Marshal of Hel Dorado (43 page)

 
    
Knowing what one did and experiencing it
were too completely different emotions.

 
    
Sam was motionless, watching her and she
bit her lip as she closed her fist around his length and gently began to slide
her hand back and forth. Stealing a peek at his face, she could see the pulse
throbbing in his jaw, the heat in his gaze positively scorching. But to her
utter delight, he made no move to stop her.

 
    
His fingers wandered to her breasts, to the
nipples that strained as if reaching out for his touch. Heat soaked through her
at the first brush of his thumb to a turgid peak and her hand slowed, savoring
every delicious touch of the velvet hot skin under her fingers and the way his
thumbs stroked her.

 
    
She fell back against the bedroll at his
urging, his cock slipping free of her hand as his mouth closed over one nipple
and he was as good as his promise. She sighed dreamily at the greedy, sucking
sensation that pulled the heat up from her belly and tightened the bands of
tension through her whole body.

 
    
It was better than when she released the
fire. The weight of his cock poked at her thigh and she shifted, sliding her
legs along his hips. He’d surged against her in the cave, the hard length of
his grinding against her sex, but they’d both been in britches, both prevented
from truly experiencing the touch of it.

 
    
Back arching, she tightened her legs and
urged him down. Sam lifted his head to look at her, the half-light left him in
shadow, but she could see every emotion clearly, as though she’d discovered the
secret to him. He was hers.

 
    
She was his.

 
    
“It will hurt some,” he murmured, dipping
his hand between them and gliding it over her smooth mound, fingers gently
probing between the damp nether lips to tease her core. Scarlett whimpered,
pleasure writhing through her and she bucked her hips up to his hand.

 
    
The second wave crested harder and more
furious than the first and she clung to him.

 
    
When the tiny detonations gave way to
simple tremors, she opened her eyes, suddenly shy to find him leaning close and
watching her.

 
    
He chuckled, caressing his fingers against
her soaked sex and she shuddered as another wave of pleasure threatened. How
was it possible? She felt limp and ragged and surging with life all at the same
time. She swallowed, trying to talk around the sensations assaulting her. “It
didn’t hurt.”

 
    
Sam laughed, claiming her mouth for another
mind melting kiss. He broke the kiss slowly, drawing her lower lip out with his
teeth, nipping her playfully. “We’re not done, minx.”

 
    
Scarlett’s eyes widened at the prospect and
he shifted, the hard ridges of his belly pressing into hers as his tip of his
cock probed at her sex. She held her breath, hands clinging to his shoulders as
he held her gaze.

 
    
“Breathe,” he murmured, gentle and loving.
She nodded her head, digging her fingers into the tense muscles of his
shoulders. He slipped forward, easing into her, inch by glorious inch. He
slowed, stretching her and easing off on the pressure at the first resistance.

 
    
Swallowing, Scarlett shifted her legs,
cradling him against her. His mouth descended, touching the corner of her lips
in a feather soft kiss and swallowed her sigh, his tongue thrusting against
hers as his hips lifted and then speared home. The pain was sharp and bright
against the kaleidoscope of pleasure.

 
    
Deep inside of her, he stilled, letting her
get used to the feel of him as she stretched beyond imagining. His hands glided
over her flesh, teasing, caressing until they closed on her hips, gripping
firmly to keep her still when she would have rolled them.

 
    
“Patience,” he admonished in a strained
voice. She studied his face, the vein throbbing in his forehead and the sheen
of sweat coating him. He was holding himself back.

 
    
For her.

 
    
Her heart melted and she arched up,
disobedient to the end, mouth seeking his as she bucked against him. He slid
back and then drove deeper. The pain gave way to pleasure and she groaned into
his mouth, fingers fisting in his hair.

 
    
“Want to be slow for you,” his whispers
punctuated the kisses and she laughed, locking her legs around his hips. The
warmth in her belly was spiraling out in convulsive waves. He kissed her lips,
her cheeks and down to the hollow of her throat. She cried out as his strokes
grew firmer, deeper and rubbed against her.

 
    
Her body began to thrash as the need
overwhelmed her, pleasure crashing down as his hips writhed, stirred, swayed
and swam into her. The world vanished in a scream of naked sensation. Sam
shouted and bucked against her, hot fire spearing into her and exploding the
canopy of trees overhead until she was certain fire must have rained down on
them.

 
    
Her breathing trembled in her ears as he
collapsed against her, a warm, masculine blanket of heat sandwiching her
between him and the bedroll. Her muscles were slack, her thighs trembled as she
let him legs rested against her. Deep inside, he twitched, softening and it was
the most decadent sweetness she’d ever experienced.

 
    
Sam’s lips pressed against her damp
shoulder, kissing a slow path to her mouth. His nose brushed hers and she found
herself gazing into his pleasure drenched eyes. “I love you,” he pledged,
shattering the last doubt hiding away in her heart.

 
    
“I love you,” she exulted in the privilege.
She wanted to shout it from the bluff top. Her gaze drifted upwards for a
minute, certain the trees would be ash, but she saw only the fluffy green
leaves and thick pine that had been there before. A few feet away, the horses
nibbled their grass and the fire burned, their fish likely having turned to
charcoal by now. The world was completely different and utterly the same. It
didn’t seem possible.

 
    
“I told you,” Sam murmured, shifting his
weight onto his side and pulling her over to sprawl against him. “You’ve never
burned me.”

 
    
She laughed, stretching her arms out to
examine them. They looked the same, darker, from her time in the sun, but still
her arms. Sam rose up on an elbow, his fingers tickling along her side. “What
are you thinking?”

 
    
“Do I look different?”

 
    
He cocked his head, gaze appraising as
though giving her question serious thought. “You still look like my Minx. All
sass and red hair.”

 
    
She laughed and swatted his arm playfully.
“I’m serious. Do I look different?”

 
    
“Maybe a little.”

 
    
“Yes?” Eagerly.

 
    
“You look a little more like my wife.”

 
    
Shyness swept over her and she ducked her
gaze. Wife. Married.

 
    
She was going to marry Sam.

 
    
Her belly quivered and a coldness surfaced
to stab at the warm heat. “Sam?”

 
    
“Yes, minx, just give me a few minutes and
I will happily indulge any curiosity.” His voice was warm, spent and playful.
She liked this Sam.

 
    
She loved this Sam.

 
    
The cold reality of their situation stabbed
at her again. “Sam, what are we going to do?”

 
    
“Make love, probably catch more fish, and
cook them. Make love again. Sleep a little.

 
    
Then ride back to the Flying K and find a
preacher.” He stretched his hand to curve possessively over her hip. “Unless
you want to skip the catching more fish part.”

 
    
She laughed, the feeling so wonderful and
free that she hated to clash with it, but her conscience prickled. “No, I…I
mean that sounds wonderful, but I meant about the judge. The bounty. You’re a
Marshal, you can’t marry a wanted woman.”

 
    
His eyes narrowed and his hand tightened on
her hip. “No running away, remember?”

 
    
“I’m not, I promise.” She spread her hand
against his chest, feeling his heart thump against his ribs. “I will marry you.
I just, don’t know what that will do to you. You’re a Marshal.”

 
    
“I’m a man first,” Sam leaned close,
pressing his forehead to hers, blotting out everything from her vision save
him. “I’m your man. Micah told you about our Pa and our Ma. How he courted her,
brought her from Virginia and built the ranch for her?”

 
    
Scarlett nodded slowly, snuggling into the
long length of him. It was the most romantic story she’d ever heard. Even now,
when Jebediah spoke of his wife, love populated the words.

 
    
“My Ma died when Kid was born. Pa buried
her on the ranch, at her favorite spot and he planted that tree. He goes out
there, every day and he talks to her. Lots of women in the town, they set their
cap for him, but he never paid them any mind. When I was old enough and brave
enough, I asked him why he never courted another woman, why he didn’t get
married again. Plenty of folk do it, but Pa said, ‘Samuel, I ran wild all
through my youth and then I met your Ma. I knew from the moment I saw her,
nothing would be the same. It would be better. I courted her fierce, but she
wasn’t sure she wanted to marry a man who lived hard like I did. But I didn’t
give up and I promised her, if she let me give her my heart, I’d never take it
back.’”

 
    
Moisture gathered in the corner of
Scarlett’s eyes. “He meant it.”

 
    
“Yes, he did.” Sam sighed, slipping his
hand up to cup her cheek. “I never understood how he could love someone that
much, what it really meant or what he’d give up or why he’d keep a pledge even
after she was gone. I know it’s only been a month, Scarlett. I know we’ve had
our differences, but I also know you are the most loyal, most strong, most
beautiful woman I have ever known. There will never be another woman for me,
you let me give you my heart and I’m never taking it back.”

 
    
Emotion swamped her. “Even if…”

 
    
“Even if I have to leave the Flying K,
Dorado and everything. If we can’t clear you, then we’ll run, but we’ll run
together.”

 
    
Scarlett rolled against him, hugging him
close. Her heart was so full it threatened to burst.

 
    
But she understood it. She hadn’t wanted to
leave him, only keeping him safe had taken her out of the Flying K, to meet
with her brothers. But she’d leave them, all of them, if it meant being with
Sam.

 
    
H
ours
later, her body pleasantly sore and aching she snuggled against him, safe and
replete. Sam was a creative teacher and she could only hope she was an adept
student, but she’d never been so spent in her life. Not even after the
firestorm.

 
    
She wasn’t surprised to find Quanto waiting
for her.

 
    
“You knew, didn’t you?” Starlight shimmered
through his form, the moon adding to his luminescence.

 
    
“I suspected, daughter. No man does what
that man did if he does not care. He is a strong soul, a good man and a fair
match for you.”

 
    
“Were you sure when you sent me away?”

 
    
“I would not have sent you otherwise.”
Quanto gave her a knowing smile. “But you are both stubborn, tenacious and set
in your own ways. You had to learn to see what was right in front of you.”

 
    
“He wants to marry me.” Scarlett sighed.
The dream was of their home in the mountains, the lake they often swam in and
the rocks where they would sit and talk for hours.