For the Roses (43 page)

"You did try to prepare me, didn't you? You told me you had to leave. I just hoped it wouldn't be so soon. Are you leaving now because of the telegram you received?" He shook his head. "No, the telegram was in regard to a financial matter. Mary Rose, come closer." He was reaching for her even as he gave the tender command. He pulled her down on his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Are you all right?" His voice was a husky whisper. She didn't immediately answer him. How could she be all right? He was leaving, for God's sake. Didn't he realize he was taking her heart with him?

"I know I hurt you last night."

"I'm just a little tender today," she whispered back. "Are you sorry we slept together?" The question irritated him. He nudged her chin up and forced her to look at him.

"Sweetheart, no, I'm not at all sorry. If I could, I'd make love to you right now. God knows, I want you."

Tears brimmed in her eyes. "I want you too," she whispered. "I wish I could be more cosmopolitan

about this. I'm not sorry about what happened. I just don't like feeling vulnerable, Harrison." Or feeling I'm being abandoned, she silently added.

"Why do you think you're feeling vulnerable?"

"You're leaving, damn it."

"You're coming to England, Mary Rose. It's only going to be a short separation. Weren't you listening to me last night? I'm never going to let you go. You belong to me now." He leaned down then and claimed her mouth for a long, hot kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with all the love and desperation she felt inside her. When at last the kiss ended, she could barely catch her breath. She tucked her head under his chin and listened to his ragged breathing.

"I love you, Harrison."

"I know you do, baby." He rubbed her back, loving the feel of her pressed against him.

"We have tonight. Make love to me again, please?"

"I'll hurt you."

Even as he gave her his reason for not touching her, he stood up, holding her in his arms, and started walking toward the bunkhouse.

She was trying to unbutton his shirt and kiss him at the same time.

By the time they reached their destination, they were both too frantic to slow down. Her hands shook too much to get her skirt undone. Harrison took over the chore, muttering soft curses because the tiny hooks were impossible to release with his big hands. Their clothes ended up in a pile on the floor. They fell into bed together. He tried to brace his weight with his arms when he came down on top of her, and he let out a loud groan of pleasure when he felt her warm skin against him.

The tingling ache in the pit of her belly began to spread throughout her body. She cupped the sides of his face and pulled him down for a long, wet, open-mouth kiss.

He shifted his position and began to stroke the fire inside her. His right hand moved down low on her belly. She drew in a deep breath in anticipation of the pleasure he was going to give her, but when his fingers slid into the junction of her thighs and he began to caress her there, she felt a sharp stabbing pain. She grabbed hold of his hand and tried to make him stop.

"It hurts more than I thought it would. We should stop, Harrison. Oh, God, I don't want to stop. I…" His mouth ended her protest. He held her close and ravished her with his searing kisses and his hot words of passion.

He made her restless for more in little time at all, and her worry about pain was soon forgotten. She was shaking with her need to mate with him when he at last ended the kiss and began to nibble on the side of her neck. His breath was hot against her ear as he whispered erotic, arousing promises of what he wanted to do to her.

And then he moved lower still and began to kiss her breasts, then her stomach, and when he moved once again, and he was kissing the very heat of her, she let out a low gasp and tried to make him stop. He wouldn't stop, for he found the taste of her against his mouth too wonderful to pull away just yet. His tongue caressed the folds of her smooth flesh and pushed up into the warm, welcoming opening. She clung to him and begged him with her soft moans to give her more and more and more. Her nails dug into his shoulders, and when she felt the first tremors of her own orgasm, she cried out his name and began to weep with the sheer intensity of the shattering splendor.

He felt her come apart against him and knew he couldn't wait any longer. He would go out of his mind if he didn't move inside her. He shifted positions again so that he was once again kneeling between her thighs. He lifted her up and then sank deep inside her with one hard surge. Pain blended with fulfillment. The pressure he'd so skillfully built inside her seemed to splinter into a thousand fragments. She surrendered to the bliss, for she was safe and protected in the arms of the man she loved.

He found his fulfillment less than a minute later. He let out a shout of raw pleasure as he poured his seed into her. He'd wanted to hold back, to let her climax a second time, to come when he did, but all his grand plans were forgotten when he was inside her and her tight walls were squeezing him. She throbbed all around him and his control was lost. Each time he pulled back, she arched up against him, urging him toward fulfillment. She drew her knees up so that he could sink even deeper inside, and, God help him, he couldn't stave off his orgasm then.

He heard himself chanting he loved her, over and over and over again, and somewhere in the back of his mind he realized she was weeping. He hoped to God he wasn't hurting her, but once he'd given her his seed, he still couldn't make himself move away from her.

He stayed embedded inside her and dropped his head down in the crook of her neck. Reality was slow to return but when it did, he was filled with concern. He'd acted like a barbarian. Had he hurt her again? "Are you all right?" she whispered. He tried to make sense out of her question.

"Harrison, please breathe. You're beginning to worry me." She squirmed under him. "Dear God, have I killed you then?" He burst into laughter. He didn't know where the energy had come from. His pleasure made him too lethargic to move, and he could still barely form a coherent thought. "Are you all right? I was afraid I'd hurt you." Harrison said. She shivered over the husky sound in his voice. Heaven help her, he could be reading the newspaper out loud and she'd become aroused, she thought to herself. It was his brogue of course. It was the most sensual sound she'd ever heard. "I'm still alive," she whispered. "Tell me you love me again."

"I love you."

"That will help… if and when," she whispered. He forced himself to move. He rolled to his side and

pulled her into his arms.

"If and when what, baby?"

"If I'm pregnant and when you leave."

She thought he would try to ease her worry. He didn't though. "I hope to God you are. I want at least twenty children."

"Heaven help me," she whispered.

His hand moved to her stomach. It was a possessive action and one that sent shivers down her legs.

"You'll be a very beautiful mother."

"I'll be fat."

"I like fat."

"Don't leave."

"I have to leave. You'll come to me, sweetheart. We won't be apart long."

"What if something happens and I can't join you?"

"I said before I'll come back here and get you."

"And then?"

"I'll drag you to England if I have to," he promised. "Dooley told me Judge Burns is on his way to Blue Belle. He's escorting Belle back home. It seems he's smitten with her."

"Smitten?"

"Dooley's words, not mine," he explained with a yawn. "I think maybe we should make it official before I leave. Want to get married tomorrow, sweetheart?"

"I would rather wait and be married by a preacher or a priest or a rabbi. It doesn't seem very romantic to be married by a hanging judge."

"I don't want to wait."

"Are you worried I'll change my mind while you're away?"

"It's too late for you to change your mind. You made your commitment to me when you walked through the doorway last night. Why did you go back to your room after we made love?"

"Because of my brothers." She trailed her fingers down his chest. "I don't wish to do anything further to disgrace them."

"Further disgrace them?"

He hadn't meant to raise his voice, but her words so infuriated him, he couldn't control his reaction. "Is that how you feel, damn it? Do you think you disgraced yourself by sleeping with me?" She tried to calm him. "Please understand, Harrison. I know it isn't possible to marry now, but we aren't truly married yet, and I must consider my brothers' feelings. If they'd found us in bed together, their hearts would have been broken."

He didn't understand. Before she had time to blink, he'd gotten out of bed and was reaching for his pants. "Get dressed."

He gave the command in a hard, don't-give-me-any-argument tone of voice. She ignored it. "Come back to bed. Let me try to explain so you…"

"Get dressed, Mary Rose, or I swear to God I'll carry you back to the house in a blanket. Do you want your brothers to see you…" He didn't have to go on. She jumped out of the bed and started to get dressed.

He was ready before she was. He helped her put on her blouse and thoughtfully handed her her skirt.

"Will you please explain why you're in such a hurry?" she asked. She believed her question was reasonable. He acted as though she'd just shouted an insult at him, however.

"The word disgrace doesn't sit well with me," he snapped. "We're going to have a little talk with your brothers. Hurry up, damn it."

She turned to find her shoes. She noticed the sheets on his bed then and let out a loud gasp. Even from across the room she could see the splattering of blood.

Her face turned crimson in less than a heartbeat. She forgot all about finding her shoes then and ran over to strip the sheets.

He stood with his hands on his hips and a look on his face that told her he thought she'd lost her mind.

"You made me bleed."

"You were supposed to bleed."

"You don't have to sound so callous about it. What if my brothers had come in here? They would have shot you before they listened to any explanation."

"They knew what my intentions were. Leave the damned sheets alone, Mary Rose. I want to talk to Adam before he goes to bed."

She wadded the sheets up into a ball and turned around to frown at Harrison.

"We are not going to talk to Adam. I'm going home alone. If you think you're going to tell my brother what we just did, you can just forget it. I will not be embarrassed or humiliated, Harrison. Do you understand me?"

She dropped the sheets on the floor, then put on her shoes. She couldn't believe the evening was ending this way. Harrison had been such a thoughtful, gentle lover. Now he was acting like an arrogant brute.

She didn't know what had come over him, but she wasn't in the mood to placate him. The mere thought of letting Adam know she'd given herself to Harrison made her stomach lurch. She wouldn't allow anyone to shame her that way, not even the horrid man she loved.

She tried to walk past him. He grabbed hold of her hand and wouldn't let go. Then he dragged her after him, all the way across the yard, up the stairs, and into the house.

They passed Cole in the entryway. The brother gave Mary Rose a double glance, then said, "What the hell happened to you?"

He was staring at her hair. She used her free hand to try to calm the curls.

"Nothing happened," she called out when Harrison pulled her along. He didn't knock on the library door. He threw it open and gently shoved Mary Rose inside. He stood right behind her, and when she tried to back away, she found his solid frame blocking her retreat. Adam was startled by the interruption. He closed the book he'd been reading and started to stand up. Harrison told him to stay seated. While Adam watched, Mary Rose was prodded to the other easy chair and told to sit down.

She shook her head. "This is outrageous, Harrison," she whispered. "If you say one word, I swear I'll do something horrible."

He draped his arm around her shoulders and kept his gaze on her brother.

"Adam, Mary Rose and I need to get married as soon as possible. Judge Burns should be in Blue Belle tomorrow. I think we should all ride into town and…"

"I will not be married by a hanging judge. It goes against my principles," she interjected.

"Harrison, close the door," Adam suggested. "And both of you please lower your voices. What's all this talk about needing to get married?"

"Harrison's having a spell," Mary Rose announced. She folded her arms across her chest and stared over Adam's shoulder. She couldn't quite bring herself to look into his eyes. "Don't pay any attention to anything he says. He just feels bad because he has to leave."

His arm went around her shoulder again. It felt much heavier this time. She thought he was deliberately applying pressure so she'd quit talking.

She tried to ignore him. "We seem to have gotten into an argument. We should work it out together and not involve you, Adam. Do excuse us now."

It was a very proper dismissal, but it was thoroughly ruined because Harrison wouldn't let her leave.

"Adam, I thought Mary Rose understood, but now I realize she didn't. She seems to think she might have disgraced her brothers by sleeping with me. Since she feels that way, I suggest we get married with all possible haste. I'll be damned if I'll let her feel ashamed of what happened between us. I've given myself all the reasons why I should wait until after you've explained everything to her, but what I wanted

to do lost out to what I did do, and hell, none of the timing matters to me now. I love her and she loves me."

Adam nodded to let Harrison know he understood, but his gaze was centered on his little sister. She certainly didn't look like a woman in love at the moment. In truth, she looked like she wanted to kill her intended groom.

"Judge Burns will be happy to perform the ceremony tomorrow."

"Adam, I don't…"

"Do you feel disgraced, Mary Rose?"

She closed her mouth. She knew if she answered yes she'd be married tomorrow, and if she answered no, she'd be lying to her brother.