Daniel raised over her then, kissing her until Georgina was too breathless to say anything. She wanted his fingers back again. He had opened a void inside her that desperately needed filling. Panic began to build that he wouldn't come back into her. She writhed beneath him, trying to tell him what she needed with her body.
"Time, Georgina," Daniel murmured in her ear, "everything in its own time." Even as he said it, his fingers were finding their way beneath her bodice, lifting her from her corset, sending shivering waves of desperate heat right through her middle as he caressed her breast.
It wasn't enough. It simply wasn't enough. Georgina tore at his shirt, trying to find some ounce of flesh to ease the need for contact. She jerked open enough buttons to run her hands up his chest, and victory surged through her as he groaned when she found his nipples. This worked both ways then.
"Georgina, we can't..."
But they could. Her skirt and petticoat were up around her waist, her bodice was falling off, and she was poised eagerly for his taking. She wasn't letting him get away this time. If it worked both ways, then she could...
Her fingers found the buttons of his trousers, and Daniel gave a groan of surrender. Within seconds, he had them unfastened for her. She was too shy to touch him and retreated instantly to the safer territory of his chest, but he had no such inhibitions. He pulled the strings of her drawers and eased her out of them.
"Daniel." She was scared now. He was heavy over her, and she wasn't at all certain of his mood. And she felt completely vulnerable like this, with the place that was burning open to inspection. She closed her eyes as Daniel shifted to look at her there, and his hand covered her.
His finger intruded once more, and she cried out, forgetting her fear, forgetting everything but the need welling up inside of her. She didn't like being in his power. She wanted to protest, to assert herself in some way, but she could only succumb to his stroking fingers. In another minute, she would surely burst. She couldn't hold back any longer.
And then he was shoving inside her. He was large, much larger than she remembered, and her eyes flew open to find him staring gravely back at her. She lifted her knees, and he thrust home, their gazes still entangled as they waged a silent war. And then she quivered with the ecstasy of his possession and closed her eyes, letting the power of Daniel's body take over.
He was strong and swift and knew exactly what she needed. Georgina cried out as the explosion hit her, erupting in wave after uncontrollable wave. He kept going, taking her with him, until she felt the intensity building again, felt her entire insides opening to his thrusts, felt him in the very center of her—where he gave a triumphant cry and took his release, filling her with the liquid of his loins.
Perhaps, in some male way, he had won that war. Daniel knew what he was doing, and she didn't. He had the power to control her body, to take her to heights she hadn't known existed, to fill her with the life-giving seed that would one day make them one. And he had the power to deprive her of the same. But in some quiet, female sense, Georgina knew she had won another kind of war. They were no longer separate people leading separate lives. His need was for her as much as hers was for him.
They lay tangled in the wreckage of their clothing, catching their breaths, clinging to the warmth between them where they still remained attached. It was a very odd sensation, having this male body inside hers. Perhaps she ought to be ashamed, but she wasn't. She liked it too much, and she didn't think Daniel was objecting too strongly.
Georgina wanted to ask him if she could stay now, but she was afraid to say anything that might disturb this temporary peace. Daniel shifted his weight to one side and pulled her with him, and she snuggled contentedly into the curve of his arm. She would sleep like this if she had to.
He pulled the pins from her hair until he had loosened a curl. Then he wrapped it around his finger and used it to caress her throat. The touch was soft and arousing. She opened her eyes and met his.
"You can't stay," he whispered, the agony clear in his eyes.
"I won't leave," she answered calmly, too calmly. Her heart was beating furiously, and the effort to maintain control was taking its toll.
It was a draw of sorts, Daniel realized. He couldn't carry her to the hotel over his shoulder, particularly not in her current half-dressed condition. And he couldn't allow her to run away to the office to sleep unattended. He could insist. He could get up from here right now and refuse to be a part of her foolishness. But even if he won the argument, he would lose what he wanted most.
"Georgina." Daniel slid the rest of her bodice off her shoulder, focusing on the creamy skin that had been his undoing that first time she had revealed it.
"I want to be a real wife," she whispered against him.
It was almost a plea. He didn't want his carefree Miss Merry to be reduced to begging. He wanted her just as he had found her, full of life and love and all the good things she deserved. Daniel's lips curved as his hand drifted down between them to cover her bare stomach. Those good things could include his babe by now. So much for protecting her.
"You're more wife than I deserve, Miss Merry." Gently, Daniel untied the tapes of her gown and pulled the sleeves down until she could wriggle out of them. Then he pulled the whole thing off and threw it over the side of the bed.
He took the time to admire her rounded legs still encased in garters and stockings. It wasn't often he got to admire a lady in her undergarments. He thought he might get used to the idea very quickly. He returned his gaze with interest to the casing of her corset and the spill of her breasts through the open chemise at the top. Twin pink peaks stared back at him, and he couldn't resist.
Georgina squealed when he touched his tongue to temptation, but she didn't make any other maidenly protests. Daniel had a vague notion that they were supposed to be doing this in the dark with nightgowns and nightshirts encumbering them, but he had never been one to bow to convention. If he had his way, he'd do this in the middle of the day with bright sunlight pouring through the windows. Had they any windows.
That thought stopped him. Glaring up at the boards that gave evidence of the precariousness of their privacy, Daniel pulled himself to a sitting position. Georgina hastily pulled her chemise together and stared up at him.
"They're likely to come after the press tonight, Georgie. I can't stay in here." He looked down at her regretfully, pulling her hands away until he could caress her breasts again. Her nipples puckered eagerly beneath his fingers. He had never met a woman as ready for him as she was. He liked knowing he affected her that way. "If you won't go to a hotel, you'll have to stay with me in the pressroom. I can't leave you alone in here."
"Fine." She drew her hand down his chest to the point where his trousers ought to be fastened, only they weren't. He groaned as her fingers explored a little lower, and she smiled up at him angelically. "If you're going to be Pecos Martin, then I'll be the kind of woman he likes."
That was quite enough of that notion, and Daniel started to remonstrate when her hand began to do things he wasn't prepared to resist. Staring in astonishment at his lady wife, he grinned, caught her wrists, and pinned her to the bed.
"I think we'll deal with each other real fine, ma'am, just as soon as you learn to take orders."
Daniel buried his bristly chin against her throat as he bit her ear, and when she squealed and bucked against him, he lifted her from the bed, slid his feet to the floor, and carried her out of the bedroom to the pallet he had prepared in the pressroom.
Georgina didn't think she would ever remember that night again without blushing. Daniel did things to her that she was quite certain no man had ever done to a woman before, or at least no gentleman to a lady. And she not only allowed it, but encouraged him, loving every minute of it.
They were so engrossed in their play that even when Max began to bark a warning, Daniel merely bent a kiss to her forehead and whispered, "I'll be right back, sweetheart, keep a place warm for me," and Georgina watched in l
anguid ease and let him go.
It took a minute before she realized he was pulling on a gun belt with his trousers. Even then, she didn't feel any great alarm. He was moving unhurriedly, as if he had everything under control. She wrapped a sheet around her and sat up to watch him leave. Idly, she realized she was still wearing her stockings and garters and nothing else. Was that the way hired women did it?
As she heard Daniel order Max to silence then cross the office, Georgina rose to stand in the doorway and watch. She couldn't find anything dangerous in the warm summer night. There was nothing here that could rouse a man to anger. Even the soft glow of the dying embers in the stove gave a gentleness to the scene.
She watched as Daniel eased open the door and looked out. It wasn't until she heard the light tread of shoes in the hall below that she woke from her love-struck lethargy. Daniel's bare chest and shoulders looked strong and wide and rippled with muscle, but they were also very, very naked and vulnerable. She didn't want to imagine what would happen to them if the intruders below carried guns.
But it was too late now. There was nothing she do but stand there helplessly, listening to the sounds below and waiting for whatever would follow. Daniel had both his guns and his rifle. She had only Max and a crowbar she picked up from the toolbox. It scarcely seemed enough.
As the footfalls came up the stairs, Daniel counted backward, and reached for a rope tied next to the door on the count of five. Georgina watched in fascination as he released the knot. The rope disappeared into the hall, followed by the clatter and bang of tin pails. In the next moment there were screams of rage and anguish and thuds as the intruders fell back down the way they had come.
Daniel glanced up, and his smile was almost apologetic as he shrugged his shoulders. "I had considered boiling oil, but I didn't want to stay up keeping it hot." He continued watching the doorway, his hand on his guns.
They heard curses and wails, someone giving orders, others refusing. Within minutes all was quiet again.
Daniel closed the door and pulled the bar across it. When he turned back, Georgina was still waiting for him, a sheet wrapped around her, but slipping to reveal most of the curve of one breast.
"So what did you use?" she asked patiently.
Daniel unbuckled his belt and began heading toward her. "You don't really want to know."
Georgina backed away, knowing the gleam in his eye too well. "I really do."
He reached for her and came away with a handful of sheet. His gaze dropped with satisfaction to her bare form, taking in her gartered stockings with a swift glance. "What'll you give me if I tell you?"
Georgina beamed and placed her hands on her hips with a seductive wiggle. "Whatever you want."
"Good." Dropping the sheet, Daniel stepped across it and placed both hands on her buttocks. "I want this." His mouth swooped down to claim her kiss.
It was only much later that she learned the contents of those buckets, and she giggled into her pillow at people's astonishment when they discovered a privy had been bailed out in the dead of night.
Chapter 31
Georgina could hear the call of the newsboys hawking Daniel's newspaper outside the factory at noon. As the work shift broke for lunch, she could hear the women calling for their papers, and she smiled as she listened to the excited discussions erupting outside her office window. At least someone was reading the fruit of Daniel's labors.
Janice entered the open factory office door without knocking. The open-door policy had been one of Georgina's better ideas, but the truce between the two of them was still a fractious one. The other woman resented her inexperience, didn't trust her wealth or background, and wasn't prepared to accept Georgina as a working woman. Georgina figured Janice was waiting for her to get bored or tired and walk out complaining. There were times when she wanted to. What Janice didn't count on was that Daniel would be waiting for Georgina back at the news-paper if she did give up, and she couldn't face Daniel feeling a failure. So she gritted her teeth and kept working.
"Audrey says the Mulloney workers are ready to strike." Janice contained her excitement in a whisper as she glanced over her shoulder to make certain no one was listening.
Georgina sat back in her chair and allowed satisfaction to roll over her. "All of them?"
"All the ones that count." Janice threw the latest edition of the paper on the desk. "If the strike goes on for long, they're going to get mighty hungry."
Georgina picked up the paper and spread it out so the blaring headlines about ABC Rentals could be seen. "They can use their rent money to eat. This article will see to that."
"Sooner or later, though, they'll have to pay the money. We'll all be in debt so far we won't see our way out."
Georgina frowned and glared at the newsprint. "I wish I knew an easy solution. If we had a real union and paid into it for weeks and months until we had a balance built up..."
"Nothing would ever get done," Janice said firmly. "It's got to be done while everyone is fired up. And they're furious because Mulloney has told them they have to work July Fourth. That's when the big parade and celebration are held downtown, and he wants to take advantage of the crowds."
"That will do it!" Georgina looked up and grinned. "Independence Day. How symbolic can you get? We can stage a parade of our own right through Mulloney's front lawn."
Janice managed a smile of appreciation. "I'd like to see that. Of course"—her smile disappeared—"I'd like to see them march right through your father's front lawn, too."
Georgina waved a hand. "Go ahead. There isn't anyone there to appreciate it at the moment, but if it makes everybody happy, I won't deprive them. Anyway, from what my father said, his lawn will be Mulloney's before long, unless something changes. I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."
Janice sank into the nearest chair and crossed her hands in her lap. "Then the rumors are true. This place is going under and we'll all be out of work."
Georgina's lips straightened into a thin line. "Don't say that. Words have a tendency to make themselves true. I don't know a lot about bookkeeping and selling and such, but Doris knows everything there is to know about that end of it. She's helping me. We've already picked up several new accounts. It's just a matter of having their purchases made up out of existing stock and receiving the money for them so we can buy new material. I don't think anyone will to sell us material on credit anymore."
Janice nodded thoughtfully. "All right. We'll cut the patterns so as to limit waste as much as possible. We'll be able to squeeze a few extras out of every bolt. If I spread the word, there's half a dozen ways we can cut waste. That should give you a little extra cash to make a bigger purchase for the next sale."
Georgina sighed in relief. "If I had any authority, I would make you foreman—or forewoman—or whatever it would be called. But if you can manage to cut waste, I'll try to see that there's a little extra in everyone's paycheck when that sale comes through."
Janice stood up and prepared to leave. "The money has to be there somewhere. Your family lived off it for years."
Georgina stood up with her. "I'm thinking my family lived off Mulloney for years. He owns us. I don't want him owning me."
Janice grimaced. "He owns the whole town. If you can figure out how to get us out from under him, you're a genius."
Georgina didn't even see her go. Janice's words had started the wheels spinning, and she was afraid to contemplate the results. Daniel was a Mulloney. Daniel was the eldest Mulloney son. Somehow, Daniel had the means to force his father to release his heavy-handed grip on the town.
Those facts still churned uneasily through her mind as she set out for home that evening. Home. Georgina looked up at the boarded windows of the nearly empty warehouse across the street and marveled that she could call such a place home. She had to be out of her mind. But the thought that Daniel was waiting for her there, that he would be sitting there with his newspaper, eating from a pot of some concoction heated on that old stove, sent he
r hurrying in anticipation.
Georgina stopped short as she noticed the man pounding nails into boards across their front door. She had thought him a hired workman come to repair some of the damage. The stink on the front stairs had been enough to nearly bring her breakfast up this morning, and Daniel had assured her he would have it cleaned before she returned. But this man wasn't cleaning anything. He was nailing boards across the door.
"What on earth are you doing?" Georgina demanded as she came up beside him.
The workman pulled on the bill of his flattened cap in a mocking salute, spit a wad of tobacco in the street, and resumed hammering. "This building's condemned. It's unsafe for human habitation. Owner's going to have to tear it down."
Georgina froze, unable to juggle the variety of panics springing to mind. Her gaze flew to the boarded windows where Daniel ought to be waiting. This just couldn't be. Everything they owned was in there. This was their home.
She heard Max's howl, and it jarred her back to action. She grabbed the man's hammer and began ripping out the boards. "My dog is in there. You can't board up a dog."
The man had little choice but to stand aside and watch her rip off the board he had just installed. He'd probably never seen a lady in silk gown and bustle tear into a boarded door before, but she was pretty sure he wouldn't touch her. He waited, stuffing a new rope of tobacco into his cheek as Georgina swung open the door and raced into the darkened interior.
There weren't any lamps lit in the office as she opened the door. Max leapt out of the semidarkness and licked her exuberantly, but there wasn't any sign of Daniel. Pushing her fear deep down inside her, she snapped Max on his leash, ordered him to stay, and went to search through the rooms for what seemed most portable.
She grabbed her satchel, added some of Daniel's shirts, and went to the pressroom where he kept the locked chest. Realizing she still held the hammer, Georgina slammed it into the lock, splintering it. She didn't think Daniel would keep gold in a chest so easily opened, but his guns were there. She wouldn't leave them behind.
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