A tremulous sob escaped unintentionally. She had been desperately trying to hold it together, but her situation was too overwhelming. To be given the choice between marriage to a man that didn’t want her or going to a lunatic asylum was really no choice at all. Everyone present knew the horror of such places. In school Janelle had learned that the asylums of the day were not really treatment facilities but more like holding tanks, keeping the insane away from the judgmental eyes of society—out of sight, out of mind, as they say. The living conditions were said to be filthy, the patients abused, and the female patients invariably sexually assaulted and even raped by the staff and other male patients. Tears fell slowly down her face as she thought of her new life as an unwanted wife. Would her perpetual nightmare ever end?
* * *
Aaron was worried. Ever since the judge had presented his radical solution to Janelle’s predicament, he had watched her withdraw into herself. Her face was pale, her expression wan, and as he looked down at her at this moment, her misery clear.
“Pa, stop the wagon.”
Henry looked back. “Is something amiss?”
Aaron maneuvered his horse to the side of the wagon as it slowed to a stop. Reaching in, he plucked Janelle from the back, settling her easily across his lap.
“Nothing’s amiss. Me and my bride are going to head to the line cabin for some privacy tonight. I assume it has the usual provisions.”
Heath answered. “I stocked the supplies just this past week, Aaron. Everything should be ready for you.” Aaron watched as his eyes shifted to Janelle’s tear streaked face. She was obviously distraught, and he could read Heath and his family’s concern. Everyone had come to care for her in a very short time. He knew they all felt sympathy and were unusually protective of her. Who wouldn’t be? After all, her life had been irrevocably turned upside down.
“Send word to my deputy, would you? We might be gone for a few days.” After seeing Heath’s nod of assent, he pulled Janelle tightly against him and kicked his mount into a canter, guiding his horse toward the hills behind the ranch. Their destination was a rustic private cabin that sat isolated in an out-of-the way corner on the edge of Jackson land.
“I’m sorry for causing all this trouble, Aaron.” Visibly distraught, Janelle choked back a sob. “I have ruined your life as well as my own.”
“Janelle Jackson, I won’t hear another word of that, do you hear me?” Aaron’s voice was firm and insistent. “I wouldn’t have married you today if I didn’t want to. I could have let one of my brothers have you instead.”
The uncertainty in her eyes was like a knife to the gut. How did he make it clear that he wanted her? Not only sexually, but he had a need to protect and care for her as well. She stirred up a dominant streak in him that seemed a mile wide.
“I want to tell you something, Janelle. I’m sorry I hesitated in the courthouse earlier. It was not a reflection on you, or my unwillingness to marry you. I was trying to process how Harold Simpson manipulated the entire proceeding. When I heard Heath and Luke offer for you, it snapped me out of my stupor. I would have never allowed you to marry one of my manipulative asinine brothers. Still, I was consumed with jealousy.”
She hesitantly glanced up at him to confirm his words, but then her eyes darted away. It seemed he’d need to be more convincing. “It’s true, sweet pea. I’ve wanted you since I met you. Surely, you can feel the sparks between us. When I kissed you, or held you—even when I spanked your naughty bottom. I was wildly aroused and ready for you. The decision was easy for me, Janelle. I want you, and no other man, especially one of my brothers, is going to stand between us.”
“I’m just your job, and they goaded you into marrying me.” Janelle’s voice was barely audible and he had to dip his head to hear her words.
“My brothers have gotten me into a peck of trouble over the years, but they’ve never been able to force me into doing anything that I didn’t want. You stopped being my job the minute you looked up at me from Doc’s table and begged me with those big blue eyes to save you from that ether. I knew I was a goner, even then. Do you take my meaning, Janelle?”
“I don’t know what to say, Aaron, or what to believe. My life is insanely out of control. I keep expecting the Mad Hatter to jump out from behind the next tree. Alice and her Wonderland can’t have been any more bizarre than my life has been recently. Every day brings another twist and turn to the story.”
“But you have me to help you along that twisting, winding road, darlin’. We are one now, and from here on out, we’ll make a story of our own together.”
“That’s very sweet, Aaron. Do you really mean it?”
“I am nothing if not a man of my word. I want you as my wife. I promise.”
She smiled uncertainly at him, and Aaron knew he’d have to settle for that for now. He still had some more convincing to do and planned to get to that when he had her warm and naked in his bed. Calling to his horse, he spurred them up an incline and onto a path leading to their wedding night cabin in the woods.
Chapter Eight
The cabin was quite rustic and small, consisting of only two rooms: a large multi-purpose room and a small closet-sized one that Aaron referred to as the privy. It had cold water from the pump at the sink, but no hot water or lavatory. She could use the privy pot or the outhouse in the back. It wasn’t much different from camping, she supposed, except she didn’t have to worry about bugs, bears, or being rained on.
As she waited for Aaron to see to the horse, she sighed, thinking about their conversation. So, he wanted her for his wife. He really had no reason to lie, but she figured it would have never happened if she hadn’t been standing there, bawling and pleading not to be locked up in an asylum. She had been shocked by his brothers’ kind gestures but was weak with relief when Aaron irritably pushed them aside and asked her to be his. She couldn’t imagine what she would have done if he hadn’t. To marry one brother while loving another? Loving? Wait… That thought was staggering. How could that be? It was too soon. She couldn’t possibly be in love with the man already, could she? Maybe it was just lust… or gratitude.
Her body certainly was in favor of the decision to marry him; riding in his lap for the last hour had made her cognizant of that. His arms had held her snugly, and she had been cradled comfortably against his thighs. She had pretended not to notice his masculine scent or the way his scruffy beard rubbed against her hair, capturing blonde strands in his dark whiskers. Her nipples, which had been hard for the past hour, tightened painfully, and the clenching of the muscles in her core was a sign that she wanted her new husband. It was definitely lust.
It was a start. Now, if she could only get her brain on board with the plan. He could be very charming when he wanted to be, Janelle thought, but he could also be quite stern and demanding. It was going to be a challenge to be married to this man, and she hoped her bottom would survive.
As she waited for Aaron, she decided to explore the cabin, thinking to distract her mind and yearning body. She peeked in the cupboards, frowning when she only found a lot of canned and dry goods. She didn’t see any meat or an icebox to keep things like milk, eggs, and cheese cold. There wasn’t a stove either. Aaron was going to be more disappointed when he found out she wasn’t much of a cook. Knowing how to heat prepared and frozen food up in a microwave wasn’t going to help her here. She’d have to add cooking to the growing list of things Letty would need to teach her.
As she wandered around, she checked out the other storage trunks, which contained blankets, pillows, a few pairs of jeans, and some shirts. She wanted to get out of her dusty clothes and clean up a bit but didn’t see any women’s clothing or anything near her size. Grabbing a button up shirt, she removed her skirt and blouse and quickly washed in the freezing cold pump water. The shirt came down to her knees, and she had to cuff the too-long sleeves, but it did the job of covering her. Finding a comb in the small chest of drawers, she sat on the bed to begin untangling her hair.
&
“Honey, what is it?”
“A huge black snake! It’s in the bed.”
“Huh, what exactly did it look like? Was it solid black?”
“I don’t know. It was big, black, and slimy. I hate snakes and wasn’t about to get closer to study it.”
“So I gathered.” He chuckled slightly and put her down on the porch on her bare feet. “Wait here while I check it out.”
“Be careful, Aaron. It might be poisonous.”
Nodding his head, he disappeared inside the cabin. A minute later, he came out holding the long black snake around the neck. Did snakes even have necks? Janelle wasn’t sure, but she knew Aaron’s hand was dangerously close to its mouth… and fangs.
“Don’t bring it out here!” Janelle shrieked and scooted toward the end of the porch, as far from Aaron and the snake as possible.
“Hush now; it’s only a black snake. Perfectly harmless.” He walked down the steps to the edge of the woods and released it. When he came back, he was laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are darlin’. The look on your face when you came tearing out of the cabin was memorable.”
“You are warped,” she accused, offended that her new husband thought she was a coward. “I have a snake phobia.”
They entered the cabin, and Aaron, still chuckling, secured the door. Hurriedly, he turned and reached for her.
“No way, cowboy. You better wash your hands first. Snakes carry who knows what kinds of diseases.”
Shaking his head, he went to the sink and pumped water, soaping his hands thoroughly before turning back to her. Leaning back against the sink, he crossed his arms over his chest and grinned at her, his sexy mouth kicking up on the side.
“Now what are you laughing at?”
“I’m not laughing, darlin’. I’m taking in the view.”
Janelle felt self-conscious as his eyes swept over her body, covered only in the oversized shirt. Her rounded figure had been her nemesis for years, and she wondered if he liked what he saw. The shirt fit across her well-endowed chest but hung loosely everywhere else. Her curves were still pronounced, and her shapely legs were left bare from mid-thigh to the tips of her red painted toes.
“You’re awful cute in that borrowed shirt.” His hands rose to his own shirt, and he started unbuttoning it, revealing a tanned, muscular chest with barely any chest hair. It was her turn to admire the view as she stared at all that smooth skin and muscle—and a killer set of washboard abs that were mouth-wateringly defined. He had a line of dark hair starting just below his navel, and it trailed down his ripped stomach to disappear in the waistband of his jeans. He was her fantasy man come to life, only better. This one she could reach out and touch.
“It’s your turn, honey. Why don’t you take off that shirt and let me do some admiring of my own?”
She’d been caught staring again and was surprised that this time she hadn’t been caught drooling as well. Instantly, it was as if a torch had lit her face to a blazing 200 degrees, and she worried that she might spontaneously combust right there at his feet. That would surely ruin their wedding night, but wasn’t that what this was? It all seemed so unbelievable.
“Feeling shy, darlin’? How about you start with your hair. Take out the pins, and let me see it loose around your shoulders.”
Hesitantly, she lifted her hands and removed the half dozen pins from her hair. It fell in a coiled rope down her back, and she shook her head a bit to get it to unravel. “It’s a mess. I could only find a comb.”
Instantly on the move, Aaron crossed the room and took up the comb. Taking her hand, he tugged her towards the bed. “Let me comb it for you.” He climbed up, leaning against the roughhewn frame and spreading his legs, patting the spot between them. “Sit here, and I’ll see what I can do.”
Janelle was torn. She wanted to climb between his big strong thighs and relax into him, but the thought of being in the bed where the slithering snake had been made her shudder. “We better change the sheets first.”
“Sorry, but we usually only keep one set up here. Heath probably brought the dirty ones back for washing. We’ll sit on top of the blanket. Now, come here.”
Skittishly, she turned and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Scoot back so I can reach you.”
Looking over her shoulder at him, she saw his warm smile and twinkling brown eyes and melted a bit more. Mentally setting the snake and her nerves to the side, she pushed herself back onto the bed until she felt his legs bracketing her hips and thighs.
“That’s my girl; now just relax while I work out the tangles.” He set to his task, and she relaxed into his hands as they gently worked through her long hair. There was barely any tugging or pulling at all, which made her wonder how many times he’d done this for other women. She couldn’t resist asking.
“You seem to have done this before. You’re easier than I would be myself.”
“Hmm… I haven’t been a green boy in a long time, and I haven’t been living on a deserted island or on the top of a mountain. But those days are behind me now that I’m a married man with such a beautiful bride.” He lifted a handful of her silky mane to his face and inhaled. “I could do this every day. Your hair is silky soft and smells so good, like wildflowers and sunshine.”
Janelle arched her head back as he continued to pull the comb through her hair. She smiled at the sensation, but something he said nagged at her. He was obviously a sexually experienced man. In this day and age, wouldn’t a man expect that his bride be pure? They valued virginity in this era, and that concerned her. Oh, she wasn’t a slut and hadn’t been promiscuous, but she wasn’t a virgin either and hadn’t been since senior prom when she had foolishly put out for Johnny Bertolli. What a disappointment that had been. She’d had two other boyfriends in college, but nothing long term, and the sex had been nothing spectacular like in her romance novels. She was beginning to think it was all just hype, and although pleasant, nothing like the skyrockets and heart-stopping passion that she’d read about for years.
Strong arms pulled her back against a firm chest, and she felt his breath against her neck. As her thoughts wandered, she hadn’t realized he had finished. He’d swept aside the thick fall of her hair, exposing her sensitive flesh, and was pressing soft, gentle kisses along her neck and behind her ear. “What are you thinking about? You’re miles away.”
Janelle felt the moist trail of his lips along her jaw and throat, and she angled her head to give him better access. She felt a tug on her shirt collar, and the kisses spread to her shoulder. He was very distracting, and she worked hard to maintain her focus. “I was thinking that my time is a lot different from yours. I mean, women aren’t as sheltered as they are here, you know. I was independent and living on my own in Cheyenne. I had a job and took care of myself.”
“It sounds different and very lonely.”
“It could be sometimes, but I dated some and went out with my friends.”
“Dated?”
“Yes, I guess you’d call it courting now.”
He stiffened behind her. “You said you didn’t have a husband, or uh… a boyfriend, I think you called it.”
“No, I didn’t have anyone serious in my life, but I did go out with men occasionally.”
Turning toward him, she looked at his face. The smile was no longer there, and a hint of a frown tugged at his lips. His brow line was no longer smooth but puckered in concentration. “What are you trying to tell me, Janelle?”
“Well, that I’m not… I’ve had…” Oh dear, how did she put this without sounding like a complete slut? “In my day, it’s unusual for a woman to still be… Um, on her wedding night, a bride isn’t usually…” Her face flamed, and she looked away, unable to spit it out.
“You aren’t chaste. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
Nodding, she looked down at her hands, mortified.
“I can’t say that it is my ideal, Janelle, but it’s not unheard of in my day for a couple to precipitate the wedding night.” He cupped her face gently and lifted it so she would meet his eyes again. When she kept them averted, he smiled softly. “Look at me, darlin’.”
When she did, she saw only his soft smile, warm and accepting. She was relieved to see no censure or disgust. “It’s okay with you then?”
“I don’t like the thought of you with another man, but we are married now, and there’s no going back. I want you and will take you however I can get you. I guess the positive side of this is that I won’t have to worry about running into an old beau on the streets of Laramie, now will I?”
“No, they won’t even be born for another hundred years.”
There was a long, silent pause. “They? I thought we were talking about one. Just how many were there?”
“Three.”
“Three?”
“Yes. It’s a very small number for my time, Aaron, I swear.” She saw the troubled look on his face, and dread and humiliation swept over her. “You think I’m a slut, don’t you? I’m just like one of those line ladies Doc spoke of.” She tried to pull out of his arms and get off the bed, unsure where she would go or what she would do when she did, but he reeled her back in.
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