by Tanya Jolie
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” He gave her a slow smile. “We’re here having tea together. The building’s not burning down. Your bones are intact. You still have all your own teeth, too.”
She sniffed. “I feel a little cheated, actually. Sally scored a nose job, and some really nice dental implants. All I’ve gotten so far is tea, crackers, and blackmail porn.”
It seemed horrible to laugh with him over his bad luck with girls and their awful predicament, but Malory did, until tears filled her eyes.
“You know what? You need a good, long soak.” He pulled her up from the couch. “Come on, I’ll run a hot bath for you.”
Malory should have felt horribly self-conscious about undressing in her bedroom while Rob went to work in the adjoining bathroom, but she didn’t. When she pulled on her robe and went in to join him, he tested the water and then nodded to her.
“Now I’m going to be right out in the living room,” he told her. “You call me if you need anything.” He paused on the threshold. “Is it all right if I use your phone?”
“Sure.” She watched him go, and then looked around her. Rob had lit all the little candles she kept around her tub and added a generous amount of bath salts to the water. She shrugged out of her robe and slipped into the bath tub, sighing as the wet heat sank into her tense muscles.
Malory spent an hour soaking in the tub before she decided to rinse off and dress. When she went out to thank Rob, she found him looking through the lurid photos from the envelope.
“You can have them if you like them that much,” she said, feeling a little hurt.
“Did you look our faces in these pictures?” He handed her one. “I don’t think we’re even awake, honey.”
Malory forced herself to look at the explicit photo, and then saw what he meant. “Our eyes are closed, and our muscles are slack, but if we were unconscious you wouldn’t be able to, uh, do that to me.”
“I would if he’d dosed me with another drug,” he told her. “The one that makes a man stand at attention, so to speak.”
“You mean, when the drug made your – and then he took it and – oh, God.” She almost felt like throwing up again. “Robert, I don’t know what to say.”
He opened his arms. “Come here, honey.”
Moving into his embrace felt like being made whole again after being torn apart. Malory pressed her cheek against his shoulder and linked her hands behind his back. “If they ever invent a time-travel machine, I need to take the first trip. All I need is a two day hop back to make this right.”
“I’d rather you go a bit further, to when I was ready to ask a girl on a date for the first time,” he said softly. “Tell me to ask you instead of Miranda Logan.”
“Why, so you can break my leg?” she tried to joke.
“So I could start out with the right girl, instead of the wrong one.” He tipped up her chin. “You know if that had happened, if I’d met you first, I think by now we’d be married. Maybe even have a couple of kids.”
Her heart seemed to slither invisibly out of her chest and spill like an unseen pool of tears at his feet. “You don’t really mean that. Robert, despite what’s in those pictures, we barely know each other.”
He nodded. “It doesn’t make sense, does it? But when I woke up in the room, with you in my arms, I felt right. Like I’d been walking around half-empty and not even knowing it until you. You fill me up, honey. Every time I look you, you make me whole. You make me cherish you.”
Suddenly Malory knew what they had to do. “This man – this blackmailer – he stole that from us.” She nodded at the photos. “Do you agree?” When he nodded, she took a deep breath. “I want to take it back, Robert. I want to be with you, without his drugs and his schemes and his evil. Now. Come to bed with me.”
Chapter Four
After she led Rob into her bedroom Malory opened the curtains to let the afternoon sunlight shine in on them.
“That snake did this to us in the dark,” she told him as she untied the belt of her robe. “I want to make love in the light.”
Rob brought his hands up to her chest and slipped her robe from her shoulders. “You’re so warm, and soft.” His fingers stroked over her shoulders, and he watched her unbutton his shirt and open it. “Waking up with you made me think I was covered in rose petals.”
Malory slipped his shirt down, stroking the muscles she revealed. “You’re so gentle for such a strong man.” She leaned forward to press her lips to the hollow at the base of his throat, and nuzzled him there. “I love the smell of your skin.”
Together they got him out of his clothes, and when they lay together on her narrow bed, they faced each other. Malory looked all over him, taking in every glorious inch of his body.
“I want to do everything with you, Robert Boone,” she whispered. “Show me where to start.”
“Here,” he breathed against her lips.
Malory met his mouth with a sigh, opening for him and welcoming the hungry kiss he gave her as sensations poured through her body. Her hands glided over him, mapping him with her touch, and when he put his on her, she thought her skin would sing with delight.
“I love these sweet peaches,” Rob murmured as he followed the curves of her breasts with his fingertips. “They make my mouth water.”
“Then have a taste.” She drew his head down to one throbbing tight peak, her breath rushing out as he kissed it. He stroked her with the flat of his tongue, and then sucked the puckered bead between his lips, drawing on it until she shivered and moaned.
Everywhere Rob touched her, Malory felt her body warm and grow damp. By the time his hand glided between her thighs, she felt as if she were soaked down there.
“Sorry,” she murmured as he explored her folds. “You’ve got me all worked up, Robert.”
He looked directly in her eyes. “I can do something about that.” He watched her as he penetrated her with one long finger, caressing her inside as he slowly pumped it in and out. “I still don’t have any condoms with me.”
“I don’t want anything between us.” Malory reached down to wrap her fingers around his thick, swollen shaft. She shifted her leg, bracing it on top of his as she shifted closer. “This is ours.”
He nodded, his jaw tightening as he felt her press him against her. “No one can take it from us.”
“Come inside me,” she breathed.
Robert gripped her hip, and thrust gently, probing and then penetrating her. The fullness of his heavy cockhead stretched her, but her desire engulfed him with greedy, slick heat. He hissed in a breath as she wriggled, trying to take him deeper.
“I want to take my time,” he told her, his voice ragged now, “but I need you so much, I don’t think I can.”
“Next time we’ll go slow.” She tugged him over on top of her. “I’m yours, Robert. Take what you need.”
He groaned and then unleashed his passion, driving into her with deep, hard strokes. The fullness and friction of his heavy shafting fueled her own desire, and she arched under him with every thrust.
“Oh, honey, you’re so tight and hot on me,” he gasped, his hard muscles bulging as he worked inside her. “Yes, look at me, I want to see those pretty eyes. Does it feel good to you? Do you like me loving this sweet pussy with my cock?”
His graphic words sent a shocking wave of lust through her belly, and she pressed her breasts against his chest. “I love you inside me. Oh, Robert, harder. Please, I need it harder.”
He arched back, dragging her hips up with his strong hands. The shift in position brought him impossibly deep with every full thrust, and Malory cried out when he used his thumb on her clit.
“Oh, yeah, that’s what you need.” He gave her a savage grin as he rubbed her hard pearl and pumped his cock into her clenching softness. “I want to feel every inch of your pussy wrapped around me when I come. But first you. Soak me with that hot sweetness, honey. Drown me with it while I fuck you.”
Malory cried out as the pleasure
exploded inside her, her vision graying and her body straining as she clamped down on him. She heard Robert grunt and then utter a low roar as he drove into her fluttering softness and then jerked. The slow, thick jets of his seed pumped from his pulsing cock into her, setting off a second, dreamy climax.
Robert bent over her, bracing himself on his hands as he gave her a long, tender kiss. “I want to do this again,” he said, panting the words. “How about you meet me here in five minutes?”
“Well, if you’re going to make me wait . . . .” she laughed and hugged him.
#
Rob lay on his side to watch his woman sleep. Once she drifted off, Malory curled up like a little shrimp against him. She hadn’t moved since the last time they’d made love; his cock still lay snug inside her body. Rob held her and thought about how odd it was that the blackmailer had demanded money from her but not from him.
The Boones didn’t keep millions in the bank, preferring instead to invest much of their profits back into Ghost Lake Ranch. Still, it would be a damn sight easier for Rob to get his hands on two hundred grand than the town librarian.
Unless the money wasn’t the reason for the blackmail.
Carefully Rob drew out of Malory, and saw her stir and frown in her sleep before she sighed and went still. He climbed out of bed and pulled on his jeans. From there he walked silently out into the living room, closing her door before switching on the lights.
Malory kept her bills and important papers in a pretty white fold-out desk, which he went to and opened. A brief search of the largest drawer produced a deed to her grandparents’ farm, and several letters from Harold Ames, a rancher who wanted to buy it.
He took out his phone and called The Cue Ball. “Margie, hi,” he said as the bartender barked a hello. “It’s Rob Boone. Can I ask you a question?”
“Make it quick,” she told him. “It’s Truckers Drink Free Night, and they’re all thirsty.”
He glanced down at the letters in his hand. “When I was there for my brother’s bachelor party, there was a guy sitting next to me at the bar. He bought me a beer, but I never got his name.”
“That was Harry Ames,” Margie said. “He and his sister have got a big spread just north of here, but you should know that. You gave him a ride home that night.”
“Thanks, Marg. I owe you one.” He ended the call and then dialed his brother Chris’s home phone number.
“Ethan just called me, looking for you,” his older brother grumbled. “You shacked up with some good-time girl again?”
“No, I’m helping out someone in town,” Rob said. “Chris, can I talk to Becca? I just need to ask her a question about her baby shower.”
Chris called for his wife, and then said, “Notice how I’m not grilling you about your weird interest in my wife’s surprise parties. Here she is.”
Once his sister-in-law was on the phone, Rob said, “Hey, little mama. How are you and that basketball you swallowed?”
“I think we’re playing kidney kickball tonight,” she said. “But we’re good. What’s up?”
Rob closed Malory’s desk drawer. “Becca, was there a lady named Ames at your baby shower?”
“Let me think. Oh, yes, Shawna Ames,” she said with a note of triumph. “I remember her because it was a little weird. She didn’t seem to know anyone, and Caroline told me later that she didn’t invite her. Is there such a thing as a baby shower crasher?”
“Sounds like it.” Rob glanced at the closed bedroom door. “One more thing, Becca – did this woman sit next to Malory French?”
His sister-in-law giggled. “How did you know that? Were you spying on my baby shower, Robert Boone?”
“No, sweetie, but I met her brother the other night.” He kept the cold tide of anger rising inside him out of his tone. “Can I talk to Chris one more time?”
Chapter Five
After spending two nights with Rob in her bed, Malory felt guilty for not telling him about meeting with the realtor at her grandparents’ farm. But he had been so adamant about not paying the blackmailer that she knew he’d try to stop the sale.
She didn’t care about the farm or the money, not anymore. Rob was all she needed in her life.
The realtor, a plump smiling blonde who wore a bright pink suit, greeted her with a hug. “I’m so glad you’re moving ahead with this, Ms. French. Farmland needs to be worked, you know, and Mr. Ames will take good care of the property.”
Malory nodded and tried not to look miserable as she followed the realtor into the little farm house where she had grown up. Harold Ames and his sister were sitting at the old kitchen table and looking over a property map.
Both of them stood to shake her hand, but Malory kept the contact brief. She didn’t like the way Harold Ames’s eyes crawled over her every time they met. His sister had a sneering smile that gave her the creeps, too.
“We’re real happy you decided to sell to us, Ms. French,” Harold told her. “I’ve brought a check for you, too, so we can close right now.”
The realtor’s smile slipped a little. “Ah, Mr. Ames, we do need to do some paperwork before we can close. There’s the title search, and an inspection of the property—“
“We’ll take it as is,” Harold said. “I don’t want this little lady to go and change her mind on us. Let’s git her done.”
Malory stared at him as his words echoed in her mind, and dragged her back through time. She’d heard him say that, right to her face. For an instant she had a flash of Harold bending over her and tugging at her clothes as he said almost the exact same words.
Come on, Shawna. Those pills won’t keep ‘em out forever. Let’s git her done.
Feeling shaken and turned to stone all at once, Malory turned to the realtor. “Would you excuse us, please? I need to have a word in private with the Ames.”
The realtor looked uncertain, but nodded and left them.
“What’s the problem now?” Ames demanded.
“You drugged me and Robert Boone, and put us in that hotel room,” Malory said without any emotion. “You stripped us, posed us and took pictures of us. Then you sent them to me and demanded money you knew I didn’t have.”
Harold Ames’s mouth flattened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, lady.”
“Sounds crazy to me,” his sister put in, but she looked worried now.
Malory focused on Shawna. “Do you know how long you can go to jail for what you did to us? The rest of your life. And you did it just to get your hands on this farm and bankrupt me?”
The older woman turned to her brother. “You said she’d never remember.”
“Shut up, Shawna.” Harold spat on the floor. “I could have killed you and that cowboy,” he told Malory. “I still could. Or maybe I’ll just tape up those pictures inside your precious little library. Think the kiddies will like seeing you sucking on that big dick of his?”
Rob came out of the kitchen with a stack of photos. “You mean, these pictures I found at your house?” He tossed them in the fireplace. “I don’t think they’ll hang too well, Harold.”
The rancher looked smug. “I can make more.”
Chris Boone walked in from the hall carrying a baseball bat and a computer hard drive. He placed the drive on the floor and hit it with the bat, making Shawna screech. He straightened and surveyed the pieces. “Did you remember to make backups of your digital files, Ames? ‘Cause your hard drive is history.”
“Yeah I did,” the rancher grated. “I got ‘em in a safe place, too. You’ll never get to them.”
Rob came to Malory and put his arm around her waist. “Well, honey, I guess we’ll just have to get married.”
She saw the look in his eyes and played along. “Okay.”
“No,” Harold told her. “You’re going to give me this farm, and keep your mouth shut, or everyone will see those pictures. No one will believe we drugged you and posed you.”
Chris turned his head and shouted, “That enough?”
A moment later police officers flooded into the farmhouse to arrest Harold and Shawna and march them out of the house.
“Nice little ruse,” the realtor said as she came in and pulled off her blonde wig to reveal a neat cap of gingery curls. She smiled at Malory. “Hi, I’m Detective Woods. I’ll need you to come down to the station to file charges against these two. Today, please.” She nodded to Rob and Chris before scooping up the paperwork on the table and walking out.
Chris came over and kissed Malory on the cheek. “He’ll explain everything. Welcome to the family.” He glanced around as he pulled a wire out of his shirt. “This is a great place. Save it for your kids.”
Once Rob’s brother left, Malory turned to her lover. “You knew Ames was the blackmailer, and you didn’t tell me?”
“For this to work we had to make him think he’d won,” Rob said. “Detective Woods thought you’d be more convincing if you didn’t know. I planned to come in and confront him as soon as he tried to get you to sign and con him into confessing. We didn’t count on you working it out in the middle of everything.”
“Con him?” She glanced at the fireplace and the smashed hard drive. “Everything was fake?”
He nodded. “The police got a search warrant to execute while Ames and his sister were here. They’re confiscating the real photos and hard drive as we speak. Detective Woods needs them for the prosecutor, but she promised to handle them as sensitive, confidential evidence.”
“That’s not a guarantee that they’ll be protected, you know,” Malory said. “And if Ames every gets his hands on those backups—”
“You mean, these backups?” He took some jump drives out of his pocket. “He was keeping them in his truck’s glove box. Too cheap to get a safety deposit box at the bank.” He went over and tossed them into the fireplace.
Malory came to stand beside him, and wrinkled her nose at the smell of burning plastic. “I love you. I’m still mad at you for not telling me, but I love you.”
He kissed her temple. “I love you, too, honey. Now stop frowning like that.”