Romance: Seducing The Quarterback

by Stacie Duncan

  Chapter One

  By the time the stage pulled into its station, Hailey knew she had opened sores or blisters in spots where her clothing rubbed every time the carriage rocked. She was never so glad for anything as to have the ride be over. She began it with a sense of fresh start and excitement if not a healthy dose of fear for what she was about to get into. But now, as the carriage stopped and they were in Dodge, she had a real sense that she just wanted it to be over with. To hurry on with getting married to her cowboy.

  She smoothed her hair out of reflex. There wasn't a whole lot that running her hands over the length of what used to be fresh, wheat colored curls was going to do to her appearance but it was worth the try. When that carriage door opened and she crawled out, he would be there. The man who would be her husband. Charles Anthony Halverson, a cowboy on the Dokes-Dalley Ranch.

  She swallowed, drawing up her road-dust parched throat and summoned her courage. She took the hand of the driver, and extended her foot forward. She ached. It hurt to move. To stretch. She could not remember how many miles ago that she had done so. She found footing on the sidewalk and remained with hand held with the driver until she was upright and able to stand. She looked around. If Charles Anthony Halverson was meeting her at the stage, he was late. She hoped he had not been killed by Indians. She heard of such things.

  She said, “Will you be so kind as to point him out to me?”

  The driver stepped into the saloon and scanned the room.

  “I don’t see him in there, directly,” he said.

  “Well I’ll just sit in here until he comes for me,” she said.

  “Ma’am that is no place for a lady,” said the driver.

  “If it’s good enough for my husband to be, it’s good enough for me,” said Hailey.

  Chapter Two

  Hailey pushed through the double doors and took a seat at an empty table. The bartender approached her.

  “Ma’am,” he nodded.

  “Sarsaparilla, please,” she ordered.

  “There’s a restaurant down the way,” he replied. “They also serve sarsaparilla. I think you would be much better off if you take your business there.”

  Hailey trembled. Her intended husband had not met her at the stage. He was not in the saloon where he was reputed to frequent and now she was being shooed off to a restaurant. She was beginning to think she had been jilted.

  “I think I will just go find a room at a hotel,” she said dejectedly. “If you would just point me in that direction, that will do.”

  She rose, clutched at the handle of her bag, when two dirty, drunken men cackled at her.

  “Move out of the way, Lem,” they said to the bartender. “She’s ours.”

  “Leave her alone. She’s a lady can’t you see? Wandered in here by mistake,” the bartender said.

  One of the two dirty men backhanded the bartender and he went down. Hailey trembled. Her body hurt from sitting in the stage and the exhaustion of the long ride was now slamming her. She thought she might vomit. It would serve the drunken fools right.

  As she swayed she was struck with an idea. She would catch them off guard and swing at them with her bag. It was the only plan she had. She was pretty sure the one ally she had in town was now out cold. The two filthy men salivated, snarling as they approached her like rabid dogs.

  Hailey stepped back, winding up. She cocked her arm, was ready to let fly when someone caught her wrist from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to an extraordinarily handsome man. He was massive and almost too pretty to be a man. But he was indeed a man. She could feel it. She looked up as he looked down. This was her intended. It had to be Charles Anthony Halverson.

  Hailey looked straight ahead, her wrist manacled in the large hand of her intended husband. The two filthy men were now stepping back, apologizing.

  “Hey Charlie,” they said. “We were just playin’ with her. She’s none the worse for wear.”

  “Beat it,” ordered the tall handsome man behind her. He still had hold of her. She liked the way he made her feel. Warm and strange.

  Hailey sensed a lecture was upon her. Everyone around her had scurried away. She now had her first private moment with the man she traveled all the way from Wichita to marry.

  “Were you advised not to come into this place?” he asked her.

  “I have no idea to whom I’m speaking,” she said wrenching her hand away from his grip. “You could at least introduce yourself.”

  “I don’t need to,” he asked. “You know who I am. Your safety is at issue.”

  “It always is, is it not?” she replied smartly. “And so it would have been a really good idea if the man who was going to marry me was at my stage the moment I got off.”

  “Are you saying you would not be in here if it were not for me?” he asked.

  “I am saying I am tired. I am hungry. I am sore. I want to go home,” she said.

  He was quiet. He leaned back and looked her up and down like he was weighing his options. A slight snarled tugged his upper lip. He leaned down and picked up her bag. He took hold of her elbow and guided her out to a buggy.

  Without asking or warning, his strong hands were at her waist. He lifted her into the passenger seat. He took his place next to her, snapping the reins to make the horses pull. There was a huge sense of relief that Hailey was safe and where she belonged. It was a whole lot better than the wandering feeling she had had before he showed up.

  She was also secretly pleased that her husband to be was a true sight for sore eyes. He was tall and handsome and his hair was the same color as hers. It fell in a soft wave across his head and tousled in soft curls that wrestled beneath his hat.

  Hailey spied out of the corner of eyes that his legs were long. He was long. He was a good bit taller than her. Warmth stirred in her stomach when she thought of that. But not enough to keep her belly from growling.

  She reached into her drawstring bag for some bread she had wrapped up in a kerchief but the kerchief was empty. It didn’t matter. She was sure she was too tired to eat. The buggy bumped and she teetered into his hard body. He was so warm and comfortable, she leaned against him and closed her eyes.

  Chapter Three

  Hailey awoke. He nudged her gently.

  “Wake up,” he said. “This will only take a minute.”

  She squinted. The daylight was going. The big hands lifted her again, and she was on the ground. He took her hand and together they entered a chapel where a minister as waiting for them. She knew. He was going to get the marrying over with as soon as possible.

  “Wait a minute,” she said.

  “We have not been introduced and you expect me to marry you?” she said.

  “I was thinking I would take you to my home and it would not be decent for an unmarried woman to share the roof of an unmarried man. I would leave you here in Dodge but I don’t feel you would be safe. I am only thinking of you,” he said. “Charlie Halverson.

  “Charles,” she said.

  “Charlie,” he corrected. “And you are?”

  “Hailey Elise Blevins,” she replied.

  “You don’t say?” he arched his brow. “Well now, Miss Blevins. That will be the last time you’ll give that answer when someone asks you your name,” he said softly.

  He pulled a paper out of his shirt pocket and some silver and handed them to the minister. Hailey and Charlie signed a book of the preacher’s. He read a brief script. He and his wife witnessed their vows and that was that. She was now Mrs. Charles Anthony Halverson.

  “You may kiss the bride,” announced the preacher.

  Hailey wasn’t really paying attention to details until the preacher said those words. She came back to reality. Charlie took her face in his large, powerful hands. He looked her in the eyes with a dreamy, almost mournful look and slowly lowered his mouth to hers.

  His lips were so soft. And when he pressed them slowly, brushing them against hers, her nerves buzzed. Like a wildfire, she body was rushed
with heat. She shivered with his touch and her breath hitched in her chest. Something told her he was just teasing her. Taking it easy on her. It was a good thing. She could probably not handle it if he came on to her any stronger.

  Chapter Four

  She was glad that she married but part of her was sad. She had hoped as a little girl that when she grew up to be married that the ceremony would be filled with her family and friends. A ten-minute ceremony on the fly was not what she had envisioned. And it was her one and only chance at getting married.

  She was also heart sick that she had married under a false pretense. Her poor new husband was none the wiser. He had married the wrong sister. The only sister. But not the sister he contracted to marry. She would make it up to her handsome new husband by being the best, most dutiful and loving wife ever.

  Once again the powerful hands on her waist swung her into the buggy. Lifted her like she was a broom he put away. Charlie snapped the reigns before wrapping his giant arm around her, encouraging her lean on him as he drove off. It wasn’t a very long ride but it was just long enough to make her feel tortured. The blisters from the long ride were unbearable.

  She tried not to make complaining faces but the pain from some of the bumps and grinds were impossible to mask. He caught on to her discomfort.

  “Almost there,” he assured her.

  There. It was not the cowboy shanty she expected to have to simply tolerate. From what she gathered after reading Charlie’s letters she expected the house she would come to live in to be a dusty dirty rough structure with dirt floors and glassless windows. It was what she envisioned. She was willing to set her relatively comfortable life in Wichita for that notion if it meant keeping the dreams and memory of her sister alive.

  But as the road arched up the hill, now lined with equestrian and cattle fences, she spied a beautiful home at the end of a long drive. Set off to the side of it were other neatly built structures. A massive barn. What looked to be a storehouse and what looked like a small house where she guessed the cowboys lived. This must be where she and her new husband would make their home.

  But the buggy moved past the little cluster of structures and the barn on to the main house. Hailey was confused but she assumed he knew what he was doing. She just followed his lead. He lifted her off the buggy. She assumed that while she was married and still lithe, he would be doing that. She would have to eventually do it for herself or lose the ability to.

  An older man and a woman came out of the house and greeted them. They began unloaded the buggy.

  “Evening Mr. Halverson,” said the older man.

  “Evening Hale,” said Charlie.

  “You’re a married man then sir?” asked Hale.

  “I am indeed. This is Mrs. Halverson, Hale and Willa. This is Hailey. Hailey these are two of the finest people you’ll meet just about anywhere,” said Charlie.

  “Thank you, sir. Please to meet you, missus,” said Hale. Willa just smiled.

  When the house servants carried their bags into the house ahead of them, Hailey grabbed Charlie’s arm. His eyes were smoky as they glanced her grip on him.

  “They called you ‘sir’,” she said confusedly.

  “Yes. They work for me,” he explained softly.

  “But you’re a cowboy,” said Hailey.

  He tilted his head. “Yes, I am. I’m a cattleman. A rancher. This is my ranch. Well, our ranch.”

  Hailey was stunned. She paused, trying to sort it all out.

  “Do you mean to say you didn’t understand that when you agreed to marry me?” he asked.

  “No I didn’t,” she replied. A sudden unexplainable surge of emotion pushed against the back of her eyes.

  He cupped the back of her neck and kissed her on top of her head.

  “There there. It will be alright,” he assured her.

  Hale and Willa appeared again, the buggy now completely empty.

  “Wasn’t quite sure if the wedding was on or not,” said Hale.

  “Apparently it is on,” remarked Charlie.

  Hailey had no idea what that meant. Maybe it was why Charlie was late in picking her up.

  “Hailey,” said Charlie, “Why don’t you go on with Willa there. She has some food and a bath all ready for you.”

  “A bath?” said Hailey with surprise.

  “Yes,” said Charlie with a wink. “We have those here in Dodge too.”

  Chapter Five

  They also had indoor plumbing in Dodge. Well at least Charlie’s house – their house – did. Hailey already felt positively spoiled. She walked through the house behind the older woman, up a grand and winding staircase. It was actually almost too much for her to climb the stairs; Hailey was that worn out.

  Willa helped her remove her travel-soiled clothes. Hailey stepped into the full bathtub. As she crouched into the water, the blisters smarted. She hissed with pain.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Willa.

  “I think I have sores from coach,” she replied. “In fact I know I do.”

  Willa handed her a plate with a biscuit and crispy side bacon. Hailey ate in the bath. Willa disappeared and returned with a jar of goo. She set it aside. She pulled the pins from Hailey’s hair and released the front sections piled atop her head.

  She took her plate and set it aside, then poured pitcher after pitcher of warm water over her, soaking her tresses. She lathered her up with lavender shampoo.

  Willa massaged her head. Hailey was paralyzed with the relaxing pins and needles feeling she got whenever anyone played with her hair. It was one of the most soothing sensations she had ever experienced. She needed it after her journey.

  She nodded off in the bathtub. Willa nudged her, then pulled the plug. The water glugged loudly as it drained. Hailey carefully climbed out of the tub and walked right into a rich terry cloth that Willa held out for her.

  Willa guided her out into the bedroom, to sit at a vanity. Willa toweled and brushed her hair for her. She made Hailey stand, letting the towel drop and she dabbed each her blisters with the goo. They felt so much better. Willa battered her gently with a powder puff and helped into a nightgown laid out for her. She explained it was a present from Charlie.

  Willa was about to slip on a pair of satin slippers when Charlie knocked at the door. Willa scurried from the room. Hailey was seized with nervousness. She had carefully planned the entire trip and to go through with the marriage but now that she was alone with her new husband she realized what was to come next. And she had no idea what to do now. She clutched the vanity seat.

  “Easy,” he laughed softly.

  He crouched so that he could be face to face with her.

  “Listen,” he said. He picked a damp strand of her hair and twirled it in his finger. “I know this is our wedding night and all but you have to be plum worn out.”

  He took her by the hand and led her to bed. He drew down the corner of the bedding. He scooped her up and laid her down, drawing the covers back up around.

  “Get some rest and we’ll work on a honeymoon tomorrow night,” he hovered over her before kissing her lightly on the lips.

  Chapter Six

  The touch of Charlie’s lips to hers transformed her. She had feelings that were so powerful. His touch gave her acute insight as to what to do on a wedding night for her body screamed for his. She slept a deep fast sleep but then woke up tossing and turning. Her mind was filled with images of his handsome face. Her body filled with need for him.

  Hailey rose from her bed. Her room lit just enough from the moon streaming in through the window. She opened her door and felt the walls of the pitch-black hallway. She was going to find him.

  The hallway opened up to a stairway that wound around to the living room that was lit by the moon with several windows on each wall. Through the window she could see a shadowy figure. The outline of a man. Charlie.

  Hailey pushed out onto the porch though Charlie heard her before he saw her. He faced her as she stepped out onto the porch.
He was smoking a cherry scented cigar and drinking a glass of whiskey. He smiled at her.

  “What are you doing up?” he asked.

  “I have the same question for you? Didn’t you sleep?” she asked.

  “No, I have not been to bed yet. It is a bit unusual for me,” he said.

  He took one more hit off of his cigar before he doused it. He took the last sip of his whiskey before he set it down. He rose. He was so wonderfully tall. He was broad-framed. His hair brushed his face in sweet bending waves. His eyes were clear blue. His lips were rosy and full and just the slight wash of a smile curl his mouth.

  He was closing in on her. He took her face in his hands. She was already looking up to him, waiting for him. She tiptoed to reach her mouth to his. His tongue swept her mouth and she started. But he didn’t stop.

  He penetrated her mouth tasting the insides of her cheek, the roof of her mouth. He trailed the tip of his tongue with maddening slowness. Hailey trembled as she stood and took it. She lightly braced her hands on his, steading herself as she gave her mouth over to his.

  His traced the length of her neck with the lightest pressure of his fingertips. Trails of tingles traveled from his touch to her very core. They spread throughout her body. Her nipples were hard and they pressed against the chaste neckline of her nightgown.

  He found them. In the dusk, his fingers went right to them. He grazed their tips with his thumb. She was shocked. But then she was thrilled. She had no idea that people did such things.

  His kissing took on a new fierceness. He was no longer soft or slow. He pert near mauled her. His hands traveled down her back and cupped her buttocks. His powerful palm stroked behind her thigh and encouraged it upward. He gripped behind her knee that was as high as it could go.