Deborah Camp (27 page)

Her knees weakened and she was alarmed at her own raging need to give herself over to him. With great effort, she stepped out of his embrace.

“Blade, I have to check on Penny and tuck her in.”

“Very well, little mother. I’ll be waiting for you out here.”

Glancing back at him, Elise saw the intention in his brown eyes and in his suggestive smile. She looked at the door of Julia’s bedroom before she went into the room next to it. She wanted him. Oh, how she wanted him! But if he thought he’d take her on the living room floor again or in that tepee tonight, then he was bound for disappointment!

As promised, Blade was waiting for her. He’d removed his shirt and shoes and slipped his suspenders off his shoulders, so that they dangled at his hips. His eyes glittered darkly as his hands moved to the buttons on his fly.

Elise shivered uncontrollably and kept reminding herself that this was the time to test his love for her—if he had any. She smoothed her sweaty palms over her nightdress and watched his expression change from desire to lust. Having unbraided her hair, she captured a lock of it and curled it around her finger as she seized the moment to admire his male arrogance. He knew he looked virile and handsome to her eyes. He knew, and he gloried in it. His stance told her so.

He stood before her, legs braced apart, eyes all aglitter. The smile poking at one corner of his mouth sent a spiral of longing through her, but she
held her ground, knowing that once he enclosed her in his arms, she would be hopelessly, willingly, lost.

“All I’ve thought about today is you,” he confessed, his voice deep, rough-edged. “But I couldn’t tell if your mind was on me. I couldn’t tell if you were waiting for this moment when we could be alone together.”

“You couldn’t?” She arched a brow. “I thought I was being obvious. Can you tell now?”

His gaze drifted from her face to her breasts, covered by the sheer white material. She felt her nipples pucker to diamond hardness.

“Ah, yes. Come here, Elise.” He held out one hand, fingers outstretched.

She meant to deny him, but her body commanded her mind. Before she could think, she had erased the space between them. She drove her fingers through the cool silk of his hair and brought his mouth down to hers. He was as ravenous as she, his lips stroking hers, his hands splaying against her back and moving to capture her hips. She kissed his cheekbones, his chin, the pale lines at the corners of his eyes. He was smiling when she kissed his mouth again.

“Elise, Elise,” he whispered as his lips explored a pulse at the base of her throat. He began gathering her nightgown in his hands.

His passion for her nearly obliterated her intention, but a moment of sanity prevailed. She trailed her hands down his arms and linked her fingers with his.

“Come with me,” she said, tugging on his hands. “Tonight we’re going to do this the proper way.” She backed toward the bedroom doors. She sensed the moment when he realized her destination because
he tensed and some of the luster left his eyes.

Elise reached behind her and opened the door to the spare room. “There’s a comfortable bed waiting for us in there, Blade. We deserve a night of uninterrupted bliss, and I don’t want to worry about Penny seeing something she shouldn’t.”

“Then let’s go to my lodge. It’s a warm night and the sleeping pad is soft.” He trailed a finger down the side of her face. “Almost as soft as you. Ah, Elise, I want you so much that I stand here trembling. Come on.” He curved an arm around her waist and braced his other behind her knees. He lifted her into his arms as if she were as weightless as a feather. “Remember the night you came into my lodge? It was all I could do not to take you right then and there.”

“Why didn’t you?” She draped her arms around his neck, wanting him so much that she was beginning to weaken in her resolve. If only he’d give her a sign … show her that he cared more for her than for his memories of his first wife. A wife who had never satisfied him.

“Why didn’t I?” he repeated, smiling, his teeth flashing white against his deeply tanned skin. “You would have let me? I don’t think so. You didn’t want me then as you want me now.” He nuzzled her temple where her hair curled damply. His breath was hot, his breathing rapid. She could feel his heart hammering in his chest. “And I was afraid I would hurt you—that you wouldn’t like it.”

“I surprised you, didn’t I?”

He nodded, his nose rubbing the side of her face, his tongue inching out to trace the shell of her ear. “You’re full of surprises.” He started toward the front door.

Elise gathered handfuls of his inky hair “Wait. Why sleep on the ground when we can sleep on a feather bed?” She looked over his shoulder at the bedroom door. When he made no move toward it, she wiggled in his arms. “What’s the matter, Blade? Aren’t I good enough to bed in there?”

Torment entered his eyes and pulled down the corners of his mouth. “Of course! Don’t talk foolish. What’s wrong with my lodge?”

“That’s the place where you sleep alone. You sleep with me now.”

He let her slip down his body until her feet took her weight again. He turned away from her and ran a hand down his face in frustration. She could hear the rasp of his beard against his palm.

“Don’t you … care about me, Blade? Can’t you see that this is important to me?” She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It should be important to you, too. My feelings should be important.”

“They are.”

“Then prove it.”

He stood with one hip cocked, his shoulders not as squared as usual. Elise sensed his frustration and understood it. She wanted to fling herself into his arms and forget everything except the moment’s passion, but passion would eventually fade and she’d be left with these nagging feelings of not being good enough.

“You are stubborn,” he said finally.

“Me? Ha! You win
that
prize! It’s only a room with a bed, Blade. And from what you told me, what you did in that bed wasn’t all that grand.”

“That’s right. The bed is … it holds bad memories for me. I want us to make good memories. Can’t you understand?”

Elise nodded. “That bed is your marriage bed
and you don’t want to take another woman into it. Not even your wife.” She sighed. “But how am I to live here with you when you post a No Trespassing sign on that door?”

He glared at the room—Julia’s room—and determination firmed his jaw and narrowed his eyes. “You’re right. Let’s burn the damned thing.”

Elise blinked. “Wh-what? You mean burn the room? We can’t! We’ll catch the whole house on fire!”

He strode past her. “No, the bed. Let’s burn it. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of everything—the memories, the guilt, the pain, but especially that goddamned bed.”

He grabbed each side of the feather mattress and with a mighty grunt lifted it off the frame. Elise snatched the quilt off it and dropped the patchwork spread to the floor. She followed Blade as he wrestled the unwieldy mattress out of the room and out the front door. The scent of clove accosted her, and she was glad to breathe in the night air.

Blade threw the mattress on the ground with a grunt and a flourish. Then he went back inside for the bed frame. The rope frame was easier to carry outside. Elise waited for him. He tossed it on top of the mattress, both a safe distance from the house.

Shifting her attention to Blade again, Elise noted his heaving chest, his gleaming skin, his mussed hair. He looked as if he’d fought a battle, but she knew the battle lay ahead of him. She went inside for the lantern. She hadn’t imagined he would go to such measures to burn the last bridge between his past and his future, but she liked this plan. Maybe once the bed was gone, Blade could finally put his demons to rest and devote himself to building a new life with her.

When she returned, he took the lantern from her and stared gloomily at the bed and mattress. Finally, he splashed oil over the mattress, then stood opposite her and doused the bed between them. Plucking a match from the clip, he then set the lamp to one side and held out the matchstick, staring at it as if it were a magic charm … or an evil omen? She couldn’t tell.

“Want me to light it?” she offered.

He shook his head, but made no move to make a flame with it. Instead, he stared at it, then at Elise, then at the mattress. Regret lay upon his face; regret so trenchant that Elise looked away, unable to bear it a moment longer. Was she being selfish, petty? Should she embrace him, tell him he needn’t resort to such drama to please her? Should she simply take his hand and lead him to that wretched skin lodge and be glad for whatever piece of his heart he offered?

She drew in a hiccuping breath. “Blade, this isn’t important to me.
You
are important to me. I probably shouldn’t cause such a snit over it, but if I am to stay here, I will not be the second wife. Your mother put up with that, but I won’t. I want to be your
only
wife. If you hold out any hope for us, then
light that match
.”

One side of his wide mouth lifted to form a rakish grin. She had to wait another eternal moment before the match scraped against his pant leg. The flame coughed, sputtered and caught, then was sent sailing into an arc. Elise didn’t see it land. All she saw was the burst of flames accompanied by a muffled boom. Fire engulfed the feather mattress and rope bed, quickly reducing them to ashes and embers. Elise watched the transformation, sensing Blade’s nearness as he circled the flames and
moved toward her. The fire heated the atmosphere, making the air undulate, and cast a golden, inconstant light.

She looked at Blade. Naked desire flamed in his eyes. She opened her arms to him, every nerve in her body firing. He pulled her against him.

“All I want is you,” he said, his mouth pressed against her neck. “I don’t care where or how, but I do care about when. It’s got to be now.”

“Yes.” She flung back her head and the stars spun above her. “Now.”

He carried her inside, away from the crackling, spitting fire, and tread without hesitation to the bedroom he had once shared with Julia.

He set her on her feet, kicked the door closed and, before she could resist or rejoice, grabbed the hem of her nightgown and swept it up and over her head. With a flick of his wrist, the garment fluttered and settled like a cloud on the floor, near the quilt.

Elise shivered as cool air breathed over her exposed skin. She felt her cheeks flame with self-consciousness. Blade grasped her wrists and forced her arms away from her breasts and stomach, then brought her arms around him. His body was hot against her skin. Their skin seemed to seal together as if their very pores were ravenous.

She stroked his naked back and shoulders and he nuzzled her neck and tongued her earlobe. He grabbed her behind the knees and lifted her. She instinctivly wrapped her legs around him, which seemed to please him immensely.

“Ah, yes!” He held her tightly against him and speared her mouth with his silky tongue. He cupped her buttocks in his hands while his mouth made mad love to hers.

He took a few steps and pressed her back against the wall, using it to keep her in place while he palmed one of her breasts, lifted it and sandwiched its throbbing peak between his lips. She rested her head against the wall, eyes open but seeing nothing. All her awareness focused on the wizardry of his mouth as he took her breast inside and suckled her deeply, strongly.

A trembling snaked through her limbs and she felt herself grow moist. He shifted, planted his feet sturdily and entered her with one driving thrust.

She thought she might die of pure rapture at having him buried completely in her. He ground his hips, going in even deeper, pressing her spine against the wall. He flung back his head. Engorged veins stood out in his neck, and his lips stretched into a grimace of pleasure. Then he burst inside her. She felt him, every nuance, every quick, jolting release. Sweat beaded on her brow, burned her eyes, blurred her vision. She went limp, draping herself over him, rubbing her aching breasts against his chest.

He panted hot breath against her cheek and pressed hotter kisses to her lips as he whirled away from the wall and lowered her to the cool quilt.

“Tomorrow I’ll prepare us a proper bed,” he vowed, straightening to stand over her and admire her high, full breasts, her flat stomach, her flared hips, the damp triangle of russet between her thighs.

Elise glanced down at herself, wondering how much the darkness shielded. Starlight painted her skin a soft blue. Flipping her hair back over her shoulders, she looked up at him again. The intensity in his expression sent a weakness through her.

“You are a vision. A night dream.” He still wore
his trousers, though they were unbuttoned and exposed his organ. He pushed them off and kicked them aside, suspenders and undergarments sailing with them. Naked, he came to her, all sinew and bronze skin and crisp, dark hair.

She curved a hand at the back of his neck and brought him with her as she lay on the soft quilt and bed pillows. She parted her thighs, making room, making it known that she wanted him, needed him.

Caressing his wide shoulders, she enveloped him with her limbs. He gathered her beneath him as he laved her breasts with his tongue. She moaned as her nipples tightened until they were almost painfully erect. A shudder coursed through her. Writhing in mindless desire, she slipped her hands down to encircle him, to ease him inside her. He was satin. He was steel. He groaned her name and plunged wholly into her. Her body stretched wide to accept him.

Elise pressed kisses to his chest and neck as he moved in and out of her. She dug her fingers into his shoulders when her own body quickened to a burst of desire that left her to ride the mighty waves of his passion. He jerked and emptied into her in four powerful thrusts. Elise chanted his name and tasted his salty skin, taking love bites from his shoulders.

Combing his fingers through her hair, he gathered fistfuls of it and tipped back her head to rain kisses down her throat.

“Do I pleasure you, wife?” He rubbed against her, setting off another tremor.

“
Yes
. Oh, yes,” she murmured. “Do
I
pleasure
you
?” He was still semi-hard inside her. She tightened
her inner muscles around him, earning a grimace of painful pleasure from him.