She had deviated from the instructions a bit, mixing some of the brew into his tea so that she might get to the next step—offering him champagne. According to Bella’s notes, once William had taken the prescribed amount, his will would become as pliable as artist’s clay, but his sexual prowess would be enhanced, not diminished. After imbibing the elixir mixed with champagne, he would become the most consummate of lovers. And then, at least for tonight, if not forever, he would be hers.
She was throwing more than caution to the winds. She was throwing away her future with Julian, setting herself up for humiliation and censure if—when Will came out of his stupor—he held this night’s folly against her. But she was willing to take that risk to win his love, willing to do anything to make Will realize that they belonged together. She couldn’t let him ride out of her life as suddenly as he had appeared, not even if it meant staking her untarnished reputation on it. Losing her virginity was a small price to pay to win his love.
Still, there were no guarantees. Her grandmother had written as much in one section of her memoirs. Even the best-laid plans went awry, but even if Will should hate her for what she was about to do, she would still have this one night with him to remember; perhaps she would even have his child. The idea should have terrified her, but it did not. An inner strength and resolve drove her. She would savor tonight and face the outcome, no matter what the cost. She would lock away every detail in her heart. It would be the one dark secret of her life.
One night of passion with Will Ipo meant she would give up what she now realized would have been a staid, passionless life of respectability with Julian. If Will rejected her, she would still have Heartbreak Ranch.
Will sat across from her, smiling a lopsided smile that made her heart jump. She couldn’t help but notice that he never took his eyes off her. His unfocused gaze kept straying to her lips, her breasts, her waist. She could almost feel her skin burn where his dark, chocolate-eyed gaze touched her.
Josie shivered and felt a blush stain her cheeks when she thought of what she had discovered in “The Art of Fascination.” The book was on the bedside table, the pages marked so that she could follow Bella’s instructions to the letter once she got William into her bed.
“Josie?” His speech had slowed, but his eyes were still focused on her. “I’m going to tell the...the Hearts all about you when I get back to...Hawaii. Everything about you...and Heartbreak Ranch. And...don’t you worry. No one will be coming to try to...to take this place. You have my word.”
“Thank you. That will put my mind at ease.”
She wanted to tell him that come morning, if everything went according to plan, he would be so enamored with her that he would never entertain the thought of leaving Heartbreak Ranch again. And even if he did, he would insist she be at his side.
“There’s...s...something else I have to tell you, Josie. Something important. I don’t want you to think...less of me because...because I didn’t tell you this before but...”
He paused abruptly and reached up to rub his fingers across his forehead.
“What is it, Will?”
“I...forget.” He looked befuddled, as if the answer was within his grasp but he couldn’t quite put the words and the thought together.
Josie almost leaped off the couch and shouted with joy. It was working. Bella’s potion was really working. She had feared the ingredients in the strange vial with English and Chinese markings were too old, that they had lost their effect, but she could see that Will was slowly slipping into a trancelike state.
He sat back against the settee and simply smiled at her.
She got to her feet and took the teacup from his hands. He seemed almost surprised to discover he had been holding it at all. Setting the cup and saucer on the tea table, she reached down and took his hand. He made no protest, nor did he shy away. His fingers closed over hers as he sat there staring up into her eyes.
“I’m going to go slip into something comfortable. You look like you could use a rest.”
“But...I have to...leave,” he mumbled.
She leaned down and pressed the tip of her finger to his lips. “I’ll be right back,” she whispered, tracing her finger along the seam of his mouth, across his cheek and then around his ear.
Will shivered and closed his eyes. Josie’s hand shook as she straightened. She fought back a wave of shame. So far everything was going just as Bella’s notes said it would. Will was falling under the spell of the elixer, unable to think on his own. He was hers to command, hers to enjoy, hers to captivate.
He didn’t seem to notice when she backed out of the room and left him sitting on the settee.
CHAPTER SIX
THE PARLOR was awash in candlelight. Without any desire to do more, Will surveyed the room from the settee. How long he sat there, he didn’t know, but he had no desire to move. Somehow, that fact didn’t bother him as it should have. Instead, he watched the fire behind the grate melt into glowing embers as the sun disappeared behind the mountain outside and the sky faded into dusk.
He heard men’s voices in the corral and knew that the ranch hands were going through the motions of the end of a long day riding herd over stubborn cattle. Half-expecting Clay to show up at the house to report to Josie, Will wondered if he would be able to answer if the foreman addressed him. But Clay never appeared and Will didn’t move, except to close his eyes.
He heard the soft rustle of fabric and knew that Josie was in the room again even before he opened his eyes. When he saw her, he thought for a moment he might be dreaming. Her hair was no longer upswept in its usual style, but hanging long, a few tempting tendrils artfully arranged to appear as if they had just strayed over her bare shoulder. Her lips were cherry-red, pouting as if they needed to be kissed. Her cheeks blushed subtle rose. Will would have squirmed in his seat if he could have, but instead he merely sat and stared up at the beautiful innocent who had somehow transformed herself into the most beguiling, most deliciously tempting woman he had ever laid eyes on.
Curves and satin skin were well displayed against the rich, velvety fabric of her blood-red gown. She wore no fancy jewels, no pearls or diamonds to complement the garment. She needed none. She was perfection itself, temptation personified. She was all he ever wanted, all any man could want as she stood there smiling down at him, her violet eyes shining with age-old secrets and something else, something he did not wish to acknowledge.
She reached out for him, extended her hand and willed him to take it. “Stand up, Will darling, and come with me.”
He didn’t think he could move, not without any feeling in his arms and legs, but his heart was still beating, he was well aware of that, and his senses were working overtime.
Surprised that he could move after all, he took her hand and felt her warm, smooth fingers curl around his.
“Where are we going?” His voice sounded strange, faraway, as if it belonged to someone else.
Josie licked her lips, slowly, provocatively. “Does it matter?”
He shook his head. It didn’t matter. If she led him over a cliff, in front of a train or through the fires of hell right now, it didn’t matter one single bit.
His legs still worked, although five minutes ago he wouldn’t have put money on it. She led him down the hall to the stairway and gave his hand a gentle tug. It was all the encouragement he needed to begin the ascent to the second floor. Her hips swayed from side to side, mesmerizing him as he followed her up the stairs. At the landing she paused until he was beside her, then looped his arm through hers as she turned toward the room at the end of the hall.
“It’s dark here,” he mumbled.
“Do you mind?”
“No.”
“Here we are,” she whispered as she opened a door. “Welcome, Will Ipo. Welcome to my room, my heart, my life.” She stepped back, stood in the center of the room and motioned him in with a dramatic wave of her arm.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, in a place where caution and m
orality dwelt, came a sharp pang of warning. Will halted on the threshold, straining to think, to remember what that warning might mean, but all the time he was trying to recall he was staring at Josie, at the way the velvet gown caressed her, at the ivory skin showing above the very low, very indiscreet neckline.
He stepped into the room, crossed the space that separated them. Propelled by something beyond reason, he did the only thing his befuddled mind could think of—he took her in his arms.
* * *
IT’S WORKING!
Josie clung to Will, nestled her cheek against the hard wall of his chest and listened to the erratic beat of his heart. Her plan was working. The elixir had taken effect, and she had Grandma Bella and her own mother to thank. Earlier in the parlor when she had found Will sitting stock-still where she had left him, Josie had felt a pang of guilt for having gone to such lengths, but now with Will’s strong arms around her, all of her doubts fled.
Tonight. Tonight. She kept repeating the thought as she led him to a table set for two in one corner of the room. She had used the best china and crystal. Candles shed the only light. The champagne was chilled. She had opened one bottle before she went downstairs to fetch him.
Tonight I’ll finally know what it means to be a woman.
Tonight I’ll make him mine.
She refused to think beyond tonight. The consequences of what she was about to do were too many to dwell upon. Thinking about all the repercussions might cause her courage to falter.
“I thought we would have a light supper first,” she said softly as she led him to the table and pulled out a chair for him.
He stood there stiffly, as if uncertain as to what he should do.
“Sit,” she commanded in a honeyed tone.
Will sat. Josie leaned over and kissed him full on the lips. Her head began spinning so fast she was afraid she might swoon, so she closed her eyes and concentrated on the warmth of his mouth. Tempted to take more, to try one of the daring tongue-in-mouth kisses she had read about in Bella’s journal, she pulled away and forced herself to take the seat opposite Will.
“It’s nothing fancy, just a cold supper,” she said.
She had been too afraid to light the oven and make much of a fuss in the kitchen. She had told Clay before he rode out with the men that morning that the engagement party had taken more out of her than she realized and that she was exhausted. She told him she had decided to send Lena to her daughter’s and she intended to rest quietly in the house for the next couple of days. She emphasized that she didn’t want to be disturbed. After hiding Will’s horse in the lean-to behind Magdalena’s herb garden, she was certain there was nothing to draw attention to the house.
When she took a bite of cold potato salad, she expected Will to follow suit, but he only sat there staring at her in a most disturbing way.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“What?” He blinked.
“Eat, Will.”
Will picked up his fork and scooped up a healthy portion of potato salad. Josie smiled as she leaned over the table and gave him a pat on the cheek. She had palmed the small vial and added a few drops to his glass before she poured his champagne.
Supper, she decided a quarter of an hour later, was a bad idea. Perhaps if she had given Will the first dose of elixir with dinner instead of in his tea, things might have gone better, but she had to get him up to the suite—the only room where they would not be seen by any of the men who happened by the house.
Now Will couldn’t do anything but sit and stare. He ate when she told him to and drank on command, but other than that, he simply watched her with a vacant look in his eyes.
“Would you excuse me?” She waited for him to nod, quickly gave up and pushed away from the table. The old velvet dress was so tight around the midriff that she could barely breathe. Bella Duprey had either possessed an hourglass figure or the world’s most reliable corset.
While Will sat staring into the candlelight, she hurried to the side of the huge tester bed her parents had shared. Above the headboard hung Bella’s portrait. Her grandmother lay in all of her nude glory, smiling down over the bed. Josie reached for Bella’s journal on the bedside table and then, sitting on the edge of the bed, she quickly leafed through it until she found the page where the instructions for use of the elixir were recorded.
She scanned them quickly, gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. The book lay forgotten on her lap when she realized she had used twice the amount of drops called for. No wonder Will was in such a stupor.
She had wanted him pliable, not mindless.
“The Art of Fascination” detailed “Things to Do with Champagne.” Bella’s colorful subtitles included “A Mouthful of Champagne and More,” and “A Little Bite Better Than Chocolate.” They had all intrigued Josie. She had very deliberately studied “Instructions for Virgins...or Popping the Cork.”
As she glanced across the room at the man sitting stock-still at the table, she realized that she might have read the notes of an expert on lovemaking, but there was no way she could take the initiative and force Will through each and every step of lovemaking.
When she picked up the journal again, it fell open to a page in the copious section entitled, “Toddy’s Tricks and Commands.” In bold letters, Bella had written, “When issuing commands, always be specific and very, very explicit. Speak clearly and distinctly, but softly, in a tone as sweet as the purest honey.”
Although Josie thought the instructions were meant for dog training, she was desperate for clear, direct advice—and this was as good as she was going to get. She left the journal propped open on the table. Then she stilled her shaking hands, smoothed her skirt and took a deep breath. She crossed the room and stood at Will’s shoulder. Reaching down, she straightened his collar, smoothed his long, dark hair where it curled against the black serge and then cupped his chin and turned his face so that he was looking up at her again.
She took another deep breath and let it out.
“Will, I love you,” she said boldly. “I want you to make love to me tonight. It’s my first time and I want it to be memorable. I want to know what it is like to have a man inside me, to thrill to his touch. I want to feel your lips on my body. I want you to take your fill. I want to remember this night for the rest of my life. I want that more than anything. Please, Will. Make love to me. Now.”
The invitation was about as specific and explicit as she could get. She closed her eyes and waited to see if he could do as she asked, knowing there would be no pleasure in having to command his every move, even with the instruction manual at hand.
She heard the chair hit the floor and when she opened her eyes again, Will was looming over her. He slipped his arm beneath her knees and scooped her up against his chest. The velvet skirt draped over his arm. Josie threw back her head and looked at him in awe as she looped one arm around his neck. When he turned with her, heading for the bed, she reached out and snagged the open bottle of champagne with her free hand.
“Wait,” she said as he gently laid her on the spread. “Put this on the table, please.” She handed him the champagne.
He set it aside and then took her in his arms. His big hands were surprisingly agile as he reached around behind her and began working the long row of buttons that ran down the back of the gown. When they were free, he slipped the narrow fabric strips off her shoulders and pushed the gown to her waist in one swift move.
Josie blushed and tried to look away, but he held her chin in his hands and made her look up into his eyes.
“You want to remember this night for the rest of your life,” he said, repeating her directive. “You have to watch.”
She shuddered, sighed and let him pull the dress all the way off her. Slowly, purposefully, surely, he stripped her of her underthings, her stockings, her shoes. When she lay shivering in anticipation, trying to cover herself with her hands, he leaned over her and began to kiss her with such intimacy that she forgot everything but Will, forgot
that she had resorted to drugging him, forgot the propriety and modesty her mother had taught her.
She moaned into his mouth when his tongue slid between her teeth and explored. As he pressed closer and cupped her breast in his hand, she reached out and clutched his shoulders and drew him down upon her. His wool jacket felt rough and erotic against her nipples, driving her to yet another level of arousal.
“Now, Will. Please. Take me now.”
“No,” he whispered. She thought that he was going to refuse, to walk out of the room and leave her there, then realized he had only pulled away so that he could strip off his clothes.
She watched and waited with every nerve tingling. He was glorious, huge, his skin rich and golden brown all over. She imagined him on his island splashing in the sea in all his long, lean, naked glory. Embarrassment kept her from meeting his eyes, curiosity forced her gaze to roam down his chest, to his navel and below. He was fully aroused. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, willing herself not to think of the pain that would surely come when he deflowered her.
“You afraid?”
His voice sounded hoarse, as if he had to strain to speak.
“What?”
“Are you afraid?” The words came slowly.
“No,” she whispered the lie. But she was afraid. She felt fear, longing, need, curiosity. But abandon outweighed them all. She raised her arms in invitation.
The bed springs creaked when he knelt over her and braced his hands on either side of her head. He leaned down and took her lips in a soul-searing kiss. As he lingered over her and toyed with her lips, their mouths were the only place they touched.
Josie moaned again and laid her hands at his trim waist. She ran her fingertips up and down his ribs, reveling in the smoothness and contours and felt herself melting inside. Her body wept for him, ached for release.
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