that someone, at some time during her life, definitely should have prepared her for this.

  Or maybe there was no way of understanding the sensations, hues, heights and valleys and indescribable feelings that assaulted a woman when she freed herself to be with a man. All reservations had flown from her heart the moment Tyler began making love to her that afternoon. She’d never looked back, never questioned if what she was doing was right or intelligent or risky.

  She hadn’t intentionally set aside her fears. Trusting him was something she couldn’t help doing. It was the first time she’d ever let herself experience a situation without analyzing, making excuses, or feeling awkward about how she walked, talked or breathed. In Tyler’s arms, joined with him, she had simply existed on the most sublime level imaginable.

  Existing seemed enough. Existing seemed plenty.

  Now she lay very still beneath him, feeling his heart beat nearly as rapidly as hers, but with a deeper resonance. Feeling him take in and release each breath, loudly, with more than a little effort. He felt heavy over her, but she liked the pressure. He still felt hard and full within her, and she liked that, too. She tried to imagine standing up and walking out of the cave alone, without Tyler touching her, staying with her, remaining a part of her…and she couldn’t.

  Does he feel this, too? she wondered. This magic? Sadly, she supposed not. Men, by reputation, were supposed to function sexually without all the emotional baggage women attached to physical relations.