The Reluctant Bride (39 page)

“You’re driving me crazy,” he moaned in her ear.

She smiled with the knowledge that she had such power over him. “Take off your shirt or I’ll keep torturing you.”

His smile was warm but filled with a hunger that was almost brutal in its intensity. “I hope you don’t think that’s a threat.”

She supposed a respectable woman shouldn’t think such things, but his chest was magnificent. Soft brown hair covered his upper chest before narrowing into a trail that sank to his navel. Corded muscles rippled across his chest and created ridges of muscle down his firm abdomen. She let her hands wander over him, marveling at the combination of softness and strength, of heat and firm muscle. If Ethel had ever chanced to see him without his shirt, it didn’t surprise Tanzy that she had fallen hopelessly in love with Russ.

Russ kissed the side of her neck, pushed the straps of her nightgown off her shoulders to allow him to place kisses in the hollow of her shoulder. He continued down her arm until his kisses had forced the straps off her body and her gown pooled at her feet. He laced his hands on her back and with gentle pressure brought her toward him until her bare breasts touched his heated skin.

A deep sigh escaped him. “You feel better than I ever imagined.”

“You, too. I never realized my family was cursed with such puny men.”

“That’s because Mother Nature used up all her resources on the women.”

“You have me at a disadvantage,” she said.

“How?”

She lowered her hands down his side, over his belt, and down the sides of his thighs, then over his behind. “Too much of you is hidden from me.” She reached around and began to unbuckle his belt. “I don’t think that’s fair.”

He sucked in his breath when her hand brushed his arousal.

“You’d better let me do that,” he said. He picked her up and carried her over to the bed, laid her down, and gazed at her in wonder. “I could spend the rest of my life just looking at you.”

“Only if you allow me to look at you.”

Russ sat down to remove his boots and socks. Then he stood to remove his pants. Tanzy had had too many brothers not to be acquainted with the male anatomy, but this was the first time she realized all men were
not
created equal. Mother Nature had been more than generous when she created Russ Tibbolt. He was almost frightening in his perfection. The mattress sagged under his weight when he lay down on the bed next to her. He slid his arm under her and drew her close.

“You don’t know how often I’ve lain awake at night unable to sleep because I was imagining what it would be like to lie next to you,” Russ said.

“I did that, too,” Tanzy said. She put her hand in the middle of his chest and rubbed lightly. “You don’t know how hard it is for a woman to be around you and not think of things she shouldn’t.”

“You have my permission to think anything you want.”

“Do I have your permission to
do
anything I want?”

“You always did.”

“Why did you jump when I did this?” Tanzy said as she gently rubbed his nipple. His body seemed to shudder.

“Because nearly every nerve in my body seemed to explode like lightning striking a pine tree, setting the resin afire.” He reached over to cup her breast with his hand, gently massaging her nipple with his thumb. “Does this feel like that for you?”

“More like all my bones are melting,” Tanzy said, her voice unsteady from the after shocks of his touch. “Your hand is so hot it’s burning my skin.”

He pulled away. She grabbed his hand and replaced it. “I didn’t say I disliked it.”

He leaned up on his elbow and cupped her other breast.

The sensations coming alive in her were causing her to feel giddy, as if she were no longer in control of her body, as if she were incapable of resisting what was happening to her. But she didn’t want to resist. She wanted a lot more.

She reached up to pull his head down between her breasts. The feel of him nestled against her was wonderful. She couldn’t get enough of it. She ran her fingers through his thick hair, holding him tightly against her, reveling in the seductive warmth flowing through her limbs and filling them with a delicious ache. That ache was intensified tenfold when she felt the warm, moist roughness of Russ’s tongue on her nipple. She practically rose out of the bed, her back arched to force him against her harder, to make the feeling even more intense.

She got a reprieve when Russ’s mouth deserted her nipples to plant kisses on her shoulders and along her arms, but the sensations came barreling back when he kissed her belly. The sensitive nerve endings telegraphed frantic messages of erotic delight to her brain and begged for still more.

Tanzy took Russ’s face in her hands and pulled him up to where she could kiss him, to where she could give him some idea of the pleasure he was causing her. Her attention was almost immediately distracted because he lay atop her, his erection pressed hard against her abdomen. Her gasp caused him to break the kiss and roll off her.

“I didn’t mean to crush you,” he said.

“You didn’t.” She turned on her side and pulled him close. She slid her hand down his body until it came to a stop between his legs. “This took me by surprise.”

“Surely you knew it would happen,” he said, his voice husky with desire.

“It still surprised me.”

He slid his hand along her side, down between her legs, and into her moist heat. “Your body wasn’t surprised.”

Tanzy sucked in her breath, felt unable to let it go. It felt like a huge balloon inside her was held captive by the tension caused by Russ’s invasion of her most intimate place. She felt his hand moving and the balloon grew even bigger, until she thought she would burst. Then he touched a spot that sent lightning strikes sizzling through her body. The bottled-up air exploded from her body in one huge whoosh, leaving her shuddering with an ache so pleasurable she never wanted it to end.

“Don’t be frightened. I won’t hurt you,” Russ said.

“I’m not frightened.”

“Then please let go.”

Startled, she realized she was gripping his arousal so hard it had to be painful. She released him and ran her fingers through his hair, felt his ribs and corded muscles through his warm skin. She couldn’t concentrate because of what he was doing to her. He had turned on his side so he could take her mouth in hot, demanding kisses while he continued to probe inside her, seeking and finding the spot that reduced her to helplessness, rubbing and teasing until her body threatened to explode.

She tried to protest, but his kisses swallowed her breath, and he increased the tempo of his assault. Her body tried to escape his torture but couldn’t get enough of it. The intensity of the feelings inside her continued to grow until her limbs grew rigid and her body rose off the bed. Then, just as suddenly, she felt moisture flow from her and she collapsed onto the bedspread, quivering with pleasure again.

She had barely recovered her breath when Russ rose above her and she felt him begin to enter her. For a moment she was certain she wouldn’t be able to contain him, but he moved slowly, sinking a little deeper each time, allowing her to become accustomed to his size. She worried she might still fail until he gave a sigh and entered her fully.

He paused only a moment before he began to move within her. At first Tanzy was conscious only of being stretched to sheath him, but that feeling was quickly supplanted by the rebuilding of the fire that had only moments ago singed her mind and soul. She began to move with him, rising to meet him, falling away in preparation for meeting him once more. As the tension within her grew, she tried to force him deeper and deeper within her to quench the fires burning out of control. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the passion she could muster, but that only made her need more insistent. She never would have believed such delicious agony could exist, that she would pray for it to end and in the next breath pray it would never stop.

Russ’s breathing became more rapid, his movements less smooth, which only served to increase Tanzy’s torment. She clung to him, pushed hard against him, reaching for the relief she knew would come, that
must
come. Russ released a shuddering breath, drove deep into Tanzy, and froze. The pulsing deep inside as he released his seed set Tanzy hurtling over the edge into a world of brilliantly exploding lights.

Russ lay quietly, Tanzy sleeping wrapped in his arms, unable to believe what had happened. Tanzy Gallant loved him, was going to be his wife. A woman really,
really
loved him. She didn’t care that he had spent time in prison, that nearly everybody he knew disliked him, or that he lived in a cabin in an isolated valley a long distance from town. She loved him and wanted to live with him. She’d said she never wanted to leave his side, that she would love him forever.

Even though she’d given herself to him twice within the last hour, Russ could hardly believe it was true. Not Tanzy, the one woman in his whole life who didn’t allow compromise, who didn’t allow herself to be swayed by the prejudices of others, the one woman who was willing to stand up to anybody when she felt someone was being wronged, the one woman who didn’t wait for someone else to lead the way when something needed doing. She loved him. She was going to be his wife.

No matter how many times he said it, the reality wouldn’t sink in. He couldn’t make himself believe something wouldn’t happen to change everything. It always had in his life.

His mother would have been fine after she’d married Bob Tibbolt if she hadn’t fallen for Stocker’s promises to give her things Bob couldn’t afford. Adele would have been fine if she’d waited for him to return from Texas with the money to buy some cows instead of taking up with Stocker’s no-good brother. He’d have been all right if Toley Pullet hadn’t been so sure he could draw faster and shoot straighter than Russ.

But things started to go right for him after he went to prison. He met Tim, Buck, and Oren. After he got out, they helped him start his ranch. He bought cows that thrived on the rich grass of his valley, where they were protected from the harsh winters. His friends accepted Welt when he walked out on his family’s business just as they accepted Tardy and Tanzy. Maybe his luck had changed. Maybe finding Tanzy was just the best in a string of fortunate happenings.

He looked down at her. Afraid of waking her, he caressed her hair rather than touch her cheeks, which looked pink and soft. He couldn’t believe she was lying in his arms, looking like a sleeping angel. She trusted him to keep her safe. She trusted him with her future, with the future of her children. She trusted him with her heart.

The magnitude of that trust frightened him at the same time it filled him with hope and nearly indescribable happiness. He trembled with apprehension as well as anticipation. Everything he’d ever wanted was within his grasp. It was time for him to forget the past. Forever. The future looked too wonderful to do anything else.

He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Tanzy’s forehead. She stirred in her sleep and snuggled a little closer to his heart. Slowly, gradually, a smile transformed her face. She truly did look like a sleeping angel.

His
sleeping angel.

“I can’t wait to get back to the ranch,” Tardy said.

“Are you sure your aunt won’t want you back once she gets over being angry at you?” Tanzy asked.

“She hasn’t stopped being angry at Russ and that was more than ten years ago.”

They were on their way home from Boulder Gap. Tardy rode his horse, alternately riding close to the wagon, then forging ahead or off to the side to check out something that interested him. Russ drove the wagon, his horse tied behind. Tanzy sat next to Russ, occasionally hooking her arm in his, continually looking up and being amazed this man loved her so completely.

Deciding to marry him had been a hard decision, but now she felt relieved and happy. Their life wouldn’t be without its problems, but she was certain their love would withstand all tests. After a long journey, she’d found a home, a place where she could give her heart with the certainty it would be handled with loving care.

“Can’t you make that horse go any faster?” Tardy said.

“You don’t gallop a wagon over rough terrain,” Russ said. “You’ll shake it to bits. If you’re so impatient, ride ahead.”

Tardy didn’t need a second invitation. He spurred his horse and quickly disappeared.