She didn’t want to go.
She wanted to stay there with him. Forever. She would give up everything for him if she were the only one who would be affected, but he was right. At least a hundred people depended on her success, if not more. Were she the only one involved, she’d cut her losses and stay in Hartland.
“Victoria,” he urged, and she shook off her lover’s reverie, and stepped past. As she did, his calloused hands began to roam the fair skin of her stomach and breasts.
Her breath caught when he moved them lower and, as he did before, dipped one finger deep within her heat as she stood before him with her back facing his front.
His manhood hard against the small of her back, she focused on the small pulse she felt from him. He wanted her. Loved her as much as she did him.
“Grab the rope,” he commanded.
She obeyed.
The knot along the course rope helped keep her steady regardless of the sway of the makeshift swing and Wall pressed her back with his warm palm. She leaned over like she did the night at her house, and pressed her backside out toward him at the same time he entered her.
She sucked in a sharp breath at the sensation of his welcome intrusion. “Yes.”
On her single word, he grabbed her hips in both of his hands as they balanced on the log over the swimming hole. He pushed deep inside her, and then out. Repeating the motion until she felt as though she would yank the rope straight from the sturdy branch where it was tied.
Cool air replaced one side of her hips and she almost cried out in rejection of the movement when he reached up and tugged at her shoulder, and he slammed even harder into her.
She couldn’t take it anymore.
Not the intense pressure of him deep within her womb, not the scratch of her bare feet on the bark, not the burning in her legs. She wanted to show him how she felt about him. Prove to him that what he’d done to her meant more to her than anything else in her life. “Stop,” she pleaded.
“Oh, princess, you’re killing me,” he said, but obeyed, although deep inside her.
She moved to stand upright, and he pulled out.
She searched the tree trunk, and seeing the perfect, wide spot next to a branch in which Wall could lean against, she pointed. “Sit there.”
Hesitantly, and with great care, he sat naked and leaned against the branch.
She began to step tentatively to straddle his hips, and he moved down enough for her to crouch over him. As she did, he slid into her. So hard and deep, she felt him all the way into her stomach. She placed her hand over her lower abdomen and felt the pressure from him. Yet somehow she wanted more.
She grabbed the branch above his head to help her move as she began to ride him, mimicking the rhythms she’d come to love so much.
The lines of his face grew sharp and his eyes pierced her like the shards of ice from the glacier just north of her now lost logging camp. He was pure, rugged male. More handsome than any man she’d ever met before, and all hers.
She wanted to rake her fingernails sensually over his chest for the rest of her life. Kiss him in the morning before he got up to wrangle cattle, or ride the river—whichever job he chose. She wanted him.
Her knees began to ache the harder she rode, but she didn’t care. The pain somehow added to the ecstasy of the moment. A moment she would have to cherish and take with her when she left.
He grabbed on to her sides and helped guide her until the hold she had on her control snapped. She yanked on the small protruding branch above Wall’s head and it snapped. At the same time, in the distance of her mind, she heard him groan, and his body relaxed beneath her.
Only then did she realize she’d broken the tree limb that she’d used as leverage. She pinched her lips together to stop from laughing and showed him. With a lopsided smile, he grabbed the stick and tossed it down to the ground. “Perhaps you’re not a princess anymore. Maybe I should call you wildcat instead.”
“I think I’ve long since lost my princess status.” She moved so she could sit on his lap until the lover’s high ebbed. He wrapped his arms around her hips, cocooning her in his protection and warmth.
“How do we get down from here?” A giggle erupted from deep within her chest.
“Do you want to?” He leaned over and nibbled on the peak of her breast.
“Not particularly. We can stay this way forever if you swear no one will ever discover us.”
“I can rope the moon and give it to you, but I cannot promise you no one will find us. My brother is very fond of the swimming hole.”
Victoria gave a dramatic sigh. “Then I suppose we should at least get back in the water since we are perched in a tree for all to see like two love birds.”
All Wall did in response was kiss her shoulder and grunt his agreement.
“Wall.” She nudged his shoulder.
“What?”
“I really don’t want to get caught naked. It’s been a fear of mine since my clothes went down the river.”
“Then I suppose you’d better stand so we can get down.” He said the words, but at the same time he tightened his arms around her waist.
“Wallace Adair,” she warned.
“Oh, all right.” He let her go, but frowned.
She took a few steps toward the bottom of the tree, but it looked more difficult going down than it did coming up. Her heart began to beat faster. “How do we get off?”
Wall chuckled as he stood, and reached out to get the rope where mere moments ago she’d grabbed on to for balance. “Swing out and once you’re over the water, let go and drop down.”
“You’ve got to be joking.”
“No, ma’am.”
Victoria reached up to fiddle with her favorite necklace and stared at the water. “Is it safe?”
“It’s been tested hundreds of times without incident.”
She dropped her necklace, and reached out to grab the rope from Wall, running her hands as high as she could up the line of knots. She’d wrestled pigs and swung with chickens. Why not? “Are you certain?”
“Just aim for the middle where it’s the deepest, and then make certain to let go when you’re at the peak of the swing.”
Victoria took a deep, courage-boosting breath, and pushed off with her feet. The air cooled her passion-heated skin as she swung out. As she reached the peak, she heard Wall call out, “Let go!”
She loosened her grip, and her body dropped, along with her stomach. She wanted to giggle and cry out in fear as she plummeted.
The rush of water slid up her body and covered her head and she kicked and began to swim to the top. She crested and opened her eyes in time to see Wall catch the rope.
He readied it. “Swim over a bit.”
She side stroked, and after she’d gained a few feet, he swung out and dropped in beside her, splashing as he fell.
He crested the top and turned to her.
“That was exhilarating,” she said, as she followed him while he swam toward their clothes.
“I love to see the delight you get in the things I’ve experienced my entire life. I only wish I were there to see you wrangle Frank.”
Victoria laughed. One of her deep belly laughs she rarely gave. “You heard about Frank and me?”
Water droplets cascaded down Wall’s body as he emerged onto the bank, and Victoria followed. Admiring how regal he looked with nothing on. Like a conqueror. Her conqueror.
“I would have loved to see you push him around.” Wall slipped on his trousers, and yanked his shirt over his head.
Victoria, too, began to dress. “He’s quite the stubborn one.”
“You fit in really well on the Lazy Heart.” By now Wall yanked on his last boot as Victoria struggled to button her blouse. He stepped toward her and started to play with her curls as she finished dressing.
&nb
sp; She dropped her hands once the only thing left for her to do to be completely dressed was to pull on her socks and boots. “How are we going to overcome this? I don’t want to lose you now. If I move to Bonner, and you stay here, we’ll never see one another.”
“Nonsense. I’ll come and visit whenever I’m out your way.”
“Stolen nights is not what I had in mind for the man I fell in love with.”
“Just pray the bid comes through. I should have heard something by now, so I suspect I’ll be hearing something soon.”
“Not soon enough.”
“Come on.” He plucked her boots off the ground and handed them to her. “Tonight is a shindig at one of the neighboring farms. We should probably get back to the house.”
“And you expect I’ll dance with you?” She slipped on her boots.
“I had counted on it.”
“I suppose I can give you one dance. If Pappy doesn’t take all of my time.”
Wall sucked air in between his teeth. “He’s a slick one. Been charming the ladies for decades from what I hear.”
Victoria entwined her arms around Wall’s waist and peered up at him. “Well, you’re the only cowboy who can charm me.”
“Then we’d better live for tonight, and figure out tomorrow with the sunrise.”
Victoria let go of his waist, looped her arm through his, and followed him toward the Lazy Heart. In truth, if she had the opportunity, she’d follow him anywhere. If her life were her own to do with as she would. If her father were discovered and returned to them. If life were different, she would give up everything if she had to and simply exist with Wall Adair.
Chapter 18
Wall studied his reflection in the mirror hanging in his mother’s foyer, and buttoned the top button of his best flannel shirt, and then plucked his hat off the peg near the door. He’d wiped off a month’s worth of dirt from the brim earlier, but it didn’t seem to get it clean enough.
He spit on the stain, and rubbed hard at the spot until the rumbled of his sisters feet sounded on the ceiling above him.
His father and brother emerged from the room to his right. “I swear those girls are as subtle as a thousand-cattle stampede.”
“And just as dangerous,” Jax supplied, rubbing what Wall could only assume was some wound one of his sisters had given the poor boy.
“If you end up marrying that girl, Wallace…have boys.”
Wall chuckled. “Will do, sir.”
Victoria, his mother, and sisters all rumbled down the stairs as quiet as they were in the rooms above him, and Wall turned to extend his arm to Victoria—who shone bright in a frail, peach gown he’d seen her in before, but one he’d never thought looked as radiant on her the way it did as she stood beaming at him. “Shall we?”
As though she’d never been happier in her life, she slid her hand on his arm and walked beside him with perfect poise. Even if she were to ever live the simple life in Hartland, which he doubted would ever happen, she’d always carry herself the way he saw her. With a regal air. A princess.
He escorted her to the awaiting wagon, and she glanced around as she climbed aboard. “Where’s Pappy? I wanted to save him a dance.”
“He had to meet the mail carrier, so he’ll catch up with us later.” Wall helped his sisters climb aboard the wagon, and then mounted his horse.
Next to him, his brother did the same on his own mount, as his father took up the reins to the wagon, and Victoria and his sisters filled the inside seats with their pretty smiles and poufy dresses.
Victoria adjusted her skirt, and leaned over in secrecy to hear something Willa said to her, and then burst out in laughter, and Wall’s heart broke.
She was his. Meant to be with him in every way. Even his family loved her, and she them. His only hope was for the land purchase to go through to buy them more time.
The wagon began to roll, and Wall kicked his mount to a walk next to Jax and his horse.
“Are you going to leave us again?” Jax asked in a voice only he could hear.
“Why would you ask such a thing?”
“I see the way you look at her, but Pa says she can’t stay. When you look at her, you have the same wild look in your eye you get right before you leave for the logging season. Like you’re gone from the Lazy Heart already.”
Wall pinched his lips tight. He didn’t know what to say to the boy. If his deal went through, he would be leaving the ranch for a time, but if it didn’t, he’d be swearing himself to a life of misery running the Lazy Heart alone. Like Pappy did.
“Even if I leave again, I’ll always come back. The Lazy Heart is my home.”
“One of these days you’re going to go away from Hartland, and never return.”
“Well, you could always help me convince Pa to lease a section or two of the Lazy Heart to Victoria. Then even if I did go logging, I’d still be on our property.”
“That’s true.” Jax moved his lips to the side like he always did when thinking. After a moment, he nodded. “I’ll talk to him.”
If they were closer, Wall would have ruffled the kid’s hair. Whatever path Wall was supposed to take, he knew would be the right one. His family did need him as much as Victoria, but the thought of not having either in his life made his chest burn like someone took a branding iron out of the fire and jabbed it straight into his heart.
He was doomed to misery either way.
After a few minutes, his father turned the wagon down the neighbor’s road, and Wall rode ahead to help secure a spot for his father’s wagon.
He entered the field where buggies were already lined up, and found a spot to secure his horse. Jax tied up his gelding next to him, and they waited.
Somewhere, off in the distance, the general mayhem of the gathering echoed through the homestead, mixed with the rhythmic thud of the wagon wheels crushing the grass as his father pulled to a stop and set the break.
Wall began to help the women down, one by one, until he reached Victoria. He may have held her a little too close for etiquette as he set her on the ground, but he didn’t care. Not tonight.
“What happens first here?” she asked, as they turned to follow his family toward the gathering crowd near the outside of the barn.
“Well, we all get in our best bib and tucker, we dance, we eat.” Wall stopped and searched to make certain his parents weren’t within earshot, and then bent so only Victoria could hear. “And when we’re really soaked the men go out back and knock fists.”
“For fun?”
“Of course. That’s how I became a pugilist.”
“I heard the Devil May Cares call you that, but never knew exactly why.”
“We get a good row whenever there’s a social event. It’s no third-Tuesday-of-the-month-poker game, but it works for us.”
Victoria snapped her gaze to meet his eyes. “You know about the gambling?”
Wall tipped half his mouth back in a quirky grin. “Every man in the valley knows. We just pretend we don’t so we can get away with our little secrets.”
“And here they thought they were getting away with something quite naughty.”
Wall focused on the party ahead. “Don’t go telling them we know. Let them have their delusions. We love them even more for it.”
“Your secret is my secret.”
He winked at her, and then led her into the mayhem where they were instantly swept up by his sisters as their father took the platform and commanded the attention of the crowd to kick off the party.
“The dancing is about to start,” Bethany said when their father finished.
“And of course, you must dance with me.” Layla blushed, and slid an apologetic smile at Victoria. “After Victoria, of course.”
“You know very well you’re all going to dance with me at least once.” He tugged Victoria closer to his side. “
But you’re right. She’s first. And I expect while I’m busy with you four, Jax will watch over her and not let anyone else steal her away.”
“Like Micah Jacobs?” Georgiana sneered toward the man in question.
“Yes,” Wall said. “And anyone else.”
“I’d be happy with you and Pappy.”
“What about me?” Jax asked.
Victoria beamed down at him. “You too, if you’ll be so kind.”
“I’d be more than happy to watch over you while my brother is busy.”
“Much obliged.” She nodded at his brother, and pride swelled in his chest. She was truly a treasure.
The band began with their usual waltz, and he swept Victoria out on the dirt dance floor as other couples began to take their places.
“It’s lucky this is the first song.” She leaned into him as they danced.
“Luck hasn’t nothing to do with it. The band always plays this first. It’s sort of their warm up to the faster songs.”
“Oh, so you knew.”
“Of course.”
She fell silent, and her gaze spread out over the crowd. Wall, too, surveyed his surroundings. Off in the distance, the unwed men who hadn’t attracted a partner stood with heads together. No doubt planning the inevitable brawl later in the evening. An event which happened every party since he’d become old enough to care for anything other than toys and horses.
Directly across from the oblivious men, whatever women who hadn’t garnered the attention of a man before the dance sat with their mammas, or somewhere off in the distance, they helped with the food. Farther out, his father and the ranchers gathered, as usual, to talk trade and business, while the children ran around like chickens in a hen yard.
A scene so familiar to him, yet tonight the sense of home somehow imprinted so firm into his mind he didn’t want it to end. Especially with Victoria in his arms.
But alas, the band played the last chord of the dance, and she stepped back, smiling up at him as if he’d given her a gift she’d never forget.
He wanted to kiss her right there in the middle of the dance floor for all to see, but he wouldn’t.
Fiery Passion Page 23
