A Necessary Woman

by A. E. Easterlin

  He reached for her feet, removed her shoes, and used the strength in his fingers to rub her delicate instep, first one foot and then the other. She closed her eyes and moaned at the sheer pleasure as her body relaxed under his strong, firm strokes.

  Both hands circled her ankles and tenderly massaged up and down her calves. After being so long on horseback, every muscle in her body screamed for relief.

  “Feel good?” he asked.

  “Indescribably good.” She sighed.

  “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you out of these clothes. I know you’re still tired, Suzanna, but I need to touch you. I need to feel your body against mine. If you’re too tired to make love, I understand. I just want to hold you. All right?”

  ****

  Relaxing for the first time in weeks, the strain began to melt away. Suzanna nodded. “As long as I don’t have to move. I don’t think I’m capable of much right now. As my mother used to say, I’m bone weary. But feeling your arms around me would be nice. I want to feel your hands on me.”

  She entwined her small fingers with his much larger ones and smiled, overcome with a feeling of hope and restoration.

  He undressed her, and Suzanna cuddled close to him, her leg thrown over his thigh, her fingers running through the soft mat of hair on his chest. She just wanted to enjoy the feel of him, to take pleasure in being near him.

  As she ran her foot slowly up and down his furry leg, Jake stroked her back and hip. It was wonderful to be so near him after their separation. He drew the quilt from the foot of the bed and tucked it around them, providing a sense of intimacy and security, and Suzanna was overcome with gratitude and love.

  She sighed. She was home. Jake…was her home.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The afternoon waned, and when Suzanna woke, Jake covered her again with the quilt and left the room. She rested for a while longer, then rose, wrapping the quilt around her, and walked to the window that opened over the back pastures and paddock. Searching corrals and barns, she tried to find Jake among the cowhands.

  This was a busy time of year, and he would be needed outside. They were buttoning down for the long winter. Her gaze drawn to the left, she spied Pete and Jake working with a horse in the west corral. The animal was beautiful, a powerful black Morgan, a new acquisition, responding to the firm hand of her husband. Heat pooled between her legs, and her breathing quickened, the sight of him warming her blood and inciting her passion.

  She felt desire for him filling her like water rising in a cistern. When had he become so important to her? When had he become light to her days, safety in her nights, nourishment for her well being?

  To love him, to feel a part of him again, to share the closeness of husband and wife in complete intimacy—yes, she wanted him. She watched the movement of his body, his broad shoulders, lean hips, muscled arms, hard chest—her lust for him built until it consumed her, and she held the window frame for support.

  ****

  As if in answer to some unspoken call, Jake turned toward the house, his gaze tracking slowly up until he saw her standing at the window. Pete saw the look and silently took the stallion’s reins from his hands.

  “She needs you, Jake. Go to her. I can handle this.” Pete nodded toward Suzanna and clapped him on the shoulder.

  “You’re a good friend, Pete. To both of us.”

  Jake hurried toward the house, his mind already on the woman at the window. He toed off his boots and sent his hat sailing the minute he walked through the door. Suzanna was up there waiting for him, and he took the stairs two at a time.

  He heard the back door close—Martha discreetly leaving them alone in the house. He looked out the window and saw she had Charlie in her arms. He was lucky to have good friends in his life, understanding friends. They sensed he and Suzanna needed this time to be together. A time of reunion and restoration.

  Opening the bedroom door, he found her waiting. He crossed the room and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and buried his face in her neck. She was home, and she was his. That’s all that really mattered.

  His mind traveled back in time—to when he first saw her. So beautiful, standing in the southern breezes, her face flushed from work, damp from the rising steam over the kettle of wash. He’d felt then like he’d been knocked to his knees, and he felt that same way now. No, that wasn’t true. He felt the impact of her beauty even more today than yesterday, if that was possible.

  Crossing to the bed, he sat beside her and pulled her into his embrace. Unsteady fingers traced the delicate warmth of her, and he breathed deeply of the light, flowery fragrance she wore. An aphrodisiac, blended with the scent that belonged to her alone.

  He searched her face, her body, devouring her inch by inch, limb by limb. Then he covered her mouth with his, tasting the flavors of her…the complex blend of sweet and spicy, undeniably intoxicating. Heart pounding like a hammer on an anvil, he trailed his lips along the shell of her ear, blowing gently, sharing his moist heat on a favorite spot of her body—his efforts rewarded by her soft, surrendering moan and the tight grip of her fingers on the flesh of his shoulders.

  She wanted him—wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  No more thinking.

  As his hands trailed the now familiar lines of her body, he drew her into him. All her sweetness, all the goodness and pure, bright light of her welcomed him, and he took her with him through passion’s journey.

  As they danced again the dance of love, and reached the ultimate peak of pleasure and fulfillment, she was finally his.

  Always and forever.

  Epilogue

  So many things to so many people.

  Jake called her his necessary woman. Perhaps that was true—she loved the close-knit community on their ranch and never tired of helping in any way she could. If that made her necessary, so be it.

  She’d loved her parents, and missed them still. They’d made her and were a part of her always. Jason, the love of her youth, a sweet love, a never to be forgotten part, cherished always. Nathan, so much a part of her, a brother, confidant—and dear Annie, friends forever and always, perhaps she would see her and St. John again before too many months passed.

  She loved them all. If anyone could be deemed necessary, it would be all the people who enriched her life and shared her love.

  And now Jake—husband, lover, father—the love of her life. And Charlie, child of her heart, what a precious gift. Suzanna ran her fingers over her husband’s chest, enjoying his closeness and the feel of his strength. She was forever safe in his arms. She snuggled into his big body and lay motionless and content.

  And, in that stillness, a tiny flutter, like the wings of a butterfly, darted through her womb. Suzanna gasped softly and bit her bottom lip. That night—that magical night that he’d brought her to life in his arms. That’s when it had happened. She smiled a slow, secret smile and turned to look into the sparkling silver eyes of her husband.

  He smiled down at her, eyebrows raised in question. “What?”

  She would tell him, but she wanted to hold the joy to herself just a tiny minute more.

  Suzanna sighed, her hands bracing her cheek on his hard chest, and grinned. Jake reared back his head, and she met his inquisitive gaze.

  “What?” he asked again. Tracing her finger down his scruffy cheek, she let it travel down his thick neck and around to the sensitive peak of male nipple.

  Palming his heart with a trembling hand, she clasped his hand in hers and brought it gently to her tummy. Pressing tenderly, knowing it was probably too soon but hoping he could feel the flutters and guess the reason.

  Suzanna reached up and lightly touched her lips to his. In a long, drawn-out whisper, the sing-song syllables hinting at what was to come…

  “Oh, Jake…”

  ****

  Six months later

  “Breathe, Suzanna. Lord knows you said those words to me enough times that I will never forget,” Annie coached her friend. “I bar
ely got here in time for this birth. You should have written sooner.”

  Suzanna panted through another strong contraction. It shouldn’t be long now. “I’m just so glad to see you. You and Martha are the only two who could see me through this.”

  Annie gripped her friend’s hand and held on for dear life. “Glad to be of assistance.”

  Her comment was cut short by a loud groan escaping Suzanna’s lips. “Okay. Looks like this is it. When the next one hits, push as hard as you can.”

  Annie uncovered the lower half of Suzanna’s body while Martha laid soft, clean cloths under her bottom. The older woman’s hands shook, not with fear but anticipation. She knew how much Jake and Suzanna wanted this baby, and before long she’d hold the culmination of a lifetime of dreams in her arms.

  Suzanna gritted her teeth and pushed with all her might. A long, agonized scream broke from her. Lord, have mercy! Her body was being wrenched like the wishbone of a Sunday chicken. Crying aloud with joy and relief, Suzanna felt the precious burden slide from her.

  As Annie took care of her and Martha cleaned the infant, she asked, “Boy? Does Jake have his son?”

  Annie chuckled. “No son, but if you’re disappointed in this blonde darling with silver eyes, I’ll take your daughter home with me. Jeremiah’s been asking for a baby sister.”

  Suzanna strangled with alternating laughter and tears, unable to utter a coherent thought. “A girl? A daughter? Does he know?”

  The door burst open, and Jake—in his typical fashion—rushed into the room, sliding on the floor and grabbing hold of the bed frame to halt his progress.

  “Do I know what?”

  Annie raised one eyebrow at her impulsive brother-in-law. “You have a daughter, my fine sir, and she has her father’s beautiful blonde hair…”

  Suzanna grasped Jake’s hand and interrupted with tears streaming from her eyes. “Your hair!” she exclaimed.

  Annie continued, “And your silver gray eyes…”

  Suzanna smiled. “Eyes that sparkle like diamonds!”

  Annie handed the baby to Suzanna and watched with tears of her own as her dear friend cradled her first born. “Yes, my sweet girl, they sparkle like diamonds.”

  Jake reached his giant hand over Suzanna to stroke the soft, tiny cheek of his daughter before he looked up at Annie with grateful eyes.

  “You’re responsible for this—you and Nathan. You knew, didn’t you, how much I needed her?”

  Annie shrugged. “We knew you needed each other.”

  The tableau would forever be imprinted on Suzanna’s mind. Jake on one side of her bed, Annie on the other. Nathan, an invisible presence, standing tall, both hands holding up the frame of the door, smiling with genuine happiness at them all. Martha holding her beloved Charlie. And this precious child, this baby conceived in love, her daughter.

  Jake kissed her softly on her lips. “Thank you for this. Thank you for coming into my life and showing me the meaning of real love. Stay with me always, never leave me. You are the center of my world, and I can’t live without you. I won’t.”

  “You won’t have to. Without you, all this would have been impossible. Kiss me now. I love you.”

  And as for Jake, he was happy to comply, and lowered his mouth to her lips.

  It was not a kiss of passion—but one of gratitude and reverence.

  Then he pressed his lips to the downy forehead of his daughter, small and soft and sweet. Pure and innocent. His heart swelled with love. He had everything he’d ever wanted from this life, and it was all because of this woman—a woman who lived and loved sacrificially, necessary not only to him but to everyone.

  The necessary woman.

  A word about the author…

  A. E. Easterlin attended Alabama College and the University of Alabama in Birmingham, majoring in Vocal Performance & Music Education. She has been married forty-eight years and has reared three children while partnering with her husband in a business in the South Florida area for over thirty years.

  She has two granddaughters and three grand-dogs whom she adores, and loves to read, write, play piano and, of course, sing.

  As an avid traveler, Ms. Easterlin has enjoyed the customs and marvels of Europe, South America, Canada, and her beloved American West.

  She is an active member of Romance Writers of America as well as of her local chapter, Florida Romance Writers.

  Thank you for purchasing

  this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.