Dreaming of a Western Christmas: His Christmas BelleThe Cowboy of Christmas PastSnowbound with the Cowboy

by Lynna Banning

  She fisted her hands until her nails cut into her palms. “Sit down. I’ll get my kit and take a look at it.”

  She set her jaw and forced herself to think of the task at hand, cutting away the bandage. His warm skin teased her fingertips as they skimmed over his wounds, looking for signs of infection. The gashes had healed well; there was no angry inflammation. The cause of the blood was exactly as Levi had suggested. Two pulled stitches, nothing more. No reason to sew them up again. Everything was healing as it should.

  Relief flooded through her.

  She dabbed a damp cloth over the wound to clean away the blood. Once it was dry, she wrapped a clean strip of bandage around his middle, and they had to stand toe-to-toe so she could reach around his solid frame. He held out his arms and she did her best not to imagine them folding around her, pulling her close, kissing that spot on her neck he always found, the one that made every nerve in her body jump to life.

  She stopped, stilled. Tried to force the image away, but it refused to go. It refused to give her respite from the storm raging inside her. Her hands shook and the blood in her veins sang with awareness. Lower down, a deep ache grew stronger until she could barely stand it.

  “Ada?”

  His voice whispered around her and she bit back a whimper, because all she heard was the memory of it in her ear as his body had covered hers, warm and solid and comforting and real.

  He lowered his arms and his hands covered hers where she had knotted the ends of the bandage in front of him. “What is it?”

  She shook her head. She couldn’t answer past the lump in her throat. Not that it mattered, because she didn’t have just one answer. She had a million different ones, though they all centered around a common theme. How much she wanted him to stay. To know the truth, to forgive her. How much she wanted to hope and how much she feared to at the same time, scared the dream would be ripped away again if she even dared.

  His fingertips touched her brow and she closed her eyes as he drew a slow path down the bridge of her nose. He brushed the line of her jaw and it relaxed despite the tangle of emotions roiling inside of her. And then there was his touch on her lips, featherlight, teasing. She sucked in a breath and held it. Waiting.

  He tilted her chin to his face. “Look at me.”

  She opened her eyes, unsure of what she’d see. What she found was a mirror of her own emotions, the feelings she feared the most. The things she wanted most of all.

  And then he kissed her.

  * * *

  Levi’s fingers slid deep into the thick mass of golden hair, knocking loose the knot she’d kept it in. The feel of those soft tresses falling over the back of his hand, the abandon of it, made him pull her closer. Hold her tighter. He was afraid that if he didn’t, she would bolt. Come to her senses. Stop it. He couldn’t stand the idea. Not now. Not yet.

  Just give me this.

  He’d waited eight long years, through his trial and long incarceration, to touch her again. To taste her and feel her body pressed against him. He’d counted the days, checked them off in his mind even though his sentence had stretched for years in front of him. Even though he had already lost her to someone else. He couldn’t help it. The idea of losing her forever had been too much to bear. So he’d turned away from the idea of never getting another chance.

  He’d told himself that if he could see her one last time, hear her voice. Touch her. Maybe it would be enough. Maybe then he could move on.

  He’d been a fool.

  He would never get enough of her.

  One of her hands gripped his wrist, but she didn’t pull away. If anything, she kissed him back just as hard. Tasted and teased until he teetered on the brink and didn’t care if he fell over. He could die a happy man here in her arms, knowing his hopes had been rewarded. That fate had relented and given them a second chance.

  Ada’s hand slid around him and up his back, leaving his skin seared with heat, the bandage unable to protect him. His erection pressed against her and he wanted nothing more in that moment than to bury himself deep within her. To rediscover the beautiful curves and softness her body offered, to watch her react as he kissed and teased his way over every inch of her.

  They had been barely more than kids the first time they’d given in to passion. Now they were older, wiser, hardened by the hand life had dealt them. But beneath it all, Levi still saw the woman he’d fallen in love with. The woman who had taken a chance, crawled out on a limb when good sense and propriety counseled her to climb back to safety. Age and circumstance had made her even fiercer, more beautiful, inside and out.

  And he wanted her now more than ever before.

  But he needed her to want the same thing.

  He lifted his mouth from hers. “Should we stop?”

  She shook her head and sought his mouth once more with a desperation that left him humbled, as if she sought to fill something inside of her that had gone too long ignored. He understood. He shared that feeling.

  His hand found the long row of buttons at the front of her dress and released them from their moors, fumbling with urgency until the dress loosened around her and slipped from her shoulders. She straightened her arms long enough to let it fall and pool at her feet. Gooseflesh rose on her arms as she stood before him in nothing but her shift and underclothes.

  Too many clothes!

  Her hands left him and she pulled up her shift, bit by bit revealing lean thighs and rounded hips. Full breasts and flushed skin. She let the shift fall, then stepped out of the puddle of clothing and stared at him.

  Her boldness amazed him. She was a sight to behold, and oh, how he wanted to hold her. To pull her against him and feel the softness of her breasts against his skin, run his hands over the slope of her waist. The fierce passion burning in her eyes fired through him. But the fear that pulled her skin taut tempered him.

  “Ada, we don’t have to—”

  Her arm came up and covered her breasts and he wished he’d bitten his tongue. Uncertainty filled her expression. “I thought you wanted—” Two red spots bloomed in her cheeks and her gaze fell away from his. “I—” She bent to retrieve her clothing, but he moved quickly and grabbed her wrist, pulling the shift from her hand.

  “I have never wanted anyone more.”

  He hauled her into his arms and translated with a kiss all the things he didn’t have the words to say. He lost himself in her and prayed it would be a long time before he was found.

  He took a swift breath when her fingers fumbled at the buttons of his denims, her touch enough to make him lose the faint grip he still had on his control. The backs of her hands brushed against him and he swore she took far longer than necessary to get the job done, but he didn’t complain. The pain of waiting was eased by the pleasure of anticipation.

  He hauled down his denims and underdrawers and kicked them off, thankful he’d doffed his boots earlier. He pulled the ribbon on her drawers and slipped them over her hips. She gave a wriggle that was almost his undoing and they fell to the floor. His arms wrapped around her and lifted her against him, the heat and sweet sensation of her soft skin robbing him of breath. He carried her to the bed and gently laid her down, taking a moment to absorb the vision of her naked body.

  “Levi.” She reached for him and he joined her there, dragging the quilt from the bottom of the bed over them to cocoon them in their own private world. Neither of them spoke after that, as if words were an intrusion they could not endure. On the other side of the room, the fire crackled and popped, the logs tumbling in their cradle. The only other sound in the room was their breath, heavy, hurried.

  His hands swept the length of her body and he reveled in the true bliss of her bare skin against his. Her breasts were fuller than he remembered, her curves more pronounced, as if she had come fully into womanhood while he’d been gone. He regretted he had not been there to see it. Hated that it was another man who’d been given that honor.

  He pushed the thought away. None of that mattered now.


  He explored her body with his hands, his mouth, his tongue. He found all of his favorite places, discovered new ones he’d not known before. Her breath caught as his hand slid between her thighs, stroking her. She was slick and warm. Inviting. His control ebbed. He couldn’t hold on for much longer. Eight years was a long time, and though he wanted to prolong this magic for as long as possible, the moment she reached down and put her hand on him, waiting became impossible.

  “Ada?” Her name was a question, a request.

  She pressed her hips against him, and when she spoke her voice was urgent. “I want you, too.”

  Want. It was enough. For now. He settled between her legs and eased himself into her warmth, unable to breathe as she enveloped him. He stopped. If he died now, he would die in a state of perfect bliss.

  She moved her hips to pull him farther into her, and he lifted himself onto his elbows and moved with her, in and out until every nerve in his body threatened to explode. He held on. Waited until her body stiffened and shuddered. A cry of ecstasy rent from her lips and was captured by his. Her kiss sent him over the edge to his own release, and for a few blissful minutes, the world became a wondrous place. The room—the bed—a safe haven where nothing could ever touch them.

  He’d found home.

  Chapter Seven

  Madness.

  It was the only explanation Ada had to explain what had happened between them. She’d been gripped by madness. They both had. She’d heard stories of people who lived too long in the wild, who slowly lost their minds with the isolation. But her madness had come from a different source. A source that had lived deep inside her since the day she’d turned her back on Levi in order to give his son a home and a future. A madness that had tormented her for the past eight years as she allowed another man to raise Micah as his own, yet not treat him as such.

  A madness that haunted her as she’d continued to love a man who would never be coming home.

  And yet here he was.

  He had returned, and with one touch, one kiss, he’d illuminated everything in her heart she’d tried to deny. She loved him. Levi, for all his faults, had been kind and sweet. Loving and protective. Loyal. No matter how bad things became, he had remained steadfast. He’d fought for them, begged her to wait the sentence out, convinced that he would prove his innocence. He’d been strong, where she’d been weak. He’d had faith, where she had been filled with fear.

  She’d loved him then and she loved him now. She didn’t know how not to.

  How many times had she wished she could go back? Do it over again. Find another way. But in the end, despite his faith and determination, Levi had gone to prison and the years had passed one on top of the other with no end in sight. She had made the right decision where Micah was concerned. Because of her marriage to Harlan, Micah never had to bear the shame of being labeled a bastard. The shame—of marrying a man she did not love—was hers to carry alone.

  When Harlan had died suddenly two years ago and, out of spite, had left everything to Marilla, she’d left her shame over not loving her husband behind. He hadn’t deserved it. She’d reluctantly agreed to continue keeping their secret regarding Micah’s birth for her son’s sake, torn between the truth and protecting her son.

  No more. The time had come. She could deny it no longer. Levi and Micah both deserved the truth. But Marilla deserved to be told first, before the news broke. She owed the woman who had saved her that much at least.

  “I thought in the morning we might hitch up the sled and go into town. We need a few supplies and Micah always likes to see his grandma before Christmas,” Ada said. “We can make the trip alone. You needn’t come.”

  Levi shifted behind her and nuzzled the back of her neck and a sigh of pleasure escaped her. She should leave the bed and seek refuge in the other room, but each time the thought entered her head, the warmth of his body, the sensation of being nestled against him kept her there.

  His arm tightened around her middle and their bodies melded closer together.

  “I’ll go with you,” he said. “I need to send a telegram to Salvation Falls. My cellmate I mentioned, Abbott Connolly? He told me when I got out, to contact the town sheriff. Said he was a good man and could help me out.”

  Ada didn’t say anything for a long moment. He still planned to leave. Had this meant nothing? Did he plan on turning his back on her as she had him?

  She swallowed past the pain. Perhaps it was no more than she deserved.

  “You may not receive a very warm welcome,” she warned him, forcing her voice not to waver, not to give in to the disappointment his intentions created.

  “I’m not looking to make friends. I just need to send a telegram.” His low voice rumbled against her and she shivered, wanting him all over again despite everything. “Are you afraid what people will think if they see us riding in together?”

  “No.” Not everyone. Just Marilla. If she told Levi the truth and he still kept to his plan and left for Salvation Falls, where would that leave her and Micah? Marilla Baxter was their only means of support, but that support came with one condition. A condition she was on the verge of breaking.

  “Then it’s settled. We’ll leave directly after breakfast. As for now, I find I’ve got an appetite of a different kind.” Levi brushed back her hair and kissed the nape of her neck, sending a ripple of pleasure down her spine. How wonderful it would be to turn around and lose herself in his arms once again. To forget what awaited her on the morrow. There were risks to be taken, truths to be told. Disappointments to be borne.

  She knew she should stop this, but as his hand wandered over the curve of her hip and his mouth teased the tender skin of her neck, the idea of stopping drifted away and she turned toward him. She’d make one more memory to torment herself with after he left her behind.

  * * *

  They didn’t speak for much of the trip into town. It was just as well, as Levi needed the time to figure out just what the devil he had done. What it meant, because it had meant something even if he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. They’d made love. Pure and simple. It hadn’t been some rash action; it hadn’t been two bodies sating physical needs. It had been much more than that. At least it had been to him, and given the way Ada had turned inward, insulating herself from him the moment she’d left the bed, he guessed it had affected her, as well. He hadn’t forgotten how to read her, and something had her scared.

  He understood the feeling.

  One minute he’d been on his way to Salvation Falls with plans to pick up the tattered pieces of his life, put his past behind him and try to carve out a future. The next he was knocking on Ada’s door, his side torn open and his hope laid bare.

  Maybe—just maybe—his luck was finally turning around, making up for the nightmare he’d survived in order to get here. Maybe this was fate’s way of giving him back all he’d lost. All they’d lost.

  Another chance.

  Did she want the same thing?

  “Marilla will be at the church. The ladies’ auxiliary is likely preparing for tonight’s dance,” Ada said, interrupting his thoughts. Micah wanted to see his grandmother and Ada said she had to speak to the woman about a few matters, none of which she felt compelled to tell him about.

  Levi pulled on the reins and turned onto Main Street. Glennis Creek was a dying town, barely more than one road with a few intersecting streets branching out on either side. A couple of storefronts had boards across the windows where people had moved on to greener pastures. Only a few folks going about their business walked along the planked sidewalks. Higher up on a hill at the opposite end of the street sat Harlan’s house, once a beacon of prosperity. Now even that building looked more tired and worn than Levi remembered. How long would it be before the town gasped its last breath?

  “Not many people about.”

  Micah bounced in the seat between them, his excitement over coming to town—or going anywhere away from the mountain—palpable. “Ma said they all left on a
ccount of the railroad that passed us by and went to Salvation Falls instead.”

  Levi glanced over Micah’s head to the boy’s mother. “You ever think of leaving?”

  Her lips tightened. “It takes more than thinking to make things happen.”

  Her cryptic answer left him no closer to determining her state of mind than before. Did she regret last night? Did she think he planned on riding away as if it had meant nothing? Fact was, he wasn’t going anywhere without her and Micah. He wished he could tell her that, but with Micah sitting between them, now was hardly the time.

  He smiled to himself. Later. Tonight, after Micah went to bed and they were alone, he’d tell her his plan, and how she and Micah figured prominently in it. “Guess you’re right on that account.”

  He pulled up on the reins in front of the church. Its white spire jutted into the azure sky like a spear, reaching for the heavens. Once upon a time, Levi had entertained the notion of walking down those front steps with Ada on his arm, the two of them joined for all eternity. It had been a nice dream, one he’d played over and over in his mind while he’d sat in prison. As far-fetched as the dream had become, it had still been his favorite and he’d refused to give it up.

  He stared at the steps now and realized that hadn’t changed. That he still could not let it go.

  Levi set the brake and Micah and the dog jumped down after him as he went round to the other side to assist Ada. He held up his arms, feeling a pull in his left side, although the pain had eased to mere discomfort. She hesitated, then placed her hands on his shoulders and allowed him to lift her down.

  Once her feet touched the hard ground, he meant to let her go, but his hands refused to budge from her waist, as if they’d decided they were right where they belonged and had no interest in going elsewhere.

  “Levi?” Her fingers slid to his hands and he wished they didn’t have the barrier of leather gloves keeping him from feeling the warmth of her skin.

  “Do you regret last night?”