The Convenient Mail Order Bride (22 page)

T
wo
weeks later, Phoebe shot the bottle off the post and turned to Abe
with a smile on her face. “I got it. Now you have to give me a
kiss.”

He arched an eyebrow. “I don’t recall us
having that agreement.”

“I just made it up. For every bottle I
shoot, you have to kiss me.”

After seeming to consider it, he finally
consented and came over to kiss her. She knew he planned on a short
one, which was why she put her arms around his neck and drew him
closer for a longer kiss. He wasn’t hard to convince to linger at
her lips. In fact, it was his tongue that brushed along her lower
lip, sending a spark of pleasure straight through her. Soon, their
tongues were intertwining, and she couldn’t be sure, but she
thought she heard him let out a low moan.

When their kiss ended, she couldn’t resist
teasing him. “You don’t seem to mind giving me a kiss when I hit a
bottle.”

Though he offered a shrug, she caught a hint
of a smile on his lips. “If it helps you get better at shooting,
then who am I to argue? But,” he added before she could get another
kiss from him, “your mother did say she was going to join us today,
didn’t she?”

“She did. She insisted on doing the dishes
first. I figure we have another five minutes alone.”

Despite her suggestive move in pressing her
body against his, he said, “If you want another kiss, you have to
shoot another bottle.”

“You’re surprisingly stubborn on these
matters, Abe.”

“I’m the one who’s stubborn? You insisted on
staying here with me.”

“Which you secretly wanted but was too proud
to admit.” She nudged him in the side and winked. “It’s alright.
You can call me your convenient wife if you want.”

“Well, it is certainly convenient to have
you around.” He ran his hands down her back and cupped her behind
in his hands.

Figuring he wasn’t all that opposed to
another kiss after all, she made another attempt to wiggle a kiss
out of him, but he shook his head.

“Not until you shoot another bottle,” he
said. “That was the agreement you made.”

She let out a moan but shook her head in
amusement. “You’re a hard man to please, you know that?”

“If you wanted kisses without shooting a
bottle, you should have specified that.”

Chuckling, she decided to let him win this
particular battle. She stepped away from him and picked the next
bottle she wanted to shoot. It took her three tries to knock it off
the post, but when she did, she let out another cheer and faced
him, waiting for him to give her another kiss.

“I would,” he began, gesturing behind her,
“but we have company, and I don’t think she wants to watch us
kiss.”

She turned around and saw her mother heading
toward them. Glancing at Abe, she said, “You owe me one.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll do more than kiss you
later when we’re alone,” he replied.

The heated look he gave her sent a shiver of
pleasure straight through her. Who knew the intimate life of a
married couple could be so wonderful?

Abe retrieved the revolver from his holster
and gave it to her mother when she reached them. “I’m going to put
more bottles up, so hold off on the shooting until I’m back.”

“I had no idea he had such a good sense of
humor,” Phoebe told her mother in a low voice so he wouldn’t
overhear.

“It’s nice to see you in love,” her mother
replied with a smile. “I was praying you’d find a good man you
could be happy with when you started answering those ads.”

“Things didn’t happen the way either of us
expected, but it did work out. It’s just as you said. I had to give
it time.”

“It’s easier for someone my age to talk
about giving things time. The older you get, the more patient you
become.”

“Sometimes I’m actually grateful to Carl
Richie for doing what he did. I know the way he went about it was
wrong, but it brought us here and I’ve never been happier in all my
life.”

“That’s the important thing. And Abe’s just
as happy. It all worked out for the best.” Her mother’s eyes
twinkled. “Actually, it worked out better than I hoped.”

Abe came over to them. “You sure you feel
comfortable handling a gun?” he asked her mother.

“I can handle it,” she said. “I just need to
brace myself better when I pull the trigger. I won’t fall back
today.”

“At least Abe caught you before you landed
on the ground,” Phoebe added, unable to avoid laughing. “I warned
you there was a kickback.”

“Yes, I know,” her mother replied, “but you
made it look like it was nothing at all to just stand and
shoot.”

“It got easier the more I practiced,” Phoebe
admitted. “I don’t even think about it anymore.”

“Practice makes everything easier,” Abe
said. “You’ll do fine today. Remember to keep your arms and wrists
straight out.”

As her mother got ready to shoot, Phoebe
couldn’t help but notice Abe went behind her mother. “You think
she’s going to fall back again?” she asked him.

“I didn’t say that,” he replied.

“Don’t give him a hard time, Phoebe,” her
mother said, a sparkle in her eye. “He’s watching out for an old
woman.”

“You have a young heart,” he replied.

“Ma does have a young heart,” Phoebe agreed.
“How old we feel is often in our minds.”

“If only the body would cooperate better,”
her mother mused.

“You do fine for someone your age,” Abe
said. “It’s often how we feel inside that affects what we’re able
to do. If you believe you can shoot well, you will.”

“That’s true.” Phoebe gestured to the bottle
in front of her. “Go for it, Ma. Give that bottle what’s coming to
it.”

Her mother laughed then fired the Colt. The
bullet didn’t even come close to the bottle, but it didn’t go up
like the others had. And more than that, she didn’t fall back.

“You did better that time,” Phoebe assured
her. “Try again.”

Her mother nodded and shot again. Though she
still didn’t get close, her aim was even more level with the
bottle. “I’m afraid it’s going to take me longer than you to get
the hang of this,” she told Phoebe.

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes to
reach a goal as long as you get it.”

“You’re right. When you put it like that, I
don’t seem so bad.”

“You’re doing more than some women would
do,” Abe spoke up. “You’ll get there.”

Phoebe met Abe’s gaze and smiled. She’d
underestimated how patient he was. Oh, she knew he was patient.
He’d been patient with her while she was learning how to do the
chores around the place. But he was especially kind in his
instructions, and she couldn’t help but love him all the more for
it. Yes, Carl Richie had done her a favor by posting the ad on
Abe’s behalf. She couldn’t have ended up with anyone better.

***

Phoebe kept her legs wrapped around Abe’s
waist, reluctant to part from him after their lovemaking. The loft
was quickly becoming her favorite place. Yes, they usually slept in
the cabin at night, but from time to time, they would find a reason
to go up into the loft during the day to enjoy each other. More
often than not, she was the one who instigated their lovemaking, as
had been the case today.

At the moment, he was kissing her neck, his
actions now lazy since they’d both exhausted their passion. She
sighed in contentment and ran her hands up and down his back. He
brought his lips to hers, and soon, their tongues were
intertwining.

She was quickly learning there were
different kinds of kisses. There were those that they gave each
other during the day that didn’t lead to more. They were more like
a hello or a quick way to say, “I love you.” Then there were those
that did lead to more. Those had more passion in them. The ones
they shared during lovemaking were, by far, the most
passionate.

The kiss they were currently sharing was
more gentle and slower. It seemed to express a tender thankfulness
for the fact that they were together.

When the kiss ended, he asked, “Wasn’t I
supposed to be teaching you how to ride a horse?”

She offered a playful shrug. “We did make it
to the barn.”

“Yes, but you cornered me as I was getting
the reins, and the next thing I know I’m up here.”

She ran her leg down his, noting the way her
action made his eyes darken in desire. Besides the kissing, she was
quickly learning how to seduce him. “I don’t recall you
protesting.”

“It’s hard to protest when a beautiful woman
is kissing you and touching you in a certain place.”

“That certain place was already hard by the
time I touched it.” Which was something else she’d learned. When he
had an erection, he most definitely wanted to make love. She ran
her fingers through his hair and shot him a wicked grin. “You can’t
tell me you don’t feel better when it’s inside me. I feel better
when it’s in me.” Then, noting the way he lengthened inside her,
she clenched around him.

He let out a low groan. “I’m never going to
get any of the chores done if I keep taking you with me.”

“But we weren’t going to do a chore. We were
going to ride horses. Tell me the truth, wasn’t it much more fun to
do this instead?”

“Alright, yes, it was. This is always going
to be more fun,” he admitted. “But you need to learn to ride one.
What if I get injured or sick and can’t make it to town to get the
doctor? There are good reasons why you might need to ride a horse.
You can’t always hook it to a wagon.”

“You’re right. I might need to ride a horse
in the future, and it’d be good to learn how to do it. Everything
you’re teaching me is useful, Abe. I might get distracted from time
to time, but I am a quick learner.”

“That’s true. You do learn fast.”

“See? It’ll all work out. Just like with
everything else you wanted me to do, I’ll learn to ride a
horse.”

“I want you to learn today.”

“I’ll learn today. I promise.”

She cupped the back of his neck and pulled
him down to her so she could kiss him. She intentionally let her
lips linger on his. Then, for added measure, she clenched around
his erection again, aware he was, most definitely, ready for more
lovemaking. Her tongue brushed his bottom lip in silent
encouragement for him to forget about the horse for the moment and
focus on her.

The ploy worked. He started kissing her in
earnest, his tongue sweeping her mouth. Having successfully managed
to get him exactly where she wanted him, she opted to urge him to
roll onto his back so she could be on top this time.

Then, out of curiosity, she turned her back
to him and straddled him, taking him inside her. She leaned forward
and lifted her hips. She let him slide partly out of her before she
lowered herself back on top of him. She released a groan. She
hadn’t expected the movement to feel that good, but this particular
position was allowing him to stroke a part deep in her core that
the other positions hadn’t.

Intrigued, she repeated the action, lifting
her hips and then bringing them back down. She bit her lower lip
and did it a third time. This time, she was rewarded with a moan
from Abe. He brought his hands to her hips and squeezed them.

“Don’t stop, sweetheart,” he whispered then
lifted his own hips so he was deeper inside her.

He guided her hips in a rhythm that soon had
her rocking over him in earnest, and before long, she reached the
peak. Crying out, she stilled, only briefly aware he was still
thrusting in her, his movements fast as he sought his own climax,
something that served to prolong her own state of bliss. He grew
taut, his penis throbbing in her as he filled her with his
seed.

After they both descended back to earth, she
got off him and snuggled up against him. He brought her into his
arms and kissed her, once more showing her how thankful he was they
were together. And she, in turn, kissed him back with the same
gratitude.

They would linger in the loft for a while
and keep kissing, she knew. But then, she’d be good and learn how
to ride the horse. It was important to him, and she would do it.
Maybe afterward, though, she might talk him into coming back up to
the loft for one more tryst before she had to help her mother with
supper.

Chapter Twenty-One

C
linking metal scraps broke Abe out of a sound sleep. He bolted
up in the bed, taking a moment to process what he needed to do. But
only a moment. Those metal scraps served as his only warning. There
was trouble, and he didn’t have time to delay. His uncle made that
mistake, and it cost him his life.

Abe got out of bed and slipped on his
clothes, trying to be quiet so he wouldn’t alarm Phoebe. It was
best she stay out of whatever was going on. No doubt, it had
something to do with that day in town when Enoch tried to take
advantage of Phoebe. He knew Enoch and Benny wouldn’t let the
matter go. Those types never did.