The Lawman's Surrender: The Calhoun Sisters, Book 2 (25 page)

“You have. You’ve crawled into my mind until I can’t think about anything but you. I have a job to do, but all I really want is to make love to you again.”

“Here?” She looked around the clearing.

“Right here.” He wrapped his arms around her, easing her closer. “Right now.”

“Goodness…” Her sentence trailed off as he stopped her words with his kiss.

His mouth conveyed hunger and need and other wild emotions she couldn’t name. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on as he took her on a turbulent ride of passion and desire that fogged her brain and weakened her limbs.

He couldn’t seem to help himself from wanting her. He knew he should probably let her rest. After the long ride following a night of hard loving, she was probably not up to taking him again. But he wanted to touch her. He wanted to see everything and taste every part of her, experience every nuance of Susannah before time ran out and he would have to step out of her life.

He pulled the ribbon from her hair, letting it fall about her shoulders in a pale waterfall. He gathered it in his hands, silky and curling, as he slanted his mouth over hers and pretended that tomorrow would never come.

All that existed right now was this time, this place.

He broke the kiss to look into her eyes. Slowly he lifted his hands to the buttons on her shirtwaist, forcing himself to go slowly, though his fingers shook with the effort it took to do so. “Tell me if I hurt you,” he murmured. “I have no business doing this so soon after last night.”

“Wrong. You should have done it sooner.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss his lips as he parted the shirtwaist to reveal her plain white cotton shift.

“You might be sore.” He cupped her breasts through the shift, tracing the budding nipples with his thumbs.

“I’m not.” Arching her back, she pressed herself into his hands. “Make love to me, Jedidiah.”

Leaning forward to nibble her ear, he whispered, “I try never to disappoint a lady.”

A shiver of excitement rippled down her spine, prickling her flesh and hardening her nipples even more. He followed the column of her neck with teeth and tongue, his mustache adding a delightful tingle that made her tremble.

“I can’t believe how much I want you,” he murmured, pressing his mouth to the base of her throat. “This is crazy.”

“I like being crazy.” She clung to his shoulders, her eyes half-closed in willing passion.

“I’ve got to be inside you.” He tugged at her shirtwaist, pulling it from the waistband of her skirt.

She helped him, slipping her arms free and letting the garment drift to the ground. He made a low sound of approval in his throat, gathering her into his arms and bending his head to press hot, ardent kisses along her exposed collarbone. Her breasts swelled enticingly above the neckline of her shift. He pressed his palm hard against the right one, plumping the soft flesh and gently squeezing the nipple. A long, deep breath shuddered out of her.

“Easy, sweetheart,” he whispered, then tugged down the edge of her shift and dipped his head to take her nipple in his mouth.

She moaned. He sucked strongly at her breast as her body yielded and she clung to his neck, tangling her fingers in his long hair. His other hand cupped her bottom, squeezing the soft globes gently as he pressed her belly into his erection. Slowly he moved his hips, rubbing this way and that, going in a circle, then stopping all together, leaving her moaning and rubbing against him.

 
“I know what you want,” he murmured, releasing her breast to kiss her lips. He took her hand in his and pressed it against his hardness. “Touch me, Susannah. Feel what you do to me.”

She stroked him with curious, cautious fingers, tracing his rigidity and watching his eyes drift half-closed with pleasure. He kept one hand on her breast, kneading the firm, sensitive mound.

“This seems like a miracle,” she said softly. “The changes that occur in a man’s body.”

“The miracle is that I’ve managed to hold myself back,” he muttered. “I want you so badly it hurts.”

“Does this hurt?” She caressed him gently.

“It feels too good,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m trying to maintain control. I’m trying not to shock you.”

“Shock me?” Her graceful fingers fluttered over him again. “You don’t shock me, Jedidiah.”

“I will if you don’t stop that.” He covered her wandering hand with his and flattened it hard against the front of his pants. “See what you do to me?”

She smiled. “I like doing that to you.”

He groaned. “I’m not going to survive this.”

“Don’t hold back on my account.” She stood on tip-toe and took his lower lip between her teeth, then released it. “Shock me, Jedidiah,” she whispered against his mouth.

He answered her with a hot, open-mouthed kiss that left both of them trembling.

Breaking the kiss, he yanked off his duster with jerky movements and tossed it on the ground. “Be sure you want this, Susannah, because I don’t know if I can stop.”

“Don’t stop.” She slipped into his arms, pressing her mouth to his, parting her lips the way he’d taught her and touching her tongue to his.

With a low groan, he pulled her hard against him, cupping her bottom in his big hands and kneading her buttocks with an almost frantic rhythm as the kiss went on and on. He was only a breath away from taking her hard and fast as they stood, but that wouldn’t be good for her since she was still tender from the night before.

He broke the kiss. “Tell me to stop, Suzie,” he groaned, unable to resist nuzzling the soft, fragrant flesh of her neck. “Tell me to slow down, before I bend you over and take you like a beast.”

A small sound escaped her throat as his rough whisper sent a new flood of heat rushing through her. “Sounds like fun,” she breathed.

He jerked his head up to meet her gaze, his face tight with desire barely under control. His eyes blazed with a hunger that thrilled her.

“Teach me, Jedidiah.” She deliberately rubbed herself against him, her thigh pressing hard against his erection. “I want you to show me everything you like.
Everything
.”

He closed his eyes, sucking in a sharp breath. “Susannah…”

“Everything,” she repeated in a sultry whisper.

His control snapped. Taking her by the shoulders, he turned her around so she stood with her back to him. Then he pulled her back against him, tugged the straps of her shift down her arms, and cupped both breasts in his hands. She gasped and arched her spine as he slowly kneaded the full, soft mounds.

“You’re so wonderful,” he whispered at her ear, his voice ragged with need. “You don’t hold anything back.”

She squirmed closer to him, her curvy bottom snuggling against his erection in a way that made the breath hiss from between his teeth.

“I can’t see you,” she complained softly.

“You wanted to see what I like. Don’t you like this?” He rocked with her, driving himself crazy as he rubbed himself against her lush derriere, his hands full of her breasts, her hair tangling against his chest.

“I do, but…it’s different.” She arched into him.

“There are lots of ways to make love.” He nipped her ear, her neck. “This is one of them.”

With an arm around her waist, he urged her down until they both knelt on the duster, her back against his chest. Following the guidance of his hands, she bent forward to brace herself on her hands and knees.

“Jedidiah?” Her voice was questioning, but held a quaver of excitement.

“Easy now.” He slid his hands up under her skirts, stroking over her cotton-clad thighs. “You sure do wear a lot of clothes. Maybe you should think about leaving some off when you’re getting dressed in the morning.”

“Jedidiah!”

He chuckled. “It’s only practical,” he teased. Then he flipped up her skirt and tugged off her drawers.

Susannah squealed as the cool night air hit her bare behind. She tried to look back and see what he was doing, but then his big, warm hands slid over her buttocks, and she could only close her eyes in ecstasy as warm pleasure seeped through her.

She knew she should be embarrassed. But the way he stroked her flesh, squeezing her bottom, trailing his fingers along her thighs, made her so hot that she had trouble thinking straight. Then his hand was between her legs, coaxing her thighs apart, and he found the core of her. She moaned despite herself as his clever fingers teased the sensitive flesh, caressing that part of her that felt as if it were going to break apart. She arched her back, pressing against his hand, and his pleased chuckle reached her ears. She no longer cared that her bottom was exposed to the setting sun. She wanted Jedidiah inside her, and she wanted it now.

“Please,” she begged, her voice husky with arousal.

“What do you want?” he asked softly.

“I want you.” Her breath hitched as he found a particularly sensitive spot. “I want you. Inside me. Now.”

“Me too.”

He kept one hand on her bottom while he opened his pants. Then she felt the hot, blunt tip of him probing before he slid easily into her damp sheath.

She let out a gasp as he filled her. It felt different this way, deeper. He grasped her hips with his hands and set an easy rhythm, the globes of her bottom bouncing against his flat, hair-roughened belly.

Her own lust stunned her. There had been a twinge of discomfort at first, but now the pleasure built with alarming speed, and she found herself rocking with his thrusts and making pleading noises in the back of her throat. Then suddenly it exploded, shattering and complete, and she cried out in surprise and satisfaction as her body shuddered.

Sated, her head sagged, and her limbs grew almost too weak to hold her. Only Jedidiah’s hands on her hips held her in place as he raced toward his own finish.

Jedidiah closed his eyes as his climax built, gripping her tightly as his body stiffened and his seed shot free in shuddering release. How was it that no other woman had ever made him feel this way? This was more than just a physical act, more than just simple release.

It was simply…Susannah.

They didn’t talk much afterward. It was a companionable silence, punctuated by tender smiles and small touches. Jedidiah made a show of shoving Susannah’s drawers in his saddlebags, then laughed as her face flamed. She left her hair loose, and as they ate their supper of bacon and beans, he found himself reaching out to touch the pale blonde curls, stroking one back from her face, mesmerized by the glints of silver and gold that danced through it in the light of the fire.

She watched him constantly, her eyes growing dark with new arousal, her caresses hesitant whenever she chanced to touch him. When they finished their supper, Susannah knelt beside the fire to gather up the plates to wash them in the stream. Jedidiah reached out, tangling his hand in her hair, then brought her mouth to his for a tender, unhurried kiss that stoked the already building fire between them.

Later, as they bedded down for the night, Jedidiah wrapped her in his blankets and made slow, sweet love to her until they both drifted off to sleep, smiles of contentment on their faces.

“Well, well, isn’t this a pretty picture?”

The sneering voice jerked Jedidiah from a sound sleep. Sitting up, he reached for the revolver that he always kept nearby, but his fingers grasped only dirt and weeds. He jerked his gaze to the man standing at the foot of his bedroll. His own Colt stared back at him.

Wayne Caldwell laughed. “Looking for something, Marshal?”

“You’re in a lot of trouble, Caldwell,” Jedidiah replied, his tone ringing with authority. Holding Caldwell’s gaze, he slowly brought his hand back from its futile search. “Do you know what the penalty is for assaulting a United States Marshal?”

“Probably not as serious as the penalty for killing a United States Marshal.”

Caldwell obviously had no fear of the law. No doubt he figured his high-powered uncle would get him out of any inconvenient legal tangles.

“What do you want, Caldwell?” Jedidiah demanded.

“The same thing I’ve wanted all along. To hang that bitch for killing my brother.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

Caldwell laughed and aimed the revolver at Jedidiah’s forehead. “I can’t see how you’re going to stop me.”

Jedidiah didn’t either, but he’d think of something if he could just buy them some time. He was disgusted with himself for getting caught naked as a babe and completely off guard.

Susannah stirred beside him.

“Sleeping Beauty wakes,” Caldwell observed.

Susannah’s eyes fluttered open. Her gaze settled on Jedidiah immediately, and she gave him a soft, intimate smile. He didn’t smile back.

“Must have been a hell of a ride, eh, Marshal?” Caldwell taunted. “Wonder what your superiors would think about you taking advantage of your prisoner like that?”

Susannah’s gaze jerked to Caldwell. She stared at the gun in his hand.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Caldwell,” Jedidiah said in a bored tone.

“Looks pretty obvious to me. She sure is a looker, though. For a murderer, that is.”