by Maddy Barone
As soon as they arrived at the ranch house, Sara slid off the horse with a stifled groan and hurried up the stairs, calling for White Horse and Blue to carry Stone up to her bedroom.
“We’ll need hot water,” Blue told Mel as he passed her.
Mel kept herself busy for the next hour. She pumped water, heated it, and carried it up the stairs in buckets to Blue. Her shoulder pulsed with a dull sullen ache from the work, but she ignored it. Sara was in the hallway, apparently barred from her own bedroom. Mel saw Standing Bear give her a gentle hug. “Some men don’t like their mates to see them so weak,” he told Sara with what Mel thought was more tact than truth.
“Sara, you want to help me get some sort of supper ready?” Mel asked.
Sara followed her downstairs with dragging steps. “There’s plenty of bread. I baked this morning.”
Mel blinked. Good grief. She, Mike, Stone, and Snake only just arrived back at the ranch that afternoon! It seemed like days ago. “That’s good. Maybe we could do sandwiches.”
“It’s pitch black out there. Should I go out and see if any tomatoes have ripened?”
“Since this morning?” After a moment Mel shrugged. “Why not? We have a lot more people to feed.”
Sara took a lantern out the back to harvest any vegetables that might have ripened since the morning. She came back with a few tomatoes and a couple of heads of lettuce. By the time they had finished slicing bread and meat, Snake came down. He slid an arm around Mel’s waist. “Are you okay?” he asked tenderly.
Mel saw Sara stare at them with tears welling in her eyes. The girl blinked them back and concentrated on cutting tomatoes for the salad. Mel felt a wave of pity for her. Why was Stone pushing his wife away? Kissing Mord was wrong, but Sara was sorry. “Yeah, Snake, I’m okay. How’s Stone?”
“He’ll be fine. The bullet is out now. Cracked a bone and tore up the muscles pretty bad, but we wolves heal up real fast. He’ll be up and about in a week or so. Looks like we’ll be staying with your brothers a little longer than we planned on.”
“I don’t mind staying here a little longer,” Sara said with forced cheerfulness.
Snake’s wince was barely noticeable. “Um, yeah. Stone wants to talk to you about that.”
Sara swallowed. “He does? Now?”
“Yeah. Why don’t you go up, before he falls asleep.”
Sara abandoned the salad and ran out of the kitchen and pounded up the stairs. Mel looked up at Snake with a frown. “What’s up with Stone? I know he was hurt by Sara kissing Mord. I don’t blame him. Hell, I was pretty pissed too. Sara feels miserable about it now, though. I know saying sorry won’t fix it, but Sara really is sorry.”
Snake touched a lock of her hair. “Sometimes I forget how young they are. Sara’s what, fifteen? Sixteen? Snake’s only nineteen. Too young to behave sensibly. Stone isn’t the bad guy here, just a man trying to deal with the worst kind of betrayal.” Snake shook his head. “They’ll have to work it out themselves. Let me carry this tray out to the dining room for you.”
Men trickled into the dining room to make sandwiches and carry them out again. Snake paused to tell her he and some of the others were going to the pump behind the bunkhouse to wash up. There was still blood dried on his face and chest.
“Good idea. Don’t forget to brush your teeth,” she said softly.
He grinned. “I won’t forget.” The grin died down to a gentle smile that was a wordless declaration of his love. Mel wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she did. “I bet you’d like to be clean,” he said. “And Sara too. I’ll clear the men out of the house for you so you can have a hot bath in the kitchen. Hey! Standing Bear! Tell Blue to stay upstairs for a while. The ladies are going to have a bath. Just come out to let us know when you’re done, Mel.”
Mel caught sight of Sara coming down the stairs as if she were wearing lead shoes. Her face looked vacant. Mel looked up at her husband with troubled eyes. “Sara seems like she’s in shock.”
“Yeah, I figured.” He moved as if to kiss her, but remembered and moved back with a grin. “That must be the fiftieth kiss I haven’t given you tonight. I’m saving them all for later.”
Mel smiled, glad to have something to smile about. “You’ve been keeping count, huh?”
He just leered and headed outside for his bath. Mel went into the kitchen where Sara sat at the table, staring blankly at the air in front of her face.
“Sara? Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” The voice was listless.
“How about a bath? Snake and some of the men are going to get cleaned up, and they’ll stay out until we tell them they can come back in.”
“Sure.” It seemed to take supreme effort for her to get up and go to the pump. “You have a wash basin?”
“That small tub, there on the wall. We’ll need a couple of gallons of water to fill it.”
While Sara pumped water, Mel left the kitchen to find clean clothes for each of them. When she came back, the water was already heating on the stove, but Sara didn’t seem to have cheered up. Mel steeled herself to ask what was on her mind. “Sara, what did Stone have to say?’
Tears welled and no matter how hard Sara blinked, they spilled over. “He’s sending me away!” she wailed.
Mel just stared. “What?”
“He says tomorrow Snow and Sand and some of his cousins will take me to my uncle in Omaha.”
“But you’re married.”
“I know.” Sara wiped fiercely at her eyes. “I was so stupid with Mord, and now Stone hates me.”
“But men can’t repudiate their wives,” Mel protested.
“He said he’s not repudiating me.” Sara strode across the kitchen to grab the washtub hanging on the wall. She carried it over to the table and set it down with a thump. “He’ll come to Omaha in two years, before my eighteenth birthday. To see ‘if I’ve grown up yet’.” Her voice took on a harshly mocking tone with the last phrase. “I tried to tell him I’m sorry about Mord, but he wouldn’t even let me talk.”
Mel poured the hot water in the tub and got out the bar of soap and two washcloths. “I thought you wanted to go to Omaha.”
“Of course I do. Did! Do! But not like a little girl being sent to bed without supper.”
Mel wet a washcloth, wondering at Sara’s confused babble. Did she or didn’t she want to go to Omaha? Mel doubted even Sara knew for sure. “Maybe he’ll change his mind in the morning.”
“No.” Sara unbuttoned her shirt and undressed before taking the washcloth.
Mel stared at the horrible bruises on Sara’s ribs.
More tears welled and overflowed Sara’s brown eyes. “I’m really sorry about Mord, but he wouldn’t listen. After what happened with the Fosses, I just needed someone to hold me. I knew Stone couldn’t really hold me, not with his injuries. He’s too hurt. But I wanted him to at least hold my hand. But he wouldn’t even look at me!”
Not knowing what else to do, Mel began washing the dirt and sweat of days of travel from her skin. The invisible filth left behind by the Fosses wouldn’t wash away so easily. Sara’s pain at Stone’s rejection wouldn’t be easy to wash away, either. “The way you’ve always acted made me think you didn’t like him. Have you changed your mind about him?”
“No. I still don’t like him. And now I don’t like him even more!”
“But you said you wanted him to pay more attention to you.”
“That was before!” Sara got control of her tears and sniffed one last time. “But we’re married. How can he make me live somewhere else? How many times do I have to say I’m sorry before he believes me? I thought he could smell if I was being honest about it. And I am!”
Mel reminded herself Sara was only a kid. Sixteen-year-old girls were like weathervanes, changing directions with every shift of the wind. It was strange, she reflected, dunking her head to wash her hair. Not long ago she had been furious with Sara. Now, only hours later, she felt sympathy. Of course, Sara literally risked her life t
o try to save Mel from Sam Fosse. She was young, and certainly spoiled, but at heart she was good and brave. “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s my own fault, isn’t it?” Sara began drying herself. Voice muffled by the towel over her face, she said, “Stone told me to go sleep in Mord’s room.”
Ouch. “No.” Mel was very sure about that. “Mord and Mike can sleep out in the bunkhouse with the visitors, and you can have Mike’s room. He’s less of a pig than Mord, so his room is clean. Cleaner.”
Sara managed a watery snort. “It’s just for one night, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?”
Mel wanted to slap Stone. Hitting an injured man might not be right, but it would feel pretty good. She also wanted to slap Sara. “Sara, why didn’t you make Stone listen?”
“I tried! I told him I was really sorry, and I would never do it again and…and…He wasn’t listening!”
“Sara, Stone is hurt. He’s stuck in bed, so it’s not like he could have walked out on you. Believe me, I’ve heard you screech. With his hearing he would have heard you explain what made you kiss Mord.”
“He wouldn’t let me! He just glared at me like I was the enemy, and I couldn’t get the right words out.”
Mel sighed. What a mess. Snake was right, Sara and Stone would have to work it out for themselves. She dressed, lifted the tub with a suppressed grunt of pain, and carried it outside to toss the water out. Mike and Marc were there with Snake and his cousins. Mord was off to the side a little ways.
“We’re done. You can come in now. Are the Fosses taken care of?”
Marc nodded. “Yep.”
Mel nodded. “Good. Mike, get what you need from your room for tonight. Sara will be sleeping there.” She didn’t need to say anything else, but she went on anyway, in an effort to protect Sara. “Stone shouldn’t be jostled by another person beside him in bed.”
Snake took the washtub from her and towed her back into the kitchen. “It’s been a long day. You must be exhausted. Ready for bed?”
She was. She was exhausted, and she was more than ready for bed. Maybe not quite ready for sleep yet, but certainly ready for bed. “Uh-huh.” She tugged on a lock of his freshly washed hair to bring his ear to her lips. “You owe me fifty kisses.”
“I’ll pay up,” he assured her.
“Good.” She flipped him a smile. “Let me get Sara settled, and I’ll meet you in our bedroom.”
Chapter 11
When Mel went into her bedroom, she found Snake lying on his back in the middle of the bed, his hands behind his neck, sheet pulled up to his waist. The room was lit with two lamps, one on each of the bedside tables. His shoulders were broad and brown on her dingy pillowcase, flowing into well-developed pectoral muscles and a flat belly. Under the thin sheet she could see the outline of his semi-erect penis. He was beautiful. Or handsome, she corrected herself, studying him. No, beautiful, with his black hair spilled over the pillow in shiny waves, framing a face that wore an expression of welcome. She sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh and toed off her boots.
“This has been the longest and most emotional day of my life,” she said as her second boot hit the floor. She shifted on the bed to look at him. “It’s past midnight, and I’m so tired I can barely think.”
His face fell. “You’re too tired to make love?”
She laughed. “Do I need to be able to think to do that?”
He seemed to take her question seriously. “I don’t know. Do you?”
Desire for him flushed through her. She reached her hand out to run a fingertip over his erection pushing against the sheet. Even under the sheet she could see how it swelled. “Not unless I need to keep count of the kisses you owe me.”
“I’ll count out loud,” he offered with a smile lurking beneath his sober face.
“Did you brush your teeth?”
He smiled, revealing lots of white teeth. “Every one of them. Twice. Kiss me, Mel.”
She leaned across the bed to kiss him. He grabbed her and rolled her under him for a very thorough kiss. She decided, as passion burst in her, she was not too tired at all. She could taste the lingering mint from his tooth powder on his tongue.
“That was one,” he whispered against her lips.
“It was a blue ribbon kiss,” she managed.
“And that’s two…Three.”
She pulled back to press her lips to his throat. “Four.”
“Your kisses don’t count,” he chided. “Only mine do. I need to kiss those pink nipples next.”
She loved it when he put his mouth on her breasts. “Please don’t rip my shirt,” she gasped.
He unfastened each button with excruciatingly slow fingers. He peeled it down her shoulders, pulled each sleeve off, and tossed it away. Sitting beside her, he stared down at her chest. “I love looking at you. This is so beautiful.” He palmed a breast, watching the way it plumped when he cupped it. “So beautiful.” He put one light kiss after another on a passion-furled nipple.
Mel shivered with delight.
“Five,” he murmured. “Six…Seven.”
Each kiss on her breasts was harder, stoking her desire hotter. She fumbled at her belt buckle to get her jeans off. He lifted his body to allow her to push her jeans down. She looked down her body and saw his erection bobbing.
“Wait,” she said. “Stand up.”
“What?”
“I want to look at you. I haven’t seen you before.”
He blinked. “You’ve seen me plenty.”
“Not like this. That night in the little cabin it was too dark to really see your body.”
He looked baffled and a little disgruntled, but he climbed off the bed to stand beside it. She sat up and squirmed to the edge of the mattress and stared at him. Her gaze swept down his muscular chest to his thick thighs and back up to his penis. Wrapping one hand around him, she gently squeezed. “I like this.”
“I’m glad.” His breath hissed in when she tugged him to her lips and licked him. “Mel!”
“Just hold still. That night in the cabin you did everything to make me happy, but I barely touched you. Now it’s my turn.”
She teased him with licks and kisses and light nips. It made her feel powerful to hear him groan. Last time he made her moan. No man ever made her moan like that before. Tonight she would give him all the pleasure she could. He was thick in her mouth. She hesitated before relaxing her throat muscles and forcing him deep. He shouted, a garbled yell that might have been her name, and gripped her hair while his thighs trembled. For some reason, that brought a rush of moisture to the juncture of her thighs. Having Rob’s cock in her throat hadn’t turned her on, but Snake’s did. Everything about Snake turned her on.
He pulled her to her feet, and his cock slid free. He buried his face in her neck and breathed hard into her hair. “I can’t hold back anymore,” he growled. “Are you ready?”
She lifted a foot and hooked it over the back of his thigh. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
His finger speared inside her, a tiny taunt of anticipation for what was coming. “You’re so wet. So hot.” He kissed her mouth. “That’s ten.”
“I think that’s only nine,” she corrected.
“I thought you were too tired to think.”
She giggled when he tossed them down onto the bed, but the giggle broke and turned into a moan at the feel of his thick cock pushing inside her. He was deep, so deep there wasn’t room inside her for anything but him. The springs of her old, saggy bed told everyone what Snake was doing to her. A tiny part of her worried about that, but it was buried under the building pleasure of having her husband moving inside her. The shriek of the springs almost drowned out their moans and grunts. She knew her orgasm was close. She courted it with straining thighs and urgent fingers on her clit. It rose above her like the wind in a storm and crashed over her like a violent clap of thunder. She couldn’t be quiet as the peak of pleasure poured out of her in shuddering cries.
As soon as she twisted unde
r him, Snake orgasmed too, and they lay trembling against each other for long minutes until their bodies calmed and their breathing slowed. He kissed her forehead. “Eleven,” he said tenderly.
Mel stroked her hand over his wavy hair. “Maybe eleven. I think we both lost count.”
“Tomorrow I’ll do better,” he promised.
Or was it a threat? Mel smiled sleepily, thoroughly exhausted and thoroughly loved, and feeling utterly content with the idea of sharing kisses with Snake for the rest of her life. “That’s something to shoot for.”
“There are so many places to kiss you that I didn’t get to tonight.” He cupped a hand between her legs and a shiver of remembered passion shimmied through her. “You like that, don’t you?”
“I think I like everything you do to me.”
He smiled and got up to pour water in the washbowl, dipped her washcloth in it, and brought it back to clean both of them up. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll start kissing you at your toes and work my way up. That should get me closer to fifty.”
The washcloth between her legs tickled. “Do you think you’ll ever make it to fifty?”
He smiled over his shoulder at her while he tossed the cloth back in the bowl. “Does it matter?” He came back to the bed and turned the near lamp off. He climbed over her on the bed to turn the other lamp off. “It’s the effort that counts. Sleep, Mel. Sleep, love.”
In the dark, listening to Snake’s quiet breaths and feeling his chest rise against her cheek, relaxation spread through her. She went over the day in her mind, remembering how glad she was to be home, and how sorry she was to have to tell Marc and Mord about Mama. She recalled the shock of seeing Sara kissing Mord and how angry she’d been with her. The memory of talking with Sara by the arch was followed by the horror of being kidnapped and nearly raped. The thing that stood out in her mind more than anything else, though, was the look of hurt on Snake’s face when she pushed him away and tried to spit the blood out of her mouth after his kiss. He hurt because he thought she rejected him. He hurt because he cared what she thought.
