Foxfire Bride

by Maggie Osborne

  Tanner moved up beside her and pulled her into his arms, stroking the rigid muscles along the valley of her spine. "I'm sorry, Fox. You got a raw deal."

  She turned her face into his collar, inhaling the fresh soapy scent of his skin and noticing that he'd patted good smelling lotion on his jaw. Lord, Lord. There was nothing better than a good-smelling man.

  "I don't know if it's any comfort, but I believe we all pay for our sins. If not in this life then the next." He tipped her face up to gaze into her eyes. "That bastard will pay for what he did."

  She stared into his eyes shining in the light of the lantern. "Oh, I know he'll pay. There is no doubt about that." She would see to it by shooting a bullet into Hobbs Jennings's black heart.

  She also knew that she'd had as much conversation as her nerves could stand. Overcome by impatience, she shoved Tanner down on the blanket and climbed on top of him.

  "I don't mean to sound bossy, or maybe I do, but it's time to stop this blathering and start, well, you know."

  His eyes sparkled and he wore the expression that came over him when he was trying not to laugh.

  She narrowed her eyes and tried to find the anger that helped her through vulnerable moments. "I mean, that's why we came here, isn't it?"

  "Are we running behind schedule?"

  Her cheeks heated. "You're teasing."

  Sitting up, he leaned forward to kiss the tip of her nose. "I like the way you're wearing your hair tonight. Piled on top of your head. You have beautiful hair."

  "Oh. Silly talk." This was more like it. "I enjoy the silly talk. It's funny and nice." And it sounded like events were finally moving in the right direction.

  After kissing her lightly on the mouth, a tease, he removed her hairpins and waves of red hair tumbled to her shoulders then spilled down her tack almost to her waist. Fascinated, Tanner caught a long coil and rubbed it against his cheek.

  "Like silk," he murmured.

  The heated look in his eyes stifled Fox's laugh. Her throat went dry and hot and she felt the first tremor of what she suspected would soon erupt into an earthquake deep inside.

  He guided her into his arms and kissed her deeply, letting the hunger grow and build in one heated kiss after another. Fox felt his hand cupping the back of her head, buried in her hair. She had never touched a man's tongue before but did so now, and a jolt of lightning scorched through her body. He tasted of smoke and coffee and something sweet, and she wanted more of him.

  When they were both breathing raggedly, Tanner ran his hands over her shoulders, pushing her fancy waistcoat down her arms. Gazing into her eyes, he tossed it aside and opened the first button on her oversized shirt.

  Fox swallowed. "I have freckles on me."

  "I guessed as much," he murmured, his voice husky. His fingers brushed her breasts as he opened more buttons.

  No one had undressed her since she was a child. The idea of it was strange. She felt like a lump sitting there, letting him open her shirt, and she didn't know what to do with her hands.

  "Should I be unbuttoning your shirt, too?"

  "If you like." Leaning, he kissed her throat as her collar fell away. Now the top of her chemise appeared and Fox would have traded ten years of her life for a bit of lace trim.

  Seizing on the task, she unbuttoned his white shirt with trembling fingers, suddenly yearning for another glimpse of the hair on his chest. Once she had enough area exposed, she flattened her palm on his skin, drawing a sharp breath. The just-right hair on his chest felt softer than she had expected. And Lordy his skin was hot.

  When he'd taken off her shirt, he gazed at her a long moment with an expression that told her he was not disappointed. Relief emboldened her and Fox pushed his shirt off of muscled shoulders and waited while he pulled his arms out of the sleeves. His skin was tight and his muscles well defined and hard. There was no give when she poked him with a finger.

  She expected him to slip off her chemise, but instead he untied the thin rope at the waist of her trousers. When he started opening her trouser buttons, she felt dizzy and tingly all over.

  Did she dare? She decided she did. With fingers that fumbled and stumbled, she managed to open his belt and unhook the top button on his trousers then she brushed his arousal and snatched her hands back with a gasp.

  An embarrassed pink flared on her cheeks. A woman her age ought to be more experienced than this, shouldn't be as skittish and unnerved as she was feeling. She started to say so, but Tanner covered her mouth with a kiss and a flood of sensation made her forget everything but the hard pressure of his lips and his big hands on her bare shoulders. She felt the calluses on his palms, would have sworn that she felt his very fingerprints.

  "Oh," she breathed when he released her, the air running out of her body. Tanner had now kissed her more times than she'd ever been kissed in her life. And his kisses had aroused a stronger response than any kiss she had previously experienced or dared to imagine. She stared into his dark eyes with surprise and confusion and waited to discover what amazing thing he would do next.

  He brought her foot up between his legs and tugged on her boot, tossed it aside, then kissed her toes before he reached for her other foot.

  He kissed her toes! Fox could not believe it. Her mouth fell open and she stared. This was the most erotic event that had ever happened to her. Who would even think of such a thing? Only Matthew Tanner. She was positive no other man had ever kissed a woman's toes, for God's sake. Holding her breath, hardly daring to move, she waited to see if he would do it again. And he did. He kissed the toes of her other foot and she dropped back on the blanket, blinking at the starry sky and thinking she would surely faint for the first time in her life.

  She might have except then he tugged on her trousers and she was astonished to notice that her hips lifted of their own volition to help slide the trousers off and down her legs. And there she lay, sprawled on the blanket in her chemise and pantaloons, one thin layer of material away from being buck naked.

  When she finally raised her head to see what he was doing, she sucked in a deep breath and held it until she thought her chest would explode. Tanner stood above her, naked as the day he was born, holding out a hand to her.

  Fox had seen naked men, but in bits and pieces, never all at once. She had seen bare chests and bare butts. Had seen legs and had even glimpsed the working part between a man's thighs. But never on the same man at the same moment.

  He was absolutely beautiful. Like the statues outside the library in San Francisco. The soft spill of lantern light glowed on his skin like the gloss on marble. His thighs were muscled and taut, his stomach rippled. Somehow he seemed larger than when he was dressed, a force of nature that made her feel small and vulnerable.

  When her gaze dropped and she saw the rampant state of his arousal, a great weakness spread through her limbs and her bones melted. Oh Lordy.

  Gently he drew her to her feet and into his arms where he proceeded to kiss her like she had never been kissed before. Deep hungry kisses that ignited her body and soul. Kisses that made her forget where they were and why, kisses that spun all thought out of her mind until she trembled with pure sensation.

  She hardly noticed when he drew her chemise over her head and dropped it, and it was she who pushed down her pantaloons and kicked out of them. She wanted, no needed, needed to feel skin against hot damp skin, needed to know the touch of him with no barrier between them. For the first time she wanted a man's hands on her body, raising shivers of anticipation with each stroke, each caress.

  Locked in a kiss, they sank to their knees. Fox touched his hair, his face, his shoulders. She felt his chest hair on her breasts, felt the dampness of his skin and her own. And when he eased back to look at her, she felt an agony of embarrassment followed by a soaring elation of pride as she watched his expression tighten and heard him murmur hoarsely, "You are so beautiful. So perfect and beautiful."

  She wasn't, but it thrilled her to hear him say the words.

&nbs
p; Gently he cupped her full breasts and brushed his thumbs across nipples so hard they ached. Fox closed her eyes and arched her spine. Her head fell backward and a low moan issued from her lips. The earthquake gathered strength in her lower belly.

  When she opened her eyes, they lay together on the blanket, and he stroked her, following the curve from breast to waist to hip. She trembled beneath his palm, opened her lips to his kisses and wanted him in a way she had never experienced. Felt a damp emptiness that yearned to be filled.

  "Tanner, Tanner." His name burned on her lips and she writhed beneath his hands, her hair twisting across the blanket. "Please"

  As he rose over her, her fingers flew over his chest, tugged at his hips as her body lifted to meet his thrust. And a tiny scream of relief and ecstasy broke from her lips as he entered her.

  Bracing on his arms, looking down at her, he moved slowly in long even strokes until Fox was wild beneath him, thrashing, lifting, urging him with hands and body. Only when she felt half out of her mind did he unleash his own hunger and urgency and increase the tempo, taking her higher and higher, building a tension that confused and almost frightened her in its intensity.

  And then, when she thought she would surely explode, it seemed that she did, felt as if she soared outside herself, expanding toward the starry night then contracted back into herself. Weak and spent, she wrapped Tanner in an embrace as he collapsed above her and sank to the side, pulling her into his arms.

  They lay together, panting for breath, slick and shiny with perspiration, grateful for the cool air rising from the river.

  "Never in my whole life" Fox whispered when she could speak. "I never even imagined"

  Tanner lifted a wet tendril from her cheek and smoothed back her hair. "You are wonderful."

  She didn't know what to say. Something had happened to her that surpassed any effort to describe or explain. That such passion and rapture could exist between a man and a woman had never entered her thoughts. She would have laughed and dismissed outright any claim to such nonsense.

  Rising on an elbow, Fox gazed down into Tanner's face, wishing she possessed the eloquence to tell him what a miracle he'd wrought and how awed she was by it. After a moment she gave up and simply said, "It wasn't awful."

  Laughing, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead, her nose, her lips, her chin. "Would you like some cold water?"

  "I would crawl over loose shale for some cold water."

  Fox sat up and was admiring the lantern light on his buttocks and thighs when they heard the first shots. Tanner spun toward the sound and they stared at each other.

  Then Fox jumped to her feet and she and Tanner collided in a frenzy of searching for pants, shirts, boots. Tanner remembered to extinguish the lantern before they burst out of the willows and raced toward the campsite.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 13

  As they raced toward the dust and confusion swirling over the campsite, Tanner spotted large dark forms running between him and the firelight. He and Fox were almost on top of the animals before he realized it was a herd of elk.

  Shouting, he grabbed Fox's arm and spun her off to the side, concerned about the gunshots. Hanratty and Brown were trying to turn the elk away from the campsite, but the shots hadn't been effective. The question was which direction they were firing. Into the herd? Above the herd? Toward him and Fox?

  "Elk," Fox gasped. Bending, she placed her hands on her knees and a curtain of loose hair swung forward to hide her face.

  They waited as the animals, oddly silent for such big animals, ran through the camp. When the last one had rushed into the darkness and the bullets stopped flying, Tanner and Fox walked forward to inspect the damage.

  The fire pit had been knocked asunder. Hanratty threw the camp's water supply on fingers of fire traveling out from the scattered stones. Brown beat at the flames with his saddle blanket. Once Tanner was certain the fire had been contained, he moved over the trampled ground and examined the destruction.

  The tents were destroyed, stakes broken, the canvas torn and crushed into the ground. Hooves had gouged the saddles and ripped the leather in spots, but they still appeared serviceable. Foodstuffs littered the ground, and clothing. Several cooking pots were smashed beyond repair.

  Gold coins glittered in the starlight, strewn across the camp and beyond.

  Fox was first to speak. She pulled back her shoulders. "Is everyone all right? Any injuries?"

  "Jesus." Hanratty stared at the damage. "It happened so fast. One minute we were just sitting here talking, and the next instant two hundred animals were all around us."

  Jubal Brown pulled his hat out of the ground, examined the broken crown and brim, then threw it down in disgust. Stalking over to a carcass on the ground, he gave the dead animal a kick. "I wish I'd shot more of the bastards."

  "Where's Peaches?"

  "Right here, Missy." Peaches walked out of the darkness. "Our animals are all accounted for but agitated." He took a long look at the carcass. "Elk steaks tomorrow night."

  Tanner found the bank bags near where his tent had stood. All but one of the bags had busted under the pounding of hooves. Everywhere he turned he saw flashes of gold. The enormity of the task ahead thinned his lips.

  "Well," Fox said when everyone had looked his fill at the devastation. "Peaches, are you up to butchering that elk?"

  "I guess so." He didn't sound happy about it.

  "All right. Let's find the lanterns. Brown, you start cleaning up the camp. Hanratty, you help Tanner and me pick up coins."

  "Now? In the dark?"

  "It's going to take several hours to collect them and then do a count." She looked toward Tanner for confirmation, and he nodded. "We can't afford to lose another day, so we'll have to do it tonight." Everyone watched while she picked a torn sleeve off the ground, ripped off a strip and used it to tie back her hair. "Let's move."

  Tanner found a Dutch oven and kneeled beside the broken bags. Many of the coins had clumped here and he started scooping them into the pot. As near as he could figure, 1,875 coins were somewhere on the ground. Grimly, he consulted his pocket watch.

  "It's ten thirty-five," he said when Fox asked.

  Their eyes met and held for an instant, then she nodded and walked away, a lantern in one hand, the dishpan in her other.

  Tanner watched the swing of her hips and the wild rumble of red curls falling to her waist. For a moment his mouth went dry and he saw her in his mind, a lush hourglass figure of perfection. If ever there was a woman with no need to hide beneath oversized shapeless clothing, it was Fox.

  He thought about her as he stuffed the Dutch oven with gold and began filling another large pot, digging out coins embedded in the ground.

  Even if she hadn't told him so, he would have known she had limited experience with a man. And the man she'd mentioned had used her poorly. His mouth set in a line. The man had been a fool.

  Fox was the most responsive woman Tanner had ever encountered. More responsive than professional women, less inhibited than the respectable kind. She was every man's dream. Beautiful, open, eager to please, wildly exciting in her enthusiasm. He felt an instant stirring remembering the firm touch of her skin and the musky fragrance of her arousal. Their time together had passed all too quickly.

  At one in the morning, he and Hanratty and Fox walked through the camp one last time, holding their lanterns high, eyes on the ground. Hanratty found two coins they had missed, then they called it quits.

  "The count will go faster if you and Jubal count some of the pots and Hanratty and I count the rest," Fox suggested, swiveling to work out the kinks in her back. The hours of bending to search for and pick up coins made one's back ache like blazes.

  "You trust me to help with the count?" Jubal asked, covering a yawn.

  Tanner's smile didn't reach his eyes. "I'll be watching."

  They finished the coin count at a little after three in the morning. Tanner added the two sums and nodded wearily
.

  "We're missing thirteen coins." Fox reached for a lantern, but he shook his head. "We'll look again in the morning."

  She sank back on the scorched grass and rubbed her eyes. "We found one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. I wouldn't have believed it was possible."

  "We're only missing two hundred and sixty dollars." Standing, Hanratty rubbed the small of his back and gazed across the camp, which Jubal had restored to loose order.

  "Only?" Jubal asked. "Since when was two hundred and sixty dollars a piddly amount? You got a fortune you ain't mentioned?"

  "Shut up. I'm going to find some blankets and go to sleep." Without a backward glance, Hanratty moved into the darkness. Smiling, Jubal Brown followed.

  Fox scanned the pots of coins. "I'm too tired to think about what we'll do with these now that the bags are broken."

  "Before Mr. Hernandez went to sleep, he sewed some new bags out of the tent canvas."

  Fox's gaze softened and she nodded. "That's Peaches. Doing what needs to be done with no fuss about it." Lowering her head, she plucked at her shirttail. "Tonight was you know, the part before the shots and the elk"

  Tanner put an arm around her, feeling the weariness in her shoulders. "You were wonderful."

  "Was I?" Large blue eyes turned up to him. "Seems like you did everything and I just"

  He kissed her, slowly, deliberately, and smiled when she sighed. He rested his chin on top of her head. "Did I mention that the fanny project is a success?"

  She laughed softly, snuggling into him.

  "Do you have a name?"

  "Fox."

  "Other than Fox? Or is that the name your mother gave you?"

  "I have a name," she admitted reluctantly. "But I'm not going to tell you. It's one of those lady names that was never meant for someone like me."