Promises Keep (The Promise Series)

by Sarah McCarty

  “I could come get you,” he mused.

  She folded her hands over her stomach. “You could…” For all the good it would do you, was implied.

  He settled his weight into his moccasins and pretended to consider the matter. “Of course, if I do, I’ll have to punish you.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. The effect was somewhat ruined by the bulky coat. “For what?”

  “For being wayward.”

  Her hands dropped to her sides. “You’re not serious?”

  No, he wasn’t, but he could tell she wasn’t sure. “It’s a man’s responsibility to control his wife and keep her on the straight and narrow.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  “Preachers harp on it every Sunday.”

  “You go to church?” If he’d said he could fly, she couldn’t have sounded more skeptical.

  “Right regular, too. Dorothy insists.”

  The end of the coat sleeves flapped halfway to her knees as she put her hands on her hips through the material. “And you go?”

  “I put a ton of stock in being accepted. I’m not about to throw it away by not attending church regularly.”

  Because she seemed to soften at the being accepted part, he crooked his finger at her again. “Or by letting my wife stray from the path.”

  Her spine snapped straighter than a spinster’s at an orgy. He tipped his Stetson down to hide his amusement.

  “I take it from your posture that you’re not planning on obedience.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Now that’s a shame.”

  “Not in my opinion.”

  He took a step in her direction. “It was right there in the wedding promise.”

  She took a step back, seemed to catch herself, and planted her feet solidly on the ground. “What was?”

  “The word obey.” His strides were much longer than hers. His next put him within touching distance. This close, he could see her soft mouth beneath the shadow cast by her hat brim, and the puffs of breath that betrayed her nervousness.

  “You planning on reneging?”

  Her hand came to her abdomen as if it hurt, but her words were sure. “If you think that I’m coming running whenever you crook your finger, yes.”

  He put his hands on his hips. “And you’re prepared to accept the consequences?”

  That chin came up two notches, telegraphing her answer before the “yes” left her mouth.

  On a “So be it”, he swooped in, tucked a hand under her knees and scooped her up into his arms. Her small scream died as she wiggled and wormed. Before she got the notion fully formed to hit him, they were at their destination. Keeping his arm behind her shoulders, he let her feet slide down until they landed on the crate resting against the side of the barn.

  As soon as she felt the crate beneath her, she came up sputtering, shoving the hat off her face and wrestling her hands free of the coat.

  Cougar caught both hands in his. He spread them wide, forcing her to lean forward, and then he looped them around his neck. He shrugged the bunched sleeve off his neck.

  “What are you doing?” she squeaked, stretching up on her toes to keep her balance.

  He pulled the hat from her head, revealing the apprehension in her wide eyes. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “No.” Exasperation laced that short syllable.

  “Why, Angel, I’m about to take the price of your disobedience out of your hide.”

  “You are?”

  “Yup.” Cougar nodded as he unbuttoned their coats. Holding Mara still with his hands on her hips, he stepped forward until his chest very gently eased against hers. As she wore no undergarments, he had no trouble feeling the prod of her nipples through his shirt. His eyes closed on the pleasure. “Ahh. That feels heavenly.”

  “It does?”

  That high-pitched query brought Cougar’s eyes open. The hand holding the hat slowly inched up her spine, keeping Mara’s chest pressed to his while his free hand tucked her hair behind her ear.

  “Yes, it does.” He nipped the lobe of her ear. Mara’s eyes flew wide.

  “Steady,” Cougar murmured. If she got any stiffer in his arms, she’d shatter. “Nothing serious is going to happen. We’re just going to indulge in a little kissing.”

  Mara fixed her gaze on the pulse beating in the hollow of Cougar’s throat. “Couldn’t we just shake hands?”

  Pressing pillow soft kisses down the exposed curve of her neck, Cougar shook his head. He loved the way she smelled. That intrinsically feminine scent under everything that belonged only to her. He inhaled deeply before pulling back a fraction. “Nope. No handshakes. No polite words. No brotherly hugs. Just your mouth on mine. Now.”

  There was a slight—very slight—hesitation during which he wondered if she’d back down, but just when he was sure he’d have to be the one to make the contact, her torso stretched against his, pushing her firm little nipples into his chest and that mouth—that delectable, full lipped, sweeter than honey mouth—aligned with his.

  His groan was instinctive.

  Her smile was triumphant. He knew from the way her lips stretched wide against his that she liked knowing she could drag that noise out of him. He liked it too. He liked it even better when he dragged it out of her.

  He slid his hand up beneath her hair, tilting her head a fraction more to the right. He slid his tongue along the seal of her lips, taking her gasp into his mouth and her shudder into his being. “Keep your mouth open.”

  Her “Why?” caressed the inside of his lips.

  “For my tongue.”

  This time she groaned, but her mouth stayed open, though her breath came in fragmented spurts. And he hadn’t even gotten going. Hells bells, she was going to be fun to have for a wife.

  He met no resistance as he slowly slid his tongue between her lips. Instead, she held absolutely still. He might have mistaken her lack of movement for fear except her nails were cutting into the back of his neck, pulling him closer, and her eyes were wide open, staring into his, the pupils large and black. With every fiber of her being, she was waiting for his next move.

  He didn’t want to disappoint her. He flicked the inside of her upper lip with his tongue, just to the right of the cute little arc. She flinched away but when she pressed back, it was harder. He did it again.

  When her tongue came out to test the flesh he was teasing, he stroked it with his. Sliding up and down the moist little visitor, he coaxed another moan out of her. With a hand on her hip, he pulled her completely into his arms. He anchored her head into the palm of his hand and slanted his mouth completely over hers.

  Gentleness fled as her taste flooded his senses. Her tongue followed his back into his mouth. No longer a passive participant, she became the aggressor, demanding he prolong the kiss when he would have broken it off. Her response spiked his need. She was tiny, potent, and burned brighter than a star in his arms. God above, he wanted her, and if he didn’t want to scare her off permanently, he needed to break this off now.

  He pulled his mouth from hers. His breath mingled with hers as he murmured, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  She stared at him in dazed confusion. Feathering two kisses across her eyes to close them, he put his hands on her shoulders and directed her around. “Turn around now and I’ll show you some constellations.”

  Ten minutes. Cougar shook his head in amazement. Ten minutes was all it took for Mara to drain his mind of every particle of information it contained about the stars. He glanced down at the top of her head where it rested against his uninjured left side.

  “You’re making me feel as guilty as he…heck for not pursuing the subject,” he declared. He made a mental note to order some additional books for his library.

  “You don’t have to watch your language around me,” Mara said quietly.

  Cougar turned Mara to face him. Standing on the crate, her lips were almost even with his. When she tilted her head, her hair swung thic
k and loose, framing her ethereal features in a dark cloud.

  “Yes, I do.”

  She frowned at him. “Why do you have to be so nice?”

  “I wasn’t aware that I was.” He’d been described as a bastard, a mean son of a bitch, and a pain in the ass, but no one had ever slapped the handle of nice on him before.

  Her frown deepened. “You know you are, and it’s not fair.”

  “Why?”

  “Because.”

  “Because why?”

  “Because I have a confession to make, and it would be so much easier if you were nasty.”

  Now nasty he could easily work up to. He slid his hand around her waist. “What’s your confession?”

  “I wasn’t quite honest when I told you about everything. When I came here to see if I wanted to continue our marriage.”

  “Oh?”

  A wind blew up, and snaked a shiver down Mara’s spine. Cougar pressed her closer.

  “No,” Mara admitted. The hands she placed on his shoulders had the slightest tremor. “As much as I enjoyed Brad courting me, I didn’t enjoy his kisses.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Cougar stepped back so fast, Mara nearly toppled off her perch. He caught her with one hand. As soon as she regained her balance, he took his hand away.

  “You mean you actually let him kiss you?” Rage rolled over him. She was his, goddammit! Her kisses, all of them, belonged to him.

  Her right hand extended in his direction before dropping to her side.

  “Yes. On the cheek.” It was a bare hiss of sound.

  He cursed again. She flinched. He struggled to stomp down the anger that beat at him. He took three even breaths, held the last and managed to find his voice. It came out more of a growl than a drawl but he managed to ask, “Just how far have you and the good Reverend taken this courtship?”

  “I’m not a whore.”

  That sad, proud little whisper wouldn’t put a dent in his anger, Cougar swore. Any woman who stepped out on her husband had best expect to lose a few layers of hide. If not more. Though a kiss on the cheek was not the huge crime she was making it out to be. Knowing Brad, he’d felt sorry for her and meant it to comfort.

  Mara tossed up her chin and folded her hands across her chest. “Just because you found me at Cecile’s, I am not a whore.”

  She stood there daring him, actually daring him to tear a piece off her when she should be sobbing and begging his forgiveness. And he probably could have stayed mad at her if she’d cried, but that Devil take the hindmost defiance of hers always snuck past his guard. There was just so little of her to back up the challenges she tossed out.

  Cougar sighed heavily before saying, “You shouldn’t lead with your chin like that. It just dares a man to say stupid things like every whore was once a virgin.”

  Clearly, Mara had never even considered that. For a moment, she just stood there frozen. Only her big eyes betrayed any movement by blinking rapidly.

  Cougar got the impression she was crying, though Lord knows why he thought that. There wasn’t a drop of moisture in sight.

  “Then there is no way I can prove I’m not a whore,” she said.

  “No. There isn’t.”

  Mara stared over Cougar’s right shoulder at the barn wall. “It never occurred to me that you would think that way.” There was the light of accusation in her voice. “I never would have come had I suspected. No wonder you didn’t want to send Nidia away.”

  “Oh Hell!” Cougar swore, slapping the hat he was holding against his thigh. How the hell was a man supposed to hold onto his side of an argument when his woman looked at him like that? “I don’t think you’re a whore, and I didn’t send Nidia away for the exact reasons I told you. I don’t want her. I never wanted her.”

  “You don’t have to lie.”

  “I never lie.” He might hedge the truth a time or two, but an outright lie was not a sin he indulged in.

  “She was very clear about her job duties.”

  “I bet she was.”

  Her chin came up and her gaze shifted further to the left. He slid his finger along the slide of that chin and pulled. He managed to pull her face around, but not her gaze. He sighed. “Look at me.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Tough.”

  As he expected, that brought her gaze flying to his, resentment tightening her lips.

  “You can’t order me around.”

  “Yes, I can, and what’s more, you like it.”

  She sucked in a fast breath. He cut off her retort, with the truth. “At least when we’re private.”

  Her mouth rounded in shock before sliding shut on a tiny desperate, “I don’t.”

  “You do.” Of that he was sure. “You get hotter than campfire when I give you private orders.”

  Tight lines of shock faded into hollows of despair. As if some horrible flaw had been revealed. “I bet you never talked to Emily like this.”

  “No.” He hadn’t talked to Emily at all. Not in any real sense. “I also didn’t kiss her like I do you, or moan when she touched me. And I certainly never, ever left a sick horse to someone else’s care just so I could take her walking in the moonlight.”

  The disbelieving snort with which Mara interrupted him flicked him on the raw. He stepped forward again, crowding her against the building. “The only woman I’ve wanted in the last year is you.” Her eyes popped wide and that defiance she led with dropped to good old-fashioned caution as he added, “And that’s to the point of obsession.”

  Mara swallowed hard. “Obsession?”

  “Yeah.” He let his chest relax into hers. “Obsession. As in, I get hard at the mere possibility that I might see you. As in, I keep speculating over and over at night how hot and tight you’re going to be around my cock when I finally take you, until there’s no hope for sleep.”

  The bald statements raised twin flags of color in Mara’s cheeks. “Oh.”

  “Is that all you can say?” Cougar growled, catching her elbow before she could fall off the crate as she leaned sideways. “Oh?”

  “What would you like me to say?” Mara asked, trying to shake off his grip. “It never occurred to me that you would want me.”

  Instead of letting go, Cougar used his leverage to pull Mara close enough that he could feel the heat of her body, enjoy her scent. Damn, she was potent. “How could you doubt it?”

  “Have you looked in the mirror?”

  “What has that got to do with anything?”

  “Any woman would want you.”

  “I’m only concerned with you.”

  “Why?”

  He cupped her cheek in his hand. “We’re married. It’s my duty to make you happy.”

  Her whole expression snapped closed. “Oh.”

  He would never understand her. “Why did you come, Mara?”

  She looked like he’d broken her favorite toy, but she answered him.

  “I came because I feel safe with you, and even though you think of me as a duty, when Brad kissed me that one time, all I could think of was how much I wished it was you.”

  It was his turn to blink. He hadn’t expected such honesty.

  She snatched her hat out of his hand. “Now, I’m cold and would like to go inside.”

  She pushed him aside and headed for the house, her pride around her like a shield. Cougar watched her go, his smile broadening with each step. So his wife thought he only thought of her in terms of a duty? How could she be so far off the mark? He settled his hat back on his head and strolled in her wake. He’d hurt her and he had to fix that, but the reason she was hurt, well, correcting that mistake was going to make tonight one hell of a good time.

  * * * * *

  Fifteen minutes later, Cougar let himself into the kitchen. The entire house was quiet. Only one lamp flickered on the table, causing Cougar to smile at the small consideration. The woman was too nice for her own good.

  He hung his coat up on the peg before dousing the light. He’d built
this house. Navigating through the dark proved no problem. When he reached the correct door, he turned the handle only to discover it locked. He heard a startled gasp, and knew Mara was within. He shook his head at her efforts and pulled the key out of his pocket.

  Mara sat straight up in the bed at the sound of a key turning in the lock. Moonlight streaming in through the window gave plenty of light to see the doorknob turning. So much for locking the door. She pulled the quilt up under her chin as the door swung inward and went for a bluff.

  “What are you doing in here?” she demanded.

  Cougar leaned against the doorjamb in that nonchalant pose Mara was fast becoming familiar with. “I was looking for my wife.”

  He had no right to look so damned masculine leaning in the doorway, moonlight slanting off his high cheekbones and jet black hair as it fell over one shoulder, teasing her with what would never truly be hers.

  “Why?” she asked.

  Cougar slid the first button of his shirt from its hole. His right brow cocked in gentle mockery. “Because it’s time to go to bed.”

  Two more buttons slid free before Mara found her voice and then it wasn’t much. Just a squeaky breath of sound that betrayed her nervousness. “I think I misled you down by the barn,” she began, the words picking up momentum as Cougar’s shirt dropped in his wake, and he moved to her side.

  The fly of his hip loving denims was about a foot from her face if she cared to turn her eyes to the left. She kept them firmly straight ahead. “I really don’t think we know each other well enough to… I mean, I don’t think the time is right…”

  His pants hit the floor. “Oh my God!” was an instinctive betrayal of her shock. How could she have forgotten?

  Even in her peripheral vision, his cock was huge. The thick shaft hung between his legs, stretching down his thigh, too large and heavy to remain upright without support. Certainly too large to fit in her body.

  “You flatter me.” The modesty in his words was as false as his laughter was genuine.

  Mara gave up all hope of subduing her panic when Cougar sat down beside her on the bed and pulled her into his side. With her head anchored in the hollow of his shoulder, she could hear the thundering echo of her heart, and tasted the metallic taint of fear in her mouth. He was her husband, she told herself. It was his right to take her. It wasn’t her right to protest, but she found herself doing it anyway.