Moonsong (30 page)

“For the first time in as long as I can remember, I don’t have any expectations laid on me, I can do… whatever. I can take off and see the world, I can get a job or go to school, I don’t have to be Adele’s ‘bastion of strength’ for chrissakes, I’m… free,” he sighed, sinking lower into the hot water.

“What about Millie?”

“Millie…” Oddly enough it stung his pride, but less than he would’ve thought to lose out on her too. “She’s better off where she is. There was a spark there, I’m sure of it; maybe if things had gone differently... but did you see the way she was with him tonight? I never had a chance there, not really.”

“Then you weren’t in love with her?”

“Love? Who the hell knows? I wanted her, sure, but love?” As numb as he was at the moment, Chase wasn’t sure he was even capable of love. And that was probably for the best, love made people do crazy things. Better to stick to emotions he knew more about, like lust.

“What do you think? You know how she gets.” Chase did his best not to dwell on what couldn’t be changed. Adele might as well learn to accept it gracefully and move on.

“Yeah… I do,” Scarlett frowned.

* * *

Cutter leaned back into the copper tub, the steaming water sloshing with the movement, a long, drawn out sigh escaping him. For all the fussing and complaining during the heating process, he had to admit, it did feel good. Millie knelt beside him, lazily swirling a soapy washcloth over his chest.

“Just so long as it’s
this
woman,” Amelia countered, her voice light and teasing.

“I wasn’t planning on starting a harem.”

“Good, there are some things I don’t like to share.”

“Me neither, just so we’re clear.” He’d never thought himself to be a particularly jealous man. With Celia he’d never even suspected she didn’t love him and was stepping out behind his back. The thought of another man even looking at Amelia in a covetous way was enough to make his blood boil.

“Who says you need something new? Sometimes the old ways work just fine.” Without bothering to open his eyes, his arm snaked around her waist and drew her into the tub across his lap.

Letting out a squeal of surprise, Amelia squirmed for a moment before resting against his chest. “You rat!” she punched him lightly on the shoulder.

An unrepentant grin was on his face as his hands settled over her hips possessively. “What? I thought you wanted to wash me, I’m giving you better access.”

“Ah, I can actually reach less of you at the moment,” Millie pointed out, hands skimming over his chest and stopping where her behind sat over his midsection.

“Hmm, you do have a point there,” he admitted, eyes snapping open. “We’ll have to try something else then.” Sitting up a little, he shifted her until she lay atop him, pressed against him intimately along the length of his body with a slosh of water.

“We’ll make a mess,” Millie laughed, peeking over the sides where the spilled water pooled on the old wood floor. Hands already hiking up the white skirt of her dress that lay plastered to her body like a second skin, he skimmed over her bare flesh, raising goosebumps everywhere he touched.

“I don’t care,” he growled, suddenly seized with the need to possess her. Not enough room to straddle him in the copper tub, she made a little sound of frustration, hands sliding between their bodies to reach lower. Cutter gave a sharp intake of breath at that touch. More than anything he wanted to slide into her velvet heat, lose himself in her again and again. Fingers delved deep, shoving the scrap of lace aside to make her ready for him.

“Want you…” she gasped at the touch, chasing after his mouth with hers.

Meeting her kiss with growing passion, he wanted to devour her; consume her, body and soul. “Need you…” his voice rough with desire, Cutter withdrew his hands long enough to grasp her hips. “Turn over,” he ordered, already starting to turn her body before she caught on to what he wanted and assisted him in changing position.

With her back to him now, a shift of the hips and he was buried to the hilt within her. Hands on her waist, he kept her there for a long moment, binding her to him, savoring the sweet torment of her honeyed walls.

She ground her backside into him, that little movement making him lose the veneer of restraint, and he took control, with long, deep strokes that sloshed the water out of the tub with each movement. Head falling back against him, there was little for her to do but lay back and enjoy the ride as he slowly stoked the fire between them. Millie arched and ground back against him, urging him to move faster.

She was driving him insane when he was trying his damnedest to take things slow and last a little longer, instead of pounding into her like an animal, the way every instinct was telling him to. Every little twitch of her hips sent a new jolt of pleasure through him that was getting difficult to ignore. Her little breathy pants and the way she moved drove him closer and closer and Cutter gritted his teeth, determined to have her find her release before he let himself lose control. Unable to hold out any longer, he spilled into her with a guttural cry, teeth scraping against her shoulder.

Millie tumbled after him, leaving no doubt she’d found her own release from the sound of her cries. “Good thing we don’t have neighbors nearby,” she gasped weakly, collapsing against him.

Cutter could care less if anyone heard the sounds of him pleasuring his woman, but his chest rumbled with amusement at her concern. “Does that mean you want to stay out here and not move into town?”

“Move into town?”

“Well yeah, I assumed you’d want something a little bigger, not to mention a place with the little luxuries like electricity and indoor plumbing.” He kissed her temple and then lolled his head back, not wanting to move yet, enjoying the feel of her body against his.

“Really? You wouldn’t mind finding a little place in town? I know you love it out here, and there’s your work to consider.”

“I loved my peace and quiet, but with you here… it sort of defeats the purpose of a place out in the middle of nowhere,” he chuckled. “A bigger place will give me a little solitude when I want it, and give you space to stretch out as well. And the house has a shop out back I can use for workspace, so you don’t have to worry about wood shavings everywhere.” Though he wouldn’t mind a little scolding from time to time, he realized with a grin.

“Then you already have a place in mind?”

“I still have the old homestead. It’s been sitting vacant for a while and could probably use some updating, but it’s a lot more modern than this place and it’s plenty big for a family. That is, if you like it.” Cutter hadn’t been back there since he’d shut the place up years ago, but as far as he knew the place was still standing. He assumed someone would’ve come to tell him if it had burnt down or been damaged by storm.

“That’s where you lived when you were first married before?”

“Mmmhmm. Would that bother you, living there?” It hadn’t occurred to him she might not like the house for that reason until just then.

“I… don’t know,” Millie answered honestly. “I don’t think so, but I guess we’ll have to check it out and see. Is all her stuff still there?”

“A lot of it is. She didn’t take all that much with her when she left.”

“And your son’s things?” she asked softly, hand seeking out his.

It was harder to think about being around the constant reminders of his son’s disappearance, but at the same time, he was tired of running from them. Maybe it was time to finally lay those memories to rest. “Yes, Ian’s room is just how he left it that day,” he replied, squeezing her hand back.

Leaning back to kiss the underside of his jaw, Amelia feathered her thumb over the back of his hand. “We can keep it that way, if that’s what you want.”

“We’ll see, no sense in planning too far ahead before we take a look at the space and see if it’s a place you can see yourself living at.”

“As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where we live,” she smiled up at him, delivering another soft kiss to his neck. “But right this moment, I think we’d better dry off and relocate to the bed before the water cools off any more or we’re gonna regret it.”

“Ever practical,” Cutter kissed her cheek and obliged by lifting her gently to assist her out of the tub to drip onto the water soaked floor.

“Your poor floor,” Amelia’s sigh turned into a shiver as the wet dress rapidly cooled, clinging to her skin in an unpleasant way and she struggled to peel out of it.

“It’s only water; it’s been through worse over the years,” Cutter shrugged away her concern, stepping out beside her to drip dry in front of the fire. “Come here, darlin’, you look pretty cold.” Stretching out his arms he enfolded her into his embrace, rubbing his hands over her cooling arms.

“Don’t you have any towels?”

“I have a towel somewhere,” he frowned, regretting not planning more carefully. He didn’t care for himself, but Cutter worried as her teeth chattered. “Here…” letting go of her long enough, he found the discarded extra quilt and wrapped it around her body, drawing her close again. “Better?”

A nod, Millie closed her eyes. “Let’s get into bed, okay? I feel like I could sleep for a week. You must be exhausted too; I thought your body shut down when you were healing?”

“It does, but I didn’t lose nearly as much blood today as when I fought that mountain lion and you followed me home.”

“Helped you home you mean.”

“Pushed your way into my life,” he smirked, unable to resist goading her a little bit. “Most of the damage today is painful but superficial; plus, not downing a third of a bottle of bourbon helps keep me on my feet.”

“We’ve got a lot of time to make up for.” Cutter gathered her up into his arms, striding across the small living room to the bedroom where the bed lay mussed from the last time she’d been in it over a week ago. Tired or no, he intended to show her just how much he’d missed her lying beside him.

“We have our whole lives together, there’s no shame in getting some rest after the day you had.” Millie stroked his face gently as he laid her back against the pillows.

“Starting tonight,” he grinned, covering her with his body.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The thin sliver of light underneath the study door alerted Scarlett to the fact that Adele was in the room, and approaching softly, she intended to see if there was anything she could do for her grandmother. The low murmur of voices surprised her, she hadn’t seen any lights pull up into the driveway which meant whoever it was had come on foot. Unable to keep from satisfying her curiosity, she paused outside the door, head canted to one side as she strained to hear the conversation for some sign of who it was at such a late hour.

“… no mistakes this time, are we clear?” Adele’s voice came to her, stern and authoritative. A general murmur of assent was given and Scarlett thought she could pick out at least two distinct male voices, maybe three.

“I want him gone. No trace left, no hint of a struggle or that anything violent might have happened to him; clean up your mess.”

“Ain’t gonna be easy not to leave any trace, he’s gonna fight back.”

“I didn’t say it would be easy; if it were easy I’d send two of you to kill him while he slept. Make no mistake; the man is a canny fighter. He’ll be difficult to catch off guard, but he’ll be weaker after today’s trials. It’s essential his shack be put to rights afterwards, no trace of your attack. Are we clear on this?”

Another murmur was given before the bolder one spoke again. “What about the girl? She’s bound to wake up and see what’s going on, she’ll know what happened to him.”

“It’ll be harder to bring her back if she’s awake and squawking; take at least one of us full time to make sure she don’t make a break for it again.”