Sensing her unease, Mitch lowered himself to the ground beside her and pulled her into his arms. "I love you, Kat," he whispered between tender kisses. "Trust me to make it good for you." One hand was in her hair holding her lips to his in a kiss that evaporated the capacity for thought, reason, or fear. All that remained was pure sensation. His other hand was kneading one breast, his thumb teasing the nipple to painful hardness. Katlin turned slightly, inviting equal attention to the other breast as she began arching herself against his hardness. It was the invitation Mitch had been waiting for.
The intensity of the storm increased. Lightning slithered across the sky in jagged almost blinding flashes with ground strikes hitting all around them. The accompanying thunder boomed and crashed almost constantly. Large hail stones began pelting the dome.
Inside, the passion increased with equal intensity.
Mitch moved over Katlin, kissing his way from her shoulder down to her breasts. One hand continued to tease one breast, his fingers rolling the hard bud of her nipple between them, tugging occasionally, while his mouth feasted upon the other breast. His tongue teased at her nipple, his teeth nipped gently, and he pulled her into his mouth and began to suckle her breast until she was gasping for breath.
Mitch released her almost painfully sensitized breast and began trailing his taunting tongue toward her other breast as his hand moved down her stomach into the soft curls between her legs. "Not yet, darlin'. Soon."
His lips latched onto her other breast as his finger slid into her, causing Katlin to arch instinctively into his hand. "You’re so hot and wet for me," Mitch said, sending the vibration of his words into her breast.
"I can't take any more," Katlin gasped.
"Yes, you can," he insisted. His mouth left her nipple, and he kissed the side of her breast. "I’m going to leave my mark on you. Tomorrow, when you look at it, you'll remember tonight and get hot all over again." His hand held her breast securely against his mouth as he bit gently and began to suck hard. He slid another finger into her, stretching her. She was so incredibly hot and tight. He didn't want to hurt her any more than was necessary. Mitch slid a third finger into her and began moving his fingers in and out. Her breathing became more labored, and she began moving with the rhythm of his hand. She was almost there.
"That’s it, Sweetheart," Mitch encouraged. "Don't struggle for it. Just relax, and let it take you." Mitch leaned up slightly on his free arm and watched passion contort her beautiful features. Her mouth was opened as she gasped for breath. He increased the tempo as he pressed his probing fingers deeper into her and began using his thumb to rub the hard little button. "Oh yes," he crooned softly. "That’s it. Cum for me."
And she did. "Oh God," Katlin screamed as her body went rigid and her insides began to contract and clench around his fingers.
Outside the dome, the storm was reaching the peak of its fury.
Inside, the storm of passion was keeping pace. Katlin's climax had proved to Mitch that once he entered her, he wouldn't last long, and when she came again he was determined it would be with him and with more passion than pain.
Not giving her time to recover from her previous climax, Mitch moved down her body. He gently pulled his fingers from her and used both hands to hold her quivering thighs apart and blew a cooling breath on the hot apex of her womanhood.
The shock of his breath between her legs caused Katlin to rear up on her elbows and look down the length of her naked body until their eyes met.
"Welcome back, darlin. Ready for the final round?"
Still breathless and trembling from the after shocks of the first climax, Katlin couldn't believe she'd be capable of another so soon, but, watching him as he bent forward, she now knew better. When his lips touched her she felt as if her insides had been hit by lightning. Gasping in surprise, Katlin's eyes closed, and her head fell back.
"Open your eyes, Kat," Mitch insisted. "I want to watch you watching what I'm doing to you." His tongue snaked out and began to flick at the little bud, the female counterpart to a penis. Katlin began to moan helplessly as she felt herself begin to build toward another climax, more intense and demanding than the one before. She felt his teeth clamp onto her, and then he began to alternately suck and tease with the tip of his tongue. Sensation began washing over her in heated waves.
She was almost there.
"Oh God, Mitch, don't stop."
He stopped.
Mitch moved over her, and she felt the rigid hardness of him pressing against her.
"I love you," Mitch reassured her as he pushed into her barely an inch. Katlin stiffened, surprised at the stretching, pulling sensation which wasn't as much painful as it was uncomfortable. Mitch gritted his teeth, remaining motionless as he gave her body time to adjust. "Relax, sweetheart," he crooned softly then leaned down to kiss her, supporting himself on his elbows.
Katlin could taste herself on his lips. He flexed his hips and slid a bit deeper into her.
"You’re so tight and so hot," he whispered as he pressed forward a bit more.
"s he'd told her, Katlin forced herself to relax the tension in her body. He felt so big and so hard as he stretched her to accommodate him. She was sure there was no way she'd be able to take all of him, but, as uncomfortable as Katlin felt at that moment, she still wanted more. She began to squirm beneath him.
"More?" he asked then pulled almost all the way out of her.
"No," she cried in protest, and he slid forward again, deeper this time.
"Wrap your legs around me," Mitch instructed. Without hesitation, Katlin wrapped her legs around his hips, her action pulling him deeper into her until he came up against the restriction.
Katlin didn't know if she was in heaven or hell, and, at this point, she didn't much care as he began a smooth, steady motion, pulling almost all the way out then pressing back in just short of breaking through the barrier of her virginity. Despite the stretching sensation, she felt herself begin to build again. It wasn't enough.
Mitch had hoped he'd prepared her enough that the slow, gentle pressure against her maidenhead would be enough to cause it to give way easily, but, like Katlin herself, the membrane proved to be tough and resilient. He didn't want to hurt her, but he was afraid it was going to be unavoidable. She was moving against him, and Mitch was afraid he was going to go off without finishing the job.
Taking hold of her hips to hold her steady, he increased the rhythm of his thrusts, always stopping short of breaking through. Katlin's head was turning from side to side, her teeth biting into her bottom lip, and her finger nails were biting into the flesh of his back as she continued to climb toward a climax she despaired of ever reaching.
"Now, Mitch."
"I don't want to hurt you."
"I don't care. I need all of you . . . now."
"t that point, Mitch couldn't have stopped if his life had depended upon it. Gritting his teeth, he pulled himself almost all the way out. Reaching down to where their bodies joined, he began rubbing the hard little nub until she began to spasm around him. Only then did he lunge forward, ripping through the final barrier separating them, filling her with every inch of him.
Lightning crashed into the dome from every direction. Flashes slithered over and around the invisible barrier until they were enclosed inside a gigantic ball of lightning.
Katlin screamed as the intense orgasm hit. The gripping spasms inside her clutched and pulled at Mitch's fully imbedded erection, milking him until he threw his head back and, mingling with crashing booms of thunder, roared with the intensity of his own release. How long they remained suspended in time and space, caught in the grip of their cataclysmic orgasms, they'd never know.
After what seemed like an incredibly long period of time, Mitch laid his body upon hers, careful to support most of his weight on his arms as he waited for his pounding heart to slow to a less frightening level. "Dear God in heaven," he gasped.
"Are we alive?" Katlin whispered in his ear, sure at any moment
she'd go into cardiac arrest.
"If we're not, I died a happy man."
Chapter Twelve
Her back hugging the wall, Sarah Westfield carefully descended the stairs, hoping the sound of the storm raging outside would cover any tell-tale squeaks from the wood beneath her bare feet. The sound of raised voices coming form the parlor were becoming louder, the words more distinguishable. She paused, four steps from the bottom, attempting to keep her breathing slow and steady, fearing the sound of her labored breathing would give away her presence. She was scared to death but she latched onto the strength Katlin had sensed she still possessed and did what she had to do. She listened.
"Damn it, boy, can't I trust you to do anything right?" Richard Westfield roared.
"You can't blame me for this mess," Rick shouted back. "I had the old man taken care of, didn't I? Mitch would have been out of our way too, if that bitch hadn't shown up."
"Well, she did show up, didn't she? If Mitch marries her tomorrow, this piece of paper won't be worth a plug nickel."
Sarah felt her breath catch. She put her hand over her mouth, and her heart began to race. There was something in writing. Something which might incriminate the men who had taken control of her life and her father's home. Somehow, she had to get her hands on that paper, a piece of paper which could well be her key to freedom.
"No wedding will be taking place tomorrow," Rick informed his father. "The bride won't be making an appearance."
"What do you have planned, Rick?"
"Nothing you need be concerned about. Just accept that the bitch will be removed, and then Mitch will be taken care of."
"And you think Ben Thompson will just stand by and let this all happen? My God, you're an even bigger fool than I thought you were."
Sarah jumped when a glass shattered against the other side of the wall behind her.
"I've taken about all I'm going to take from you, old man. You're hardly in a position nor the condition to take me on. I'm in control now," Rick threatened, his words slightly slurred from the alcohol he'd consumed.
Sarah swallowed, feeling slightly sick to her stomach. Rick's drunken condition did not bode well for her. She could only pray he'd pass out before he decided he wanted her.
"I’m your father, boy. Don't you ever forget that. Everything I've done has been for you."
Rick snorted with disgust and laughed outright. "Who are you trying to kid? Everything you've done has been to prove something to the rich family back east that kicked you out and disowned you. I just happen to be the one who's going to benefit."
Richard didn't respond immediately, and Sarah feared Rick might stalk from the room any moment now. She'd raised one foot up onto the next step intent upon making her escape before she was discovered. Richard's voice, much lower in volume, halted her.
"What ever you might think, son, we're in this together, and we are running out of time. I just don't want you to do something that might ruin all our plans."
"I know what I'm doing, and I have it under control. If Thompson gets in my way, I'll have him eliminated too."
"A gunfighter with Ben Thompson's reputation? You might find that easier said than done."
"It’s rumored that John Wesley Harden is fast enough to take Thompson. I happen to know Harden is due to arrive in Abilene soon. Harden's gun can be bought."
"All right, you've thought things through, and you have a contingency plan for Thompson. That's good, real good, but Thompson isn't our immediate problem. The woman is."
"And I told you I'd take care of her."
"I know you, Rick. You want her."
"So?"
"So, confine your sexual activities to your wife and the whores in town. Have her taken out permanently before she can mess things up more than she already has. She's a Pinkerton "gent for Christ's sake and a whole lot of trouble we can't afford."
"Confine my sexual activities to whores and my wife? Is that what you did, old man?'
There was an extremely long, incriminating pause before Richard asked, "What are you suggesting?"
"Does the name Ellen Cameron ring a bell?'
"gain another long pause. "What does Mitch's mother have to do with any of this?"
"I’d say she has quite a bit to do with it. You wanted her. You hated Daniel because she chose him, so you took her. You ransacked the cabin and planted the Comanche medicine bag to make it look like Indians were responsible for her disappearance."
"How...?"
"How did I know? When you had the fever a few years back, you talked out of your head. I know everything."
Sarah held her breath, waiting for Richard's response. It didn't come.
"What? Nothing to say?" Rick taunted. "What I don't know is . . . how long you played with Daniel's wife before you killed her?"
Feeling the bile rise up in her throat, Sarah was sure she was going to be sick on the stairs, giving herself away. Thankfully, the sound of thunder covered her hasty retreat up the stairs to the dubious safety of the bedroom.
* * * *
The violent part of the storm had passed. The torrential downpour had tapered off to a light summer shower, rain drops hitting the dome then sheeting down the sides like rain against a huge window pane. Lightning bolts no longer speared down into the ground but now danced around in the clouds in jagged streaks and bright flashes.
After they'd made love, Mitch reluctantly left Katlin long enough to unsaddle and secure the horses and to get their bedrolls. Katlin would have helped, but when she attempted to stand, her legs were quivering so badly they gave out on her. So there she sat, weak as a kitten, an incredibly contented kitten, getting turned on again as she watched him go about the task of unsaddling the horses, totally unselfconscious in his nudity.
Katlin's stomach did a little flip-flop when, illuminated by lightning flashes, he braced his legs and reached up to lift the saddle from her mare's back. The muscles in his thighs bunched, his tight buttocks clenched, and the corded muscles of his back and arms flexed. Katlin felt a twinge of longing between her legs, and she found it hard to breathe. She was so intoxicated by the sight of him she couldn't think of the words to describe how she saw him. For the first time in Katlin's life, she thanked God for making her female. She even relished the sensations of weakness and vulnerability.
If she accomplished nothing else in this time, Katlin knew she had succeeded beyond her wildest dreams because she'd found the missing part of herself which made her whole . . . Mitch.
As Mitch hefted the saddle from the Appaloosa, he was attempting to think of something mundane or boring in an effort to diminish his erection. It wasn't working. Even thinking about mucking out the stables at ranger headquarters didn't work.
Without looking in Katlin's direction, Mitch knew she was watching him. He could feel her eyes on him, visually stroking his heated flesh, and damned if his body was responding despite his effort to cool his ardor.
"s much as he'd hated to leave her side in order to tend to the horses and get the blankets, he'd forced himself to do so. Not so much because it needed to be done, but if he hadn't, he'd have made love to her again before she'd had time to recover from the first time. He'd hurt her, and, even though it had been unavoidable, just knowing he'd caused her pain made his gut clinch painfully.
Mitch had suspected making love to Katlin would be an experience unlike anything he'd ever known, but not even in his wildest erotic fantasies could he have imagined the soul shattering reality of their joining. In the past, he'd considered his sexual experiences with other women to be good and mutually satisfying, but what he'd found with Katlin reduced them to nothing more than two people using the other's body to achieve their own physical release. He saw it now as a singular act with no more emotional impact than using his own hand to achieve the same goal.
In the instant of their cataclysmic orgasms, they'd come together not only in body but in mind and spirit. She had become the part of him that made him feel whole for the first time i
n his life.
"s Mitch approached her with the blankets, Katlin was almost overcome with the desire to indulge in a sexual act she'd never have believed herself capable of performing. When he'd spread the blankets upon the ground just inside the dome's perimeter, Katlin wordlessly moved onto the blanket in front of him. Reaching out, she took his erection in her hand and leaned forward to run her tongue from the base up to the tip where she placed a kiss. He tasted slightly salty and very male. It wasn't at all unpleasant as she'd expected it might be. In fact, the taste of him was more of an aphrodisiac which touched off a fire between her legs.
"s he'd done when lifting the heavy saddles from the horses, Mitch planted his legs slightly apart, the muscles in his legs bunched, his buttocks clenched, and a deep guttural groan escaped him.
Before she could take the act any further, Mitch reached down, laced his fingers through her hair, and tilted her head up so she met his heated gaze. "Kat, you don't have to do this."
"You don't like it?"
"Damn it, I'm a man. Of course I like it," he expelled with a moan as she tightened her hand around him and squeezed gently. "I don't ever want you to feel you have to do something you might be uncomfortable with just because you think it's something I might like."
"Who says I'm doing it for you?" Katlin pulled him downward slightly for better position and swirled her tongue around the tip of him then took him into her mouth. Placing her free hand on his thigh for support, she could feel his hard muscle quivering beneath her palm. The knowledge that she could reduce the man she loved to such a quivering mass filled her with such a heady sense of power it inflamed her further, and she increased her stroking, sucking efforts. She was determined to bring him to his knees as he had with her.
The Bond Unbroken Page 23
