Storm raised his head slightly and ran his hands down her sides. He unbuttoned the riding skirt and drew it down over her legs.
"I want you, pretty lady," he said as he slipped his hand inside the waistband of her pantelets. "I've never wanted anything as much as I want you." His hand moved around to her flat stomach and down to the juncture of her thighs. "I want the pleasure of the feelings I get when I hold you and the sweetness and peace I feel when you're in my arms."
Jessica gasped and arched against his hand when he slipped a finger where no man had touched before.
"Oh Storm. Storm, I want you, too. I haven't been able to get you out of my mind since I first saw you."
Storm pushed himself up and stared down at her. "Are you sure, Jessica?" But his hands worked to slide her pantelets down and he tossed them aside.
"I'm sure," Jessica said with a slight nod of her head. She lifted one leg and offered it to him to remove her boot.
Storm bent and kissed her knees as he pulled off each boot. Then he sat back on his heels and unbuttoned the top button on his jeans — the second one — the following ones, though the strain against the front of the material made it a difficult task. Before he pulled the jeans down over his hips, he removed his moccasins and tossed them aside. On his knees again, he caressed her with his eyes and smiled when he saw a flush climb her chest and into her cheeks.
"This may be all we ever have, Jessica," he said quietly. "This one night. There are people on earth who have the power to make sure we can never have anything except this one night."
Prudence. Oh, God, she knew he meant Prudence. But Prudence would have him the rest of her life. She couldn't begrudge Jessica this one night. If Storm were her man, though, she knew she would do more than begrudge another woman a night in his arms. She would kill anyone who tried.
He was right — they had to stop — but she wanted so badly to touch him just one more time. Tentatively she reached out and ran her nails softly around the side of his trim waist. When she felt him jump slightly, the movement drew her eyes to the bulge straining beside the open buttons of his denim jeans. Her hand moved of its own volition down to caress it.
"This one night, Storm," she heard herself saying as though from a distance. "Please, let's just have this one night with no one else between us. If it's all we ever have, then somehow I'll have to live with that."
Though he must have removed the jeans, later Jessica didn't remember him doing it. But when he laid down beside her, there was no impediment to their bodies as they strained to match silky inches of soft skin to firmer, muscular inches.
She would remember his words forever, though. "One night of you will never be enough for me, darling Jessica, my pretty lady. Somehow, some way, there has to be a future for us."
Then his lips were too busy caressing her to speak. She writhed under an onslaught of kisses that covered every inch of her body. Her lips remained puffed and full when his left hers to linger on her soft neck. Trails of fire followed the paths he traced on her body.
Jessica's hands kneaded his shoulders while his mouth suckled her breasts. Her hands fell uselessly to her side when he moved lower and swirled his tongue in the indentation in her stomach.
He kissed down one slender thigh and licked behind her knee. The heated skin on her body quickly dried the moisture his tongue left on its path to her ankle. One soft instep received his attention, then the other. The trail of fire started back up her leg — flared briefly at her knee again. Then she felt his lips gently sucking at the tender skin on her inner thigh. She arched her back, seeking... seeking she knew not what.
Storm knew. He tenderly parted the lips covering the core of her femininity and teased her with the tip of his tongue.
"Storm! Oh! Oh, God, what are you doing!?" Her head thrashed wildly, tangling her hair into knots.
"I'm making you happy, sweet Jessica," he said, his words barely penetrating her wildly fluctuating emotions. "I'm making you happy, the way you make me feel."
And he lowered his head again. Seconds later Jessica felt a shudder begin in her body.
"Stop!" she almost screamed. "Storm, stop. I can't stand....Storm. Oh my God, that feels so good. Don't stop. I....
Her body crescendoed into a million pieces. The feeling went on and on, tearing her apart but she didn't care. The pieces all fell back together when she floated back to consciousness.
Storm's kiss on her soft stomach lingered briefly, moved up to her rib cage, on to her breasts. Awestruck, she felt the fire flicker in her again as he kissed the side of her neck.
"Did you like that, pretty lady?" he whispered. "Did I make you feel better?"
"Yes. Oh, yes, Storm."
"And I can make you feel even better, sweet Jessica."
"H...how....?"
His mouth cut off her question. He rose over her and nudged her thighs open further. He pushed his hardness into the welcoming wetness he encountered and thrust forward slightly.
My God! He had to be careful. He should have known she was a virgin.
When Jessica moaned and arched up toward him, the silken heat of her surrounded the tip of him. He found himself powerless when she sucked his tongue deep into her mouth and wrapped her legs around his hips. The barrier to his pleasure broke and he buried himself deep inside her, wrenching his mouth away to whisper soothingly in her ear when he felt her stiffen in pain.
"It's all right now, sweet Jessica. Darlin', it won't hurt again. Trust me, sweetheart."
He withdrew from her slightly and plunged back down. He watched her eyes fly open and her mouth round in awe.
"Oh, Storm!"
"Yes, darlin'. Yes. There's only the pleasure now. The pleasure that's only there for two special people. Oh, God, Jessica. It's never been like this for me before."
And he carried her into ecstasy once again before he sought his own release. Even through the tumult in his own body, he felt her join him this time, making their tumble into ecstasy together the most complete satisfaction he had ever known in his life.
Chapter 16
"Shhhh, honey," Storm said when Jessica whimpered and reached for him. "I'm just going to take care of your horse and put some more wood on the fire. I'll be right back."
"Hurry," Jessica murmured. When Storm tucked the comforter around her neck, she dropped a kiss on his fingers and snuggled deeper. The warmth surrounded her and her eyelids slowly closed.
Storm pulled down a dry pair of jeans from a shelf in the cave and slipped into them before he added another log to the fire. The flames leaped higher, but the smoke, helped by the draft in the cave, ascended through the natural chimney shaft in the rocks above the fireplace. He stared into the flames for a long moment, the light illuminating the haggard lines of his face.
What the hell did fate have in store for him now? He didn't think he could stand much more. Barrier after barrier had been put between him and every person on earth he had ever cared about.
And now this marvelous woman he first saw sitting on the huge roan stallion as though born to her saddle lay within touching distance — yet far beyond his reach — reminding him just how much he could never have. She had come to him willingly, givingly, stirring a passion and feelings of longing in him that made a mockery of what he had even imagined he missed.
Sure, there had been women before. Something about his dark looks and the brooding sadness he carried with him drew them to him. All of them had been more interested in their own pleasure than his, though.
Jessica. Even thinking her name filled him with wonder. Jessica gave freely of herself. She hadn't hesitated to help when he lay wounded in the hills. She stuck by him, despite his attempts to run her off. She nursed him, even in the brothel, which had surely sullied her own reputation. She made him laugh and laughed with him. She followed where he led.
He didn't have a damn thing to offer her, because his time would run out soon. The papers Idalee kept him supplied with informed him of the new Montana governor's
campaign to rid the state of its wild and wooly reputation as they headed into a new century. He didn't have much to worry about from the ineffectual sheriff in Baker's Valley, but sooner or later one of the marshals the governor had appointed would focus his attention on their end of the new state.
Storm sighed and rose to tend to Jessica's stallion. The horse shied at first, but Storm spoke soothingly to it as he took the reins. The pine boughs on the floor muffled the horse's feet, but he noticed Jessica stir slightly as he led Cinnabar across the cave floor.
Cinnabar tossed his head, but Storm managed to slip the rope halter he fashioned over the stallion's head and his bridle off. Catching a whiff of the grain in the feed trough, the horse lowered his head greedily.
"Good boy," Storm said as he ran his hand along the stallion's neck. "You had a hard ride tonight. Now fill your stomach."
He slid the saddle off and laid it in a corner, then picked up the curry comb. Cinnabar's still damp coat needed care and Storm brushed at the satiny hide. Cinnabar rippled his muscles in pleasure as the curry comb slid over him, reminding Storm of Jessica's silky body sliding under his fingers.
He hurried the combing, finding himself longing to be back by the side of the woman who had come to mean the world to him in so short a time. Quickly he checked Spirit to assure himself the horse was still tied securely and tossed another armful of dried grass into the feed trough. But when he entered the warmth of the main cave, he stood over Jessica for a moment, then walked to the stuffed chair Idalee and Elias had hauled out there for him and sat down.
He couldn't have her. So much stood in their way. He should have had plenty to offer her, since he had sure as hell worked his ass off for years to earn his own share of the Lazy B. In the end, though, even the man he'd called father for most of his life failed him.
Jessica languidly stretched under the comforter and her feet chilled when they encountered the coldness beyond the spot where she lay. Lordy, she hated her feet being cold. Usually she wore a pair of wooly socks to bed, but tonight there should have been another pair of feet to snuggle hers between. She opened her eyes and looked around for Storm.
What she saw almost made her heart break. He sat in the stuffed chair beside the fireplace, his arms propped on his knees and his head hanging down. Was he already regretting their lovemaking? Oh, how could he, when it had been so glorious?
"Storm?" she called quietly.
He immediately straightened and tossed back the hair hanging down in his eyes. The firelight outlined his head, shadowing his face.
"Go back to sleep, honey," he told her. His attempt to hold his voice steady couldn't cover up the pain his thoughts had brought.
"I can't." Jessica rose to her feet and wrapped the comforter around her, trailing it behind her as she crossed the floor. "My feet are cold. I can never sleep when my feet are cold."
Storm held out his arms and Jessica climbed into his lap. He settled her against him, wrapping the comforter around them both. Trying to ignore the silky curls snuggling under his neck and the satiny mounds against his chest, he reached down to massage the small feet at the end of her curled up legs.
"You are cold," he said quietly. "Want a pair of my socks?"
"Huh uh. This will be fine."
He tightened his arm around her and groaned under his breath when she fidgeted to a more comfortable position in his lap.
"Storm," Jessica whispered in a tight voice. "Storm, are you sorry?"
"Sorry?" Storm asked in amazement. "Do you mean for making love to you?"
When Jessica nodded against his chest, he took hold of her arms and pushed her slightly away from him. She kept her head lowered until he cupped her chin in his large palm and lifted her face to his. He waited a long moment, until she raised her eyes and glanced tremulously at him, before he answered her with questions of his own.
"Sorry that I've just had the most wonderful experience of my life? Sorry that I held more woman in my arms than I could ever have imagined walked this earth? Sorry that, though I tried with all I had, she gave me back so much more than I wanted to give her? No, Jessica, I could never be sorry for that."
Jessica's heart soared at his words, but she could still sense him holding back on her. "You are sorry about something," she said. "I can feel it."
"All right," he admitted gruffly. "I'm sorry I can't give you more than this. I'm sorry that I can't offer you the life you deserve and be there to live it with you. Too many things stand between us."
"Is one of them the fact that you escaped from prison? I knew that while we were still back at Idalee's, Storm."
"And you still came with me?"
"Uh huh. Because I knew even then I was falling in love with you."
Though Jessica leaned toward him, her lips begging for his kiss, Storm kept a firm hold on her arms and pushed her even further away.
"Don't, Jessica," he said grimly. "You don't know what you're saying. There's no future with me."
"Then I'll take what I can get now, Storm," she said sadly. "I'll take now and whatever crumbs I can have. I love you, Storm. I'll love you forever, whether I'm with you or not."
Storm pulled her tightly against him and cradled her head against his neck. He dropped a kiss on her head, holding her firmly when she tried to turn her face up.
"You don't even know me, Jessica. There's so many things you don't know."
"I know you're a good man, Storm," she said quietly as she relaxed against him. "I know there are people I've met and learned to respect who care for you. I know you couldn't have done what you're accused of."
She felt his grip on her loosen and managed to push herself free with a swift movement and face him. "I know there's another woman out there you're committed to, Storm. And I won't come between that." She felt her heart wrench in her chest, but she forced herself to continue. "P...Prudence needs you. I realize that."
"She's living in her own hell right now," Storm agreed, sending Jessica's heart plummeting even further. "And that damned brother of hers isn't helping matters any. If he'd just let me be with her for a while, we could get this whole mess out in the open."
"Who...who did ravish her, Storm?"
"She won't tell me," Storm said as he shook his head. "I think she could now. Once when I slipped into the ranch while Tobias was gone, I taught her a little sign language from a book Elias gave me. I left it with her to study. You saw her back in town — she's learning the signs from the pictures in the book, even if she can't read. But the couple times I asked her what really happened, she froze up on me, and if I pushed her, she'd get almost hysterical. She's not ready yet to tell anyone. Something's holding her back."
"H...have you known her long, Storm?"
"Almost all my life."
"Then I guess you grew up around here."
"Yes." Then he groaned and pulled the comforter around her. "Jessica, darlin', you're going to have to get some clothes on. I can't stand this any longer."
Suddenly Jessica recognized the shape of the hardness she had been trying to shift against to a more comfortable position. She blushed and jumped off his lap.
"I...I'm sorry."
"Don't be, pretty lady," Storm said with a laugh. "I enjoy holding you, and if I didn't think you were too sore right now, I'd carry you right back over to that bed and show you how much I enjoy it."
Rising to his feet, he walked over to the shelf holding his spare clothes. He grabbed the first shirt he found, along with a pair of wool socks, and started to turn. His arm brushed against a bundle on the edge of the shelf and it landed at his feet.
When her eyes fell on the bundle, Jessica surged forward. She laughingly swiped at Storm's hand and managed to snag the objects he tried to hide from her.
"You!" she crowed triumphantly as she waved the gray beard and wig just out of his reach. "No wonder Jedidiah disappeared. He couldn't be in the same place as you! That's what I found in your hair the other night — glue."
Storm sheepishly
dropped his eyes. "Well, it was my fault you went into Baker's Valley. I had to make sure you didn't get into any trouble there."
"Storm, I had a whole cluster of cowboys with me, not even counting Ned. I'll admit, it's not the most friendly town I've ever been in, but what possible trouble could I have...."
Jessica's voice trailed off as a humble look replaced the twinkle in her eyes. "I...well, you didn't have to worry," she continued, her voice again hinting at laughter. "I had a friendly ghost protecting me."
Storm briefly joined her chuckles before he thrust the shirt and socks into her hand. "Here, honey. Put these on while I start some coffee. It doesn't look like either one of us will get any sleep tonight."
Jessica accepted the clothing and watched him turn back to the fireplace to scoop coffee grounds from a can, then walk away from her.
"Where are you going?"
"Just to get some water from the canteens."
Jessica kept her eyes on him until he entered the portion of the cave where the horses were stabled before she sat down in the chair and pulled the socks on first. After she stood up again, she slowly rubbed the shirt against her cheek before slipping it on. Even though the shirt had been washed, she thought she could detect the smell of him on it.
She heard a sound behind her and turned. The shirt fluttered around her slender calves with her movements and she saw Storm standing quietly looking at her. She laughed gaily.
"I know I look silly, but at least my feet are warm now."
"You look beautiful, pretty lady," Storm said. He walked over and poured the water into the coffee pot, then handed her a brush he had brought with him from his saddle bag. "If you'll wait a minute, I'll help you with your hair."
"That sounds wonderful," Jessica said with a sigh.
A second later Storm settled in the chair and Jessica curled herself onto the comforter at his feet before handing the brush over her shoulder.
Storm worked the brush through her hair, following each stroke with his fingers. The silky mass took on a life of its own under his palms and he heard the now familiar purr begin in Jessica's throat.
Montana Surrender Page 18