Marly's Choice (15 page)

He leaned back in his seat, his eyes never straying from her pale face, her relaxed body. She had kicked the blanket off her, leaving her clad in the long shirt she had stolen from him at least a year ago. Damn girl wouldn’t sleep in the hundreds of gowns he bought her over the years. She stole his t-shirts, his flannel shirts, and even the damned silk dress shirt to sleep in.

Charcoal gray silk now covered her body, and should have gone to her knees. The shirt could have wrapped around her three times at least it was so big on her, but as she lay there, the silk conformed to ripe breasts, her flat stomach, and rode along her silken thighs. He had covered her twice already, trying to hide the sight of her. He wasn’t getting within touching distance of her again.

He blamed himself for that accident. She was going out with Dillon to get to him, she had admitted that while delirious with concussion. To make him jealous. To make him want her as desperately as she wanted him.

Cade wanted her. His body was so hard and hot for her; he could barely stand the constriction of his jeans. But did he love her the way she needed him to love her? Or had he just gone so long without a woman that he was going crazy for the only one that seemed readily available? Was it love, or lust?

He sighed wearily, dragging his hands through his hair in a gesture of desperation. He couldn’t take her until he knew. Not until he could make sense of the sensations and needs storming his body. She would be going back to school soon. He would have three months to weather the storm inside his body, to figure out what he felt himself, to be certain she knew what she wanted. Three months was a damned long time, but the rest of their lives was even longer. If he took her, he would have to marry her. He had to be certain of her because Cade knew he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. Marly shifted in her sleep, a low moan coming from her lips as her body protested the movement. One arm curled gracefully above her head, emphasizing the full breast thrusting against the material of the silk. Her long, silken curls fell from her head to the floor. Her head was too tender to braid the mass, and it flowed around her, making her appear wanton, inviting. As though she needed the hair to contribute to the overall picture. He was going crazy as it was.

Letting her go was going to be next to impossible. Somehow, someway he was going to have to stay away from her until Sunday. Until she left for school again. If he Lora Leigh

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took her, he would never be able to let her go, and he knew it. And the thought of it terrified him.

She whispered his name in her sleep. Cade swallowed hard as her nipples hardened beneath the silk, a fine sheen of perspiration suddenly coating his skin. Things had changed too damned fast, and he wasn’t comfortable with it. He had hid from his desire for her for two long, lonely years. Pushing it back where he didn’t have to examine it, didn’t have to see it for what it was. The dark, pulsating monster of need that made his flesh harden and ache, made his soul weary and tired. For years he had feared she would fall in love with one of the pimply-faced little brats she dated. Young men too filled with themselves to care about her, to know how to touch her and to please her. And he knew now that was why he hated every young man that fought to secure a date with her. Hated them. Glowering at them and doing everything he could to frighten them away. Even the ranch hands knew better than to approach Marly. Several had found themselves without a job after trying. He didn’t tolerate it. He wouldn’t tolerate it.

Cade was possessive and brooding, and had fought to assure himself for years that it was because she was so special. He had raised her. Fought battles for her. Tended to her illnesses and her scraped knees, and once even played Santa Claus for her. Just to see her eyes light up, to see the joy that crossed her face. And God, he would die right now to see her expression lost in passion, the awe and wonderment when he brought her to climax. He wanted that so much he could barely stand the need. He had given her all her firsts in her life since she was twelve. Her first bicycle, her first car, her first prom dress, her first prom. She had been without a date, and he had been unable to stand her tears. She swore she was the envy of every girl there when he danced that first dance with her. He had been as uncomfortable as hell. But he couldn’t stand to see her cry. Now he wanted to be her first. Her first lover, her only lover.She was watching him. Her eyes slumberous, dark and inviting. She hadn’t changed position; she hadn’t moved a muscle as his gaze roved slowly over her body.

“We’re in trouble, Marly.” He was breathing roughly, on the verge of doing something he knew he would regret.

Her breasts were rising quicker, her breathing accelerating. He could see the excitement in her eyes, in the flush staining her cheeks.

“Am I dreaming?” Her voice was husky, calling him to her in a way he could barely resist.

“Yes,” he groaned. “Your worst nightmare. Go back to sleep so you can wake up and make everything normal again.”

“Come kiss me again so I know it’s not a dream.” She smiled at him, slow and soft, dreamy with her emerging sensuality.

Marly knew now the power she held over him. He clenched his fists as he fought her request.

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“Go back to sleep.” He tried to smile back at her. “Maybe I’ll kiss you goodnight when you go to bed.”

“I’m ready to go to bed, then,” she whispered with innocent seduction. “Tuck me in, Cade.”

The flesh between his thighs hardened, nearly bursting from his jeans as her husky voice tore through his body.

“Marly,” his voice was soft, the protest lacking strength.

“You could just let me sleep with you and keep me warm. You know how cold I get at night.” Her legs shifted, the shirt riding marginally higher from the movement. He had slept with her one night, right before she went off to college. That night was seared into his brain, as was his father’s words when he found Cade there the next morning. It had been innocent. She had been depressed over leaving home, crying. He had only tried to comfort her. But the hand wrapped around her breast, beneath the material of yet another of his shirts hadn’t been. Neither had the hard-on beneath his sweat pants been in any way innocent. That event had begun his downfall, and Marly wasn’t even aware of it. That he knew.

Cade breathed out roughly. He wouldn’t survive a night with her in his arms now. He knew it, and it terrified him. He watched as her hand pressed against her stomach, and he wondered if the ache in his gut was echoed in hers.

“Sweet Jesus,” he moaned, closing his eyes and shaking his head at the suddenly erotic pictures flashing through his mind. He would burn in hell for this. Surely as anything, he would.

The knock at the study door had him jumping with a guilty start. His gaze flashed to her as she hastily jerked the blanket over her body, her face flushing in embarrassment. Shaking his head he watched as the door inched opened, wondering if her thoughts had somehow mirrored his. Praying not, because if she actually did it, he knew his heart would explode.

“Cade. Got a minute?” Sam was standing in the doorway, his bruised face unusually serious.

Hell, he was going to have to stand up.

“Yeah, a few.” He stood, thankful that he had pulled the tails of his shirt from the waistband of his pants earlier. There would have been no way to hide his arousal if he hadn’t.

Marly swallowed tightly as Cade left the room, closing the door behind him. Her body was pulsing beneath the blanket, shivering with the look in Cade’s eyes. She had never seen anything so hot, so achingly possessive and wanting as that look. As he watched her fingers move lightly over the silk of her stomach, she had seen his needs, his desires. She closed her eyes. She knew what he wanted. She knew he would have never been able to resist her if she had.

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Regret filled her as her fingers stilled on her stomach, the blanket lying at her hips. She had been tempted, but terrified. She cursed her own immaturity and lack of experience. Other women would know how to entice him, how to give him what he wanted without being hesitant or frightened.

Cade was a very sexual man. She had heard that when she was as young as fourteen. He had been a young man, but even then, careful to keep his women away from Marly. But that hadn’t kept her from hearing the rumors. It hadn’t stopped the women he bedded from whispering the tales they heard. How he could go all night. His touch slow and sure, his kisses hot and wild, his hands bold and his desires as carnal as original sin. She had hated the rumors, jealousy eating her up inside, but she had listened. She had listened and fought to understand what they meant. She had known, even then, that she loved Cade and that one day she would have to know the needs of the man, as well as the friend.

Could she do it, she wondered? Could she tease and tempt him as those other women had done? Did the older Cade still enjoy the sights and sounds that the younger Cade had, from his women?

“That look on your face is killing me.” His voice was raw and husky, and when she opened her eyes, his gaze was a liquid flame centered on her hand and the fingers still rubbing over the silk softly.

He was standing beside the couch, his dark face flushed, his eyes glittering and centered longingly on that hand.

“What look?” Marly couldn’t breathe. She felt too warm, too excited. She needed his touch too damned much to wait any longer.

“Marly,” he whispered warningly. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

Marly licked her lips.

“When I was sixteen, Kari Black told me about that little fling you had with her sister,” she said softly.

Cade’s eyes widened in shock.

“Sisters talk. I was so mad at you, Cade. Remember? I wouldn’t speak to you until you quit seeing her.”

“I remember.” His tone was guttural.

“Her sister told her all kinds of things Cade, and I listened. I hated it, but I listened, because I wanted to know how to please you. How to make you need me so badly you couldn’t resist me.”

“No,” he whispered weakly, his eyes greedy, transfixed as her fingers went to the buttons of her silk shirt.

Marly was breathing roughly. All shame, all sense of decency deserting her as Cade’s gaze became riveted by her slow movements, his hands mirroring hers as he began to unbutton the shirt he was wearing.

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One by one the buttons were undone, until the edges lay neatly down the center of her body.

“Marly,” he said thickly, roughly as she moved her hand, her fingers trailing in the slowest caress from the cleavage of her heaving breasts down. His shirt was shrugged from his powerful shoulders as he watched her, his face flushing with desire, with helpless fascination as her fingers met her stomach. He fought himself, fought his need for her. Then her fingers reached the line at her hips, touching the waistband of the lacy thong panties.

“God, Marly.” His fists clenched as her fingers played with the waistband deliberately. “Do it, or stop. Your choice, but decide now.”

Her fingers disappeared beneath the waistband, but she knew it didn’t halt the knowledge, the clear sight of where they touched. Then they pulled back, running over her flesh above the silk of the panties, leaving a damp crease down the center of the triangle of fabric.

Cade licked his lips, watching her, mesmerized as he went to his knees beside her.

“Do it right,” he whispered, his fingers hooking in the waistband of her panties and pulling them quickly down her legs.

Marly cried out weakly, her thighs falling apart at his urging, feeling the brand of his gaze centered at her most vulnerable point.

“No,” he growled. “Let me see you, Marly. Let me see you.”

She touched herself, crying out as his hands touched her thighs, his long fingers moving closer.

“Tell me what you want, Marly,” he growled as her fingers ran slowly over the humid curves of her own desire-slick flesh. “Tell me, Marly.”

Tell him? God, she couldn’t breathe, let alone speak.

“Now.” His voice roughened as one fingertip touched the dew of her need. “Tell me what you want now.”

“Kiss me,” she panted harshly, wishing he would do anything. Something. She was dying.

He looked up at her, his eyes nearly black now as a finger slid smoothly past the folds of skin, lodging at the entrance of her body.

“Where?”

Marly whimpered as her thighs trembled, her inner muscles clenching in agonized need.

“Cade,” she cried out weakly.

“Did Tara tell you about that Marly?” He asked her softly, his lips going to her thigh. “Did she tell you how I would kiss you? Taste you?”

He was teasing her, tormenting her. His tongue touched the satin flesh his lips caressed, drawing higher by only slow degrees.

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“You didn’t kiss her there.” Marly shook her head, nearly crying in pain at the thought. “No. You didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t,” he agreed. “But by God, I’m going to kiss you there.”

Before she could cry out he was between her thighs, his lips covering her, his tongue spearing into her. Marly lost her breath. Stars exploded all around her as he held her hips steady, thrusting into her repeatedly, driving his tongue deep and hard into the very center of her body as she exploded into so many fragments she thought she was dying.

When she opened her eyes again, Cade was kneeling before her, his gaze hot, his hands working frantically at the button fly of his jeans. Then he was spreading the edges apart, pushing the material over his hips as the thick length of his erection sprang free.

“God. Damn, Cade.” Sam’s shocked voice was like a bucket of ice as Cade leaned forward.

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Why didn’t you just lock the fucking door?” Sam’s hushed voice was filled with understandable shock, an hour later.

“Shut up, Sam.” Cade shifted in the saddle, staring into the inky blackness of night as they moved through the pasture. This was not the ride he had been expecting.