“Okay, yes. I do love you, else why would I be here? Now, you look at me and say it.”
Grunting, he scooted closer to her, leaned forward until his lips brushed hers. “I love you,” he said, then took her mouth to his. He tasted of sweet peaches.
She ran her fingers through his tangled hair and held him close, her tongue exploring his.
He leaned into her, drifted kisses along her neck and into the vee of her breasts. “I want you, Wilda, my wild one.”
“You’ll hurt your arm.”
“Who cares?” He moved to her rigid nipple, tasted her through the dress, pulled her into the grass so they lay stretched out against each other.
A shiver of delight washed over her and laughing like children at play they undressed each other. The warmth of the rising sun fell across them like a blanket.
Despite the hardship of what was sure to come, she felt free and happy for the first time since her parents had died.
He wiped the knife blade, folded it closed and put it in his pocket, rose, still favoring the wounded arm. But he looked much better, not so pale or drawn around the mouth and eyes.
He stood above her and reached down. “Come on, let’s wash off the sticky and get out of here. I’d hoped to stay and rest up, but it’s worrying at me. All these soldiers everywhere. We’re still a long way from being safe. If a troop of them don’t find us, someone else will. They’re sure to come back after us today, either your Lordship’s gang of pansies on their bob-tailed ponies or Sheriff Calumet’s posse.”
Rising, she fetched his bloody shirt and followed him toward the river. “I’d like to take a bath and wash my dress, too.” Rubbing a palm down the front of the stained dress, she thought of her new friend Rachel and her beautiful children. “Oh, what about Rachel? What will happen to her now?”
In silence, he dropped to his knees on the riverbank. When he didn’t reply, she kneeled beside him and began to wash her hands. “Maybe we could rob the bank.”
Hands immersed in water, he looked up. “No, we are not going to rob a bank.”
“But, I could be—what do you call it?—the lookout and you could do the robbing. Just enough for her to go home. Please, we have to do something.”
Excitement pushed aside the apprehension that stirred deep within her. What would it be like to rob a bank? And it wouldn’t hurt anyone, would it? Didn’t banks have insurance? Besides, they all had plenty of money, those people who built their fancy castles and filled them with rich damask linens and crystal and silver. None poor like her and Tyra and Rowena.
He glanced at her with a lopsided grin. “I don’t think I’ve ever been known for smarts, but I guess it could work. If we did it for Rachel. I’d need you to wait outside of town with Gabe. We need us another mount, but I could take one tonight in town, hide out until the bank opens and hit them before they know what happened.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. What if…if you get shot or caught or something.”
“I won’t. Never have.”
She gazed pointedly at his bandaged arm. “You’re shot now.”
He chuckled. “Reckon I am, but it’s better already. You’re one hell of a doc.” He stood and wiped his wet hands down the sides of his jeans. “They’d never expect us to double back and do something like that. You don’t want to go, you can wait here. I’ll come back for you.”
A fist tightened in her stomach. What had she done? She’d started this, now wished she hadn’t. “No, you said you wouldn’t leave me. Blair will keep coming till he finds me. You don’t know him. You can’t go if I don’t.”
“And what will you do, hogtie me?” He rubbed his fingertips over the set line of her jaw, stared down into her frightened eyes. “I’m sorry for teasing you, but this is the life I lead, and I want you with me. It’s time you understood. I’m an outlaw, that’s my job.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way. After this, you can get another job. What you need to understand is that I won’t remain here. After you fall asleep, I’ll tie you up. Hogtie you.” She experimented with the word, liked the sound of it.
His laughter startled a flock of birds, and they scattered from the trees, swooping through the sky in a dark cloud.
“I’m the expert, if we do this you’ll do what I say when I say it, you understand?”
She nodded her head meekly, then shot him a glare. “Long as you’re not leaving me.
He nodded. “Let’s just stop all this palaver. It’s settled.” Finger under her chin, he lifted it so their eyes met. “It’s only a game, after all. A game of cat and mouse. And you said it yourself. Rachel and her kids need to go home.”
He watched her war within herself.
She furrowed her brow and nibbled at her lower lip. “If it’s a game, I would rather be the cat than the mouse.”
“And that you will be,” he promised.
Mischief in her eyes she backed away, ran into the river. When the water reached her shoulders, she pulled the dress over her head, doused it up and down till waves lapped at his feet where he stood on the shore. She scrubbed the dress, then his bloody shirt, wadded both and tossed them onto the sandy bank. “Would you spread those in the sun to dry?”
“Well, I’m damned,” he muttered. Amazed, he stared at the naked girl, well at least at her head. His imagination had to do the rest, as the water was too murky.
That didn’t take long. Wild urges sent all sorts of messages down south. He picked up the clothing, found a nearby bush and spread both garments on the branches. Not wasting any motion, he undid his belt, unbuttoned his pants and kicked out of everything, except for one leg of his britches that dragged around an ankle till he reached the water. He danced on one foot and struggled to untangle the denim.
Her laughter floated over the water, and he cursed under his breath. He was hard as a blamed rock and she was leading him around by his whacker as if her fingers were encircling it.
Nervously he made a final check of the area. From where they were, no one approaching from either way on the road could see them. Dare they take a chance to have a bath and play a while? As he lifted his head, she rose out of the water till it was only waist deep. Sunlight shimmered on her breasts, the nipples rosy and erect against her pale skin.
That wasn’t all that was erect. He’d never been so dag-blasted exposed in all his life.
Ah, hell, who cared anyway? Gaze locked on her, he waded into the cool water till it touched his bare ass. Damn, that felt good, but not near as good as what he was about to do.
Smiling shyly, she reached out a hand and he took her wet fingers in his.
“Are you sure your arm is okay for this?”
“Can’t feel a thing.” He glanced down. “Well, at least not in the arm.”
A fish took ticklish nibbles from his thigh. The little fellows must have been checking her out too because her eyes widened and she moved forward, bumping up against him.
“Oh, my goodness.” Palm flattened against his stomach, she moved it ever so slowly down until it closed around his erection.
He gritted his teeth and did some hanging on of his own.
“I don’t… I’ve never.”
“I know. I’ll show you.” Leaning forward, he bit the lobe of her ear, kissed the wet smoothness of her jawline, captured her mouth with his. Oh, God, he was about to bust.
A tiny note of surprise crawled from her throat. Her tongue met his. They were going to do it. At last. This time she surely wouldn’t let him stop. Hell, he wouldn’t let him stop. No more fooling around.
He would have smiled at the small contented sounds coming from her, but his lips were too busy devouring her silky taste. The water lapped around them. The stillness of the hot summer day kissed their shoulders with sunlight. Funny the coolness of the river didn’t cool his ardor one bit, nor hers either, by the way she moved against him. Soon he absorbed her rhythm. He’d lied about the pain in his arm, but when her fingers closed around his sex, it was lost to the explosive desire.
So long, so damned long he didn’t even want to think about the only girl he’d ever loved. This one, she would be forever.
“Oh, God, Wilda.” He clung to her shoulders, pulled her close. Desire grew like a great fire out of control and devouring everything before it.
She took his hand. “Not in the water, let’s lie in the grass there in the shade.”
He’d follow her anywhere, let her lead him in a blind passion to have her. Through the sand, dripping water, into the deep, dark shadows under the cottonwoods. Leaves whispered in the afternoon wind and she lay down, still holding on to his hand. He knelt beside her, leaned forward and lapped at her breast, took the turgid nipple into his mouth and sucked.
“Oh, dear. Oh, my. Oh, God. That feels wonderful.”
And that was only the beginning.
Determined to taste every inch of her, he set to the task, willing his swelling sex to wait, hold on. Not yet, damn it. I’m not done with this.
She twisted under his kisses, wound her fingers through his wet hair, parted her legs for him when he reached for the honeyed recesses of her swollen sex, barely disguised by a pale drift of red hair. He would be careful, he must be. For to hurt her was to commit a sin. But he had to be inside her, couldn’t wait. Go easy, that’s all. Straddling her on his knees, he used his fingers to ready her, waited till she grew wet from her own juices, then guided himself inside her velvety sweetness, came up against her maidenhead. He’d nearly burst right there, but he couldn’t wouldn’t. Not yet. Not yet.
Leaning forward, he whispered, “This will hurt, but I’ll go easy. If you need me to stop, say so.” But dear God, if she tried to stop him now, he’d die from the need. Every muscle throbbed with desire, even his heart hammered with a relentless hunger.
Eyes filled with tears, she shook her head. “No, don’t stop. That…what I feel…pain that needs you, needs…” She arched her back and pushed hard so that he plunged inside her. Her cry was drowned by his outburst, almost a howl. A fire blazed within him, he entered paradise and the world exploded like a star flaring through the sky.
Her cries joined his as he came in a burst of wildness, at the same time pulling free. He rolled to the ground beside her, floated into another place until the pulsing quieted.
“Why did you stop? Don’t stop.” She shook him. “Are you all right? Did I hurt you?”
Arm over his eyes, he struggled to compose himself. Gasped. Then began to laugh. “It’s fine, I’m fine. It happened so fast. I’m sorry, but you mustn’t be with child.”
“Ah.” She seemed to mull that over, then asked, “Am I no longer a virgin?”
With a laugh, he wrapped her up in his arms. “I think I can guarantee that you are no longer a virgin.”
She kissed his jaw, nibbled at his ear, tweaked his nipple. “Then I want to do it again.”
“You do, do you?”
“Yes, please?”
“Well, let me see. Umm, I believe I can manage that.”
Even as he bent to take her breast once more into his mouth and at the same time gently ease a roving hand between her legs to give her a taste of what he’d felt, a small warning voice echoed through his mind. This would not last. It couldn’t. He was who he was. Something would go wrong. Terribly wrong.
But her skin felt like silk, a long forgotten sensation from when he was a child and his mother held him. The touch of her gown under his palm. How long had it been since he’d touched something so feminine, so fine? Oh, God, so fine. How could he stop, let this one go? Why should he? What was there left in this world for him?
With a sigh, he snuggled closer, his mind reeling with delight. Wilda opened her legs to his touch, mewed like a kitten while he massaged her to a climax that brought a cry of joy.
His sex rose, and she widened her legs across his thighs. It had hurt, what he did, but not as much as it had felt wonderful. Like she was a bird soaring high in the sky. Like everything went from blue to red to deep purple while her body twanged like a giant string struck by a velvet hammer. She wanted that feeling again, and more as well. When he once more slipped inside, she rode him until the heart of her sex throbbed and burst like a thousand suns.
His hands clutched at her, held her so hard she couldn’t move. His heat poured through her, his cries filled the air.
With one hand she smoothed his cheek, found he was crying. “Have I hurt you?” she whispered against his mouth.
“No, my love. Anything but.” He waited a moment, eyes still closed. “I’m sorry, so sorry.”
“Oh, don’t be. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The nuns were terribly wrong.”
“Wrong? What about?”
“About sex and men. Maybe I’ll write them a letter and tell them they don’t know what they’re missing.”
He chuckled, tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “That might not be such a good idea.”
“I guess you’re right. If they find out what I know, there’ll be no nuns left in this world.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“Then pray tell, what could it be?”
“I didn’t mean to…if you are with child, what will we do?”
“Do? What would anyone do? We will get us a house somewhere far away from here, where no one knows us.” Her fingers drifted through his hair. “You will go to work at the local mercantile selling soap and cans of peaches, and I will clean the house and nurse the baby at my breast.”
She cupped that breast and moved it against him, the nipple once more growing rigid. She wanted him again. This was a strange thing to ponder. Why something should feel so good and be so bad. Surely God didn’t intend it to be a sin. Her mother and father, after all, had done this thing and had children.
“Sounds good, but I think I’d rather work at the bank.” He shifted to trail kisses along the inside of her arm.
“Oh, no you don’t. You could never resist all that money. And think of your wife and child at home. What would they do if you robbed the bank and rode off?”
He stopped kissing her, remained still for a long while. He didn’t have a chance to reply, for from out of the trees burst men with guns. Shouting, all shouting so that she rolled up into a ball against him and screamed.
He locked his arms around her protectively, whispered over and over in her ear, “I’m sorry, so sorry.”