Microsoft Word - Jenny dreamed (15 page)

Dev joined her laughter, then patted her arm. "I'm sure she realized your intentions were good. Jen, You know, even I'm surprised at how well you've settled in ... just goes to show you how much I know! Anyone would think you'd been born and raised up here, instead of

..." "Instead of a plush townhouse in London?" Jenny finished his thoughts aloud. "Well, it shows how much you know about me ... or my background, dear husband! I entered the world in San Francisco one foggy day in January, and the place was the apartment suite behind a saloon called The Sunburst!" Dev looked so surprised at the news, so stunned that his expression drew Jenny's laughter again. "Is that so terrible to admit? Mama doesn't like the fact bandied about, but I understand she was one of the first women dealers there ...

quite popular, too, until she was forced to quit because of her condition."

At the word condition, both Jenny and Dev glanced at her still flat belly, and Jenny frowned.

She was about three months along, but it would be a while yet until she began to show. At least her bouts of morning sickness were gone now, that was one consolation! The two of them walked on in silence now, following the stream bed as it curled around a bend, away from the curious glances of the squaws.

Finally they reached a place where the stream widened, deepening in the center where the water bubbled white and foam-crested as it coursed over its rock-strewn bed. Dev wasn't sure why he wanted to keep her at his side, why he didn't want to let her return to the female companionship she'd seemed to be enjoying. But it was quiet here, and she'd done enough work for one day. Jenny wasn't here to wear herself down doing somebody else's laundry. In the shade of a large low-hanging oak that grew half out of the water's edge, he settled her down to rest. Jenny, sitting comfortably on a portion of the huge, gnarled oak root that curled up out of the water, thought

how inviting the water looked, so cool and running crystal clear. She would have loved to take a swim, but with Dev here ... well, even if he was her husband, she couldn't ... Jenny blushed at the thought of taking off her blouse and skirt with him watching. Despite the fact that their vows had been exchanged, Dev had kept to his bargain, sleeping in a separate room and even now allowing her time to undress before slipping back into the lodge to sleep beside her.

"If you want to swim," Dev said, breaking into her thoughts almost as though he read her mind and grinning to reveal a dimple she'd never noticed before. "I promise to keep my back turned!"

"Ah ... I think not, Dev," Jenny replied, blushing even more as she stuttered, trying to think of a logical excuse to avoid letting him think she was too shy. "I … umm ... don't think it would be good for the baby-I don't want to catch cold!"

The reason behind the excuse was so obvious, they both began to laugh. Catch cold, in ninety-degree weather, with waves of heat undulating off the parched, hard-baked ground?

"Well, at least take your boots off and cool your toes in the water," Dev said fondly, still chuckling to himself. Suddenly he had an idea-one that would serve two purposes, cooling him off and keeping her entertained.

"How'd you like to learn how to catch fish, barehanded, Indian style?" Jenny nodded, delighted with the idea. Even though it was considered woman's work, he promised also to show her how to cook the trout he caught. He unlaced the thongs that secured her fringed, fawn-colored boots so that Jenny could dip first her toes and finally her feet to the ankles in the icy-cold stream.

The feeling was so refreshing, she looked up to thank Dev for suggesting the more modest method of cooling off. He was entering the stream already, his attention sharply focused as he carefully waded out toward the rush of white water, and the words of appreciation died in her throat as she took a deep breath and held it. Dev had stripped off his buckskins and now wore nothing but the simple breechcloth that had hung over them earlier. His muscles rippled in the sunlight that filtered through the overhanging branches of the trees lining the stream, high-lighting the lean curves of his nearly nude body. Knowing she shouldn't stare so, yet too fascinated by the perfect, sinuous strength and grace of her husband's form to turn her eyes away, Jenny felt a strange, stirring sense of desire as she watched Dev move into position.

"You watching?" he called back. Then, wondering at the long pause before she stuttered that she was, Dev glanced at her, and, reflected in the slow smile that spread across his face, was acknowledgment of what he'd seen in her eyes. To spare .her any embarrassment, he said nothing and turned to concentrate on his task.

Dev bent slowly, his eyes watching the water for the distinctive flash of silver-blue that would indicate a passing trout. His hands were poised just above the water, ready to strike in a split second. As he concentrated, Dev worried that he might make a fool of himself in front of Jenny. It'd been quite a while since he'd done this. What if he wasn't quick enough any longer?

There was a sudden flash, and several more, as he lunged, scooping the slippery trout out of the water and casting it toward shore. Applause greeted the accomplishment, followed by an excited cry from his appreciative, admiring audience as he flipped another even larger fish onto shore. Dev paused then, proud of having distinguished himself, and with a comical exaggeration bowed from the waist. "For your dining pleasure, m'lady," he said with a flourish of his hand, "fresh as you're ever likely to have!"

Jenny jumped up enthusiastically, anxious to try it herself. It looked so easy, or at least Dev's dexterity had made it look so. "Please, Dev ..." she called out, "let me try it!" Dev started to protest that the rocks were too slippery, but Jenny was already wading out to join him. "I guess there's no harm in letting you try," he admitted, meeting her halfway and holding his arm under her elbow,for support until they were back at the spot again. "Okay now, you've got to move quick once you see one, but try and stay calm. If you're too jerky, it'll scare 'em away before you even get your hands down."

He stood just behind her, in case she lost her balance. In a few seconds, he spotted another ripple of iridescent silver and pointed.

Jenny wriggled her toes in the gravel, trying to get a firmer stance, then slowly, as she'd seen Dev do, lowered her hands until they were into the water up to the depth of her wrists. She held her breath as the fish came within range, and the swift current dragged at the sodden edge of her skirt as she lunged, felt the smooth almost slimy feel of the trout's body and, in horror, let go. A splash of white water was the only reward for her try, that and Dev's laughter as she lost her balance .and fell against him.

Dev caught her up, lifting her free of the water and starting for shore, laughing the entire time she protested she'd almost had the fish. "You didn't tell me it would feel like that. If you'd warned me ..."

Later he wasn't sure what it was ... the heat, or the way she'd looked at him with desire earlier, or perhaps the feel of her soft, full breasts, with nothing between his skin and hers but the thin blouse of buckskin, but before he let her go, his mouth came against hers in a searching kiss, cutting off her plea to let her try once more.

The action took Jenny completely by surprise, but it seemed so right that she didn't struggle against him, or against her own response. He let her down slowly, almost sliding her down his body, never taking his mouth away . as Jenny's lips parted with an involuntary whimper and his tongue drove past the fallen defenses. She clung to him, lightheaded, sure that if he took away the support of his arms tightly banding her waist and shoulders, she would collapse. His warm, naked flesh, heated by the sun, felt firm and supple as she circled his neck with her arms, locking her fingers together through the sun-kissed, brown curls at his nape.

Dev drew away from her mouth, and his lips found the little hollow at the base of her throat where a pulse raced madly, and he groaned, knowing he couldn't stop now, couldn't go back to the respectful distance he'd maintained since the wedding. Again he swept her up, carrying her beneath the low-hanging branches to the sheltered bower of soft, fallen leaves they formed, laying her carefully down, then settling beside her.

Jenny whirled in contrasting emotions, timid and impassioned, frightened and aroused, and as Dev's hand slipped under her blouse and began to caress her breasts, she sobbed, "Stop!

Oh, please ... Dev ..."

"I can't ... not now," Dev whispered hoarsely. "Jenny-you want me, you know you dol The way you looked at me, the way you held me … don't fight it, Jen ... it's right."

' What if someone sees us?" she replied, her cheeks burning with shame, a great deal of it due to her abandoned, naked response to the closeness of his body. "The women are ..."

"Far away," Dev finished, his fingers grazing the hardening buds of her nipples. "Nobody'll see us here, baby, we're hidden by the ..." Dev pushed the blouse up, and Jenny, defeated by her own needs, raised her arms so he could pull it over .her head. "God ... you're beautiful,"

he whispered in awe.Towering his head to engulf one swollen nipple with his mouth, swirling his tongue around it in teasing circles, even as his hand fondled her thigh, then impatiently pulled the skirt to her waist and slipped back to touch the velvet warmth between her thighs.

Jenny forgot her inhibitions, lost them to the raging heat of desire that swept her flesh at Dev's gentle-urgent handling. He had said he couldn't stop and ... Lord, forgive her, she didn't want him to, would have cried out in frustration if he had! It seemed wherever Dev touched her he left a burning brand on her flesh. It was right ... it was, she thought in a torment of rising passion.

Dev moved over her, careful to keep his weight from crushing her, and as he continued to caress the soft fullness of her breasts, he freed himself from the breech-cloth. Freed from the constricting material, the heavy, rampant staff between his thighs throbbed with life, with a demand that would no longer be denied. Dev poised, entered the welcoming heat that radiated from Jenny's thighs and thrust deeply, his groan blending with the soft, satisfied sigh that tore from Jenny's throat.

There, with the fresh, open scent of the woods surrounding them, the two young bodies melded and clashed, thunder and lightning sharing the intensity of a turbulent summer storm-a storm of feeling, of passion that conquered even as it was vanquished.

Afterwards, Jenny was suddenly quiet, giving Dev the unsettling impression she regretted what had happened. In an effort to get her to reveal what she was thinking, he spoke. "I ...

uh ... I haven't stuck to our agreement very well, have I, Jen?"

Silence greeted the query. Jenny was nestled in his arms .still lying close beside him, yet her gaze was directed off through the veil of leafy boughs sheltering the oak 'bower, and he had the feeling she was miles distant from him, unreachable. "If you're mad at me, you can hit me," he teased, and still there was no answer, only a sigh that escaped her, a sad, almost wistful sigh. "Come on, Jen ... you're making me feel as though I've taken advantage of you.

You know you enjoyed it as much as me ... at least you seemed to."

What woman wouldn't have enjoyed the tender, aggressive way Dev had taken possession of her, Jenny thought. The response Dev had aroused in her was the reason behind her reflective mood. No, he hadn't taken advantage of her, she'd been all too willing. She was married to him, this handsome, lithe stranger at her side, yet only out of necessity. When she'd accepted his proposal, she hadn't anticipated the possibility that it would be other than they'd discussed, a mutual agreement toward a common goal, saving her the embarrassment and her parents the hurt of a child born out of wedlock. Jenny didn't want to feel anything for Dev, not the attraction to his body she'd just discovered, nor the tender regard for him that was beginning to blossom within her.

"I won't lie, Dev," she said finally, turning her face up to gaze at him, "you made me feel ...

like a woman again, instead of an object to satisfy a man's lust. And I appreciate that, I really do, but ..." She was having an awful time explaining what she meant, perhaps because Jenny wasn't sure what she wanted herself. How could she explain to him that she'd been hurt once before by falling in love, that Rodrigo's crude trampling of her most tender feelings had left her frightened to leave herself open to the same pain again?

"But you'd rather I stuck to our agreement and left you alone, is that it?" Dev had taken her hesitation for an attempt to let him down easy; she was trying to tell him, in her ladylike way, that he should look elsewhere to satisfy his desires. He took his arm from around her shoulders and sat up, looking for his clothes to dress. "Why don't we just leave it at this-we both enjoyed a pleasant tumble by a stream, and it won't happen again."

Dev stood up, brushing the branches back out of his way with an angry shove, and Jenny was alone in the dim light of the sheltered bower. She stared after him, stricken by the brusque, careless way he'd referred to their interlude, and the magic of the afternoon was lost. With shaking hands, she fumbled for her skirt and blouse, carried them to the stream and washed, then, with leaden fingers, pulled the clothes on. When she emerged from behind the oak, Dev was dressed, squatting on his haunches near the water as he cleaned and gutted the trout he'd caught earlier.

When she came up to him, thinking she should further explain her feelings, the look he gave her cut off the attempt. He no longer seemed antagonistic, but there was little warmth in his eyes, and his voice was quietly authoritative as he told her to get her boots on and he'd see her back at camp.

The anger in the glare Jenny gave him as she whirled away was gratifying to him. With a slight smile on his face, he returned to cleaning the fish, but at the first sound of her cry of pain, he was up and running. Jenny had stopped halfway to the big tree and when he reached where she'd left her leggings, was holding her left foot, her face contorted in pain.