Cowboy For Hire (34 page)

He’d have done it, too. Lord above, he must
really love the woman, because he was sure he’d keel over and die
on the spot if she said yes.

“She said, “No.”

He shut his eyes and breathed a prayer of
thanks. Opening them again, he said, “Here, Amy. Take my hand.
We’ll lie down, and I’ll try to make you forget how strange it all
is. It feels real good, honey. Honest, it does.”

It wouldn’t have surprised him if she’d said,
It had better
, but she didn’t. She only said, “All right,
Charlie,” in a trusting little voice that about broke his heart—but
didn’t do a thing to diminish his lusting manhood.

He led her to the bed and carefully lifted
her onto it. Her skin felt like silk and satin and all the other
smooth and luscious things in the world. “Your skin is sure pretty,
Amy.” Lame. That was about as lame a comment as a man could make
under the circumstances. “I—I like to stroke your skin because it’s
so silky.”

Amy, bless her, only said, “Thank you. I—like
to feel your skin, too. It’s so rough compared to mine.”

“It sure is.”

With a combination of fear and excitement
that was more potent than any combination of emotions and physical
sensations he’d ever experienced before, Charlie began a tactile
survey of her body. As he feathered small, warm kisses over her
face, his hands roved freely. “I hope my calluses don’t hurt
you.”

“They don’t hurt,” she assured him.

And since she was at the moment thrusting her
breast into his palm, he guessed she meant it. He obliged her,
rubbing his thumb gently over her nipple until it pebbled and
hardened. Then he kissed her there, warming her breast with his
tongue, taking the nipple between his teeth and gently tugging.

“Oh, Charlie!”

He stopped instantly, freezing into
immobility, frightened nearly to death that he’d hurt her. She
grabbed his head and bent it over her breast. “Don’t stop. Oh,
please don’t stop now!”

So he didn’t.

He’d been grazing on various parts of her for
a long time when he became aware that she’d spoken to him. His
concentration was so entirely centered on his sexual needs—and
hers; he was always conscious of making her feel good—that he
hadn’t been paying attention to the sound of things. The first
words that came through the sexual fog in his brain was,
“Well?”

He blinked and lifted his head. He’d been
maneuvering down to the curls between her legs, taking his time.
“I, uh, beg your pardon?”

“I asked if you’d mind,” she said, as if she
were repeating something she’d already said once or twice.

Oh, God, was she going to make him stop
now?
He’d surely die. “Mind what?” he asked, perhaps too
abruptly.

“If I felt your body the way you’re feeling
mine,” she said sweetly—oh, so sweetly.

Charlie wasn’t sure he should believe what
his ears had heard, since he was pretty sure his brain was making
it all up and she’d actually aid something entirely different. He
took a chance anyway. “Er, no. No, I wouldn’t mind at all.”

Thank God, thank God, she began to touch him.
He hadn’t misunderstood her. He groaned, unable to keep it inside
any longer.

“Oh, did that hurt?” she asked, lifting her
hand from his stiff sex.

“Lord, no, honey. That feels just fine.” He
groaned again when she replaced her hand. “Just … fine.”

All right, he’d been a good boy. He’d gone
slow. It was time to take a major step here, before he exploded.
With a feeling akin to reverence, Charlie let his hand creep to the
juncture of her thighs, to where the soft, springy curls hid her
woman’s most precious treasure.

Heaven—or something—rained its mercies upon
him; she was ready for him. He could tell by the dampness he felt
and the fact that her hips lifted to meet his fingers. Her cry of
pleasure helped him reach the conclusion, as well.

“Oh, Charlie! That feels so good.”

“It sure does, honey.” His fingers stroked
her slick folds for a couple of moments; then he carefully dipped
one finger into her passage. He knew there would be a barrier to
his sex, but he hoped it wouldn’t be painful when he broke
through.

And as there was only one way to find out,
Charlie guessed it was about time. If he didn’t do it soon, he’d
disgrace himself, and he didn’t think he could stand that.

“Um, Amy, do you think you’re ready?”

She’d had her eyes closed, and was engaged in
a blissful rhythm in time to the stroking of his fingers. Her
eyelids fluttered once or twice, and her eyes looked unfocused when
they sought his face. “Ready? For what?”

He closed his eyes, too, and sighed. “For me.
For the act of love. For what this is all leading up to.”

She blinked a couple of time. “Oh. Why,
certainly. I guess so.” She gave him a brilliant smile. “You know
more about this than I do.”

True. He wasn’t as experienced as lots of
men, but he’d known a woman or two in his day. And since that was
the case, he decided for her. With a brisk nod, he said, “You’re
ready.”

“Good.”

She reached for him, which made it easy for
him to kneel over her. He hoped she could read the love in his eyes
as he gazed at her. “Help guide me in, Amy,” he said, and he took
her hand and put it around his erect member.

So she did. With one more “Oh, Charlie,” she
guided him home.

He’d never felt anything like it. She was as
warm and wet and smooth as anything. Her passage was tight and
seemed to suck him in. He sighed deeply and kissed her hard. “God,
I love you, Amy.”

“I love you, Charlie.”

He came to the barrier of her virginity and
paused. He didn’t want to hurt her almost as much as he needed to
accomplish this deed.

“Keep going, Charlie. I know it might hurt a
little,” she said.

He silently blessed her as the most
absolutely perfect woman in the world as he pushed past the
barrier. She gasped, and he stilled, holding himself back with all
the strength of character and body he possessed. “Are you all
right, sweetheart?” If she wasn’t, he wasn’t sure there was
anything he could do about it at this point.

“Yes. I’m sure I am. Just wait a minute.”

So he did. Charlie had always known himself
to be a man of patience; patience was a virtue in any kind of
ranching operation. Cattle weren’t know for their swift thinking or
cooperative nature. The patience and restraint he showed with Amy,
however, impressed even himself.

Through gritted teeth, he said, “Tell me
when, sweetheart.”

She was silent for a moment, then said, “All
right. I think I’m all right now.”

Thank God. With a huge exhalation of breath,
Charlie let himself go. He didn’t want to hurt her. He tried to be
gentle. But he didn’t stop again. Since he was so close the edge,
he reached between their bodies and found the nub of Amy’s pleasure
and began to stroke it gently.

She gasped. “Oh, my!”

He began to drip sweat on her, and was sorry
about it, but he was, after all, only a man. “Does that feel
good?”

“Oh, yes.” Her hips lifted. “Oh,
yes!
”

He felt her climax happen, and it surprised
the hell out of him. He hadn’t really expected it—not their first
time together. Hell, he’d been under the impression that lots of
wives only submitted to their husbands out of duty. He was so happy
to find out Amy wasn’t one of them, he could have hollered his joy
to the sky, except that his climax came almost as soon as he felt
hers, and his voice box was occupied in crying out her name.

He didn’t know how long they lay there
afterwards, too enervated to move, but eventually he managed to
move so that he wasn’t crushing her with his weight. She was such a
tiny thing. Delicate. Fragile. And he’d forced his big, rough self
on her. Well, perhaps not
forced
.

When he thought he could speak without
gasping, he stroked her stomach—which was damp with
perspiration—and whispered, “Are you all right, sweetheart? Did I
hurt you?”

She turned over and placed her hands on his
chest. Staring into his eyes, her own as full of love as if she
were speaking the words aloud, she said, “You didn’t hurt me,
Charlie. I’m fine. I’ve never been so fine.”

That was a load off his mind. He grinned,
hoping he didn’t look too proud of himself. “Good. I’m glad. Um,
was it all right for you?”

“All right?” She seemed puzzled for a moment,
then her expression cleared. “Oh, do you mean did I enjoy it?”

Shoot, once she decided to open up, she
really went at it with a vengeance, didn’t she? He nodded. “Yes,
that’s what I meant.” He’d been too shy to say it out loud.

“Oh, my, yes. I had no idea. Why, I think
marriage is going to be perfectly wonderful. I never thought about
the physical aspects of marriage before this minute. Well, except
in the sense that I didn’t want to starve to death or anything like
that.”

“Right.” She was moving a little fast for
him. Like his uncle Bill might say, she was talking faster than he
could listen. But Charlie had never heard anybody speak of starving
to death in connection with marriage before.

Then he remembered Alaska, his big heart
turned sloppy and warm, and he drew her into his arms, sweat and
all. If she could talk about sex so openly, surely she wouldn’t
object to his sweaty chest. “Sweetheart, I swear to you that I’ll
take care of you. You’ll never have to worry about having enough
food. And if we’re lucky enough to be blessed with kids, they’ll
never have to suffer the way you suffered when you were little. I
swear it.”

“Oh, Charlie.”

He could tell she’s started to sniffle, and
hoping she wouldn’t bawl. He’d never been sure what to do when
females cried in front of him.

After a few minutes of that, Charlie’s sex
began to stir again, and he hoped he wouldn’t shock her unduly—Amy
pulled away so that she could talk. He kept petting her because he
couldn’t seem to leave off. He’d never in all his born days
expected to have such an exquisite creature in his life. And she’d
agreed to marry him. He could scarcely believe his luck.

“I can’t wait to see the ranch, Charlie.” She
curled up next to him and put her hand on his chest. She seemed to
like running her fingers through his chest hair. That was fine with
him; he liked it, too.

“We can go to Arizona as soon as the
picture’s wrapped up, if you want to.”

“Oh, I’d love it. Do you suppose my aunt and
uncle can go, too, if they can get away for a little holiday?”

“Sure. I’m sure there will be room for them.
I’ll write my mother.”

“Your mother? Will she put them up?”

“Put them up? Well, sure.” He looked down at
her. “She and my dad live there, and there’s loads of room.”

“They live on our ranch?”

Our ranch?
That seemed like a funny
way to phrase it, but Charlie kind of liked the sound of it. Made
their life together seem like a sure thing. “Sure.”

“Oh. I guess I didn’t realize.”

“Oh, sure. Heck, that ranch has been in the
family for more than fifty years. A few of my brothers and two of
my sisters live there, too.”

A brief silence preceded Amy’s, “Oh. That’s a
lot of people. Um, I thought it would be just the two of us.”

Uh-oh. Charlie didn’t like the sound of this.
He tried to recall exactly what he’d told her about the ranch, and
guessed he hadn’t mentioned that lots of his family still lived
there. Actually, he guessed he hadn’t mentioned his family at all,
except to say the ranch had been in the family for a long time. He
hoped he hadn’t given her the impression that the ranch was his
alone.

Feeling foolish and a little desperate, he
said, “Well, there will be the two of us eventually, because we’ll
set up our own operation. In the meantime, the ranch is plenty big
enough for all of us to visit. It won’t be our home after we’re
married, of course.”

“It won’t?”

“Shoot, no. I always expected to have my own
place someday. What with the money I’m making from this picture,
I’ll be ready to set us up right.”

“Set us up? You mean you aren’t set up
already?”

The sugar in her voice seemed to be
disintegrating. Charlie didn’t like the sound of it. “Well, not
yet, but you don’t need to worry, Amy. Honest to God, I’ve got
plenty of money. And I’ve got lots of built-in help to work on the
place, too.”

“Built-in help? I don’t think I understand,
Charlie.”

Charlie was disappointed when she withdrew
her hand from his chest. He was getting an uneasy feeling about
this conversation. “I mean my brothers. They’ll be happy to help
build us a house and start up the operation.”

“Start up,” she murmured. “I was under the
impression your ranch was already a going concern.”

“It is. That is to say, the family ranch is
about as successful as a ranch can be. I’m going to set up my
own.”

“Oh.”

Oh? Just oh? Charlie’s heart began to shrivel
in his chest, and he scrambled to regain lost ground. “And we don’t
need to do it in Arizona Territory, either,” he rushed on. “If you
prefer living in California, we’ll just establish a ranch in
California. Land’s cheap here, and there’s lots of it, and it’s a
great place to raise cattle and kids.”

He saw her lick her lips. “I, um, didn’t
imagine that we’d have to start out with nothing, Charlie. I
believed you had a ranch going full tilt already.”

“The family ranch is,” he said lamely. “But I
don’t even have the land for my own operation. Yet. I’m going to
build a place and stock it as soon as possible after I get paid for
this picture.”

“I see.”

She sat up. He did, too, and said, “Amy, I’m
really sorry I gave you the wrong idea. Honest to God, I didn’t
meant to deceive you.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.”

Her voice had gone … bleak was the only word
Charlie could come up with to describe it. “Amy….”