In Your Arms (Montana Romance) (25 page)

Her patience was as close to the end as
his. She drew her chemise up over her head and stepped out of her drawers with lightning speed, then rushed to sink onto the bed with him. She’d forgotten her stockings, but he didn’t care. He reached for her and drew her over top of him. As soon as she was straddling him, he took his cock in hand and guided it to her hot, slick entrance.

She bore down on him, taking him in with a slowness that had them both gasping and groaning with pleasure.
It felt so good to be deep, deep inside of her that he twitched his hips up to bury himself to the hilt.

Instead of moving to create that heady friction between them, she stopped.
Her hips and thighs tightened around his and she held him down with the full weight of her body. He was hot and thick inside of her but unable to move. It was the raw sweetness of her hesitance that had him breaking out in a sweat.

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.

He relaxed under her, willing himself to be patient as he gazed up at the vulnerability she couldn’t hide. He hadn’t thought love like this was possible. Her arms hung loose at her sides, giving him a full view of the swell of her breasts, nipples dark and hard, the flat of her stomach, her spread legs with the thatch of black curls between them blending into his own hair where their bodies joined.

“Let me teach you,” he said.
He rested his hands on the curve of her hips, learning the contours of her body, her backside and thighs.

She nodded.
“Tell me what to do.”

“Be beautiful,” he answered.

His fingers delved into the top of her stockings, held up by garters around her thighs. She sucked in a breath as he traced his fingernails up the inside of her thighs. A mewl of pleasure escaped from her. He throbbed inside of her, aching to move, to take what he wanted from her. He would not take anything else without first giving.

With a light brush over the curls covering the part of her that held him, he worked his hands up along her sides to cradle her breasts.
Their weight and softness were everything he had dreamed of in a woman. He raked his thumbs over her nipples. He wanted to taste her, to suckle and lave her until she cried out, but there would be time for that.

“Take your hair down,” he told her.

His hands still cupped her, thumbs teasing, as she lifted her arms to pull the pins from her hair. The shift of her weight and the sight of her long, graceful arms above her head sent a surge of impatience through him. He squirmed, hips writhing against her. She caught her breath and hummed at the sensation his movements provoked. Her eyelids were heavy with pleasure, and as her loose hair fell in black sheets around her shoulders she sighed.

He slid his hands away from her breasts and back to her hips, fingers delving into her curls.
He knew the moment he found the nub of her pleasure as she tightened around him. Encouraged, he teased her with slow, circular strokes.

“Christian,” she moaned, tossing her handful of hairpins to the floor.
Her hands flexed, restless as he pleasured her.

“Hold your breasts,” he instructed.

She obeyed, fondling her full breasts with slow tenderness, as if she’d touched herself like this before. She rubbed her nipples, pinching them lightly. There was no doubt in his mind that she had done this before. The thought of his Lily pleasuring herself canceled his patience.

He gripped her hips, guiding her to lift over him.

“Take it slowly,” he said. “Small movements.”

She opened her eyes and gazed down at him, hazy with passion.
Her thighs stiffened as she rose up a few inches. The friction of her body sliding along his shaft was enough to drive him mad.

“Like this?” she asked.

“Yes, sweetheart, just like that. Now down.”

She bore down on him again.
It was all he could do not to pound up into her, to clench his fingers into her flesh and work her along his length until he came. He sucked in a breath, focusing on her eyes, the trust she showed in him and the aching vulnerability of wanting to get it right.

“Set your pace,” he said, losing the ability to form words.
“Up and down. I’ll hold you and help.”

She nodded and bit her lip.
Her body rose hesitantly above him, then pressed down. Again. Hesitantly up, slowly down. Her movements were unpracticed, but the effect they created was heavenly. Up and down. She leaned slightly forward, then more so, bracing her hands against the headboard behind her. It was the stability she needed.

Her pace quickened and her confidence grew.
He clamped his hands firmly on her hips, keeping her from flying right off of him as her hesitance gave way to greed. With each stroke she rode him harder, adjusting her angle until at last she gasped in discovery. She kept that punishing pace, riding him with abandon. He held on as long as he could, but knowing that she had found just the right way to use him was devastating in its perfection.

He added his own thrusts to hers.
The rush of orgasm took him with a force that shot a white-hot bolt of pleasure from his groin through every sinew of his body. He cried out, alive with light.

She continued to ride him for a few moments longer before gasping and then laughing as she climaxed.
Her movements slowed as the tremors that squeezed his length ebbed. He relaxed, letting his arms drop to the bed, grateful that he hadn’t gone too soft before she came. Thank heaven for small miracles.

The strength left her body as well
, and she let go of the headboard to collapse on top of him. Her deep, panting breaths matched his own. Her hot body sprawled on top of him fought off the cold air that he hadn’t bothered to notice until then.

“I love you, Christian,” she murmured into his shoulder.
“I can’t help it, I love you.”

He closed his eyes, circling his arms around her back.
“I know, sweetheart. I love you too. I always will.”

He’d never meant s
omething as deeply in his life.

Chapter Twenty

She was at peace. The night was cold and silent around her, uncertainty waited outside, but for that moment, Lily was at peace.

She lay tucked into the contour of Christian’s body, her head nestled on the pillow beside his.
It’d been hours since he had taught her to make love in that exciting new way. She’d drifted off and slept for a time, but she hadn’t wanted to lose herself to the night.

Christian’s body was a wonder.
His firm muscles were covered with warm, soft skin along his torso and thighs. She curled her toes against his calf, one leg thrown over his. The mound of her womanhood pressed into his thigh, still aching for more. She knew there would be more, felt deep in her heart that there would be a lifetime of exploring Christian’s body and him exploring hers, but still she wanted. She wanted to feel his weight on top of her, feel the strength of his desire as he claimed her. She wanted so many things. Somehow they all felt right.

Her fingers traced vague patterns across the firm muscle of his abdomen.
He breathed in long, steady breaths, asleep still. The childish notion that it was unfair for him to sleep when she wanted him brought a smile to her face. She teased her way down between his legs to stroke him.

“Christian,” she whispered.
“It’s still night. We have time before you have to go.”

Her feather-light brushes against his shaft had the effect she had hoped for.
He grew stiffer with each pass. She closed her hand around him as she had watched him do to himself and worked her way up and down. He groaned and squirmed beside her.

“One more time,” she pleaded, kissing his shoulder.
She rubbed her palm around the growing crown of his penis. “We have time before morning.”

He hummed, low in his throat.
Then, before she realized how awake he was, he rolled her to her back, wedging himself between her legs.

“Do we, now?” he growled.

He dipped down to nibble at her neck. She giggled at the sensation of victory his ardor gave her and lifted her knees to his hips. He trailed hot kisses up her neck until his mouth met hers in a kiss that served as a prelude of everything she knew was to come. She kissed him back, uninhibited and alive.

A crash sounded in the store directly below them.

Lily gasped and Christian went rock-hard with tension above her.

“What was that?” she whispered.

He shook his head, lips pressed tightly closed. They held stock still, listening.

“Dammit, Bo!” the muffled shout came up through the floorboards.
“Watch what you’re doing!”

Lily broke out in a cold sweat.

Christian muscled himself to his knees and climbed out of bed, careful not to make a sound.

“Where does he keep the cash box?” a second voice, Bo, said.

“It must be behind the counter,” the first voice said.

They spoke at full volume, no attempt to be quiet.
They must have thought the building was empty.

Christian moved with silent swiftness, finding his clothes on the floor in the dark and dressing.
Soft moonlight lit the room, made brighter by the snow on the roof of the porch just outside the window. The thumping and clamoring continued downstairs. Christian motioned for Lily to get out of bed and dress. She scrambled to do as she was told, fumbling to put her clothes on.

“It’s not there,” Bo said downstairs.
“Dammit, Jed, you said the cashbox would be here!”

Christian’s face darkened at the name.

“It is! I swear it is! They don’t take it to the bank every day. You’re not looking in the right place.”

Lily buttoned her blouse with shaking hands.
She gasped at the sound of breaking glass, nearly yelping in fear. She slapped a hand over her mouth as Christian stepped toward her and kissed her forehead to settle her.

“What the hell are you doing?” Bo shouted.

“They got jewelry in here!” Jed argued. “It’s worth something.”

“The cabinet opens in the back, see?
You didn’t have to break the glass.”

“Oh.”

“You’re a damned fool, Jed. You nearly had us caught at the pharmacy and at Kuhn’s house, and now this.”

Lily’s eyes flew wide.
Bo Turner and Jed Archer were the thieves? Two men who she saw nearly every day in town—a man whose son was in her class—were responsible for the frenzy that had an innocent man, her brother, in jail and her friends the Flathead watching their backs?

A wave of
fury washed over her. Christian was close enough to notice. He gripped her upper arms, then raised a finger to his lips. The crunch of broken glass and muttering continued below. She wanted to wriggle out of Christian’s grip and charge down into the store to tell the two men exactly what she thought of them.

“It ain’t here,” Bo growled.

“It’s probably in the back somewhere or upstairs.”

“What would a cashbox be doing upstairs?” Jed asked.

“I don’t know. You heard West say he doesn’t live there anymore, right? Maybe he put a safe up there.”

“Well, let’s go see.”

Christian moved fast. He lunged past Lily to the bureau beside the bed, yanking open the top right-hand drawer. Michael had asked her not to touch that drawer. She knew why as Christian took out a revolver.

“Thank you Michael,” he whispered.

He reached back into the drawer for a box of bullets and set about loading the gun. Bo and Jed were still arguing below, but their voices had moved to the storeroom. Lily glanced around, looking for something she could use as a weapon. She had no idea how to fire a gun, even if there had been another one. The best she came up with was an old candlestick sitting on a table beside the window. She scurried to grab it.

Christian was shaking his head when he turned back to her.
He motioned for her to move against the wall, out of view of the stairs. She shook her head in defiance, gripping the candlestick like a club. Christian pointed to the wall so hard it would have cowered if it was alive. Lily refused to obey.

“I’m not going up there by myself,” Jed’s voice at the bottom of the stairs stopped their silent argument.
“What if someone is up there?”

“No one is up there, you idiot.
You said yourself that the place was empty now.”

“Yeah, but don’t it make sense that someone would be staying there?
In case the place was robbed?”

“Jed, you’re an idiot.”

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, first one set, then another. Christian tightened his grip on the revolver and moved to shield himself behind the doorway. He peeked around the corner, waiting. The footsteps reached the upstairs hallway.

“This is the stupidest—”

Jed didn’t finish his sentence.

Christian twisted into the doorway, firing the revolver twice.
Lily screamed and dropped her candlestick. Bo and Jed both roared with pain. Twin thumps told Lily they had fallen.

“Stay down!” Christian shouted, gun still pointed in his outstretched hand.
He stepped into the hall and out of Lily’s view, flicking on the electric lights.

“Avery?” Bo yelped as Jed shouted, “Jesus!”

“One of you is right,” Christian said, then quickly followed that with, “Stay down!”

Lily bent to scoop up her candlestick and shot around the corner into the hall.
Bo Turner and Jed Archer lay sprawled on the rag carpet lining the narrow hall between the wall and the banister of the stairs leading down to the storeroom. Both men were bleeding from leg wounds that they clutched, their faces contorted in pain. Bo saw her and grunted, struggling backwards like a wounded crab.

“Stay where you are, Bo, unless you want a bullet in the other leg too!” Christian ordered.

Writhe and swear as they did, neither man was going anywhere. Charlie and Michael’s hall rug was ruined with blood, but it was a small price to pay for catching the thieves. As the initial fear and shock of the situation ebbed, a strange elation took their place.

“How dare you!” Lily shouted at the men, coming to stand as close to Christian’s side as she could, candlestick wielded over her head.
“Thieves! Scoundrels!”

Jed’s eyes were huge with terror and pain.
Bo’s face contorted in hatred.

“All this time it was you who were causing so much trouble for the entire town!
This is
your
town! These are
your
neighbors! Have you no shame?”

“No!” Bo barked.
“I got no money either. So you can go to hell, you savage bitch!”

Christian fired and Bo shouted in pain, clutching his
other leg. Jed screamed at a higher pitch than Lily and a dark patch formed at the seat of his trousers.

“That was unnecessary,” Christian said and rolled his shoulders.
Whether he was talking about Bo’s insult or his own reaction, Lily wasn’t sure.

“Can we get them to the jail?” she asked.
“Is anyone there at night?”

Christian winced.
He swayed on his spot, lowering the revolver now that Bo wasn’t going anywhere. His expression didn’t soften at all. He looked at Lily as though about to deliver bad news. Her throat tightened at the doom that look foretold.

“Wilkins is probably there,” he said.
“Someone has to be there since there’s a prisoner, but I doubt it’s Kent.”

“All right,” Lily nodded.
“I can go for him if you need to stay here with these two.”

The dreadful wince returned to Christian’s face.
“Lily, you can’t.”

Her back shot straight.
“What do you mean, I can’t?”

He flexed his grip around the revolver’s handle and rubbed his stubbly chin.
At last, he let out a breath on a growl and faced her fully.

“If you go out in the middle of the night to fetch Wilkins or Kent or anyone else to tell them that we caught the thieves, everyone in town will know in no uncertain terms that I spent the night with you.”

Lily’s blood turned to ice as the truth of the situation hit her.

“There won’t be any excuses this time,” he went on.
“You know what that means.”

“I’ll lose my job,” she breathed.

She knew it as certainly as she knew the sun would come up in the morning. She’d only barely escaped the first time. Now the rumors would be proven. Mr. Prescott would dismiss her and she would be humiliated.

“I could let them go,” Christian said.

“Yes!” Jed sobbed. “Let us go! I won’t tell a soul you were here together, honest Injun!”

Lily
glared at Jed. He cowered as he realized his mistake. Bo managed to shake his head even as he slumped, pale with pain. She felt as though she was the one who had been shot.

She turned back to Christian, throat closing up.
“I can’t do that,” she insisted. “This madness has to end. If we take these men to the jail, they’ll have to let Seeks For Her go. People will stop harassing the Flathead. Life can go back to normal.” And her life, the life she had worked so hard to build, would be over. With each new truth, hot tears came to her eyes.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”
Christian sighed and slid his arm around her, squeezing her close. “I’m so sorry.”

She indulged in one moment, one deep breath that threatened to turn into a sob, as she rested her forehead against his neck.
Then she stood straight and wiped her eyes.

“I’ll go for Wilkins.”

She marched forward, stepping around Jed and Bo as carefully as she could. Bo gave up and lay on the floor, possibly in a swoon. Jed burst into sobs. Lily walked right through them without fear for her person and fetched her coat, hat, and mittens from the sitting room.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Christian asked her over the banister as she headed down the stairs.

She looked up at him, bristling with concern and regret, but something beyond that. He loved her. He’d been willing to let confessed criminals go free for her. That had to count for something. Still, all she could give him in reply was a nod. She couldn’t bring herself to lie to him and tell him she’d be fine.

Cold Springs was eerie in the pre-dawn.
The cold was so penetrating that she was shivering before she stepped down from the porch and into Main Street. Any tears she had left frosted in her eyes before they could be shed. Moonlight shone down from the black sky above. She ran from the store to the jail, guided by the dim, flickering light in the jail window.

Wilkins answered after only one knock.
Bitter disappointment flooded her to discover that Christian was right. Of course he would be there. She stepped into the jail, hugging herself. Seeks For Her stood the moment he saw her.

“Singing Bird?”

“Seeks For Her.”