A Necessary Woman

by A. E. Easterlin

  Jake got up and walked the floor with his son in his arms, talking to him in a slow, soft voice.

  “Good boy, Charlie. You’re a good boy, son. We just have to get used to each other, that’s all. We can do this, you and me. Your mama wants us to get to know each other. What do you think?”

  Suzanna smiled at them, warming Jake’s heart. It was one of the first smiles she’d sent his way since Charlie had come to live with them. He’d never been one to back away from a challenge, and he certainly wasn’t going to start now. Not when so much was at stake. He and Charlie were going to make her fall in love all over again.

  My ace in the hand is you, sweet baby.

  Before long, Jake couldn’t make a move without the boy and Suzanna being underfoot. If he came in for lunch, Charlie was plopped right next to him. He took to dipping his finger in whatever he was eating, then touching it to the baby’s lips. Suzanna and Martha delighted in the baby’s reactions, and before long Jake looked for any opportunity to join them during the day. The sounds of their laughter filled the house, making it a home once more.

  Jake was smart enough to see his strategy was working, but as of yet nothing had changed in the romance department.

  And there was the additional worry. Once again, Pete found an eagle’s feather at the school. The men doubled their efforts to guard the homestead. Jake didn’t like Suzanna out of his sight. Black Hawk’s calling card had them all on edge.

  Suzanna continued to use Charlie as a ploy to entice him to embrace his role as a daddy; Jake continued to use Charlie as a way to get in Suzanna’s good graces once more. Gradually, as the spell wound by her love weaved through their everyday life, they both began to warm.

  Pete avoided him. Oh, he afforded him due respect, but the camaraderie of former days was missing.

  Martha seemed the only one disturbed by the attention her son paid to Suzanna. Even he noticed the man spent more and more time near the house. If his wife and Charlie were outside, Pete would ride over and take a few minutes to play with the boy. He always had a reason, and often brought him little wooden farm animals he’d carved in the evenings. Charlie adored them. Charlie adored Pete. He tolerated his father.

  Martha approached him after breakfast one morning. “You better keep an eye on my boy. I don’t like that he’s spending so much time with Miss Suzanna and Charlie. He’s already too attached, and he’s going to get hurt. You best put a stop to it before it gets out of hand.”

  She was right. Pete was all male, and Suzanna an extremely appealing woman. He had a pretty good idea of what was happening. Martha didn’t want Pete or Suzanna hurt, but she also wouldn’t stick her nose in where it wasn’t wanted. This was his problem, and he would have to solve it.

  Jake didn’t have long to wait. The day following his conversation with Martha, Pete rode down from the range with about twenty calves ready to be branded. He’d put up his horse and wandered over to the corral to watch Jake gentle a particularly ornery sorrel that consistently gave the other hands a bad time.

  He’d sprung into the saddle but was not yet well seated when the feisty horse reared on its hind legs. Before anyone knew what was happening, he’d fallen off the right side of the horse and bit the dust head first.

  Staggering to his feet, spitting dirt from his mouth, wiping his chin and the seat of his britches, Jake immediately grabbed the dangling reins. Mounting again, prepared for the animal’s shenanigans, he quickly showed the horse who was boss. Pete hollered his approval, and the men around the corral laughed as he trotted the mare triumphantly around the circle.

  Suzanna paused, set down her basket of fresh-picked vegetables next to the baby, and put a hand over her eyes to block the glare, looking to see what all the commotion was about. She paled when she realized Jake had hit the ground. Scared he’d been hurt, she ran to the fence near Pete. Without thinking about it, Pete put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. She smiled up at him in relief. Jake was fine.

  Only he wasn’t fine. He was furious. The wife he loved and hadn’t so much as touched in weeks, was smiling up at his foreman, and all the while, Sneaky Pete had his arm around his woman.

  “Get your hands off her,” Jake raged as he leapt from the back of the horse, throwing the reins in the face of the nearest man.

  Striding toward Pete, he jumped and cleared the fence. Before the man had a chance to react, Jake ripped his arm from around Suzanna, reared back, and unleashed his anger with an upper right cross that knocked him a foot in the air and flat on his butt.

  Shocked silence froze everyone in their place. No one moved. No one spoke. Least of all Pete, who pushed up on his elbow, rubbing his chin with his other hand.

  Suzanna and the hands stood slack-jawed at Jake’s uncharacteristic behavior. He never lost control. But he’d lost it with Pete. The foreman recovered from his shock and scrambled to his feet, chest heaving, standing nose to nose, a feral growl spewing from his mouth.

  “If you want a fight, by God, I’ll give you one,” he threatened through clenched teeth.

  “Jake!” Suzanna protested. “What on earth are you doing?” She whirled to place her hand on Pete’s arm.

  “What am I doing, Suzanna?” Jake yelled at the top of his lungs. “Something I should have done a hell of a long time ago, that’s what I’m doing.” He removed her hand from Pete and got right in her face. Reason and courtesy be damned.

  “You are my wife, my woman. Every other man in Wyoming can get in line and wait till hell freezes over. You. Are. Mine.”

  He could see the hackles rising on her back, but then, she did the most unexpected thing. She looked up at him with those big eyes, quirked one eyebrow, and almost…almost smiled.

  Her reaction brought him up short. What the hell?

  He towered over Pete, who was still rubbing his jaw and glaring, and pointed his finger at his friend. “You keep your hands off my wife.”

  “Martha?” he bellowed. “Come and take Charlie and do…whatever he needs to have done.”

  “Madam”—he faced Suzanna—“I’d appreciate it if you’d accompany me to the house…now.”

  “But, Jake…” she protested, her mouth gaping open.

  “But Jake nothing.” The men were watching in rapt fascination. Some looked like they wanted to come to Suzanna’s defense; others hid behind grins and guffaws.

  “Everybody get your asses back to work. Pete, you’ve got enough extra energy to take care of my wife, you can spend a little of it working my ranch. You remember? Your job?”

  He tore off his hat, and sailed it to the ground. Time to take care of business. No more pussyfooting around in his own home. He grabbed Suzanna under her bottom—and what a lovely bottom it was—slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and marched to the house.

  Martha pursed her lips, picked up the baby in his carrying basket that Suzanna had set down, and reached for Jake’s hat, dusting it off.

  “Guess I’ll get this back to him tomorrow. Don’t think he’s going to need it this afternoon.” She looked at the men. “Well? You heard what the boss said. Get going!”

  She looked at her son, her mouth opening, but he forestalled her, his forefinger raised in the air. “Don’t say it. I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t want to hear a word.”

  Martha raised her eyebrows and gave Pete an innocent look. “All right. I won’t say you deserved it or I told you so. But keep your distance from now on. Those two got plenty to deal with between them, and they need time to work things out. You got feelings for Miss Suzanna? Get over them. She’s not for you. She belongs to another.”

  Meanwhile Jake shouldered his way into the house, slammed the door behind him, and took the stairs two by two. Three giant steps to the bed, and he dropped Suzanna in the middle of it so hard she bounced.

  His boorish tactics didn’t sit too well with her, he recognized. But…she didn’t appreciate being hauled into her house and delivered to her bed like a strumpet? Too bad. S
he shouldn’t have flirted with Pete.

  Temper rose along with high color in her cheeks. Only makes her more damn beautiful.

  The rapid tempo of her heart raced in the lovely hollow of her throat as she opened her mouth to speak her mind.

  Jake towered over her. Legs spread, arms crossed, he stood ready to take everything she had to give.

  “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, or who you’re doing it to, but if you think you can bully me, Jake Cantrell, you have another think coming. I’m not a sack of vegetables to be hauled over your shoulder, or a child to be disciplined. I’m your wife and I will not be treated in such a disgraceful way!” Fury shook her body as she glared at her husband.

  “Wife, Suzanna? Damn straight, you’re my wife. I am positive of it because I’ve had to remind every man in the entire country of that fact at one time or another. Pete Randall? Even my own brother, for God’s sake. I’ve had enough of it, Suzanna!” He threw the words like stones. Lips thinned in anger, eyes blazing, pent-up frustration oozing from his body, he glowered at her.

  “Jake,” she began, a little afraid, hoping to placate him. “Never, not once, have I encouraged any man to pay more than courteous attention to me. Yet you berate me in front of our friends and embarrass me by insinuating I have acted with impropriety? May I remind you our precious Charlie is the product of your indiscretion, not mine?”

  “I explained all that.” Jake paced the room, running his fingers anxiously over his head. “I didn’t know Little Bird considered me her husband. I gave them food and allowed them to stay here through the winter. When she came to my tent, I assumed it was to thank me. She was on me before I knew what was happening.”

  She huffed scornfully. “Let me get this straight. Because you fed her beefsteak, you assumed she would sleep with you out of gratitude? What on earth were you thinking? Do you honestly expect me to believe such a story?”

  Jake’s voice was slightly subdued when he answered, “Well…yes, I do. It’s the truth.”

  “That’s the most ludicrous excuse I’ve ever heard. This discussion is over. Charlie is here—he’s ours now. But I warn you, I will not be treated in such a disrespectful manner ever again. Don’t think for one minute that because I am smaller than you, you can bully me. I won’t stand for it, Jake. I need to know you understand me. Say it.”

  “Don’t push me, Suzanna,” Jake growled.

  “It isn’t pushing, Jake. It’s promising. No more. Ever.”

  He stared. His mouth curved into a wicked smile. Suzanna stared him warily in the face.

  Buttons flew left and right, and off came the shirt. “You’re right, Suzanna. I shouldn’t embarrass you in front of everyone. I apologize.”

  Off came the boots and trousers. “But, know this, I’ll fight any man, friend or foe, to keep what’s mine. Lest you have forgotten…You. Are. Mine.”

  Jake stood there in his underwear while she gaped.

  His favorite shade of pink colored her neck and face as her gaze lingered on his body. A hungry expression crossed her face as a spark of pure desire flashed in her eyes.

  Suzanna’s throat swelled as she swallowed, and his mouth crooked in a lopsided smile. He wasn’t the only one who’d missed their marriage bed. The beauty of her arousal danced between them.

  Time ticked away the seconds. Their eyes met and held. The days of patience and waiting were over.

  “Suzanna,” her husband cajoled, lengthening her name in an utterly tempting way, syllable by drawling syllable.

  She licked her lips.

  Jake took a deliberate step forward and stalled.

  Her pink tongue peeked out to moisten her bottom lip, and she made a soft kittenish sound as he approached. She didn’t back away.

  Resistance was futile. He meant to make love to her. Guessing his intentions, Suzanna backed to the edge of the bed and stopped.

  Why was she fighting this? She had to know how it would end. She’d held him at bay as long as she could. He wouldn’t be denied any longer.

  At once, she capitulated.

  Why? He could not say, nor did he care, but the coquette in her wormed its way to the surface, and she bit back a smile.

  Seeing it, he laughed, anticipation thudding with every beat of his heart.

  “Jake,” she said in the same sing-song cadence.

  He moved to the bed and devoured her like a starving man presented with a freshly roasted steer. He’d never get enough.

  Plump breasts rose as her breath caught. She lifted her head and gazed at him from under her lashes. It was all he could do not to fall upon her and ravish his own wife.

  But that was exactly what he intended.

  ****

  Lord, have mercy!

  Suzanna ran her eyes over her husband’s strong, broad shoulders. Muscles bulging, biceps flexing. So strong, so beautiful…so male. Ridged chest, trim waist, tented long johns, and…oh. Back to the tented long johns. She’d missed him, missed this.

  Jake leaned over her, letting her feel his heat, inhale his scent. He slid both hands under her skirt, clasped her stockings, and slowly inched them down to join her boots.

  Kneeling on the bed, he wrapped his fingers around her ankle. He flicked the leather buttons of her shoes. Easing them off, he let them fall to the floor along with her stockings. Gently cupping one foot, then the other, he massaged her tense insteps. It felt glorious. She fell flat on the bed.

  “Oooh!” she moaned with pleasure as his large, warm hand flexed her feet. This wasn’t fair, it felt so good. He raised one foot, then the other, and kissed them with his hot, open mouth. Sucking each toe, biting lightly on her ankles, licking his way up her leg and behind her knee in the sensitive hollow that melted her every time. She heated to a long, slow burn and loved every minute.

  Warm hands worked their magic up her calves, then her thighs. His breath teased as his hands and lips continued their hungry search of her body. She grabbed hold of the quilt, holding on in her spinning world and thoroughly enjoying her husband’s explorations. A moan of ecstasy escaped her lips.

  He smiled. The rogue continued his seduction.

  It was getting harder to stay mad at him. Impossible to stay mad at him. Especially with the rasp of his beard stubble tickling its way to the center of her. Suzanna loved his kisses, his whispers in the night. She loved the feel of his masculine body next to hers in the bed. So strong, so warm, so Jake.

  Her mind whirled with recollections of nights when his body covered hers, that first delicious sensation when he entered and filled her. The searing need she felt as he stroked her to fulfillment. She wanted it again.

  If only she could forget Little Bird had conceived a son after only one night. Suzanna had made passionate and wanton love with him time after time and as yet felt no quickening in her womb. It bore into her heart, and fueled the resentment she felt toward Jake.

  A chronic pain, it ached anew each month. The irony of it a festering wound, as tangible as the stab of a knife in her heart when she felt her courses coming on month after month. The irony and injustice of it quivered in her stomach. If she were honest with herself, it was that that kept her from him. The unfairness of it.

  No, not unfairness.

  Jealousy. Jealousy, pure and simple. An emotion she was surprised to find she shared with her husband.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jake took his time as he unbuttoned her dress and slipped it from her shoulders. He wanted this to be good for her, wanted her to crave him as much as he craved her.

  Clumsy fingers pushed the garment down her body, and he rolled her from side to side until he had the damn thing off and thrown in a pile on top of her shoes and stockings.

  Running his fingers over the soft, creamy swell of her breasts above the confines of her chemise, he couldn’t help thinking how beautiful she was. So lovely, so feminine. Whatever it took, he would make this up to her. He’d do anything, give her anything, to get them back to where they’d been befor
e Black Hawk brought the baby.

  Lowering his head, he rubbed his lips over hers, up and down her neck, breathing into the shell of her ear. Her skin dimpled. A breathy moan escaped her lips.

  So responsive. So much a woman. He’d always enjoyed her body’s response, now more than ever. She’d come to mean so much to him. If he could make her desire him as much as he desired her, he stood a chance of keeping her. He supposed it was sexual blackmail, but if his body was all she wanted at this juncture of their marriage, he wasn’t above using the physical attraction to his benefit. Whatever it took. He wasn’t going to lose her over this. She belonged with him; she belonged to him. He’d never let her go.

  He let his mouth travel down her sweet throat to the valley between her breasts and pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses over the gentle swell of her breasts. When she shivered, he let his head drop to nuzzle her softness, then circled his tongue around the straining, turgid nipple of one and then the other delectable swell.

  His voice hoarse with desire, he spoke between kisses. “It’s been so long, Suzanna, so long. I need you. Don’t deny me any longer. Don’t say no.”

  It wasn’t exactly a no when she made no response, and he lifted his head and saw the glazed look in her eyes.

  “You’re not with me, Suzanna,” he whispered. “Wherever you’ve gone, come back.” He sighed, and let his hands trail up her warm skin before he lay down beside her.

  For a while they lay together. He rubbed his forefinger against her soft cheek and smoothed the frown between her brows.

  “What are you thinking that has your beautiful face so perplexed? Tell me, all of it. I know you’re angry inside. I’d rather you get it all out, scream, yell, throw something. This is all my fault—I know it. I’m sorry. Please, what is it going to take to put this behind us?”