The Color of Forever: Book Two: Forever Cowboys Series (23 page)

Ben jerked his errant thoughts up before they went any further. What kind of perv was he, anyway? Having these X rated thoughts about poor Samantha after all she’d gone through tonight at the hands of those poachers.
You’re one sick puppy
, Connors, he berated himself silently. The woman he loved had been through hell and narrowly escaped being raped and murdered, and here he was fantasizing about stripping her naked and helping himself to her ravishing body.

When he thought about what she had done in a mistaken belief that she was saving his life, his heart swelled almost to bursting. The fact was that his training had prepared him for an armed adversary hiding behind a door and he was more than capable of handling the situation and emerging victorious in that kind of confrontation.

But Samantha hadn’t known that. He hadn’t said anything to her about his time as a navy SEAL. Not that he was ashamed of it, quite the opposite. He was glad to have been able to serve his country. He simply hadn’t gotten around to it yet. So, she had thought if she unlocked the door and let him in, the men would take him by surprise and kill him. Never mind that she must have been terrified for her own personal safety and any hope at all of Ben being able to save her would have seemed better than the hopeless situation she was in.

She had refused to unlock the door and let him in, lying to get him to leave, thinking she was saving his life by getting him away from there. He reflected on this for a moment.

What a woman! He had known Samantha was remarkable before tonight, but he hadn’t understood just how remarkable she really was. How many women would have done what she had? How many women would have sent away what might have been their only hope of help in such a selfless, brave gesture? Come to that, how many women would have turned on those men and fought like a wildcat the way she had?

He chuckled, his thoughts turning again to how bravely she had fought, gloating at the recollection of how they’d begged him not to leave them alone with her. She had put some hurt on them, for sure.

Stepping out of the tub and drying off, Ben put on his clean jeans and tee shirt and padded barefoot into the living room. He had already brought in wood and now a cozy fire was burning merrily in the big stone fireplace.

Samantha came in from the kitchen bearing a plate of sandwiches and a glass of milk. He glanced at the coffee table in front of the couch and saw that she had made herself a cup of tea. She set the sandwiches and milk down on the table and smiled at him.

“Chicken sandwiches and a glass of milk. Then if you’re still hungry I have a chocolate meringue pie.” Her smile faltered as she thought of how she had offered that same pie to the poachers, hoping to buy herself a little more time while they ate it.

“That’s my favorite pie, Samantha,” he replied, smiling. “I’ll have to get some of that.”

He sat down and had eaten the sandwiches and finished the glass of milk in just a few minutes. “Man, I was starving, thanks Samantha.”

Samantha, sitting next to him on the couch, only nodded. Ben moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders in a comforting manner. “Samantha, I also want to thank you for what you did tonight, making me go away because you thought they’d get the jump on me and kill me if you let me in. That was the bravest thing I’ve ever known of. I mean that.”

Ben’s voice had thickened with emotion and instinctively, Samantha snuggled near to him, needing his strength and closeness to help her feel safe again after the night’s ordeal.

“What you did was awesome,” she told him. “I mean, you moved so fast you were just a blur and then in nothing flat you had downed those men and handcuffed them. You didn’t tell me you were a SEAL.”

“Aw shucks, ma’am, just part of the service.” Ben teased, affecting a deep drawl.

What service might that be? Samantha wondered how many more tricks he had up his sleeve. She was so glad he had stayed with her tonight. When Ben was around, she always felt so safe and secure, as though all the worries and fears of the world were shut out, unable to reach her because he was there. Tonight’s experience had been hair-raising, but she was made of stern and resilient stuff. Yes, she had been scared out of her wits, but now that it was over she was able to bounce back fairly quickly, especially with Ben holding her.

Unconsciously, she wiggled even closer to him and then put her head on his broad shoulder. Sighing contentedly, she trailed a finger down his arm, then took his hand and closed his large fingers around hers. She could stay like this forever, she told herself dreamily. Close to Ben, feeling the healing warmth of his strong body as it brought an answering warmth to hers.

Ben tightened his hand on hers and shifted so that she could nestle even closer to him. She looked up at him, smiling softly, and raised her face to him in an open invitation to be kissed. Ben hesitated, then lowered his head and gently bestowed a chaste kiss on her parted lips. That wasn’t enough for Samantha. She used her free hand to pull his head down and kissed him hungrily … hotly … telegraphing all of her need and passion so clearly that he couldn’t possibly misread it.

She slid over into his lap and twined her arms around his neck, her soft, full breasts pressing into his chest. Frustrated that the bulky layers of flannel and faux fur were standing between her and the need to feel Ben’s hard body against her own, she stood up and quickly stripped down to nothing but a lace thong, then straddled Ben and once again began kissing him deeply. She shoved his tee shirt up and out of the way so that her breasts were against his warm skin, reveling in the jolts of sexual electricity that zapped through her at the contact.

Ben made a sound of protest and try to pull away, but she held him captive by twining her arms around him in a tight hold. “Samantha,” he gasped when he managed to pull his lips away, “this is wrong. You’ve had a bad shock and a bad experience. You’re vulnerable right now. I can’t take advantage of you.”

Samantha looked at him, her blue eyes so dark with passion they were more purple than usual. She sat back just a little, allowing him a view of her rounded breasts, her bottom pressed against his groin. He sure couldn’t pretend he didn’t want her with the proof in the full erection she felt straining against his jeans.

“Don’t you want me?” she leaned forward and breathed into his ear.

He shivered and then groaned. “Want you? I’m having sexy dreams about you every night. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted any woman in my life. But I’d be a jerk to put some moves on you now after what you’ve been through tonight. You may not be thinking clearly and might do something you’d regret tomorrow.”

“Ben,” Samantha said firmly. “Listen to me. I agree that I went through a nightmarish experience and yes, it shook me up. But I think I’ve made it crystal clear that I want to go to bed with you before tonight, so I’d hardly be doing something I haven’t wanted to do anyway. Besides that, I need you to hold me and make love to me, to push thoughts of what happened tonight out of my mind. Can you understand that?”

He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “Yes, I can. Come here, Samantha,” he told her. Samantha leaned back into him and he began caressing her body with his strong hands that were yet so gentle and adept at bringing her pleasure. She moaned in ecstasy as he cupped her breasts and then bent his head to use his tongue skillfully on each one, teasing her to a state of almost feverish need.

One of his hands moved farther down her body until it found the lacy vee of her thong panties. Pushing the wisp of lace aside, his hand gained access to her mound of silken curls. She arched her back and moaned again, almost fainting with the delicious sensations.

She fumbled eagerly at the button of his jeans, her hands shaking in eagerness to free his hard manhood. He put both strong arms around her and lifted her from the couch. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her into her bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. As Samantha watched, spellbound, he removed his clothing and with a low, throaty growl of impatience, swiftly stripped the little panties from her.

As he joined her on the feather bed, he held himself over her for a moment, looking into her eyes.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice deep and sexy.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” she replied.

“Well that’s good,” Ben said as he lowered himself to her, “because I don’t think I could stop now if I had to.”

Samantha woke slowly the next morning to find that the morning sun was already strong and high in the sky. She must have really slept late. But no wonder!

Her lips curled in a soft smile of satisfaction when she recalled Ben’s lovemaking the night before. He had been everything any woman could want in a lover: tender and gentle, but strong and demanding, too, taking control of her body and bringing her to heights of ecstasy time and again throughout the night.

She hadn’t completely recovered from her nightmarish experience, but she meant what she had told Ben last night, his lovemaking had helped her blot out the unhappy events of the night and replace them with good ones. And good they were! Ben was a tireless lover and had thrilled her with his ability to rouse her to new heights of passion. He was also very obviously an experienced lover. She felt foolish now for thinking that he hadn’t been around much with women.

Getting out of bed, Samantha stretched lazily and smiled again, remembering the feel of Ben’s body moving with hers in a rhythm that had rocked her world. She had been lost in a sea of sensation and pleasure from the minute their bodies had joined in lovemaking.

She smiled again in anticipation of seeing Ben again tonight … of holding Ben and moving beneath him as he brought her to plateaus of sexual satisfaction unlike any she had ever known. No doubt about it, Ben Connors was the best lover she’d ever had. Samantha hadn’t ever been into booty calls or kinky sex, but she had had enough lovers to know that Ben was in a class all his own.

Now she knew why she’d always had fantasies about sexy cowboys, she told herself with a naughty little smile.

Making coffee and tidying up the house, whenever thoughts of the poachers intruded, she closed her eyes and imagined Ben’s sexy, masculine body and how good sex was between them. That banished the bad thoughts, just as she had instinctively felt would happen.

She was counting the hours until he was back in her arms … and her bed … again.

Ben went down into Jackson Hole and turned in the stack of paperwork connected with his apprehension of the poachers. He had talked to the District Attorney who had told him they would also be charged with kidnapping with the intent to commit harm. Kidnapping had been a very serious offense since the famous Lindbergh case back in 1932. That case brought into being the law that transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines made it a federal offense, punishable by death. But no transport across state lines or even from one location to another was necessary in most states in order to bring a charge of kidnapping against an offender.

Poor Samantha! It was acutely painful to Ben to think about her being scared,

threatened and ordered about by those low lifes. He would be eternally grateful that he had stopped by there last night and that he picked up on the strange tenor of her voice when she ordered him to go away, and knew she was lying.

He didn’t know why she was lying at the time, but he knew something was wrong and wasted no time in getting inside the house to find out what it was. Just a minute of creeping up to the house and listening at a window had clued him in to the situation.