Harnessed Passions

by Dee Jones

  As much as Daniel wanted her to be in the embrace of orgasm when he joined her, he desperately needed her to understand what it was that was going to fill her up. He rose above her, fighting the urge to plunge into her tight body, kissing her neck as finally her lips as she slowly began to calm down.

  Julia could taste the salty afterglow of her release against his tongue and lips and frowned. She wasn’t sure if was wrong or not; everything she ever thought to be proper was being blown out of the water with this man. As many times as her friends in Boston had told her of their brief encounters with their beaus, they never mentioned this.

  “Touch me now,” he ordered against her mouth as his hard penis pressed against her thigh. A moment’s hesitation passed before she found the courage to allow her fingers to travel freely. Daniel groaned against her lips when he felt her hand move slowly across his arms, down his back and to his hips. She touched and caressed the muscles rippling beneath her touch, playing wickedly with those powerful, marvelous hips.

  He locked his lips to her breast again and moved away from her slightly, urging her to touch him where he needed her the most. Her fingers moved with tortured slowness until they found what they were searching for. Instantly she gasped jerking her hand away. She hadn't expected him to feel so...firm or hard, and the size of him...good God she must be mad for wanting to feel that!

  "Don't stop Princess," he told her, moving his lips up her neck. "Oh God, don't ever stop." With those words, Julia found the strength she needed to continue her investigation. She stroked the hard length of his manhood with the tips of her fingers before his hand reached for hers, forcing her hand to curl around his throbbing firm shaft. Daniel groaned and Julia leaned back to look at him. He smiled at her as he moved her hand across him in a tight stroking motion.

  “Don’t stop,” he told her and closed his eyes to enjoy the innocent touch of her hand. Julia did as told as she bit her lower lip; this seemed deliciously wicked, though she wasn’t certain if it was wrong anymore or not. He enjoyed it, she enjoyed it so did that make it wrong?

  Daniel removed her hand reluctantly, kissing her palm before rolling her gently beneath him. His lips closed over hers as he moved her hand back above her head, easing her fingers around the bar. He positioned himself between her legs, urging her knees to part for him. His fingers began to play inside her again as he willed himself to go slow. He had to remember she was still a virgin; he couldn't go down on her as he would another woman. He led kiss after kiss across her collarbone, her cheeks, her neck and finally her lips. He would smother the painful cries from her so the only sensation she felt was pleasure.

  "Say it princess," he urged her softly, his lips brushing hers. Julia arched closer to him and smiled tenderly.

  "I love you," she whispered.

  "Again."

  "I love you, I love you..."

  "I love you," he finished, covering her mouth with the eager pressure of his own.

  Daniel pressed the tip of his swollen penis against her moist vagina, no longer caring or thinking about her innocence. He began to press slowly, easing only when he heard her startled gasp. He hadn't yet broken through her barrier and she already feared the event, but he wouldn't allow her to resist him this time. Daniel rose up on his elbows and smiled knowingly down to her as he lifted her legs higher, positioning them around his waist.

  “It will be uncomfortable for a moment, but then you will feel nothing but pleasure, I promise,” he assured her, watching the mixture of trust and fear dance across her face.

  He edged closer to her, pushing softly as his mouth captured hers, frowning when he heard a frantic pounding at their bedroom door. He ignored it at first, but then the sound came again this time louder and with an urgent cry from Jeremy. Julia and Daniel looked at each other and groaned.

  Not now! They had worked so hard to get here; this wasn’t the time for interruptions. Before they could form a complete thought to reject the man’s urgent cries, Jeremy pounded on the door a third time.

  "Daniel! Julia!" Jeremy shouted. Daniel growled like a wounded beast, glancing across his shoulder to the wooden barrier dividing the young man from the passion burning between the long slender legs wrapped around his hips.

  "Go away Jeremy!" he ordered, but was answered only by another urgent cry, this one sent chills running down Daniel's spine and fear tearing at Julia's heart..

  "Get out here, dammit! The barn's on fire!"

  Chapter Sixteen

  Those four words, the barn's on fire, brought Julia and Daniel out of their state of erotic bliss and back into the world of reality. Daniel jumped from the bed and grabbed his clothes, sliding on his pants as he pulled the shirt across his torso, ignoring the buttons scattered all over the floor. He hopped to the door tugging on his boots, glancing back to Julia who was dressing in record time. She had pulled on the dress she deposited to the back of the chair a short time ago and slipped her feet back into her slippers, struggling to fasten the buttons lining the front of the gown while she quickly followed Daniel out the door.

  The grounds were a madhouse with people ran around shouting orders at the same time. Buckets of water were filled at the well while several men ran to the barns with wet blankets, throwing them across the horses that fought to flee the inferno of hell. Flames shot out of the walls and smoke billowed through the night sky, making the whole area smell of burnt hay and horse hair.

  Julia hurried to help her mother wet a blanket at the trough. The whole situation appeared to be more of a nightmare than reality; nobody heard what the person next to them was saying and nobody knew what they were doing or who to listen to.

  Julia could hear Daniel's voice bellowing like thunder through the confusion and crackles of burning timbers. He shouted for a group of men to get the horses out to the corrals and for Jeremy to form a line on the buckets. He grabbed a shovel and called to four men to do the same and they all began shoveling dirt on the flames near the front of the stables so they could get into it to rescue the horses. Julia's heart swelled with pride; he had the entire situation under one order in a matter of moments, everyone working together in unison.

  The sound of horses neighing could be heard throughout the night air. Men ran whistling, shouting and calling the horses by name. Julia could still hear Daniel's tone echoing through the air like music in a symphony hall. Somehow, just knowing he was close by made her feel more secure and confident.

  Nearly all the horses were free from the burning structure when Louise motioned to Julia, pointing to the one lone horse still in the flame ridden barn. The horse’s panic called out pleading for help. Julia struggled to see through the smoke. Tears stung her eyes and the smells and odor of the blazing holocaust bit hard against her recovering lungs. The horse whined again, pounding it's hooves against the stable wall, begging for someone to save it. Julia gasped recognized the fearful cries of her own mare, even before she could focus her smoky eyes on her chestnut colored image.

  "Oh God, it's Biscuit," she shouted to her mother, dropping the blanket and running at top speed toward the entrance. Louise called to her daughter, but her voice was drowned out by the sounds of the men and horses around her.

  Julia ran into the flames nearly tripping over a pile of burning hay close by the door. She didn't think about the fire, she barely noticed the smoke, her mind was too consumed with her horse's cries and the constant banging of Biscuit's hooves against the wooden walls. Julia saw the axe lying beneath a burning timber and ran for it. The smoke was hard and furious against her still weak lungs, but she managed to stomp the flames out and grab the axe with the hem of her skirt.

  Biscuit was near the back of the barn, her front thigh was covered in blood, caked with sweat, mud and burnt hay and her hooves scratched and tore huge grooves in the side walls. Julia used the axe to chop the large timber blocking her mare's path to freedom. The fire caught hold of Julia's sleeve and she screamed, ripping the material from her arm. She was burned and blisters were
already beginning to form, but it wasn't enough to make her abandon her mission to save her beloved horse.

  The timber soon gave way and the flames extinguished themselves in the hay of the stall. Biscuit was panicked and hurt, but her desperate need for salvation were overwhelming. She bolted past Julia, knocking her out of the way as her hooves kicked up burning debris on her frantic path to freedom.

  Julia felt weak as a new born babe from her exertion; her lungs heaving against the smoke. She struggled to stand from where she had fallen, heat and fear growing in intensity as she realized she was trapped. Biscuit had knocked enough debris in her way, to set the only path out of the barn on fire.

  Julia coughed and tried to scream, but her cries for help were drowned out by the rush of ceiling beams crashing to the floor. She covered her head and backed further against the corner of the stall. There was no escape, no way out. She was trapped and without any means to free herself. She tried to gaze through the smoke in hopes of finding the axe she had used to release Biscuit, but found only a thick dense wall of black smoke. She pushed her way to a side window, coughing and sputtering as the fire grew and her lungs filled with smoke. She used a broken piece of wood to break the window out and began shouting for help. She thought of climbing through the small opening but her size was by degrees larger than the minute frame.

  Breathing was becoming more difficult as the smoke became thicker. She felt near surrender, when the image of a woman caught her attention. Her eyes watered as she narrowed her stare, trying to focus on the images her mind assured her weren’t real. But as the wind blew the smoke and haze away Julia realized what she was seeing was real and she could do no more than stare.

  Standing less than fifty yards from her was Heather; her long hair hung softly down her back, her eyes warm and friendly, just as she remembered. She stood there witnessing Julia's struggle against the smoke and flames, but was helpless to offer aid. She was dressed in a long gown of sky blue cotton.

  Julia's eyes watered not from the fire, but from grief. She knew that gown; it had been her's; she had given it to Heather the day before she died. She had been wearing it when Julia found her at the swimming hole, dead. Julia's heart pounded with one dreadful, fearful thought. Heather had come to take her away, to correct the mistake of Julia's surviving the swimming hole.

  She called to Heather hoping to reason with her, make her realize she wasn't responsible for what had happened that fateful day so long ago. The girl smiled at her then turned her head and looked away as the smoke rose up around her. When the haze blew thin, all that remained was an empty space where her friend had stood. Emptiness and solitude echoed around the spot like death itself.

  Louise tried to call out to Julia trying to stop her, but Julia didn't hear. She just kept going until she disappeared in the burning infernal. Louise felt lost, she felt as though a vice had clamped around her heart, encasing it in fear and hopelessness. Her daughter had run headlong into the flames of hell.

  "Daniel," she screamed, trying to find the only man she knew could save her daughter. She ran around the mass of confusion shouting, searching for any sign of the man. She spotted Jeremy near the west end of the blazing structure. He was ordering the buckets to be filled and thrown on the flames and paid little attention to his mother as she tugged on his arm.

  "Jeremy where's Daniel?" she demanded, pulling him around so he faced her. Jeremy frowned and glanced down at the pale face of his mother. He couldn't believe his mother was so concerned over finding one person in this massive chaos.

  "How the blazes should I know," he growled. "In case you haven't noticed, we're trying to fight a fire here?"

  "But its Julia," Louise gasped hard, coughing back the smoke that stole into her lungs. "She went into the barn to get Biscuit."

  "She did what?" Jeremy growled again, ordering one of the men to take over. He pulled on his mother's arm tugging her behind him as they ran off in the direction Jeremy had last seen Daniel. They found him on the opposite side of the stables and called out to him. Daniel stopped his work of shoveling dirt and mopped his dirty brow with one of his shirt sleeves.

  "Julia went into the barn after her damn horse," Jeremy shouted nearing the man. Daniel growled angrily cursing obscenities as he threw his shovel down. The three ran around to the front of the barn where Louise said his wife had entered. They saw Biscuit heading out into the pasture; she was limping and cried painfully, panic forcing her to keep up the deadly pace.

  "Get after her," Daniel ordered Jeremy, who immediately did as he was told. Daniel stopped Louise from heading into the smoking stable and told her to wait there. He ran around the side of the stable to the trough, taking the blanket Louise had been clinging unknowingly to. He dunked it in the water and was about to go into the building when he saw the image of a young woman standing in the clearing. She was very attractive, about sixteen or seventeen with long dark hair. She wore a blue gown and black shoes, but when he stopped to stare at her, she glanced to him, smiled and disappeared before his eyes as a cloud of smoke rose around them.

  Daniel didn’t know what to think and for a moment he couldn’t move. If he didn’t know better he would have sworn he just saw a ghost, but then the screams of his wife brought him back to reality. She was calling out to Heather again and he knew from the sounds of it, exactly where she was.

  He ran into the barn, now barely more than a smoldering mass of black timbers and burnt hay. He called to Julia, as he headed toward the back of the stables, kicking the burning timbers aside. He stopped short when he saw her staring out the window. She was trapped behind a pile of burning timbers. Julia's eyes weren't looking at him, but were staring instead out the broken window.

  "Julia," he shouted, gaining her attention. He could see she was fine, but very shaken and near exhausted from the choking smoke and blistering heat. "Stay there, I'm coming." Daniel draped the wet blanket across his head and shoulders like a shield then jumped kicked the timbers aside, jumping over the burning debris.

  She looked weak and vulnerable leaning against the side of the barn. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with fright. Daniel felt a lump form in his throat and he kicked dirt on the fire that surrounded her. Her long silky hair had been singed in places and her face was covered with ashes and soot as her lungs labored to pull fresh air into them.

  Daniel gathered her up in his arms and covered them both with the blanket and quickly made their way back to the barn's door. He kicked several pieces of debris out of their way, and dodging several larger timbers as they came crashing through the roof.

  Louise was waiting out of the way when Daniel and Julia emerged from the inferno. She ran to them pulling the wet smoky cover off their heads as Daniel lowered Julia to the grown, sitting next to her in the dirt and weeds. Once outside the fresh air made them cough violently as they tried to expel the smoke from their lungs.

  "Are you alright?" Louise asked, taking a corner of the blanket to wipe Julia's soot blackened face. She nodded amidst her coughing and looked to Daniel. Three times now he had saved her life. Three times, he had proven to be her knight in shining armor. Suddenly the image of her nightmares came clear. He was the one trying to rescue her in her dreams, but disappearing before he reached her. It was her fault; she was pushing him away from her, making so he couldn’t reach her in time.

  Daniel pulled her into a warm smoky embrace, kissing her damp face. He had nearly lost her again; the thought still echoed in his mind. He thought he'd die the last time she had been hurt and it had happened all over again. Only this time, she had done it herself!

  "What the hell do you think you were doing?" he shouted as he moved away from her, shaking her shoulders with angry hands. "Don't you know you could have been killed? What am I going to have to do, build a tower and lock you in it in order to keep you safe?" Julia's eyes filled with tears and she began to sob. She knew she could have been hurt - or worse, but it wasn't until she saw Daniel that she realized how desperately she wanted t
o live. She didn't want to die; she wanted to be with him always, to have his children and to grow old with him.

  "I'm sorry," she coughed, sobbing violently. Daniel felt the sting of guilt biting his conscious and lost the urge to punish her. He pulled her back into his embrace, wrapping her tightly in the strength and protection she could only find in his arms.

  "You're alright Princess. I'm sorry," he told her gently, holding her against his smoky, sweaty chest. "What were you doing in there?" He needed to know why she chose to ignore her own safety and venture into a blazing inferno alone, without asking anyone for help.

  "I had to get Biscuit, she was trapped," Julia remembered the horse, the reason she had gone into that hell. "Where is she?" she asked, pushing away from Daniel and looking at her mother. "Is she alright?"

  "Forget your damn horse," Daniel answered for the woman. "If I see her again I'm liable to kill her myself. I don't ever want you to do anything so stupid again, is that clear?" The man's anger was quickly burning back to life as memories replaced concerns.

  "But I had to help her, she couldn't get out," Julia's hysterics gave way and determined anger took its place, lifting her voice in the air around them. Louise knew there was a fight at hand and chose not to witness it. She'd had her share of arguing for one day. She left the two alone still sitting in the dirt covered with ashes, haloed in smoke.

  "Did it ever occur to you to ask someone for help? You could have gotten one of the hands to go in after her; you didn't have to do it yourself!" Daniel growled angrily.

  "But they were all busy and I didn't think about it. I just wanted to save my horse."

  "Dammit woman, don't you ever think before you do things? It's dangerous to run into a fire, regardless of the reason. You could have been killed. I don't know how much more I can take of this," Daniel pulled her back into his embrace, holding her tight against him. His anger was easing again with just the touch of her body against his. In its place, was a feeling of terror so deep, he nearly lost himself to it.