There is much I would like to know about you. What are your parents like? What things do you enjoy? How do you spend your days? I feel you are correct when you say that a bond has been forged between us, and I hope that this response finds you well.
Yours,
Luke
Mary-Jane read and re-read his words over and over again. She thought of him sitting at his desk writing them, struggling to find the perfect order to please her. He seemed so sensitive and thoughtful, and when she read about him staring out at the horizon a warm feeling swelled within her and threatened to burst out. She held the letter close to her bosom and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply as she thought about Luke and what he must be doing now. Was he thinking of her? Was he waiting with the same agony for her reply? Part of her wanted to torture him, but another part couldn't wait because she knew that the longer she waited to reply the longer she would have to wait to receive another letter, so as quickly as she could she set about writing a reply.
Dearest Luke,
The letter did indeed find me in good spirits, which were lifted even higher after I read your words. I am sure now that we share many interests and thoughts. I like that you are thoughtful and there are many nights when I too have stared out at the horizon, wishing that someone would be close to me. Perhaps we have been staring at each other all this time and never known it?
I have indeed lost someone close to me, although not in the same way as your wife. My uncle left when I was very young. Everyone says that we were close and that he doted on me, but my childhood memories are vague and... there is a strange mystery around him. I do not know what it is, but my parents are being rather secretive about it and it is part of the reason why I am writing to you. You see, my father is the sheriff and he would much rather I stay here and become a spinster. I am sure that it has something to do with my uncle but nobody will tell me the truth, and I am tired of being treated like a little girl. All my friends have their own families and I want one too. I long to meet your little son. I have always wanted a boy to raise, and when I was younger I spent some time helping out in the nursery. I imagine it must be hard for you to do the duties of two parents, and I would be pleased to help in any way I can.
I also do not begrudge you bringing up your wife. She is an important part of your life and it is clear that you loved her dearly, I can only trust in my own ability to open your heart up to that kind of feeling again. I know it may take time, but you are still alive on this earth, I am sure she would not want you to spend the rest of your days alone and absent of love.
I spend my days doing chores, reading, and now writing my letters to you. My mother has trained me well in the art of looking after the house, and my father is a strong-willed man and has shown me how to deal with people. The community here is small but close, and we are all on good terms with each other. Close to our borders is an arid desert that once was home to a savage tribe, and they came to take some people from us. It is these that I thought inspired my father's need to protect me, but I am not sure how my uncle fits in with them. I fear that the mystery may never be solved, but I want to bid farewell to that part of my life and begin a new chapter.
I have heard that in these matters it is important to know what the other person looks like, so in order to expedite things I have decided to send you a picture of myself, and I hope that you will return the gesture. If I am pleasing to you then I would be happy to make arrangements for me to come to you.
Know that my thoughts are with you, and the next time you are staring at the horizon know that I am staring back.
Your Mary-Jane
Again, her heart was beating swiftly when she mailed the letter, and the anguish of the wait was almost unbearable. When it finally arrived, she ran into her room and slammed the door. Upon opening the envelope, she felt a second piece of paper, and her lips curled into a smile, for she knew it was a photograph of him. She almost tossed the letter aside and gazed at the picture, but she wanted to know what he thought of her, so once again her eyes danced eagerly over the words that had been penned by his strong, tender hand. In this letter he expressed delight at seeing her, and also concern that her parents were unaware of her desire to marry, and while this gave her a twinge of guilt she ignored it because he was agog at how beautiful she was. Never before had she been approached with such an intense desire, and reading his words was far more intimate than sharing a coy glance with a stranger as they passed in the street.
I only hope that you have a similar reaction to my picture.
There was more to the letter following that statement, but she could not contain herself any longer. She placed the letter to one side and picked up the picture, holding it so that the back of the photograph was not facing her. Slowly, she turned it around, and a wave of yearning desire swept over her, making her entire body tingle. Standing in the picture was a man who may as well have stepped out of her dreams. He was tall and strong, with dark hair and a brooding look in his heavy-lidded eyes. His biceps bulged through a plaid shirt, and he was clearly a man who knew how to get things done. He had full lips, and as Mary-Jane gazed at the picture she imagined how he would smell, probably of earth and sweat and manliness. Her mind began to grow hazy as a veil of desire slipped over her, covering her in its sweet and tempting allure.
Her fingers brushed over his picture and in her mind she began to touch him. She imagined her hands running over his taut muscles, feeling the steady, pounding rhythm of his heart. Her own was beating frantically under her chest. Never had she experienced any feelings like this before, but they were familiar, for she had read about them in some of her books, the ones that her father didn't know about.
There was a queasy, knotted feeling in her stomach but it was the good kind, and everything fluttered and seemed unreal and yet so real at the same time. Her senses were heightened and yet everything seemed so far away. Her eyelids drooped and the confines of her bedroom suddenly disappeared as she was plunged into a world of lust and longing. Her hands groped at her own body, clutching at her dress and pushing it aside so she could explore her burning wetness. In her mind Luke was beside her, running his hands through her hair, doing everything that she wanted him to do. She thought how soft his lips would be upon her milky flesh, how his sun-kissed skin would be coarse to the touch but burning, his hands running over her body, squeezing her just a little tighter than she expected.
Mary-Jane's mouth twisted into a wide grin as her body writhed on the bed. The sensations were like tremors and her body shuddered as her hand dove in between her thighs. Her chest began to heave as the waves of pleasure rose and fell, increasing in tempo and rhythm. She bit her lower lip. Her skin became flushed and beads of sweat formed on her temples, trickling down her skin and dropping to her pillow. Her head twisted. In her mind he was beside her, kissing her, and she could feel his warmth by her side. His strong body dominated her and she wanted him to make her a woman. She didn't want anyone else to take her, only wanted to share herself with him to pleasure him.
He was such a lonely man and he needed a good wife, one who would do whatever he needed. His broken heart was in need of mending and his body in need of loving and she would be sensual, she would be soft and tender, she would be a mother to his son and a wife to him, and at night she would be as wild as a coyote, howling together in glorious ecstasy. These thoughts rattled around her mind and all she wanted was to be beside him. Her hands became his hands and her mind was vibrant with Luke. He flashed before her eyes, even when they were open, and for a moment she was convinced that by some miracle he had traversed time and space and was in the room with her. The heady delights were intoxicating and she never wanted the pleasure to end. Her fingers twisted and danced inside her, he body shuddered and writhed and shook as the tremulous orgasmic force rose through her body, seizing her with something overwhelming that was both exhilarating and entirely terrifying at the same time.
Her mind exploded and a silent scream left her mouth, echoing arou
nd her head as her body convulsed and jerked violently. Her breathing was haggard and she thought that her body would never recover from what she had just put it through. As the elation subsided she looked at the picture of Luke and smiled in reverence. She brought it to her lips and kissed it softly, then held it and the letter close to her as she fell to sleep, completely satisfied.
Chapter 5
Mary-Jane had thought about Luke more often than usual since she had received his picture, and she had been unable to stop herself from entertaining intense thoughts. Mostly this was not a problem, but it became a problem when she was eating dinner with her parents, and she had to make a serious effort to control her mind, which took more discipline than what she was used to. While she was writing letters to Luke, and when she was on her own, it became easy to dream up a perfect life together. But as they grew more intimate, suddenly everything became more real. She was sure that she was falling in love with him, yet things were not as simple, because there was still her parents to consider.
All her life, they had been looking out for her and now she had struck out on her own, and she wasn't sure if they would allow it. Luke had expressed his concerns about the fact that she had not told them about their letters, so in her last reply she had asked him if he would consider traveling down to meet them, so everyone could be on the same page, and then, she hoped, she would be allowed to return with him and begin their lives together. But that meant that she would have to broach the subject with her parents, and that was more challenging than she had anticipated.
There were many times when she had wanted to bring it up but there as always something that stopped her, usually her own fear. However, she then received a letter from Luke where he accepted her invitation and was on his way. He had arranged for someone in the nearest town to look after Eli while he was gone, and he was looking forward to meeting her. Since she didn't want the embarrassment of Luke turning up to her home and her parents not expecting him, she knew that she had to reveal the truth.
So it was that one evening, while her parents were sitting in the lounge, she came in, cleared her throat, and stood with her hands behind her back.
“Is there anything the matter dear?” her mother asked.
“Actually, there is, I need to speak with you about something,” she said. Her parents looked at her expectantly and at first nothing would come out. But when it did it came in a torrent. She told them all about how she had bought the newspaper and had written to Luke, and how the two of them had formed a real connection. She spoke rapidly and her parents had no chance to interject. Everything came out in one breath and it wasn't until the end that Mary-Jane realized she had to breathe. She was sure that her father would explode with rage, but instead he remained sitting quietly. Somehow that seemed worse.
“Well... that's interesting Mary-Jane, but you know that your father was going to find you a husband,” Annabelle said.
“I grew tired of waiting,” Mary-Jane replied. The two women waited for Wayne's reply, and when it came it was in a low, terse voice.
“Get out,” he said.
“Excuse me?” Mary-Jane replied, not quite believing what she heard.
“You know what I said. Get out. If you can’t respect my rules, then you don't deserve to live in this house. I have cared for you all of your life and this is how you repay me? You go behind my back and start exchanging letters with some ranch hand. You could do so much better than that, Mary-Jane. And what kind of man is he to speak with a woman without her father's consent? Do you really think that is an honorable man? Goodness knows what he'd do to you if you actually went off with him.”
“You don't know him at all!”
“What are you still doing here? Get out!” This time he yelled, and the shock of it prompted tears to flow from Mary-Jane's eyes. Annabelle tried to placate Wayne, but the anger had seized him and his eyes were glowing red with rage. Mary-Jane didn't know what to do, but she knew that she was not going to leave.
“No!” she said defiantly.
“How dare you speak that way to me. You have two choices here, young lady. Either you go away and wait for your new husband or you stay here like you're supposed to. Those are your choices but you need to choose now, and make sure you make the right one because you're not going to be able to undo it.”
“You think I wanted things to end like this? Don't you see what you're doing to me? You say you're keeping me here for my own good but you're suffocating me. I'm doing the same things I was as a teenager. I'm supposed to be a woman, to have a husband and bear him children but you're so afraid of me growing up and I want to know why. Can you blame me for going behind your back? If I stayed here I would never leave, and maybe that's good enough for you but it isn't good enough for me. I don't want to be a spinster. I want to have a life of my own. Why won't you let me? Why?”
“Because it's not safe! The world is a dangerous place.”
“You say that all the time. Tell me the truth. I want the truth, and maybe I'll change my mind. Maybe I won't. But I need to know why you want to keep me here all the time. I know it has something to do with uncle Lee. You've never told me anything but anytime his name comes up you get these strange looks on your faces, like there's something you're keeping from me, and it's not fair. It's part of my life, too. I should have those memories. Even people in town know and they're too afraid to say anything. What have you been hiding from me all these years? Please, just tell me, I'm begging you, please,” she said, her words faltering under the strain of the emotion. Everything had poured out of her, leaving her empty and drained.
She sank to the floor, unable to summon the strength to hold up her own body. Her voice had cracked and was more of a rasp, and the years of emotional turmoil finally spilled out, and her parents saw the results of what they had done.
The change was instantaneous. Her father's anger vanished and was replaced by worry for his daughter. Both parents rushed to her side and helped her into a chair. Annabelle ran to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water and held it to her lips, while Wayne paced back and forth. When Mary-Jane recovered some semblance of sanity she breathed in deeply and begged them to tell her the truth one more time. Annabelle and Wayne glanced at each other helplessly, knowing that finally the secret they had worked so hard to keep hidden was going to be revealed.
“It was a long time ago, when you were very little,” Annabelle began, and Mary-Jane listened intently to her mother, for finally all the secrets were going to be revealed. “Life was much the same back then as it is now, aside from the savages. They used to come in the dead of the night and there was nothing any of us could do to protect against them. Now, some people think they're a myth, but I can assure you they were real, and it filled my heart with terror. They only ever went after young woman and girls, preying on them, and we were so worried about you that we made sure you were never left alone. There was me, your father, and your uncle. Being an artist, he had a lot of free time, so he spent a lot of time looking after you and escorting you to the edges of the village while you did your chores. Of course, your father was working, but when he wasn't he was making sure you were safe as well.”
“What happened to uncle Lee? Did the savages attack him?” Mary-Jane asked, her voice still strained with emotion. Again her parents glanced fretfully at each other. Annabelle paced across the floor and took a sip of water. Bringing up the past like this was evidently a difficult thing to do, and it was the first time that Mary-Jane had realized that part of the reason why her parents may have hidden this from her was because it was too painful for them to recount. Annabelle moved to the wall where she held out a hand and touched the edge of one of uncle Lee's pictures.
“He never belonged here, you know. Even when we were little he looked at the world differently. He was just... he was a man out of place and it was the only thing he could do I suppose. The only thing that made sense to him.” She was talking in a faraway voice, and it was as though she wasn't addressing Mary-Jane a
t all. Annabelle fell silent and although Mary-Jane couldn't see it she could almost feel that a tear was rolling down her mother's cheek.
Her eyes turned to her father. He looked stern and his jaw was clenched, but there was a sadness in his eyes as well. He cast a sorrowful glance at Annabelle and it was clear that her suffering was his suffering too.
“Lee was a good man and we trusted him... but over time he changed. The savages were attacking us and we knew we had to do something to stop them, so one day all the man gathered in town to form a plan. Lee was there as well. I remember it clearly. Everyone was hollering and red-faced and angry, vying for blood, but he just sat there with this thin smile and a blank look on his face like nothing at all mattered. He got that way sometimes, you know? He'd just... disappear for a while, in his mind I mean. Anyway, everyone was set on going on a rampage against these wild people when he started speaking and I don't even know how anyone could hear him because he spoke so quietly, but everyone stopped to listen to him.
ROMANCE: Badass Boss (Billionaire Alpha Bad Boy Romance) (Western Mail Order Bride Calendar Contemporary) Page 64