WESTERN ROMANCE: A Settler’s Wife’s Dreams (Contemporary Westerns Historical Romance, Cowboy Romance) (4 page)

The sun hung high up in the sky. Its glare would have been harsh had it not been for the cloth umbrella casting its shadow on the table. Lunch had been wonderful. Music had played from a strange machine that Lisa had not seen before, only heard of, while Ted had talked to her about the city and how it had been changing.

There was a new mayor who wanted to establish some kind of economic dominance in the area in many different material mediums. Much of it affected Ted because in his line of work he used wood, cloth, copper, and steel to create furniture. When the mayor, or whoever else the powers that be were, decided to raise the prices or create some kind of tariff, it forced Ted to raise prices. It was either he raise prices, or that he took the hit on the chin and just made less money.

It was hard for Ted to justify not passing the money onto the customers, though. Most of the town’s people loved the mayor while having no idea what his policies were or how he planned on improving the town. As far as Ted was concerned anyone that voted for the mayor could help shoulder the financial burden of his poor policies and decision-making.

Lisa had listened much more than she talked during lunch. Much of the time she had simply admired the view or Ted, depending on whether he was paying attention to where her eyes fell or not. Most of the time he was completely oblivious to anything but what he was talking about, not that he was pretentious, though. He was just the kind of person who passionately believed in what he spoke.

It wasn't some kind of theory for Ted. It wasn't a ‘What if I owned a store and had to deal with the stupid ideas the mayor implemented into the economy’ like it was for most people that lived in the city simply to work or try to start farms. He had a vested interest in the things that most people spoke of simply to fill the void of conversation that often sprung up amongst those who lived in the same area but besides that had nothing else to talk about. Often times he would ask Lisa for her opinion. Lisa had blushed every single time, and answered just a few of them. When she did Ted had looked at her seriously and listened closely, like he really considered what she was saying valuable.

Lisa appreciated that Ted was being so kind to her, but she was sure that was it. A city slicker businessman taking in a homesteader off of the street to feed them lunch and listen to their opinion on economics like they had any idea of what they were talking about was just simply being polite. Or so Lisa thought. She couldn't find another reason why he was talking to her at all. He was such a beautiful man, with broad shoulders, round with muscles.

His hair was a few inches long on top and curled into locks that hung down in his face. He would flick these away from his eyes in annoyance, but Lisa found the action to be very attractive. Now, looking down at her plate with the food almost finished, with Ted just having left to take his dishes downstairs while assuring her he would return for hers, Lisa wondered what was getting into her.

She was a married woman. Whether or not she was happily married depended on the day. Frank's behavior in the bedroom had been completely selfish, but he was a work in progress in that regard. It wasn't that she was cheating, she had to remind herself. She was simply sitting with a nice stranger and listening to him talk. It would have been hugely rude to turn down his insistence that she eat with him. After all, he had not acted inappropriately the entire time, so his intentions must have been what he outlined at the start—that he often asked strangers to eat with him so they could get to know him and maybe buy some furniture in the future.

Lisa thought it made sense, although when it had occurred to her how much the small steaks and almost out of season fruit must have cost, her stomach turned a little. However, she had thus far kept her mind from wallowing in it. She had intentionally kept herself from recognizing that she was a very attractive woman sitting with a very attractive man who was making small talk and smiling at her like it meant the world to him.

Oh well, she thought, I haven't done anything wrong and I don't intend to. Ted is just a good guy. That’s all.

Standing up from the table Lisa looked out over the town spread out in front of her. She was amazed at how much it had grown since she had last seen it. The word that came to mind was “boom-town” but there was nothing about this city to make it boom. People were just that interested in moving west.

Many of the people in the town, Ted had told her over lunch, were transients now. That meant they had money to spend and weren't going to be around long. This had led to an increase in crime, both from the storeowners swindling the people just passing through and transients stealing from the permanent residents. Lisa's mind reeled as hundreds of people filled the streets just after the noon hour. One of the few things she had brought up on her own over lunch had been something Frank had brought back from the city in his talk—the idea to name the city Des Moines and make it Iowa's capitol.

Ted had grown excited while he'd talked about it, and it turned out Frank had been right when he said many people in the town were chomping at the bit to make history and help put a flag in the ground by claiming the city as the capitol. Lisa had thought it grand how wonderful Ted had made it all sound, his eyes getting dreamy when he'd talked about maybe running for some kind of public office when the city got big enough.

Lisa turned and looked toward the homestead. She wondered if she would be able to see it if not for the trees that were assuredly in the way. The homestead was built on high enough ground that she thought she would be able to see if not for the foliage. But maybe it was too distant. She wondered at how her feelings for Frank seemed as distant as the homestead. It felt good to be away from the seriousness of the relationship, of wondering why she was barren, or if she was barren at all and if it was really Frank keeping them from having children, or if she would even want to have children if she was able to.

There was just so much to be sorted out still between them. It was compounded by the way Frank refused to be a good lover. Although, Lisa reminded herself, he wasn't a bad lover all the time. There were just times that he was extremely selfish and she was growing to resent him more and more for it. Maybe it wasn't the sexual selfishness by itself though. Lisa shook her head. Of course it wasn't just that. It was many things compounded by the sexual frustration. And Frank was too busy out in the fields plowing to realize what was going on, that they were drifting apart while living in the same house and sleeping in the same bed. It made her sad to think about it.

“Don't worry about your plate, I'll get it!” Ted said as he vaulted up from the steep stairway they'd had to climb to get to the roof.

Lisa smiled. That was at least the third time he'd said that to her since lunch had ended. He was nervous because of her and she liked it. She liked the way sometimes there seemed to be an invisible force that leaped between their eyes like lightning, or kept their eyes from touching like they were magnetic opposites. It was something that Frank and her had had between them when they had first started their relationship, but how quickly that feeling had waned and then disappeared.

At the time Lisa's friends had told her it was normal, but now she wondered if it was so normal, and even if it was if it mattered to her. Lisa didn't want to live in a broken marriage, or be stuck in a destitute relationship that no longer seemed to be functioning properly. Lisa was almost ashamed to realize how much she had missed the spark that was so clearly present between Ted and her. She did like it though, and she didn't want it to go away.

“What is that you have attached to the side of your shop,” Lisa asked as she turned away from trying to see the homestead. “It looks like you are trying to open another shop?”

Ted paused his gathering of her plate and utensils.

“I'd love to show you,” Ted said. “I know, I know, opening up two different shops right by each other could easily backfire, and maybe I am expanding a little too quickly, but at the end of the day it doesn’t feel quick enough. I mean, there is just so much I want to do, you know? I want to make beautiful clothes for people, and also make marvelous furniture for them to sit in while they wear the clothes I make for them. Would you like to see?”

There was no way Lisa could say no and extinguish the light in Ted's eyes. So she said yes and away they went down the stairs. Ted said it would be a minute while he cleaned up and Lisa waited patiently. She was surprised to find that Ted didn't bore her at all.

He wasn't just another pretty face. The things they had talked about over lunch, although a little out of her depth, were things she found genuinely interesting. As Ted ushered her into the adjoined shop she wondered what they would find.

“Just like so,” Ted said.

His hands were reaching around Lisa's body from behind, careful to miss her breasts as he pulled a tape measure over her clothes.

“See,” Ted said. “That wasn't so bad. Now let me write it down before I forget.”

Ted had taken an hour to show Lisa all of the pretty clothes and fabrics he had amassed in the hopes that one day he'd be able to fulfill his dream of becoming an actual designer of clothes. Lisa looked at some of the machines that he had and stood in wonder at how much they must have cost.

It was amazing that such heavy things could be moved into the building and rest on the wooden floor at all. He had giant sewing machines that looked like they could run all the time without needing a break, looms that she couldn't begin to use, as she was so ignorant of their function, and many other things had been in the adjoining building.

In truth Lisa had found the tour of the future clothing manufacturing shop a little bit on the boring side. She wasn't sure how she had been entertained at lunch with talk of politics and economics, but what they were doing now wasn't that exciting. However, she stood still and listened carefully when he spoke. His voice held the still hush of someone telling another about their innermost dreams. It was hard for Lisa to imagine having the courage to open up not just a furniture store but also a clothing store right beside it, especially since both ventures would be making what they sold. It all seemed so ambitious compared to the life they had at the homestead.

“Well if you think about it,” Ted explained. “Most clothing stores don't make their own clothing. Sure they can repair and alter things, but make things outright? That is an extreme rarity. I've done some of the figures and I would be ahead of the game if I made my own clothes. I'm good at it, you know, very good.”

“People would come from far and wide to buy my clothes. Of that much I'm sure.” He continued confidently, “At first I would make simple clothes for people to wear while they work in the fields or do whatever it is they do. But eventually it would be about style and quality.”

Lisa nodded when she thought she should nod. Eventually he’d started talking about making her something, and then he had taken her measurements. It had been thrilling the way she had stood so still while he reached around her in several spots with the tape measure and then wrote down the numbers. She had never had her measurements before. Lisa took the small slip of paper and tucked it away in one of her pockets.

“Well, I should be going,” Lisa said. Her hands were shaking and she didn't know why.

“Why so soon?” Ted said. “I have an extra horse shoe. In fact I've already had it sent over to the stable to have it switched out with the old shoe.”

Lisa stood stunned. He moved to the front of her and took her hands in his.

“What? Why?” She whispered. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Ted put his curled finger under her chin and lifted her face to look at his. “Because you are a very special woman, Lisa, and I want you to know that you are a very special woman.”

“But, but, I am married,” she stuttered. He quickly laid a finger across her lips.

“I don't want to hear about that,” Ted said. “I realized that as soon as I saw you. I also knew that there was a reason you are alone right now. You needed a little time away from the homestead for a reason. Didn't you?”

Lisa turned away from him to study the street through a window. Finally she turned back after a few minutes. “Yes. I did need some time away from him. He can be so selfish. You have no idea. He does a lot around the homestead to be sure, but I have needs!”

Lisa slapped her palms against her thighs to punctuate the fact that she had needs because she did have needs. Ted reminded her with every glance she cast at him that she had very real needs.

“I'm sure you do have needs,” He took her in his arms and held her close.

“I know this might be hard to understand, but I don't want to come between you and your husband,” Ted said. “I just want you to feel good right now. Do you understand? I think that you and your husband can work out whatever it is you two have going on, but I know that right now we are together because we are supposed to be together.”

“What do you mean?” Lisa said, even though she already knew.

“I mean that I don't think it was an accident that you walked off the gangplanks into my store. I don't think that it is an accident that we are so attracted to each other. None of these things are accidents. Do you know what I'm saying?”

“I know how I feel right now. I know that you are here and I'm here,” Lisa said. “I know that you are right about one thing; I did come into town to get away from the homestead for a little bit. I'm glad that you don't want to come between me and my husband but I'm as equally glad that you want to make me feel good because I want you to make me feel good. I want you, Ted. More than I've ever wanted anyone or anything in my entire life, I want you right now!”

It was as if her words had unleashed a torrent of desire in both of them. Ted tagged her closer to him before bending his head to kiss her passionately. Masterfully he took his lips with his, his tongue tangling with her and mimicking all the delicious things she could imagine him doing to her body.

Lisa couldn’t help the quick spark of fire that flickered alive inside of her at the taste of him. He tasted of the sweet meal they had had along with mint and tobacco. So sweet and delicious! Eager to have more of him, she rose up to the tips of her toes, slanting her lips. Ted must have known exactly what he was doing to her because he chuckled slightly before withdrawing his tongue from her mouth. Instead of kissing her as hard as she wanted, he teased her with small pecks against her lips.

“I need you.” Lisa whimpered. With her words she pressed her breasts against the hard planes of his chest. “Please.”

“I know. I know.” He answered her plea with a smooth and prolonged trail of one of his palms down her back. The way his hand drew lower to cup her bottom then drag her closer to him was lewd yet somehow it felt oh so right. With his other hand he cupped her cheek, caressing the silky skin as his kisses whispered over the edges of her lips, teasing her and setting her nerves on fire.

His tenderness was sweet. It was special. It was sensual.

When he set his lips on hers again, it almost felt like her heart was about to crawl out of her body and lay her soul bare for him. She opened her lips to accept the taste of him, pressing her body even closer to him like she never wanted to let go. They were pasted so close together as they kissed that it felt like not even the thinnest blade could cut between them.

She should stop him.

This was not right.

What about Frank?

His tongue sunk deeper into her mouth, meshing with hers and wiping away her protest. So lost was she in his delicious seduction that she barely felt him pick her up and set her on one of his work tables. He kept his lips to hers as he smoothed his palms over her clothed thighs. The canvas was like a thin veil against his touch, it was no match to the electricity that he evoked each time he ran his hand from her knee to her hip.

She did not protest when his hands moved from her hip to the waist of her pants or when he undid the first button or when he started to lift her shirt. Her clothes fell off of her smoothly, like fetters released. Frank disappeared into nothing more than a faint mist lost in the fiery fires of Ted’s touch. If there had ever been a thought to stop Ted, it got tucked away into a closet that only he had the keys into.

“Has anyone told you how beautiful you are?” Ted whispered as he kissed her instep. Frank had told her but never quite the way Ted was telling her now. She deserved these soft kisses. She deserved this tender loving. She deserved more than the quick jaunts in bed that ended up with Frank plowing her belly like she was a strumpet he had picked in town. The more Ted touched her, the more certain she was that this is exactly what she needed.

His lips on her calf said that she was even more precious than all the wood in the world. The tender flick of his tongue along the length of her creamy legs made her feel like her skin was smoother than all his expensive fabrics. The small kiss on her knee, planted like a seed, carefully and precisely, as he journeyed up her leg said that there was nothing he would love to enjoy more than the taste of her and when he placed his lips on her upper thighs she new he meant every silent word.

Heat burned in her body. Her breasts swelled and her lower belly throbbed in need. She was half afraid that she was going to stain his expensive table. Ted didn’t seem to mind. In fact his nose flared at the scent of her arousal before he placed his lips there –right there.

“Ted.” Lisa yelped in shock, her eyes widening as she scooted away from him. No one had ever done that to her. Certainly not Frank! “What are you doing?”

“You’ll enjoy it.” Ted soothed pulling her back to the edge of the table. With a knowing smile, he once more bent his head and planted a kiss on the most sensitive part of her womanhood. Lisa couldn’t hold back the tiny whimper when his tongue flicked softly over her over-sensitized seam.

She had been touched there but not with a man’s mouth and never like this. Surely this was wrong. Surely she would go straight to hell for allowing a man, especially one who wasn’t her husband, to do these things to her. Surely, they would all …she screamed when he latched onto her clit with his lips, the electrical sensations zipping through her body with alarming speed.

Her eyes rolled and she moaned with pleasure as he flicked his tongue over it with expert precision. Lisa didn’t even realize that she wasn’t even sitting up on the table anymore. In her pleasure she had lowered herself until the only thing keeping her from completely lying on the table was her elbows planted on the hard surface. When he dipped his tongue into her, even that last support disappeared and she collapsed on the table on her back.

Ted’s lips released her bud, but it was only so his fingers could take over the work. He pushed a finger into her womanhood, easing it in and out. Lisa rose up and down following his finger when he withdrew and tucking him deeper into her when he pushed in. When he added in a second finger, then a third, the sensations were so intense she was sure she was going to erupt.

While his fingers strummed a fine tune on her lower body, he kissed his way up body, placing soft tender pecks up her taut tummy to her breasts. Instead of immediately suckling them, he teased her by running the tip of his tongue around the swollen flesh, interchanging between each breast until he had had Lisa thrashing her head and arching her body off the table in need.

The teasing was too much. 

“Ted. Ted. Ted.” She whimpered, her hands on the back of his head, urged him to bring her to completion. Ted was slow to respond but when he did it was well worth the wait. Almost the same time that he took her nipple into his mouth, he hooked his finger inside her touching some bundle of nerves that she had never even realized existed. With a keening cry Lisa came apart in his arms.

But it seemed she had come too fast because he didn’t stop the torture. His hands and his mouth played a sensual rhythm on her body causing it to light up in ways she had never even thought possible. Where she thought the pleasure ended, he started up a new fire till she was writhing again in another climax. In replete completion she laid, eyes closed as the ripples continued to flicker through her body.

She barely even noticed him divest himself of his own clothes. She only realized he was naked when he lifted her from the table. She wrapped her arms around his neck and locked her long legs as he walked carrying her to one of the sturdy seats. He settled with her on his lap, straddling his trunk like thighs.

His shaft lay beneath her. A hardened monster against her nether lips ready to maraud yet he didn’t hurry her. Instead he concentrated on kissing her and running his hands over her back. Almost unconsciously, she began to grind on him, fitting his heavy length in between her lips and coating him with her wetness. Immediately, her desire was reawakened.

“Are you ready?” He asked, instinctively knowing that she was ready for his possession.

She nodded, lowering her eyes in sudden shyness.

“Look at me,” Ted insisted. “Look at me, Lisa.”

She lifted her head to stare at him.

“Thank you for giving me this gift.” He said as he slowly lifted her. He fitted his shaft between her legs then started to lower her. Even as he lowered her further down his length, letting her womanhood engulf his steely member, he kept his gaze on hers.

Unable to bear his sensuous scrutiny or the intensity of his possession as he entered her, she bent her head, tucking her face into his neck. There was so much of him, too much even. They both groaned when his groin finally joined hers. For a minute he just sat with her in his arms and inside her. Frank had never had the patience to let her just enjoy that first sensation of a man inside her. But it seemed Ted had a bottomless pit of patience.

He waited her out till she was ready for him to start moving – and when he did, heaven and hell came apart. With firm hands on her waist, he lifted her up and down, filling her to the hilt, then slowly retreating. Every stroke in was an exploration of her body, setting her on fire and burning her up.

She wanted it to stop. She wanted it to never stop.