“Well, both of us if you’d like.”
“I’d like that very much.”
Jenny felt as if her heart were about to burst. It was such a small thing really, sending him a photograph from time to time. But it was a connection. And maybe, as months passed into years he’d agree to meet them somewhere. Lily would have forgotten him, but she could become acquainted with the nice man Mama knew. Of course, Lily would know nothing about their brief marriage, even if it were never dissolved. It came to her then that Jason had said nothing more about it, and time was running out--unless he planned to have the marriage annulled while in Black Hawk, and that was why he wanted her with him. She had no intention of asking him though. If there were a way to consummate the marriage between here and Black Hawk she’d do it, if only to tie him to her forever.
She glanced up at him. “Could we stay overnight in Central City? It’s not more than a mile up the hill from Black Hawk and I’d love to spend a night at the Teller House Hotel. It’s supposed to be luxurious. We could take two rooms and look around the town a bit, sort of a last goodbye.”
Eyes focused ahead, Jason said, pragmatically, “We have no clothes for overnight.”
Jenny realized he wasn’t turning down the idea of staying overnight in Central City, only the logistics of putting it together. “I have everything I need for Lily—several changes of clothes, her blanket, diapers. She can sleep in my bed with me. And I can get by in my camisole and drawers for the night. And you don’t need... anything.”
“I suppose we could.”
His words set Jenny's heart pumping at a rate that scared her. Could a heart explode? If so, hers, she felt, was in danger of doing so.
They ordered the ore wagons, completed their business in Black Hawk, and after a mile-long climb to Central City, arrived at the Teller House—a magnificent four-story hotel with ninety sleeping rooms. Jason checked them in, explaining their lack of luggage due to an unplanned overnight stay, and Mr. and Mrs. Jason Colby were ushered to a suite consisting of one splendid bedroom with an equally splendid adjoining parlor. Although Jason asked for a two-bedroom suite, none were available. A bellboy brought in a crib for Lily, placed it in the bedroom and left the suite. Jenny stared at the elegant double bed with its headboard covered in silk brocade. The bedding beneath the covers would surely be silk as well. The image that came to mind on seeing that big bed took her breath away and sent her heart pumping in its usual frantic cadence when she imagined then together.
Jason opened the drapes. “I’ll sleep on the sofa in the parlor," he said.
Jenny smiled. “And I’ll try not to feel guilty sleeping between silk bedding while you’re banished to a sofa," she replied. Although her words were in jest, she knew, with absolute certainty, that she would not sleep alone in that silk-covered bed. Before morning, their marriage would be sealed, and she would be Mrs. Jason Colby in every sense of the word.
***
Jenny stared at her image in the long viewing mirror in the fitting room of the dress salon and saw Jason’s reflection staring back. He sat behind her, with Lily on his lap, and the look on his face was intense, unwavering, and deep. Their gazes came together and lingered, and the silent union was like an intimate caress that filled her being, until Jenny imagined them united in mind as they would soon be united in body.
The spell was broken when Lily reached up and patted Jason’s face, drawing his attention to her little hand, which he pressed to his lips in a tender kiss.
Jason had already purchased a suit for dining at the Teller House, and he insisted Jenny have the most beautiful gown they could find in Central City, and she didn’t argue. This would be Jason’s night to look back on after she was gone, and if wearing a gown with a neckline so low it could tempt the devil himself was what it took to lure her husband into her bed and keep the memory of her in his heart forever, then that’s exactly what she’d wear. She intended to make this particular night a night that neither of them would forget... Ever.
“Which one do you like best, love?” she asked Jason’s reflection in the mirror. “This one—" she pointed to where the dress dipped low on her bosom and gave him a seductive smile "—or the blue and gold—" she gestured to the sales woman, who held a brilliant blue silk gown with gold trim.
Jason smiled. “Sweetheart, you already know the answer to that.” He was still playing the marriage game, but for the first time since their wedding, Jenny felt truly married to him. Perhaps because she knew that by dawn she would be.
“The green it is then,” she announced. She caught the curious look in the sales woman’s eye and explained, “My husband wants everything I wear to match my eyes.”
“Like the emerald in your beautiful ring,” the woman said.
Jenny extended her hand, sending tiny points of light flashing off the diamonds and brilliant sparks flickering in the emerald. “My husband spoils me and I love him for it.” She gave Jason a sultry smile, intended to fan the embers of his desire. One corner of his mouth tipped up, and from the glimmer in his eyes, there was no question where his thoughts had strayed.
“I think he spoils his little daughter as well,” the woman said, smiling at Lily, who clutched a china doll dressed in a similar outfit to the one Lily was wearing—a frilly white bonnet edged in lace and a white dress with miniscule pleats down the front. Something Jason insisted on buying.
“My husband is also a doting father.” Jenny walked over to Jason and bent low, giving him a fine view of her bosom, and when he looked up, she kissed him on the lips. Looking at him, she said, “I’m a very lucky woman.”
Jason pressed her palm to his lips. “My wife has learned to play her role well; she knows how to get from me everything she wants.”
Jenny brushed her thumb across his lips. “Maybe not quite everything, my love, but I intend to work on that.” Jason looked decidedly uncomfortable with her innuendo, and she reminded herself to be a little more subtle in her seduction of her husband or he was apt to cool his ardor in the hotel gaming room tonight rather than in her bed.
Two hours later, with Lily in their suite in the care of a woman attendant, Jason and Jenny sat in the elegant dining room of the Teller House and dined on an exquisite meal of creamed oysters in pastry, mountain grouse in plum sauce, braised mallard with sautéed mushrooms, poached artichoke hearts, honey-glazed carrots, and a variety of relishes, puddings, pastries and bread stuffs. Sitting facing each other at a small table, Jenny took a slow sip of wine and peered over the rim of the crystal goblet at Jason, and said, “You look very handsome.”
Jason's mouth twitched with her admiring comment. “I feel like a damned dandy, but it’s worth it to see you looking so happy.”
“No dandy ever looked that good, love, or filled his suit out as splendidly.”
“If you’re trying to seduce me, woman, you’re doing a hell of a job. But it’s not a very good idea, for obvious reasons.”
Jenny smiled. “Then I’ll insult you instead and talk about the first time I saw you after Lily was born, the day I was receiving visitors in my cabin. You were so arrogant and self-assured that I was determined to despise you forever. And I remember how silly you looked standing there holding that little pink pillow with the lacy trim.”
Jason gave her a one-sided smile. “I wasn’t aware that my presence amused you.”
“Well, it did.” Jenny gazed across the flickering candle at him. “But when you looked into my eyes and took my hand to seal our wager, you near took my breath away. I thought you the handsomest man I’d ever seen.”
That little glint of fire came back into Jason's eyes. “And when I saw you sitting in that rocker, with your unbound hair, and your skin looking like porcelain, and your beautiful eyes staring at me like a cat watching its prey, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. You also heated my blood like no woman ever had.”
Jenny speared an oyster with a tiny fork and curved her lips around it, drawing Jason’s attenti
on to her mouth. She chewed thoughtfully and touched her napkin to her lips. “So I heated your blood,” she mused. “You gave no indication." But her saucy smile told him differently.
“I was thunderstruck. My brain was mush.” Jason dipped his wine goblet toward her and said with a dry smile, “Another part of me was anything but mush.”
“I didn’t notice,” Jenny said. But the flush rising up her face contradicted her words.
Jason’s mouth twitched with a knowing smile, which faded when he looked at her across the table, and said in a low, husky voice, “I was also wrong. Tonight I’m looking at the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Jenny stared across the table at him and said in a tone intended to give him pause for thought, “Then, my love, I’ve succeeded in my objective, because I don’t want your eyes to stray to any other woman in this room.”
Jason's gaze settled on the swell of her bosom pushing up from the daringly-low bodice of her gown. “My eyes won’t stray to any other woman... ever,” he said.
Jenny raised a hand to stifle a giggle. “I won’t always be a nursing mother, spilling out of my gown like a loose-tailed hussy,” she said. “But maybe when your memory begins to fade, that’s what you’ll remember most about me. So I suppose this gown has served its purpose.”
Jason looked at her so intently she feared she hid nothing from him, least of all the love for him smoldering in her heart. He reached across the table and took her hand. “I can assure you, Jenny, your breasts are not what I’ll hold in my memory. What I’ll remember is the loving warmth in your heart and what a devoted mother you are to Lily.”
Jenny looked at him searchingly. “That means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
“It means everything.”
“You had a sad childhood,” she said in a wistful tone, not expecting a response .
To her surprise, instead of dismissing her comment Jason replied, “I grew up with a mother who couldn’t stand the sight of me. She never held me, never kissed me, rarely touched me unless to fix a scraped knee or shove a cloth in my face to stop a bloodied nose so she could send me off, out of her sight again.”
Jenny sat in stunned silence as she pictured the sad little boy she’d often sensed lurking inside Jason. “How could any mother be that way? I don’t understand.”
Jason shrugged. “I was conceived through rape. My father was an outlaw, wanted for multiple robberies and murder. When my unmarried mother turned up with child her family booted her out and she turned to prostitution. When I was fifteen I saw my father’s face on a WANTED poster and finally understood why my mother couldn’t stand to look at me. She kept seeing her rapist’s face in mine.”
“But that’s in the past. It has no bearing on us. You are a good father to Lily and a good husband to me, even if we don’t share a bed. And if you let me love you like a wife, we can put it behind you.”
Jason looked at her and shrugged. “I have put it behind me.”
“Then what more is there is for you to hide from?” Jenny asked.
“There’s a hell of a lot more, which is why I intend to have our marriage annulled at the courthouse tomorrow, and see you and Lily on a stage next week.”
Jenny said nothing. By tomorrow their marriage could no longer be annulled. But for now, she’d seduce her husband into believing it would be, until it was too late. She gave him a hopeful smile. “If it’s all behind you then let’s finish this delicious meal so you can spin me around the dance floor and give me a chance to show off my gown.”
Jason smiled, but the smile never reached his eyes, and Jenny knew his thoughts were where hers were. On the image of her and Lily on a stagecoach that would take them away from him forever.
A half hour later, with little awareness of the passage of time, Jenny found herself in Jason’s arms as he attempted to guide her around the dance floor. It never occurred to her that the man couldn’t dance. But then, where would the son of an outlaw and a prostitute learn to dance? “Just hold me close, love, and pretend we’re dancing on a cloud somewhere in heaven.”
Jason tightened his arm around her and Jenny rested her head against his chest, and to the soft strains of After the Ball is Over, she began humming softly. Jason rested his cheek against the top of her head, and his hand began moving idly up and down her spine. She felt the sting of tears that came with the thought that she’d probably never dance with him again. But she refused to let him know. Tonight was their night, and she wouldn’t spoil it with pointless tears.
Jason drew their clasped hands close against his chest. “I don’t know how I’m going to keep my hands off you tonight,” he whispered against her forehead, “but I'll do it, if I have to sleep in the hallway outside our rooms.”
“I’ll try to make it easy on you,” Jenny lied, then tucked her head beneath his chin and tightened her fingers around his.
After four more dances, they gave up trying and returned to their suite. Jason dismissed the woman attendant and shrugged out of his dinner jacket, while Jenny went into the bedroom to check on Lily. “She’s sleeping like a lamb,” she announced.
When she turned, Jason was standing in the doorway, staring at her. Light from the wall sconce threw curious shadows across his face, heightening the intensity in his eyes, eyes that glowed with undisguised desire. Her gaze fixed on his and became their mirror, and she wondered if he was enduring the same painful ache in his heart that she felt in hers. She walked up to him, placed her hands on his chest and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Thank you for a lovely evening,” she said. “I don’t want it to end.”
Jason took her hands in his. “I don’t want it to end either,” he said, “nor do I want to sleep in the hallway. So you need to close yourself in this room and I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“Yes, you’re right, but first—" Jenny turned her back to him "—help me out of this dress. There is no way I can unfasten the buttons myself.” When she’d put the dress on, the woman attendant had helped her.
“I’ll call for the attendant,” Jason said, arms at his sides.
“Nonsense. I know your fingers are big, but the buttons should slip right out of the loops. Then you can make your nest on the sofa,” she said lightly, as if all she was asking of him was to be nothing more than a dressing attendant, when in fact she had far more planned for her husband this particular night, if she could just get him to cooperate.
Jason said nothing as his hands moved up to release the top button... and the next... and the next. Jenny could feel his hot breath on her back as the dress began to fall open. When he’d released the last button, she pushed the dress off her shoulders and it slipped to the floor. He did not move away as she started unfastening the hooks on her corset. When it dropped to the floor, she tugged on the silk lacing of her chemise and let the panels part, leaving her standing bare-breasted and staring at him in the long mirror facing her. For a few moments he stood staring at her, his hands on her bare shoulders. Then he bent his head and kissed the side of her neck and along her shoulder. She felt her chest rising and falling with her labored breaths, and saw the deep longing in her own eyes as he moved his hands to cup her breasts and began to gently, and purposefully awaken her body to his touch…
She turned in his arms, and with single-minded resolve started unfastening the buttons of his shirt. As the shirt parted, she ran her hands over the muscular contours of his chest and sent a path of kisses where her palms had been. Pushing the shirt from his shoulders, she dragged it down his arms and it dropped to the floor. Then her fingers moved to his trousers...
In an instant he dragged them down his legs and tossed them aside, then scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom where he laid her on the bed, then stretched alongside her. He kissed a rosy crest, teasing it with the tip of his tongue until her breath grew rapid. He moved to the other breast. As he suckled, soft moans reverberated in her throat. Jenny shivered involuntarily as he began making little patterns across her breast, an
d in the lamplight that flickered against his muscular body, she saw his male member growing large and thick and solid. She swallowed hard, the sight of him like an aphrodisiac. Hot tears of longing burned her eyes, and a fiery ache throbbed in her loins.
She didn't realize she was staring blatantly until he said, "What you're ogling is the cross we men must bear."
"No longer," Jenny said, curving her hand around his hardened shaft. She began moving her hand in slow, sensuous movements, and as she did, his breath grew heavy.
"Enough," he said, removing her hand. With the tip of his tongue he traced the swirl inside her ear. The rush of his breath in her ear made Jenny feel as if an uncontrolled fire was raging inside her, and when he started a meandering path down her neck, she writhed against the silk sheets, and said, in a ragged voice, "You're driving me wild."
He stopped what he was doing long enough to say, "That's my intent," then continued downward, making little patterns over her breast, flicking his tongue on a tight bud before making his way down her body, concentrating on the parts of her that brought gasps of passion exploding from somewhere deep inside her, and moans of ecstatic pleasure escaping her lips.
"I never knew the marital act could be like this," Jenny said in a whispered gasp.
Again Jason paused to reply, "I know. But it gets better. But before I go further, I want to make sure you're ready for me."
"I'm ready now, love. God, how I'm ready."
Saying nothing more, Jason moved on top of her, and slowly slipped inside her, and between the silken bedclothes, Mr. and Mrs. Jason Colby became united as man and wife...
A few hours later, they were awakened by Lily’s cries. Jenny stirred in the warm cocoon of Jason’s embrace. He kissed the curve of her shoulder and said, “I’ll get her,” then crawled out of bed, displaying the full length of his glorious naked body before slipping into his drawers. He fetched Lily and brought her to Jenny, who sat up in bed in a nest of rumpled silk, and took Lily to her breast.
As Lily nursed, Jason trailed a finger down the length of Jenny’s arm and said, “I could have stopped us. Now we can’t swear before a judge and have our marriage annulled. It would have been so simple.”
Colby's Child Page 17
