by Lola White
His laugh came out more as a snort. She was pretty when her dander was up and her clipped tones became sharper. “I can’t blame the soldier for telling tales. I’d boast about it too if I managed to talk a virgin that looks like you out of her drawers.”
“Again, sir, you are being outrageous!”
“I suggest you get used to it. I’m not a mannered man, darlin’. I say what I mean and I mean what I say.”
The woman looked a little more than off-balance, and it was obvious she had something stuck in her craw by the way her throat worked and tightened. He could see Hyacinth was confused, and Offer was only making her more so. That was a good thing in his opinion.
Without another word, she followed him down the boardwalk with her nose in the air. When they passed the saloon, she slowed her steps. With a low laugh, Offer came to a complete halt directly in front of the double doors. They were thrown wide, giving everyone on the street a tempting glimpse of the festivities inside.
Hyacinth’s eyes widened as she took in the massive chandelier, but they narrowed as her gaze drifted toward the half-dressed women draped over dirty men’s laps. Someone played a piano badly in need of tuning, a group of younger men gathered around a table playing cards and a drunken whore weaved and stumbled toward them, a tipsy smile playing around her painted mouth.
The woman leaned against the door and grinned, revealing cracked teeth. This close, Offer could see the lines of strain around the woman’s lifeless eyes and the inflamed sore on her bottom lip that was only marginally covered by the brightly-colored cosmetics she’d applied. Molly wasn’t the only woman in such a condition at the saloon, which was why Offer stayed away from the not-so-fine establishment.
“Told you…diseased,” Offer whispered as Hyacinth pressed against his side. “Don’t worry though, darlin’. I’m clean as a whistle.”
“Offer, honey,” Molly called out, “it’s been so long since you’ve come for a visit.”
“And it’ll be longer still, ma’am.” Offer gripped the brim of his hat between two fingers and gave it a little shake.
The woman rolled her eyes toward Hyacinth and waved him off. “When your fancy-dressed lady friend turns cold on you, you’re always welcome here.”
“And so is my hard earned money.” Offer reached for Hyacinth’s arm again and tugged her on. “Sure you don’t want to work there, darlin’? Last chance to change your mind.”
Hyacinth only shook her head.
Offer led her down to the tiny General Store at the far end of town. His small wagon was parked in front of the grimy window, his horse already in the traces—his prized horse, the one thing Offer owned of value and the one thing that could set his future onto the path of prosperity. Even those who knew nothing about horses could see this one was special.
Offer ran his hand down the chestnut stallion’s neck and over its hindquarters, pride and joy filling his heart. He gave the stallion a thorough examination before he turned back to Hyacinth.
“I hate making him carry the buggy, but I don’t have another yet. Before I bought my ranch, Zeus was all I had to my name. I spent every dollar I had on him, but I earned twice as much back off his stud fees. Enough to buy the Double O and some cattle. He’s my ticket to success. My whole future.”
The General Store owner emerged from his shop with a heavy sack hefted over his shoulder. As he moved to put it in the back of the wagon, where three other sacks were already piled up, he said, “You’re just in time, Offer. This is the last.”
“I appreciate it, Henry. This here is Hyacinth. She’ll be staying with me.”
The man bent a smile on her that quickly faded into a dark scowl. Surprised by Henry’s reaction, Offer followed the man’s gaze as it dropped to focus on a skeletal dog slinking from the shadows, crawling closer as its nose twitched.
Henry shot forward and lifted his leg to kick the stray. Offer jumped after him, catching the other man by the shoulder and hauling him back. “Don’t you dare!”
Henry staggered. “I didn’t want it to bite your woman.”
“He ain’t gonna. Are you, boy?” Offer crouched down and lifted a hand to the dog, which had scuttled back. After a moment, the mutt crept forward again. Offer rubbed a hand over its head. “Oh, my apologies. You’re a girl. A little hungry, maybe a lot scared, but I’d be scared too if I had to live in town.”
Offer stood, backed toward the wagon and thumped his palm against the flat bed. “Come on, girl. Today’s my day for taking in strays.”
“Every day is your day for taking in strays,” Henry muttered.
“How do you know she doesn’t have puppies?” Hyacinth suddenly asked. “You could be trying to take her away from her family.”
“I always notice a female’s teats.” Offer winked. Then he pointed to the pup’s belly once the dog jumped up into the buggy and made a bed for itself on the piled-up sacks. “She’s got little nipples. She looks too young for puppies yet, anyway.”
Hyacinth’s words came out sharp. “I suppose that’s a good thing, Mr. O’Neal. As you said, you can’t afford to support a baby who won’t pull its own weight for a few years.”
With a grin, Offer took Hyacinth’s hand to help settle her onto the wagon seat before he told her, “You misunderstand, darlin’. I make sure all the bitches on the Double O pull their weight.”
Chapter Three
She smelled better than he could ever remember a woman smelling before. Offer sat on the wagon seat and breathed in her subtle aroma of rosewater, sending sidelong glances in her direction. Molly had described Hyacinth as a fancy-dressed lady, but Offer could see where her once-expensive outfit had been carefully mended. He’d also noticed she didn’t carry a handkerchief, forcing him to give up the one decent bandana he owned for her to mop her face.
Her lack of virginity was a mark in her favor, as far as Offer was concerned. He didn’t have much use for virgins, though he admitted that he may have made an exception for her. He didn’t frequent whores, not after watching his father die a slow painful death while losing his wits to syphilis, and the thought of a warm, willing woman in his bed was too great a concept to pass up when fate dropped Hyacinth into his lap.
He didn’t feel bad about it, either. She had her choice—him or the saloon—and she’d chosen him. But with the way her breathing had grown choppy a few miles back and the way her spine was stiffening every minute that passed, he thought she might be having a change of heart. When her slim fingers twisted in her skirts and her shoulders hunched, he braced himself.
“I don’t think I can do this.” She drew a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, sir, please turn around. I can’t go home with you.”
“You’d rather work in the saloon?”
“Of course not. I’ll find something else. I didn’t even look for other opportunities, I was so sunk in my own misery.”
Offer made an effort to keep his voice even, but he did not slow the wagon. “There aren’t any other opportunities, Hyacinth.”
“There has to be.”
She shot to her feet. For a wild moment, Offer was a busy man, simultaneously trying to rein in Zeus and catch Hyacinth as she wobbled. She pulled from his grip on her elbow and leaped off the buggy. Or, rather, slid down the side, catching her skirt on a splintered piece of wood.
With a sigh, Offer secured the brake and jumped to the ground. He walked around the buggy but made no move to help Hyacinth free her dress. He wondered if there was even a man stupid enough to help her, what with the way her skirt was rucked up to reveal beautiful legs encased in faded drawers.
Hyacinth had plump thighs, which Offer took a minute to appreciate. He imagined how nice it would feel to have her thighs clamped around his hips while he buried himself inside her body. He thought of licking all the way up her leg and tasting her, something he’d never done with a hired lady. He mentally measured her hips, and quickly calculated just how much force he thought she could handle.
Then he noticed the paleness
of her lips as she twisted and panted, the red flags flying in her cheeks as her eyes widened. Her blue eye was nearly white in her panic, while the brown grew blacker than the pits of hell. He knew just the thing to distract her.
“Help!” she cried. “Oh, God, I think something is wrong with me. I’m too hot, like I might faint. My heart is beating much too fast and I can’t breathe.”
“You’re just working yourself up. Take a deep breath, darlin’.”
“I just told you,” she panted in emphasis, “that I can’t breathe.”
Offer didn’t set her straight because he didn’t want to miss the opportunity presenting itself. His gaze was glued to her drawers, drifting between the frilly ruffles at her knees to the slit at the juncture of her thighs where the fabric gaped wider with every jerk of her body. His eyes only lifted when he stepped close, trapping her against the side of the wagon as he reached for her coat buttons.
“Something’s wrong with your heart, Hyacinth?”
“Yes! It’s pounding against my ribs like a drum. I’ve never felt like this before.”
Offer worked her coat open then started in on the smaller buttons of her dress bodice. “Hold on, darlin’, I’m going to make certain everything is all right with your chest.”
She twisted harder. “What? Do you even know what you’re doing?”
“Oh yes, I’ve got a lot of experience.” He peeled back the fabric and found more fabric. Gritting his teeth, Offer began working on the ties of her chemise. “Jesus, you wear too many clothes.”
“What are you doing, sir? You are exposing me!”
He certainly was. Offer tugged her chemise down and a generous pair breasts bounced over the neckline. He caught his breath at the bounty before him. His voice turned downright rusty, but he couldn’t help it. “I gotta see what the problem is.”
Offer tucked his nose against Hyacinth’s throat and took a deep whiff of her rosewater scent. He heard her swallow as he moved down, rubbing his stubbled cheek over the tops of her luscious mounds.
“We’re in the middle of the road,” she squeaked.
“Shh, I’m trying to hear your heartbeat, darlin’.” Offer closed his eyes and let his senses absorb the softness of her skin. His palm itched, so to satisfy it he curled his fingers around her left breast. “No use in listening, your titties are too big. Let me feel.”
But feeling wasn’t enough either, and with Hyacinth holding completely still, Offer went a step further. He nuzzled into the space between her breasts, breathed deep then opened his mouth and latched onto one pale pink nipple. Hyacinth gave a small screech and jerked, but the peak Offer tongued tightened in a rush that sent every last ounce of blood in his body roaring toward his dick.
He played with her breast and sucked her nipple. He licked around the hard peak slowly, plumping the mound with his fingers and reminding himself to go easy on her this first time. Hyacinth’s panting grew more erratic.
Offer released her just long enough to ask, “Did your soldier do this to you?”
Her answer was a whisper of sound. “Not with his mouth. He just touched.”
Savoring the sweet taste of clean woman, Offer couldn’t imagine foregoing the pleasure of sucking on Hyacinth’s breasts. “He was a fool. He never did this?”
Offer swirled his tongue over her nipple, gratified when her body jolted. Even more so when she said, “Uh-uh, mmm, oh my God, no. No he…he didn’t.”
He lowered his free hand and felt the frilly edge of her drawers. Offer followed the material up the warm curve of her thigh until he found the slit. Disregarding the fact that they were on the road where anyone could come across them, he pushed inside.
Hyacinth gave another squeak, then tentatively widened her stance. She was damp, hot and growing more humid the longer he sucked her. He drew a circle over her clit and asked, “Your soldier do this?”
“No. He touched me lower.”
Offer slid his fingers through her folds and found her entrance. Once again, he drew a circle. “Here?”
“Yes, but”—Hyacinth’s hips arched—“not like that. Just…in. Then out.”
Offer released her left nipple and turned to capture the right. He gave her a quick suck and a long lick before he asked, “Like this?”
He slowly pushed one finger into her tight, wet heat and thought he’d lose his mind—or ruin his pants before he ever got them unbuttoned. She was soft as silk and plenty hot, and Offer couldn’t get enough. He pumped his finger in and out, listening to her breath break and knowing his was doing the same.
“He just…did that…once.” Hyacinth was clearly having trouble speaking. “Then he fitted his…his…manhood to me and…and…”
“Pushed?” Offer added a second finger and thrust in hard.
“Oh, God.”
“Do you like that, darlin’? Did your soldier make you feel like this?”
“I don’t…I don’t know what you’re doing to me.”
“I’m giving you pleasure.” Offer curled his fingers inside her pussy and lifted his head. As much as he wanted to keep licking Hyacinth’s beautiful breasts, he also wanted to taste her mouth. She was clean, so he felt certain her mouth would be clean too, unlike many of the other women he’d been forced to seek out in the female-deprived west.
Offer’s head spun as he brushed his lips over hers. Hyacinth was an opportunity he knew he could become addicted to. He liked to kiss, he liked to fuck, and there were too few decent options around to allow him to indulge as often as he’d like. But Hyacinth was conveniently coming home with him and she knew what she was getting into.
And she knew how to kiss. Offer gave a silent thanks to her soldier for teaching her the finer points of the caress as Hyacinth opened her lips and licked into his mouth. Their tongues tangled, Offer suckled lightly and Hyacinth’s pussy flexed around his beckoning fingers.
Offer jerked as a hot wash of lust raced through his veins and threatened to blow up his balls. It had been too long, and with Hyacinth’s tongue rubbing his, her soft lips pressing closer and her cream sliding down his knuckles to puddle in his palm, Offer was close to incinerating on the spot.
His fingers stroked her long and slow, then he threw in a couple of hard thrusts that had her rising to her toes. He reluctantly released his grip on her breast, thumbing her nipple just once more before he reached for his pants. If he didn’t get them unbuttoned immediately, Offer knew his dick would shatter under the pressure.
But the ache in his balls didn’t ease as he set his cock free. Offer gripped his shaft and stroked, hoping to hold back his need long enough to get inside Hyacinth. He’d have been inside another woman already, but he and Hyacinth would be in close quarters for the foreseeable future, and he figured a little finesse would go a long way toward keeping his home as peaceful as possible.
Offer had enough stress on his plate.
He stepped closer and prodded the slit in Hyacinth’s drawers with the tip of his cock. Offer knew the woman would balk if he tried to pull the drawers down, and the last thing he wanted her to do was think on what was happening. So instead, he tightened his grip and pressed forward. For all its softness, the fabric of her underwear was abrasive compared to the slick silk he found between Hyacinth’s folds.
She arched and Offer groaned as he ran his cock’s head over her clit, slipping against damp flesh. He was running out of time. Still, he took a bare moment to enjoy the feel of sliding against hot woman as slowly as he could, until his crest notched against his own fingers as they worked inside Hyacinth’s pussy.
When he pulled his hand from between her legs, the sweet smell of aroused woman flooded Offer’s head. His hand shook as he gripped Hyacinth’s rounded thigh and levered it up to his hip. Her body canted, following his silent direction smoothly as Offer deepened the kiss and tucked his cock against her entrance.
Hyacinth made a sound that echoed in Offer’s balls. She rolled her hips and consumed him in a kiss he felt in his stomach. His fancy-dres
sed lady turned into a wild woman and Offer couldn’t hold back any longer.
He buried two inches of his cock inside her soft pussy with a single, hard thrust. She was tight in spite of the manipulation of his fingers, but so wet that the feel of her clamping around his crest defied Offer’s ability to comprehend. She wasn’t faking her pleasure, and that fact increased Offer’s.
She pulled from the kiss and panted over his wet lips. “Oh, God. We’re on the side of the road!”
“Shh, darlin’, nobody’s around to see.” With the way her hips were bucking, Offer assumed her protest was nothing more than a simple reminder. He pressed deeper, gritting his teeth against the need to tear right through her until he hit her highest point.
As he rocked, Hyacinth gasped, “You’re big…er…than Jonathan.”
“You can take it.” He hefted her leg higher and thrust again. Hyacinth’s huff sounded like a gunshot in his head, but her body suddenly gave way with a ripple that let him forge all the way into her heat.
Offer’s eyes tried to roll up into his skull. Hyacinth’s pussy was flexing around his dick, sucking greedily and doing its best to short-circuit his brain. The last rational thought Offer had prodded him into dropping his chin and recapturing Hyacinth’s turgid nipple with his lips. Then he drew back his hips and fucked his new housemate into the wagon’s side.
Wet silk clenched around his shaft, his balls drew up and clamored for release. Hyacinth wriggled and writhed, losing her decorum as she wailed loud enough to stir a flock of quail from the brush at the side of the road. Offer thrust harder, deeper, faster, fingers gripping her thigh hard enough to bruise, sucking her nipple like a madman, intent on giving her pleasure before he found his own.
Then Hyacinth’s pussy convulsed, sending shockwaves through his cock and into his balls. Her scream echoed on the breeze and her hips thrust up, locked tight to his as he pushed her against the wagon. Her pleasure became his and spiraled up his spine, into his skull, where it erupted at the same time as his cock.
He pumped his hips as the last shivers of release swept through him and somehow managed to keep on his feet when Hyacinth sagged against his chest. Offer wished he could take a few more minutes to regroup, but the moment his brain started working again, he started putting things to rights. They were on the road, after all. He unhooked Hyacinth’s skirt from the splinter, readjusted their clothes and hefted her in his arms to put her back on the wagon seat.