by Sara Orwig
Before she could speak, he said, “I want you to go. I can’t carry you out to your wagon, but you shouldn’t be here. I can’t keep my control much longer. Mary, please. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Please. Think of Silas.”
“I do not love Silas Eustice,” she said clearly, raising her chin. “I’ll never love him. I will never marry him. We’re not engaged. He said to wait for him, and I thought I loved him when he left, but that was years ago, Dan. Years! I’ve grown and changed in that time, and I can see that I never loved Silas the way I do you,” she said simply.
Dan paced across the room, stoking the fire, turning coals and watching them burn and glow. He tried desperately to keep from rushing to Mary to haul her into his embrace. He faced her as she talked.
“If you love me, then we need to talk, because you’ll take all my joy and happiness if you leave Denver. I won’t find it with Silas. It’s you, and it will always be you.”
Her cheeks had become heated and her words slowed. She burned with embarrassment, making such declarations to him while he stood there staring at her.
“Mary, do you know what kind of man takes another man’s woman? His best friend’s woman?” He ground out the words and his face had paled.
Suddenly she felt more certain of what she was doing. “It would have to be the kind of man who is very deeply in love with a woman who loves him deeply in return. I am not Silas Eustice’s woman,” she said firmly, facing his fiery blue eyes. ‘I was never his in any sense of the word. There’s no ring on my finger, and he never possessed me. Nor did he have my heart. Dan, this is so hard. How long are you going to make me stand here and suffer and feel foolish?”
His control vanished, and all thoughts of Silas went along with it. He swore and closed the distance between them to wrap his arms around her and bend his head to kiss her. His mouth came down on hers so firmly she couldn’t breathe, and she loved it. She shrugged her arms free to wrap them around his neck and cling to him as the kiss overcame her. She felt something wet and opened her eyes, leaning back to see that his cheeks were wet.
“Dan!”
He groaned and pulled her to him to kiss her again. She clung to him wildly, knowing in her heart that he loved her. This was her man and she was his woman, and sooner or later he would have to acknowledge it openly.
With his pulse roaring in his ears, Dan held her and kissed her. His control was gone, and he wasn’t going to struggle to get it back, because Mary was the most precious person on earth, and for right now, he was going to do what she wanted. She had sworn she didn’t love Silas, and he would wrestle with that later. At the moment he couldn’t get enough of her—he wanted to kiss her senseless, to touch her and hold her. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her, but he couldn’t talk. His throat was raw, his emotions equally raw.
He wound his fingers in her soft hair and kissed her, feeling her hips move against him. He swung her into his arms and sat down on the sofa, holding her on his lap while he kissed her, running his hand down over her high, small breasts. She gasped and moaned softly as he flicked his thumbs over the peaks of her breasts.
Mary felt his arousal press against her. Her senses spun in a tumbling jumble of emotions and sensations. Joy and desire burned like a flame while Dan stroked and kissed her, and stirred feelings she had never known.
He wanted her so badly, and reason couldn’t be summoned back now, in the heat of passion. Mary was responsive and eager in his arms, so innocent, and he wanted her desperately. He kissed her, his hands going behind her to unfasten the buttons of her dress. Finally he pushed away her dress, and she wore only a simple cotton shift. Her eyes were enormous as he looked at her. “Dan, my knee is scarred from the childhood accident.”
“Do you think that would bother me?” he asked so tenderly her heart swelled with love.
He stood up, his hands on her hips as she stood in front of him. She reached out to tug his shirt out of his pants and pull it over his head. He saw that her shyness and timidity were gone. Her hands played across his chest, and the look she gave him mirrored his scalding need.
He pulled away the chemise, dropping it on the floor, and stood back to look at her, his hands on her hips.
“Mary,” he breathed softly, wanting her. He scooped her into his strong arms and carried her back to his bedroom to place her on his brass bed.
“I love you,” she whispered, watching him. He finished undressing until he was as naked as she, and then he moved close to the bed to stroke her.
“I don’t know anything about this, Dan,” she said hesitantly, her cheeks flaming. “I never…”
“Shh,” he whispered, coming down to pull her into his arms. “Let me show you what’s good when a man and woman really love each other.”
She stroked him, moving back to look at him. His body was golden, muscled, with a mat of golden curls across his chest. His hips were pale in contrast, his legs covered in short blond hair. While her heart pounded violently, she drew her fingers down his chest, over his flat belly, finally touching the most private part of him. She heard his deep intake of breath while she stroked and held him.
“Mary,” he said with another groan, and moved her hands. “Let me touch you,” he whispered. He caressed her, and her eyes closed as his lips met hers. He kissed her passionately. Her senses were stormed as he continued to shower her with kisses, touching her, caressing her until she felt wild with need, a physical yearning she had never known before.
Finally he moved above her, nudging her legs apart with his knee, coming between her smooth thighs. Her heart pounded with joy because this was the love of her life. His gaze raked over her, and her blood thundered in her ears.
She touched him before he came down. His mouth covered hers, his arms holding her, and he thrust slowly into her softness. Mary held back a cry. She felt as if she would burst with him.
“Move your hips,” he whispered. “Put your legs around me, Mary.”
She did, and let out a small cry that was muffled by his kisses as his control vanished. His slender hips thrust swiftly. Suddenly pain was transformed to sensations that rocked her and made her gasp with need. Ecstasy tore at her, and she moved in a frenzy, wanting more, wanting Dan forever, finally crying out softly.
“Mary, love!” he ground out the words in her ear as he held her. “My Mary, my love,” he said, and she tightened her arms around him, clinging to his strong body, yielding in the knowledge she was giving herself forever.
His weight finally came down on her, and he stroked and kissed her, trailing light kisses across her shoulder, her neck, her ear, until he rose to look into her eyes.
“I love you,” he said solemnly.
“And I love you,” she returned, stroking his cheek.
“I have to marry you now,” he said.
“I think maybe you do,” she answered. Wonder filled her at the thought that this marvel of a man loved her.
“Silas may try to kill me, Mary. I don’t want to hurt him.”
“I’ll talk to Silas, but it wasn’t right for us to have to refuse our love over a man who doesn’t really love me. Dan, Silas loves gold.”
“No. He talked by the hour about you. He loves you, Mary.”
“I don’t think he really does. Would you rather go away for years and find a fortune than see the woman you love?”
“No, but that’s different. Your hair is different. It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she answered, having decided hours ago that she wasn’t bringing Dulcie into the conversation. She ran her fingers through his hair and across his shoulder. “I’m so glad you love me. I don’t know how you can. I’m not Louisa Shumacher, but I’m—”
“I’m thankful you’re not Louisa Shumacher, and you’re the most beautiful woman on earth.”
She laughed and stroked his jaw, suddenly burying her face against his throat and crying. Dan held her tightly, stroking her, letting her cry because he understood what she felt. “Ma
ry, I never really knew what love was. I was so captivated by women who were gorgeous that I didn’t look beyond beauty for anything else.”
She lay back, looking up at him, running her finger along his jaw while he talked. He moved beside her, propping his head on his hand and gazing into her eyes with a look that made happiness flood her. “I got to be friends with you, and I realized you were the most important person in the whole world to me. I like to share everything with you. I never talked to Louisa. I never talked to anyone else, for that matter.” He paused and looked down at her. “Will you marry me?”
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him wildly before finally pulling away. “Yes!”
He gazed at her somberly. “So now I have to face Silas.”
“Dan, I don’t love Silas.”
“You would have if I hadn’t come along.”
“You don’t know that for sure, and he may never come back.”
“Oh, hell, Mary. He seemed so damned in love with you, and I know why he felt that way. You’re one in a million. He wants to marry you. He’s doing all that for you.”
“Oh, no, he’s not! He prospecting for himself!”
“Well, he still thinks you’re the most special woman in the world, and I do too.” Dan sat up in bed. Worry filled his voice, but Mary was wrapped in the love he had shown her in the past hour, and she wasn’t worried about Silas. She ran her fingers along Dan’s thigh, amazed that she had the freedom to do so. She delighted in touching him, feeling her cheeks grow warm as she looked at his naked body.
“Mary, you’re not helping the problem.”
“There isn’t a problem. I’m in love with only one man, and that’s that. I don’t know much about what you want, except you said once you wanted a family like you grew up in. Do you want children?”
“Yes. Do you?” he asked, knowing her answer.
“I want them. Lots of them,” she said, drawing her fingers along the inside of his thigh and watching the effect she was having.
“I can see I’m going to have to marry you soon,” he said, catching her hands to hold them. He had intended to make her stop, because he was still worried about Silas, but when she raised her green eyes to meet his, he forgot Silas and the world.
Later Dan lay stretched beside Mary, stroking her, her hair spread over his chest. “Damnation!” he exclaimed, sitting up and nearly tumbling her from the bed. “I have to get you home. If Michael and Brian find you here, I’ll be six feet under, with lilies growing over me!”
She giggled and flounced back on the bed. “No, darling. You’ll be marching to Father Wertly’s with two shotguns aimed at you.”
Dan laughed, suddenly realizing he would have more fun with Mary as his wife than he had ever dreamed possible with Louisa or Melissa. “Mary, I’ve got to tell you something,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“Well, I like women. And I have had one in my life here in Denver, but I won’t be seeing her again after this.”
“Dulcie knows that,” Mary said, stepping out of bed to gather her clothes.
Dan stared at her openmouthed. “How do you know Dulcie knows that?”
“I’ve been to see Dulcie, and she’s been to see me.”
Dan watched her move. She was slender, her skin pale, and her breasts high and small. Her fiery tresses spilled over her shoulders, and she took his breath away and rekindled his desire.
“Mary, come here,” he said in a husky voice.
Mary paused to look at him, her gaze flicking down over him. Her cheeks turned pink as she slowly opened her hands and let her clothing fall back to the floor. As she crossed the room to him, he stepped out of bed to wrap his arms around her.
“You’re beautiful.”
“I’m not, but I will forever love to hear you say so.”
“Yes, you are,” he whispered. “You are absolutely the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. You don’t know what my heart does when I look at you,” he said as she stood on tiptoe to place her lips on his.
Later she lay in his arms in bed. “If I don’t go home, Michael and Brian will find out how late I’ve been here.”
“Yes,” he said in a distracted manner. “Mary, when did you go see Dulcie? And why?”
Mary smiled up at him. “Darling, let us have an understanding right now. We’re finished discussing Dulcie. And I’m not generous where you and other women are concerned. You have to make a decision for all time, Dan.”
“I already have.” He bent down to kiss her. “Mary, we’ll have to talk about a wedding date and whether we should wait to tell Silas first.”
“I could be ancient before Silas returns. We aren’t waiting for him.”
“I think I just lost control of my life,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes. “Oh, Mary, I can’t believe my luck! Suppose he comes home a millionaire. Are you—”
“Don’t ask me again if I’m sure,” she said in a tone he had heard her use with Brian. “After tonight you should know.”
“If we don’t have to wait for Silas, I’d rather not wait long at all. I need you,” he said solemnly, meaning it with all his heart. “I need you so badly, Mary.”
“I want to take long enough to make a dress to be married in.”
“And my family will come. I’ll have to give them enough notice.”
“Next month? In July?”
He nodded in agreement. “And then we’ll go away for a little while. Oh, I’ve forgotten about my houses!”
“You finish the houses, and we’ll be married.”
“No,” Dan said, knowing there was no turning back now. Houses could wait. “I’ll talk to the men about their houses.”
She stepped out of bed and he caught her, pulling her back down, his eyes twinkling. “Where’s the scar from the time Michael shot you with the arrow?”
“Never mind!”
“Let me see,” he said, trying to turn her over while she struggled with him.
She laughed and grabbed him around the neck. “You already know where the scar is!”
He grinned and kissed her, running his hand over her bottom and across the scar.
“You’ll have a worse one from Michael if I don’t go home. Come help with my buttons,” she said, standing up.
He stood and kissed the nape of her neck, lingering, making tingles course through her until she turned to face him. “You’re supposed to do the buttons. You know there’ll be trouble if I don’t get home.”
“If I didn’t want to keep your reputation intact and the friendship of your brothers, I’d keep you here all night.” He gazed down at her solemnly. “That’s what I want, Mary. I want you alone with me, just the two of us, with no interruptions. I want to love you until you’re on fire, make you laugh, make you happy.”
“You will,” she said softly, twisting around to kiss his hand as he fastened her buttons.
“I’d like to take you away somewhere for a wedding trip, where I can have you all to myself. Mary, when we come back, you’ll have to give up the boardinghouse. I can hire someone to run it if you want to keep it going so your Pa will have a place, or we can bring him to live with us.”
“I’d rather keep the place going for now. What will I do all day, Dan? I can keep it going.”
“No. It’s time you had some fun. You’re not running the boardinghouse any longer. Do what you want.”
“Dan, I don’t know the ladies in society.”
“You’ll make nice friends. There are new families coming to town all the time, and you have friends here you’ve known a long time. Now, as much as I hate to, I have to take you home.” He scooped her up in his arms and held her, both of them laughing. “I’d rather take you right back to bed.” He tightened his arms and kissed her, holding her close against him while she clung to him with joy.
She put her head against his shoulder. “I’d rather go right back to bed.”
He groaned. “Mary, don’t put temptation in my way again!”
�
��When have I put temptation in your way?”
“You know damned well what you had in mind when you came to see me.” Her face flamed, and he grinned, his brows arching. “That was exactly what you planned, wasn’t it? Admit it!”
She buried her head against his neck. “I just wanted you to face what we felt, and I wanted to make sure you really love me.”
“And you wanted me to take you to bed,” he teased, feeling as if he could shout with joy and jump in the air.
“Yes,” he heard her say softly, her breath fanning against his neck. She raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. “Yes, I guess I did.”
“You guess?”
“You’re teasing.”
He laughed and kissed her again. “How I hate to take you home.” He swung her up in the wagon, saddled his horse and secured it to the back of the wagon so it would follow them, then climbed up to take the reins from Mary.
At the boardinghouse, Dan sat in the back parlor talking to her until after two in the morning. “I should go, Mary. I suppose Brian is all right, since he’s out with Michael.”
She shrugged. “I don’t worry about him so much with Michael here. They’re together.”
Dan locked his fingers in hers as they walked to the back door. He turned her to face him. “Thank you for coming to talk to me,” he said softly.
She nodded. “I decided I should follow what I feel in my heart.”
He tightened his arms around her waist, his head coming down as he kissed her hard and long. Mary’s blood pounded, and she clung to him, letting him know as much as possible how badly she needed him, how much she wanted his kisses.
Finally desire made him hard and aroused. Mary pushed away. “We should stop, Dan. The boys could come along…”
“Yeah.”
“Come for breakfast.”
“I will, Mary.” He bent down to kiss her ear, whispering, “You’re beautiful.”
“How foolish and wonderful you are,” she whispered in return.
Dan winked and mounted swiftly, knowing he had to go in a hurry. But he felt wound up like a spring, and knew sleep wouldn’t come tonight. He headed toward the saloons, deciding to while away another hour at poker.
