Delilah's Flame (38 page)

Carrying her, he bounded up the stairs and down the hall to the farthest bedroom. He gave the door a kick, swinging it open. It was a man’s room, devoid of any frills. The one item of luxury was an oversize four-poster bed. Balancing her on his knee, Tabor flung back the wool Indian blanket and laid Lilah on the soft sheets underneath. He cast off his shirt and boots, and Lilah felt for her morocco leather slippers, discovering she had lost them somewhere on the trip up the stairs.

Tabor joined her on the bed, fighting through a bevy of petticoats to locate one slipperless foot. His hand carefully traveled the length of a shapely calf and knee to find the garter which held her silk stocking. Slowly he rolled the stocking down into a neat silken ball and tossed it to the pillows, then repeated his work on the other.

Lilah was astonished when he kissed her toes and the sensitive arch of her foot, for he seemed to know, as she did not, that there were many surprisingly erogenous spots on a woman’s body. With so many to choose from, Tabor stayed not long on that one. He hurriedly rid her of the muslin gown, leaving her clad in a thin and lacy chemise.

When she would shed that garment, he stopped her.

“This time, sweetheart,” he whispered huskily, “I want to have my way with you. Lie back and let me.”

Passion-laden, Lilah did as bidden, though it was difficult to contain herself when he stripped away his trousers and stood within her reach so temptingly displayed. She smiled, but mostly out of dismay that he had the power to stoke such a wantonness in her. Once again she feared the new sensation and knew a trace of maidenly fear. But with Tabor easing into the bed beside her, his aroused manhood nudging at her thigh, the last small vestige of misgiving abandoned her consciousness.

He kissed her slender fingers, the soft palms of her hands, the delectable bend of her elbow, her smooth forehead and feather-light eyelids, her perfectly shaped nose and proud little chin. His mouth played fervidly with those more neutral zones, his hands splayed over her pale soft skin, heating her flesh through the gauzy chemise. Lilah shivered and gasped with delight.

When he paused to look into her eyes, she whispered to him, “The way of a man with a woman is a very beautiful thing.”

He kissed her gently. “And the way of a man with a beautiful woman is a wonderful thing,” he mocked.

Lilah smiled in pure bliss as he wriggled down her body and knelt at her feet. Forbidding her to move, Tabor edged her chemise slowly up above her knees, his lips following his hands in a sensuous parade of ecstasy. His carnal mouth teased the satin flesh of her thighs, slowly, provocatively inching upward, sliding the chemise away ahead of his fevered kiss. Lilah moaned deep in her throat, urging Tabor on. She didn’t noticed that his hands blazed on ahead until his fingers trailed feathery strokes over her breasts, his palms rotating slowly over the nubile peaks.

His mouth stayed low, touching those womanly places in a way which seared her soul. Lilah writhed and shivered beneath him. At times his teeth sank gently into her flesh, his tongue courted the tiny center of pleasure half-hidden in her womanhood. She could feel her heart pounding, her breath grabbing in her throat, her lungs tight and straining. Her whole body felt as if it were on fire, as if hot sparks stung her skin. She cried out in surprise. She hadn’t known, hadn’t guessed it could happen this way, that with his mouth he could bring her this wonderfully sweet shock of pleasure.

“Is that surprise?” Tabor asked, lifting up, straddling her, seeing the wide look of wonder in her eyes. “Surely I’m not the first man to fulfill you that way.”

“No,” Lilah stammered, remembering he thought her experienced in the ways of love. How many more things were there she didn’t know? How many more ways could he make the fire grow within her? How many more ways could he make her burn in the golden flames of passion?

As he plunged inside her, igniting her again, Lilah swore she would learn them all.

An hour before sunset, Sarah Cooke returned to the ranch, her heart filled with the joy of having helped bring a new life into the world. As was customary, she entered by the kitchen door. The stove was cold but there were signs Lilah and Tabor had found the plate of ham and the fresh loaf of bread she had left in the cupboard. She started a fire and got the coffee brewing, and for the first time since arriving home from the drive, had a chance to sit back and contemplate just why Tabor had been so all fired anxious to have Miss Lilah Damon at the Cooke ranch.

She liked the girl, and that on top of admitting she had expected Tabor to eventually settle down with Sally Ann. Shucks. Maybe she was losing her instincts about things. Lilah had as good as told her she wasn’t interested in Tabor. Perhaps Tabor was just doing her father a favor and keeping her out of San Francisco for a time. Could be the girl had been keeping company with a fast crowd and Clement Damon hoped a change of scene would slow her down. Or maybe he was trying his hand at matchmaking because he wanted some new blood to bolster that citified crowd in San Francisco.

Trouble was, she couldn’t see Tabor leaving the ranch to live in town. Not when he had already given up a sterling naval career to come back and run the place. The coffee boiled. Sarah poured a cup and sat at the table enjoying the hot, bitter brew. Where were those two? The boys at the bunkhouse said they hadn’t seen Tabor since early morning. She supposed he had stayed around and kept Lilah company. She hoped the girl wouldn’t be offended about being left alone her first day at the ranch.

Her coffee finished, Sarah left the kitchen and started up the stairs to her bedroom. On the third riser she felt something beneath her feet. Bending down, she discovered one of Lilah’s soft leather slippers. The mate was a few steps farther up the stairs, lying upside down. Sarah picked that one up too and felt a quick tingle of alarm. What in heaven’s name would have sent Lilah up the stairs so fast she lost her slippers? Anxiously Sarah hurried up the steps to investigate, but as she reached the top, soft laughter rippled from down the hall and after it Tabor’s deep voice. Sarah smiled to herself and reinstated her faith in her instincts. She also felt a twinge of sympathy for Sally Ann.

*     *     *

“Oh, my!” Blushing crimson, Lilah stopped so fast a cloud of green skirts and red-gold hair swirled around her.

“Did I startle you?”

“Yes!” A lump thickened in Lilah’s throat. She had forgotten the time. They both had. It must be nearly dark. What would Sarah think, finding her running down the hall barefoot, dress held high, her hair flying free? Fortunately she didn’t know her lips were still puffed from the fervor of Tabor’s passion or that her blue eyes still smoldered. “I thought you would be much later,” she blurted out. “Tabor said...”

“Where is that slacker?” Sarah handed Lilah the lost slippers without a word about where she had come across them. “The boys said he hadn’t done a lick of work today.”

Lilah stammered for a reply, but before she found one, Tabor appeared from his doorway, dressed presentably, which wasn’t how she had left him, in his denim pants and faded blue shirt. His face was beaming and Lilah was aghast to see he wasn’t embarrassed in the least.

“How’s Millie?” he asked as if he had met Sarah at the front door.

Sarah meandered along to the door of her bedroom. “Millie’s fine. Had a strapping boy. Named him Carl Bristol Franklin. She’s proud as punch and still not half the fool over him his pa is.”

“That’s fine news,” Tabor went on. “I reckon you’re all tuckered out.”

“Heck no!” Sarah laughed. “Why should I be? Millie did all the work. The worst job I had was keeping Bris Franklin from worrying both of us to death. The man mighty near paced a rut in the parlor floor. You’d have thought he was the one in labor.”

Lilah slipped into her shoes as unobtrusively as possible, and realized as she did that her silk stockings were somewhere in the tumbled sheets on Tabor’s bed. Her blush came back faintly, but evidently, if Sarah saw anything amiss in her appearance or behavior, she didn’t intend to mention it. Lilah compared that with how her Aunt Emily would have reacted. By now the arrangements would have been under way for a quiet wedding.

“We were just going down to the parlor, Aunt Sarah. Are you coming back down?” Tabor gave his aunt a one-armed hug just to let her know how proud he was she gave so much of herself to others.

Sarah laughed behind her straight face. Tabor had called her “Aunt Sarah,” a dead giveaway he wasn’t as calm and collected as he made it appear. She had a good guess about how the two of them had spent the day. Tabor’s slip of the tongue, not to mention that lazy look of satisfaction on his face, betrayed him.

“Let me clean up a little,” she said. “Bris Franklin drank everything in his house that had a kick to it. I sure could do with a glass of my wine.”

“I could turn to stone and never regret it,” Lilah whispered to Tabor as they trekked down the stairs together. “Anybody could look at me and see I just crawled out of your bed.”

“You look beautiful,” Tabor assured her. “And anyway, Sarah isn’t a prude. She has a lover herself.”

“Aunt Sarah!” Lilah’s eyes went round as wagon wheels. “How could you even say such a thing?”

Tabor’s face split into a wide grin. Those tight Victorian values were showing again. “Sweetheart,” he said, “a man and a woman don’t stop needing what they can give to each other just because a few hairs turn gray. You ought to be aware of that. Weren’t some of your lovers older men?”

“Why, yes,” Lilah stammered, unable to stop her cheeks from reddening. She had to stop speaking like a schoolgirl. “Yes, they were. You’re right, of course. It’s just that I can’t think of Sarah that way.”

“Sarah’s a warmhearted woman, Lilah. She’s got a lot of love in her. Wouldn’t it be a shame if she didn’t have anyone to share it with?”

“I suppose it would,” she said slowly, thinking through the wisdom of what he had said. She really was naive about such things. Truthfully she had never thought of people her father’s and Sarah’s age having needs. And yet she would be the first to say what she and Tabor shared was too glorious to miss. Suddenly it occurred to her he might be making it up as a joke. “You aren’t teasing me, are you? Sarah wouldn’t be appalled if she knew how you and I spent so many hours today?”

“She wouldn’t be appalled and she wouldn’t say a word. She’d probably be happy for both of us. I’d bank on it. Sarah’s always believed in taking happiness where you find it.”

“Are you happy?” Lilah asked, the question surprising her even as she uttered it. “Do I make you happy?”

“If you made me any happier, sweetheart, I’d be blind with it. And don’t you worry about Sarah. She’s not going to brand you a scarlet woman and turn you out in the world. Sarah’s a special kind of person. She usually understands things about people before they do themselves.”

His reassurances did make her feel better. She knew Sarah Cooke was a special woman and that growing up under her influence, Tabor had to have some of the same good qualities. Once again she felt a pang of regret that what they shared couldn’t last. Somehow she knew she wasn’t likely to find the same depth of feeling with Barrett. Oh, dear, Barrett. This was no time to be thinking about him. Lilah looked wistfully into Tabor’s eyes, wishing she could tell him what she felt and wondering how she had gone from hating him to questioning how much she cared for him.

Star-crossed lovers. That was what they were. Two people on an island of time who must eventually be separated because an event in the past ruled what could be between them. It seemed unfair that she knew about that past and he didn’t, but she reaffirmed her decision to keep the secret. She couldn’t take the chance of telling him. He had come so very close to destroying all her plans already. Whatever her needs, whatever the personal cost, she must not lose sight of her goal.

“Warm night, isn’t it?” Sarah said cheerfully.

Tabor’s lips were almost on Lilah’s when his aunt breezed into the parlor. Lilah stepped back quickly, but this time she was able to greet Sarah without a blush.

“Yes, it is,” she answered. “I was thinking of taking a walk later. I saw the roses blooming in the garden. I thought they would be especially fragrant this time of day.”

“You stay close to the house if you go out alone. It’s not likely that skunk Chapman could get on the ranch without being seen, but I don’t want to take any chances on him getting his hands on you again.” Sarah knew Tabor had some of the hands posting a guard; she wasn’t sure if he had told Lilah about the precautions.

“I won’t get out of sight of the house.” Lilah cringed. She hadn’t thought about Chapman all day. It was good that Sarah had reminded her to be careful, but she would just as soon not have recalled that torturous experience.

Sarah saw her flinch. “Consarn it!” she said. “I shouldn’t have reminded you of that varmint. Never did know when to keep my mouth shut.” She went ahead and poured the wine. “Now, don’t you pay me any mind. You’re safe enough here at the ranch.”

“It’s all right, Sarah.” Lilah smiled softly. “I hope he’s not recovered enough to cause anybody any trouble yet.”

Sarah shook her head regretfully. “The least I can do is give you something nice to think about. There’s a barn dance in Sandy Flats tomorrow night. Wyrick Young’s taking me, and I’d like for you youngsters to come along.”

Lilah smiled. “That sounds like fun.” She turned to Tabor. “Could we go with them?” Then quickly back to Sarah. “What should I wear?”

Tabor laughed at her impatience. “Wear your prettiest dress and your dancing shoes,” he answered for Sarah. “And don’t expect this dance to be like the ball at Damon House. It really is a barn dance.”

“I’m going to love it,” Lilah insisted.

*     *     *

Lilah and Sarah spent the morning baking a cake for the refreshment table at the dance. In early afternoon Sarah took her for a short ride around the ranch. By late afternoon both women were busy getting dresses and hair just the way they wanted. Tabor had been away from the house since dawn, making up all the work he had let slide the day before.