The Outlaws: Jess (29 page)

"Dammit. Hold still," he gritted against her
mouth.

"You're not going to let me explain, are
you?" Meg said, glowering.

He ground his hips against her. Meg gasped,
wondering how he could maintain an erection when his anger was
still potent enough to sear her.

"I might listen...afterward."

"After... No, I'm not going to let you use
me. Let me go, Jess Gentry."

"You used me. Do you have any idea what your
leaving with Skully did to me?"

"I had to! He was going to expose you to the
sheriff."

"You could have told me and let me decide
what should be done instead of traipsing off with the same man who
almost caused your death."

"I heard you and Polly talking about me
before I left," Meg confided. "The conversation led me to believe
that the townspeople would never accept me if we married. I decided
the best thing I could do for you was leave."

"You should have let me decide that. What it
all boils down to is you didn't trust me enough to tell me about
Skully and your fears about us. You went harrying off to God knows
where with a man you professed to despise."

"I did despise him. Enough to consider
killing him to keep him from exposing you."

He stared at her mouth, his eyes dark and
hungry. Meg likened him to a predator stalking his prey.

Her heart contracted. "What are you going to
do?"

"Since you've come to my bedroom uninvited,
there is only one thing I
can
do."

His mouth bore down on hers. The heat flowing
from his body to hers was incredibly arousing. But she didn't want
to be aroused, not when he was still angry with her. Their loving
had always been special, not an emotion born of rage. His bruising
kiss, however, brought forth all those intense feelings Jess had
always aroused in her.

Unerringly his hand slid beneath her skirts,
skimming her knee, his long, knowing fingers probing between her
thighs. Meg bit back a scream as he reached deep, stroking into her
heated center.

"You're already hot and wet for me," he
whispered hoarsely. "Do you want me, Meg?"

Fighting her own wayward body, Meg swallowed
a moan and summoned the shattered remnants of her willpower. "No.
Not like this. Not when you're angry with me."

He merely smiled as he teased and tantalized
and caressed, then evocatively probed deeper. She couldn't find
enough breath to protest as his other hand lifted her skirts high,
exposing her to his heated gaze.

His hand splayed possessively over her naked
stomach. His hand shifted, fingers searching boldly through her
curls. Unerringly he found the sensitive spot and rotated it gently
with the pad of his thumb. Lights burst behind her eyes and she
cried out. Her response seemed to satisfy him as slowly,
deliberately, he lifted himself slightly and unbuttoned his fly.
Then he settled between her legs.

"Don't!" Meg said, stiffening.

"Yes," Jess replied. "You want this, you know
you do."

"That's besides the point," Meg managed to
gasp out.

He smiled grimly and pressed the blunt head
of his sex against her weeping center. Meg felt the hot hard length
of him nudge into her softness. She held her breath as he sank into
her filling her, driving himself to the hilt. Then deliberately he
withdrew. Shock shuddered through her when he turned her over and
propped her on her knees.

"What..."

Before she could protest the indignity, Jess
raised her hips and thrust into her, pressing so deeply her knees
would have collapsed if he hadn't had a firm grip on her hips.
Again and again he filled her, his restraint shattered as he
pounded into her. With one hand splayed over her belly, bracing
her, and the other on her hips, holding her steady, his loving was
driving her to the brink of madness.

Being with Jess again brought Meg nothing but
joy, though she knew she shouldn't give in so easily. He thrilled
her, filled her, made her aware of all the reasons she loved this
impossible man.

Tucking her bottom more firmly against his
jutting hips, he moved more forcefully within her, thrusting more
deeply, more powerfully. Meg grasped the bedclothes in her fists
and fought for coherence as Jess drove her higher and higher. The
tension grew, swelled; it was all Meg could do to cling to her
sanity.

Climax hovered just out of her grasp. She
reached for it, tried to draw it nearer. She felt herself tighten
around him, heard him groan his approval. Suddenly she was there,
grasping the shimmering pleasure as it burst around her,
relentless, passionate, rolling through her in iridescent waves as
he sank deeper, stretched her...

Completed her.

Jess felt her insides quiver. Felt her
contract around him and drove deeper. He was in no hurry. He wanted
to savor her slippery, scalding softness, look his fill at the
glowing mounds of her bottom. Slick wetness gleamed along the
length of his sex. Her wetness. She fitted him as if she were made
for him. He felt her tensing and squirming against him and
recognized the awkwardness of her position. He held her steady and
thrust his rigid length into her again and again, until he exploded
and collapsed against her back.

His breath was gone and his heart pounding as
he slowly withdrew and flopped down on the bed beside her. He
smiled when he saw Meg lying on her stomach, her legs sprawled in
abandon. She couldn't even rouse herself enough to pull down her
skirts, affording him a tempting view of her backside and long
shapely legs.

Meg turned her head to stare at him. "Why did
you do that?"

"Because I couldn't wait. Did I hurt
you?"

"No, not really."

"As soon as I rest, we'll undress and do it
properly."

"That's not what I meant and you know
it."

Her eyes were glowing with fury, her face
flushed. She was lovely. Somehow, while he was pouring his passion
into her, his anger had dissipated. Making love to Meg had done
that to him. He'd already heard most of the story behind her
leaving and understood, even though he deplored the abrupt way in
which she had left. He wouldn't have been half as angry or upset if
she had trusted him. That's what hurt the most.

"Did you think me incapable of handling
Skully?" Jess challenged. "I may be a doctor but I know how to
defend myself. I grew up with two rowdy brothers and lived through
a war."

Meg flopped over on her back, her gaze fusing
with his judgmental one.

"I couldn't bear the thought of you
languishing behind bars. Or face the knowledge that I wasn't good
enough for you. My reputation leaves much to be desired. I figured
you'd be better off without me."

Jess's face hardened. "Did the bastard touch
you?"

"No. I would have killed him had he tried. He
realized I wasn't the same timid sixteen year old he had once
abused. Arlo promised he wouldn't expose you if I helped him win
enough money to set him up for life."

Jess's eyes narrowed. "How exactly were you
to do that?"

"I made it clear from the start that I
wouldn't play whore for him. I was to distract the men so Arlo
could cheat during the game. He won heavily but he didn't keep his
promise. He wanted us to continue the scam. He said we made a good
team. That's when I contemplated killing him."

"Someone beat you to it."

"Yes. But it was too late, Arlo had already
wired Sheriff Bufford."

Jess frowned. "Why wasn't I arrested?"

The sheriff wasn't here to receive the
telegram. He'd already gone after the bank robbers and Deputy
Taylor didn't think it right to open the sheriff's mail. I..." she
bit her lip, "I stole the telegram."

Jess groaned. "Is there no end to your
deviousness?"

Her determined gaze bored into him. "Not when
you're life is in jeopardy."

Jess sighed. "I suppose you think this is
over? That no one will ever know that I'm a fugitive?"

"It is over," Meg insisted. "The telegrapher
who received Arlo's message was killed during the bank robbery. I
would never have wished his death, but it does solve all your
problems."

"It solves nothing, Meg. I've already made up
my mind to return to Dodge City. My life will never be my own until
I prove that the Gentry brothers are innocent of any crime. Perhaps
Mr. Wingate will recant and tell the truth if I confront him."

"And perhaps he won't. You could end up
behind bars."

"That's the chance I have to take. I'll go by
stage, it's quicker than waiting for the train."

"I'm going with you."

"Like hell! You're going to stay here and
attend Zach's wedding."

"Like hell!" Meg mimicked. "You might not
feel the same about me as you once did, but that changes nothing.
Everything I've done is for you. I went with a man I loathed to
keep you out of jail. I even contemplated killing in cold blood for
you. Does that tell you anything?"

Jess's eyes shuttered. "It tells me you're
too damn reckless for your own good, and crazy too boot." His voice
lowered. "It also tells me you love me. It might be easier for both
of us if you didn't."

Meg stared at Jess as if he'd just sprouted
horns. He understood that she loved him but wished she didn't? What
kind of statement was that?

"If you're trying to discourage me from going
with you to Dodge City, you're not succeeding. You can't stop me,
Jess. I have as much right to be on that stage as you do."

Jess pulled her on top of him and brought
their lips together, effectively stopping her words. Meg struggled
a moment then kissed him back. Kissed him until her heart began to
thump and blood pounded through her veins. Then, before she lost
whatever good sense God gave her, she broke off the kiss.

"This isn't going to work," she said,
panting.

Jess gave an exaggerated sigh, his expression
pained. "I know. We need to take off our clothes this time."

"Dammit, Jess, this is no time for levity! If
you carry through with your ill-advised scheme to go to Dodge City,
it could mean the end of your freedom."

"It could be the beginning of my freedom,"
Jess maintained, turning serious. "You're not going to talk me out
of this, Meg. I owe it to my brothers to see those charges dropped.
If Mr. Wingate won't listen to me, I'll..." he paused, his
expression bleak with determination, "...marry his daughter."

Meg sucked in a startled breath. "You'd marry
a woman you don't love?"

"I would if it gained my brothers' freedom. I
did
dally with Delia Wingate. Her child could be mine,
though in all probability it's not. But I'm hoping it won't go that
far. I'm counting on Wingate to tell the truth about the
robbery."

Meg admired Jess's determination to sacrifice
himself for his brothers, but deplored his reasoning. The man was
utterly selfless when it came to family. But what about her? He
could deny it all he wanted but she knew he loved her, just as she
loved him. Oh, yes, she was going to Dodge. And there was no way
she was going to let Jess marry another woman.

While Meg had been pondering Jess's
astounding words, Jess managed to loosen the fastenings on Meg's
dress and chemise. She wore no stays; she didn't believe in them
and was willowy enough not to need them. It made it easier for Jess
to strip her dress and chemise down over her arms and pop a breast
into his mouth. Meg writhed atop him as he suckled her nipples,
each in turn, arousing her slowly with nipping little bites then
tenderly laving them with the rough pad of his tongue.

Heat uncoiled low in her stomach, sending
spirals of sensation to the place between her legs that ached for
him. She shifted restlessly, her hands gripping his shoulders.

"Jess, wait. We have to talk."

Jess lifted his head from her breasts and met
her gaze. His eyes were heavy-lidded and glazed with passion. "No,
Meg, I'm not going to let you talk me out of this. My mind is made
up. I'm going to Dodge, and if worse comes to worse I'll marry
Delia Wingate."

"What about us?"

"Things could have worked between us at one
time," he said wistfully. His shrug was deliberately nonchalant.
"Then, again, maybe I was kidding myself. I have no business
falling in love when my future is in doubt."

Meg couldn't believe her ears. "You loved me
once, Jess. Do you still love me?"

He pondered his answer so long Meg felt a
terrible squeezing sensation in the vicinity of her heart.

"It no longer matters," Jess intoned dryly.
"I have no right to love. I ask but one thing of you, Meg. Let me
try to resolve this my own way. Then, when I return, if I return,
I'll answer your question."

Meg gave him a brilliant smile, one filled
with all the love she harbored in her soul for this special man.
"You've already answered my question. Help me remove my dress so we
can make love properly this time."

He kissed her mouth and returned her grin.
"What do you think I've been trying to do?"

They undressed each another slowly, their
hands and mouths exploring, arousing one another until the scalding
passion leaping between them demanded release. Lifting her, he
placed her astride him again.

Holding her eyes prisoner with his, he
inserted his hand between their bodies and stroked down into her
soft curls. He found the taut little button at the entrance of her
sex and massaged it with his thumb. Fire speared through Meg, and
with a cry of surrender, she thrust her hips down upon is engorged
staff.

Meg lost all sense of time and place as Jess
filled the gnawing emptiness inside her. Higher and higher she
climbed, until she reached the top and tumbled down into a well of
shimmering ecstasy. Jess followed close behind, grasping her hips
to hold her in place as he stroked himself to a frenzied
climax.