by Merry Farmer
“The buttons are on the back,” she whispered when he kissed his way to her neck.
“Then you’d better turn over,” he said, nibbling at her pulse.
There was more in his tone than simple directions. Skin tingling, Bonnie rolled to the side, then to her stomach. Her skirts twisted around her legs, restricting her. Rupert traced his hands up her sides, sending shivers through her, then worked his way down the buttons at her back. He didn’t stop there. Once he’d pushed her dress down her shoulders, he picked at the pins holding up her hair. As it came loose, he brushed his fingers through, sending cool waves of it tumbling over her shoulder.
She felt him adjust his stance, bracing his knees on either side of her, before he lifted her enough to unhook the fastenings of her corset. Bonnie braced herself on her arms, back arching as he pulled the garment away. She was still trapped in her dress from the waist down, but with her corset gone and her chemise quickly following, her breasts hung free. But not for long. Still crouched behind her, Rupert reached around to cradle them. His possessive touch felt so good that her arms nearly gave out. She ground her hips into the bed as he squeezed and teased her. He lightly pinched her nipples, and she gasped.
“You were always so responsive,” he murmured against her ear. “You always liked everything I wanted to do to you.”
She made a wordless sound of delicious agreement, though what her heart wanted to say was that she had only ever enjoyed what he had done to her, that he’d never asked for things she didn’t want, unlike the men who’d used her in those dark days. Only with Rupert had she given herself willingly.
He released one of her breasts and trailed his hand down over her belly, burrowing into the thatch of curls between her legs. He knew just where to reach, just how much pressure to use to have her giddy with pleasure and expectation.
“There are so many things I want to do to you,” he whispered, harsher, more dangerous, kissing the top of her neck. “Things I’ve dreamed about for years.”
His fingers curled possessively over her, claiming her sex even as he pleasured her. He teased one in and out of her opening, already slick with his seed. She surged against him, wanting more.
He continued to tease her, alternating between penetrating her and circling the nub of her pleasure. The desperate ache built again so fast that she was certain she’d burst into throbbing any moment. Then he surprised her by shifting again, pulling away, bracing his hands against the bed as he adjusted. She nearly whimpered with the loss until he began kissing his way down her back.
It was a revelation. Her back was not a part of her she considered sensuous, but with each feather light kiss, each flick of his tongue, she found herself burning in ways she had never known. He continued moving down, tugging her dress with him. When he reached the small of her back, his weight lifted from the bed entirely. He caressed her hips, lifting them so he could pull her dress out from under her, then whisked it off of her legs.
She wanted to peek over her shoulder to see what he would do now that she was naked before him, but the excitement of not knowing thrilled her. She relaxed, taking her weight off of her arms and resting against his bedspread. The moment of softness lasted for only a moment before he grabbed her calves and spread her legs apart. She gasped, hot but shivering, as he spread her wider. It felt so unusual to be exposed that way while lying on her stomach that every sensation, every brush of his fingertips over her legs, was heightened.
“You’re beautiful all over,” he growled, fitting himself between her legs and balancing himself above her. The light hair of his chest barely brushed her back. “Remember when I used to take you like this?” he asked, nuzzling her neck.
She nodded, sighing from the special part of her soul she’d kept locked away for him. She pressed her backside up against him, gasping with delight to find his staff hard again. He teased her by rubbing himself against the cleft of her backside, but she knew he wouldn’t take the liberty of invading her that way unless she asked for it.
“Do you remember the time I had you bent forward over the armchair?”
Her body throbbed in response to the memory. He’d filled her so deeply and fully from a position similar to this that she thought he would merge right into her. She closed her eyes and reached to bring back every heady, blissful emotion she could remember from those days when everything was new.
Her eyes popped open with a sharp breath as he thrust into her wet, waiting sex. Again, he’d invaded her unexpectedly, and again she cried out with how wonderful it felt. He moved slowly and deliberately inside of her, but only for a few thrusts. Then he surprised her by rocking back, taking hold of her hips, and flipping her to her back.
The sight of him fully naked and heavily aroused atop her sent Bonnie’s heart into a frenzy. She opened herself to him in every way and her skin tingled as he drank in the sight of her. In those horrible days after everything between them fell apart, she loathed having any man stare at her body. But the way Rupert raked his hungry gaze over her, feasting unashamedly on those private parts of her, was heavenly. Especially when his hands and mouth followed where his eyes led.
He adjusted himself above her, sweeping a hand up her side to cradle her breast, then bending down to close his mouth around her. She writhed in pleasure as he licked her nipple to a hard point, moving restlessly under him as he had his fill, then switched to her other breast. He planted kisses on her belly, let his fingers trail south to stoke the fires of her desire even higher, but even he couldn’t last forever.
“I want to make love to you for hours,” he sighed at last, shifting to position himself between her legs. “But I can’t. I need you this way too much. I can’t hold back.”
He plunged into her again. She was more than ready. This time, both naked, skin sliding against skin as they mated and merged, Bonnie was so filled with joy that she nearly laughed. She’d waited so, so long to feel pleasure like this again, and as he stretched and moved inside of her, so perfect, she could only throw her head back and cry out for him. She wrapped her arms around him, fingertips digging into his muscles, as he took her as fully and passionately as he wanted.
When at last he tensed in climax for a second time, she was wound so tight that she burst herself. The perfect synchronicity kept them soaring at the heights of pleasure for longer than Bonnie thought possible. When at last they both collapsed, beyond spent, it was all she could do to lay beneath him, catching her breath. He was hers, in every way. He was her husband, and she was his wife. She could run from that, but it would always be true.
Chapter 6
Bonnie awoke to the faintest hint of dawn light breaking through Rupert’s curtains the next morning. After the adventure of the night before, she’d slept soundly against his side. A smile danced across her lips as those memories filtered into her slowly-waking mind. Rupert was right—passion had never been a problem with them.
She stretched and rolled to her back, ready to dream about all the directions they could go from there. Everland was a lovely little town…
Her smile stiffened. She couldn’t move to Everland. She had people depending on her back in Haskell. None of her girls were ready to take over her Place, even if such a thing was possible. Her own, foolish mistakes aside, she felt a huge amount of pride in being able to help the women who no one else wanted to help. Bonnie’s Place was more than just her business, it was her life’s work.
She rolled to her other side, facing away from Rupert and gathering the bedsheets close to her chest. Rupert likely wouldn’t move to Haskell. She couldn’t possibly demand that he did. When his life had hit rock-bottom, it was Skipper King and their construction business that had pulled him back up. Rupert’s business was his life, his identity. No one could miss the spark in his eyes when he talked about it. And King Cole Construction was firmly a part of Everland.
Bonnie’s smile disappeared completely. She swallowed the hard lump that had formed in her throat. This wouldn’t work. There was no pos
sible way she and Rupert could be together. Their lives had grown so much and in completely opposite directions since the last time she walked out on him. It had hurt her to leave then. She’d known that he wouldn’t be able to survive unless she left. The same was true now. If she didn’t leave, they would fight. They would argue over whether she should leave her whole world or he should leave his. He would demand she cut her girls loose, and if she did, who knew where they would end up?
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t leave her girls high-and-dry just because she was in love. And she was in love. Always had been. Always would be. There would never be anyone else for her but Rupert. The great tragedy of her existence was that the one man she’d given her whole heart to years ago was the one man she could never be with.
Careful not to wake him, Bonnie slipped out of bed. The dawn light barely illuminated the room, but it was enough for her to find her clothes and silently slip them on. Her foot still ached every time she put weight on it, but not nearly as much as her heart. As she tied her petticoat at her back then slipped her dress over her head, tears stung at her eyes. It would be ten times harder to leave Rupert now than it had been all those years ago, but this time, even more than last time, it was something she had to do. There were people depending on her, women who looked to her as their last chance to redeem themselves. And that required her to go unredeemed.
She clutched her boots to her chest and slipped out of Rupert’s bedroom, into his main room. Still careful to be silent, she sat in a chair at his table and slipped her boots on, lacing and tying them. She needed to leave him a note, some sort of explanation for the horrible thing she was doing. He had plenty of paper and pencils on a desk to the side of the room, but by the time she stood and crossed to the desk, not a word came to her mind. She picked up a pencil, but froze with it hovering over the paper for several long seconds.
At last, she wrote the only words she could think of as tears dripped onto the page. “I’m so sorry.” Again, she let the pencil hover over the page as her heart battled with her head. She wanted to write that she loved him, that she always had and always would love him, but cold duty won out. In the end, she signed her name, set the pencil down, and fled.
Her silent tears burst into full sobs as she hurried back along the road from the outlying houses of Everland to its main street. Dawn cast a hazy light over everything, lending it a mystical feel. It was almost as if the fog that rose up around her was trying to hold her, push her back, but she fought against it. Her foot was throbbing by the time she climbed the steps of the Van Winkle Inn to her room, but even that didn’t stop her from what she knew she had to do.
She fetched her carpetbag from the wardrobe where she’d stored it the day before and started packing her things, weeping as she did. She tried not to cry too loudly in case there were patrons sleeping in other rooms adjacent to hers, but it became harder and harder. Her tears reached a pitch when she swept up the divorce paper to shove into the carpetbag.
She stared at it with bleary eyes. Her mission to Everland was a complete failure in every way. Rupert hadn’t signed the decree, and she had no doubt in her mind that he never would. She would be bound to him forever. And while she wanted that to fill her heart with joy, it only broke it further. Without the divorce, she wouldn’t be able to marry Rex. She’d have to confess to him that she was already married, and therefore couldn’t wed him and give him a son. Rex would be furious. After her foolish moment of desperation years ago, he would be able to do much more than simply cut her off financially. He could make her life a living hell, make the lives of her girls a living hell. She’d have to struggle just to keep her head above water, let alone improve the lives of those who sought her help. Unless she worked hard and stumbled across a streak of luck, more than just her life would be ruined.
It was too much to think about. She shoved the divorce decree into her carpetbag and fastened the clasps. That was it. Everything was packed and she was ready to run. She hurried downstairs to settle her hotel bill, then rushed on through the sleepy morning streets of Everland to the train station.
“When is the next train to Haskell?” she asked the stationmaster, the large, dark-skinned John Henry.
Mr. Henry stared at her with a mixture of alarm and compassion. “You all right, ma’am?”
Bonnie nodded, knowing it was a lie and that her tear-streaked, red, puffy face gave her away.
Mr. Henry seemed to understand. “You’re in luck. It’s coming through early today. Should be here in half an hour.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, throat squeezing tight. Coward though she was, at least she would be home soon. Everything would be better once she was home in Haskell.
The morning sunlight streamed through Rupert’s window, filling his world with light, as he awoke. His muscles had that perfect sensation of loose soreness from using them in ways he hadn’t for years. It had been glorious, everything he’d been dreaming of. Bonnie wasn’t just eager and pliable, she was responsive and fiery. She was just as hungry as he was.
They belonged together. They were made for each other. Not even time could change that.
In the distance, a train whistle sounded. He hummed with contentment and flipped to his side, stretching his arm out for Bonnie. She wasn’t there, but she always had been an early-riser. It was a bit disconcerting to find the sheets on her side cold, but not all that unusual. During those precious months at the beginning of their marriage, she’d always gotten up first to cook breakfast. In fact, he could smell…
No, actually, he couldn’t smell bacon. He couldn’t smell biscuits or toast either. He held perfectly still, listening for the sound of movement from the rest of the house, listening for the soft crackle of a fire. His house was silent.
A kernel of worry formed in his chest as he rolled out of bed and searched for clean clothes to put on. Bonnie’s clothes were gone. He tried to tell himself that she’d probably wanted to get dressed because of the autumn chill in the air. Those words comforted him right up until he stepped out of his bedroom.
The house was abandoned. Everything was hushed and still. No fires had been lit, no food taken out to be prepared.
“Bonnie?” Frowning, Rupert crossed the main room into the kitchen. She wasn’t there. Nothing was so much as an inch out of place from where he’d left it after supper the night before.
“Bonnie?” he called again, stepping back out into the main room. He crossed to the water-closet door and knocked. “You in there, sweet pea?” He opened the door, only to find the tiny room empty.
He wouldn’t panic. Everything was all right. She probably just wanted to head back to the hotel to get her things so that she could stay with him for…how long was she planning to stay, anyhow? The whole reason she’d come to town was to get him to sign that damned paper. She must know he wasn’t going to sign it.
She must know.
“Bonnie?” He had nowhere to go but back to the bedroom, as if she’d been hiding under the bed. When that didn’t satisfy him, he darted to the main room once more.
Then he saw it. A single piece of paper out of place on his desk. He raced to the desk and snatched it up.
I’m so sorry. Bonnie.
That was it.
Rage curled up through his gut. It was quickly eclipsed by grief. He sank into the chair at his desk, staring at the note. She was sorry. She was sorry?
He snorted, crumpled the note into a ball, and threw it across the room, but that didn’t help. What had he expected? That they would fall into bed together and she would give up everything to come be his happy little wife? She had a life somewhere else now. Who was he to think she would just give that all up for him?
He was her husband, that’s what he was.
The thought spurred him into action. He shot out of his house and up the road into town, toward the Van Winkle Inn. If she thought she could just walk out on him a second time, then she would have to think again. Last night had reminded him of the wealth of
feelings he’d kept in his heart for her. He wasn’t just going to let her go.
But when he reached the inn, bad news was waiting for him.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Cole,” Rip yawned from behind the inn’s desk. “Miss Horner checked out hours ago.” He yawned again before adding, “She was headed home on the early train.”
Without a reply, Rupert pushed away from the desk, left the inn, and practically sprinted across town to the station.
“Yes, sir. Miss Horner left on the train about forty minutes ago,” John told him, face pinched with regret. “She looked mighty upset too, like she’d been crying.”
Those words struck Rupert with all the pain of a bullet wound. He pushed his concern for Bonnie aside in favor of his own anger. “How could she?” he muttered, walking away from John without another word. “How could she do it again?”
Lost in his agony as he was, he nearly barreled into a gray-haired woman. The same small, gray-haired woman with a pencil through her bun that had made such strange comments to him and Bonnie the night before.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“No, I’m sorry,” the woman sighed. “I’ve got a wedding on my hands today and another story about to unfold. I just wish I had time. There’s never enough time.”
“Excuse me?” He shouldn’t be so rude to the poor woman. She was obviously touched in the head, but his life had just fallen apart for the second time, so he wasn’t in a generous mood.
The woman took a breath and squared her shoulders. “All right. There isn’t enough time. But take this.” She tugged the pencil out of her bun and handed it to him. Somehow, her bun remained perfectly tight and in place.
Rupert gingerly took the pencil. “Uh, ma’am, I have plenty of pencils.”
“Don’t lose that one,” she admonished him, frowning. “Keep it with you at all times. And if you find yourself signing any documents, writing any letters, use it.”
