Rimfire Bride (32 page)

Jana went into Elfrieda’s room, where she was staying, and removed her clothes, folding them and putting them in the chest she was using. She
withdrew her nightgown, put it on, and climbed into bed.

But she was unable to clear her mind.

What did Drew really think of her? Was she only a convenient caretaker for his children? The worst of all thoughts came to her as she recalled the words Della Peterson had thrown out the night she came to the house.

I do not think you are raising your children in a moral home. When people begin to talk, it will be these two precious boys who will suffer.

Had Drew taken those words to heart? Did he think she was a “loose woman”? Is that why he had never approached her with the serious discussion he had hinted that he wanted to have?

Jana could take it no longer. She had to know what he thought of her, and there was only one way to find out. Quickly, she left her bed, going down the steps as quietly as she could. She didn’t want to awaken the boys and also didn’t want Drew to be forewarned that she was coming.

When she reached the door of his office, she put her hand on the knob, but for a moment, she couldn’t make herself turn it. What if the answer she got to her question was one she didn’t want to hear?

Then, summoning her nerve, she opened the door and stepped inside, seeing Drew sitting at his desk, his shirtsleeves rolled up, and papers strewn about. His hair was disheveled where he had been running his fingers through it, and the stubble of a beard was beginning to form.

As she stood there looking at him, her anger fell
away. The truth was, she loved this man, and she had to know how he felt about her.

But she was afraid. What if he told her he didn’t want her? What would she do?

“What is it, Jana?”

She looked at him, and though she wanted desperately to run to him, she was quite unable to move.

“Jana?”

“Drew, I—” Jana could go no further.

Drew rose from his chair and started toward her. He held his arms out, and with a small cry, she rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his, lifting her head and parting her lips.

For just a moment Drew tried to hold his body in check, telling himself that he could not compromise Jana while she was staying in his house, but feeling this soft, beautiful woman pressed against him, he was powerless to obey his own sense of propriety. When he felt her lips part under his, felt her tongue dart into his mouth, his blood ran hot and he knew there would be no turning back.

“Come,” he said quietly. It was more of a command than an invitation, and Jana obeyed it willingly, eagerly. He led her up the stairs to his room and shut the door behind her; then, after turning up the lamp, he pulled her to him in a body-molding embrace, and a tongue-tangling kiss.

Within a few minutes Jana was naked, but Drew wasn’t sure when it had happened or even how it had happened. He had not undressed her and he
couldn’t remember seeing her take off her gown. But there she was, standing nude before him, with the lamp causing her skin to gleam softly. Without a word of explanation or apology for her nakedness, Jana started toward him.

She put her arms around Drew, then kissed him, again sending her tongue probing deep into his mouth. After the kiss he pulled his head away from her for a moment, then spoke softly.

“Jana, do you know what you’re doing? There can be no turning back—not now.”

“Drew, if I didn’t want this to happen, I wouldn’t have stepped into this room,” Jana murmured. She kissed him again, even more deeply than before. This time he reacted more actively. He began to stroke her back and massage her buttocks.

Within seconds his own clothes were on the floor, his eyes feasting on the beauty that was before him, from the beautiful and delicate features of her face, to the graceful neck, the thrust of her breasts, the flat stomach swelling to the flare of her hips, then down her shapely legs.

He ached with the need for her, a need that he realized, now, had been there from the first moment he saw her in the dining room of the Sheridan House.

Intuitively, in Jana’s innocence, she knew the power she had over this man, and for a fleeting moment it was a heady feeling, until she realized that he had the same power over her. She lifted her hand to his cheek, feeling the texture of his skin and the stubble of a day-old beard.

Drew turned his head toward her hand, kissing
the palm, a seemingly benign kiss, yet one that sent thrills through her body. Bringing her other hand up, she framed his face.

Jana brought her hands down from his cheeks, to his shoulders, then to his chest. Her lips followed her hands, and Drew inhaled deeply, then pressed Jana’s naked body against his own. She could feel the heat of his body, and she lifted her mouth to his, to connect in a flood of passion. She felt his hand in the hollow of her back.

The bright hunger in Drew’s eyes told her, in no uncertain terms, that he was now single-minded. He would have her tonight, nothing would deny that.

“My beautiful one,” Drew murmured as she felt his hands go to the pins that held her hair. As he removed them, her soft, silky tresses fell forward across her shoulders, shielding her breasts so that only the nipples poked through.

Drew caressed Jana as though he were admiring a sculptor’s work in marble. He moved his hands over her body, tracing the curves, the concave of her stomach, the indentation of her belly button, then moved up to her breasts, brushing aside the covering tendrils before taking each of them in his hands, and letting his thumbs tweak the nipples, delighting in her reactions to his ministrations. He looked into her eyes with a deep and triumphant smile, lowered his lips to one of her nipples, sucking at it, as if tasting sweet nectar.

Jana gasped as she felt Drew’s mouth at her breast, both sucking at her nipple and flipping his tongue across it. Involuntarily, as if it were a
conditioned reflex, she arched her back and thrust her breast farther into his mouth, groaning softly with the pleasure of it all.

Now Jana began her own exploration as her hand trailed down across his hard, muscled body until she discovered a steel-hard shaft, throbbing with a pulse of its own, and so hot to the touch that it seemed to be on fire. It became a sensual exploration, one that both instructed and thrilled her.

“No, Jana.”

She was both surprised and disappointed to feel Drew reach down to gently push her hand away.

“I can’t let you do that, or we’ll be done before we’ve started.” A muffled laugh escaped his lips. “I’ve not denied myself this moment only to be cheated out of the pleasure of knowing that we’ll be doing this together.”

“But, we are doing this together.”

“Not yet, my love. Not yet. But soon. Very soon now.”

She’d already anticipated joining with Drew with far more yearning than she’d ever imagined possible. His mere touch had brought her to readiness, and when she’d felt the liquid warmth spreading within her, she’d quite naturally thought he would bring their closeness to a culmination. But that culmination was not to be, at least not yet.

Drew swept her into his arms, then stepped over to the bed and laid her on it. Climbing in beside her, he again lowered his mouth to her breast, and as he suckled her nipple, it was almost as if she could feel the blood racing through her
veins, tingling on its way to her breast and Drew’s supplication.

Drew was caught up in his own overpowering sensations. His hands slid over Jana’s smooth, naked skin, down to her waist, then into that welcoming, bushy mound at the juncture of her legs. His lips followed his hands, and he kissed his way across her chest. His thumbs locked on her hip bones while his mouth followed her concave belly down to the juncture of her legs, to that same bushy mound that his hand and fingers had just discovered.

When Drew’s tongue followed his fingers into that hot, damp center of all her sensation, Jana gasped and arched her back up from the bed. She put her hands on the back of his head to what? Stop him? Urge him on?

She opened her mouth, intending to tell him to stop, that she couldn’t take any more, but all that came out was a feverish moan. She thrust her hips toward him, grabbing him with her hands, pulling him to her, not knowing what was going to happen next, but knowing that Drew was in complete control of her. Finally the building tension exploded within her, sending her into a shaking, shuddering climax that enveloped her in a whirlwind of passion.

Lifting his head, Drew smiled at her slowly, lazily, almost insolently. “Jana?”

Was it a question? If so, she couldn’t answer. All she could do now was take in deep, gasping breaths, like that of an animal that had been run
to ground and was now helpless before its predator.

Drew lifted himself up, spread her knees apart, then moved between her legs. He braced himself with the palms of his hand to either side of her head and looked down at her. Jana realized then that Drew had not experienced anything compared to the pleasure he had given her, but she knew he was bound to do so now, and as he stretched his body out, full length over hers, she waited . . . and wondered.

Before entering her, Drew bent down to kiss her, not the deep, tongue-probing kisses of before, but soft, gentle kisses that somehow Jana knew were the calm before the storm.

“Drew?” Just saying his name was all the question that was needed.

“My sweet, beloved Jana. The best is yet to come.”

Drew let his weight down onto his forearms, then his engorged, hot, pulsating shaft probed at the entrance. He pushed harder, and she opened up to him, letting it come in—then, suddenly, and unexpectedly, she felt a sharp pain and she cried out, though it was more of a quiet moan than a cry.

“It’s all right, my darling.” Drew stopped and held her close to him, inching ever so slowly into her moist cavity.

Even as Drew was soothing her, the pain was gone, replaced by the most delightful sensations Jana had ever experienced. She felt him thrust into her, taking him deeper than she thought possible as she arched her body up to meet his, wanting
to keep him there forever, but she soon found as much pleasure in when his shaft slid out as when he thrust it back into her.

His thrusts were powerful and deep, and she clung to him, taking him wantonly, delighting in the powerful, sensory-laden strokes that were setting her body aflame.

Then it happened! Everything Drew had wanted for her began. A feeling burst over her like a sudden storm, lifting her to the heavens, then letting her float back down, only to feel a second lightning strike, then a third, then a fourth.

Were these powerful sensations ever going to stop? She wanted them to go on and on, but knew that they couldn’t; her body simply could not take any more! She felt Drew’s own release, felt him jerking in pleasure, felt the warmth in her womb, then gradually, slowly, finally, she came back to earth.

When the last ripples of pleasure had subsided, they lay together, her head on his shoulder, his arm around her, his hand resting on her naked buttock as her leg curled over his body. The feeling was total contentment. Outside, the wind had started blowing, and Jana could hear the dry rattle of the leafless limbs of an ancient cottonwood tree.

“Jana, as soon as I get back from this trip with de Morès—”

“—you have something you want to discuss with me,” Jana finished.

“No, we’re discussing it now.”

“Discussing what now?”

“Our wedding.”

Jana lifted her head off his shoulder and looked
directly into his eyes. “You’re not teasing me, are you?”

“I love you, Jana. I want you to be my wife.”

“Oh, Drew, yes, yes. I want to be your wife, and I’ve never been so happy in my whole life.” She rolled on top of his hard body, allowing her own to mold with his as she kissed him deeply.

“I don’t think I’ll have to worry that I won’t see you before I leave in the morning,” Drew said with a chuckle. “You’re going to stay right here with me the whole night.”

“Are you sure you have to go?” Jana asked between kisses.

“I have to, but you’ll have something to think about while I’m gone.” He rolled her over and placed her beneath his body as once again he began to make love to the woman he would have by his side for the rest of his life.

D
rew
had been gone for a week when Greta came over to visit Jana, bringing a pot of soup.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Jana said.

“I wanted to. I figure you’re busy enough entertaining Sam and Benji, and I thought you wouldn’t mind having a meal you didn’t cook. Besides, now that you’re getting married, we won’t have as many opportunities to eat together anymore.”

“Oh, Greta, I can’t wait to marry Drew. Benji and I went down to the Emporium, and Mr. Watson showed me the ready-made wedding dresses in
Godey’s Lady’s Book
. I marked one that I like, but I’m not sure I can afford it.”

“When Drew gets back, have him buy it.”

“No, he can’t do that. It’s bad luck if the groom sees the wedding dress before the wedding day.” The two sisters laughed together. “Anyway, I want it to be a surprise for him.”

“Am I going to be your maid of honor?”

“I haven’t made up my mind yet. I was thinking of asking Little Casino, or better yet, Della Peterson,” Jana said with a twinkle in her eye. “Of course you’re my maid of honor.”

“Well then, I’ll have a reason to get a special dress, too. I’ll just see what’s in
Godey’s
for me.”

“Oh, Greta, the only thing that makes me sad is that I wish Mama could come and see us. She would be so proud of us, and I know she would love Drew.”

“Well, when the date is set, we’ll have to send for her. Do you think she will come?”

“The question is, would Mr. Kaiser let her come?”

“Jana, if it doesn’t cost him anything, even my father isn’t that mean that he would keep Mama from coming to see us. We won’t tell her about the wedding until we’re sure of the date, but when we do know, I’ll bet all our friends at the Custer Hotel will help pay for her ticket.”