Ruthless Heart

by Beth Williamson

  “Then I’m doing my job right.”

  Eliza held his hand as he paid Mrs. Johanssen ten dollars for the hat. She mentally calculated how much he’d spent on her clothes so far and wondered how she’d be able to repay him for all of it. She had no money at all and no means to earn any at the moment. Perhaps she could be a schoolmarm; however, the job likely didn’t pay a great deal. It would take her years to get enough to pay him the huge amount of funds she owed him.

  Eliza’s excitement over a new hat, her first new hat, began to wane. They agreed to come back in fifteen minutes to pick up the hat, allowing Mrs. Johanssen time to sew in the lining.

  “Let’s get some dinner from the restaurant to take with us.” He tugged her across the street.

  Her disappointment deepened. “You mean we’re not eating there?”

  “No need. It’s not even eleven o’clock. We can get what we need then stop in a few hours to eat.” He glanced back at her. “This way we don’t have to wash up and sit in a restaurant with a bunch of strangers.”

  Eliza wanted to sit in a restaurant, to see the strangers, to experience life. It was selfish of her, to be sure, but she couldn’t help the way she felt. She ought to concentrate on helping Grady find Angeline, not the new experiences she was gifted during her journey.

  With a sigh, she stood by his side while they purchased a basket of fried chicken, biscuits, and even milk. They were all foods she missed from home and were difficult to get while on the trail. She had to admit it would be nice to have a picnic of sorts together with Grady. The restaurant was nearly empty between breakfast and dinner, but she gazed at the empty tables, imagining people eating and talking. At least that’s what she thought people did in restaurants.

  They stepped back out into the sunshine and walked over to get her new hat. Eliza held onto the paper wrapped package, unwilling to let the new purchase out of her hands. It was something to look forward to, other than cold fried chicken while sitting on a rock.

  Grady went inside to get the hat, and Eliza waited beside Cab. She stroked the horse’s neck and took pleasure in having him beside her. He was a familiar face, so to speak, in a world she didn’t quite understand yet.

  As she watched, he came out of the livery with her new hat on his hand. The buttermilk color gleamed in the sunlight, and she realized he’d chosen the right hat. It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, and the color complemented her dark hair nicely.

  Interestingly enough, she also realized it was close in color to the new undergarments she’d purchased. It was an unexplainable coincidence that Grady had found the right shade of leather.

  “It’s tanned deer hide.” He popped it on her head and kissed her before tossing her up in the saddle. “Let’s get moving.”

  Although she should be angry with him for bossing her around yet again, she was too fascinated with the new purchase. The hat felt perfect, as if it were made for her. The buttery softness was comfortable and lightweight.

  “If you don’t stop feeling that hat, I might get jealous.” Grady sounded a bit annoyed with her.

  “You picked it out.”

  “Not so you could feel it like it was my dick.”

  Eliza’s mouth dropped open. “Grady!” He seemed to like to shock her as much as he could, to keep her on edge and uncomfortable. She refused to let him. “You’re going to have to ask nicely for that.”

  He made a choking noise, and she was pleased to have made him shut up. For some reason, Grady was in a very odd mood, and she didn’t quite understand it. Eliza had seen him angry, grumpy, and distant, but today, he’d been something completely different.

  They rode in silence for a while, and Eliza’s mind drifted back to replay the time they’d spent in Emerson. He’d hurried them out of town, and she wondered why. Maybe he’d come across some information about Angeline.

  She wished she could ask him.

  They stopped to eat two hours later. By then Eliza had spent far too much time thinking about why Grady did the things he did. She was only making suppositions of course, and without being able to ask specific questions, she could only guess.

  The food allowed her to think about other things, such as how hungry she actually was. They stopped in a meadow with a small copse of trees. With the sun shining and birds twittering, it was an ideal spot. Eliza set out the food while Travis took care of the horses.

  When he sat down and picked up a piece of chicken, he stared at her while he gnawed on it until she started to feel uncomfortable.

  “Why are you staring at me, Grady? Have I got chicken in my teeth?”

  “What did you buy in Emerson?”

  His question knocked her out of her strange mood, and butterflies took up residence within her. “Undergarments.”

  He threw the bone into the meadow and scooted toward her. Inching back his hat, his gaze met hers, intense and full of heat. “What did you buy?”

  This time the question wasn’t playful—it was demanding. She swallowed the bite of chicken and took a drink of the cool milk. He watched her, waiting like a predator and prey.

  “I bought two chemises.”

  He took off his hat and narrowed his gaze. “Show me.”

  “They’re in the paper-wrapped package in my satchel.” Eliza’s heart thumped a steady rhythm as the air between them crackled with arousal.

  “Put them on and show me.” He inched toward her, eyeing her dress as if he were going to tear it off her body.

  The heat of the sun mixed with the heat in her body, and suddenly, she was in desperate need to take off her dress. Eliza wasn’t sure what possessed her, but she set aside the food, wiped her mouth, and stood.

  He looked surprised then sat back to watch her, a hunger in his gaze that she felt all the way to her core. Eliza walked over to the horses, standing between them so he couldn’t see her. She glanced down at herself and wondered how she had come to be there, her body already buzzing with a need to make love with Grady. He was a potent addiction, one she found herself wanting more with each time they joined.

  What she was about to do was exciting and a bit naughty considering they were in a meadow in broad daylight. Anyone could ride along and see what she was doing, what they were about to do. She tingled with the excitement of both thoughts.

  Eliza unbuttoned her dress and slipped it off, followed by her drawers. She took off the old cotton chemise with more courage than she’d thought she possessed. The warm afternoon breeze caressed her bare skin, and her nipples hardened. She glanced behind her, but he hadn’t followed, for which she didn’t know if she was glad or not.

  Unwrapping the twine and paper, she pulled out the creamy one first. The fabric was soft and cool against her warm skin. It fell nearly to her knees and swayed softly. She felt marvelously sexy as she stepped out from between the horses, very conscious of her undressed state.

  Grady was chewing on a blade of grass when he saw her. He dropped the grass and watched her as she walked toward him. His heated gaze raked her up and down. “Now that’s better than that old rag you had.”

  Her entire body clenched at not only the desire in his gaze, but because she actually felt it on her skin as if he’d touched her. “I’m glad you approve of my purchase.”

  “What does the other one look like?”

  “The other one?”

  “You said you bought two. Now, show me the other.” He leaned back against a large boulder, and she was surprised to see he already had an erection.

  Power surged through her. It was her body in the beautiful undergarment that made his body react so strongly. She finally felt like a woman, a sexy woman. As she walked back to her “dressing room”, she swung her hips, making the chemise slide on her skin, likely exciting him as much as it excited her.

  When she pulled off the silky chemise and pulled on the lacy one, it scraped nicely against her erect nipples, making her shiver at the contact. She couldn’t wait for Grady to see her. If she closed her eyes and ignored her
logical side, she might even pretend this was her wedding night.

  Fanciful notions, of course, but it put a smile on her face as she walked back toward Grady.

  This time, he actually got to his feet and met her halfway. “Jesus, that’s, ah, damn, Liz.” He walked around her, looking at her from all angles.

  She had a hard time not blushing.

  His fingers brushed along her back. “That little redhead had this in the back, hm?”

  “This was the tamest of her selections.” Eliza’s voice was husky, filled with need.

  “Tamest one? I’d like to have seen the rest of them.” He walked around to face her and cupped her unfettered breasts encased in the lace. “I can see your nipples.”

  A rapid pulse slammed into her, and wetness gathered between her nether lips. In a moment, she might have to seduce him. “They can see you, too.”

  He chuckled. “You know I don’t remember laughing for a long time, Liz. You have made me break all my rules.”

  His thumbs brushed her erect nipples, and she shuddered. “I’ve broken all my own rules as well. That makes us a pair of rule breakers.” She put her hands on his, pressing them against her aching breasts.

  “Do you want something, Liz?”

  “You.”

  He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around him. Her pussy slammed against his erection through his trousers. As her lips found his, he stepped toward their campsite. Tongues dueling, Eliza barely paid attention to what he was doing as his hands dug into her buttocks.

  Suddenly he was sitting with her legs spread on his lap. She met his gaze. “I don’t understand.”

  “You’re going to ride me, Liz.”

  She didn’t know what that meant but she was willing to try. Her entire body pulsed with the need to be with him, to join with him. “Show me.”

  He captured her lips again and managed to unbutton his trousers to free his staff. When he brought her hand to him, she closed her fingers around it, finding it familiar and beautiful. She squeezed, running her hand up and down his length. A drop of moisture appeared at the top, and she had the insane urge to taste him.

  Grady popped her breasts out the top of the chemise. They sat on the seam like two apples waiting to be picked. He cupped them, bringing them to his mouth. Eliza shuddered at the rasp of his tongue, the bite of his teeth, the suck of his lips. She squeezed him harder and he groaned.

  “Feel good?”

  “Yes, it feels tremendously good.” Eliza reveled in sitting on his lap. While he pleasured her breasts, she pleasured his cock, and the cool breeze teased her bare pussy. It was pure bliss.

  “I can smell you.”

  She could hardly understand him. “Smell me?”

  “Your cunt. I can smell you because your wet.”

  He bit at a nipple, and a jolt shot straight to the area of discussion, and she clenched.

  “Rub my dick on you, coat it with your juices. Tease me, tease you.”

  Grady’s instruction left her breathless again. It was like they were in the woods again, and he’d told her to touch herself. The idea of touching both of them at once brought her the same level of intense arousal.

  With hesitation, at first, she moved forward just enough so she could pull him toward her pussy. Her thumb brushed against her clitoris, and she hissed in a breath.

  “That’s it, honey, keep going.”

  Encouraged by his words and her own pounding desire, she used the head of his cock like a big finger. She rubbed it up and down her pussy, landing near the entrance where she forgot what she was supposed to be doing. She pushed him in an inch.

  “Jesus fucking Christ.” Grady groaned against her breast. “Don’t stop there. C’mon Liz, fuck me.”

  Grady was the opposite of everything Eliza had ever known. His dirty words, his sexiness, his body gave her more pleasure than she could absorb at once. He was the other side of herself, a perfect match.

  As she pressed down farther on him, inch by inch he entered her, and that’s when Eliza saw the value in “riding” him. She controlled their lovemaking, the pace, the depth, everything.

  She loved it. “I quite like this.”

  He bit her nipple hard. She yelped at the pain and pleasure, pushing him farther inside her.

  “Me, too. Now, fuck me, Liz. I’m done teasing.”

  Eliza rose on her knees until he was almost out of her then plunged down. Her slick folds made the passage smooth and wet, deliciously exciting. At first, her rhythm was awkward, but then she found one that worked for her and him.

  He never let go of her breasts, never stopped pleasuring them with his mouth and his hands. Until this moment, she’d never realized how much it heightened her pleasure. She rode him up and down, pulling him deep within her body, until he touched her womb, her heart.

  Eliza moaned as her pleasure grew, as the spiral within her tightened with each plunge. He thrust up inside her as she pushed down then must have realized that, if he bit her nipple as she slammed herself onto him, she would gasp.

  So, he did it every time.

  Soon, Eliza was mindless with pleasure, her body pulsing for a release. Grady shook beneath her, and his hot breath coated her already slick skin.

  “I’m gonna come. Jesus, I can’t hold back. Come, Liz, come, come, come,” he chanted through his teeth as they were clamped onto her nipple.

  Her body tightened to its breaking point, and then exploded with the greatest ecstasy she’d ever experienced. She screamed his name, and as the echo of her voice rang in her ears, the echo of the orgasm rippled through her. She buried his cock deep inside her as he pulsed with his own release.

  Eliza saw stars behind her eyes as she held onto his shoulders and rode the waves of pleasure. As her orgasm began to subside, she shook with the power of their joining, with the intensity of it.

  He lapped at her nipples, causing her to clench around his still hard staff within her.

  She giggled, happier at that moment than she’d ever been. “It’s as if I’m a windup toy, I think. You’ve discovered the button to make me go.”

  He kissed her breasts and looked up at her. In his gaze, she saw what she thought was love, but it might have been the remnants of the amazing sex they’d just had.

  “I’ll remember that because these are my buttons to make me go, too.”

  She cupped his face and kissed him. “I’ll remember that.”

  They extricated themselves and used water from the canteen to clean up. Eliza felt as if she were floating on air. Her body still buzzed from the bliss she’d achieved in Grady’s arms.

  By the time she’d gotten herself dressed, he was eating chicken again. His dark gaze locked on her as she walked back. A shiver snaked up her spine, and she wondered what he was thinking about and whether she’d be happy to know.

  She managed a small smile as she sat down. He didn’t return the smile. In fact, he threw the chicken bone into the meadow again and rose.

  “Is there anything wrong, Grady?”

  He put his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, there’s something wrong.”

  She swallowed hard and decided against eating any more chicken. “Please tell me what it is. Perhaps I can help.”

  He snorted. “You can’t help because you are the problem.”

  Eliza frowned and tried to swallow down any fear over Grady’s odd behavior. “If you could stop talking in circles, and simply tell me what is wrong, I deserve that much from you.”

  He sat back down with his hands in his lap, now clutching a small piece of burlap. “Every town we go into, folks say something about you not having a ring. They doubt we’re married.”

  “We’re not.”

  “I know that, Liz. That’s not my point. We both need folks to believe we’re man and wife.” He fiddled with the piece of burlap.

  “Why?” She had enjoyed the idea of having a husband, of being Mrs. Wolfe. Yet she’d never thought Grady had thought much about it.

  “Well,
for one thing, if you are traveling around with me, sleeping in my bed, folks will think the worst of you if they find out we ain’t married. And folks won’t talk to me about who I’m looking for if they think I’ve got a whore traveling with me.”

  Eliza flinched at the word whore. “That’s a harsh judgment and uncalled for.”

  “I didn’t say I believe it; just that others might. I want you to feel…well, safe traveling with me.”

  He cleared his throat, and Eliza was amazed to realize he was struggling with what to say to her. “I appreciate your concern, Grady, but I’m not sure how we can solve the problem without actually getting married.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.

  His face hardened. “That ain’t happening.”

  “I never expected it to. I was simply stating a fact.” Eliza wasn’t lying, although maybe she harbored the tiniest hope it might actually happen. One day.

  “Okay, good. Just wanted to make sure you understood that.” He opened the burlap. “I thought of something else.”

  A ring sat on the brown material, winking in the sunlight. Eliza’s breath caught in her throat, but she kept her expression normal, even if her stomach trembled. “It’s quite lovely. Did you purchase the ring in Emerson?” She peered at the ring, imagining it was a real wedding band and not a solution to a problem. Nervously, she pushed her glasses up on her nose.

  “Yep, I was right surprised they even had one.” He held out the ring to her. “You want to wear it?”

  She told herself to not be too enthusiastic as she took the ring. The metal was heavier than she’d expected, and it was warm, likely from being in his pocket. As she slipped it on her ring finger, she was surprised to find it was a perfect fit.

  “Fit okay?”

  She held it up for him to see. “It’s quite comfortable as well. I would be glad to wear it until we part ways. Then perhaps you can sell it to get the money back that you’ve spent.”

  He stared at the ring then looked at her. She would give anything to know what he was thinking.

  “Let’s get moving then.”

  Eliza nodded and started cleaning up, her gaze continually returning to the newcomer on her finger.