Heart and Home: The MacAllister Brothers

by Barron, Melinda

  “No. I want you to make love to me now.”

  “You mean before you change your mind?”

  “No. Because I don’t want to wait.”

  “This afternoon, you weren’t sure. What changed your mind?”

  Ruby kissed him gently. “You did. I got to thinking about what you said. When I went to bed tonight, I thought about spending my nights with you.”

  “Well then, let me show you to the bedroom.” He took her hand and they started toward the back end of the house. Ruby’s stomach was nervous, but her heart was soaring. Was it really just a week ago when she’d run from her house, knowing that she’d never be happy again?

  And here she was, about to make love with the most wonderful man in the world. When they were in the bedroom, he closed the door behind her and hurried to the bed where he lowered the wick on the lamp. The room was now bathed in soft light, and he pulled back the covers on the bed, then held out his hand.

  “Come to me, Ruby.”

  “If anyone knew I was here, they would brand me a wicked woman.” She went to stand beside him, shivering when he pulled her into his naked chest and kissed her passionately.

  He worked his hands gently up her back, and then went down and back up. She trembled in response, and he kissed her lips, then moved his lips down to her neck.

  “So very beautiful,” he whispered against her skin. “The first time I saw you, when you came into the dining room, do you remember?”

  “Yes.” She shivered again.

  “I thought to myself, that is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I could hardly concentrate on what you were saying because my lower regions were thinking for themselves.”

  “What?” she whispered, and then blushed when she realized what he was saying. “Oh.”

  “And after I spanked you, it was even worse. Being in that close of contact with you almost made me lose all self-control. It’s really the reason that I asked you to stay. I couldn’t stand for you to be away from me.”

  He pulled away from her and began to undo the buttons that held her bodice together. Their gazes locked as his fingers worked. Ruby thought she would lose her mind at the slowness of his fingers. Finally, he stepped back and shook his head with laughter.

  “Help me.”

  “Gladly.”

  They worked together to remove her clothing, until she was down to her shift. She’d never been so naked in front of a man before, and she couldn’t decide if she was more nervous, or more excited.

  He pulled her close and kissed her again.

  “Are you ready to be my wife? Because once I take you, that’s what you’ll be, in body and in mind.”

  “Yes.”

  He gently lifted the shift from her body. When she was standing naked in front of him, he kissed her again, then gently laid her down on the bed, running his hands up and down her sides, stopping just below her breasts.

  When she shivered and moaned, he dropped his mouth to her breast, capturing the firm bud in his mouth.

  “Oh, Corbin. That feels so wonderful.”

  “You have no idea, my love, no idea. Just wait. This is just the beginning.”

  Ruby shivered and moaned as he moved to the other breast.

  “I don’t know what to do.”

  “You need to just lie there and be the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth. Trust me on that.”

  When his hands slipped down below her waist, Ruby thought she would lose her mind. He gently pushed her thighs apart, his tender words about her soft skin making her love him all the more.

  Because that’s what she was feeling, right? It was definitely love? But since it was the first time she’d ever felt it, she wasn’t sure what it felt like exactly. Was it the delicious feeling that was running through her stomach as Corbin was touching her?

  “Oh my, Corbin.”

  “Mine, all mine.” He stroked her tender flesh as Ruby clutched the bedding beneath her. She’d never, ever felt anything so fantastic, so wonderfully perfect in her entire life. His fingers were going where no one had ever gone before, and instead of feeling ashamed of it, or dreading it as she had been when her father had told her she must marry, she felt absolutely incredible.

  “Corbin. Thank you so much for rescuing me. For giving me a place in your life.”

  He rose up above her and her eyes widened as she felt the hard length of him probe at her wetness.

  “You’re welcome, my love.” He pushed inside her gently.

  She gasped at the fullness of him, the incredible feel of his manhood inside her.

  “You’re the most beautiful, most delightful thing I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting in my entire life. I can’t believe that you actually want to be mine.”

  He pushed again, then stopped. She lifted her hips toward him, to encourage him to continue. Instead, he gently stroked her hair.

  “It’s all right,” she said softly. “I know it’s going to hurt.”

  “I don’t want you to hurt anymore than what’s necessary. Are you sure you’re ready for me?”

  “Yes, Corbin, yes. Make me your wife.”

  He kissed her gently, then rained kisses around her neck and shoulders. She relaxed into the soft bed, then her eyes flew open as he pushed past her barrier and buried himself deep inside her. Tears formed in her eyes and leaked onto her cheeks, onto the sides of her head.

  “Corbin.”

  “Hush, my Ruby, that was it. The pain is over. The pain is over.” He kissed her again, then moved his lips up and kissed the tears away from her cheek.

  She sniffled and smiled at him.

  “Is the pain going away, my Ruby delight?”

  “Yes.” And amazingly, it was. The pain was subsiding, and her body was quivering. She felt full, and she felt like she belonged with Corbin.

  He began to move inside her, his hips setting up a slow rhythm that made her ache with need. She wrapped her legs around him and gathered him in her arms.

  “More, Corbin, more.”

  Soon, she felt no pain. She only felt the absolutely incredible length of Corbin, moving in and out of her. If she’d known that he was waiting for her here, not that far from Denver, she would have run away from home long ago.

  He lifted from her, pulling out of her body and she cried out in need. Her cries of anguish turned into cries of pleasure when his fingers began to tease her. They found the most incredible spot, teasing her until she thought she would go crazy.

  “Corbin, what are you… oh… oh… oh…” Her body exploded in pleasure. She’d never felt anything so incredible in her life. Corbin stayed above her, gently working his fingers back and forth through her flesh.

  “Did you like that, my love?”

  “Yes.”

  He moved his fingers and replaced his hardness inside her warmth. He began to move and within moments she heard him utter her name in her ear. She wrapped her arms around him, knowing that he was spilling his seed inside her, wondering if even now they were creating a life together, a life they could love and cherish and raise together.

  “I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “You’re my wife now. Maybe not by law, but in my heart, and I hope, in yours.”

  “Yes, my darling. I’m your wife now. And, soon after the Fourth, the whole world will know.”

  * * *

  The next morning, Ruby felt wonderfully sore. The warm feeling in her body and heart stayed with her through the entire night. At four that morning, Corbin had lifted her from his bed, helped her to dress and walked her back to the hotel.

  She’s snuck upstairs and fallen asleep within minutes. Now, she was walking back downstairs, the wonderful smell of Miss O’Brien’s coffee wafting up the stairs to greet her.

  She went into the dining room and found Vanessa enjoying a cup of coffee.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead. I had begun to wonder if you would sleep the day away.”

  “Hello, Vanessa. What are you doing here?”

  Vane
ssa laughed. “Well, I went to see Corbin, and he said you’d be sleeping late. So, I decided to come and see you, so we could make wedding plans.”

  “Wedding plans? How did you… You’re amazing.”

  Vanessa laughed. “I’d like to think so. Corbin was happier than I’d ever seen him. That meant that the two of you had finally come to your senses. And, when he said you were sleeping late, I knew that meant that you’d spent most of the night with him. Am I right?”

  Ruby put her head in her hands and shook her head, then she looked around for Miss O’Brien.

  “Don’t worry, there’s no one here but the two of us. She had to go to the store for some things and asked me to wait, so that you weren’t here on your own.”

  Ruby sat down and poured herself a cup of coffee.

  “You must think I’m a very loose woman.”

  “No, I think you’re a woman who has fallen for a MacAllister brother. They can be very, very persuasive. I never wanted to fall in love with Win, but I just couldn’t help myself. I’m sure it was the same with Dawn and Rob, and with you, too.”

  “How often does he spank you?” She rushed the words out of her mouth, afraid that if she thought about it too much, she’d be too afraid to ask the question.

  “That depends. He spanks me when I’ve done something that he thinks is bad, and sometimes, well…”

  Ruby laughed. “Yes, Corbin told me there was a difference. It does make me wonder.”

  “You’re going to love it. Now, are we planning a large wedding, or a smaller wedding? Corbin said you wanted to wait until after the Fourth of July. I could see that, but he doesn’t want to wait too long. What date did you have in mind?”

  Ruby laughed, and said maybe the sixth.

  “Then we should see if Josh could order a dress fairly quick. Either that or we need to go into Denver, and I know that you don’t really want to do that.”

  Ruby nodded. “I have to tell everyone the truth at some point. I can’t go on living a lie my entire life. I need to talk to Corbin and see what he says.”

  Vanessa nodded. “We’re baking pies in two days. So today, I think we need to go and look through Josh’s store, see what he has.”

  Ruby nodded. When Miss O’Brien came in about an hour later, Ruby realized that it was close to noon. The ladies ate lunch, and then Vanessa and Ruby headed out toward Josh’s general store.

  Josh was very happy to see them, especially Ruby.

  “Welcome, future sister.” He pulled her into a hug.

  “Does everyone know?”

  “Sure,” Josh replied. “Corbin’s terrible about keeping secrets. He’s already told all of us, so yes, we know. I’m sure you want to look for a dress, right? Come back this way and we’ll see what I have. If you don’t like it, I can always order something from Denver.”

  Ruby and Vanessa looked through the dresses, discussing the pros and cons of each one that she found, trying to decide which one would be the best, and which ones didn’t fit at all.

  They were so busy that they didn’t hear the stage arrive. Ruby was sitting in a chair, giggling when a voice from the doorway stopped her laughter short.

  “You.”

  She looked up at the stagecoach driver.

  “You’re still here? I told the men who asked me that I’d dropped you off here and then you’d gone down to Texas. I guess I told them wrong.”

  “Told who?” Josh said, his eyes widening.

  “Her fiancé. He was looking for her, which I thought was weird. I told him the woman I dropped off was a widow, because the facts didn’t fit, but the photo looked just like her. That’s just so strange.”

  “Well, they say there’s a twin for every person in the world,” Vanessa said with a laugh. “I’m sure you have her confused with someone else.”

  Hank shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. The name he gave me was Ruby, Ruby Parsons.”

  Josh shook his head at Hank, but the look he gave Ruby was anything but friendly.

  “I’m sure it’s a mistake,” Josh said to Hank. “You need to be going, Hank, or you’re going to be late.”

  “True, true. Sorry, I just thought I had it right. Sorry for the confusion.”

  He left through the door, helping the passengers into the stage that were heading back to Denver. When they were gone, Josh wheeled on Ruby.

  “Who are you? Are you lying to my brother?”

  “No,” Ruby said softly. “He knows everything, I promise.”

  Vanessa stood. “I think it’s time for a family meeting. We’ll meet at my house tonight, around seven. And Josh, wipe that look off your face. Ruby’s right, Corbin knows everything about her, and he loves her. So just relax and enjoy the fact that you’re getting a new sister.”

  Ruby thought for a minute or two that Josh would disagree with her, that he would stop Hank and throw her onto the stage to Denver.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?”

  “If Corbin trusts you, then I do, too. I’ll defend you with my life if my brother loves you. But if you’re messing with him, if you’ve lied to him, I’ll hogtie you and take you to Denver myself.”

  Chapter 5

  The room was crowded, and Ruby felt as if she would lose her dinner. Corbin sat next to her, explaining to the others about their meeting, and how he’d figured out that she was on the run, instead of being a widow.

  “How do you know she’s telling the truth?” Josh said. “She could be lying.”

  “Calm down, little brother,” Ben said. “I know it because I got the fliers from Denver with her likeness on it. They were looking for her, and it said that she might be in danger. I checked in Denver and they confirmed her story. So, just take a few steps back and take a deep breath, little brother.”

  Josh sniffed, but his distrust of the entire situation was still written all over his face. Ruby felt it very disconcerting, since he looked exactly like Corbin. She snuggled up to Corbin and he pulled her close to him.

  “It’s okay, baby, relax. But in light of what’s happened, I think we need to move the wedding up, to tomorrow morning.”

  Ruby turned to him. “Excuse me? Tomorrow morning? Do you think that’s wise? How will the people in town react? The preacher? I…”

  “I’ve already talked to Mr. Martindale, the preacher. He’s willing to do the ceremony first thing in the morning.”

  Ruby’s stomach tumbled just a bit. She was excited about becoming his wife, but tomorrow?

  “What happens when everyone in town finds out I’m not really a widow?”

  “Ruby, I don’t care what other people think about us. I will stand behind you, whatever happens. You do believe me, right?”

  “Of course I do, Corbin. I love you.”

  She leaned over and kissed him, then blushed furiously and buried her head in his chest when the room broke out into applause.

  “Tomorrow morning,” Corbin said with a laugh. “Win, I’d like to do it here, if we could.”

  “It would be my pleasure, little brother. We’ll be ready for you around nine, or ten?”

  “Ten would be good, and we’ll be here then.”

  They laughed and joked together, and Ruby loved the way they were together. They were all so comfortable with each other. She couldn’t remember the last time her father had laughed. He was so serious about everything, and there was no laughter in their home.

  Since she’d arrived at Win and Vanessa’s house tonight, there had been nothing but laughter.

  She smiled as she watched them, cuddled close to Corbin. When the party broke up around ten, they decided that they would all arrive at the house early, and that they would invite Miss O’Brien, since she was the reason that they’d gotten together in the first place.

  When they were in the buggy, going back toward the hotel, Corbin cleared his throat.

  “We need to think about a new house. I don’t think you and I should live in the back of the shop. I can borrow money from the bank and we can bu
ild something right outside town. How does that sound?”

  Ruby nodded, then cleared her throat. “Or, we could ask my father for money. He’s got a ton of it.”

  Corbin pulled up on the reins. When the wagon was stopped, he turned to Ruby. “I can’t believe you just said that. The man was going to force you to marry a creep, and you want to ask for money from him? Do you not think I can provide for you?”

  “No, Corbin, no, that’s not what I meant! I just thought it would be nice, to be able to, oh, I don’t know. I didn’t mean it as a disparaging remark against you, though, I promise.”

  He continued to stare at her. She couldn’t quite read his expression. He was either very angry with her, or he didn’t believe a word she’d just said. After a few more moments of silence, he shook his head.

  “No money from your father. Understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “I will provide for us. Understand?”

  “Yes, darling.” She smiled at him and when he returned it, then leaned over and kissed her she knew that she was doing the right thing.

  * * *

  “You could have told me, you know.” Miss O’Brien hugged Ruby close to her. “I wouldn’t have thought any less of you. But then, again, the Lord works in mysterious ways. This was His way of bringing you and Corbin together.”

  Ruby smiled at her. The wedding had been beautiful, and Vanessa’s staff had fixed an absolutely beautiful lunch, along with a delicious cake that they were now enjoying. She couldn’t believe how lucky she’d been. Never in her life had she thought that she’d find some place where she fit in so perfectly.

  She turned to Corbin, who stood with Josh, laughing. He was the most wonderful thing she’d seen in her entire life.

  They finished the meal, and then the two of them decided that it was time for them to head toward the house. They took a carriage back to town, and for the first time since she’d known him, Corbin locked the door of the newspaper office when they came inside. He lowered the shades on all the windows, then wrote out a sign that said, ‘Closed for the day’, and stuck it on the door.

  He took her hand and led her to the backroom. When they were there, Ruby paused.