“You’re a minx,” he growled between short, quick breaths as he grasped her wrist.
“Do you mind?” she asked, scooting onto the bed in a way that fully displayed the ultimate beauty and perfection of her body.
He stepped from his pants, kicked them aside. “I love it.” He crawled onto the bed, in full pursuit.
She giggled sweetly, and her fingertips played over his skin like a piano player teasing the ivory keys into a soul-searching ballad. “I love you,” she whispered into his mouth as she parted her legs.
He lowered his hips, resting against her downy softness. He needed her. His breath tore at his lungs and his throat was swollen with raw emotion.
Constance arched her hips. “I’ve never—”
Bemused, Ellis stiffened from head to toe.
She grabbed his taut backside, pressing him downward. “I’ve never wanted something so badly in my life,” she finished, and he heard the smile in her words besides reading it on her face.
“You—” he started. “Tease.” It was the only word that came to mind.
A pleading grimace overtook her face. “Please, Ellis, I can’t wait any longer.”
“Well,” he said, attempting to sound casual.
She let out a painful sounding groan.
He reached beneath her. “I can’t wait any longer,
either,” he admitted, lifting her bottom as he glided into her moist, welcoming heat.
Her cry of delight completed a perfection he’d never known. A homecoming of his heart and soul merging with hers. He withdrew slowly, and entered again, luxuriating in how she moved with him, up and down, in and out.
“Oh, my,” she whispered.
He drove in deeper. “Is that what you wanted?”
She arched, wrapped her thighs around his. “Yes, and this,” she whispered, moving her hips, gliding her velvet softness along his length.
“Damn, you’re good,” he groaned, as close to heaven as he’d ever been. Their pace, a complete union of two becoming one, grew steadily. Teasingly at times, serious at others, and ultimately gratifying, taking him to tremendous heights.
Clutching his arms, her breath quickening as fast as his, she gasped, “Good heavens!”
The world as he’d known it must have changed, for nothing had prepared him for the extreme fulfillment engulfing him. He caught Constance’s lips as they raced up his chin. Their kisses became as wild and hungry as the need peaking in his veins. He guided her movements with his hands on her hips, bringing her with him in the hard, fast drive to the destination of love everlasting. The thunderous eruption of completion loomed and he couldn’t hold the ecstasy filling his chest as they merged with a final unified drive. “Constance,” he all but shouted, holding her hips tight against his.
Then, almost as if suspended in time, rapture exploded between them. A riot of tiny aftershocks left them both sighing. Constance, gasping his name, and shuddering with a sweet, divine surrender, sank into the mattress, tugging him with her. His body, heavy and moist from exertion, covered hers as she wrapped her arms around him.
“Oh, Ellis.”
He rolled, dragging his weight off her and tucked her to his side. She snuggled in, and the warm, satisfied smile on her lips made his spirit soar. Ellis ran a finger along the curve of her chin. “Next time, we’ll take it slow, minx.”
She giggled and nipped his shoulder. “Just tell me when you’re ready.”
Chapter Fifteen
Constance opened her eyes, blinking at the lingering mist of sleep. The wonderful bronze skin creating the pillow she rested upon made her heart skip a beat. She ran a finger along the gloriously defined contours.
“Good morning, minx.”
Happiness spread over her. “Good morning.”
“Sleep well?” he asked.
“Divinely.” She sighed, never having known such bliss. “You?”
He rolled her onto her back. “I thought you’d never wake up.”
His hand stroked her stomach, over the scars he’d kissed and caressed so tenderly last night. They’d loved, hot and furious one minute, slow and cherished the next, until the sun had streaked the sky, leaving her ensconced in a pleasure-filled world. “Oh and why’s that?” she asked, her heart soaring with anticipation of his answer.
“I don’t know, maybe because I have a strong desire to kiss you from head to toe.” His fingers brushed the underside of her breasts.
The touch made her nipples harden and her breasts grow heavy as if swelling with passion. “Then why didn’t you wake me?” Her fingertips slid along the smooth flesh of his lean side, and then worked their way across his abdomen. Smiling as the muscles tightened beneath her touch, she declared, “I have that same desire.”
Amazed yet thrilled to accept he’d released a boldness she’d never imagined she’d harbored, her fingers found what they sought. Her hand folded around him with the expertise she’d acquired last night, and she giggled at the growling sound he made. Knowing her touch affected him as keenly as his did her had her heart hammering with joy.
“Think it’s funny, do you?” he asked huskily as he dipped his head.
The jolt of excitement racing through Constance had her arching her back, giving his parted lips direct access to her eager breasts. As Ellis took one throbbing peak into his mouth, she let out a sound that could easily have compared to his growl.
Already half crazy with desire for him, his tongue, lapping and teasing, had miniature spasms bursting between her thighs.
“Still think it’s funny?” he asked, moving to suckle the other peak with ultimate perfection.
Unable to take much more, her body reaching its limits, Constance scooted beneath him as he rose. Using the hand still folded around him, she guided him toward the throbbing juncture of her parted legs. “I never…said it…was funny,” she gasped.
His entrance into her, hot and slick, was so gratifying she moaned aloud. Not caring what it sounded like or who heard.
“You didn’t?” he asked.
Quickly catching the swift rhythm he set, Constance, on the verge of losing herself in the mystical world he carried her to, could barely speak. “Not funny. Fun,” she whispered. Wrapping her arms around his neck, so she could hold on and enjoy the journey, she added, “So irresistibly fun.”
Focused solely on the pleasures shooting through her body—wave upon wave of glorious sensations that stole her breath yet had her begging for more—Constance cried out his name as she reached her final point of destination with startling awareness. He stiffened and groaned so pleasurably that tiny offshoots of pure bliss spewed from her heart.
The ultimate union of their bodies was so profound, even the ability to move left her. Limp but utterly fulfilled and happy, she closed her eyes. “Will it always be this perfect, Ellis?”
He rolled onto his back, pulling her languid body to collapse against his captivating flesh. “Yes, Constance, our love will always be this perfect.”
She opened her eyes, wanting him to understand just how she felt. “I never imagined when I left New York that I’d find this.” She kissed his chin. “How could I? I never knew it existed.”
“Me neither, darling, me neither.”
She loved the sound of his husky whisper. Loved him. She took his lips in a slow, unhurried kiss laced with the pure devotion she felt. It was a miracle that she’d found him, the perfect man, the one she’d dreamed of thousands of miles away in England. There must have been a supreme being, a mastermind above all others, behind every decision she’d made to bring her here, to the wilds of Wyoming, where cupid blessed her with his mystical arrow.
Giggling, she buried her face into the pillow next to his ear.
Nipping at her shoulder, Ellis asked, “Now what’s so funny?”
Constance pushed up until she was sitting, straddling his torso. Unabashed by her nakedness or the scars on her stomach, she stretched her hands over-head. “I was just imagining cupid’s little arrows.”
Ellis ran his hands up her sides and caught her arms before she completely lowered them. He scooted upward on the bed, until his back was propped against the pillows and her open center sat upon the very part of him that gave her great satisfaction. He let loose her arms then, and his fingertips gently fluttered over her breasts. “Cupid?”
The quickening inside her had her biting her bottom lip. She nodded.
He rolled her nipples between the tips of his thumbs and fingertips. “Enchanting little character, isn’t he?” he asked, leaning forward.
The anticipation already pulsing in her veins made it impossible for her to even nod as his mouth covered one aching nipple. “Again?” she asked.
“Again,” he agreed.
It was sometime later when they finally crawled from the bed. Ellis helped her dress, briskly rubbing his hands over her arms and legs to chase away the chill before he held her garments up, one at a time, and endearingly fastened the many bows and buttons.
“Your little friend…” he said as he buttoned the last button.
Constance spun around, waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, she asked, “What little friend?”
“Cupid.” Ellis cupped her cheeks and kissed her soundly on the mouth before saying, “He paid me a visit, too.”
Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his waist and basked in the durable, solid shelter of his protection and love. He was hers. Now and forever.
“You keep looking at me like that, and I’ll drag you back to bed,” Ellis said, roaming his hands down to cup her hips.
She’d never understood flirting until last night. Lifting one brow, she asked, “Promise?”
He kissed her, and between his glorious teasing lips and the way his fingers fluttered over her body, Constance was ready to drag him back to the bed when he lifted his head to say, “I better get the fires going before we freeze to death in here.”
Half dizzy with want all over again, Constance had no idea if she was cold or not.
He winked. “Jeb and Miles have been up for hours, minx.”
She’d never have imagined a single word could become an endearment that would spark such joy in her. While he built fires, and then hauled out the cold dishwater from the evening before, she gathered ingredients for breakfast and set a pot of coffee to perk.
Jeb and Miles followed Ellis into the cabin. “Everything will be ready in a few minutes,” she said.
“Thanks, ma’am, but we’ve already had breakfast. Just thought we’d haul your trunks to the wagon. Figured you two would want to head over to Heaven on Earth as soon as possible,” Miles said, strolling across the room.
Ellis placed a hand on her lower back. “We’ll drive the wagon home. Jeb will follow on my horse. Is there anything else you need loaded up?”
All of a sudden fear knotted her stomach. Byron was out there, possibly waiting for them. She shook her head, half afraid to speak. “J-just the basket of books.”
As soon as Jeb and Miles carried her trunks out the door, Ellis took her shoulders. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Byron’s out there.”
“And I’m here to protect you.”
She had more to lose now than ever before in her life. “He’s evil. He’ll hurt you and—”
Ellis’s lips pressed against hers. After kissing her deeply, he said, “Trust me, Constance. Byron Carmichael isn’t going to hurt me, and I won’t let him hurt you, either.”
He was so strong and caring, and she loved him so much. Couldn’t imagine life without him. A wave of terrible shame hit her. The pain was strong enough to drop her to the floor, had Ellis not been holding her upright. “I’m married to him, Ellis.”
He shook his head. “No, not if he was already married to that woman in New York.”
“But—”
“Constance,” he interrupted. “We’ll talk about Carmichael once we get to Heaven on Earth. We’ll work it all out. Just trust me.”
Before she could respond, Jeb door opened the door. “Just the basket, ma’am?”
“Yes,” Ellis answered.
The fear shrouding her remained long after breakfast was consumed and they climbed onto the wagon seat. If anything it increased when Ellis tucked her close to his side and covered their laps with a heavy wool blanket kept under the seat.
Blue sky and fields of untouched snow surrounded them as they glided along, the rudders running smoothly over the trail. Yet none of it, or even Ellis’s charming attempts to converse, eased her qualms.
Jeb trotted up to ride close, his firearm resting across the pommel of his saddle, as they traveled through a thick grove of pines so tall they darkened the sky. She wrapped her hands around Ellis’s thick forearm, as if that could keep him safe.
He laid a gloved hand on her knee. “We’re almost to Cottonwood.”
“Are we stopping there?” She just wanted to get to Heaven on Earth, where the big house and bunkhouse full of men would provide more protection. The home had been a fortress against her fears before, and she wanted that again. She needed to know Ellis and Angel were safe.
“I have to stop in town, but it won’t take long.”
She clutched his arm tighter as the trees gave way to a wide-open prairie that was dotted with small buildings on the horizon. A foreboding hung in the air, one that had her insides knotted and trembling.
Link barreled out of his store before the rudders on the wagon slid to a stop. “Ellis! Ellis, you got a mess going on out at your place! The marshal’s out there along with that Carmichael fella.” Link leaped over the sideboard behind the seat. “Hank,” he shouted toward the man in the store doorway. “Lock the door.” Link then slapped Ellis on the back. “Get rolling! My Lula Mae’s out there!”
Fear gripped Constance’s spine at the vision of Byron pounding on the door back at Ashton’s place. Hatred had filled his face—that’s what had made him look so evil and sinful. The image of Angel with her leg bound with boards had Constance grabbing Ellis’s arm. “Hurry, Ellis! We must hurry!”
He whipped the reins over the team of horses, and Constance clung to his coat to keep from bouncing off the seat. The pounding of hooves and clanking of harnesses echoed in her ears as her heart raced in her chest.
“What’s happened, Hank?” Ellis shouted as the man caught up to them on horseback.
“I don’t know. The marshal showed up last night, looking for Miss Jennings. Lula Mae invited him to spend the night. She said the two of you would be home today.” Hank steered his galloping horse around a drift. Once back beside the wagon, he added, “Bright and early this morning, I found that Carmichael man snooping around. And then John Hempel showed up, needing to speak to you. I was on my way to Ashton’s place to get you, and stopped at Link’s to tell him just in case I missed you along the way.”
“Ride on ahead,” Ellis yelled back. “Make sure Carmichael doesn’t get away!”
“And make sure my Lula Mae’s all right!” Link yelled over Constance’s head.
Hank nodded, but glanced toward Constance briefly, then his gaze landed back on Ellis. “That Carmichael fella claims he’s Miss Jennings’s husband.”
It felt as if an iron first clamped onto her heart.
“I know,” Ellis shouted. “Just make sure he doesn’t get away!”
Hank spurred his horse, leaving a shower of snow made by the animal’s hooves in his wake.
Jeb, still riding beside the wagon, shouted, “I’ll ride ahead, too, Ellis. Tell the marshal how that fella tried to knock down the door at my place.”
Ellis nodded, and though a mountain of questions swirled in her head, Constance remained silent, not wanting to distract his attention from the horses laboring to race through the deep snow.
It seemed like hours before they arrived on the plateau overlooking Heaven on Earth, but even then, as they began to descend the steep hill, Ellis didn’t slow the team. He stood though, to see over the backs of the horses as he steered them down the k
noll.
Link grabbed Constance’s shoulders, pressing her tightly in the seat. “Don’t fret, missy, I won’t let you bounce out.”
Constance had the blanket balled in her fist, and ducked behind it when the snow flying off the horses’ hooves flew in her face.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Ellis shouted. Snow spewed the air, and before the wagon completely stopped, he spun about and lifted her from the seat. He jumped over the edge with her in his arms.
Constance’s feet barely hit the ground before she was running up the steps at his side. The door opened, and in a blur, Link flew past them, gathering Lula Mae in his arms.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” the woman repeated, hugging her husband.
“Where’s—” Ellis started.
Lula Mae pointed. “In the front parlor.”
Ellis propelled Constance down the hall. They turned the corner, and she saw no one but the girl sitting on the sofa with her leg propped on a pile of pillows.
“Constance!” Angel shouted.
The joy of seeing Angel overshadowed the dire circumstances. She rushed across the room. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Angel wrapped her arms around Constance’s neck. “I’m so happy you’re home.”
Constance folded Angel to her breast. This was her daughter. The only child she’d ever need. Ever want. No one was going to take her away from Ellis or Angel. Not now. Not ever. There and then, over and over she gave prayers of thanks for Angel being unharmed, letting the thankfulness build in her chest until she felt strong enough to turn and face the rest of the room’s occupants.
Her gaze went from John Hempel near one of the armchairs, to a tall, brutish looking man wearing a badge and resting a hand on the mantel, to Byron tied in a rocking chair with Hank and Jeb leaning against the wall behind him, to Ellis shrugging out of his coat in the doorway. Her gaze settled there, on her true strength.
He handed his coat off to Lula Mae and moved forward. Constance accepted his assistance to remove her coat as an eerie sensation had her turning around, back to Byron. The glare in his eyes sent sour bile flipping in her stomach.
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