“Take it, Sahara. Don’t you ever hold back,” he rasped.
She impaled herself, and with a gasp they thrust until he was deep within her. It was mindless animal ecstasy they sought, and by mutual consent they pushed past the subtleties of foreplay toward a fulfillment that paled every previous coming together.
Dan arched up to take a breast in his mouth, and she clasped him tightly, her hair falling like a satin sheet around them. Her hips continued their maddening assault; he spanned their lushness with his hands, intending to slow her down, but found himself being sucked into the fathomless depths of a surrender that struck hard and sent him lunging into Sahara with a blinding force.
She shrieked, clutching him until he shuddered beneath her. Never before had she witnessed such majestic power—such virile, uninhibited poetry as Dan Madigan’s body when he succumbed to the intense pleasure of giving in to her. He lay panting for several moments, his face slack. Then his eyes fluttered open, and he blessed her with a sated smile.
“You’ll pay for that, young lady,” he wheezed. “I’m going to love you so long…and so hard you won’t be able to…get out of this bed. And when you do…I’m finding a preacher. Can’t let a woman like you…loose on the streets of Denver. You’re too damn…dangerous!”
Her heart swelled in her eyes, and her laughter salved a soul left battered by the other women in his life. She was splendid, this honey-haired minx, and she was his. Madigan rolled with her so that they lay side by side, until he caught his breath and could see straight again. Then he began the tender celebration of making love to her.
His palm followed the curve of her shoulder to her waist and then to her hip, tantalizing her with its firm heat. “I shot before you were ready that time,” he murmured, watching her with rapt affection. “Couldn’t help myself, but you should never be satisfied with less than you serve up to me, Sahara. Never be afraid to demand the love that’s meant to be yours.”
She closed her eyes and accepted a kiss ripe with promise. How thoughtful of him to address the need still smoldering inside her. His words breathed on her desire until it was a leaping, living flame, and she squirmed against him. Dan’s long, lean body responded by tightening all over. He took her head in his hands and kissed her, his tongue commanding hers to dance, until she was lolling on her back, awash in the pleasure he gave.
Sahara stroked his muscled leg with her foot, delighting in the tickle of his hair…opening herself to him. Where had all these manic, sanity-stealing sensations come from? She was quivering with want, so she took his message to heart and reached for the part of him that could scratch this excruciating itch.
But Madigan had other ideas. He raised up, taking his manhood beyond her reach, and continued the slow descent of his thorough, breathtaking kiss. He suckled until each breast throbbed. He lavished the same attention on her stomach and inner thighs, tickling her with the light scrape of his chin, making her writhe with anticipation as he circled her most needy part with his tongue while pointedly avoiding it.
In utter frustration, she drove her fingers through his hair. “Damn you, Madigan, stick it in me.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he quipped hoarsely, and without further ado he spread her thighs and drove his tongue against the musky-sweet nub that beckoned to him.
Sahara whimpered in surprise. She’d expected him to move over top of her, and the sudden frenzy he was kicking up between her legs was far more intense than anything she’d experienced before. She wriggled and tried to pull away before the spiraling spasms overtook her too soon. Last time he’d sent his tongue exploring there, he’d brought them both to their peak in the usual way, so surely he couldn’t want to—”
“Dan, stop—please!” she pleaded.
Madigan raised up to study her passion-stricken face. “Look me in the eye and say that like you mean it.”
Sahara frowned, confused. “But—if you’re not inside me, you can’t…”
“I’ll catch my pleasure again on the next go-round,” he whispered. Her innocent concern touched him when he realized what she was trying to say. “There’s more than one way to drive my favorite lady insane, and before the night’s over I intend to show you several of them. We should bring out the best in each other, don’t you think, partner?”
A husky laugh escaped her. “Whatever you say, Dan.”
Cocking an eyebrow, he grinned mischievously. “Repeat after me, then: I, Sahara—”
“I…Sahara—”
“—want you, Dan—”
“—want you, Dan—” she echoed.
“—to kiss and suck and nibble, until I cry out your name and pass into oblivion—”
“—to kiss and suck and—oh, just do it!”
Madigan laughed aloud, and when she was giggling with him he resumed his attack with a vengeance that drove her laughter to a high, feverish pitch. Sahara shrieked and writhed, clamping her thighs around his head as she sang out his name again and again.
When she’d collapsed, Dan stretched out alongside her to pull her close. “You have quite a way with words, Sahara,” he murmured against her ear. “Madigan’s always been my name, but it’s never sounded so wonderful as when you say it, honey. And to think that come tomorrow it’ll be your name, too, has me so excited, I doubt I can sleep tonight.”
Somehow, she managed to open one eye. “Who said anything about sleep?” she croaked happily.
They drifted off in each other’s arms, enveloped by the heady scent of their lovemaking and the warmth of their bodies. It was a restless few hours, though, because the nearness of Dan Madigan kept her senses alert, kept her hungry for a tenderness like she’d never experienced but craved more than food or water. She’d known he was a thoughtful, inventive partner before, but his lovemaking behind closed doors made all their previous times together seem hasty and haphazard by comparison.
Around midnight he, too, awoke, and with a sleepy grin he insisted upon kissing and caressing every inch of her bare skin. The lamp on the night table bathed them in its golden glow, setting off the virile shadow of his jaw and the gleam in his eyes. Madigan was a study in smoldering sensuality, and Sahara became his willing pupil.
“It should always be this way between us,” he murmured as he stroked her silky thighs. “The chance of getting caught added a certain edge to our passions before, yet every time I’ve loved you I dreamed of the night I could linger over it. You fascinate me, Sahara. I have the feeling I’ll learn something new about you every day.”
She smiled, flushing with excitement as he ran his lips down the length of her neck, wanting to prolong this precious intimacy. “And what have you learned today?”
“It’s not over yet,” he quipped as he pulled her close. “But for starters, I’m pleased to see that your affection for Fergus McGee didn’t blind you to his crimes, once we cornered him. I’m sorry it came to that, honey.”
Sahara sucked in her breath when his thumbs grazed her nipples. “You should’ve told me you suspected that he and Bean were up to no good. What if—”
“And what could we do until we had proof?” he countered softly. “When the bank president in Atchison commented about your upcoming investments, I smelled a scam, but I didn’t dare send the law after your coach. Until I saw the false flooring and the carpetbags full of cash tonight, we had nothing solid to charge Bean with—but when your brother confirmed his guilt, and we saw the letter Underwood forged, Luther had no way out. And, as Bobby said, we had men to back us here. No doubt in my mind you and your passengers would’ve been left dead on the prairie had I accused him when I first caught up with you.”
Sahara felt fingers of desire curling more tightly within her, yet she gave her curiosity rein while Madigan was in the mood to reveal so much. “And why did you start after me in the first place?” she asked quietly. “You couldn’t have liked me much, after I tried to keep your mother’s letter from you.”
Madigan sensed she was stalling him, yet her shinin
g eyes and the red-blond hair cascading over her shoulders enticed him into indulging her with a few secrets. She would soon be his wife; she had a right to some answers.
“Actually, greed and revenge were my original motives,” he admitted with a chuckle. He paused, studying the slender fingers that were riffling his chest hair. “When I found out Spade was my father, all I could think was that he owed me something—that you owed me part of the empire you acquired by a twist of fate.”
Sahara looked into his deep brown eyes. “I can understand that. And I wasn’t running from you, you know. I just had to see how Spade Express operated for myself…had to get away from you and Jennifer to think things through.”
“I realized that, once I got to Atchison. My bluster blew itself out when I saw you inviting passengers to share your private coach—I was watching you from my room at the Planters House, you see,” he added slyly. “I thought it over for a day…moseyed to the bank, and when I learned about those sizable withdrawals—more money than you’d know what to do with—I followed you, hoping I wasn’t too late to keep you out of harm’s way, out of some unexplainable sense of protectiveness.”
Sahara let out a short laugh. “I can explain it. You were watching out for what you considered your interests.”
“Indeed I was,” he replied as he leaned over her, “and I’ve been rich beyond my wildest dreams since I discovered that you were the diamond among the other baubles of Horatio’s empire.”
She succumbed to a kiss, basking in the warmth of his tender words. Dan’s lips moved slowly over hers, seducing her, leading her into a more intimate embrace as his rough, wet tongue encircled hers. A sudden urgency overtook her, sending tingles into her stomach and producing a maddening itch between her legs. Yet she rolled away slightly to study him again.
“Fess up,” she teased in a throaty whisper. “It’s my financial assets you’re really after, and now that I’ve agreed to marry you, you’re feeling as smug as a dog who’s treed a fox.”
She was reaching between his legs as she spoke, his feisty little Sahara was, yet Madigan saw this as a prime opportunity to state his case once and for all. He wanted her to have no doubts about the man he was, or about the wife he wanted her to be. He got out of bed and stepped away, gazing steadily at her.
“As God is my witness,” he murmured, “if you sold it all tomorrow—if you gave it all away—I’d still love you, Sahara. There’s not a doubt in my mind you could carry on without me, so I see myself as your personal caretaker…the man who can make you happy, come what may, as the years go by. If you have even a flicker of doubt, I’ll get dressed and leave. I want you to be assure about this marriage as I am, honey.”
A lump of emotion nearly choked her. Madigan stood a few paces away, his face urgently handsome yet serene as he awaited her reply. He was ready to forfeit all he’d worked for while Spade was alive and all he’d acquired since becoming her partner, to prove his devotion to her. She had a tough time comprehending the depth of this gesture. With a wave of her hand she could send Daniel Madigan out of her life.
Dan watched her, holding his breath. Could he have spoken more persuasively? Should he have silenced her with another breathtaking assault that left her too enraptured to question him? Sahara, bare and beautiful in the lamplight, made him ache with a longing that involved far more than physical need. She was a woman with heart, the woman who could fill the voids in his life as no one else could, because she knew more about giving love than about receiving it.
Dan’s silent eloquence seared her soul. Here was a man who’d protected her, who’d endangered himself by chasing after her when he suspected disloyal employees, and who wanted nothing but her love in return. Her eyes prickled when doubt clouded his face as the moments ticked by…she slowly extended her arm over the edge of the bed, entreating him.
“If you leave this room, Madigan, I’ll never forgive you.”
A moan escaped him as he rushed into her outstretched arms. He kissed her frantically, grabbing her by the halves of her bottom to crush her against himself. Sahara hugged his neck so tightly he thought he’d be strangled, but what a perfect way to pass on—to be literally loved to death! “You kept me wondering long enough, young lady,” he growled against her ear.
“Did I?” she said with a triumphant chuckle. She gave him a coy smile, with kiss-reddened lips that begged to be taken again. “I had to be sure of you. Look what I stand to lose if yet another man betrays me.”
He’d considered that, but as Madigan claimed her with another demanding kiss, he realized that it was he who would lose the most if Sahara didn’t trust and love him completely. He dragged her up off the bed, guiding her slender arms and legs tightly around him, determined to prove that he belonged to her, body and soul. “Let’s put the mattress on the floor,” he whispered. “Now that the party’s over, the others don’t need to know we’re making love all night.”
Madigan set her down and moved with swift grace, and soon she was stretched out on their relocated bed, watching him study her. He was proud and male and more sensual than she’d ever seen him, teasing her by running his hands around his muscled chest as he gave her a subtle grin.
His ardor was contagious. Sahara found her hand following the curve of her own hip, anticipating his touch. His fingers rustled seductively down his long, lean sides, framing the flushed shaft that stood at attention. For several moments there was only the silence of held breath while the room grew warmer with their rising heat and their eyes lingered greedily on bodies they’d not had the chance to fully appreciate before.
Sahara’s mouth fell open. Madigan doubted that she realized she was licking her lips as her gaze locked on his erect manhood. She moved slowly toward him, like a graceful cat entranced, and when her hands spanned his ankles and began a slow ascent along the inside of his legs, he sucked in his breath. What a sight she made, this slender, blonde vixen who so boldly advanced toward the object of her desire! Her gaze glowed green, and when she extended her little pink tongue…he closed his eyes and sighed raggedly when a firm, wet warmth climbed his pole and then licked the tip of it.
“Where’d you come up with that idea?” he rasped.
Sahara chuckled. “You did all the coming up, Madigan. I just followed my instincts. Complain, and you’ll have to suffer through that again.”
His groan rumbled in his chest, and from this viewpoint he made a stunning sight: his tanned, flat stomach broadened into a powerful chest covered with the same enticing down that was tickling her nose, along with a decidedly male muskiness that spurred her pulse. She’d never explored a man’s private parts, and their secretive scent and astoundingly soft skin made for quite a surprise.
Dan locked his jaw to endure the threatened assault again. His fingers raked circles through her silky hair while his blood thundered from all parts of his body into the single limb that felt ready to explode inside the satiny lips that were caressing it.
With a groan, he pulled Sahara to her feet and crushed her to him, kissing her fiercely. She’d unwittingly brought him to the point of desperation when he’d hoped to prolong this coupling, yet he couldn’t resent her eagerness to please him. Coaxing her down to the mattress, Madigan stretched out alongside her and then lifted her uppermost leg over his hips.
“You’re in for a little torture yourself, honey,” he whispered as he found the slick, warm groove she thrust toward him. “What if I said I was staying on the outside? What if I rubbed you this way until you howled for mercy?”
She was too caught up in a fine, spiraling madness to reply, but she felt a sly grin overtaking her face. He’d found the sensitive nub that seemed to thrive on his attentions, and when she felt ready to scream, Sahara propelled him onto his back with a sudden shove and then sat straddling his hips.
“Two can play that game,” she muttered, grinning down at him. “Say what you want, but I’m betting I can make you beg by refusing to take you in. What do you say to that, Madigan?”
between them and heighten the frenzy they saw in each other’s challenging gaze. He was strong enough to tease her to a dizzying plateau and then keep her dangling at its edge, struggling toward the peak that remained just beyond her reach.
“Take it…damn you, give it to me!” she heard herself mutter, and then Madigan surged deep inside her and had them both crying out with an eclipse that shattered all previous definitions of ecstasy.
Several moments passed while neither of them stirred. When she realized she was still breathing, Sahara raised up off his chest to look into his eyes, which were a mellow chocolate brown. “How’d you do that?” she breathed.
Dan’s heart pounded joyfully as his hands wandered up her sides to find the warmth beneath her amber hair. “We did it, honey,” he said in a voice edged with awe, “and believe me, nothing that mind-boggling’s ever happened to me before. Must be a sign.”
“Of what?” she coaxed, hoping his idea matched her own.
Chuckling, Madigan rolled them onto their sides so that he could enjoy the feel of her more fully. “A sign that we were made for each other, that you and I alone know the way into that new frontier we just discovered…and that we can take each other there whenever we want to.”
Knowing he’d been with skilled wantons like Camille and Fanny an untold number of times made Dan’s admission ring sweetly in her ears. His words confirmed the truths—the rightness—that pulsed through her relaxing body, and Sahara snuggled contentedly in his warm embrace. Here was the man who could hold her without crushing her. Here was her future—the beginning of the close-knit family they’d both craved all their lives.
Sahara Splendor Page 22