Diamonds and Dreams (52 page)

“Later,” he told her, his breath coming in
ragged heaves. “We talk later.”

“But—”

“Goldie, I—I can’t wait. It’s been so long,
love.”

The urgency in his voice set her afire. He
was right, she realized. Talking could wait. Later, she’d tell him
every sweet thing that dwelled in her heart. “Yes,” she whispered
to him. “It’s been so long.” She welcomed his weight and gasped
when he pushed into her. He filled her leisurely, completely, then
began to move, slowly, so slowly, increasing his rhythm and depth
with each stroke. Her ecstasy began instantly, and intensified when
she realized Saber’s bliss had come just as quickly. He pulsed
within her, his body hardened and straining over hers.

“I’m sorry,” he told her. “Goldie, I just
couldn’t—”

“Me either,” she admitted. “But Saber, let’s
do it again.”

Her suggestion gave him pause. “I—Can you
give me a few minutes?”

“For what?”

“To—I—You see—I’m not ready yet. I have
to—”

“I’ll ready you. I know how to do it, Saber.
Remember the night when you readied me? I’ll do that to you, then
you’ll be ready.”

“You’ll do that to me?” He slid from atop
her, sat, and stared down at her moonlit features. “Really?”

She felt suddenly embarrassed. “Is there
something wrong with that?” she asked in a very small voice.

“Well, no, but I—It’s just that I never
thought you’d want to—I haven’t ever asked you to. Never showed
you.”

“So I’ll learn while I’m doin’ it. There’s
nothin’ like firsthand experience. Ole Ozzie Worm back in Tater
Hole, Tennessee? Well, he told me that. ‘Course, he wasn’t talkin’
about what I’m fixin’ to do to you right now, but it’s the same
principle, don’t you think?”

Saber’s mind whirled. “Ozzie Worm?”

“Ole Ozzie went to Judge Mudd to get his
last name changed, but Judge Mudd wouldn’t do it. Judge Mudd said
that Worm was a fine name and that he saw no reason for Ozzie to
change it. If you ask me, Judge Mudd should’ve changed his
own
name right along with Ozzie’s. Mudd’s just as bad as
Worm. Anyway, Ozzie said firsthand experience is always the best
kind. Don’t you think so too, Saber?”

Her proposal made him begin to feel ready
for her. He didn’t, however, inform her of this. “Yes. I do indeed
agree with Mr. Worm.”

“So is it all right with you if I get some
firsthand experience on you?” Without waiting for his answer, she
sat up, pushing him back to the mattress. “All right, Saber, you
just lay there and concentrate on gettin’ readied.”

She turned, looking at that which she was
supposed to ready and feeling puzzled over the sight. “It already
looks ready to me.”

He wasn’t about to let her miss her
opportunity for some firsthand experience. “It only
looks
that way. It’s not really.”

“But this is the way it always looks when
it’s—”

“Look, Goldie, it’s
my
body we’re
talking about. I should know if it’s ready or not.”

“Well, you don’t have to turn into an
ill-box over it, do you?”

“I’m not an ill-box. I’m just ready to get
readied.”

She took him in her hand. “Well, I don’t
care what you say, it looks ready to me. Feels ready too. Are you
sure—”

“I’m sure!”

She smiled at the dusky anticipation his
eyes and knew then that he was as ready as he’d ever be. But she
decided to go along with him and ready him to his heart’s
content.

She bent and kissed the tip of him,
wondering what it was she was actually supposed to do. Unsure, she
moved her lips down his hard length, smoothing whisper-soft kisses
to him as she journeyed. “Saber, what do I do now?”

“It’s
your
firsthand experience, not
mine.”

“But—”

“Try a little of everything and see what
works best.”

His suggestion sounded good to her. She
began darting her tongue across him. Up, down. All around. When he
groaned at her actions, she became bolder.

Saber shook violently when he felt her take
him into her mouth. She went slowly with him at first, then
increased her pace, taking more and more of him. “Gold-Goldie,” he
stammered, trying his best to stem the pleasure. “I’m ready.”

She straightened, struggling with the urge
to laugh. “Well now, Saber, I don’t know about that. You probably
need more readyin’” She leaned down again.

He caught her shoulders, lifting her into
his lap and arranging her legs so that they were wrapped around his
waist. Taking her face between his hands, he kissed her long,
gently, and with all the adoration the universe had ever held. He
explored each warm valley of her mouth, savoring the silken feel of
her, relishing the sweet taste of her.

And then, abruptly, he stopped. He sat her
on the bed, and moved away. “I refuse to do one more improper thing
to you until you tell me what thipstrit means.”

She smiled. “All right. Don’t do anything to
me then. I’ll do everything to
you
. “

When she began squirming closer to him, he
moved over again. “I’ll have the meaning of thipstrit first, if you
don’t mind.”

“But I do mind.” Quickly, she pushed him
back to the bed. Before he could respond, she pulled her entire
body onto him. Feeling rather daring, she opened her legs, waiting
expectantly for him to take advantage of her sensuous
invitation.

Saber didn’t move a muscle. “Sorry to deny
you what you are so desperate to have, my improper Miss Mae, but I
really must insist on the definition of—”

“Deny me? Just because you don’t offer it
doesn’t mean I won’t get it.”

“Oh, really? And how do you propose to have
it if I don’t give it to you?”

She smiled, and inched her body downward,
her eyes closing at the pleasure she felt when she met his manhood.
With one smooth motion, she slid him into her.

Saber’s moans joined hers when she began to
circle her hips. His hands pushed at her bottom, urging her onward.
He felt her body tense, and knew her pleasure was building. At that
exact moment he seized the chance to roll to his side, taking him
with her. “Not yet, poppet.”

“Saber—”

“What does thipstrit mean?” His hand cupped
her femininity, his fingers delved within it. “Tell me.”

She couldn’t. Her rising bliss defied her
will to speak.

Saber stilled his hand. “Goldie...”

“Dammit, that’s twice you messed it up!”

He understood exactly what it was he’d
messed up, and showed her one of his lopsided grins. “But think of
how much better it will be when it finally happens. Imagine that,
Goldie love. Want it. Yearn for it...
wait
for it.”

Though her unappeased desire nearly tore her
asunder, she couldn’t help smiling at the rogue who tortured her so
sensuously. “You are so mean.”

“Raleigh Purvis and I are cousins. Did I
forget to tell you that?” His hand began moving in small circles
upon the mound of her womanhood, his palm pressing ever so
insistently.

Goldie closed her eyes, sweet, deep pleasure
beginning to grow again.

“Think of what’s happening to you, Goldie.
Think of how good it’s going to feel. Think of those things,
Goldie. And while you’re thinking about them, think of thipstrit
too.”

She began to laugh. She laughed so hard,
tears streamed down her face, and her belly started to ache.

Saber watched her in complete confusion. “Is
thipstrit a funny word?”

She couldn’t answer. Laughter continued to
rumble through her. She shook her head instead.

“Then what’s so blasted funny?”

She struggled to breathe, but a long moment
passed before her laughter subsided sufficiently. Drawing in a
ragged gulp of air, she looked at Saber. “I could have died
laughin’, and it would have been
your
fault.”

“But what a pleasant way to go.”

She arched her eyebrow at him. “Two can play
at this game, y’know.” She laid her hand on top of the diamond
birthmark on his left thigh, then walked her fingers higher, all
the way up to the tip of his manhood. She lingered there for a
moment, running her thumb in a circle around him, then walked her
fingers back down again. “Feel good? Y’want me to keep on doin’
it?”

He knew her strategy. If he said yes, she’d
stop. “No, don’t keep doing it. I don’t like the way it feels. As a
matter of fact, I hate it.”

“Liar.” She took her hand away.

Saber turned onto his stomach, laughing into
his pillow.

Goldie took full advantage of his enticing
position, and laid on top of him, loving the way his firm bottom
felt beneath her belly. Her desire grew to such heights, she felt
she would burst if it was not soon satisfied. She began moving her
hips, silently showing him what she wanted from him.

Saber’s laughter ceased when he felt her
moving. Insistently, she pressed her hips into the backs of his
thighs, then lifted them, then pressed them to him again. The
cadence of her movements was slow, and each time she broke contact
with him, he found himself yearning for her sensual return.

“Saber,” she whispered to him, her lips
smoothing across his rigid back.

“Yes,” he whispered in answer. Turning to
his side, he held her in his arms. “Open for me, Goldie love. Put
your legs around my waist.”

His command sent her spinning. She
obeyed.

Pulling her closer to him, he eased into
her.

She clasped him tightly to her. “Don’t stop
this time.”

“No. Not this time.” He thrust deeper.

She felt the pleasure start. “Promise.”

“Promise.”

He loved her with deep and steady strokes,
her whimpers filling him with unmitigated joy. “Yes,” he whispered
to her when he felt her release. “There, there, now once more.”

“Yes, again. With you.” She met each of his
thrusts, urging him into the deepest part of her, and crying with
pleasure each time he found it. She felt him grow harder within
her, and knew profound happiness that she could give him the same
ecstasy he gave her. The thought increased her own bliss, and she
called out his name over and over again when he finally spilled
himself inside her.

“Oh, Saber.”

He looked into her eyes. Moonlight and joy
shone within those golden orbs he so loved. Her face was flushed
with the warm afterglow of lovemaking, and he decided he’d never
seen a more beautiful sight. “I have a confession to make,” he told
her quietly, running his finger along her delicate collarbone. “If
you hadn’t come to my room tonight, I’d planned on coming to
yours.”

“But what about Margaret? She growls and
barks even when Miss Lucy and Miss Clara come near my door.”

He smiled, pointing to his beside table.

Goldie looked at it and saw a bone, chunks
of meat still clinging to it. She grinned. “It never would have
worked, Saber. You only have one bone. Itchie Bon would have wanted
it too, and they’d have fought over it. There’s nothin’ like a
dogfight to bring people runnin’.”

“So I’d have broken it in half.”

Goldie glanced at the bone again. It was at
least three inches thick. “Saber, you couldn’t have broken that
bone.”

He pretended to look insulted. Lifting his
arm, he flexed his muscles for her.

She pressed her finger into the rock-hard
bulges, wrinkling her nose. “They’re not all that big,” she
teased.

He flexed them harder. So hard a vein popped
out on them. “What do you think now?” he grunted, his face tight
with exertion.

She touched them again. “I’ve eaten oatmeal
that was harder than that.”

His arm plopped back to the bed. “I was
wrong,
I’m
not Raleigh Purvis’ cousin.
You
are.”

Goldie giggled, squirming closer to him.
“I’m only teasin’, Saber. Why, if Hercules could see your muscles,
he’d hang his head in embarrassment. And ole Samson? Well, it
wouldn’t matter how long he grew his hair, he’d never—”

Saber laughed loudly.

“Shhh!” She clamped her hand over his mouth.
“Great day Miss Agnes, Saber, y’want the aunties to come?”

He removed her hand from his mouth, and took
a long moment to kiss her inner wrist. “If they do, I’ll just tell
them the truth. That you stole in here, tore off my clothes, and
ravished me.”

She sighed with pleasure when he began
pushing his fingers through her hair. Snug and warm in the soothing
shelter of his arms, she began thinking of how to tell him all the
truths she’d discovered earlier.

“Saber,” she began, pausing to pepper his
chest with little kisses, “I—There’s somethin’ I have to tell you.
Somethin’ real important.”

“Is it the definition of thipstrit?” he
asked excitedly.

She smiled. “No, it’s even more important
than that.”

He heard something odd in her quiet voice.
Something that made him think she was about to tell him a grand
secret. Lifting her chin, he gazed deeply into her eyes, astonished
by the luminous expression within them. “What is it, Goldie?” he
asked tenderly. “Tell me, love.”

The name he’d called her made her heart skip
a beat. She prayed she’d hear him call her his love every day for
the rest of their lives. “I—Saber, today while you were gone, I
thought of somethin’. Lord only knows why it took me so long to
realize it, but at least it didn’t take
years
before I did.
That would have been just awful, don’t you think?”

He took note of the way her voice had begun
to tremble, and felt a true concern then. “Goldie, is something
upsetting you? Has something bad happened that I should know
about?”

“Oh, no, Saber. It’s not bad. It’s
wonderful.”

“Then why are you keeping me in such
suspense?”

“Well, I’ve never told this to anyone
before. Because it’s the first time I’ve ever felt this way, I want
to do it right.”

He began to feel impatient to hear the
all-important secret. “Goldie, the right way is just to come out
with it. What is it?” he asked anxiously.