Authors: Norah Hess
Chase pretended not to see the flaring of passion in Raegan's eyes, but after greeting her with a smile, he made sure that his bare arm grazed hers as he reached past her to take the coffee pot from the stove. "If you don't mind, I'll have a cup of coffee while you finish making supper," he said, taking a seat from where he could watch her.
"Not at all," Raegan answered as calmly as she could, her fingers suddenly dropping flatware and knocking over cups.
Ah, my confused little bride,
Chase thought with a stirring in his loins,
how you will come alive in my arms tonight.
If his seed hadn't taken yet, it surely would tonight.
But had he been able to read Raegan's mind, he would have known that she was building up a defense against the yearning of her body. If her new husband had plans to sleep with her tonight, he might as well get the thought out of his mind. She would not lay herself open for more hurt— have him make love to her for hours, then tell her the next morning that he shouldn't have. He could sleep on the floor in his bedroll.
After what seemed like hours to Raegan, but in truth was only about ten minutes, she had supper on the table. She called to Star to come eat just as Jamie walked slowly into the kitchen. "Hey, Hoss, do you think you're ready to be out of bed? I was goin' to bring your supper to you," Chase said.
Jamie eased down in the chair at his place at the table, and Raegan hurried to set a place for him. "My headache has eased up considerably," he answered Chase, "and I see no reason to stay in bed like I was a invalid."
"That makes sense," Chase answered, and smiled at Star as she came through the door, carrying the skinny carcasses of the two squirrels. She placed them in a crock of water and, avoiding looking at Jamie, took the chair Raegan motioned her toward.
Raegan and Star ate in silence as the two men discussed the Tillamook's attack on Jamie and the ugly site Meg had chosen for her husband's grave. "I told Meg that we'd all come to Henry's buryin'," Chase said. "Do you think you'll be up to goin'?"
"Yeah, I'll go. A good night's sleep and I'll be fine."
Finally everyone sat back with replete stomachs. Raegan poured coffee, then began to clear the table. She was aware that Chase's eyes followed her every move, and she wanted to yell, "Stop looking at me like a hungry wolf." She gave him a cold stare when he stood up and said, "I'm goin' down to the river and take a bath. You want to come with me, Raegan?"
Looking away from him, she answered coolly, "I had a bath this morning. Besides, I'm going to bed as soon as I straighten up the kitchen."
"Fine, I'll hurry up my dip into the river," Chase said smoothly, mischief in his tone. "I don't want you fallin' asleep before I get back."
Raegan gritted her teeth but made no response.
Raegan lay curled in bed, her nerves as tense as an overwound clock. Chase would be coming through the door any minute, and she knew he had every intention of making love to her. She knew also that it would take all her will power to repulse him. But reject him she must. She had come to the conclusion that he
wanted
her to be with child, was in fact determined that she would be. It would be to his advantage to have a wife tucked away, a woman to look after his needs especially in his later years after he had whored himself out and had no more need of a woman in a sexual way.
She flopped over on her back, fighting tears. And damn him, it wouldn't even enter his mind about how she might feel about all those years married to a man who didn't love her. Well by God, she cared, and she would have nothing to do with such a marriage. God willing, his seed wasn't taking root inside her already. She would see to it that he had no further opportunity to get her with child.
Raegan stiffened when the door softly creaked open. In the room bathed in moonlight, she watched Chase enter the room, then close the door behind him. She had seen past him that all was dark in the cabin, that Star and Jamie had retired also. That fact, for some reason, made her body tense all the more.
She watched Chase come toward the bed, unlacing his buckskins as he came. When he slid the fringed trousers down his legs, her nipples peaked into hard little nubs at the sight of the arousal that sprang free. How could his manhood have hardened when he hadn't even touched her?
As he sat down on the bed to peel the leather over his bare feet, she hurriedly scooted to the other side of the bed, her fists clenched, ready to do battle. She heard his soft laugh as he slid beneath the sheet and reached for her.
"Take your hands off me, Chase Donlin!" she whispered fiercely. "We agreed that there would be nothing between us in case I'm not expecting.
"Oh no, my pretty little wife." Chase brought her closer up against him, his stiff maleness jabbing at her belly through the material of her gown. "Those were your words, not mine."
"But you—"
Chase's mouth claimed hers, silencing her protest, drinking from her lips with a hunger that sent passion flaring through her whole body. She tried to fight his demand for satisfaction, but knew even as she did that she would lose the battle. With a moan of reluctant surrender, her arms came up around his neck, her fingers curling in the hair at his nape.
As the kiss went on and on, Chase's trembling fingers undid the tiny buttons of her gown and pulled free a breast. Cupping its fullness in his hand, his mouth left her lips and closed over the nipple. As he suckled her greedily, the fire in her blood turned to molten silver. She tore her arms free of the sleeves and pushed the gown down to her waist. Chase eagerly accepted her silent invitation, and for long breathless minutes, he switched back and forth between her passion-swollen breasts. He nibbled and sucked until the nipples stood out, rosy pink and pebble hard. Mindlessly weak from his drawing lips, she made no objection when he pulled the gown down over her feet and tossed it to the floor.
Chase slid his hand down her smooth body, stopping at the soft curls between her thighs. His probing finger found her wet and ready for him. He clenched his jaws together, forcing back the need to enter her now, to ease the ache that had ridden him since the first time she had lain in his arms. Tonight he was going to make
her
ache with wanting
him,
stamp it on her mind and heart that he was a necessary part of her life, that she was his for as long as she lived.
Raegan moaned a low protest when he released her swollen nipple, then held her breath when his lips began trailing quick little kisses down her stomach, and on down to the hollow of her hips. When his tongue licked at the silky smoothness of an inner thigh, Raegan's heavy breathing grew to gasping pants.
Her breathing stopped altogether when he knelt at her feet and gently drew her legs apart, then buried his face between them. "Chase, what are you doing?" she whispered hoarsely, coming up on her elbows.
"Shhhh." Chase raised his head. "I'm payin' homage to my wife." He gave her a rakish grin. "I wouldn't object if you did the same for me, later on."
Raegan lay back down, mulling over Chase's words. Did he mean what she thought he did? That she should take him into her mouth, thus paying him homage?
When Chase's tongue started flicking inside her, building sensations she'd never experenced before, she knew what he meant about paying homage. She also knew she wanted to do the same for him—to give him that breathtaking pleasure that was making her body writhe uncontrollably.
When Raegan realized that she was about to go over the edge, plunge into that spiraling sphere called the little death, she cupped Chase's head in her hands and urged him up beside her. He took her in his arms, kissed her long and hard, then lay over on his back, waiting.
Without hesitation, Raegan got up on her knees and licked her way down his long body. When she reached her objective, she curled her fingers around it. Her palm lovingly stroked up and down, feeling it grow, feeling it expand and contract rhythmically. When Chase moaned low in his throat, her sharp little tongue darted teasingly over its throbbing head.
"Please, Raegan, you're killin' me," Chase groaned. He bucked his hips at her. "Come on, honey, don't tease, do it to me."
Raegan took another moment to glory in the power she held over her husband before opening her mouth wide and sliding it down over that part that would later sap all the strength from her.
As she slowly moved her mouth up and down, curling her tongue around the male stiffness, Chase fastened his hands in her hair, gently urging her on. "Ah, honey, it feels so good," he moaned. "Your mouth feels like velvet sliding over me. Like warm cream . . . oh, God."
Chase knew he was fast moving to that apex of no return. He gently removed Raegan's mouth and lifted her up to lay her on her back. He just as gently parted her legs and climbed between them. He hung over her a moment to bend his head and draw a nipple into his mouth. As he suckled it, Raegan put her hands on his hips, pulling him down to her. "Please, Chase," she whispered, "I hurt."
He grasped her narrow hips and lifted them up to nestle inside his. Then, slowly, he buried his long length inside her. He moaned as he felt her tightly sheathing his arousal. He held her there, not moving as he savored the feel of her.
"Lord, Raegan, I've needed you so." The words sounded torn from him.
"And I have needed you," Raegan whispered back, arching her body to meet the thrusting drives he had begun. She caught his rhythm and they moved together for a long time. Sweat began to film on their bodies as they strove to make the moment last.
But at last it became too much, too hard to hold back any longer. In the next second, Chase was jerking against Raegan, calling her name as his seed spilled inside her. And Raegan could only cling to Chase's shoulders, afraid of falling, afraid to speak in the overwhelming spread of release that caught her up, lifted her to heights she never wanted to leave.
It was several minutes before their shattering spasms subsided. Chase lifted his weight off Raegan, but kept his manhood snugly inside her. "You are so beautiful," he murmured, smoothing the sweat-damp hair off her forehead. "If I live to be a hundred, I'll never get enough of you." He lowered his head to suck a nipple into his mouth.
As he teased it with his tongue and teeth, Raegan became embarrassed that she wanted him again. What would he think of her? Would he think that she was Liza Jenkins, wanton like the women who plied their trade at the village tavern?
Chase felt the tightening of the walls around his maleness, and satisfaction curved his lips. His wife was a passionate little thing, thank God, for he was a very virile man who needed sex on a regular basis. But love had never entered into his liaisons with other women, and now that he had discovered that love made all the difference in the world when you took a woman, he'd need Raegan as often as he could get her.
His long length began to swell. When it grew to fill Raegan tightly, her eyes widened in pleased surprise. "Again?" she whispered hopefully.
"Yes, again, my beautiful little love-nymph. Again and again, until we've worn each other out."
As Chase resumed his rhythmic stroking, cradling Raegan's small buttocks in his hands, making sure she felt every long inch of him, she rose to meet his thrusts, glorying in the slip and slide of her husband's delightfully big manhood. For the moment she forgot that he didn't love her.
Raegan awakened at the first rosy pink of dawn. She couldn't have slept very long, she thought, snuggling closer into the curl of Chase's body. She remembered then what had kept her awake all those long hours and felt embarrassed shame move through her body. Even though she knew he didn't love her, she had given in to her body's urging and entered into wanton love-making with Chase. She had let him coax her into doing things she had never dreamed went on between a man and woman.
What must he think of her? Not only did he not love her, now he'd have no respect for her. How was she going to face him in the light of day? She began inching herself away from the arm lying across her waist. She wanted to get out of bed before he awakened and wanted to make love again. She had only moved a few slow inches when his arm tightened, drawing her back against him.
"Where do you think you're goin'?" he asked softly, nuzzling her throat and shoulder.
Raegan ordered her leaping pulses to behave, not to listen to the husky wanting in his voice. She would not carry the past night into the new day. She had control of her emotions now, and she intended to remain in control.
When Chase felt her body stiffen, he raised his head and looked into her cool eyes. The arousal that had begun to grow died. They were right back where they'd started. She would only come alive to him at night, in bed. He sighed inwardly. It wasn't going to be an easy task, convincing her that he loved her, that she could trust him and love him back.
He dropped a light kiss on her forehead as he removed his arm and pretended that he hadn't noticed her silent rejection of him by saying lightly, "I probably wore you out last night, so we'll forgo a little love-making this morning. Anyhow, we've got to hustle along if we're to go to Jones's buryin'. Meg said early, and to her that means as soon as the sun peeps over the treetops."
Raegan sat up in bed, clutching the sheet to her chin. "You'd better wake up Star. I don't want to go off and leave her alone."
Chase nodded and slid out of bed. His broad-shouldered body showed clearly in the semi-gloom as Raegan watched him pull the buckskins over his firm, long legs and on up over his narrow hips. Her breathing increased as she watched him lace the bucks over the powerful man part of him, that discernible bulge that drew her attention all too often. He pulled the matching shirt over his head, and at the door, he said, "After I wake Star up, I'll put on a pot of coffee."
The door closed and Raegan dropped her head onto her bent knees. Things could not go on this way. A thought came to her then that brightened her face a bit. At least he hadn't repulsed her this morning. It hadn't appeared that he had any regrets about making love to her. With the hope that everything might in time work out for them, she tossed back the sheet and hurried to take her sponge bath.