Alicia's Misfortune (38 page)

As his kisses went one way, his hands went another. They
were lying face-to-face, side-by-side. His mouth potently pleasured the base of
her neck, swelling her with arousal. His hands and his thighs worked to part
her legs and to keep them open.

His fingers found her center. His own touch was slick at the
opening of her body.
 
Nervousness and
heat chorded within her and spread through her belly. She trembled against her
lips but she was so excited, so filled with the intoxicating effects of his
touch that she relented.

He rose above her, brushed her hair with his hand, gazing
into her eyes. She thought he was going to kiss her but he descended. He pushed
back on his hands, placing his face where his fingers had been. He gripped her
hips as he put his mouth on her.
 

Hailey had some information from her sister about what went
on between a man and a woman on their wedding night but this part was not in
their frank conversation.
 
According to
her sister, this was the necessary part of being married. It wasn’t pleasant
but it didn’t last long. That’s what she was told. Hailey wondered when the
unpleasant part happened.

Charlie’s tongue plunged into her. The opening of her body
was filled with heat that flushed throughout her. She knew what he was doing to
her was completely wicked but it was utterly irresistible. He pinched up the
top of her sex, isolating it, batting it with the tip of his tongue. He showed
her no mercy, unceasingly inflicting incredibly pleasure.

She felt her chest tighten. The pleasure consumed her. It
set her whole belly on fire. The strange and wonderful feeling bathed every
part of her. Instinctively, her hips rocked up against his lips, searching and
seeking more.
 

Charlie slipped a finger inside of her. He stroked the walls
of her sensitized channel, pressing every spot that sent her tumbling into
deeper ecstasy. Hailey could hardly think. She writhed and pumped, completely
possessed by passion. She wavered in and out of reality, floating on a cloud of
unbelievable sensations and back to the reality of her handsome powerful
husband with his shoulders underneath her knees.

Finally he laid her knees to either side of him so that they
were wide.
 
She was vulnerable the center
of her in his plain view. She was drenched with her body fluid and his. She was
drunk with arousal.

He was now up above her, his fine body filling her vision.
He was a spectacular looking man. His touch, his beauty, his gentleness. Hailey
was infatuated with her new husband. Her eyes were glued to his face,
mesmerized by it. His hands were between them, levering the tip of hardness to
the center of her body.

She felt the tip of him go inside of her. Her sister had
described pain. So far she had experienced none. Charlie put his soft hot mouth
on hers, plundering inside of her, sweeping ever surface, owning her. He
slipped his arm beneath her lower back. With a single thrust he pushed into
her.

Hailey cried out. She arched against him, blinking as the
jab of pain smarted.
 
They both were
still. Charlie took her jaw in his fingers and he looked her straight in the
eye. His eyes were almost scolding as he studied her. He kissed her again,
taking her lower lip between his teeth sometimes and gently nibbled.

Finally, he moved. He pressed his thumb at the apex of her
legs, working that spot vigorously. Her pleasure escalated almost unbearably.
Hailey gripped his shoulders for dear life as he worked her and stroked her at
the same time.

Charlie was feverish, his wrist ministering her back and
forth rapidly, while he pumped into her with wickedly slow movement. Hailey’s
core coiled up. The pressure building and building. She was certain she would
burst but he kept on. He clamped his lips at the sensitive base of neck,
flicking the dip there with his tongue. She exploded.

Spasms gripped her, clutching his hardness sending more
pleasure throughout her. She was drenched with deliciousness. Her body exploded
with unspeakable sweetness, every muscle of her belly rippling with it. Her
thighs shook as he now took hold of her buttocks and drove into her.
 

His hardness and his rhythm triggered more incredible sensation,
seemed to cause the effect of the spasms to increase. It was nothing short of
rapture. He moaned.
 
It was like a lone
sad wind that blew from him while her cries were shrill. Squeals.

Hailey’s body pulsed with the glow of their union. She
crumpled helplessly under him, in a state of complete bliss. He moved to the
side of her, collapsed in the same state. He stroked her for the longest time
until he withdrew from her. Physically and emotionally.

As soon as their pleasure moved on, Charlie made sure that
she was nicely tucked in before rolling over and going to sleep. Hailey lay in
the dark wondering if his going to sleep was customary on a wedding night. Her
body was sore from travel and from their loving. She felt sort of empty. She
felt sort of hurt.

When Hailey awoke, Charlie was not beside her. She expected
as much for she slept well after sun up. She found the bathroom and washed up.
Her body was fairly tender. She put on a fresh dress and apron and made her way
down to the kitchen.

“Good morning Mrs. Halverson,” said Willa.
 

“Good morning Willa. Is Mr. Halverson about?” she asked.

“I suspect he is out working. He should be in shortly to
have some breakfast,” she said.

Hailey sat a small table in the kitchen. Willa poured her
coffee for her.
 

“May I fix you some eggs?” she asked.

Hailey was about to say yes but Charlie and Hale pushed
through the door boisterously. Hailey and Charlie made eye contact immediately.
His gaze made her quiver.
 
Some of the
warmth of the way he made her feel rekindled.

“Eggs will have to wait, Willa. Mrs. Halverson and I are
going to have a conversation,” said Charlie.

Hailey search him with some confusion. She rose from the
table having just had a taste of her coffee. She was fairly famished. But if
her husband wanted to speak with her, she had to obey. She followed him out of
the kitchen and out onto the front porch of the home.

She stretched up on to her tiptoes to kiss his cheek but he
gently thwarted her.
 
Now she was
definitely hurt. He regarded her with a scold. He held her hands in his.
 
Her body was close to his.

“I want you to tell me who you are,” he said candidly but in
his always-soft voice.

“I am your wife,” she replied, faking her confusion. He had
figured something out awfully fast.

He tilted his head with warning. “The woman I wrote to said
she was a widow and a mother. You tell me how when I laid with you last night
that you did not feel like you were either of those things.”

Hailey’s lip began to quiver. She could not control it. She
gripped his iron hard bicep for support.
 

“If you’ve made a mistake and there is something you need to
tell me, I am here to listen,” he said softly.

“Did what we share last night feel like a mistake?” she
asked, choking back emotion.

“No,” he replied, his voice as thick with that same emotion.
“That’s why I am trying to understand.”

“There’s nothing to understand,” she insisted.
 

She could not bring herself to trust him all the way with
the fact that she was an imposter. She had tried to pull the wool over his eyes
and she didn’t have the nerve to fess up.

“Well,” he said standing up straight. “I think that there
is. Somewhere there was a falsehood played against me. We’re married, for now.
I am not sure that that can’t be undone. I can send you back to Wichita and no
one has to be the wiser. I’ll decide on that later.
 
But for now we are man and wife at face value
only. You will not be sharing my bed again.”

Hailey thought she was going to be sick. If she told him
what she did, he would send her back for sure.
 

“There’s a party tonight celebrating our marriage,” he said.
“Everyone here who works for me is excited about the fact that I tied the knot.
You and I will act like we are every bit the happy bride and groom. And any
time you want to be honest with me about who you really are or who you really
were, you are welcome to do so. I will listen and I will be fair. Maybe you
just made up the part about being a widow and a mother for some reason that I
for life of me cannot come up with.”

Hailey gripped the rail of the porch frozen with emotion.
She hadn’t realized that he was watching her. So many times in the past few
days turning her life upside down, she moved in and out of reality. She wasn’t
sure what was real or what was true. She was worn out.

And the prospect of facing her falsehood brought her sister
and her sister’s entire family to mind. They were all gone. And she missed them
dearly, especially her sister.

As quietly as she could, Hailey sucked up the tears as they
fell. She had to be discrete unless she attracted the wrong kind of attention.
But her feelings were too powerful. She had to let them take their course.

Charlie cast a giant shadow over her shoulder. She watched
as their shadows merged into one. He swept her up into his arms and carried her
upstairs.

He lay her down on the bed of what she knew now to be the
master bedroom.
 

“I will tell Willa to bring you a tray,” he said softly.

“I am not hungry,” she said stubbornly.

“When you tell me the truth –“

“Please close the door behind you,” Hailey said cutting him
off with an uncharacteristic assertiveness. It was not her style to talk back
or to be disrespectful but she could not be lectured now.

Hailey cried her eye out until she fell back to sleep. She
was still exhausted which probably contributed some to her emotional state.
When she woke for the second time that day it was because Willa was fussing
about in her room. Hailey sat up.

“Willa, thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it.
But I can manage,” she said.

Thinking she was going to let the woman off the hook, Hailey
actually bothered her.
 
She continued to
smooth a beautiful gown that she laid out for Hailey to wear to the party later
that night.
 

“There is something you can do for me if you don’t mind,”
Hailey got out of bed.
 
“Would you mind
giving me a tour of the house? I would like to have a look at the bedrooms
particularly. I want to know if Mr. Halverson has special uses for them.”

“Special uses for them?” asked Willa.

“I can be straight with you, can’t I?” Hailey started
tremble. She was not going to cry.

“Certainly,” said Willa.

“I want to find a suitable room for myself. I feel like this
is Mr. Halverson’s room and I don’t want to push him from it,” she said.

“Oh dear,” said Willa.

Hailey wiped a rogue tear that drizzled down her cheek.

“The dress is lovely,” said Hailey. “When do I have to put
it on?”

“I thought you could sit and I could do your hair and that
would put us at the right time to get dressed. We only have couple of hours
till it begins,” said Willa.

“And you probably have other things to do,” said Hailey.
“You know I don’t mind pitching in and doing some of those things. I fully
expected to anyway. I had no idea Mr. Halverson had a staff.”

“He does, missus. My only task is to make a few light meals
and to help you.
 
He has a regular house
staff for the bigger chores. So I have nothing else to do but help you dress,”
said Willa.

“Very well. We can worry about the room after I dress,” said
Hailey.

“Honestly, missus, Mr. Halverson doesn’t sleep in the house.
He sleeps outside mostly or in the guest house or in the bunk house with the
men.”

Hailey didn’t know how to respond. She stripped out of her
dress and let Willa fit her corset on.

“Not so tight, Willa. It doesn’t make so much difference
now,” she said forlornly.

It didn’t matter. Hailey knew she had a naturally lithe and
curvy figure so even without cinching her body up into an unnatural tininess,
she would still look fashionable.
 
But it
didn’t matter that the man she wanted to look beautiful for had no interest in
her so long as she was not the woman he sent letters to.

Willa carefully rolled and pinned her long tresses into a
beautiful array atop her head, leaving a sole lock cascading down her back. It
fell like a waterfall ending in a curl. Hailey could feel it roll around as she
walked.

She stood still, holding her arms just so, so that Willa
could press the opened fitted dress to her body. Willa worked fiendishly to
fasten the hooks. Both women admired Hailey in swivel mirror.

“You do good work Willa,” said Hailey, her mood lightened
some by the beautiful clothes.

But she was hungry. She hadn’t eaten last night, except for
the biscuit Willa gave her, or that morning.
 
And she had quite a lot of exercise the night before. Recalling that,
Hailey burned with a fierce blush. She froze with arousal so momentarily
intense that she could almost feel Charlie behind her kissing her neck.

She shook her head from her daydream, with her arms embracing
herself.

“Willa I know there will be food tonight but I haven’t eaten
since yesterday,” she said. “Can we go to the kitchen and get something?”

“Let’s go,” said Willa. “I will fix you up some butter milk
and biscuits.”

That sounded absolutely divine to Hailey who was happy to
have any appetite at all.
 
As best as
anyone could who wore a dress like her party dress, she hurried after Willa who
for a woman of her age, spryly took the winding stairs down.

Hailey was caught up with focusing on not tripping. She
didn’t notice that she and Willa had caught the attention of a few men looking
on, including Charlie. He was dressed for the party. He cut such a fine figure
in a dress shirt and a waistcoat. He as the most handsome man she had ever
seen. She caught his gaze forever seemed to be a mix of desire and scold.

Her insides clutched. Her heart raced and she was wet for
him. She wished that she were underneath him this very moment instead of out in
the doghouse.

“What are you two up to?” he inquired.
 

Willa looked to Hailey who looked back at her.

“I asked the question,” Charlie reminded them.

“I am just getting a snack,” said Hailey.

“She hasn’t eaten since before she got off the stage
yesterday,” said Willa defensively. “Practically.”

Everyone in the room knew she had a little something to eat.

“Oh,” said Charlie, his eyes gathering. “I take full
responsibility for the oversight last night. I should have insisted you eat a
full meal.”

“As do I,” said Willa. “A little bitty biscuit after a long
ride is nothing ‘tall.”

Hale chimed in. “Willa don’t be so helpful. Get out in the
kitchen and fix her a dish.”

Hailey braced herself for his reproach.

“Don’t let that happen again,” said Charlie in a sensual
voice as he stalked her.

She froze while he toured her body, checking out her dress
for the party.

“Nice,” he said. “I appreciate that you sent a dress ahead
of yourself so that I could have it made. At least it was your dress, whoever
you are.”

Hailey had to have sent a dress ahead. It had to be her
sister’s but fortunately they wore the same size.



“Although,” he very discretely traced her neckline with the
rough tip of his finger.
 
“Seems to be a
little snug here.”

His face was now but a breath from her. He was close that
either one of them could lean in and kiss. She wanted to feel his tongue in her
mouth but that might not ever happen even if she told him what he wanted to
hear.

“I have to go into the kitchen,” she stammered.

“Do that,” he said.
 
“You’ll need your strength tonight though we will have a proper supper.
There’ll be lots of dancing. You do dance, do you not? I can’t recall if we
discussed that.”

“I do dance,” she replied, shaking at his nearness.

“I enjoy it myself,” he in a voice so soft it was just above
a whisper.

Hailey swallowed hard and went into the kitchen. He followed
her. She had hoped that she would get some relief from the way he made her feel
but he was right there behind her. Willa was setting her plate on the small
table. Hailey glared her eyes at Willa to signal that her
  

“Leave her eat,” said Hale.

“I have to help her so she doesn’t get it on her clothing,”
said Willa.

It was awkward. Hailey was not about to be fed like a baby.

“I will be careful, Willa. That is very thoughtful,” she
said
 

Hailey sat down at the little table with the biscuits and
buttermilk. She lifted one biscuit and a strand of golden honey dropped to the
plate. Charlie barged to the table and took a seat.

“Here,” he insisted. He held the dish up to her chin and put
the biscuit to her lips.
 
She bit. It was
just about the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. Butter melted with
honey. There was still some sweetness on her lips when she sipped the
buttermilk.

“You can ruin your clothes just as easily as I can,” she
remarked.

With a look Charlie reminded her he was her husband. He
dabbed her lips carefully with a napkin. It was erotic, she thought she would
faint. Their chemistry was undeniable. She revved up just feeling his touch
through the cloth of the napkin. He pressed slowly, deliberately. She found herself
pursing her lips to his fingers. She kissed him through the fabric. She had
forgotten he was off limits to her.
 
He
glared at her ever so slightly.

“Thank you Charles,” she said stiffly. “That will hold me
until I have dinner tonight.”

“Finish them off please. There are only two and you haven’t
eaten anything decent I am guessing in days,” he said.

“I am not a flower. I can feed myself,” she protested.

But it wasn't true. She didn’t want to feed herself at all.
She wanted to have him feed her every meal. She found him so sensual and
arousing. The way he made her feel, made her want to do so many wicked and
wanton things.

If he insisted then, she decided to eat slowly so that she
would not finish any time soon. So that he would have to attend to her. And she
would feel his hands so close to her mouth. And she would have his attention
and look into his eyes.

But she decided she ate enough. Not so much that she would
be obvious that she was milking it just to have him near, and just enough so
that he would be satisfied that she was fed.
 
He rose, taking her plate to the sink.