Rustled (11 page)

The storm
finally broke again on the second day after Russ made me promise to stay until
we could sort out my legal status. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday, and Russ
couldn’t reach his lawyer. But, I had cabin fever in a big way, even though
Russ had given me the grand tour in the meanwhile. True to his prediction, the
storm had been too bad for travel, which meant that I got to make my own bed
and feel a bit useful for a change.

When Russ
found me doing it, he helped from the other side, and then told me I needed to
know how to get around in the house, of which I had seen only a small portion.
He led me to the grand front entrance, floored in slate slabs and trimmed in
tall pine timbers. The high ceiling put me in mind of the entrance of a
two-story house, but Russ explained it was just a traditional one-level rancher
design made larger than usual.

To the right,
we entered what I would have thought of as a grand ballroom. A huge empty floor
was ringed with sofas and groupings of two to three wing chairs, some arranged
around low round tables. An enormous fireplace took up an entire wall, and a
double door in the opposite wall led into the next room. This turned out to be
a formal dining room with a table that looked like it would seat all the hands
and then some, but was elegantly draped in silk, the table and chairs of highly
polished mahogany.

“Russ,” I
asked, “do you entertain everyone in Wyoming when you throw a party?” I was
kidding, of course, but he answered seriously.

“No, that was
the Hendersons. It was one of the reasons they bought this place, though it was
far too big for the two of them. I told you they had no children, didn’t I?”
Yes, I thought he had. I nodded.

“Well, they
filled their lives with other people and their children. They were older than
my parents, and when I was born, Irene became a second mother, or more like a
grandmother to me. My childhood was charmed.”

I considered
the differences between us, but didn’t want to spoil his mood with comparisons
or protestations that we would never work as a couple. We went on through the
house, reaching the bedroom wing, but this time he opened each door as we made
our way down the long hallway. Bedroom after bedroom, each with beautiful
furniture but no occupant, met my eyes. After the seventh or eighth, I had lost
count, I asked him, “Russ, what are you going to do with all these rooms? It
seems such a waste.”

A haunted look
came into his eyes as he answered, “I once thought Denise and I would fill them
with children.” Overwhelming compassion for his grief came over me, and I
hugged him. He turned a smile on me and said, “I don’t suppose I could persuade
you
to help me do that.”

My mouth
dropped open. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart
attack,” he said, an intense gaze making my heart flutter and my brain panic.

“W-w-we just
met!” I cried. “This is too much. You’ve got to stop it.” But my heart betrayed
me. Children with this beautiful man? I’d love that, wouldn’t I? Doubt of my
independent plans crept in, and showed in my face. Instantly, Russ had me
pinned to the nearest wall.

“I’ll stop it
when you tell me the truth. You want me, you know you do. I want you, too. Why
must we follow convention and wait forever? I’d marry you tomorrow if you’d
have me.”

A gasp escaped
me. It seemed Russ was trying to startle me to death or scare me to death, I
didn’t know which. I couldn’t answer him, because it was a statement, not a
question.

I couldn’t
help but entertain a small thought of how it would look, the stray RALDS girl
marrying a wealthy rancher a few days after they met. Not only Janet would
think me a gold-digger, but everyone in whatever community existed out here in
the middle of Wyoming would think so, too. I’d never live it down. I shook my
head, and Russ grabbed my chin to stop me.

“You will not
tell me no, Charity. I know better. You can say not yet, but you can’t deny
that you want me.” In spite of my weak protests, he kicked the door shut while
keeping me pinned. Roughly, he thrust his hand up from the bottom of my shirt
and shoved the bra out of his way, grasping the breast in his hand and
squeezing. Like a bird that found itself trapped in the hand of a human, I
stilled, paralyzed by Russ’s intensity. He kissed me, forcing my lips open and
invading my mouth with his tongue, and then with three fingers, pulling my
bottom lip down so that he could ravage my mouth.

Despite all my
resolve, all my protests, I knew I was lost. I loved every touch this man had
for me, but god help me, it was best when he was rough. I nearly swooned with
lust when he ripped my shirt open, pushing the bra up over the other breast,
too, and attacking my nipples with his teeth and lips. Gasping, I squirmed,
trying to achieve purchase as he drove me further up the wall until I could no
longer stand firmly on the floor. I threw my arms around his neck and held on
for dear life, finally wrapping my legs around his waist.

Russ was
panting hard as he lowered me so that I could reach the ground. He used his muscular
body to herd me toward the bed. Ripping back the bedspread, he lifted me easily
and tossed me atop the sheets, diving onto the bed himself as if his life
depended on pinning me there. Holding my body down with his, he took my face in
both hands and peered at me intently.

“Kitten, I
love you. I
will
have you.” He kissed me fiercely then, and I was
helpless to deny him. In controlled ruthlessness, he finished stripping me,
then unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down. His mouth attacked my breasts
again, biting and sucking hard, until the exquisite pain caused me to cry out.
With no further preparation, he spread my legs and entered me, thrusting hard
to fill me deeply.

To my
surprise, I was ready, more than ready. His shaft slipped easily into my moist
cavern, and the masterful thrust set off the first orgasm. He covered me,
bearing down until I could hardly breathe, and surrounding me with his arms on
both sides, latching onto my neck with his teeth and tongue and thrusting, oh,
what gratifying thrusts! Thrills shot through me each time he slammed his
manhood home deep within me. Another orgasm left me shaken, but there was no
respite.

Russ drove
into me, again, and again, and again, until all thought fled and only red-hot
passion remained. With each thrust, I lifted my body into it, willing an even
deeper connection. I couldn’t get enough of feeling joined to him, squeezing
him inside me, wanting him to fill me without ceasing. I couldn’t breathe
deeply enough, but who needed oxygen? I’d live on the energy crackling through
me, setting all my nerve endings afire.

Russ slowed,
and opened his eyes, holding himself off me on his elbows and cupping my face
with both hands now. That stormy blue threatened to drown me, and I couldn’t
deny him when he demanded in a low growl, “Say you love me.”

After I gave
him the words he wanted, his thrusts turned gentler, though he pushed deeper.
Turning me slightly, he knelt above me, holding my body easily with my head
down and my ass up, one leg thrown over his arm. This gave him even deeper
access, until I thought he’d pierce me through. It was exquisite, triggering
another orgasm that he rode out with loud grunts that matched my twitching. At
last he released my leg, and without his support I collapsed onto my stomach,
pushing him out in the process, but he wasn’t through with me.

Both hands
were at my hips, pulling me up to my knees.

“Spread your
legs for me, Kitten,” came the deep voice, an order that I had no wish to
resist. I moved my knees outward, spreading my legs and exposing every intimate
part of me to his gaze, if he was looking. And I was certain he was looking. Russ
thrust his hand between my legs, flicking my clit with a thumb moistened in my
own juices. 

“Oh, my god,
Russ, I don’t know how much more I can take,” I gasped, jerkily, between
flicks. He didn’t answer, only continued what he was doing until I let my arms,
head and shoulders collapse onto the bed, leaving my ass high in the air to beg
for the release that I needed again. That was when he thrust his rock-hard
shaft into me again, pulling me onto it with both hands on my hips again, and
thrusting his hips forward to meet me. Yet another orgasm rocked me, and I
realized I was sobbing with the intensity.

I didn’t know
how long I had been sobbing, how many orgasms I’d had, and by this time, not
even whether it was night or day. Nothing came before this moment, and nothing
would come after. It was one perfect series of moments, suspended in time, with
this man’s expert fucking lifting me to a higher plane where I could fly like
an angel.

Turning me
once more, Russ positioned himself between my legs and entered me from the
classic missionary position. Finding it less than satisfactory, he pulled a
pillow over and lifted me bodily, still filled with him, to pull it under my
ass.

“Put your legs
over my shoulders, Kitten,” he directed. I could barely move them, I was so
weak, so he helped me, and then leaned in to deepen his penetration. I couldn’t
believe it, but this new angle was once again sending sensations through me
that would spiral into another orgasm, I could feel it building already.

Russ pumped
strongly, but his breath was coming more rapidly, and his grunts of effort were
growing louder. With a prolonged groan, he emptied into me, the warmth flooding
me as never before. When at last his release came, I was exhausted from the
depth and rapidity of my response, multiple orgasms that seemed to run into one
another so that I was gripped in one long eruption. He collapsed on me, and I
struggled to breathe, to process what had just happened, and to find my resolve
to leave this place within the next few days. When he pulled out, releasing a
gush of wet warmth, was the first I realized he hadn’t worn a condom.

“Russ! Oh, my
god, you didn’t…” The words wouldn’t come. I just pointed at his flaccid
member, causing him to look at it himself, puzzled. Then he got it.

“Oh, shit,
Kitten, I’m sorry! Look, it just, I don’t know. Can you forgive me? I haven’t
been with anyone since Denise, and I got tested after she left. I’m clean. And
you must be, too. You said it had been three or four years, right?”

“Yes, I
suppose I am.”

“Let’s not
worry about it, then,” he said, with more satisfaction than I thought
appropriate. “I like it better this way anyway.”

To tell the
truth, so did I. I did a little math, concluded that I was safe, since my
period was due in barely a week, and relaxed. After that, the grand tour was a
bit anti-climactic, but I understood why he always joined me in my bedroom when
he finally showed me his. The monk-like single bed would never have accommodated
our antics together.

That had been
on Friday, and the next day the storm still raged, so we stayed in my bed for
half the morning, playing, laughing, whispering and making love. On the Sunday,
the storm broke and Russ decided it was time to have a serious talk before he
called his lawyer the next day.

“Now Kitten,”
he said. “I really believe it’s going to be in your best interest to call
authorities in Arizona, or rather let a lawyer do it for you, and find out
what’s happening down there. Will you accept my help, and my lawyer’s
recommendation of someone to represent you?” I didn’t see that I had much
choice, and said so.

“Good. We’re
going to shoot for no charges, under the circumstances. You acted in
self-defense by fleeing. That’s our story.”

“It isn’t just
a story, Russ,” I complained.

“I know that,
sweetheart. It was just an expression. ‘That’s our story and we’re stickin’ to
it.’” Oh, he was quoting a country-western song. Striving for a bit of fun, I
crooned, “And my dog done died and my pickup’s broke, beat my ass and tell me a
joke.” Russ threw his head back and laughed, to my delight.

“Honey, you’d
better keep your day job, because you’re never gonna make a career in country.”

Laughing with
him, my retort was, “What day job?”

§

The following
morning, Russ put in a call to his attorney, leaving a message when he was
informed that the man was in court that morning. Though the day was brilliantly
sunny, the temperatures were near zero, and I was glad to curl up in the
library with my latest book. Russ had business with the hands and then would be
back in to take the call from his attorney when the court broke for lunch.

Once again I
reflected on his confidence, at his young age, that an important man like a
lawyer would miss his lunch to give Russ a call back. However, Russ wasn’t
disappointed. The phone rang at ten minutes past noon, just as we were about to
step into the hands’ dining room to have lunch with them. Russ waved me on. I counted
on him to give the attorney a balanced account of everything that had happened,
and went obediently.

Russ came in a
few minutes later, winked at me and sat down next to me. He entered the
conversation easily, the hands giving him an update on the condition of the
animals they had been able to gather into the nearby corrals to weather the
storm by combining their warmth. Most had done fine, although the twenty head
that they had been seeking when Russ found me were still missing.