by Craig, Emma
“Thank God,” he murmured. “Thank God.” He sounded very sincere.
Then he kissed her again, and Joy could feel a change in his approach. There was nothing tentative about this kiss; nothing soft and sweet. This kiss was hard and deep and she could tell he meant it.
Thank the good Lord for small mercies. She kissed him back with all the love in her heart.
“We can’t very well make love in this chair,” he growled after a moment.
“No?”
“No.” He picked her up and carried her to the bed. Joy was delighted. “We need a bed.”
“How fortunate there’s one handy.”
His laugh came again, deep, rumbling, and so sweet that Joy wanted to curl up and die in it. With a gentleness that seemed foreign in him, he set her on the bed. Before she knew what she was about, he’d unburdened her of her nightgown. She opened her eyes wide, shocked that she should be sitting on the bed, buck naked, with Elijah Perry staring at her with the avid expression of a starving man eyeing a steak. She felt herself flush, and tried to cross her arms over her breasts.
He caught her hands before she succeeded. “No, Joy. Let me look at you. You’re beautiful. You’re a perfect, gorgeous woman. Don’t hide yourself. Not from me. I love you. I’m going to be your husband any day now.”
She gulped and nodded.
His smile showed her his perfect understanding of her discomfiture. “All right, I’ll stop pestering you. But I’m warning you to prepare yourself, because I’m going to join you right now.” With that, he began unbuttoning his shirt.
“Mercy,” she whispered as he revealed himself. He truly was a magnificent example of the male animal. His arms were corded with muscle, and his chest was magnificent, even with the scar from that dreadful bullet hole. And if his belly wasn’t as firm as it might be, and if his hair was silvering and receding, to Joy he was the most perfect man in the universe. Her heart filled with such a potent combination of love and longing as she watched him disrobe that she feared she might faint.
Then he pushed his trousers down, baring the lower portion of his anatomy, and Joy’s mouth dropped open and her eyes opened wide. Good heavens!
She’d nursed Elijah Perry for weeks, and she’d seen his naked body before. Although profoundly unnerved as she’d done it, she’d bandaged his thigh and even seen his . . . thing . . . as she’d tended him. She’d never seen it in this condition, though.
Elijah read her thoughts. “Don’t be afraid, Joy. I won’t hurt you.”
“But . . . but . . . it’s so . . . big.”
He laughed again. Joy wasn’t sure she appreciated a laugh at the moment. Naturally, this was nothing to him. Merely one more sexual experience. But to her, it was new and . . . and—her eyes were drawn once more to his erect sex—astonishing.
Before she could leap from the bed and run screaming from the room, Elijah plopped down next to her and put his arms around her. “It’s all right, Joy. Men and women have been doing this from the beginning of time.”
She turned to stare at him. What he said was true, she reckoned. But she hadn’t done this before, and she was scared spitless.
“Here, darling, let me show you how good it can be.”
Her eyes nearly popped from her head when he took her hand and gently guided it to his sex. Merciful heavens, did people really do that? Good people, that is? It was hard and silky and hot, and very, very different from anything she’d ever touched before. Fascinated, Joy felt it tentatively. Elijah groaned, and she let go as if she’d been handling a live coal.
“There’s nothing wrong with the act of love, Joy,” Elijah said, as if he’d read her mind. “This is how babies are made. This is how the human race is perpetuated. This is what we have to do in order to get enough kids in the family to keep the business going.”
His words were so unexpected that Joy actually forgot her fear and laughed. “I see. So that’s your motivation, is it?”
He laughed, too. “Not entirely. Here, I’ll take over now.”
Thank God. Joy didn’t say so aloud, but she was vastly relieved.
With exquisite care, Elijah pressed her back onto the bed. Then his hands began an inventory of her body that had Joy squirming and breathless in seconds. Sensations danced over her skin. Everywhere Elijah’s hands touched her, she felt hot. She, whose life had been cold and lonely and barren, who had believed God meant her only to suffer, discovered that He had created a magnificent way for a man and a woman to come together and create new life.
God created this, she realized with a jolt. Could anything God created be evil? Of course not. It was people who made a mess of God’s creations, as her mother had done with her. It was people who twisted the good and rendered it bad. She and Elijah loved and honored each other and, what’s more, they were going to be married as soon as the preacher showed up. This wasn’t bad; it was as close to heaven as Joy expected she’d ever get on earth.
And, with that realization, the very last of her trepidation dissipated like so much steam. Which was a good thing, since Elijah’s hand had traveled to her most intimate place, and had begun to probe gently.
“Elijah!”
He kissed her deeply as his fingers rubbed and dipped. She gasped into his mouth and felt him smile.
“Does that feel good, Joy. I want you to feel good.”
Did it feel good? He didn’t honestly expect an answer to that, did he? He couldn’t possibly. Her hips had begun to arch as he gently rubbed the erect nub of sensation located between her legs.
“That’s the way,” Elijah whispered. “This is how it’s done, Joy. It’s supposed to feel good to both of us.”
So that’s what that was for. Joy had often wondered, during moments of agony when she’d been sure she was evil and wicked and headed straight to the devil for feeling things she’d been taught were depraved.
Good heavens, she was wet down there! Was she supposed to be wet? Her eyes opened and she scanned Elijah’s face.
As if he understood, he whispered, “That’s the way, Joy. Your body is getting ready for mine. This is exactly what’s supposed to happen.”
Thank the Lord. She’d been worried there for a moment. Grateful to him for his understanding, she relaxed again and decided to give up worrying and enjoy herself. Heaven alone knew that Elijah Perry, of all people, would want her to.
A groan escaped her as Elijah’s magic fingers continued to rub and probe her secrets. Pressure built up in her body, pressure that was half pleasure and half frustration. Without knowing exactly what she was straining for, Joy strained, her body going alternately tense and slack.
Elijah murmured soft, sweet words of love in her ear. She expected he was watching her, but didn’t bother to look. Too many things were happening too quickly for her to take notice of any one of them.
She felt as though he were driving her to some precipice, and she had to get there or die. As sensations built in her body, she strained to achieve whatever it was. And then it happened. Out of the blue, Elijah’s steady, gentle teasing sent her over the edge, and Joy gasped as her body stiffened and then convulsed with her climax.
“Beautiful,” Elijah murmured. “Wonderful. Gorgeous.”
Joy heard the words, but couldn’t comprehend their meaning. So caught up was she in sensation that she could make sense of nothing but the fantastic sense of release and completion Elijah had created in her.
Her brain was mush. She panted like a racehorse that had just won the Belmont Stakes. Her mouth dry as cotton, she still managed to whisper, “Mercy sakes.”
Elijah’s chuckle was music to her ears. “So, you think you’re going to like this part of the married state, do you?”
She cricked one eye open and found him. It wasn’t difficult, since he leaned over her and was inspecting her face as if he feared for her health. “Oh, yes. Oh, yes indeed.”
He grinned the wickedest grin she’d ever seen, and she realized she absolutely adored his wicked grins. In fac
t, she adored everything about this marvelous, baffling gambling man. Soon to be her very own marvelous, baffling hotel keeper and husband. With a burst of energy she didn’t know she possessed, Joy threw her arms around him and kissed him with all the ardor in her soul.
Elijah seemed delighted. He pressed her back against the sheets once more and positioned himself over her. She figured it was his turn now, and braced herself. Her mother had taught her absolutely nothing about the marriage bed except that, if any man was ever foolish enough to marry her, Joy should keep her mouth shut, her eyes squeezed tight, and do her duty without complaint.
Duty be hanged. Joy was so eager to feel Elijah in her that she didn’t hesitate a second. As he very gently probed her damp secret with his sex, she arched her hips and captured him. With a gasp of surprise, Elijah plunged in.
It didn’t hurt nearly as much as Joy had been led to expect. She felt rather like she’d been skewered by an extremely large cucumber, but overall, the sensation was new and interesting rather than frightening or painful.
Then Elijah, after taking a moment to recover, began moving in her, and Joy realized how very wrong her mother had been. She should have expected it. Her mother had been wrong about everything else; why not this?
Her second climax came as almost more of a surprise than her first one. This one was sweeter, though, because, with a wild cry, Elijah toppled over the precipice with her.
Joy had never been happier in her life than she was when Elijah collapsed at her side, drew her into his arms, and dropped little kisses over her face. He was panting like a racehorse, too, and Joy loved him ever so much.
“I’ve never been happier in my life, Joy,” he said, echoing her sentiments.
She couldn’t stand it any longer. She cried.
Chapter Twenty
“Well, how was I to know they were tears of joy, Joy? You’ve never been joyful before.” Elijah wasn’t really grumpy; he just figured he’d better act like himself instead of a lovesick schoolboy or Joy wouldn’t know him anymore.
She laughed at him. Elijah could scarcely believe his eyes and ears. Joy Hardesty, the woman he loved in spite of herself and himself and everything he knew about life, had the brass balls to laugh at him. He’d never been this happy, and it kind of scared him, although he knew his fear was only a left-over manifestation of the cynicism he’d honed so diligently over the years. He was done with cynicism now, though. Joy deserved more from him than pessimism. So did he, for that matter. He propped his head on his hands and leaned back against Joy’s pillows, delighted with the show she was putting on for him.
“Don’t you say another word about my crying, Elijah Perry,” she said as she put one long, slender, lovely leg and then the other into her drawers and pulled them up.
Elijah sighed when she tied the tapes. He was ready for another go-around on the sheets, although he knew she needed to recover from their first tangle. Lordy, he was glad she’d taken to sex. He’d been a little worried there. He ought to have known better. Joy was a constant surprise to him. And a joy. She was his very own pride and joy.
“You cried, too,” she reminded him.
“Those weren’t tears. Something got into my eyes.”
“Ha! A likely story.”
All right, so he’d cried a little. Even a man has a right to cry every now and then, doesn’t he? And besides, he couldn’t help it. All the emotions he’d kept tamped down for so many years had just erupted all of a sudden. It wasn’t his fault.
“I thought it was sweet,” Joy went on to say as she slipped a lacy camisole over her head.
“Skip the corset, all right, sweetheart?”
She eyed him dubiously. “During the daytime?”
She sounded shocked, and it tickled Elijah. “Sure. You don’t see men running around with corsets on, do you?”
“Well, of course not. Men don’t have—” She didn’t finished, but blushed instead.
If she got any cuter, Elijah wasn’t sure he could stand it. “Men do, too, have breasts.”
She primmed her lips. “Not like women’s, they don’t.”
“Thank God for that. But leave the corset off anyway. Please? For me?” He whined a little on the last two words, hoping she’d either feel guilty or amused and humor him.
She laughed again, and he was pleased.
“I’ll take full responsibility for any shocking of the neighbors you do, love. Promise.”
She pulled her dress on over her head and began to button the bodice in a businesslike manner. Elijah sighed. He liked Joy in her underwear. It was lacy and had pink things on it, and it suited her.
“Not that there are any neighbors out her in this forsaken place,” she muttered as she buttoned the last button and turned to pick up her hairbrush.
Elijah had another bright idea. “Why don’t you leave your hair down, Joy. You have beautiful hair, but no one can see it when you braid it up and tack it to your head.”
She peered at him over her shoulder. “I do not tack it to my head. Ugh.” She shuddered. “And I won’t wear it down, either, because Rio Hondo is too hot and dusty for that. I’d die of heat stroke.”
Another sigh leaked from Elijah’s lips. He was disappointed. He loved Joy’s hair. It was shiny and pretty and had all sorts of interesting highlights to it.
“However,” she continued, and he brightened, “I may fix it into on long braid and let it hang down my back. That won’t be too uncomfortable. Will you settle for that?”
“Sounds good to me. Then I can pull it if you get out of hand.”
“Ha. I’d like to see you try.”
So would he.
They both started when they heard Mac’s voice outside Joy’s door. She whirled around, hairbrush in hand, and stared with horror at Elijah. He knew she’d be mortified if Mac discovered the two of them had shared her bed all night. Elijah, on the other hand, figured Mac already knew. Mac always knew.
“Joy, m’dear, a visitor has come to meet ye.”
She blinked at Elijah, who shrugged.
“A visitor? My goodness, who could it be, Mac?”
“Susan Blackworth craves an audience, lass. Ye’ve heard folks talk about Mrs. Blackworth, I’m sure.”
“Oh. Oh, yes, certainly. Let me just—finish brushing my hair, and I’ll be right out.”
“Take your time, lass. Susan and I have a lot of catching up to do. As soon as you’re ready, come to the house. We’re takin’ tea in the parlor.”
Elijah relaxed. The old fox did know. Elijah would stake anything on it. Mac hadn’t even knocked at the door. Oh, yes. He knew, all right. “I guess I’d better get up, too, then.”
“Shhhh! Hush up, Elijah!”
He rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter, Joy. Mac already knows, and if he’s right about the preacher, we may be married by nightfall. Let’s go out and meet this dragon of a female everyone always talks about.”
She’d already braided her hair into a thick plat. The sunlight streaming through the window picked out red and gold highlights in it, and it looked beautiful to Elijah. He sighed as he heaved himself out of bed. Testing his muscles, he decided last night’s activities hadn’t done him any permanent damage. Good. He planned to do some similar exercising tonight.
Joy’s gasp brought his head up, and he looked at her. She was staring at his crotch. He glanced down and grinned. “It’s awful what you do to me, Joy. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
She seemed to have to drag her gaze from his erect sex to his face. Her grin was a work of art. Elijah had never seen her look so proud of herself. As well she should. It wasn’t every woman who had this effect on him. In fact, she was the only one.
“I’m shocked, Elijah Perry. Shocked.”
“Sure you are.” With a lunge, he was out of bed and had captured her in his arms. After kissing her thoroughly and being thoroughly kissed in return, he let her go. He didn’t want to, but he knew Joy was right when she protested.
“I have
to go out there and meet Mrs. Blackworth, Elijah. Get your clothes on and join us. Maybe Mac knows when Mr. Horgan will be in town.”
“Who’s Mr. Horgan.”
“The circuit-rider.”
Elijah eyed her curiously as he drew on his drawers. “How’d you know his name?”
Joy stopped in the middle of tying the end of her braid with a pretty yellow ribbon. She looked at him, puzzled. “I don’t know. I just—I guess Mac must have told me.”
Hmmm. Elijah would lay wagers that Mac hadn’t told her. Not in so many words. Mac was a strange fellow. He knew things and did things and made things happen that Elijah couldn’t fathom. He’d never been one to scoff at fate, however, and he took Joy’s knowledge of the preacher’s name as simply one more manifestation of the enchanted properties of their new home. When Joy opened the door and the room filled with multi-colored shimmering dots, he sighed again, and chalked up another one.
# # #
“How do you do, Mrs. Blackworth?” Joy held out a hand to the older woman.
“I’m well, thank you. I understand you’ve been sick. You look a little peaked.”
Susan Blackworth, clad all in black, and with her salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a severe bun, stared at Joy with eyes so dark they reminded her of the onyx stones people in Rio Hondo called Apache tears. Mrs. Blackworth gave Joy an unsettled feeling, as if she knew things that others didn’t. She reminded Joy, in fact, of Mac, although she wasn’t nearly as jolly as Mac. In fact, it looked to Joy as if Susan’s grim presence had even managed to cow the normally exuberant Virginia Gladstone, who sipped tea and watched with big, slightly nervous eyes.
“Aye,” Mac said. “Our Joy was nearly called to her Maker a while back, but she’s getting better every day, Susan.”
Mac twinkled at her, and Joy smiled back. “Yes, I am. Thanks to Mac’s fine nursing.”
“I understand you did some nursing yourself, Miss Hardesty, and that you’re soon to marry your patient.”