Bonds of Matrimony (27 page)

           
She
was too preoccupied to argue.
 
She
removed her clothes mechanically and sank into the warm water her sister had
drawn.
 
Chase was disappointed that
Webb was clearly avoiding her after her proposition, but the warm scented water
helped soothe her raw nerves.
 
She
soaked and allowed her sister to shampoo her hair.
 

           
“I’m
going into the city tomorrow with Marcus,” she told her sister, trying to break
the silence.
 
“Can I get you
anything?”

           
“I
don’t need anything, but thank you.
 
Are you going to tell me what Grandmother said to you?” she asked after Chase
had dried off and slipped into her nightgown.

           
She
sighed and began brushing her hair more gently.
 
“She told me that if I wasn’t in love with him, I needed to
let him go.”

           
“And
if you are in love with him?”

           
“I’m
not,” she answered shortly.
 

           
“But
you don’t want to dismiss him,” she finished for her.

           
“He’s
attractive and amusing.
 
He’s not
like any other man I’ve ever known.”

           
“So
what are you going to do?” she asked softly.

           
“I
don’t know.”
 
Chase stood up and
placed her hairbrush on the dressing table.
 
“It’s not only up to me,” she reminded her truthfully.
 
She wasn’t prepared to tell her sister
what she hoped to do.
 
Reese would
be scandalized and would try to change her mind.
 
She might even tell their grandmother.

           
Reese
climbed into bed, pushing the blankets down to the foot of the bed.
 
“Are you coming to bed?”

           
Chase
lowered herself onto the window seat.
 
“Go ahead and turn out the light.
 
I’m going to sit here for a little while.”

           
“Don’t
stay up too late.”

           
“I
won’t.”
 
She pulled her knees up to
her chest and straightened the thin white linen nightgown around her
knees.
 
She leaned her head against
the glass window, eventually making out the shadow of the barn in the darkness.
 

The moon was nearly full
overhead, casting a soft light across the ranch.
 
A soft breeze rustled the treetops, moving shadows across
the ground.
 
And from the shadows,
the dark figure of a man walked toward the barn.
 
Marcus?
 
Tom?
 
One of the other ranch
hands?
 
Rather than going into the
barn, the man stood outside the door and seemed to be watching the house.
 
Chase remained unmoving in the
darkness, wondering if he could see the bright whiteness of her nightgown.
 
And then she noticed the faint orange
glow.

Her heart began pounding
with fear and exhilaration.
 
She
was certain that it was Webb and his cigar standing in front of the barn, but
what if she was wrong?
 
What if she
ran down there and found one of the other cowboys waiting in the dark?
 
What if it was Marcus, and he
questioned why she was not in bed?
 
But Marcus didn’t smoke cigars.
 

“Reese?” she whispered
softly, turning her head to watch for movement in the bed.
 
She did not get an answer.
 
Silently, she crept across the room,
pulling the door closed behind her.
 
She tiptoed through the house, gaining some confidence at the sound of
Marcus’s snoring coming from the room he shared with Elisa.
 
When she reached the back door, Chase
opened it slowly, peeking out and straining to find his silhouette again.
 
He hadn’t moved from his position in
front of the barn door.

As she slipped outside, she
saw him move and open the barn door.
 
Then he disappeared.
 
She
walked quickly, nearly jogged, across the yard, hoping that nobody would happen
to glance outside the windows.
 
Between the moonlight and her white nightgown, it would not be difficult
to see her.
 
She rushed into the
open doorway and pushed the door closed behind her.
 

“Webb?” she whispered into
the darkness.
 
Above her, she heard
a soft thump.
 
He was in the
hayloft.
 

The hatch overhead darkened
with his shadow.
 
“I’m up here,” he
whispered back.

Chills ran down her body,
raising goosebumps on her arms.
 
Her
heartbeat accelerated, somewhere between terrified and giddy.
 
She hesitated only a moment to ask herself
if she was certain about this decision.
 
Then she continued forward in the darkened barn.
 
Her hands were moist as she climbed the
ladder into the hayloft.
 
He met Chase
at the top of the ladder and took her hands to pull her to her feet.

“Hello,” he greeted softly.

She only smiled nervously in
response.
 
He had pushed open the
mow door in the upper level of the barn, letting in the soft moonlight.
 

“I didn’t dare turn on a
lamp,” he explained.

“Of course,” she answered
simply.

“I just came to finish that
conversation we had started,” he assured her gently.
 
“I want to make sure that you know what you’re doing.
 
This isn’t a decision to be made
lightly.”

“It’s not one I made
lightly.”

“If anyone found out—”

There was no need to finish
his thought.
 
They both knew what
could happen.
 
“Then we must be
discreet,” she answered.

“If this has anything to do
with me going upstairs with Virginia, I—”

She moved quickly, bringing her
body against his and standing on tiptoe, pulling his head down to bring his
mouth to her own.
 
He did not
hesitate to return the kiss.
 
Their
tongues tangled hungrily as he pulled her body tighter to his.
 
He was already aroused, and it was more
evident with only the light linen of her nightgown and his trousers between them.
 
Still keeping one arm around her waist,
his other hand cupped her breast possessively.
 
Chase pulled back and ran her own hands down over his chest,
feeling the warmth and muscles beneath the fabric of his shirt.

He reached up and undid the
first two buttons before she nudged his hands out of the way and finished the
job herself.
 
She pushed the shirt
off of his shoulders and trailed her fingertips over his shoulders, down his
arms, and then up his stomach and chest.
 

“My God, you’re exquisite,”
he breathed.
 

“I was just thinking the
same thing of you.”

“We have to stop, Chase.”

“Stop?”

“I didn’t come here for
this.
 
Not tonight.
 
Not here.
 
You’re a lady, and…” he trailed off.
 
“I only came to talk.”

She looked at his mouth,
made red from their hungry kisses.
 
“And we
did
talk,” she
reminded him.
 
“Now kiss me.”

“Are you sure about
this?”
 
He couldn’t disguise the
note of hope in his voice.
 
He was
afraid that she would change my mind.

“I’m certain,” Chase
answered simply.
 

“There are things I can do
to make this easier on you, but it’s still going to hurt this first time,” he
warned gently.
 

“I trust you.”

That being said, he pulled her
against his body again, moving against her erotically while kissing her mouth
and neck thoroughly.
 
His tongue
left a moist trail up her neck, and he nipped her earlobe.
 
She shivered in his arms and moved
closer to share his warmth.
 
Then
his hands were between them, removing his trousers and boots.
 
She untied the lace at the throat of her
nightgown and began to pull it over her head.

“Wait,” he ordered.
 
“Let me.”
 
And then he was gently lifting the hem of her nightgown up
to her waist and then over her head.
 
She lifted her arms to accommodate him and then rushed back against his
body.
 
She became immediately
self-conscious and unsure of herself.
 
He didn’t insist on staring at her body.
 
Instead, he pulled her into his arms and lowered her to the puddle
of their clothing placed on top of the straw-covered ground.
 
He lay next to her on his side, still kissing
her and exploring her body with his hands.
 
He gently pinched her breasts and then soothed them with a
kiss.
 
He ran his strong hands
lightly down her stomach until his fingertips teased the hair that covered her most
intimate places.

“You are so beautiful,
Chase.
 
So beautiful.”

She was unable to
answer.
 
His hands were caressing her
legs, and then moving higher.
 
She
gasped to feel his touch.

“So warm and wet,” he
whispered.

She could barely groan in
response.

He leaned over and kissed her,
sucking gently on her lower lip.
 
She
felt the pressure beginning to build inside of her.
 
And when she thought that she could take no more, the
pressure exploded, sending extraordinary tremors through her body.
 
She gasped in surprise and delight.

“That’s my girl,” he
crooned.
 
And then his mouth was
following the same path has hands had just taken, beginning by flicking her
nipples with the tip of his tongue and then moving lower.

“What are you doing?” she
asked, suddenly unsure.

“Trust me,” he answered
gruffly.
 
When he put his mouth on her
and teased her, she writhed beneath him in sweet agony and pleasure.
 
She had never felt anything so
incredible in her life.
 
This time,
her climax was more intense, and she called out his name in a soft moan.
 
He held himself up over her, pausing a
moment to smile down at her.
 
“How
are you doing?” he asked with his slow sexy drawl.

“I’m positively humming,” she
mumbled with a small grin of her own.

His eyes glittered in the
moonlight as his body and mouth came down on top of her own.
 
He took her tongue gently between his
teeth and then pulled back.
 
“I
hate that this is going to hurt you,” he whispered apologetically.

“I’ll be fine,” she
answered, silently hoping that the pain she would experience would be more
physical than emotional.
 
And as he
moved slowly and watched her face closely to guage her reaction, the knowledge
that it was too late for her to turn back only entered her mind for a
moment.
 
He lay still, allowing her
body to grow accustomed to the pain.
 
And only when the pain became a faintly dull ache did he move inside of her.
 
He grit his teeth together with each
slow long stroke.
 
And slowly, the
ache turned into an exquisite sensation that began to build inside of her again,
chasing away any doubts she might have had.
 
Recognizing now that her body was reaching toward a climax, she
wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his hips.
 

He groaned above her and
gasped, “So incredible!”
 
He began
moving faster inside of her, and she crossed her ankles behind his back,
locking his body against her own.
 
They
moved together, and she closed her eyes against the intensity.
 
And then her body exploded more
abruptly and completely than before.
 
This time, she cried out with him.
 
They lay beside each other, both of them gasping for breath, unable to
speak about what they had just done.

And it was in that moment
that she finally realized that the day she walked into that saloon in
Liverpool, Colton Webb had shattered her world.