Dorothy Garlock - [Wyoming Frontier] (33 page)

“I just had to do this. I just had to,” he murmured between biting kisses. “It feels so natural and good—” He spread his fingers, catching the dusky pink tips of her nipples between them, and squeezing gently.

He pulled her down on the make-shift bed, covered them with the blanket and helped her to wiggle out of her drawers. Then he drew her soft naked body against the swelling hardness of his manhood. For a long time he simply held her against him, letting his body tell her of itself while learning the shy secrets of her own.

Closing her eyes against the mist of tears that gathered, Katy buried her face in the warmth of his chest, tightened her arms around him, inhaling the rich masculine scent of him, and realizing that she had never known a more beautiful moment.

She sought his mouth with hers as he tantalized the tips of her breasts with nibbling fingers. The soft flesh filled his palm. He fondled it as carefully as if he were holding a precious life in his hands. He made love to her slowly, kissing her temples, the curve of her cheeks, the sides of her mouth. He closed her eyes with gentle kisses. His sex was large, firm, and throbbingly erect against the thigh pinned between his. It seemed enormous to Katy, yet she did not feel threatened by this giant of a man who trembled beneath her touch.

He turned her on her back, swinging his leg over hers, pressing her to the blanket. She wrapped her arms around his naked torso. Her ragged breath was trapped inside her mouth by his lips. He lifted his head and looked into her face, his hand gentle in her hair.

“You’re very precious to me. I’ll take care of you always,” he whispered urgently.

“I know that.”

He lowered his head and nuzzled her breast. His lips captured a nipple, and the rough drag of his tongue was so exquisitely painful that she drew a gasping breath. Her mind whirled, her flesh tingled. This was something she had dreamed about while she lay in her lonely bed, but the reality was far more wonderful than the dream.

“I wanted to do that from the very first,” he whispered. “The day we went to see the honkers, I felt myself growing hard and I took a deep breath and said to myself, don’t let this sweet woman think you’re a rutting stag. I wanted to take off your clothes and taste every bit of you until you were hot and wet and wanting me. But more than that, I wanted you to trust me. I desperately wanted your love.”

As he caressed her thighs, her hips, his touch was patient, yet sweetly demanding. Katy did not know what to expect, but the sensations he was building made her desperate for more and more. His hand moved over her body and suddenly it was there at the mysterious moistness between her thighs. She parted her legs voluntarily, aching for him to explore more deeply. When he slipped his fingers inside her, she tensed, wholly caught up in the feelings trembling from that secret place. At first she was tight with newness, but as his exploring fingers caressed her, she opened with a small, strangled cry and tremors shot through her in rocketing waves.

He did not have to urge her hand to the part of him that begged to be touched. Fingers that had lost their shyness closed around him. A low moan came from his lips as she teased his hardened flesh. He had not expected this sweet willingness, the astounding passion that lay slumbering beneath her innocence. She held nothing from him; he held nothing from her. The swift honesty with which she offered herself to him was a surprise and a delight.

“Sweetheart, I’ll hurt you when I go inside you the first time.” He leaned over her, supporting himself on his forearms, cupped her head in his hands and rained tender, soft kisses on her face. She clung to him, her hand stroking his shoulder and back. She was drowning in desire, swept by emotion, responding to each new sensation with growing urgency. She caressed his hard shaft and begged with motions for him to enter her.

“Rowe, Rowe,” she cried, and wrapped her arms around him, spreading her legs so his thighs could sink between hers. Cradled together, his hardness cushioned against her soft mound, they rocked from side to side.

His kisses were hard and swift on her mouth, but kisses were not enough now. Only by joining their bodies would they begin to appease the hunger they had for each other. He lifted his hips, as her hand urgently moved between them to guide him into her.

He raised his head. “Look at me, sweetheart,” he said urgently. “This is the most beautiful moment of my life.” His body begged for release, but he held himself in check to savor the pleasure. He smiled down at her and leaned to kiss her hungry mouth.

Slowly, he began to penetrate her. She was wet and ready, but tight. Anticipation of her pain filled him with anxiety. He hated having to hurt her, but determinedly he drove himself deep inside her, met the final barrier of her innocence, and destroyed it. Her eyes went wide with surprise; she gasped at the sharp pain. He held himself still while her body adjusted itself to his presence. He withdrew, then eased forward. She gasped again, not from pain, but at the strangeness of his full length invading her. Then, the fire inside her body where he was began to build into an overwhelming need. The whole world was the man joined to her. His mouth and her mouth were one. He was at home in her, moving gently, caressingly, lovingly. She arched her hips wildly and he hungrily took what she offered.

The spasms of pleasure that followed danced gloriously throughout her body. The tip of him touched her very soul. She wanted the moment to go on forever—but she had no choice. She had to let go. The teasing tension that had built in their coupled bodies exploded into rapturous release. Katy wasn’t really aware when it ended. When she returned to reality Rowe was leaning over her, his weight again on his forearms.

“Are you all right, love?”

The light touch of his lips at the corner of her mouth brought a small inarticulate sound from her. She tightened her arms around him, folded her legs over his to hold him inside her warmth. Her hands moved into his wild, thick hair and fondled his neck, then came up to stroke his cheeks and caress his ears.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes! Oh, yes. So this is what some women think is so dreadful.” She laughed, caught his lower lip between her teeth and bit gently. She struggled for words to express her feelings. “Darling, we’ve done something wonderful together. And I’m . . . I’m so full of you,” she exclaimed. Hearing and feeling the slow rumbling of his deep chuckle, she laughed, and her soft belly moved against his hard one.

“Yes, my rose of the night, we have done something special together.” He stroked the hair from her flushed face. “I truly love you, Katherine Burns Rowe. So help me God, I do!”

Suddenly their passion swelled again. It rocked them, enveloped them in a swirling, translucent world where nothing existed but the two of them and the ecstasy they shared. He was still enclosed in the sweet softness, pillowed in a warm and silken place. Seeking more of the delicious feeling, she thrust upward to envelop his entire length, helpless to suppress the groan of pleasure that rose to her lips with every surge of his magnificent prodding flesh.

Rowe drowned his burning, bursting manhood in the writhing sweetness it had entered. The world waited while the irreversible tempo built toward consuming release. Then he was floating free above the earth with only the warm sheath holding him. The heated flow of his life-giving fluid spurted from his body in a great flood, filling her. His mind and his body separated and he was beyond himself.

Afterward, they lay side by side and held each other while their heartbeats slowed and the glorious throbbing of their bodies ceased. It had been so beautiful; tears slipped from Katy’s eyes and wet the shoulder beneath her head.

“Sweetheart! Why are you crying? Did I hurt you? I tried to keep control, but it slipped away from me and I lost myself in you.”

“You were sweet and gentle. I’ve thought about bedding with the man I loved, but I never imagined it to be so wonderful. I love you so much, Rowe. Don’t break my heart.” Her breath caught and her voice ended in a sob.

A growl of protest came from his throat. He tilted her face up and kissed her deeply before he raised his head to look at her again.

“Heart of my heart, once, long ago, I loved you in another life and I shall love you in this one until time has no more meaning for us. You are mine and I am yours.”

In the flickering firelight, his eyes possessed a mysterious magnetic force. She couldn’t look away. She felt suddenly immersed in a sumptuously delicious joy. Love and tenderness welled within her, and a feeling of peace unfolded and traveled slowly throughout her body.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I am yours and you are mine.”

Once during the night Rowe got up to add more fuel to their fire. Katy lay with her head on her arm and watched him. His naked body was magnificent as he moved about without shame, unmindful of her eyes upon him. He was strong and lean, broad of chest, with long legs and flat abdomen. Katy had touched all of him, but his was the first completely naked male body she had seen. A triangle of curly black hair spread above his nipples to almost disappear just below his navel. Below that, springing out of a nest of thick black hair, was the male part of him that she had seen only in pictures of statues. They had not prepared her for the wonder of a man’s body ready for love.

He slipped back into the warm nest of blankets, redolent with the musky scent of their love, and gathered her to him. Their bodies came together perfectly, and Katy felt the stirring of his maleness as she teased it with the soft down on her mound.

“How do people who love each other like we do manage to get any sleep?” Her face was damp and flushed and covered with a happy smile.

“There are no other people who love each other like we do,” he contradicted softly and began to caress her mouth gently but firmly.

Her hand, pressed flat, slid over his shoulder, over his collarbone to his chest. She spread her fingers through his chest hair and straightened her legs so that she could move closer to the lower part of him that had begun to swell, to pillow it against her soft belly.

“I like to touch you.” She turned her face and kissed the lean muscles that rippled beneath her lips.

“I like it too. Don’t stop, sweetheart,” he coaxed in a hoarse whisper. His need was a tumultuous pressure in his groin, a throbbing all-over ache. “I’ve had you twice already and I want you again.”

“Then have me, darling. I’m yours.”

Her words made his heart leap. “You’ll have trouble walking tomorrow, much less riding.”

“Remember when we were at Emily’s?” She caught his hand and brought it down to press against the tight curls below her belly. “You rubbed the soreness out of me. You’ll just have to do it again.”

She could feel the thunderous pounding of his heart against her breast. “I’ll never get enough of you!” His voice trembled with emotion.

“But you’ll keep trying, won’t you?”

They made love deep into the night until sheer exhaustion sent Katy into a deep sleep. Rowe’s protective instincts kept him poised in the void between sleep and awareness. Katy lay molded to his naked body, her cheek nestled in the warm hollow of his shoulder. His fingers absently caressed the rounded flesh of her breasts, fondling the stiff peaks.

A whimpering sound came from her as her own hand came up to clasp his and press it tighter to her breast.

“Rowe . . .” His name came from her lips even as she was searching for his. “Kiss me, hold me—”

He kissed her soft, eager lips and murmured, “Go to sleep, love. You’re worn out.”

Morning came and with it sunshine. Katy awakened and opened one eye to see the bright pattern of light splashed across the floor. Seconds later it was gone as Rowe’s body filled the open doorway.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” He stepped into the shack and dropped an armload of wood beside the fireplace.

Katy stretched and opened her other eye to find his face just inches from hers. She ran her fingers over his smooth cheeks and chin.

“You’ve shaved. How long have you been up?”

“A long time. I wanted to look at you. Coffee is ready and I’ve heated water for you to wash.” He looked as happy as a small boy with a new slingshot.

“I’m sorry I didn’t wake up. I was tired.” Her fingers moved inside his shirt and combed the hair on his chest. “It was a long, delicious night,” she whispered.

“For me too.”

“No woman ever had a more wonderful wedding night!” Her words melted on her lips when she tried to speak and were swept away by his kisses.

“No man ever had a sweeter bride.”

“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”

“Your wish is my command, my lady. Shall it be Apollo or Juliet?” His face was soft with love, his eyes teasing.

“Hummm—” She appeared to be deliberating.

“You look very smug this morning, Mrs. Rowe. Are you pleased that you finally had your way with me?”

“Very pleased. I might even go into the business. Do you think Lizzibeth could use another girl at the Bee Hive?”

“I’ll give you all the business you can handle, little tease,” he said gruffly. “Now that I’ve had time to reconsider, I’m not sure that I’ll share a can of peaches with you.”

“Peaches? You’ve been holding out on me.”

“Would you like to stay here today, sweetheart? We can go on to Trinity tomorrow.”

Katy sat up, holding the blanket up over her breasts, and shivered as the cold air hit her back. A tangle of golden hair hung around her face and over her shoulders.

“Oh, Rowe. Let’s stay. I don’t even know where we’ll live when we get to Trinity. Besides—” she gave him a sideways look —“I may be too sore to ride today.”

He reached for the blanket and pulled it up to cover her back and shoulders. With a devilish grin he pulled down on the part that covered her breasts, then lowered his head and placed a kiss on each puckered peak.

“If we stay here today, it’s
sure
you’ll be too sore to ride tomorrow.”

“Will you swear to that on your mother’s Bible?” she asked solemnly with eyes wide and innocent.

He eased her back down onto the bed, covered her with the blanket, then kicked off his boots. Holding her with his eyes, he unbuckled his belt and pulled off his britches.