The Yankee Gentleman and His Southern Belle

by Tammy Lynn

  Kitten understood the depth of Miss Victoria’s love, as she felt it now. Again, she heard her name being called and went downstairs to find out who was calling her.

  EJ was standing on the veranda with a smile on his face. Grabbing her hand he swung her around. “We’re totally done. We have a few minor tweaks here and there, but we are done. Doc just left with the men he brought out to help with the half of the stables.” He pulled her over to look at the work, but all she could understand were the words he never said. He was going very soon. “So, how does it look?”

  Kitten pretended she saw everything and nodded her head. Her brain was in turmoil, as was her heart.

  “Kitten, are you okay?”

  She smiled despite the pain she had and nodded. “I’m fine.” She took off for the house and EJ caught up.

  “I know I’ll be leaving, but you have to believe that I’ll be back.”

  Kitten shook her head and laughed. “I know you’ll be back with Shilo, but it will be different. You won’t be staying here forever, you’ll be going back.” She shook off his hand and ran into the house, up the stairs and to her room before he caught her, both of her arms in his hands.

  “How do you know I’ll be going back? How do you know when I don’t know myself.”

  Kitten looked at him, wished the words were true and said, “You’ll go back because you’re married. It’s been a fantasy with me, one I should have thought about before getting involved, but I didn’t. I fell in love with you knowing you could never be mine.”

  She turned toward her bed as EJ came up and hugged her from behind. “Trust me to make the right decision for us, for all the generations before, and for all the generations that will follow. Trust me, okay?”

  Kitten looked forward. “What choice do I have? If you don’t mind I’m taking a shower.”

  EJ looked at Kitten and said deeply, “I think I do mind.” EJ backed her up to her bed, until her knees hit the bed and she fell back. “I mind very much. You’re not taking a shower until I’m done with you.”

  In the midst of the sadness she felt, the laughter he evoked within her defied reason. She made love with him like the dawn would forever stay away. When the first light came filtering through her window, she lay sleeping and EJ was wide awake. He slipped out of her room, out of the house, and out of her life.

  At that moment Kitten jerked awake. She knew he was gone. She felt it in her heart. “I love you, EJ.” Four simple words, whispered in the early dawn and she dozed off again, hoping the pain would leave her, but knowing it would be with her the rest of her days.

  Kitten didn’t get up like she normally did, rushing downstairs to get an early start to the day, to make sure Randall and Avery had everything under control and make sure Lissa knew what was going on. Today she lay in bed, hurting with the pain of loss.

  Hearing her cell phone chirp, she ignored it, once, twice, three times until she couldn’t take it anymore and answered on the fourth time of series of rings. “What?” The ladylike voice she normally had on the phone had disappeared and a growl emerged.

  “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Kitten didn’t bother to answer, but hung up the phone. When it rang again she turned it off. If anything was important they would call the plantation. Hurrying down the stairs she called to Lissa that she was going to go out and finish the acres of sunflowers and hay and she would be back late.

  “Miss Kitten, you need to eat something first and it’s time to go over the monthly budget, not to mention we have all the receipts to go over for the tornado and the storms to balance the bank account.” Kitten looked at Lissa, knowing that it needed to be done and wishing she could put it off. Taking a deep breath she nodded and they both went into the study, pulling up the bank account on the computer’s program and going over everything, and then the budget, seeing that they were still under what Kitten considered to be moderate, and then she remembered that there were four less in the house and three less in the apartments. Four hours later everything was taken care of and she left telling Lissa where she was going, and knowing she was going to have to have her cell phone on, just in case.

  Her home used to be her salvation, her refuge, but now she knew what her mama had meant in her diary when she left. Kitten couldn’t leave, wouldn’t leave, but just the thought of living the rest of her life here without love tore at her.

  She worked hard, wishing that that would help her stop thinking of EJ so much, but it didn’t help. Hour after hour she kept at it until Randall left in his truck, only seeing the headlights from a distance. Kitten knew that she needed to go in, but for the life of her didn’t want to. Slowly turning the tractor back to the house, she knew if she kept up this pace that the rest of the land would be finished in 2 or 3 days. Jumping off the tractor, she rinsed her arms off with the hose before going on. Lissa would have a fit if she saw all that dirt being brought into the house.

  Even with Avery and Lissa there, it was still a very somber meal. Kitten knew that she must look a sight. She had to have been sunburned, her hair was probably all over the place, even in the long French braid she had it in, and plain and simple, she didn’t want to even talk. Avery and Lissa kept looking at each other knowing there was nothing they could do to make their mistress even the tiniest bit happy. That left this morning at six.

  “Look guys, I appreciate what ya’ll are doing, I really do, but I’m just not in the mood for laughter right now. I’m going on up to bed. If anyone calls answer it and tell them I’ll call them back, unless it’s Mama or Jaret, or course. I have my cell phone on so tell them to call it. I just want to thank both of you for all the hard work ya’ll have done the past few days, heck the past two months. Above and beyond the call.” Kitten turned to go out of the kitchen when Avery stopped her.

  “Excuse me ma’am, but you’re the only family some of us have. Without you, we wouldn’t have anything. What we did here was just saving our home. If you ever need anything, you call on me or Randall, anytime of day.”

  Kitten hugged both of them and left knowing that Avery spoke the truth. Up to her room, past the General’s door and the same rush she had always felt hit her. Getting to her room, she undressed and started her hot shower. Looking in the mirror she couldn’t believe how she looked.

  Her face was thinner than it ever was, her eyes were dull, looking like the light within had just burned out, even her hair looked dull. The straps where her shirt had been was the only pale streak on her shoulders, everything else was red. That’s what she got for rushing off without a long sleeve shirt. Her mama, had she had been here, would have had her hide for doing something so stupid.

  Stepping into the steaming shower, Kitten washed, rinsed and did the same again, finding out that she couldn’t stop. She realized she had to when she also realized she was sobbing. For someone who didn’t cry a lot, the last two months she had cried an ocean and it didn’t look like the tears were stopping anytime soon.

  Stepping out of the shower and into the warmed towel, she didn’t bother with a robe, just went on into the bedroom, closed her eyes and sat on the vanity stool to do her hair. The thought of just getting the scissors and cutting it to a more manageable length crossed her mind, but then she knew she would regret it. After getting out the tangles she did something her mama never understood. She stood up, bent over, and messed the hair back up again, adding volume, she guessed it did.

  “That’s the most erotic thing I’ve seen in a long time, except for maybe your body when I kiss it.” Kitten’s eyes flew open, her mouth opened on a gasp and her hands grabbed the towel.

  “You can try to keep me from taking it off, but it won’t work. I’m still going to kiss your body, make love to you over and over, and make you scream my name.”

  Kitten looked at the man sitting in tight jeans and a polo shirt on her bed. “I’m dreaming, I know I am.”

  “No baby, you’re not. I’m here.”

  Kitten walked into the bathroom to
take the towel off.

  “I’ll still be here when you get out, Kitten.”

  She stayed in there putting lotion on to help stop the blistering and peeling she knew was going to happen. She heard laughter and wondered if she was going crazy.

  “Baby, come on. I’m really here.”

  Kitten had had enough. “You’re not here. You’re on your way to Maine to pick up Shilo. I know you’re not here and I can prove it.” Kitten walked into the bedroom once more without the towel on and saw him stand up. “If you’re real then when I do this,” Kitten put her lips on his and felt him respond.

  His tongue quickly shot into her mouth, one hand going to the back of her head and the other going to cup her breast, backing her to the wall where his leg could go in between hers.

  “Oh, God, you’re real. I’m not dreaming.” Kitten gasped for air as relief and desire hit again.

  EJ laughed a deep laugh and roughly said, “No, baby, you’re not dreaming. I’m here, I’m not going anywhere right now, and I’m going to make slow, tender love to your body, and then, just when we think we can’t take anymore, I’m going to take you to the peak once more to watch you shatter before me.”

  “Why did you come back?” Kitten looked into his blue eyes and saw the love there.

  “Why, baby? I think you know that answer. I came back because of you.”

  Kitten really didn’t care at that moment. She just noticed how extremely good looking he was. Tight jeans cupped a fantastic butt and legs, not an ounce of fat could be found when she lifted the polo shirt. His stomach was tight, his muscles clenching, especially when she ran her fingers over them. “Kitten, you don’t know what you do to me.” He closed his eyes to hold the feeling she was evoking in him in check. He didn’t want to hurt her.

  “You have on way too many clothes, EJ.” She watched as he kicked off his boots, the jeans, socks, and just when she wanted to see him take off the rest of his clothes he took both hands and cupped her breasts once more, making her sigh and lean her head back against the wall. “Please, EJ, tell me I’m not dreaming. Please tell me I’m not going to wake up and this be an all too real nightmare. I don’t think I could stand that.”

  “Look at me Kitten.” His voice was deep, she felt the breath on her face and she opened her eyes. “I’m real. You’re not dreaming. When you wake up, I’ll be here, wrapping you in my arms. We need to have a talk, and it will be a hard talk we have, but there was a song on the radio that I heard and I knew I had to come back here. Lonestar’s One More Day played and I knew I had to have one more day, one more time, one more moment.”

  Kitten heard the passion, the love, and knew he was real. “Then I have one thing to say, EJ. Take me to bed. Love me.”

  “Oh, baby, I will, I do, so much.” Sipping at her lips, like the finest champagne, tracing the contour with his tongue. His fingers tracing her puckered nipple, taking her gasp inside his mouth. Feeling her arch against him, he knew they would always be attuned to each other, know what each other wanted, what they craved. “Roll over baby.”

  Kitten did as she was bid to do, wondering just what he was going to do. Sitting on top of her waist, he leaned over, his fingers rubbing into the muscles on her shoulders, a soft moan escaping her throat and he felt her go limp. Down her spine he went with his fingers, going into the muscle and tissue, with just enough pressure to let the building tension ease out of her body. His mouth bit lightly at her neck, then washed the sting away with the lick of this tongue, following the same path his hands had taken. His hands then went into her hair, massaging her scalp, listening to the sighs, and seeing her relax totally into the bed. “Oh, baby, you have no idea how that feels.”

  His fingers slowly and with a feather light touch went slowly down her sides, barely grazing the skin and watched her shiver. Back up and his fingertips skimmed the outside of her breasts.

  “EJ, you’re teasing.” As he did it once more, he leaned up and whispered in her ear,

  “Oh, honey, I’m not teasing. I’m serious. This is only the beginning.” His fingers went to her thighs. First the outside, then inching in to the inside, back and forth, up and down, and Kitten thought she was going to go crazy.

  When she tried to roll over, he lay on top of her, letting her feel him, wrapping his arms around her.

  “I’m never letting you go, Kitten. You’re mine, you always have been, you always will be.” His voice, a fraction of an inch away from her ear made her shiver in response.

  As Kitten arched up to feel more of his body, EJ took the opportunity to slide his fingers over her nipples, squeezing them as he did so, pulling his hands slowly out as he turned her over. His fingers tracing her face, down the centerline of her chest and back up, drove her absolutely crazy. “Are you relaxed?”

  Kitten just nodded her head, not able to speak. Wetting her lips she tried to tell him to kiss her, but he read her mind instead. The kiss was hot and wild. Neither of them able to get what they wanted, so they kept taking more until they were gasping for air. “Please EJ, please.”

  EJ spread her legs and entered her so fast, so deep that she lost her breath, but she held onto him like he was her lifeline. Her fingers grasped his sides as he slid out to the very tip, only to slide deeper in each time.

  Her nipples rasping against the sparse hair on his chest added to the eroticism she was feeling. “EJ, I’m coming apart.”

  EJ slowed down. “No, my Kitten, we’ll come apart together.”

  Kitten shook her head back and forth, knowing that she couldn’t take much more. “Now, please, now.”

  EJ looked down at her in the moonlight. Her body was arched like a bow, a sheen of moisture covered her, making her look like something exotic in the light. “You want now, I’ll give you now.” One last time EJ drove into her easy and then he couldn’t stop.

  Her hands went behind her and she grasped the railing on the headboard feeling his fingers grasp over hers, and then she flew apart. Her body felt like it snapped in a million pieces, shattering over the universe, but EJ’s hard arms kept her against him. He kissed her softly again before rolling off of her and pulling her as close to him as possible. “I’m not leaving tonight, my Kitten. Rest easy, my love, and sleep peacefully. I’ll be here when you wake up. Then we’ll talk.”

  Kitten nodded. “I know we do, I just don’t want to.” As Kitten fell asleep EJ watched the steady rise and fall of her chest before the negativity hit him, crushing his spirit.

  He knew everything he was doing went beyond his beliefs, but he couldn’t stop it, anymore than he could stop the rising and the setting of the sun. Would he be forgiven, he didn’t know, but he did know one thing for certain. Kitten was his, just like the past generations knew it too. If he left now, he knew that he would never see her again. Even though he had Shilo to bring back, he would never see Kitten.

  Tomorrow he would deal with the repercussions, tonight he would feel the love, the satisfaction, and the feeling of utmost joy. Whether it was right or wrong when he turned around today, he knew he was forever changing the course of history, the course of his and her future, but he had to. EJ couldn’t let one more day go by without trying to right everything that was wrong, and that started by holding Kitten in his arms tonight. When lightening flashed, he pulled her closer. Then the southern male voice came to him. You’ll always come back. Then the voice was gone and EJ fell asleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kitten stretched, never feeling so relaxed before. Turning over she realized why. EJ was propped up on his arm watching her.

  “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? When you stretch, well I think that’s why they named you, just like a kitten.” He leaned over and kissed her softly, sweetly, but with so much love that she caught her breath.