by Sara Orwig
He held her tightly, his strong arms solid and sure. She kissed him with all the love and joy of her being, knowing she would get a part of him this night that would belong to her forever.
As they kissed, his hand roamed over her back and then pushed away her wrapper. He stepped back, taking her gown and pulling it over her head.
Travis sucked in his breath. Firelight bathed her body in a golden light that fell over her pale skin and rosy nipples, the red curly triangle between her thighs. His fingers roamed over her lightly while his gaze lingered, moving down her long legs and back up.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Crystal,” he whispered.
Her fingers tugged free his pants and then he stepped back to shed them. He stood before her and her green eyes were heavy-lidded, sensual. She stroked him, curving her fingers around his throbbing shaft until he caught her wrist.
“Not yet. I want to love you, and if you touch me like that, I can’t keep my control.” He bent his head to kiss her, pulling her to him, feeling her bare flesh against his, relishing every sensation that he had waited too long to know. How right it seemed to have her in his arms!
He bent his head, cupping her breasts, their softness marvelous in his hands. He flicked his tongue over her nipple, heard her gasp of pleasure as her fingers wound in his hair. “I want to pleasure you for hours, Crystal,” he said softly, knowing he would never last hours, but hoping he could last long enough to bring her to a quivering peak of need before he possessed her.
Crystal felt his tongue circling her nipple, his hands splayed on her hips as she clung to his shoulders and then let her hands drift down over this body that was a marvel… hard, muscled, virile, so incredibly different from her body, and so handsome. She wanted to touch and discover and kiss all of him; but every time she began, he caught her hands and stopped her. His kisses were driving her out of mind.
A fiery sensation burned in her. An ache she had never known drove her to thrust her hips against him. She wanted him in her, wanted completion, yet she didn’t want him to ever stop what he was doing now. She moaned softly as he took her nipple in his mouth to suck and bite so gently, a sweet torment.
And then he knelt in front of her, his tongue sliding down over her flat stomach, down lower. She gasped with pleasure as his hands stroked her thighs and she moved her legs apart for him. And then his warm fingertips trailed along the inside of her thighs and Crystal thought she would melt into a boneless, quivering mass of flesh.
Instead, she clung to him, her eyes closed, her lower lip caught in her teeth as she was rocked with more sensations, amazed by what he was doing to her, wanting him to keep on forever.
His tongue trailed where his fingers had been inside her thigh. He picked her up and laid her on the blanket spread on the floor in front of the fire. And then he knelt, moving between her legs, watching her as he drew his fingers along her thighs and then touched her intimately between her thighs. She felt his fingers on the core of her femininity, felt him caress and rub her. Sensations exploded from each stroke and then his tongue was there and she opened her eyes once to find him watching her.
His manhood was dark, full and hard and she knew how badly he must want her, yet she couldn’t tell him to stop loving her now. His dark eyes were filled with a look she couldn’t fathom except for a desire that overwhelmed her, a desire that looked as if he could devour her completely with his hands and mouth and tongue.
She closed her eyes, her hips arching against him. Winding her fingers in his hair, she cried out, and he took her to the brink and over, pleasure rocking her wildly. He turned her on her stomach to trail kisses and caresses all over her from her nape to the soles of her feet. Then he came back up the length of her legs with his tongue until she rolled over and sat up.
“I have to kiss you!” she said, her voice a strangled hiss. She placed her mouth on his and then her hand curled around his shaft. He was hot, ready, and she moved away, pushing him down and moving over him, watching him as he was watching her.
She bent to take him in her mouth, stroking this tip of manhood that was velvet beneath her tongue and then taking him in her mouth and hearing him groan, feeling his hands tugging in her hair.
With a cry he sat up and moved her, pushing her down gently, moving between her legs. “I can’t wait. I told you that you couldn’t touch me if you wanted me to keep my control.”
“I hope you lose all your control, because you took mine away long ago,” she said, stroking him.
He was on his knees between her thighs, his proud manhood stiff and ready, his dark eyes burning with desire for her. She pulled his hips toward her and he came down. The tip of his shaft touched her lightly, yet it was agonizing torment because she wanted more.
She cried out, arching beneath him to meet him, tugging at his hips and winding her legs around him. She raised her head slightly to kiss him and then her head fell back as he kissed her hard and his shaft entered her slightly and withdrew.
She cried out again, wanting him more with each slow, deliberate thrust as he drove her to a blinding, mindless need.
Travis tried to check himself, tried to tease her into such a frenzy she would forget the pain of the first time. Her hips were arching against him. She clung to him and cried out with each thrust. But the control was costing him. Sweat poured off his body and he could feel his restraint slipping away. It had been too long for him, too impossibly long and she was fire and warmth and softness and wild passion in his arms.
He entered her, feeling the obstruction, thrusting hard and sliding deep into her satiny heat. She enclosed him, taking him with her out of pain and fear and grief into ecstasy.
They moved together, her cries dim beyond the roaring in his ears of his own hot blood pounding in his veins. The woman was wild, her long legs squeezing him, her hands stroking his back, his buttocks. He kissed her hard, wanting all of her, wanting her warmth, her love, her womanly self. He had starved himself, but would no longer.
“God, Crystal!” He ground out the words and pumped his seed into her, making her truly his woman at last.
Crystal arched beneath him, crying out and clinging to him as rapture burst over her with release. She felt his shudder, and his swift spilling of his hot male essence excited her as much as everything else he had done. She was locked in an embrace with him, his arms holding her, his body united with hers. She gave her body and her heart and her soul. She was his completely without reservation in every manner, whether he wanted her that way or not and whether he realized it or not.
This was a deep binding that would last the rest of her life, and she intended to have a long life … and children. This strong man’s life force was part of her body now.
In rapture, she held him, pleasured beyond all dreams, loving more deeply than she would have ever thought possible.
And she knew women throughout time had taken the risk of babies for their men out of want … for the men … and for the precious babies.
She clung to his broad shoulders, loving his strength. They were one in more ways than he could ever guess. His weight came down on her, heavy, male, so incredibly marvelous.
She loved being in his arms. Her body was satisfied, complete, and he was still inside her, still joined with her. He trailed kisses along her cheek and temple, down to her mouth and then he kissed her long and hard before he rolled to his side with his legs entwined with hers, taking her with him.
“Ah, Crystal. Do you hurt?”
She kissed him. “Never. I am so happy I could fly right off the roof.”
He chuckled. “I hope to hell you don’t. The cold would sober you up before you got to the roof. Ah, darlin’, I wanted it to last longer for you. I wanted to love you all night.”
“I’m happy. And I don’t know how we could have lasted a lot longer.”
He kissed her, holding her close. She could feel their hearts beating together. He stroked her back, lifting her hair. “Crystal, I know you’re right. Everything
in me says you are right about childbirth, about Jacob, but it was such hell.”
“That time of your agony and loss is in the past, Travis. This will be right,” she said with unfounded certainty. Everything seemed so incredibly right, right now.
“I hope, darlin’. Heaven knows, it couldn’t be any better. You’re quite a woman, Judge Spencer!”
She laughed and stroked his jaw and his eyes darkened, change flickering in their depths. He eased away and rolled off the bed, bending to pick her up.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll bet that water isn’t icy cold yet. It’s been sitting in front of the fire.”
“Travis!”
He chuckled and climbed into the tub, holding her in his lap.
She caught her hair, twisting it swiftly and holding it on top of her head. “Travis, I don’t want my hair wet.”
“You just hold it, darlin’. Hold it right there and let me enjoy myself,” he said, sitting back and settling her with her legs astride him.
She blushed beneath his direct stare. His gaze roamed over her. He was aroused again. His hands drifted freely over her and she closed her eyes. “Travis. I can’t keep holding my hair. Either we get out or you’ll have a woman with a cold, wet head on your hands.”
He stood, water splashing and sloshing as he set her on her feet in front of him and pulled her into his arms to kiss her. She released her hair, winding her arms around his neck, her heart thudding.
His kisses were a hot demand as he bent over her, one arm holding her tightly against his naked body, his other hand stroking her back, sliding down over her behind.
She moaned, amazed desire would rekindle in both of them so swiftly.
“This time, love, I can take the time you need. I want to kiss you for hours and drive you wild before we love,” he whispered in her ear, his warm breath tickling her.
Joyously she held him, kissing him, her hands trailing over his strong body, memorizing textures and shape. She paused to look up at him, a long, searching look. “I love you,” she said.
“Ah, darlin’—”
She placed her fingertips on his lips, stopping his words. “Don’t say anything. I didn’t ask for anything in return. What we have is enough, Travis. You’re very, very good to me. We’ll have a good union.”
She looked into his dark eyes, unable to fathom what he felt. She didn’t want false words or reasons he couldn’t give his love again. She just wanted what he had already given her, that was enough of himself. Yet she could tell him her feelings. She would not do it again, but he should know. He should know with one look at her. She thought her feelings should be as plain for all to see, as Zachary’s were for Agnes Blair, but that might not be the case.
She pulled Travis’s head down, placing her mouth on his and ending any conversation between them.
This time he kept his word and it was a long, long time later when he moved over her and took her away to rapture with him.
The next morning she moved languorously, a tantalizing warmth at her breast. For a moment she thought she was dreaming of their lovemaking, of Travis’s tongue on her nipple, his hands moving over her. But then she opened her eyes and discovered it was no dream.
His dark head was bent over her, his big hand cupping her breast while his other hand stroked her legs. Sleep-filled, warm, she came awake at once, reaching for him and pulling him to her to kiss him, and their loving started all over again.
Jacob’s insistence on eating got them out of bed. Travis dressed swiftly and made flapjacks while Crystal washed and dressed and finally helped him. They fed Jacob and then, as he played happily with a stack of pans, Travis pulled Crystal into his arms to kiss her.
They gazed at each other, a smile curving her lips. Travis thought about the night. She had been all he had expected and more. She was wildly passionate, completely giving and responsive. And their course was set with no turning back now. He didn’t have regrets, but he would never shake the lingering fear for her.
He looked into green eyes alight with joy. And love. He remembered her declaration that he couldn’t honestly return, but was amazed at the depth of his feeling for her. Although it ran deep, was what he felt truly love? He wasn’t certain. It was not the blinding infatuation Zachary felt for Agnes. As swiftly as that thought came, another followed. How different was he from Zachary when it came to a woman taking his attention and his thoughts? He thought about Crystal all day and couldn’t wait to get back to her at night.
“It’s good, Crystal. So good,” he whispered and kissed her hard. She held him tightly and returned his kiss, and he wanted to forget horses and cows and take her right back to bed. And if it hadn’t been for Jacob banging pans together, he would have, but they would have no peace or privacy with Jacob awake.
“I’m building some rooms on this place as soon as the weather warms enough to start. We need a bigger house.”
She smiled up at him, her eyes twinkling. “I hope you’re not getting another bed.”
“Hell, no. If I spend another night in the barn, you’ll be there with me.”
“You could have been in here sooner. I’ve been waiting.”
He stroked her throat, touched her hair. He didn’t want to leave her. And he had thought a night of love would quiet all the hungry fires that had been burning him lately like the flames of hell, but instead, he wanted her more than he had last night.
“I won’t be able to think or work today because of you, lady. I’ll be as sappy as Zachary, besotted with you, crazy to get back to you.”
“I do hope so!” she replied saucily, standing on tiptoe and drawing the tip of her tongue across his lower lip.
He groaned and wrapped his arms around her to kiss her hard and long again, wondering if he could ever get out of the house and ten feet away from her today.
“I can’t get enough of you, Crystal,” he said finally, as breathless as if he had run for hours.
“Good! That’s delightful to hear because I feel the same and I want you to come home to me.”
“If we didn’t have little Jake to take care of—’”
“But we do and he can make his presence very well known. ’Course in the middle of the day, he always sleeps, so if you happen to be nearby—”
Travis pulled her close and kissed her again. “I’ll be here.”
He left swiftly, closing the door behind him. A gust of cold air hit her and she hurried to the window to watch him stride away. Her handsome, strong husband, who had loved her senseless all night long! She placed her hand on her stomach and prayed they had a baby from the union. How she loved Travis! She had never known how much a woman could love a man and she had never dreamed what it would be like to be made love to. She blushed, thinking about the night, but a smile curved her mouth and she felt a delicious anticipation of his return.
The evenings that Travis had once looked forward to now became a tedious waiting for time to pass. Where once he had anticipated the reading time, listening to Crystal play the piano and sing, now he couldn’t wait to get it over and tell Zachary and Turtle River good night and shut the door behind them. Then he could take Crystal in his embrace and make love to her long into the night. Until then, he had to sit and read and listen and talk and quietly share her with others and try to keep his hands halfway to himself.
He wanted to touch her all the time. She was soft, sweet-smelling, fetching. She set him on fire doing nothing but sitting with a book in her hands. Her green eyes would meet his across the room and the world would vanish and he would think about their lovemaking.
The last week in February he came home to find her looking stricken when she turned to greet him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m having my monthly. I’m not expecting a child.”
He smiled at her, relief washing over him. “Crystal, having a baby doesn’t always happen instantly.”
“I don’t see how it could not have happened!”
“It ju
st doesn’t. Life isn’t that way. Patience, love. We’ll work on it,” he said kissing her. She kissed him in return, but then moved away and wiped her eyes. “Crystal, that’s the first month. That means nothing.” He kissed the nape of her neck until she turned and wound her arms around him and kissed him. When he released her, he gazed down at her, and at last she smiled.
“That’s better,” he said softly, hearing a step on the porch. She moved out of his arms and he sighed, knowing the others would be with them for hours and he wouldn’t get to love her the way he wanted to this night anyway.
Zachary invited the Blairs to Sunday dinner. Travis suspected it was a strain on the elder Blairs, and he knew Crystal was terrified about her cooking.
They sat down to a roast and potatoes. The gravy was thick and lumpy, but the biscuits were edible and carrots were something even Crystal didn’t ruin.
Mrs. Blair had brought an apple pie that was marvelous, so the meal ended on a good note. Zachary and Agnes had eyes only for each other, but the Blairs were reserved and not too friendly. They spent a couple of hours and then left, Agnes riding into town with Zachary, who had borrowed Travis’s wagon.
Travis closed the door behind them. “I don’t think they will ever allow her to wed him if it gets that far.”
“I don’t know how you can say that now. They both are very young.”
“Elizabeth was only eighteen.”
“Well, you were more than eighteen.”
“They don’t approve of Zachary and I doubt if it helps that he works for me.”
She placed her hand against Travis’s cheek. “I’m sorry when you have to deal with prejudice.”
Travis gazed down at her, thinking about her justice of the peace status, wondering how sympathetic she would be if she knew all about his past.
“It is not as bad here as it has been other places and other times. And there is nothing I can do to change it.”
“I pray Jacob does not have to endure much of it.”
“He’ll learn to deal with it just as I have. We have little choice.” Travis glanced at Jacob, who was sleeping.
