Agnes and the Renegade (Men of Defiance) (31 page)

Aggie smiled and reached a hand over, threading her fingers with Chayton’s.
 

“Grandmother and I have much to discuss, but I have decided these will be our names.”

A knock sounded on the door. Aggie opened it to find a maid holding a heavy tray. She opened the door wide to let her set it down. “Mrs. McCaid thought you would prefer to dine in the quiet of your room tonight. She wanted me to be sure to let you know if you preferred to eat with everyone else, they’d be sitting down in about an hour.” She looked around Aggie. “White Bird, the children are gathering in the kitchen now for supper.”

“Thanks!” Skylar hopped off the bed. “I have a new name now! I’m to be called Skylar Burkholder.”

“Very well, miss. Skylar it is.”

Aggie and Chayton shared a warm glance with each other. “Please let Mrs. McCaid know a private dinner is perfect for us tonight. Thank you.”

“Yes, ma’am. Set the tray outside your door when you’re finished with it.”

Chayton got off the bed and went to push the heavy drapes wider apart over the window so that they wouldn’t interfere with either the breeze or the sunset. He set the tray on the floor next to the bed. He’d bathed earlier and was wearing an open cotton shirt and blue denims.
 

“You’re wearing white clothes.”

He looked down at himself. His necklaces hung against the dark column of skin his opened shirt exposed. “Logan’s brother provided these to me. They are comfortable.” He threw back the coverlet and removed the cotton blanket from the bed. He wrapped it about himself, then faced Aggie. “Agkhee, would you stand with me in my blanket?”

She smiled and stepped into the cover of his open arms. “The first time you asked me that, did you do it to trick me?”

Chayton grinned. “How could I know that you knew so little of a man’s desires that you didn’t understand what it meant to be with him inside his blanket? White women are foolish.”

“Maybe. But this white woman was smart enough to get the man she wanted.”

His eyes grew serious. “Will you let me feed you? My baby is hungry. I can hear him growling. He is a bear in your belly. If we do not take care of him, he will eat you, then come out and fight me.”

Aggie laughed. “That sounds positively horrible, but yes, I will, because I’m starving.”

He sank to the floor next to the tray. Leaning back against the bed, he indicated she was to sit in front of him between his legs, facing the window so that they could both see the sunset. The window extended from the floor to the ceiling, giving them an unobstructed view of the Rocky Mountains.
 

“I asked the cook to provide us some light food that would not upset your stomach.”

“That was thoughtful of you.”

“I have been a father before. My wife was pregnant when she was killed.”

Aggie grabbed his hand that rested on her stomach and squeezed it. “I wish she was still here with you. And your son, too. I know that, if she were, you and I would never be. I would never meet you, and I would never know why my heart was so empty. But I also know the shadows in your eyes would be gone.”

He held her hand in his. When he spoke, his voice rumbled against her back. “I think we do not get to know why the
Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka
sends to us the experiences he does. We may never know, until we get to our final sunset and look back on the days our lives have seen, and then only if we have clear eyes to see.” He drew a breath, then kissed the side of her head. “For now, I am grateful to have another chance to know joy, to share my heart and my life. Thank you, Agkhee, for your kind words. I know they were spoken from your heart.”

He lifted a cucumber sandwich, made with white bread and a hint of butter. He offered her a bite, then took one himself. The sandwich was tiny, so a couple of bites finished it off. He lifted a drumstick of fried chicken and held it for her to bite. “I like chicken prepared this way. Do you know how to make it?”

She nodded.

“Good. Then you can show me so that I can make it for you when you are painting.” There was a bowl of gazpacho soup. Chayton sniffed it, then sipped it. “It is good. You try it.”

Aggie sipped from the bowl. He was right. The cold tomato soup was tasty on a hot, late summer evening.
 

“How is that sitting with the bear?”

She laughed. “He is still hungry and threatening to eat me.”

Chayton rubbed her stomach. “Let him settle. He cannot expect to win every battle.”

Aggie leaned back against Chayton, absorbing his contentment. “How is it that time seems to stand still when I’m with you?”

“I spoke to the sun and asked him to slow his descent. He agreed. See? He is only now painting the sky with the colors of sunset.” His arms tightened around hers. “You are mine, Agkhee. I am in no hurry for this time to pass. We will eat slowly. We will enjoy the show. And then I will make love to you. You, too, must learn not to race ahead.”

“I’m anxious to meet the bear.”

“I look forward to that as well. But everything is unfolding as it needs to. And that is a very nice feeling.”

Aggie tilted up to look at him. He was so strong, so steady, so certain of them and of life. She reached up and cupped the back of his head, bringing his mouth down to hers. He held her neck and chin in his big palm as his mouth took hers. His lips were firm, warm. She leaned back, and he followed her down to the carpet. His ragged hair fell forward but wasn’t long enough to curtain their faces. Still, she ran her hands through it.

He leaned on one elbow and used his free hand to trace the curves of her face. He had such extraordinary eyes, full of hunger and love. He drew his fingers down her neck to the place where the lapels of her robe overlapped, touching her bare skin with the tips of his fingers. He pulled the tie free, then pushed the two sides of fabric apart, baring her body. His gaze slowly swept from her eyes, over her breasts, her waist, to her hips.
 

His eyes was filled with awe. He reached forward and cupped a breast, then leaned over and kissed her ribs, her belly. His face lingered below her navel, pressed against the soft skin between her hips. He murmured something against her skin.

“What are you doing?”

He looked up at her and grinned. “I’m meeting my son. I told him he’d better grow sharp teeth; he’ll need them in this world.”

“And if you’re son’s a girl? Would you still want sharp teeth?” The look of horror that filled his face made her laugh.

“It is bad to make such jokes about an unborn child.” He sat up and began removing his necklaces.

“You’re not wearing your choker.”

“No. I was unsure what I faced in this day when I dressed. I knew I would lie, cheat, steal, and kill to get you back.”

Aggie put her hands behind her head as she watched him disrobe. “Ah. So, if we argue when you are not wearing your choker, I shouldn’t trust your words?”

He frowned at her. “You will always trust me. I am your husband.” He took his shirt off, exposing his broad, tanned shoulders. When his hands went to the buttons of his fly, Aggie’s gaze was locked on them. He pushed the denims down his lean hips. She felt a warmth creep up her neck when he stood before her in only his cotton underwear. He was already erect; she could see the wide, dark column of him the thin cotton barely constrained.
 

His gaze held hers as he released the tie at the top of his drawers. He pushed the thin cotton down his hips. She couldn’t resist any longer; she had to look. He was magnificent. He took hold of his heavy erection, stroked it, moved its head in and out of his fist. Aggie’s lips parted. She could feel every inch of her body tensing in anticipation of what would happen next.

He reached over and grabbed a couple of pillows from the bed, then set them next to her head. “Move down so that we don’t kick the tray. I will feed you more when we’re finished.”
 

She scooted sideways, never taking her eyes off what he was doing with his hands. She slipped her legs between his spread ankles, lifted herself up, then set a hand on his fist and drew his member down to her mouth. The only part of him exposed to her was the crown. She swiped her tongue across the hot, smooth surface.
 

Chayton sucked in a sharp breath, then took his hands away so that she could have full access to him. She stroked his length with both hands, learning his shape and size. She leaned forward, grazing him with her closed mouth, up one side, down the next. She looked up at him as she repeated the gesture with her tongue. Impossibly, he seemed to grow with every touch.

“Agkhee, I like that very much. Very much. But I cannot take more.” He knelt in front of her, between her legs, and bent down to kiss her mouth. His lips were hungry, seeking. His tongue pushed into her mouth. He did with his tongue what his penis would shortly do between her legs. She ran her hand down the smooth flesh of his torso and then back up again. When the kiss ended, they were both breathing heavily.
 

He leaned over her, kneeing her legs wider apart so that he could have access to her core. She held herself up on her elbows so that she would watch as he entered her, joining their bodies. He rubbed the heavy head of his member over her delicate flesh, stroking and stroking her sensitive places until she was all but whimpering for him to take her.
 

She closed her eyes, certain she would die if she had to take another second of his torture. No sooner had she done that, a soft, warm, wet, nibbling sensation pierced her mind. Her eyes flew open to find his face between her legs, his nose buried in her dark feminine curls. His tongue was firm and soft at the same time. When he reached around her thigh and thumbed that special spot, her body took over, bucking and thrashing against his mouth.

He forked his fingers between hers, holding one of her hands until her passion began to ebb. Then he took hold of her hips, keeping her still as he sucked that nub above her opening, pressing her core ever more tightly against his face as her body convulsed in violent waves of hunger and desire.

When it ended, he grinned up at her from between her legs. She was breathing heavily, gasping for air. He crawled over her body, kissing the soft skin between her hips, nibbling around her belly button, pressing his mouth to the flushed underside of a breast. He lifted up and looked down at her, still grinning. “It is good we are alone. You would wake an entire village. And then one of the elder women would be chosen to speak with you about your intimate manners.”

Aggie groaned. She couldn’t remember making any noise. She only remembered feeling the extreme sensations he’d given her.
 

“But I would tell you to ignore the elders,” he continued. “And the stares of our people in the village. I would only smile at them, for they would all know the pleasure I give you every time we are together.”

Aggie drew him down to lie on top of her. “You talk too much. Give me what I want.
Now
, husband.”
 

He drew his hips back, then positioned himself at her opening.
 

“Yes.”
 

When he eased himself into her, she groaned again. She rubbed her hands up and down his arms, feeling the strain in them as he moved over and in her body. She stroked his back, absorbing the feel of his tension as he thrust into her. And then passion pushed all other rational thoughts aside. All she could do was surrender to the needs of her body. She arched up to meet his thrusts, silently urging him to greater speed, harder thrusts. She cried out when she peaked, and this time she heard him groan as his release found him. He went deep, burying his face in her neck as his hand grabbed her bottom and held her firmly against his last, pulsing thrust.

When their bodies calmed a bit, she took hold of his face and kissed his cheek, his mouth, his nose. “Guess who woke the village that time?”

He laughed. “
Mahasani
, you give me great joy.”

“It is the same for me.” She sighed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Aggie sat next to Chayton on a settee in the McCaids’ parlor the next morning as his grandmother was announced. The room was filled with Logan’s friends. The men stood as she entered. Chayton stood last. After the greetings were over, he asked his grandmother to join him in Julian’s den. A knot formed in Aggie’s stomach. Sarah moved to sit next to her in Chayton’s vacated spot. She reached out to hold Aggie’s hand.
 

“All will be well, Aggie,” she said. “Chayton needs to come to terms with his grandmother.”

“What if he doesn’t? What if they speak from places neither can understand or respect?”

“They’ll find common ground,” Sager said. “Chayton was raised to respect his elders. And she wants progeny. It is only through him that the dynasty she built will live on. It is her arrogance that will lead her to meet him where she must.”

“And if they don’t come to terms, the world won’t end.” Logan’s steady voice was reassuring to her. “You still have your studio. You have the cabin up by the Circle Bar. In a way, should the worst happen, there are no changes you need to make.”

“And should we hear her scream,” Jace smiled, “we’re only a hallway away from rescuing him before he can commit murder.”
 

Aggie couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you.” She looked around the room at the four couples who’d dropped everything in their lives to help her and Chayton through this crisis. “Thank you all for everything you’ve done for us.”

Sarah touched her forearm. “Aggie, Chayton talked to Logan this morning. He said you’re expecting.” Sarah smiled at her. “I’m so happy for you. It’s a wonderful new beginning. Thank you for letting White Bird stay with us. I was afraid…I was afraid you would take her.”
 

Aggie’s eyes welled up in response to Sarah’s emotions. She reached over to hug her friend.
 

Sarah laughed after a minute and took a delicate lace handkerchief from her pocket. “I have some news, too.” She looked around the room. “Logan and I have decided to adopt. Audrey will be helping us find the right child or children.”