by Debra Glass
The muscles in her legs relaxed. Her fingers threaded into his hair again and she tugged and caressed.
“Tell me how it feels,” he murmured against her crease.
“Good. It feels good,” she said breathlessly. “Very good. Oh Ransom…”
The sound of his name on her lips sent a shockwave of pleasure through him. He kissed his way back to her center and sucked, intent on bringing her to bliss. Her back arched higher. Her knees raised. Her fingers abandoned his hair for her own. Unchecked moans spilled from her lips. He held her firmly, aware of every slight change in her reaction. Everything relaxed and then suddenly grew taut again. She cried out and pressed herself tighter against his mouth, grinding until her coarse curls chafed his chin.
Finally, she went limp. He stood and gazed down at her. Naked and undone, she looked like a different person than that prim schoolteacher he’d seen disembark the train.
Lazily, she opened her eyes and looked at him. “Won’t you join with me?” she asked, reaching for him. “I want you inside me.”
His cock lurched. He could practically feel how her tight, wet flesh would envelope him like a glove. He wanted her. He wanted her bad.
His stomach flipped. He’d never really denied a woman before. He didn’t want to deny this one. But he knew himself well enough to realize that if he took her—as he wanted to right this moment—guilt would eat him alive.
Despite what she claimed, he knew that one day she’d find a man with whom she wanted to create a home and marriage. It wouldn’t be right to take away something the Almighty had intended she share with a husband. Especially not when he, Ransom, was only involved for sexual gratification.
Her gaze flicked to his crotch and she reached for him. There. His lashes fluttered, threatening to close as her palm pressed against the shaft of his cock. “Have you ever touched a man this way before?” His voice sounded strange. Husky.
“No,” she whispered, never dragging her eyes from where her hand explored.
Without dislodging her fingers, he began unbuttoning his fly. This was madness. He’d given her what she wanted. He ought to send her on her way and take the matter into his hand before he did something he’d regret.
Instead, he parted his fly. His cock sprang free.
Her lips parted with a little gasp. Her tongue darted out to dampen them. “Oh my,” she remarked.
Gratified by her reaction, a grin tugged at one corner of his mouth. “Do you still want that inside you?” he asked.
She cleared her throat.
He chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”
“It’s just so…so…” Her chest rose and fell with short breaths. “It would never fit.”
He inhaled. “I assure you it would,” he said, stepping closer. “I’d make it fit.”
She whimpered as he climbed onto the bed, bracing his knees apart and letting his cock jut threateningly toward her. “It’d fill you full, stretch you and mold you and leave you with no doubt who’d claimed you.”
The muscles in her throat worked as she swallowed. He took her hand, flirted with her fingers and guided them toward his flesh. She dragged in a ragged breath as skin touched skin. He moved an inch closer and moaned when her hand closed around him, gripping. Her touch ignited his lust, threatening to turn him into an out-of-control beast incapable of restraint.
“Feel how hard I am for you?” he asked.
“Mmm.”
“Can you feel the blood beating through my veins?”
“Ransom…”
“Do you know how bad I want to fuck you right now?”
A little squeak emanated from her throat.
“Don’t pretend to be shocked,” he told her. “If you’re going to behave like a scarlet woman, then do it with daring, darlin’.”
She nodded. “I want you.”
“Want me to what?” He was toying with her now, and he relished the effect he had on her. “Say the word.” He cupped her face and brushed his thumb over her bottom lip, imagining how erotic she would look as those plush lips parted to admit the head of his rock-hard cock. “Say it.”
She whispered a kiss across the pad of his thumb. Her gaze collided with his and locked. She no longer looked surprised or timid. Now her face held the same determination it had possessed when she’d locked horns with Aunt Chloe. “Fuck me.”
Everything inside him tightened to the snapping point. An untried virgin. No one had ever touched her save him. She was his for the taking. But…
His jaw clenched. Tension grabbed hold and refused to let go. He’d never had qualms about taking what he wanted before.
But then again, never before had so much hung precariously in the balance. Jenny. Cathleen’s reputation—not that she seemed to be too concerned with it at the moment. His own damn conscience.
Shit.
He raked a hand through his hair. He was foolish to consider claiming this woman. What if she fell for him? In spite of what she vowed? Women were like that once they’d been bedded. If she fell for him, she’d only end up hurt. He was incapable of giving her what she needed and deserved—security, marriage, love.
He still intended to leave and did not plan to take anyone with him.
Besides, this situation brought matters far too close to home. It was best to keep her at somewhat of a distance.
He slid his hand behind her neck and drew her closer. “I can’t fuck you. I won’t.”
Disappointment flashed in her eyes. Her bottom lip formed the most beautiful pout he’d ever seen. “I need you, Ransom.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t satisfy you.”
The light returned to her features. “And what about your satisfaction?”
He urged her even closer. “Open your mouth, sweetheart.”
The glitter faded from her eyes and they turned a darker shade of black. Her gaze darted to his cock and then back up. “Can I…can I do the same for you?”
His answer was to rake the head of his penis along her lips and then nudge the head between them. Her eyes closed as she opened, taking him inside. At first she seemed tentative, but all at once, passion took over and she gripped his thighs. She moved closer and tasted him with her tongue.
Desire rolled like thunder through his belly, exploding in lightning bursts through the veins in his cock. His sac tightened as he threaded his fingers into her hair to hold her captive. He knew he should be still, that he should allow her to come to him, to explore, to learn. He couldn’t. Need detonated, fueling him to gently thrust into the soft, wet heat.
His fingers trembled as she clutched tighter, as she sucked harder. Her tongue rolled around the head, flicked down the length. Her breath fanned him, tickled him.
“You feel so good,” he murmured, caressing her hair and her neck. The slow, slick slide of her mouth along his cock fed his desire. With other women this act was a prelude to something else. With Cathleen, it was something more, but he couldn’t discern if his reaction stemmed from the idea she’d never done this to another man or from the fact she was forbidden fruit. And yet the impact was too much, too quick…
“Oh…” He moaned and gripped her shoulders, intent on removing himself from her mouth before he erupted. Shit, he was about to lose…
Her fingers seized him and she held him close. Her mouth took him ravenously, and he groaned as his orgasm gathered and exploded in one forceful expulsion inside her willing mouth. She swallowed, the motion tugging at him. Suddenly he was too sensitive. Her tongue lapped around his head, sending jolts of devastating pleasure rippling through his abdomen.
His muscles jerked and he resisted the impulse to withdraw. Finally, he could stand the heightened sensation no longer. Taking her head in his hands, he held her in place as he removed his flesh from her mouth.
He wilted and dragged her into his arms. Emotions threatened to roil inside him and he waged war on them, just as he’d battled this woman’s countrymen in the throes of combat.
His first instinct was
to drive her out of bed and out of his house. Letting a woman linger in the bed after sex only brought trouble.
But Ransom wasn’t ready for her to leave just yet. “Cathleen,” he muttered and tilted her face up to his.
Beautiful. The word repeated itself over and over in his head as his gaze drank in the sight of her swollen lips, her dark eyes, her taut, dusky nipples and the thatch of glistening black curls between her thighs.
“Beautiful,” he ground out, and then covered her mouth with his.
Cathleen entwined her arms around Ransom’s neck and broad shoulders as she opened her mouth to receive his kiss. Her body sang with something vibrant, some whisper of a promise she didn’t want to face right now.
His fingers sought between her legs, raked through her sodden folds and then glided in deliberate circles around her clitoris. She writhed restlessly, unable to get close enough, to attain satisfaction fast enough. His kiss deepened. His tongue delved.
Cathleen tried to rock her hips but his free hand held her anchored against him and all she could do was throw her knee over his hips to give him more access to her body. His cock nudged against her thigh. If only she could twist and coax it inside her. She would have begged for it but he never allowed her that luxury.
A growl tore from his throat as their teeth clashed. His pressure on her clitoris intensified and once again, stars flashed behind her closed eyelids as bliss carried her reeling into the heavens.
* * * * *
Cathleen had been reluctant to wash Ransom’s scent away as she prepared herself for the day. She wanted the musky reminder of his taste and his fragrance about her, but she knew Jenny’s sharpened perception would divulge the secret.
A smile played on Cathleen’s lips as she dabbed on a perfume blended with lilacs, hyacinths and honeysuckles. She’d never been one to splurge on such frivolities, but was now glad she’d spent the money. No matter how much she washed, traces of Ransom still lingered on her skin and—Cathleen giggled—in her mouth.
He’d pleasured her twice more before helping her dress and then providing her with a lantern to light her way back to the big house. She’d barely gotten in the door before the rooster hailed the dawn.
She was so tired, she wondered how she’d ever manage to make it through the day.
Blinking, she leaned forward and peered at her reflection in the mirror. She looked an utter fright. She slipped on her glasses, smoothed down her hair and stepped back to appraise herself once more.
It occurred to her that she’d never before been so concerned about her appearance, and that her interest stemmed from the idea that she desired Ransom’s approval. The thought irked her. “It shouldn’t matter what he thinks,” she said out loud. Theirs was not a love match. Far from it.
She fingered the jet cameo brooch at her throat. Exactly how was she to define her relationship with the decidedly talented Ransom Byrne?
Warmth unfurled and pooled in her pantalets at the memory of how he’d kissed her there. Her hand fell to her abdomen where it seemed as if butterflies flitted. She’d wanted him to take her. It scared her to recall how badly she’d lusted for him.
She breathed in as deeply as she could. At her request, her stays had been laced tighter than usual this morning and they made drawing in enough air difficult. The back of her neck flamed.
She sighed in exasperation and the bemused smile on her face faded. She’d allowed herself to turn into a simpering idiot over the attentions of a man. “What a fool you are, Catie Ryan,” she told herself.
“Breakfast!” Merry called from the landing.
“Coming!” Cathleen replied.
Sudden dread consumed her at the knowledge she was about to come face-to-face with Ransom.
“Good morning,” Jenny said as she passed the doorway.
“Good morning,” Cathleen said, joining her charge to guide her down the stairs. The puppy bounded down in front of them.
“Listen to his footfall,” Cathleen said, “and you can hear when he reaches the bottom.”
Jenny’s fingers tightened on Cathleen’s arm. “You’re as tense as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”
Cathleen tried to force herself to relax. It was no use. “I’m merely tired. I didn’t sleep well.”
“I heard you come up the stairs early this morning.”
The heat in the back of Cathleen’s neck moved around and into her cheeks. “I thought an early morning walk might clear my mind.”
Together they descended the stairs and entered the dining room. Mr. and Mrs. Byrne stood waiting, but a strange mix of disappointment laced with relief flooded Cathleen when she did not see Ransom.
Jenny’s chin lifted as greetings were exchanged. Her brow furrowed as if something were amiss. “Where’s Brother?”
“He rode out early this morning for Franklin. Said he has business to attend,” Mr. Byrne declared as he seated the women and then moved around to his own chair at the head of the table.
Throughout breakfast, Cathleen could not relinquish the idea that Ransom’s absence had something to do with what had happened between them the night before.
Doubt reared hard inside her. What if he’d reconsidered their arrangement? What if she’d displeased him? She didn’t like the unequivocally feminine emotions churning inside her.
Or the awful realization she might have entered into an agreement with the devil.
* * * * *
Sitting atop Asteroid, Ransom stared down the hill at Harriet Bostick’s house. He ought to pay her a call. It made no sense that he’d come all this way…and lacked the desire to dally with his favorite distraction.
He twisted the reins around his gloved hand and shifted in the saddle. Memories of the previous night roiled in his brain.
He’d come dangerously close to claiming a virgin. He shut his eyes tight and breathed in. How stupid he’d been. Offering up a silent prayer to the heavens for giving him the fortitude to stop, he dug his heels in and urged Asteroid back down the pike toward Thompson’s Station. The widow could do without his visit today.
No sooner had he come to terms with his decision, than the recollection of ordering Cathleen to go to his room and strip naked slipped to the surface.
That moment when he’d been utterly and completely in control of her pleasure both intrigued and disturbed him. Playful spanking and toying with restraints had heretofore only been something at which he’d dabbled with his more adventurous lovers. Those incidents had been scarce as a hen’s teeth. And not only rare, but spontaneous.
He and Cathleen had set forth the terms of their… Ransom searched for the word. Arrangement. Yes, that was perfect. For it was hardly anything he dared to deem a relationship. That clarification aside, he’d never been involved in planned…punishment.
“Damn.” The infernal woman had him at a loss to form sentences in his own head.
Had she looked for him to be at breakfast this morning? He simply hadn’t been able to face her. More importantly, he’d been terrified of how she’d react. On the one hand, he wanted her to remain levelheaded about this…arrangement. Why did he keep stumbling over that word?
But some baser part of him yearned for her to want more.
The knowledge stunned him.
More between them was not only impossible, it was ludicrous.
He didn’t want more.
A ripple shuddered through Asteroid from the animal’s ears to his tail.
“You want to run, don’t you?” Ransom asked.
Asteroid blew a snort and jerked his head. With a laugh, Ransom snapped the reins and the horse bolted forward, legs churning as he covered the distance from Franklin to Thompson’s Station.
With the wind in his face and the powerful animal moving effortlessly beneath him, Ransom pushed the troublesome thoughts out of his head and instead, enjoyed the ride.
Asteroid was loath to walk when they reached the stone wall marking Byrne’s End’s property line. Shaking his head fie
rcely, the animal stomped and snorted.
“Calm down, you grand rascal,” Ransom told him. But the horse’s sense of anticipation mirrored his own.
Cathleen would be here, doubtless garbed in that threadbare mourning gown and those peculiar spectacles. Only Ransom would know what lush curves that dress hid. The woman was a wildcat, begging to be tamed.
As if consigned to his fate, Asteroid plodded up the drive. Ransom studied the big house with its imposing Georgian façade. He’d always thought he’d live out his days here with grandchildren on his knee and a team of trainers like Morris Hunt to oversee the horse breeding.
That dream could still be yours.
The intruding voice shocked Ransom. He’d resigned himself. He’d decided.
He didn’t like changing his mind once he’d made it up. Hell no.
Besides, though he kept his emotions to himself, seeing Jenny groping her way through the house and Sissy becoming more and more dependent on her tonic ate at Ransom like a festering sore. He’d done those things. He’d caused them.
He didn’t deserve a happy life amongst people who loved him in spite of the misery he’d brought on his family.
Beyond the house, under the shade of a giant Osage-orange tree, Cathleen sat on a blanket. Charles and Jenny sat on either side of her. Ransom smiled to himself at the sight of Cathleen holding Jenny’s hand on the pages of an open book. Jenny’s smile was bright and she nodded her head as if she understood what Cathleen was teaching.
Jenny had always loved to read. It eased Ransom’s heart to see her enjoying her favorite pastime once more.
The puppy brought Charles a stick and the two played a quiet game of tug-of-war—until Charles saw Ransom.
The boy shot to his feet. “Mister Ransom!”
Ransom’s gaze flicked to Cathleen. He wanted to see her reaction.
He wasn’t disappointed.
Her shoulders rose as she inhaled. The hint of a smile played on her lips and she pushed her glasses up higher on her nose.
He slid out of the saddle and walked Asteroid toward the tree. His stomach tightened. His palms grew damp. Instinct urged him to turn the other way, to go to the barn, go anywhere but to that tree—and to her.