by Maddy Barone
“What?” His eyes got wide when she pulled the nightgown over her head and got on her knees to straddle him. “Amanda?”
“You just hush.” She leaned down to kiss him. “This time, I’m going to do all the work. You just lay there and think of England.”
“What?” he said again when she finally lifted her lips from his. “England? I don’t care about England.”
She giggled at the dazed note in his voice and gave him another long, hot kiss. “Then think of me,” she whispered, taking his cock in her hand to guide him into her.
She made love to him slowly, loving the feel of him under her, his hands holding her hips and caressing her breasts with trembling tenderness. More than once she admonished him to stay still. He tried. She had to admit he tried, but his need was too great. His hips bucked under her in desperate thrusts until she lost all control.
“Be careful,” she begged. “Don’t —oh, God, Sand, that’s so good!— don’t hurt yourself. Oh, Sand! I can’t – Oh!”
The last was a scream that mixed with his guttural howl. She dropped over his chest, panting until she remembered his wound. She hastily rolled off him.
“Oh, no! Are you okay?” She frantically examined his side. “Did I hurt you?”
He smiled like a sleepy, sated cat. “You can hurt me like that anytime.”
“I did hurt you!” she wailed.
He rolled over and pressed her beneath him. “No, you didn’t hurt me. You healed me. I feel even better now.” He kissed her gently. “I love you, Amanda, my love, my wife, my mate. I can’t wait to introduce you to my father and brothers.”
She stroked a finger over his high cheekbone. “Do you think they’ll approve of me? We don’t have to tell them about this. I mean, my job here at The Limit.”
Sand lifted his head to look down at her, a faint frown pulling his brows together. “I don’t keep secrets from my family. Are you ashamed of what you’ve done to make a living?”
She was silent for long moments while she examined herself. “No,” she said at last. “I didn’t have much of a choice. But not everyone is kind about it. A lot of people even here in Omaha look down on us businesswomen.”
“Then they’re idiots. My family won’t look down on you. You’re my mate, chosen by my wolf. We love each other. Nothing else matters for us.”
“Really?”
“Really. My family will love you. The Clan and the Pack will welcome you.” He leaned his head down to brush his lips over her forehead. “Even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. I told you once that until now, nothing was more important to me than my family. But now I have you. And now nothing is more important to me than you.”
Her heart stuttered at the words. Her dream had come true. She had a husband who loved her more than anything. She reached up to cradle his face and pull him down for a kiss. “I love you more than anything in the world.”
His arms trembled and she quickly pushed him down to the bed beside her. “Dammit, you need to be careful! You don’t want a relapse.”
He laughed. “I’m fine. A little tired, maybe. You wore me out. You must be tired too. Let’s sleep together.”
A yawn surprised her. The stress of the past few days had drained her, and the lovemaking had relaxed her. She curled by his side, trying to be careful of his wound, but he dragged her close and arranged her body in the way he liked. Listening to his deep, even breathing lulled her. As she drifted to sleep in the morning sun, she realized fuzzily that he was the first and only man she had slept with. Sex was one thing, and in most cases meaningless to a businesswoman, but sleeping with a man was entirely different. Different and wonderful.
Three days later Mrs. Sand Wolfe walked into Omaha’s train station, escorted by her husband and his three cousins. Sand carried nothing, since he was supposedly recovering from a bullet wound, but Sky, Snow, and Paint were loaded down with her luggage. Amanda felt bad about that, but she’d given more than half her things away. It wasn’t as hard as she’d expected to part with her black leather dominatrix boots and collection of whips. She had divided her working wardrobe between the other ladies at The Limit and kept only her street clothes, her jewelry and a few mementos of her family.
The station wasn’t crowded, so she had no problem seeing the girl in a gray novice uniform standing beside the tired-looking man in a threadbare suit. “Daddy!” she cried, and Sand gave her hand a quick squeeze before letting her go.
This might be the last time she would feel her father’s arms around her. Then Sara was hugging her and trying fiercely not to cry. “I have another letter for Stone if you’ll take it.”
“Of course I will.” Amanda took the envelope and pushed it into her handbag.
“Tell him ... Tell him…”
Amanda hugged her again. “I will. I’ll tell him you’re good and brave. I’ll tell him what a good nurse you are, how you took care of Sand.” She frowned. “And I’ll tell him to get his ass to Omaha and fetch you. I wish you were coming with us.”
“Me too.” Sara sent a glance up at her uncle. “I wish we were all going with you. But we don’t have the money to get me released from the city.” This time her glance was at the men of the City Guard who stood at their posts in the station. Their job there was not only to keep the peace, but also to interview anyone coming into the city and anyone going out.
“It won’t be too long until you leave Omaha,” Amanda said bracingly. “We’ll see each other again soon.”
“Soon,” Sara agreed.
Amanda looked at her dad and touched a hand to the brooch pinning her mother’s shawl closed over her heart. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, little girl.” His eyes were misty. “Your mother would be so proud of you. You’ve come through hard things and still you’re standing tall. You’re going to have a fine life, with a fine man.”
Amanda kissed his cheek. “Daddy, please don’t be embarrassed, but I have to tell you. The hard things? You mean working at The Limit, don’t you? Well, that wasn’t so hard. I didn’t mind it. Not so much, at least. But now that’s over, and I’m glad. I never have to worry about how to please an appointment. I never have to worry again about what to do, or say, or wear, to make a man happy. Sand is happy with me no matter what I wear, or do, or say. He loves me.” She swallowed a trembling sigh with a smile. “And I love him.”
A tear slipped down her father’s face, making a wrinkle into a silver river. “Then I know you’ll be happy, little girl. Give me one more kiss, then you better run back to your husband and get on that train.”
She tore herself away from her family and found Sky and Sand waiting for her. She gave Sky a hug. “I’m going to miss you too, you know,” she told him.
“And I’ll miss you. We’ll see each other again. I’m not staying in Omaha forever. Just until…” He glanced quickly around, noting how close some guardsmen were. “Just until business is settled here.”
“You should come now,” she urged. “Think of Rose.”
A shadow crossed his face, so quickly she almost missed it, but he shook his head. “I can’t. What would happen to Ms. Mary? Think of Cayla, Aimee, Tasha, and my other ladies.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “What about all the other women in Omaha? No, I can’t leave yet.”
Sand clasped his hand. “I understand,” he said. “You’re doing a good thing.”
Sky slipped an envelope out of his coat pocket and handed it to Sand. “Give this to Rose, will you?”
Sand was wearing jeans and a slightly too-tight undershirt. He held the letter with one hand and patted himself with the other, looking for a place to put it. Amanda took it and put it in her bag with Sara’s letter to Stone. “We’ll be sure she gets it.”
Dean Erikson approached with a clipboard under his arm and gave her a deep, respectful nod. “Mrs. Wolfe, are you ready to conclude your release paperwork?”
Amanda pulled the whistle from around her neck, dragging her long hair out of t
he beaded neck loop. “I am.”
She read the form that said that she was no longer a resident of Omaha and signed her name with large, bold letters. Dean countersigned and gave her a copy. “Keep your whistle. It will remind you of what Omaha has become.”
That was an odd thing for a member of the City Guard to say. Amanda put the whistle back over her head and sent a glance at Sky, wondering if he had gained the lieutenant’s loyalty.
“Safe travels, Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe. Omaha will miss you.” Dean offered a hand to Sand and spoke in a very low voice. “We’ll be watching Askup. Thank you for letting us deal with him.”
Sand showed his teeth in a silent snarl. Amanda put a hand over his clenched fist. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Sand, did our luggage get loaded?”
With an obvious effort, Sand pulled himself back. “Snow and Paint took it on the train already. We should go.”
They walked slowly through the station to the platform outside. Sky, her father, and Sara went with them. Dean and another Guardsman came too, a few yards behind, their gazes on Sara. Did they think Sara was going to hop on the train to escape Omaha?
After one last round of hugs, Amanda allowed Sand to help her up the steps to the train. The conductor tipped his hat and opened the door for them. Snow and Paint were already in the car, keeping the other four passengers away by the force of their glares alone. Amanda walked to the seats Paint indicated and stood at the window with her back pressed against Sand’s front. On the platform she saw her father put an arm around Sara, and the girl lean her forehead against his shoulder. Amanda knew her cousin was crying. Sky stood a little behind them, arms folded, face sober.
“This is so hard,” Amanda whispered, pressing her hand on the window. “I’m glad to be going home with you, but I’ll miss my family.”
“I know. They’ll come to the den soon and then we’ll all be together.” He lowered his voice and leaned down to speak directly into her ear. “When I came to Omaha, all I wanted was to go back home. I thought a city would have nothing I wanted and I would hate it here. I never thought I’d find my mate, and now I’m bringing you back with me.”
She loved feeling the warmth of his chest against her back. “I wasn’t sure I would ever find the right man to marry. Then you came along.”
He put his arms around her waist and pulled her more tightly against him. “You said you would marry me if I gave you a certain present. You married me even though I haven’t given you anything.”
Amanda wrapped her arms over her husband’s. “You’re wrong. You gave me exactly what I wanted.”
She could almost feel his confusion. “But I haven’t given you anything.”
“You love me.”
“Yes.”
“I’m the most important thing in the world to you.”
“Yes!”
She leaned her head back against his shoulder. “Then you gave me the one thing I had to have from the man I married.”
His breath gusted out, stirring the hair over her ear. His lips brushed over her temple so tenderly she knew he was silently telling her he loved her.
The train jerked, then crept forward. Her father, one arm around Sara, raised a hand. Amanda smiled for him until the platform was left behind and she couldn’t see him anymore, and then she collapsed in her seat, fighting tears.
“Well, this is stupid,” she said, trying to make her voice cheery while she dug in her bag for a handkerchief. “I told myself I wasn’t going to cry.”
Sand took her hankie and wiped her eyes. “Nothing wrong with crying. I sure like the way your eyes look when you cry. They’re bluer than the sky.”
She gave him a tiny frown.
“And your skin gets kind of pink when you cry. It’s real pretty.”
She snorted and took the hankie back to blow her nose. “I’m fine now.”
The warmth of his arm around her shoulders was comforting. “You know, I heard what you said to your father.”
She sniffed and looked up at him. “You did? About what?”
“Uh-huh. You said that you didn’t have to worry anymore about how you should act or what you should wear or what you should say to make a man happy. And that’s right. I know that a lot of your appointments wanted you to dress up a certain way, like maybe a little girl, and pretend to be that while you were with them.” He gazed down into her face with a solemn smile. “I don’t love you because of what you wear. You don’t need to pretend to be anything for me. I love you, Amanda Irene Felts Nelson Wolfe, and you can dress whatever way you want as long as you keep loving me.”
Damn it, that started the tears again. She dug her hankie back out. “I’ll always love you. And I know you love me. Anyone can say the words, but it’s actions that prove love. You gave up your revenge on Terry Askup for me.”
For a fraction of a second the shoulder she leaned her head against stiffened. It relaxed immediately. “Taking you home with me is more important. Sky will take care of Askup.”
When she put the handkerchief back in her bag her knuckles brushed over the two letters there. The one from Sara was fat, and so was the one in her suitcase, the one Sara gave her a week ago at supper. The one from Sky was thin, probably only one page. Poor Sara, pouring her heart out to a man who barely responded. Poor Rose, getting a letter that probably covered no more than half a sheet of paper.
It was easy to feel sympathy for those two women because while they languished without their husbands, she had hers sitting right beside her. She lifted her hand to one of his long, thick braids and slid her hand down it.
“I love you, Caleb Running in Sand Wolfe.”
She tried to pronounce his name in Lakota, which she had learned at their wedding, and was sure she had butchered it. But a happy glow lit his eyes. His kiss was tender.
“I can’t wait to show you off to my Clan,” he told her. “They will love you.”
With every whoosh of the train rolling over the tracks, Omaha fell further and further behind her. Her old life was over; a new one was beginning. She settled into her seat faced forward to meet that new life head on. Sand’s hand clasping her own reminded her she wouldn’t be walking into a new life alone. The man to whom she was the most important thing in the world would walk beside her.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maddy Barone has held many jobs in her life, including medic in the US Army, sales clerk in a craft store, and financial examiner for Medicare, but her favorite job is that of writer. For fun she knits, spins, and sews historical costumes for her alter ego in the SCA, a historical organization that recreates the best parts of the Middle Ages. She lives in North Dakota with her three rescue cats, and a percentage of her royalties go to a local no kill cat shelter called CATS Cradle. For exclusive excerpts and deleted scenes from the After the Crash series, sign up for Maddy’s newsletter at http://eepurl.com/g64uU and visit her website at www.MaddyBarone.com.
Turn the page to read an unedited excerpt from Sky and Rose’s story, Wolf’s Princess, coming late spring, 2015.
Wolf’s Princess Excerpt
The Den outside
Kearney, Nebraska
September, 2072
Chapter One
Rose Turner wiped her sweaty hands on her pants and raised one hand to knock on the nursery door. Her fist paused in the air while she debated. Maybe she should talk to him later. Taye might not be in this room. He could be in the room he shared with Carla, his mate, next door. She blew out a breath, looking up and down the long, narrow corridor of the den to be sure no one could see her standing out here.
Why was she so nervous? The Alpha of the Pack might be feared by everybody for hundreds of miles, but she wasn’t afraid of him. Most people outside the Pack trembled when he growled. She knew for a fact he had killed men to protect and avenge women under his protection. But she had no reason to be nervous. No one in his Pack had ever treated her badly. In fact, they all acted like she was a kid sister they had to tease, protect, and pa
mper. She drew in her breath and let it out in a controlled sigh. What she wanted to ask would probably tick him off. Wavering, she dropped her hand and turned from the door.
No! She had put this off long enough. Chin high, she swung back and rapped.
“Come in, Rose,” Taye called.
With his wolf’s excellent sense of smell, he probably knew exactly when she arrived in front of his door and how long she had argued with herself before knocking. Rose swallowed and opened the door.
Taye Wolfe, the fierce Alpha wolf who inspired fear everywhere he went, held his two week old son against his chest and patted his small back with a gentle, rhythmic hand. The boy obligingly burped and then spit up a good portion of his breakfast all over his father’s bare shoulder. Using a square of thick cotton, Taye deftly wiped the mess from his shoulder, and turned his baby son into the cradle of his elbow to dab the little face clean. Rose was sure the fond, half-awed expression on Taye’s face was one no one outside the Pack had ever seen. Or would ever see.
He looked up at Rose. “What can I do for you?” he asked.
Yearning strengthened Rose’s resolve as she stared at Little Feather. The baby’s silky tuft of hair was brown like his mother’s, not the Native American black of his father, but his eyes were as dark as Taye’s. He was tiny and precious, and Rose ached to have one of her own. She looked around the room that held two small beds, one for Taye’s elder son Colby and the other for his daughter Patia, and saw a three-legged stool pushed under the child-sized desk. She pulled it closer to where Taye sat in the rocking chair and perched on it like a long-legged frog.
“Is Carla sleeping?” she asked, noticing the door connecting the children’s room to Alpha couple’s room was closed. “I didn’t see her at breakfast.”
“Yeah, the baby kept her up most of the night. She just finished feeding him and now she’s resting.” Love warmed the Alpha’s deep tone. “I’ll look after the kids for a couple of hours. So, what can I do for you?”