The Reluctant Debutante (29 page)

Joseph was getting hard again, just thinking about her. He wondered how much more quickly he would become fully engorged if he merely touched her. He gently ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it away from her face. She stirred softly, making a small noise, and his shaft responded as he thought it would. He let his hand slip down her body and cup one breast. For a moment he simply held it in his palm, feeling its weight and softness. Her skin resembled the finest satin in texture. He ran his thumb over her nipple, and was surprised when, even in her sleep, the nipple responded to his touch by peaking and growing hard. He continued to fondle her breast and tease her nipple. Soon enough, he watched Ginger’s entire body begin to respond to his touch. She moved languidly under his hand, moaning softly in her sleep, and her torso pushed forward of its own accord to offer him more of her. She opened her eyes and gazed into his dark, stormy ones.

“What a delightful way to wake up,” Ginger said with a smile and placed a kiss on his lips. She then kissed each eyelid and each finely chiseled cheek.

“I plan to wake you every morning in this same manner, so get used to it. After all, I did promise your father we would provide him with nine grandchildren. It will be a lot of work to plant my seed in you so many times, but I believe I am up to the task.”

Ginger squirmed under his gaze. “Papa told me you and he talked, but gave me none of the details. I’m so glad I was not in the room during that conversation. It’s mortifying to think that Papa and Mother know what we are doing.”

“My love, they do have nine children of their own, you know.”

“Well, yes, I know. But to think ... ” Her skin flushed. “I can only imagine the conversation you had with Papa.”

Joseph decided to take her mind off the talk with her father.

“I have two challenges for you this morning, my love.” He ran his hand over her hair.

“Only two? I thought life on the frontier was full of challenges,” she teased.

“Well, because it is our honeymoon, today there will be only two. Are you ready? First, we need to decide where we will build our home. So I will take you to several places I think are suitable and let you decide.”

Ginger’s eyes began to sparkle. “I like the sound of this particular challenge. Can we go now?”

She began to rise from the bed, but Joseph reached for her arm and brought her back by his side.

“I have not yet revealed the second challenge. I have four spots on my body which, I have discovered, are very sensitive to your touch, and I challenge you to find them all.”

Her eyes took on a gleam. “I like the sound of this challenge even more. It’s like a scavenger hunt, almost. Let’s see, four areas ...”

She eagerly began to explore his body. She moved her hand over his torso and down to his hard shaft, which was pulsing in readiness. She wrapped one hand around it and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Obviously,” he choked out a response.

Ginger continued to explore the planes and valleys of his body. She ran her hands down his muscular legs, noting how those muscles twitched in response to her touch. She ran a band of kisses down the front of each leg. When she worked her way around to the back of one knee, Joseph let out an involuntary gasp as his leg jumped. She smiled and glanced up from her ministrations.

“Number Two,” she purred.

The back of his other knee didn’t elicit the same response, so she continued her explorations, working her way up his body, over his chest. She stopped there to tease his nipples. Although his nipples hardened under her mouth, her touch didn’t elicit the strong shudder of delight the first two areas had. She moved up the landscape of his body, exploring his strong jaw line and neck. She watched as his pulse jumped in his neck and ran her tongue over it.

As his body quivered, she whispered, “And we have Number Three.”

Joseph was about to explode from her touch. He did have four locations on his body he wanted her to find, but every place where Ginger placed her hand or her mouth was blazing with desire now. He kept his hands curled at his side, knowing if he touched her he’d have to plow into her immediately — and she did seem to be enjoying the game. He decided to give her a hint of the location of the fourth spot, to hurry things along. He rolled over onto his stomach.

“Ah, the back. Of course,” was Ginger’s delighted response.

She ran her hands over his massive shoulders, thrilling at the feel of his muscles as they moved under her fingers. She traced every inch of skin, searching for the elusive fourth hot spot. She ran her hands over each hip, noting his well-rounded backside. She ran a finger down the crack between his butt cheeks. She placed a kiss in the hollow between his hips at the base of his spine and was rewarded when his body jolted under her, as his cry of delight filled the air.

“Aha, Number Four!” she cried as Joseph moved suddenly and pinned her underneath him.

“Yes,
ma petite
. Very good. You have found all four locations.” He kissed her with all the stored up passion her movements had aroused in him.

She looked up at him with a saucy expression on her face. “So what’s my prize for finding all the items on your list?”

“This,” Joseph growled, as his hand found its way to her sweet spot and began to torment her nub.

He laced his other hand through her hair and explored her mouth, moving his tongue in and out with the same rhythm he was setting in her lower region. Keeping his thumb pulsing on her nub, he inserted one finger into her, reveling in the soft slickness. He inserted another finger, and a third, and began a gentle in and out motion. He watched as her body bucked under him and she grabbed hold of the bedclothes to hang on. As her orgasm overtook her, he positioned himself over her body and rapidly sought his own release.

They mounted Midnight and took off through the woods to the first area Joseph was considering for their house. As they came upon the clearing in the middle of the woods, Ginger gazed delightedly at the small stream at the edge of the opening. She imagined sitting on the porch on a summer’s evening and listening to the gurgling sounds as the stream rolled along.

They dismounted and Joseph held Ginger’s hand as they walked along the stream. Her mind pictured wildflowers growing along its banks in the spring, and she could imagine herself with a bucket, getting water for her evening bath before she lay in Joseph’s arms.

She sighed contentedly. “This is a picture-perfect spot.”

“Do not be so quick to decide, my love. I have two more spots for you to look at.”

“But this one is wonderful. Can we not spread out our meal and stay here? Maybe we could even make love by the bank of the creek?”

She pulled his head down for a kiss, which became a long, languorous melding of one body with another. Minutes later, Joseph came up for air and raised his head.

“As tempting as it sounds, it is late November in Missouri. Making love outdoors is probably not the best idea. Plus, I do want you to see all the possibilities before making a final decision. Let us mount up.”

Sighing, Ginger wrapped her arms around Joseph’s neck as he cradled her in one arm as he leaped onto the horse’s back. She grazed his chin with her lips. “Somehow, even getting on a horse’s back with you is a sensual experience. Lead on.”

She sat astride Midnight, in front of Joseph. Her skirt was pulled up, revealing an ample amount of ankle, but she didn’t care. This wasn’t New York, and she could not create a scandal today. But she would have to consider different clothing for her life on the frontier. Conventional New York street clothing would no longer suffice. Her mind buzzed with thoughts of how to realign her wardrobe to include more comfortable attire.

As she leaned back against Joseph, a feeling of true contentment came over her. It really mattered little where they placed their home on his father’s land, or what she wore. As long as Joseph was with her, she would be happy anywhere and in any type of clothing. She placed her hand on the strong arm encircling her, and luxuriated in the feel of him.

All too quickly, they came to the second spot Joseph had picked. It was also near a creek, but on the wide prairie. Ginger surveyed it from her perch on the horse.

“Don’t you think it would get too hot here in summer, with no trees around to shelter it?”

“You are a quick learner,
ma petite
. The advantage to this piece of land is the closeness of the river. But it does get very hot here in the long summer.”

They rode to the next location in silence, both of them wrapped in their own thoughts. Ginger closed her eyes, relaxing in the warmth from the sun on her face and the gentle gait of the horse. She was nearly lulled to sleep in Joseph’s arms.

“We are home,” he said, quietly.

Ginger opened her eyes and her breath left her. She gazed out from their mountaintop location and drank in the view, which extended for miles in each direction. Emile and Mary’s house could be seen in the distance, the woods came right to the edge of the clearing, and a gentle breeze blew in from the west across her cheeks.

She looked up at Joseph and asked, “How did you know I would love this place?”

He helped her down from the horse and took her into his arms. “Because our hearts beat as one. This is my favorite spot on the ranch, so I knew it would be yours as well. There is a water source on the backside of the mountain, and many trees close by from which we can build a home.”

“I can picture a big front porch right here.” Ginger ran lightly from one edge of the clearing to the other, fanning her arms out to show the dimensions of the porch she was envisioning. “When can we start building?”

“Not until spring, most likely. I can smell snow in the air today. The first of many snows.”

“But the sun is out! How can there be snow?” She stopped to sniff the air. “I don’t smell a thing.”

Joseph laughed as he took her into his arms. “Soon enough,
ma petite
, you will learn the ways of the West. Right now, though, I think I should give you your first kiss on the site of our new home.”

He wrapped his arms around Ginger and picked her up off her feet. She wound her legs around his middle as he gave in to the passion he had been feeling all afternoon.

“I have changed my mind,
ma petite
. I think making love out of doors in the end of November is a fine idea.”

He untangled her skirt and moved his hand up the inside of her leg, pleased she had not bothered with putting on her infamous bloomers today, and only wore her drawers, which were open to her cleft. His hand grazed over her patch of hair and he growled in delight as her breath became ragged. He moved his breechcloth aside and positioned his ready manhood at her opening. As his mouth sought hers, he cupped her bottom and pulled her onto his hard shaft. Ginger threw her head back as she matched the up and down motion his hands were coaxing from her, and their mutual orgasms surfaced as one.

The following day, Ginger, Joseph, Basil, and Eleanor Gray stood on the railroad platform to see Charlotte and George off to New York. The snow Joseph had predicted fell lightly around them, making the streets of St. Louis look clean and crisp. Mrs. Gray was staying on for a few more weeks, until Charles could safely be transported back to the city, but she wanted to be on hand to say goodbye to her friends.

“You’ll have to come back once we get our house built, Papa,” Ginger declared as they waited for the train to come into the station. “We’re going to put it up on top of the mountain overlooking Joseph’s parents’ home. It’s a wonderful site.”

Her gaze shifted from her father to Joseph. They shared a smile, each remembering the lovemaking at their new homestead the previous afternoon.

“I hope by next spring we’ll have word my second grandchild is on the way, too,” Charlotte responded. “After all, Pepper dawdled for three years before she thought to provide me with a grandchild to fawn over. I hope you won’t take quite so long, Ginger.”

Ginger’s color rose and she buried herself in Joseph’s chest. As he wrapped a protective arm around her, Ginger said, “Please, Mother.”

Charlotte patted her daughter’s arm. “I’m just teasing, you know. Take all the time you need. However, I understand Joseph promised your father nine grandchildren, and I know it is no easy task to produce that many.”

Ginger was grateful when the platform began to fill with other people waiting to board the train, so her mother would stop this incessant line of conversation. Certain things, she felt, were better left unsaid.

“Miss Fitzpatrick, Mr. Fitzpatrick, how nice to see you again!”

Ginger looked up in confusion. Then she spotted Lieutenant David Whitman approaching them. David shook her father’s hand. He looked at the assembled group and smiled at Charlotte.

“Am I to assume this is your lovely wife, Mr. Fitzpatrick?”

Charlotte beamed at the young officer, as George introduced her to David.

Ginger smiled up at him. “What a pleasure to see you again, too, Lieutenant. However, I’m no longer Miss Fitzpatrick, but rather Mrs. Lafontaine.”

David’s face flashed momentary disappointment before he took Joseph’s hand in his. “Ah, yes, the strong man from St. Louis who helped rescue the train wreck victims. You were quite impressive out there in the river. Congratulations to the both of you. I had a sense this was coming.”

Ginger introduced David to Basil and Mrs. Gray before asking, “Are you traveling today, Lieutenant, or seeing someone off?”

“I am traveling back to my post, near Hermann, along with the rest of my men. We have done all we can for everyone who had the misfortune to be on the Pacific train.”

Charlotte had caught the look of disappointment on David’s face and knew something had transpired between her daughter and this fine young man while they were on the train.

“Oh, you were on the train as well?” Charlotte asked innocently.

“Yes, ma’am. I was in the same car as your husband and daughter when the accident happened. Because we weren’t on the bridge when it collapsed, our car rolled down the embankment, and we were fortunate enough to sustain only light injuries.”