“I can’t let that happen.”
She felt a lightness, a sweetness, a rightness, and ran her palms over his body from the hollow beneath his armpits to the top of his britches, around and over his back. He stood still, his head tilted down toward hers. She watched his face, as anticipation of what was to come whirled and flitted through her mind and joyous tremors fluttered inside her.
“Take me to bed, my love . . . my only love,” she whispered.
A choking sound came from his throat as he scooped her up in his arms. In the tack room he set her on her feet and lit the lamp, turning the wick low until it glowed faintly. He looked at her then, and lifted his hands to remove the pins from her hair.
“Shall we leave the lamp on?”
She nodded, leaning her forehead against his collarbone.
“Sweetheart, if you’d rather, we can wait until we’re legally wed.”
“Do you want to?”
“It would about kill me, but I can do it if it’s what you want. I pledged myself to you long ago when we first joined our bodies in love. A few words read over us by a stranger won’t make you more my wife than you are at this moment.”
Her arms moved up to encircle his neck. “Then love me—”
He groaned her name, then covered her lips with his and left them there while he whispered, “I will, I will—”
Without a shred of embarrassment, she unbuttoned her dress and let it fall to the floor at her feet. Then in her petticoat, she sat on the bunk while he knelt at her feet, unlaced her shoes, and pulled off her stockings. She saw his nostrils flare with a quick intake of breath when she slowly pulled the ribbon from its nesting place against her breast and held it out to him. He took it with all the care something so precious deserved and placed it on the table beside the lamp. Then slowly his hands went to his belt buckle.
While he removed his trousers, she slipped off her undergarments and held her arms out to him. Mike sank down on the bunk and gathered her to him, holding her naked length against his.
“You feel so good. Before . . . we had our clothes on.” She clutched him tightly, her hands biting into the warm, solid flesh of his back.
The feel of his body, the stroking of his hands, the warm moistness of his breath, the love filling and spilling from her heart brought her mindless pleasure. They were feverish in their desire for one another. Blindly, passionately, he kissed her breasts, drawing sweetly on the nipple he took into his mouth. With her fingers tangled in his black curls, she held his head to her, never wanting him to stop that glorious torment.
Gentle seeking fingers moved down over her stomach and toyed with the soft curls before seeking the warm, wet entrance to her womanhood. Her breath hissed when his callused fingers stroked and slipped inside. The rough, seeking touch sent delicious tremors cascading through her melting flesh. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, but there was no stopping the whimpering cries when a series of small explosions went off in her body. She arched against him, her hand seeking, and finding, and caressing his elongated, rigid flesh.
“Letty, Letty, Letty—” He said her name in a sobbing breath over and over. “It’s been so long . . . much too long—” She felt him shudder, listened to his outcry, and caressed him as he trembled.
Slowly and carefully, on still-quivering arms, he raised his body, lowered himself between her thighs and entered her, reverently guiding her to accept the gentle invasion. Her hands clung feverishly to him, holding him tightly while she rained kisses on his neck, his shoulders. This joining with him was unlike the coupling they had experienced before, fully clothed, beneath the willow. This time their bodies melted together into a flame of sensation.
There was no room in her mind for anything but the flesh inside hers. She was part of him, He was part of her. He was the universe, vibrating with all the love in the world, and he was lifting her to undreamed sensual heights. At almost the same instant she knew the outburst of his gigantic release, her own flesh shuddered and splintered with an exquisite explosion, sending her into a void where fireworks brightened a blackened sky.
Returning from that infinite space, she was aware that her open mouth pressed against his shoulder. His damp skin tasted salty against her tongue. For long moments there were no words between them, only the sounds of labored breathing and moaning kisses.
Mike turned onto his back, bringing her with him. He pressed her head to his shoulder; she burrowed into the hollow of his arm, tasting the moisture that dewed his chest, her whole body palpitating still. She stroked the damp, crisp hairs and ran her hand over his hard-tendoned belly. He trembled and buried his lips in her hair.
Letty rubbed her cheek against the smooth flesh of his shoulder and whispered, “This was even better than what I remembered.”
His arm tightened and his hand moved down to pull her thigh up over his. He turned his head to look down at her, his expression relaxed and gentle.
“We were children then, sweetheart.”
His words fired her with new tenderness. She tilted her head up until she could reach his mouth and kissed it again and again.
“You gave me the only happiness I knew during the first fifteen years of my life.”
He groaned. “And misery for the next six years. I should never have given in to my desire for you—”
“Shhhh . . .” She placed her fingers over his lips. “It gave us Patrick. Never, never, have I regretted it. It brought me here to Grandpa and Grandma where I learned what it was to live in a home filled with love and respect. Grandpa never ruled like a tyrant over Grandma the way my father ruled his family.”
“I’m not very forgiving, honey. I’ll never forgive them for what they did to us.”
“They hurt themselves more. They’ll not have the joy of knowing their grandchildren.”
“Someday I’d like for my mother to see Patrick. He resembles Katy. Mama grieved so when she lost her.”
“Did your mother want you to marry a Catholic girl?”
“She might have, but she knew how much I loved you.”
“Do you want our children to go to the Catholic church?”
“Would you mind?”
“No. But I don’t want them to be religious fanatics like my father and Cora.”
“They can go to the Lutheran church with Jacob and to the Catholic church with me. When they’re older they can choose.”
“Don’t expect me to go with you. Grandpa doesn’t.”
“I don’t expect you to do anything you’re not comfortable doing.”
“Mike . . .” His name melted on her lips and when she tried to speak, her words kept fading, swept away by his kisses. “Mike—”
“Shhh . . . don’t say anything.” His lips covered hers before she could speak, and she forgot what she was going to say. His voice was a whisper when finally they broke the kiss.
“I was going to ask . . . I think I was going to ask what happened in town tonight. Did you see the deputy?”
“No, but I saw Oscar Phillips. He was with Sharon Tarr.”
“I’m glad they’ve discovered each other. I never thought Oscar was a bad man, only irresponsible and foolish. Maybe with Sharon he’ll settle down. One thing in his favor is how good he is to his kids.”
“I thanked him for helping my wife.”
“Your . . . wife?”
“I thought it a good time to get the story circulating. I told them we spoke our vows years ago. And we did, you know. As soon as I can arrange it, we’ll slip away and be legally married.”
She sighed. “Everything would be perfect if not for Cora being here.”
“Forget Cora. I want all your thoughts to be of me tonight.” His hand moved over her breast and down to her hips. He pulled her over until her soft stomach was pressed to his hard one, his sex nestled in the silky down that covered her mound. “I wish I could have seen you when you were pregnant.”
“My breasts were like melons. My stomach was big as a barrel. My back hurt and I
waddled like a duck.” She felt him laugh.
“I would have rubbed your back,” he murmured against her mouth, holding her so close their hearts pounded against each other.
Her lips sought his and opened over his mouth with drugged sweetness. Closing her eyes, she reveled in his strong fingers’ stroking the quivering small of her back. The low, aching fire in her blazed up again. His hands slipped upward, kneading her shoulder blades, memorizing the slender curve of her upper arms while his body ground into hers. Her womanhood throbbed, aching for fulfillment. She rocked from side to side on his hardness in an agony of longing.
“Sweet, sweet, love. I’ve got to be inside you.”
He moved his hands under the softness of her upper thighs, spread her legs, and lifted her. He inserted himself, velvety, hard, and pulsing with life, into her yielding warmth. Minutes later they were interlocked and breathlessly surrendering to their hunger for each other. His face twisted with the intensity of their coupling and the almost painful anticipation of the ultimate pleasure as she met his thrusts.
When he felt the tremors in the silken sheath that surrounded him, he released the hold he had on his passion and filled her with his life-giving fluid.
Letty’s arms curved about him possessively. This big, self-assured man had quivered in her arms as she had in his. Slowly his breathing steadied. He reached for the lamp and turned the wick down until the room was plunged into darkness. Then he turned on his side, his arm holding her to him, his hand bringing her thigh up to rest on his. He pulled a blanket up from the foot of the bunk, tucked it around them, and cuddled her warm body against his. Almost instantly she was asleep.
Feeling wonderfully loved and happily relaxed, Mike closed his eyes on the most wonderful night of his life and drifted into a dreamlike state halfway between sleep and awareness, his mouth uplifted in a tired but happy smile.
* * *
Letty came out of a deep sleep aware of the teasing fingers between her thighs and strong lips fastened firmly to her nipple. Drowsily, she realized she was lying on her back and Mike’s head lay on her breast.
“I love you,” she whispered into his dark curls.
His laugh was low and tender. He sucked hard at her nipple then moved swiftly to pull her legs about him. He embedded himself in her moistness and thrust deeply. Incredibly, her body responded to his. His lips moved over her chin to her mouth. The tip of his tongue traced her lips before slipping inside. His fingers pulled gently on her wet nipple, then he tugged, almost roughly. The pressure thrilled her in her belly and deep, deep inside her. She moaned incoherent words of love and tightened her arms about him.
He laughed deep in his throat.
“Are your eyes open, love? I wish I could see them. You’re so incredibly sweet. I never want to make this trip alone. I want you to always be with me, feel this with me.”
“Does it feel as good to you as it does to me?” she murmured against his nibbling lips and arched against him.
“It’s heaven! It’s . . . pure heaven—”
Her body felt boneless as he fitted every inch of it against his. This was Mike, her mate, her lover. She felt herself being swept away on a cloud climbing, climbing into the sky until that sunlit moment of glorious shared completion.
Letty had never felt so totally a woman. Mike pressed his head into the hollow of her shoulder. Her arms wound about him tenderly. She loved him so much! A small spurt of fear knifed through her. What if something happened to him? She had not said a prayer since her preacher father had put her out of his house. She said one now.
“Dear Lord, keep him safe. I couldn’t bear to lose him . . . again.”
The deepness of Mike’s breathing told her he was sleeping soundly. Letty gave a little sigh and closed her eyes in sweet exhaustion.
CHAPTER
20
Letty was thoughtful as she looped a wet sheet over the line.
That morning, when Helen had failed to come downstairs, Letty had gone up to her room to find the child hunkered down at the end of the bed, her face swollen from crying.
“I’m . . . sorry—” she sobbed.
“Sorry? Oh . . .” Letty saw the huge wet spot in the middle of the bed and realized what had happened. “You wet the bed? Honey, that’s not so terrible. Patrick does it once in a while.”
“But . . . I’m ten—”
“You were sleeping so soundly that you failed to wake up and get on the pot.” Letty put her arms about the child and hugged her. “Shhh . . . don’t cry. We’ll wash the sheets. It’s a nice sunny day.”
“Patrick and . . . everyone will know—”
“No one will know but you and me. We’ll wash all the sheets. We’ll say we’re getting a head start on Monday’s washing. With the two of us working we can get it done in no time at all. Hurry now and get dressed. Patrick went out to the field with Mike and Grandpa. They’ll be finished with the planting in an hour or two.”
The child’s arms went about Letty’s neck. “I wish . . . I wish you was my mama.”
“I wish it too. We’re going to do everything we can to make it happen.”
Now, while dumping the rinse water on the ferns growing on the north side of the house, Letty tried not to think of the consequences if the deputy came to get Helen. Thank God, Mike was here. He would know what to do. Mike. Her love. Her future. She and Mike would take care of their family; Patrick and Helen and Grandpa.
She hung the tub on the nail on the porch. Her apron was wet and her hair hung about her face in strings. She would start the noon meal and tidy herself before he came in for dinner.
This morning when she had awakened to find him up and doing the chores she had lain in his bunk, smelling the scent of their lovemaking, her heart quivery. The fluttering in her stomach had persisted during breakfast when Mike took advantage of her nearness to give her loving caresses whenever she brushed by him. Jacob’s teasing eyes had observed and approved. Now, at midmorning she was filled with boundless happiness, and it reflected in her face, her bright eyes, and in her bouncy step.
Helen was practicing on the piano and Letty was singing softly to herself which perhaps was the reason she didn’t hear the purr of the automobile engine. Suddenly, there was a loud thumping on the door, and Helen screeched and ran for the kitchen.
“Letty! Letty!”
“What is it, honey?”
“Somebody—”
Letty wiped her hands on her wet apron and pushed Helen down in a chair. “Stay here.”
A man in a dark suit stood on the front porch. He removed his hat when Letty appeared in the doorway.
“Is this the Fletcher farm?”
“Yes.”
“You’re Mrs. Graham?” Letty nodded. “Excuse me for a moment. I have someone who wishes to see you.”
He stepped off the porch and hurried to the large, shiny black automobile parked beside the yard gate. White pennants were attached to the front fenders. A sign on the side painted in large white letters said: JESUS IS COMING.
Cora. An icy coldness swept over Letty, leaving her as stiff as a frozen pond.
Oh, Lordy. She was not ready for this confrontation with her sister, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now. With not quite steady fingers Letty stroked the hair back from her face and poked it into the knot at the back of her neck. The smoothing of her hair was not due to any wish to improve her appearance, but to nervousness. She wished that Mike and Grandpa were here. In the next breath she was thankful they were not. This meeting with her sister was bound to happen. It was just something she had to endure. She told herself that there was nothing Cora could do to hurt her, but she knew it wasn’t true. So she stood there waiting, a slender auburn-haired woman in a faded blue dress and an apron wet with wash water. The woman being escorted up the path to the house was taller, bigger-boned than Letty, and dressed all in white. Her hair was much lighter than Letty remembered and swept up under a large-brimmed hat. Her dress, made of layer upon layer
of gauzelike material, flowed around her like a cloud when she walked. A loosely woven net veil covered a face so pale it looked as if it had never seen the light of day.
Cora came to the edge of the porch and with a look dismissed the man in the black suit. He turned and went back to the automobile.
“Hello, Letty.”
“Hello, Cora.” Letty stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.
“Are you going to ask me in?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m your sister and I’ve come to visit. I’m in need of a cold drink. It was a long, dusty ride out here.” Without an invitation, Cora pulled open the screen door and stepped into the parlor. The fragrance of lily of the valley perfume came with her. Her eyes swept the room. A look of disgust settled over her features. Her nose twitched as if she smelled something unpleasant. Letty remembered the practiced gesture designed to intimidate and stared into her sister’s hard blue eyes when they swung back to her. “This is about what I expected. It hasn’t changed but you have.”
Letty shrugged. “So have you.”
“I should hope so. I’ve come a long way from that one-horse church in Dunlap.”
“Bully for you.”
“Humm . . . smart mouthed, aren’t you. I see you’ve still got Mama’s piano. I want to hear you play.”
“You didn’t come all the way out here to hear me play the piano. What do you want?” Letty had promised herself she wouldn’t lose her temper, but she was tempted. Cora’s eyes were moving over her, assessing her, as if she were a horse Cora was interested in buying.
“Oh, but I do. The piano was the only thing you excelled in, beside the . . . er pleasures of the flesh. I suspect that now you play better than Mama did in her prime. She’s lost the touch, you know. Barely beats out a tune. Claims it’s rheumatism.”
“Then why don’t you pray for her? Use your magical healing power.”
Letty was surprised to hear Cora laugh. She had forgotten that Cora’s mouth was so small and thin-lipped and that her features were so sharp.
“Papa needs her. And besides, they’re not in my class anymore.”
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