Western Widows (6 page)

RACHEL

The man was insufferable! He hasn't stopped pestering me for months. Seth Barnes is a veritable nuisance. My only intention was to pretend to mourn in peace. There were no whispers about me as Aaron had made an honest woman of me, as the church ladies would say. I could only imagine several of those old biddies had trapped a man into marriage in their day. I wasn't the only woman to have done so. With a ring on my finger, the licentious kiss had been forgotten.

I hadn't. That kiss had ruined my life. I kicked a pebble in my path as I made my way to the mercantile. All of the blue thread for my new dress was gone. A simple spool of thread was all I needed, not a giant of a man shadowing my every step. He wasn't sly about it, how could he be? The man had to be well over a head taller than I, broader than a barn with hands the size of dinner plates and a face of a Greek god.

Regardless of the fact that he made me want to turn around and pull his head down and kiss him, he would drive me to drink before the end of the summer. He was everywhere. The mercantile. The telegraph office. The jail. The other side of the thoroughfare. Every time I looked up, he was there. Usually at a distance, but on occasion he would approach me. Then, I would have to look at his blue eyes, his strong jaw, straight nose and will myself not to grab hold of his unruly strands of blond hair and tug him down to taste him.

Those desires were nothing but trouble. Wanting to feel a man's hands on me, his mouth on places of my body that were completely carnal and impure were fantasies. Dreams I thought of alone in my bed late at night. I could touch myself, use my hands to seek pleasure from my own body. It caused no one harm and was a secret. There was no sign about my neck that read harlot. I dressed modestly, offered no hint of returning any man's attentions. I attended church regularly and participated in socially acceptable pastimes such as quilting and jelly making. There was no chance I would ruin another man's life by doing any of those mundane, dull and completely mindless activities. Pleasing myself alone in my bed would be the only way I'd succumb to my baser needs. Seth was safe from my wicked ways.

Except he kept putting himself in my path! I couldn't avoid him. He was
everywhere.
He was most ardent in his attentions, although never inappropriate, but I could see he was becoming more insistent, more driven. How could I protect myself from a behemoth of a man with all of his focus solely on me? I was so frustrated and focused on Seth's dogged presence that I did not see the man who'd come out of the saloon before I ran into him, his dirty, rank body a hard wall. I struck his side and stumbled backward. The tinny sounds of a piano drifted out to us on the boardwalk. I usually avoided this side of the street intentionally, but I'd been distracted.

"Aren't you a pretty lady?" he drawled, a strong whiskey scent emanating from him like heat from a stove.

I took a step back but the man's hand came out and gripped my arm with a speed that contradicted his inebriated state. "Unhand me," I said nervously, attempting to tug my arm free. It was to no avail.

"I think not. I've captured myself a prize and I'm going to keep it." He grinned, displaying crooked yellow teeth.

"No, you're not." The voice was deep, clear and cold as spring run off.
Seth.

The drunkard's eyes widened as he looked over my shoulder. His hand dropped immediately and he took a step back. "I beg your pardon, miss."

He tipped his hand to an invisible hat and made a hasty retreat down the boardwalk.

I exhaled a pent up breath, relieved to be free of the vile man. But I would have to thank the man who had dogged my steps, filled my mind and distracted me in the first place.

I turned.

There, standing before me, towering over me so I had to tilt my head back to look him in his blue eyes, was Seth Barnes. The breath I gained escaped me again. He was angry. It radiated from every tense line of his body. "Did he hurt you?" he growled.

I shook my head, my voice gone.

When two men came out of the saloon directly behind me, Seth took hold of my arm and led me away. I had to walk quickly to keep up with his long legs. By the time he slowed, I had trouble catching my breath. He moved me to a break in the buildings so that foot traffic could move without our interference.

"What the hell were you doing in front of the saloon?" His voice boomed loudly, startling me.

"I wasn't paying attention," I murmured. I'd been distracted by thoughts of him, but I wouldn't let him know that.

His eyes widened. "You weren't...that much was blatantly clear." He removed his hat from his head and ran a hand over the back of his neck. "What if I hadn't been following you? That man wouldn't have been a gentleman."

"I would have screamed," I replied confidently. The main thoroughfare through town was very busy. Any number of persons would stop to help had I made a scene.

"That will not protect you in all situations. You were lucky as to the location of the incident. If it had happened after dark near your house, the consequences would be different."

I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes. "I do not need a keeper."

In a verbal battle with this man I could hold my own. In no other circumstance would we be evenly matched.

"Yes, you do," he bit out through clenched teeth.

"Is that why you've been following me?"

"Is your opinion of this the reason you have been avoiding me?"

"I've been avoiding you because you are an overbearing brute!"

His eyes widened at my veracity. "I have barely said more than five sentences to you before now. I've never laid a hand on you nor pressed my advantage in any way. That man," he pointed over my shoulder, "was the one who grabbed you. How can you consider me a brute?"

"Because you won't leave me alone."

His shoulders relaxed then. He put his hat back on his head and sighed. "That is true. I won't leave you alone."

He didn't want me, had even said he hadn't pressed his advantage, so why did he continue to shadow me? "Why?" I asked.

"I promised Aaron."

That was not the answer I anticipated. Hearing my dead husband's name had me dreading what would come next. I remained silent and waited for him to continue.

"Before you were married I promised him I would protect his wife should anything ever happen to him."

A lead weight settled in my stomach and I looked at the ground, looked anywhere but at Seth. "Then you're following the wrong woman around town. Excuse me." I held up my hand in a vague farewell and moved to walk past him, but he would have none of it. He easily pulled me back to stand before him again.

"Explain," he replied.

I stared at the buttons of his shirt as if they fascinated me. "Julia Lanesport. She's the woman Aaron was to marry. She was the woman he wanted you to protect."

"Aaron married you."

He made everything so simple, yet nothing was. Yes, I'd married Aaron, but for a complicated reason.

"Yes, but as I said, he
wanted
to marry Julia Lanesport. They were courting."

Seth tilted my chin up with his fingers. "Look at me. You're not making sense."

His voice had softened, but still held that deep timbre that thrilled me to my bones.

"You don't know this story? I'm surprised. Everyone else in town does," I replied, my voice tart. When he did nothing but run his thumb over my jaw, I sighed. "Aaron was courting Julia Lanesport. At a church social, Aaron and I were found in a compromising position and we were hastily wed. Julia Lanesport was the jilted woman, the woman Aaron really wanted. No doubt when he made the arrangement with you it was with Julia's face in his mind."

Seth's eyes narrowed. "Compromising position? Of course he should have married you. What did he do to you?"

I laughed, although without any mirth. "What did he do to me? Nothing.
I
kissed
him
."

Seth rolled back on his heels as if I punched him, eyebrows disappearing beneath his hat. "You married him, all because of a kiss?"

I felt my cheeks heat remembering. "Just as you said, of course. I'm surprised you didn't hear about the fiasco my wild behavior brought about." I swallowed down tears that had lodged in my throat. I'd cried enough tears over the doomed marriage, the husband who longed for another, his untimely death. "I ruined one man's life. You should be careful, for I could easily ruin yours as well."

A wagon went by, the wheels loud as it passed, distracting Seth for a moment and I stepped back from his touch. I took a steadying breath in an attempt to even out my varying emotions.

Seth studied me, from the hem of my dress to my simple hat upon my head. "You're avoiding me to protect me."

"Yes." I couldn't deny it. He was too smart, too intuitive for me to do otherwise.

He shook his head in disbelief. "You can't hurt me."

It was my turn to arch a brow. "Oh really? I hurt Aaron. Julia Lanesport in the process."

"How on God's green earth did you hurt Aaron? He kissed you, too, no doubt. Any man who kisses you wouldn't just stand there."

I shook my head and held up my hands in front of me. "You don't understand."

"Why, Rachel? What are you protecting me from?" Exasperation filled his voice.

"Me! I'm protecting you from my whorish ways." I covered my mouth with my hand and darted a glance left and right to make sure no one overheard.

Seth stepped in close, forcing me to look up at him. His blue eyes took on a deep blue cast. "Whorish ways? Who said that about you?" His voice had a definitive bite to it.

"No one. I say it about myself. I wanted to kiss Aaron. I wanted to know what it felt like and I grabbed him and kissed him. That's how those old biddies found us. It wasn't Aaron's fault at all."

A couple passed on the boardwalk and Seth tipped his hat to them, but barely afforded them a glance.

Once they moved on, he spoke. "You're protecting my virtue?" He grinned, his face shifting from anger to happiness from one second to the next. He leaned in close and murmured, "Rachel, should I be worried about your intentions toward me?"

I turned my face away knowing my cheeks were bright red. "If you're with me, I could somehow compromise you. Then you'd be forced into a marriage you did not want."

He was quiet for a moment and I felt his gaze on me, studying me intently. The sounds from the main road filled the silence between us. Horses hooves, people talking, the faint strains of piano from the saloon.

"Just answer one more question."

I looked at him expectantly.

"All this time you've crossed the street to avoid me, ducked into the mercantile, greeted me then fled, you've done it all because you worried for me? For my honor?"

"Yes," I replied, my voice a soft whisper.

He rolled his shoulders back, nodded his head. It appeared as if he'd come to some sort of internal resolution. "Thank you. I understand now."

I thought that would be it, that he would let me continue on my way to pick out the needed thread for my dress. That he would leave me alone now, keeping himself well free of me and my wanton ways. My control weakened with each day I saw him, but now, if he heeded my warning and gave up his attentions, that control would be easier to maintain. I'd ache, oh, I'd ache with the longing for him. Instead of tipping his hat and offering me a good day, he grabbed me and pulled me into his chest, lifting me off the ground so my feet dangled.

"Seth, what are you—"

He walked out of the quiet spot from where we'd been conversing and onto the boardwalk. He turned and pressed me into the side of a building, lowered his head and kissed me. Not a peck on the cheek. Not even a chaste brushing of lips. He molded his mouth to mine and touched his tongue to the seam of my lips. I gasped in surprise at his action and he took the opportunity to plunge his tongue deep to tangle with mine. His hand was at my nape holding me in place. He tasted of cinnamon and something primitive and exotic that woke up every carnal part of my body. My nipples tightened, I was wet between my thighs and my inner walls clenched.

I vaguely heard whistles from men that passed, but I felt nothing but Seth, pressed against him the full length of my body. His mouth worked mine for a duration of time I could not tell. But when he lifted his head and our lips parted, I looked up at him in confusion with a very foggy gaze.

"There," he said triumphantly as the world returned. Words of disdain and shock from passerby permeated my confusion and surprise. "I've compromised you and good. Now you have to marry me."

SETH

What an infuriating woman! She'd been like a mouse, scurrying into hiding at the sight of me for the past three months. Why? Because she was afraid for me. I'd thought she'd been afraid
of
me, my overlarge size often putting the fear of God in many. It was to my advantage quite frequently, as with the drunk who'd cared to touch Rachel in front of the saloon. With a woman such as Rachel, I didn't want her fearful, I wanted her lustful. For my desire for her was unlike any need I'd felt before. I was distracted at the mine, consumed with thoughts of her dark hair, her pale, creamy skin, the succulent sway of her hips.

All this time—months!—she'd maintained her distance and a cool air of disdain as a falsehood, for she had just revealed her desperate need for me. My cock swelled as big as my pride at the discovery. She wanted me. Wanted me enough to avoid me at all costs. The stupid, willful woman! I could have had her in my bed beneath me, on top of me, any way I could have her all this time. Instead, I'd been like a schoolboy with his first crush, chasing after her.

The woman needed protecting. Overzealous and lecherous men abounded in Collins, eager and ready to pluck a ripe fruit like Rachel. I'd given many a man clear warning as to whom Rachel belonged. Unfortunately, there were too many men to lecture and Rachel had free roam of town. I couldn't run a mine and keep Rachel safe simultaneously. There were most certainly moments when she was prey for the underbelly of the town.

Now, well, now everything changed. When I had her standing still long enough to speak with her, I was able to glean so much. She'd not only confirmed the status of her marriage to Aaron, but she'd intimated that her desire for me was so great she had to maintain distance to keep from possibly tarnishing my honor.

Complete rubbish. As a man, it was my job to ease the woman's worries, to remove any concerns or hindrances to her happiness. It wasn't Rachel's job to defend me. I was strong enough to protect the both of us. In one quick action, I'd taken control, taken the worry away from her and put it on my own shoulders. I claimed her quite publicly, which, when news spread, would tarnish my honor, not hers. There was only one way to make it right and that was to marry her. This was what she wanted all along, but needed me to take control of the situation. Finally. I'd been tiptoeing around like a pansy until the truth of it struck me like a pickaxe to the head.

She wanted to submit but didn't know how. I did. With one passionate kiss, she'd given herself to me and now she was irrevocably mine.

* * * * *

"Are you insane?" Rachel asked two hours later.

I lifted her up in my arms and carried her over the threshold and into my house. The soft feel of her in my arms was incredible and I intended to carry her directly to my bedroom to continue to touch her. Without the hindrance of clothes.

"I was, but no longer." For the first time since Aaron was killed and Rachel had become a widow, legally available for marriage, I was clearheaded.

"Seth, put me down!"

I kicked the door shut behind me and strode up the steps and into the bedroom, ignoring her attempts to escape. I released her only when my large bed was beneath her and she landed on the blue quilt. Her eyes widened in surprise at the realization of her surroundings.

"You have been leading me around by my dick for the longest time, and I've been insane enough to allow it. No longer. It's time you realize who has control in this marriage."

I started to undo the buttons of my shirt and her dark eyes widened. She licked those plump lips of hers and my cock pressed painfully against my pants. I'd been this way for months, whenever she crossed paths with me. Hell, whenever I caught a hint of her scent. I could do something about it now.

"You married me!" Somewhere along the way her hair had fallen loose from the pins that had held it securely at her nape and she looked a little disheveled. In my opinion, not disheveled enough. "I had no choice since you compromised me most thoroughly out on the thoroughfare."

"Damn right." She was trying to make me feel contrite for my actions when I felt anything but. I tugged my shirt from my pants, stripped it off. Her eyes lowered to my chest and it appeared I distracted her. "You don't dictate how I feel about you."

"Half the town saw your kiss and all but marched us to the church."

"Damn right," I repeated, thinking the very dour, very austere members of the community would have lynched me just as readily as led me to Reverend Pick if I'd had less than honorable intentions. The town had even remained, settled comfortably in the church pews, to witness our union. "Did you think I'd let you get away from me once I found out you want me as much as I want you?"

Her eyes darted from meeting mine, to my chest and back. "You do?"

I took a breath and ran a hand over the back of my neck.

"If that kiss didn't convince you, then I've got work to do. Now get that dress off before I rip it from you."

Her eyes widened and she shook her head. "You can still renege. We haven't consummated the marriage."

"You think the townsfolk will let me abandon you after the disgrace I made of you on the street?"

"No. You kissed me!"

I grinned, remembering the taste of her. "I did."

"Why? I told you the kind of person I was. What I did to Aaron."

"Yes, you told me. You
wanted
to kiss me, to do those things you are imagining that you consider whorish. I
want
you to. That's the difference. I want to do all those wild, dirty things." The bed dipped as I placed one knee upon it. "Tell me what they are, Rachel."

She came up on her elbows and started to scurry back but I stopped her with one hand on her ankle. "You've disgraced me enough. Do you think I will shame myself further by uttering something such as that?"

I shrugged, threw my other knee over her legs so I straddled her, planted my hands on either side of her head so I loomed over her. "You don't have to say. Just knowing you're thinking it is enough for me. Perhaps I'll give you a boon. Answer yes or no to my questions, all right?"

She gave a slight nod of her head in agreement.

From this position, I could see the dark flecks in her eyes, the color that bloomed in her cheeks, the glistening wetness on her lips, the throbbing pulse at her neck.

"Did you like the kiss we shared?"

Her gaze dropped to my mouth. "Yes," she whispered.

"Do your dirty thoughts include us being naked?"

She nodded.

"Good girl." I grinned at her. "I've thought of you naked often. The color of your nipples, the size of them, whether they are sensitive and like to be licked and sucked. Pinched."

Her eyes flared and she flushed a pretty crimson.

I directed her with a tilt of my chin. "Take off the dress, baby. Let me see."

Slowly, her hands moved to the front of her dress, all the while her eyes met mine. In my periphery, I could see her working the little buttons free until the bodice gaped open, a creamy patch of skin exposed above her white corset. Just that sliver of skin had me losing that last bit of control. Shifting back so I sat on my heels, I reached to the two panels of her dress and spread them wide, slid them off her shoulders and down her arms, leaving her upper body in just her corset. She shimmied beneath me to release her wrists but I shook my head.

"Oh no. You've had control for months and that wasn't working. That's all over. I'm in charge now. All you have to do is feel."

She squirmed, her thighs nudging at my cock and I couldn't stifle a groan. The stays on her corset were snug, but easy to release. I did only the top half, letting her breasts pop free. With the stiff material beneath them, they were pushed upward still, firm and plump and full. I cupped both in my large hands, the flesh so satiny soft and pale in comparison to mine which was rugged, calloused and dark complected. I hissed out a breath at the sight. Her nipples were a soft coral and quite large, a succulent mouthful. Lowering my head, I ran my tongue over the tip of one, eliciting a moan from Rachel. That had just been a simple lick. I wanted to see what kinds of sounds she could make when I suckled there, when I twisted and tugged at the tip beneath my fingers. And so I took her into my mouth and found out.

My other hand moved to her other breast, working it with my fingers. Her back arched up into my belly and her fingers went first to my bare shoulders, leaving no doubt, half moon indents with her fingernails, before snagging in my hair. One moment she was pushing me away, the next holding me close. Switching sides, my fingers took the slick tip and tugged. Hard. I lifted my mouth enough to look up at her. She had her eyes closed, her mouth open and her soft breath came out in little pants. Her skin was flushed and a slick hint of perspiration coated her brow. All of the pins had fallen from her hair as her head thrashed about on the quilt.

"Like a little pain with your pleasure?" I murmured.

"Seth," she replied breathily.

I kissed her then, my tongue delving into her mouth to taste her again. The kiss on the street had been an all out assault on her senses, making her and everyone else around us know that she belonged to me. I kissed her the same way now, ensuring she understood that she was mine.

She was just as I wanted her, mindless to anything but what I was doing to her. As I continued to play with her breasts even while I kissed her. Eventually I lifted my head and I undid the remainder of her corset, letting the two sides fall to the bed on either side of her. My mouth followed the path of the stays down the center of her belly to her navel where I dipped my tongue into the slight indentation, then lower until I encountered her dress. My hands bunched the hem of the garment and I slid it up her body, one slow inch at a time, revealing trim ankles, smooth calves and dimpled knees within cream stockings. Her smooth flesh appeared a few inches above her knees and my hands ran over her creamy thighs. I pooled the material at her waist.

I tsked her as I took in her drawers. "Oh, baby. A woman as wanton as you shouldn't be wearing drawers." Putting two hands on the insides of her thighs, I ripped the center seam apart so that her pussy was exposed even while she still wore her drawers. "Or you can wear your underthings like this from now on, with a big slit down the middle. This way I can gain access to all your treasures without any impediment."

"Seth, let me touch you."

I looked up her body at her. It was quite the view. Rounded stomach, plump breasts, flushed cheeks, aroused, passion filled eyes and tousled hair.

I shook my head from side to side. "No. I decide your pleasure. You denied me for three months, Rachel. It's time I denied you so you know what I went through."

Slipping backward, I lowered myself to the floor, grabbed her ankles and tugged her forward so that her legs went over my shoulders and her pussy was right at the edge of the bed. She squeaked at the shift, but could do nothing else with her arms pinned. "What are you doing?" she asked, trying to squirm.

I grabbed her thighs from underneath and wrapped my hands around them, parting her wide and securing her just where I wanted her. Through the torn seam of her drawers, her pussy was clearly visible. With dark, soft hair at the juncture, it hid her most luscious parts. Her lower lips were a pretty blush pink and as dainty as she, slick and coated with her arousal, evidence that she wasn't unaffected. "You can question my attentions, deny your interest in what I'm doing, fight me even, but your pussy does not lie. Don't act the virgin with me, Rachel, when you've admitted to having whorish ways. I want to see that inner vixen. Give over, baby. I know what you really are."

She lifted her head to look down at me. "I don't want to be lusty like that."

I frowned as I ran the very tip of my finger over her slit.

"Oh, God," she cried out.

"No, my name's Seth, baby. You can cry out for God all you want, but I'm the one who's going to make you come." I circled the tip of my finger over her clit, which stood out erect and proud, a little pearl to be treasured. "Why don't you want to be lusty?"

"Because it's what put me in trouble with Aaron."

I moved my finger back down her slit, parted her folds to find her slippery entrance and dipped my finger in, just enough to make her hips buck. "We'll only speak of Aaron once, especially since I have my finger in your pussy. You were meant for me. When you see what I plan to do to you, you'll know that is a fact."

"What...what do you plan to do?" She looked at my hand between her spread thighs momentarily before I brushed over her clit, then her head fell back and her chin lifted toward the ceiling.

I couldn't help but grin.

Lazily, I played with her pussy. It was hot to the touch, wet and perfectly pink. I could smell the sweet scent of her arousal and knew she'd taste just the same. My mouth watered to find out. But first, I'd tempt her with my words, wanting her to know I wasn't looking for a quick fuck beneath the covers.

"In just a minute I'm going to lower my head and eat your pussy. Taste you for the first time. Then, with your legs so delectably spread, I'm going to split you open with my big cock. It is big, Rachel and it's going to open these perfect pussy lips nice and wide."