Ellie peppered his bare chest with hot kisses, hoping to make him forget there might be anything strange about her. She wanted this night. With only a dozen or so days before the accident, she longed to spend all of them in Jesse's arms. Zeke, Lucky and she had carefully gone over every detail they knew. With Elizabeth out of the picture, this time there should be no accident.
There was no doubt in her mind that sometime on the fourth of July, she would be thrown back into her own time, and Zeke and Lucky and Jesse would all remain alive and well this time, in Peavine. As long as she had to abandon him, she wanted to leave him with memories of hot, sizzling nights.
Jesse groaned at her forays, and Ellie refused to stop, intent on making him forget everyone and anything except her. She slid her hands between his belt and his back, massaging his spine. She kissed the tip of his chin, the corners of his mouth, before his hands held her head and stopped her meandering. Firm, hot lips slanted across hers, his tongue darting out to tease her own.
Jesse couldn't recall much about undressing either of them except the exquisite desire that burned through him with each piece of clothing she removed. His thoughts were jumbled, and he couldn't begin to figure why Elizabeth -- Ellie -- affected him so strongly in recent days. Ellie -- the name seemed to fit her better, for it was softer, more feminine than the formal Elizabeth. But Jesse knew the adoption of a nickname wasn't what was making him crazy at the moment.
In the past, whenever he tried to kiss or caress Elizabeth, her response had been lukewarm at best. He hadn't pressed her, since they weren't married, and Elizabeth had assured him she would give him what he wanted after they did marry. After he found the motherlode, he amended.
The thought crossed his mind that she had most definitely changed her ways, but when her hands slid down his ribs to the buckle of his trousers, he honestly couldn't find fault with the new, sensuous woman who smiled up at him. He gloried in her sight, felt ten feet tall -- her knight in shining armor -- and he knew in that moment that he would love her from here 'til eternity.
The bed creaked beneath their weight as Ellie pulled Jesse down on top of her. It felt so right, his chest pressing her down deeper into the mattress. Her hands wandered across his back, the muscles bunching beneath her fingers. She couldn't get enough of the feel of him, his hard, taut skin so different from her soft curves. Sensation exploded deep within her when he found her nipple, nipping lightly before sucking it into his hot mouth.
"Jesse, take the ache away, please." Her head rolled from side to side, the cravings building to fevered pitch in the very core of her being. She arched her back, her breasts jutting upward, aching for his touch. He slid to her side, still suckling, one hand exploring her bare skin and dipping lower to caress secret passageways. Ellie just about came off the bed.
"Did I hurt you?" Jesse's hand stilled, his gaze searching her face.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?" Her voice, low and husky, sounded unfamiliar to her.
Jesse's smile was slow and seductive. "I think I have a fair idea." His hand began to move again, this time brushing the inside of her thighs, sliding across her skin from hip bone to hip bone, not touching where she needed him the most, yet intensifying her pleasure.
Ellie reached for him, but he tucked his hips in close to hers and though she could feel his manhood against her, she couldn't get her hands on him. "That's not fair," she pouted and he kissed the corner of her mouth. "I want to touch you."
With a growl, he moved on top her, pushing her legs open with his knee. "One touch will send me over the edge, sweetheart, but your words can easily do it anyway." She arched her hips and with one smooth thrust, he buried himself deep within her. Ellie cried out in pleasure.
Jesse stopped his movements, his shaft pulsing deep within her hot, moist womanhood. He hadn't meant to take her so suddenly, but her words, her movements, the very stars in the sky caused him to need her desperately. Any further thought was blocked as Ellie began to move beneath him.
The pressure built incredibly fast, the passion singing through his veins with every stroke deep within her beautiful body. Her legs hugged his hips tightly, her arms wound around his shoulders to keep his chest brushing against her breasts. He couldn't breathe, but didn't need to. He couldn't think but didn't want to. He wanted and needed only her movement with him, to hear her gasps of pleasure against his neck, and know that wondrous delight of her body.
Without warning, Ellie pitched headlong into a tide pool of sensation, flooding her with heat and rapture. Her legs trembled against Jesse's sides; her arms quivered. Seconds later he tightened against her, thrusting deep, meshing his hips solidly with hers. Ellie didn't breathe until he collapsed against her, then rolled to the side.
The repercussions and guilt began immediately as Ellie felt cool air against her fevered skin where only moments ago Jesse had kept her warm. She called herself every name in the book, knowing she had no claim to Jesse; no right to make a demand such as this on him.
Everything she had learned about him led her to believe he would demand commitment. She didn't have the right to give him that commitment, whether she loved him or not. And she sure as hell couldn't make a commitment for Elizabeth, knowing the woman had stabbed him in the back and become a traitor.
Jesse nuzzled her neck and Ellie ached for him all over again. "I love you," he whispered. "I think I started loving you when we first met and you were only twelve. But you were always just there. I didn't realize just how much you meant to me until you fell off that horse in front of my cabin and I thought you were hurt."
Ellie wanted to stop his confession. It hurt too much. He had made love to her -- Ellie Weaver -- and she had given herself to him unconditionally because she loved him. But even when he mentioned her own unceremonious fall into his life, she didn't know for sure who Jesse loved. And time was speeding by way too fast for her to figure it out.
Chapter 9
Repercussions and guilt didn't make Ellie stop wanting Jesse and she proved it to him time and again during the night. She longed to keep him away from danger; to slow the time when Elizabeth would return. She could use the trip to Carson City as an excuse to stay out of Peavine, if only for an extra day or two. She might tell Jesse it was to find the reasons behind Clayton Scott's behavior, but deep in her heart she knew differently. She desperately wanted one more day -- maybe two-- with Jesse Cole.
Even so, Ellie woke alone the next morning. Apparently, the pleasures they had shared in each other's arms could amount to nothing more than just that. She told herself it didn't matter, but the funny thing was, she couldn't convince her heart to quit breaking nor the tears to quit flowing.
Later, Ellie laid on the bed fully dressed with a wet towel over her eyes, hoping the cool water would lessen the redness before Jesse came. He had sent a message with Rainee that he'd be by later to get her for brunch. Actually, Ellie needed the time to decide how best to approach him. ‘The morning after’ had never been a concern for her, mainly because there hadn't been any men in her life whom she allowed that close or for that long.
She felt it would have been easier if he hadn't left her room. Then, she could have showed him how she felt, because if she were truthful, she wanted nothing more than to haul Jesse's hide back into bed. She might tell herself it was one way to keep him safe, but she just plain loved making love to him! She sighed, turning the rag to a cooler side.
Keeping Jesse naked and in bed with her for the next two weeks was impractical to an extreme. Besides, would that be something Jesse wanted? Had he left in the night because he regretted what had happened? She didn't regret a moment of their pleasure, and only hoped he felt the same. That would at least make the next two weeks interesting, regardless of what Clayton Scott intended.
A knock at the door ended Ellie's deliberations. Butterflies jiggled around in her stomach, and she held her breath as she crossed the room to open the door.
"Good morning, El." Jesse gave her a heart
stopping smile and held out his hand.
Ellie's heart turned over at his smile, and come what may, she knew at least for now things would be alright. She reached out and took the single, black-eyed Susan he clutched. Turning towards the mirror, she tucked the flower into the tie of her braid where it lay over her shoulder. That way she could see it all day.
"There weren’t many flowers." Jesse sounded nervous, and in the mirror’s reflection, Ellie could see him turning his hat round and round in his hands.
"You didn't take some lady's last flower out of her garden, did you?"
"Of course not." He went from nervous to affronted. After a pause, he grinned and added, "Well, actually the only other one had lost half its petals."
"Jesse, it was her last one--"
"I offered the lady on the porch money, but she wouldn't take it once I told her what I wanted to do with the flower."
Ellie tilted her head to study him, noting the tense set of his shoulders. "And that would be?"
"I wanted it for the loveliest woman in all Nevada. I figured since she already had my heart, she needed a flower to keep it company."
"Oh, Jesse." Ellie's lips trembled and she just knew she was going to cry. Jesse circled her with his strong arms, and for this brief moment in time, Ellie felt loved and wanted and perfectly at peace. She only wished it could last, and that was the reason she cried.
Jesse awkwardly patted her back, fumbling with his hat and not quite knowing what to do. "Sh, sweetheart, I didn't mean to make you cry." He hadn't expected her to be sentimental; she had rarely been in all the time he had known her. However, he had to admit he had woken up this morning with a different frame of mind, so he supposed she could, too.
Jesse had slept like the dead after he left Ellie last night, but woke up discontent. The reason had stared him in the face from the pillow next to his head. It was empty. He longed to wake up beside Ellie, holding her tight in the winter to keep warm and snuggling next to her cool, satin skin in the summer. He'd probably make a fool of himself for wanting her all the time, but she aroused the demons in him.
Yet now, as he held her, he kept those feelings bottled up inside. He searched his mind for some phrase from all the books his mother had given him, but the classic poets' words somehow seemed shallow and pretentious when compared to the beauty standing before him.
Her face glowed; her brown eyes sparkled with gold through tears left unshed. In those eyes, he saw the love for which he had been waiting a lifetime. He didn’t have to struggle to see past her spoiled exterior. She no longer resembled the pouting young woman who had returned from her high-brow eastern school full of herself.
No, whatever airs she had brought back to Peavine were gone now, replaced with an open-hearted goodness and smiling face. He started to tell her again that he loved her, but a shadow flickered across her gaze.
It was gone so swiftly he could have imagined it. Then she touched his lips with a gentle finger; her hand caressed his cheek and no words were needed for him to understand that she loved him, even if she couldn't say the words. For the moment, he contented himself with her touch, the look of adoration in her eyes, and the fierce need which once again tightened his muscles and started his heart pounding.
* * *
Jesse knew he shouldn't be gone from Peavine more than a day or two, but he wouldn't deny Ellie anything. Even so, he seriously doubted any Carson City bank or even the Nevada State Court House would be able to give them the answers to the questions she felt needed asked.
He sighed as he bought their train tickets. He was smitten for sure. Why else would he have agreed to go traipsing all over Nevada in search of evidence that he owned the Nightingale mine. He knew it belonged to him, or it would when he paid off the loan. Ellie, on the other hand, seemed to need proof that Scott wasn't trying to swindle him and take over.
"Train should be on time," he said to Ellie as he walked across the platform to where she paced.
"Lucky said the train didn't run here," she glanced up and down the tracks, eyes bright with curiosity. She suddenly gabbed his shirt front, her voice panicky. "Jesse, what if we can't find the answers? What if there's an accident?"
A sense of déjà vu swept through Jesse, leaving him icy cold even in the early morning sunshine. Why did he have the feeling they were acting out parts in a play where the ending was already written and the outcome determined?
His stomach clinched as the train whistle echoed in the distance, almost as a warning.
Ellie turned away from him, nervously twisting the thin straps of her handbag. Now that she'd blurted out her worries, she avoided his gaze, staring instead down the tracks as though willing the train to appear.
He studied her from beneath the brim of his hat, watching the sway of her hips as she paced along the platform. Ellie stopped then started, then stopped again. In-between her pacing, she'd dig through her handbag, looking for something, appearing frustrated at not being able to find it.
Ellie, not Elizabeth. It wasn't just her name that was different. Just about everything from the way she walked and talked to the incredible way her eager gaze racked him while he undressed her last night. That, especially, fell beyond his understanding. Nowhere in Jesse's somewhat limited experience with women could he explain Ellie's sudden and erotic desire for him. Even though he definitely wouldn’t complain about that, it was almost as though she was an entirely different woman than the one he'd always known.
But that was ridiculous. People didn't become other people overnight. The changes in Elizabeth; even her desire to use a nickname, had come about from her associations back east. That was all.
Jesse stepped back, pulling Ellie with him as the train ground to a stop, great puffs of steam escaping from beneath its wheels. Whatever worries had plagued her disappeared as she eagerly climbed aboard the passenger car.
"Oh, my God, this is incredible," she exclaimed as she walked down the narrow aisle, touching each bench back, running her hands over the polished wood and chrome of the headers.
She plopped down on a bench by a window, eyes wide. She patted the bench beside her and he sat, scooping off his hat and crossing one ankle over the other knee. "You'll never make me believe you haven't ridden a train, so why are you so excited?" Jesse cocked a brow at her in question.
"But I--" she broke off as she so often did and Jesse shook his head. Then she turned toward him, sliding her arm behind his shoulders. She smiled impishly and fiddled with his hair. Goose bumps rose along his skin at her touch. She glanced around to see if anyone watched, but no other passengers had entered this particular car as of yet. Before he could guess her intention, she leaned forward and kissed his ear.
"I meant," she whispered, "I've never ridden this particular train, and I've never done it with you." Her tongue tickled his ear and Jesse jerked his hat from his knee to his lap.
Damn! What she said caused images of their lovemaking to careen through his brain. However, her breathy whisper in his ear gave a whole new meaning to the jerky movements of the train as it drew down the tracks.
"How long will it take to get to Carson?" Her fingers were in his hair again, and although she didn't whisper now, she remained close enough that her breast still brushed his arm.
"Too damn long." Jesse squirmed on the hard wooden bench, everything about her causing him extreme discomfort in the lower regions of his anatomy.
"Will we stay over, or do our business and head back home?"
"Sweetheart, the business I'm thinking about is going to take too long to get done in one night." He knew she understood when her eyes opened in surprise and her sweet mouth formed a small oh, but she didn't looked shocked in the least. Instead, she dazzled him with a smile and settled snugly against his side.
"I'm glad," was all she had to say as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Jesse was certainly glad that the only other passengers walking past to find seats were men, and each eyed him and winked in appreciation of the be
auty he had resting against him. Jesse could certainly be glad he didn’t have to contend with any matronly outrage.
With a sigh, he contented himself to sit quietly for awhile, breathing in her scent and feeling the weight of her against him. In his constant search for that big strike; the one that would make him and all the men who worked for him rich beyond their wildest dreams, he had neglected many things in his life.
Looking back, he wished he had more schooling, instead of always working alongside his father. He couldn't speak in the eloquent words of Clayton Scott, even though his mother had made sure he learned the basics of reading, writing, and manners. Ellie didn't seem to mind so much now, but would it make a difference later in their married life?
And speaking of -- he wiggled his shoulder to get her attention. "Hey, don't go to sleep. We need to talk about getting married."
Ellie jerked upright and scooted away from him. She began shaking her head even before she spoke. "No! No, we don't, not now. We need to find out about your mine." She spoke in a panic and began fidgeting with her purse strings again.
Jesse read the only thing he could into her statement. "You mean you're still not going to marry me until I find the gold? After last night, I think it's a little late to back out." His mother had taught him responsibility and he wanted to tell her there was no alternative. At the same time, he wanted her only if she came to him of her own free will, because she loved him. Last night, he had thought she did.
She stared out the window for some time; her shoulders drooped. A large sigh escaped. When she turned to face him again, her eyes sparkled with tears. She placed a gentle hand to his cheek. "Oh, Jesse, I do want to marry you. You can't imagine how much. But now's not the time to talk about it." The train lurched to the side at that moment, and a crooked smile touched her lips. "Besides, a rattling train isn't exactly the most romantic place to propose."
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