The Halsey Brothers Series

by Paty Jager

  Ethan wanted to say something, but Aileen kept her eyes downcast and ate her food. He’d wait until the drive back to the stamp mill. They would have plenty of time to talk.

  After the meal, he picked up a sleepy Shayla and grasped Aileen’s elbow. She didn’t move away from his touch or peer about the room to see who watched. These small concessions meant she was warming to his attentions.

  At the wagon, he helped Aileen up then handed her Shayla. The child was sound asleep and limp as a new blade of grass. He climbed up beside the two and headed the horses out of town.

  Aileen positioned Shayla’s lower body across his lap with her upper body and head in her lap. He pulled her legs up close to his body. The child’s stockings were thin, her legs cold to the touch.

  “It’s cold out tonight. Toss this blanket over her and the other around your shoulders.” He handed her the two old blankets stored under the seat.

  She tucked the blanket around her daughter with gentleness. To his surprise, she spread the other blanket across his shoulders and hers, bringing them even closer together. He leaned down, kissing the top of her head.

  “I’m glad I came after you.” The horses knew the way home, allowing him to peer down at the lovely woman seated by his side. The sliver of a crescent moon made the night an inky black. He could only catch a faint glimmer of the moon in her eyes.

  “Ah hadn’t realized how late we’d set out for town.” Her hand rested on his arm and she squeezed. “Ah’m glad ye came, too.” He heard the smile in her words. The child on his lap, Aileen’s closeness, and friendliness all crept into his heart and gave him a sensation of belonging.

  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her tighter to him. Before meeting this woman, he’d not realized a person could crave the nearness of another.

  Her arm draped over her child, and she rested her hand on his leg above his knee. The heat of her palm on his thigh ignited a fire that blazed a path to his loins.

  “Ye have done more for me and my family than any person has ever done.” Her low, seductive voice alone would have stiffened him, but that—combined with her hand—he was ready to pull the wagon over and toss her in the back.

  He swallowed several times. The child stirred on his lap and set his thoughts to other things. “What about your first husband?”

  “Ah loved him with the fierceness o’ first love. And he loved me, but no’ as much as makin’ the Sassenach pay for takin’ his family’s land.” She leaned her shoulder into his side and tucked her head against his chest. “My Patrick worked enough to keep us fed and clothed. His passion wasn’t makin’ money but savin’ the Irish way o’life.”

  “Who are the Sassenach?” He liked the feel of her curled under his arm.

  “The English. They take the land from the Irish along their borders, using any means possible. The land is ideal for their sheep.”

  “A person can’t take another’s land.”

  “Aye, on the borders they can and do.” She sighed heavily. “When my father came to the house, ah knew Patrick had gone too far.” She rubbed her face against his chest. He felt the warmth of tears. Ethan rubbed his hand up and down her arm.

  “He accused the Sassenach of takin’ his family’s land illegally. He’d told me the night before he had proof.” She snorted. “The eejit went to the man and told him he had papers showin’ they stole it.”

  They sat in silence a moment as she steadied her breathing. “He was dead the next day. Run over in the street.” Her back straightened. “Ah asked to see him. My father tried to keep me away, but ah snuck in. My Patrick had been beaten no’ run over. A wagon wouldn’t have battered his face so.”

  “That very day my father forced Colin and ah onto a ship headed for America. He said we couldn’t stay in Ireland with the Sassenach thinking we had papers to prove his wickedness.”

  “Ye know the truth of Mr. Miller. Ye are the first man to treat my family so well.” She turned her head and kissed his hand. “And ah fear ye are startin’ to make me feel things ah’ve no’ felt in a very long time.”

  Her confession on the tail end of her story raised his heart into his throat. He’d known her life with Miller wasn’t a life at all, but she’d just confessed though her first husband didn’t assault her, she’d not been treated with the respect she deserved. At least not in his opinion.

  He pulled her closer, tipped her face up to his, and found her lips with his. They were salty from her tears and sweet when he delved deep.

  The horses snorted. He held her against him and peered into the darkness ahead. Before the heavy wagons brought all the supplies to the stamp mill it would have been insane to travel this path in the dark. But the wagons had made ruts and there wasn’t any way to get off the track unless the horses bolted and dragged the wheels out of the furrows.

  A flash of moonlight off something ahead in the road caught his attention. He stared into the darkness.

  “What is it?” Aileen asked in a hushed voice.

  “It looks like a rider.” She started to pull away. “Don’t.” He slid his hand down, sliding her hip against his. “I don’t care who sees us together. And I’d think after our conversation you wouldn’t either.”

  “Ah dinna want to cause ye trouble.” The conviction in her voice surprised him.

  “You could never cause me trouble.”

  “Ye’ve seen how people treat me. Ah dinnae want that to happen to ye and yer family.”

  He hugged her close. “If we can’t handle a little gossip we don’t deserve to run a business.”

  Ethan scanned the area as they neared where he glimpsed the wisp of light. He made out a horse and rider hiding in the trees along the road as they passed. The person made no move to acknowledge his presence. That was fine by him. He didn’t want to unnerve Aileen by bringing the man to her attention. He’d question the individual the next time they met.

  They rounded the last corner before the mill. As they passed the building, he scanned the area. Everything appeared in place. Hank’s horse was tied to the hitching post in front of the office.

  He pulled the wagon up to the kitchen door. Hank came out followed by Colin. Ethan handed Shayla down to Hank and helped Aileen down. She followed his brother and her daughter into the house.

  “Help me with these things,” he said to Colin. The boy followed him to the back of the wagon and held out his arms. He loaded his arms and then took the rest of the bedding in his own.

  “I know you bought this bed for my ma.” Animosity didn’t coat the boy’s words.

  “I bought it for my brother and his wife when they arrive. But your ma can use it once they’ve left.”

  “She’s a prideful woman,” Colin said, standing by the wagon staring at the horses.

  Ethan watched the boy in the fringes of lamp light escaping the door. “She is. That’s why I have to find ways to give her the things she deserves.”

  “She deserves a lot. Mr. Miller was a bastard to her.” The venom in his words as he said the man’s name put Ethan on alert.

  “She’s told me that. And if the man were alive, I’d make sure he never touched her again.”

  The boy jerked his head around and stared at him. “I’d do the same to you if I thought you hurt her.”

  “I know. But you don’t have to worry. I care about your ma, and I’ll do everything I can to make her life easier.”

  The boy nodded and headed to the house. He didn’t know what to make of the exchange. The boy was warning him and at the same time letting him know he approved of the help he gave his mother.

  Ethan entered the door and spotted dominoes spread on the table. Hank and the boy must have been talking as well as playing the game. He smiled. He’d made the right decision in asking Hank to stay rather than Clay.

  He followed the boy through the kitchen. Hank stood in the main room, warming by the stove.

  “Thanks for staying. You can leave if you want, I’ll be along shortly.” Ethan kept his v
oice casual. He really hoped to spend more time with Aileen. Alone.

  “I can wait.” Hank pulled a chair up to the stove.

  “It really isn’t necessary. I can find my way home.”

  “You sure?” The censure in his brother’s voice raised his hackles.

  “Yes. I am.”

  Hank shrugged and stood. “I’ll wait to say good-night to Colin then.”

  Ethan nodded and headed down the hall to the bedrooms. Colin had placed his arm load on the bed. Ethan placed his beside the others. “Hank wants to say good-night,” he told the boy.

  Colin tipped his head. “You aren’t leaving with him?”

  “I want to ask your mom some things.” He took his hat off his head and tossed it onto the chair in the corner.

  “You had a long trip from town with her. You could have asked her then.” Colin’s gaze rested on the hat.

  “Your ma did all the talking on the way home.”

  The boy nodded, but seemed reluctant to leave him alone in the room.

  “I’m only going to help your ma make the bed and discuss the men she thinks will make good employees.” He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Go say good night to Hank. If you want, you can look back in here and see I’m not doing anything untoward.”

  Appeased, the boy spun on his heel and nearly ran into his mother as she entered the room.

  “I’m glad you bought this. It’s pretty.” Ethan picked up the flowered cover for the bed.

  “Ah dinna. Myrle saw me admirin’ it and put it in my arms. Tis too beautiful for the likes o’ me.” Aileen hurried around him, taking the cover and the blankets. The cover was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen. And to know it would be on the bed she slept in almost made her giddy. She turned to place it on the chair. Ethan’s hat claimed the seat.

  “And what would yer hat be doin’ on the chair?” Seeing it there in her room made their relationship more intimate.

  “I tossed it there when I was talking to Colin.” He picked his hat up. “Would you rather I hang it from the bedpost?” The mischievous grin lessened the meaning as he did just that.

  “Ah’d prefer ye dinnae set foot in my room.” She said it teasingly. His eyebrow arched. He took it in the tone she intended.

  “Then I guess you’d rather make this bed by yourself.” He picked up a sheet and unfolded it, waving the cloth over the pillows and other sheet still sitting on the bed.

  She dumped the items in her arms on the chair and scooped the others out of his way. Watching him try to center the sheet on the bed was painful. She placed the pillows on the other bedding and moved to the other side of the bed.

  “Ye have no’ made enough beds,” she said, grasping the other side of the sheet and helping him settle it over the mattress. With deft moves, she folded the corners and tucked the edges under the mattress. She glanced across the mattress and found Ethan watching her. “Ye are no’ tuckin’ the sheets.”

  “I prefer watching you.” The deep timbres of his voice sent shivers up her arms.

  She moved slowly around the end of the bed to fold and tuck in his side. When his arms encircled her, pulling her against him, she didn’t resist. She’d been hoping for a moment alone with him ever since he came to her rescue in the store.

  His breath was warm on her face as he kissed her ear and whispered, “I’ve wanted to kiss you all day.” His large hands grasped her hips and turned her to face him.

  She slid her hands up his hard chest, snuggling inside his coat. His warmth enveloped her. The security of his arms stunned her. She never thought she’d have that emotion in a man’s arms again.

  His fingers cradled her head as he brushed his lips across hers. He deepened the kiss, nibbling her lips and skimming her tongue with his. Mon! He was making her knees weak and her center throb.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling her body closer. He held her away from him. “Aileen, I don’t think I can leave here tonight with only a kiss.”

  She kissed his cheek, savoring his manly stubble and the plane of his jaw.

  “Ah dinnae want ye to leave with only a kiss.”

  Chapter 24

  Ethan couldn’t believe what he’d heard. He leaned back and peered into her smiling face. “You mean? We can?” When she nodded, he could have whooped, but remembered the children.

  “What about Shayla and Colin?”

  “Shayla is asleep for the night. Colin will just have to get used to the idea o’ his ma wantin’ a man.” She stepped out of his arms. “Take yer coat off while ah finish the bed.”

  He pulled the garment down his arms and hung it on the back of the chair. All the time he kept his eyes on the woman bending, pulling, and transforming the bare mattress into a comfortable, floral oasis.

  When she finished the task, he wedged the chair under the door knob. He may have told Colin he could look in, but he wasn’t going to take the chance the boy would.

  He turned from his task and found Aileen standing beside the turned down bed in her shift.

  “Do ye need help with yer clothes?” Her sultry voice, the one he fell for the first day they met, melted him again.

  He shook his head as his hands fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he watched her blow out the lamp sitting on the stand by the bed. The room was cloaked in darkness. He willed his eyes to focus in the dark. Her hands pushed his aside and finished unbuttoning his shirt. Her scent—soap, earth, and faint floral tickled his nose and tightened his gut.

  This was different than the times he’d gone to the brothel. Tonight, he wanted to bring the woman undressing him tenderness. He wasn’t sure how since his other experiences had only been like a rutting buck, but he would restrain himself. He had to prove to this woman he could be gentle.

  She slid her hand down the front of his britches, and he couldn’t suppress a moan as his cock surged at her touch.

  “Aye, ah know ye’d be a brawny one in bed.” Her voice was no louder than a whisper, yet her words rang strong and bold.

  Placing his hands on her arms, he moved up her smooth skin to her round shoulders and slender neck. He had to kiss her. He wanted to give her something.

  Their mouths melded and their tongues caressed. He lost himself in the kiss until her hands splayed across his bare chest, sliding down the ripples on his stomach and once again—He sucked in a breath as she skimmed the top of him. The wisp of flesh against flesh had his body humming clear to his toes.

  She pushed both hands down his hips, shedding his long johns and britches, pushing them to his boot tops.

  “Sit,” she ordered and gave him a slight push. He fell back in the chair. Her hands skated down his leg and one by one his boots and socks were removed and his clothing disappeared.

  “Now ye can come to bed,” she whispered, capturing his hand and pulling him across the room.

  Before she slipped into bed, he grasped the bottom of her shift, pulling it up over her body and off. In the dark he couldn’t see her. Starting at her slender neck, he ran his hands down, over firm round shoulders, to the front, cupping breasts that filled his hands with weight. Satisfied with the feel, his hands glided down over a soft stomach and out to the curve of her waist and over wide hips.

  Splaying his hands across her firm round bottom, he pulled her against him and kissed her hungrily. She had the full, ripe body of a woman.

  She sagged in his arms. Catching her under the knees, he laid her upon the bed and settled his body over the top, resting on his forearms so as not to hurt her. Her soft breasts against his chest and his shaft resting between their lower bodies nearly sent him over the edge. He bit his lip in an effort not to attack her like a starved animal.

  “Ah know ye want to have at me.” Her hand brushed the hair from his forehead. “Ah dinnae mind. Once ye take care o’ that matter, ah can teach ye how to make love.”

  His heart thrummed in his chest. “I want to make this special—for you.”

  �
��Ah’ll get special when ye aren’t holdin’ back.” She spread her legs under him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she writhed against him and kissed him with abandon.

  He growled and sunk into her with one slow move. She gasped and thrust her hips against him, drawing him in deep and tight. He wrapped his arms around her and matched his thrusts to hers, gasping as his seed burst into her, bringing him completion.

  His body felt weak and invigorated.

  “Nae, ye can’t sleep. Now ye have work to do.” The teasing voice pulled him from his euphoria. He started to pull out, but she grasped his backside, holding him in.

  “Nae, leave it in.” She grasped his head and nudged a nipple to his lips. “Ye may feast upon these with yer mouth and hands.”

  He didn’t need to be asked twice. Taking the breast in his hand, he marveled at the silkiness of the skin. He massaged the mound and sucked on the nipple. Her body moved under his and small mewing sounds filled his ears as he continued to experiment with his tongue and teeth on the nipple as it hardened.

  Aileen clutched the bedding under her. She knew he’d take his time learning her body, sending small ripples of delight through her. It was what she wanted. To be treasured. He moved to the other breast, tasting, nipping, and jolting her. His hand slid down her side, over her hip and back up to her breast. His hot hand sliding across her skin was as exhilarating as his administrations to her breasts.

  He grew, filling her. Her body was strung tight and humming for release. Not since her Patrick died had she felt the vibrations warming her body and clouding her senses.

  “Now. As ye did before, only kiss me, so ah dinnae cry out.” She clutched his arms and tilted her pelvis toward him as he began thrusting. His mouth descended on hers as the first volley of sensations wracked her body.

  She hummed into his mouth and raised her body to take him deeper. Sensing her needs, he pushed a hand beneath her bottom, holding her up to take his thrust more fully.

  He was panting, but she had to have him kiss her. She wanted all of him when it hit. Her hands fisted in his hair, dragging his mouth to hers. Caught in the heightened arousal of his hand splayed across her backside, his boaby taking her with authority, and his mouth sucking the air from her lungs, her body exploded in a rain of sparks, jolts, and an exaltation muffled by his kiss.