by Jodi Thomas
“Where should I stop loving you, Mariah?” Dusty’s voice was low in passion. “Here?” He moved his hands to her waist and spread them wide over her abdomen. “Or here?” he whispered as his fingers moved up to trace under each of her breasts. He knotted the material of her blouse tightly in his fist. His action revealed the clear outline of her bust.
His mouth moved to her ear, and his teeth tugged at her lobe before he whispered, “Or here, Mariah?” His thumbs brushed with loving strokes over the thin material covering her breasts.
She said the only word her body would allow. The only word her lips could form. “More.”
Dusty returned to her lips then, with a passion she’d never tasted before. His kiss was afire with need as he slid his body down beside her on the bed. His hands no longer moved in smooth strokes, but explored freely over the silk of her blouse. Mariah twisted and felt his hand cover her breast. He groaned, as if in pain, but didn’t pull his hand away. Slowly his fingers began to caress her, and with each movement Mariah’s pleasure grew.
His kiss transformed from tender to demanding, and Mariah loved each version. She could barely breathe as his hand flattened over her heart. Then, his touch was gone and she tried to cry out for its return, but his lips stopped any sound. She felt his fingers at her throat as he pulled the blouse bow free. His hand moved down her front, unbuttoning each barrier in his way as his kiss continued. He lovingly slid the material open and shoved her camisole up. His hand moved onto the silk of her warm, waiting flesh.
Mariah thought she would die with pleasure as his strong fingers touched her burning skin. He caught her pointed flesh between two of his fingers and tugged slightly, breaking the kiss as she moaned with each tug. Mariah closed her eyes as his magic worked over her. The fire within her was growing with each action, and yet the need for more equalled each pleasure.
Just as she thought she could endure no more joy, she felt his mouth close over her flesh. His tongue circled her nipple and she cried out. He moved from one to the other silky peak as she swayed beneath him. He slowly tasted his fill of her yielding flesh, and she knew her breasts swelled in welcome. A low cry escaped her lips. A cry of need only lovers understood, only lovers can quench.
When his mouth finally returned to her lips, she hungrily showed him of her pleasure. He took his time as she practiced kissing him. He would allow her long moments to experiment before he would pull her closer and demonstrate his passion once more. Always he touched her breasts as if accompanying their kiss with the waves of fire his hands brought. His tongue would plunge deep as his hands gripped possessively, then his kiss would lighten to a feathery touch and his fingers would brush across her so softly she would feel herself floating in desire.
Finally, when her breathing was coming in short gulps, Dusty moved over her. He lowered his slender body like a blanket. She could feel his legs through their clothes on either side of her limbs. As he slid down, she felt his belt buckle push lightly into her abdomen. He rested his head between her breasts and moved his fingers from where her arms were tied down the outside of her body. He pushed the mounds gently together until her flesh was touching either side of his face. Mariah could feel her heart pounding beneath his head, and his hair tickled her skin as his mouth moved slowly back and forth.
Mariah knew she was sinking fast. If she didn’t stop this madness, she knew she would be unable to stop. “Please,” she begged to herself as well as Dusty. “Please, stop.”
His hands now gripped her waist tightly in a brand of ownership. He pushed at the material of her skirt. The waistband buttons snapped as the skirt slid a few inches off her waist.
“No,” Mariah cried, as the pleasure of his hands brushing her flesh blended with the last hint of sanity in her mind.
Dusty pulled away slightly. “Mariah, I love you. I love you beyond reason. Beyond any feeling I’ve ever had in my life. When I awoke the other morning to find you standing before me, I thought I was dreaming. You belong to me and this ranch.”
An ounce of reason returned to Mariah’s brain. “I belong to no one.” She hated the thought that anyone would ever think they owned her. She must stop this insane pleasure before she lost her mind.
Dusty’s fingers circled her breasts, and he smiled as Mariah’s lips parted in a silent sigh. “Tell me you don’t want me, Mariah. Tell me my touch doesn’t set you on fire, and I’ll back away. You may deny you love me, but you cannot deny you want me as much as I need you.”
Mariah twisted away from him. She could not deny him, but anger of his power over her body sobered her mind. “If you’ve finished raping me, would you untie me?”
Dusty’s golden eyes darkened, first in frustration, then anger. His hand raised above her as if on a quest to prove her wrong, then dropped in a fist among the quilts. He rolled away from her with a frustrated sigh. He jerked out his pocket knife and cut her bounds. “I wasn’t raping you…” She could hear the hurt in his words.
Mariah jumped off the bed and pulled her clothes together. “What do you call it when you tie a woman to your bed?”
Dusty shook his head in disbelief that she could even think that what he’d done was rape. She could see the questions in his eyes. For perhaps the first time in his life, this strong man was questioning himself, doubting himself. “But…” Frustrated, he dug his fingers through his light hair.
Mariah was furious at Dusty and at herself. She knew what had happened had been jointly wanted, but she grabbed the first weapon at her disposal, his doubt. “I should shoot you for what you just did to me. No man has ever taken any of the liberties you did.”
It bothered her that he might have been doing what he did to save his ranch and not out of any feeling for her. Every man who’d ever courted her had done so with other goals than just loving her. Hadn’t Dusty kissed her only two nights ago just to prove a point? “Did you think you could paw me a little and get me to forget about selling the ranch? Well, you were wrong. You can hold me here for days and make my head swim with your kisses, but I still will sell my half of the ranch.”
“Paw you! Paw you!” Dusty rose and stormed to the door. “Is that what you think I was doing? I could have sworn you asked me to kiss you.”
“A kiss, no more.”
“Don’t lie to me, Mariah. You asked for-more.”
“No. You took more:”
“My God, have you no heart?” He grabbed a low ceiling beam with both hands and pushed as if to move the house. “Could I have been so wrong about you? Could a woman with such passion have only a cold stone inside her for a heart? I was loving you, Mariah. Loving you for no motive than to bring you pleasure.”
“You kidnapped me. You tied me to your bed and took what you wanted while I protested. Now you expect me to believe you did so to make me happy?”
“I was loving you.”
“You were taking.”
“No!”
“I hate you for what you did!”
Dusty pulled the door open with such force the windows on either side of it shook. “To hell with the ranch and to hell with you, if you believe that. Go. Get out of my sight. Sell the ranch, I don’t care anymore. Do what you want, but get out of my life. I don’t ever want to see you or touch you again as long as I live.”
His words hurt her more than if he’d hit her. She ran out the doorway, fighting to keep from crying. Rain was falling so softly she hadn’t even heard it. Even outside, its splattering seemed dwarfed by the thundering of her heart. As she picked her way through the trees, Mariah let the tears run free. A huge lump grew in her throat, making her breathing shallow as each tear burned its way down her face. She felt her heart tearing apart with each step she took away from Dusty. How could he have made her feel such passion and yet not take the time to understand her? She had a right to her dreams just as he did, yet every time she’d tried to talk to him about her plans he’d refused to listen.
As Mariah passed the waterfall, she crumbled onto the wet grass and c
ried like she’d never cried before. Huge sobs were drowned out by the falling rain as it washed her cheeks clean after each tear. Her fingers clawed at the earth and pulled handfuls of sod into her fists. She slung the wet dirt from her as if she could throw out the pain that mounted in her chest.
Chapter Twenty-five
Mariah lay in the wet grass beside the waterfall and cried until all her energy drained. Soaking wet, she finally gathered the strength to stand, then trudged toward the house. The clouds unleashed a torrent in downward waves, slowing her progress and making each step an effort. She knew Elliot would be long gone, but she didn’t care. There would be other days to worry about selling the ranch. All she wanted now was to slip into a hot bath and forget everything that had happened this morning. She didn’t want to think about Dusty or the feelings he’d set alive within her.
As Mariah neared the back of the ranch house, she saw Cain bolt from the doorway and run toward her. Worry covered his face as he yanked his parka off and held it out to her.
As he reached her, Mariah collapsed in the old man’s arms. She was too cold and wet to move another step. He lifted her as he had all her life and comforted her with his strong arms. As always, he asked no questions. His kindness and devotion were unconditional. He carried her toward the house while protecting her with his body from the rain.
Mariah lifted her head as he swung her into the kitchen. There, to her surprise, stood her mother talking with Ruth. Bethanie turned at the sound Cain made, and Mariah saw concern fill her mother’s beautiful face. Cain lowered Mariah to the floor, and Mariah ran into Bethanie’s arms. Gone now was the self-confident woman she thought she had become. With a sob, she realized what Dusty must feel everyday with no family around him. He had no one to turn to during life’s storms. No arms to comfort him.
Bethanie held Mariah tightly. Her voice was soft as she spoke to the others. “Ruth, put some coffee on and water for a bath. Cain, put a tub in my room and light the fireplace. We’ve got to get her out of these clothes before she catches her death of cold.”
Mariah followed her mother’s orders, and within half an hour was soaking in a hot tub with a half a pot of coffee to warm her insides. No one asked any questions about where she’d been, and Mariah was thankful for their silence. She watched her mother rock in a creaking Bentwood rocker by the fire. Bethanie seemed a hundred miles away, as if reliving the past. Mariah saw her mother as a quiet woman who always seemed to know what was right to do. She was greatly loved by everyone who knew her, and considered one of the most beautiful women in Colorado.
“Why did you come?” Mariah asked quietly.
“Cain wired me. Josh couldn’t get away for a few days, so I took the train alone. It was time I came back for a visit, and I wanted to face the memories without Josh.”
Mariah relaxed against the side of the tub. It was unlike Cain ever to interfere. Did he think she needed help with Dusty or with selling the ranch? She watched her mother rocking and wondered if another reason brought her here after all these years.
“Mother, what are you thinking?” Mariah asked, knowing her mother would never share her thoughts without being asked. The long pause that followed left Mariah to wonder if, even now, her mother would open up with her feelings.
Bethanie smiled and leaned forward in the rocker. “I was thinking, your father asked me to marry him in this room. We were married that night.”
“Did you love him very much?” Mariah asked. She wanted to add, “As much as you love Uncle Josh,” but couldn’t bring herself to be quite so direct.
“Not at first,” Bethanie answered honestly. “But I think he loved enough for the both of us. As the time passed, I grew to love him. He kept proving his love to me until I couldn’t help but care for him.”
Mariah asked quietly, “Proving he loved you…physically?” She knew she was on untrod ground and doubted her mother would answer such a question even as the words passed her lips.
“No,” Bethanie surprised her daughter with her honesty. “You can show someone you love them with physical actions, but you prove it by what you do outside the bedroom. He was willing to protect me with his name and his life. What more could any woman ask of love?”
Mariah wasn’t sure she understood what her mother was saying. She climbed out of the bath and wriggled into her nightgown. Though it was mid-afternoon, she felt ready for bed. The low, brooding clouds made it seem like twilight.
Mariah watched as Bethanie stood and moved to the old oval mirror. Her mother brushed the carved frame in a greeting.
“Mother,” Mariah whispered. “Should a woman give up everything for the man she loves?”
Mariah watched pain touch her mother’s reflection before she turned and faced her daughter with a carefully masked face. “I don’t know, Mariah, but if you give up beliefs, dreams, or…principles you’re not the same person that other person loves.”
The sound of horses suddenly broke the quiet mood of the house. Mariah slipped on her dressing gown and followed her mother to the porch. They watched as watery gray figures moved near.
Bethanie and Mariah stood under the protection of the long roof as rain dripped on a dozen men on horseback. The horses were winded and huffing smoky puffs into the gray-wet air. An overweight man with a badge pinned on his rain slicker approached the porch in wide, splashing strides.
“Mrs. Weston, you may not remember me, but I’m Sheriff Harris.” He tipped his hat slightly, spilling water down the front of his coat.
“I remember you, Sheriff.” Bethanie’s voice was guarded, telling Mariah her mother didn’t trust this man. Bethanie Weston always carried her chin in a graceful tilt that seemed to demand respect. “What may I do to help you, Mr. Harris?” It was obvious to all that she. pointedly neglected to use the man’s title.
Harris reached the porch. “We’re looking for Dustin Barfield.”
“I haven’t seen him today,” Bethanie answered. Mariah noticed her mother volunteered no information or offered to let anyone else answer the question. “What do you need to speak to him about?”
The sheriff puffed up like a water-soaked toad, apparently proud of his mission. “I plan on arresting him for the murder of Elliot Mayson.”
Mariah gasped and felt Bethanie’s hand touch her arm. She glanced at the frozen profile of her mother as the sheriff continued. “We found Elliot’s body two hours ago halfway to town. He was still warm, with Dusty’s slicker over him. Guess the murdering fool didn’t remember having his initials on the inside of the parka.”
Mariah fought to draw air into her lungs. “What time was Elliot murdered?” She held to her mother, facing herself for the blow of the sheriff’s words.
The sheriff shrugged. “Sometime after ten. We found the body about eleven.”
Mariah let out a long breath. She knew Dusty was with her during that time. Before she could tell the sheriff, she saw Dusty coming from the barn. His clothes were plastered against his lean form, and his head was down against the rain.
The sheriff stepped off the porch and motioned for several men to dismount. His husky voice rumbled across the yard. “Dustin Barfield, I’d like to ask you a few questions.” The sheriff’s words were echoed by the rolling thunder of the low-hanging clouds.
Dusty looked up, and his frown told Mariah he was in no mood to be bothered. The rain was blocking his view of more than a few feet. He started to walk around the sheriff as if the lawman was no more than a hitching post.
“Where were you this morning?” Sheriff Harris yelled.
Dusty’s vision darted to Mariah and for a moment she saw hate touch his golden eyes. Could he really think she would turn him in for kidnapping? Or worse?
“None of your business,” he answered the sheriff in a hiss, his eyes never leaving Mariah.
Several men moved to form a ring around Dusty. The sheriff smiled as he jerked Dusty’s arm. “I’m making it my business, mister. Elliot Mayson was murdered today, and I think you had some
thing to do with it.”
“What!” Dusty yelled, then laughed with relief that only Mariah could understand. He glanced back over toward her as if to apologize.
The sheriff seemed tired of their chatter in the rain. “You’re under arrest for the murder. I know there’s been bad blood between you and the Maysons ever since Ben Weston was killed, but shooting his son is no way to solve anything. Where were you this morning?”
“I a—I was alone. I overslept,” Dusty answered, then turned to walk away.
Before Dusty moved two feet, men closed around him. As he resisted their grip, the sheriff moved in. The fat man spread his lips thin over his teeth and barked again. “There ain’t a rancher in Texas who sleeps past sunup. So don’t lie to me. Now once more, where were you this morning?”
Dusty slung his wet hair out of his eyes and pulled at the men who held him. “I was alone.” Though the words were low, they were said like an obscenity tossed in the sheriff’s face.
The sheriff reacted to the words as they were meant. He slung his fist up and clipped Dusty across the chin. Dusty’s head jerked back from the blow of Harris’s knuckles. As his chin lowered, the sheriff’s other fist pounded into his stomach with so much force that the men who were holding Dusty almost lost their balance.
Dusty silently took the blows. He twisted in pain only as he heard Mariah cry his name as if she were being torn apart with each blow.
The sheriff laughed as he landed his knuckles into Dusty’s face. “You’ve been a smartass pup ever since you took over this ranch. I figure it’s about time someone took you down a notch or two.”
Bethanie held Mariah back as they watched Dusty take blow after blow before he fell to his knees suspended between the two deputies. Each hit on Dusty’s body tore at Mariah’s heart. She wanted to stop the men, to run and protect Dusty from the blows with her own body, but her mother’s hands held her tight to the porch. Mariah turned to her mother in anger. But, to Mariah’s astonishment, Bethanie’s vision wasn’t on the fight, but on Cain. She watched as Bethanie nodded slowly toward the older man, and Cain melted into the rain at the edge of the porch.