by Faye Hall
“What do you expect me to do with these?” she asked awkwardly.
“Wear them,” he explained. “You can go behind the trees there to change in privacy.”
“You can’t be serious?” Phoebe directed at him, slight laughter in her tone. “These are men’s clothing. You can’t expect me to wear these?”
Duncan didn’t crack a smile. “You can’t expect me to not notice how you look in what you’re already wearing, let alone tolerate you lifting your skirts up for the rest of the journey merely to cool down,” he exclaimed.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked him.
Going to her, his hand went behind her head, his fingers lacing in her hair. He kissed her passionately, his tongue brushing against her lips begging for entrance, his hand lowering to rest on her now exposed thigh. When her hands went to his shoulders, trying gently to push him away, Duncan broke their embrace.
“It means if I have to look at you wearing what you are now...your stockings down...your skirts tucked up...your hair tied loosely behind your head...I’ll bed you before the sun sets, Phoebe.”
He let out a steadying sigh, his hand falling away from her thigh as he took a step away from her, well aware what he’d just admitted to. “Now get changed!”
* * * * *
Minutes passed as Duncan waited for Phoebe, secluded behind the Acacia, to get changed into what he assumed was more suitable attire. He didn’t want this woman suffering from the heat any more than was necessary. More to the point he needed to keep his emotions in check. He couldn’t afford to look at this woman as any more than a means to an end. He needed to remember why he was returning her to Inkerman Downs Station and just who was paying him to do so.
“I’m ready,” he heard her say softly from behind him.
Turning to look at this woman, all his assumptions dwindled. He thought upon handing her some more masculine clothes, he would be able to ignore her genuine beauty, along with the almost constant tug she seemed to have on his emotions.
What he had seen before him, though, was a beauty unlike any other he had ever seen. The pants hugged her hips like they were made for her, emphasizing her natural curves even more than before. The shirt he had given her to wear was barely thick enough to hide the delicate camisole she still wore to cover her firm breasts.
The heat that usually filled him when he looked upon Phoebe and all her beauty began consuming him unlike any other he’d felt before. He wanted to go to her, removing every inch of her clothing. He wanted to caress every inch of her delicate pale white flesh, revelling in her sweet taste.
Walking over to her, his fingers traced unseen patterns along her cheek and down the small V-neck opening of her buttoned shirt.
Leaning into her, he kissed her lightly, silently begging her to push him away.
She didn’t.
Finally he left her mouth, his stare dark with passion. Carefully he took several steps away from her, suddenly turning away from her.
“W-Where are you going?” Phoebe asked him.
He stopped, turning back to face her. “I can’t do this,” he explained, his tone steady. “I won’t do this. I’m being paid to bring you back home. Nothing more.”
Again he tried to turn away from her. Again she called after him, stopping him.
“Duncan...where are you going?”
“There’s a small freshwater waterhole near here. It catches runoff from the Burdekin River. We need water for the horse and I need to refill our canteens...and I need to get away from you.”
“Why?” she asked, her words pained. “Do you detest me so much?”
He smiled at her choice of words, slowly stepping toward her. “I need to get away from you, Phoebe, before I do something we both may grow to regret...before I can no longer resist you.”
She bit her lip nervously as she lowered her eyes from his. “Would that really be so very bad?”
He watched her as her words mulled over in his head. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
Phoebe looked up at him, and met his gaze. “What if I do, Duncan?”
She reached out to him, her hand rested on his chest, the warmth of her skin coming through the fabric of his shirt. Leaning into him, she brushed her lips against his innocently, moving her body closer to his.
He could take no more.
Pushing away from her, he turned and began walking away from her.
“Where the hell are you going?” Phoebe yelled after him.
“For a nice cold swim!” he yelled back, his steps quickening.
Storming away from her, he walked into the mulgra and thick Acacia surrounding them, needing to get as far away from Phoebe as possible. He wasn’t sure if she knew exactly what she had been doing to him what with her words and her actions but he was near at breaking point. Never before had he wanted to be with a woman as much as he did with her and it was distracting him from the mission he was on. He hadn’t been sent after this woman to bed her, but to bring her back home.
Hearing a whistle coming from in front of him, Duncan quickly looked up to see an aboriginal man standing in the trees just looking at him.
“What’s wrong, Simon?” he asked, recognising him immediately.
The native man stepped toward him. “There are men on horseback looking for you. They were in Ravenswood asking questions about you and the woman you took.”
“How far behind us are they?” Duncan asked.
“A few days. Maybe less.”
Duncan nodded at the answer he received. “Try and deter them for as long as you can, Simon.”
Watching as the dark skinned man nodded and turned, quickly disappearing into the scrub around them, Duncan knew danger had indeed found him yet again. He had hoped that the men they had seen earlier were nothing more than lost travellers, but after hearing what Simon had told him, he was certain this wasn’t the case. He had hoped that after all these years he would no longer have such a target on his back, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
It seemed his family still would rather him dead than have him return to Inkerman alive.
Knowing now for certain the danger that was hunting then, Duncan knew he needed to keep them moving further away from the main track. With Phoebe travelling with him, he had no chance to outrun them, but maybe he could lose them in the local wilderness. He knew this area better than most, having grown up travelling this area with goods for his family. He was also lucky enough to have befriended many of the natives that occupied this area this time of year. His only concern, though, was that their food supplies were running low, but thanks to Simon and the other aboriginal people of the area, he was certain he could utilize the native bush tucker to help them survive for as long as was necessary.
Turning toward the waterhole, he knew he should take this opportunity to bathe because he didn’t know when they would again be able to stop. That and his blood was still boiling from his encounter with Phoebe earlier.
He had hoped to spend longer here near the water hole, maybe even hunt for a rabbit or bandicoot to eat, but knowing these men were gaining on them, Duncan knew he would have to return to the camp and get them back on the road as soon as possible.
He knew this was his only hope to keep both himself and Phoebe safe from the harm that was hunting them.
* * * * *
Phoebe stood there, watching while Duncan walked away from her, confused by what was happening. Never had she known any man to refuse such ardent advances by any woman. That he had made her wonder exactly why and what he might be hiding.
Needing to understand his actions better, she followed him at a distance, knowing she had to keep out of sight of him for fear of aggravating his anger. Still she had to know where he was going, and with whom, if anyone, he was meeting.
Hearing something similar to splashing water up ahead, Phoebe slowed her steps, keeping to the thick scrub surrounding her. Noticing a small clearing up ahead surrounded by tall gum trees, she slowly pe
eked through the vegetation, needing to see what was hidden on the other side.
Just as he said, Duncan had made his way to a small waterhole. She wasn’t ignorant to his clothing hanging on a nearby tree branch, nor to his nudity while swimming and wading in the water. Part of her wanted to go and join him in the cool water; another part of her knew all she would be risking should she do so.
Still, standing here watching him move carelessly in the waterhole, Phoebe found herself wondering what he would feel like, his firm naked skin pressed against her own, his arms holding her in passionate embrace. She knew already what it felt like to be kissed by this man, but she found herself wanting more than that. She wanted to feel him beg for even an ounce of her passion...beg her to give him something no other man could ever have from her.
She wanted…
“A lady of well breeding doesn’t hide in the bushes spying on a man bathing, Phoebe!” Duncan yelled out to her, stopping and standing up in the water, his most private of parts only now just hidden from her line of sight.
She didn’t move, hoping that if she didn’t move he may think she wasn’t there to start with.
“I know you’re there, Phoebe.” he yelled in her direction again.
Fearful what would become of her now she had been found out, she quickly turned and ran back in the direction of their temporary camp. She needed, now more than ever, to get away from this man. The feelings he was creating in her scared her as nothing else ever had, and she was finding herself willing to do things, to risk things, just for a slight glimpse of this man and who he was.
She needed to remind herself that this man, this Duncan MacAllester, was little more than some hired thug sent to drag her back to a life she didn’t want...to a life that would ultimately kill her, that was if he didn’t do it first.
Running through the mulgra and trees, the low hanging branches from the surrounding corkwood trees tagged at her clothing. Phoebe only had one plan in mind—escape. She would take the horse that was waiting at the campsite and she would leave this place and this man far behind her.
“You were spying on me?” a masculine voice yelled at her. A strong hand came forward and grabbed her by the elbow, stopping her escape. “Why?”
“Let go of me, you son of a bitch!” she yelled at him, fighting back at the man holding her.
He grabbed for her assaulting hands, and stopped her attack on him. “Tell me why you were spying on me?” he demanded from her.
“Let me go...please, Duncan…,” she begged him, her struggles lessening, her eyes looking up at the commanding expression that filled his face. “Please let me go…”
Holding her hands above her head, he pushed her back against a nearby Melaleuca tree, the papery bark hit her firmly in the small of her back.
Duncan moved in closer to her, his body barely a breath away, his face so close his breath was hot against the small of her neck.
“Did you like what you saw, Phoebe?” he asked her, his words barely more than a whisper against her ear.
She shifted her gaze away, and tried hard to ignore the flutter in her stomach his closeness caused. There was a time she had thought to maybe seduce him into letting her escape, but now…
Phoebe hadn’t accounted for the feelings he would stir inside of her; feelings she had neither control over nor any idea what to do with. She began to feel a fool lusting after Duncan, a man who obviously had experience with women, and no doubt a line of women in his crusade whose bodies he had sought pleasure with. How could an innocent like her compete with that?
Unmoving, she hoped that maybe if she stayed silent then the man would just leave her be.
He didn’t.
He rubbed his nose softly against the tender skin on her neck. A shudder went through her as she felt his hands lower to the curve of her hips. He slightly squeezed them.
“I shouldn’t be here with you, Phoebe...not like this.”
She looked at him then, her eyes finally rising to meet his. “Is it so bad, Duncan?” she asked, her words barely more than a struggled whisper. “Would it be so bad for you to want to be with me—to touch me—to—?”
His lips on hers stopped any further questions she may have had, his hands busily pulled at her clothing and begged for any entrance.
Chapter Three
Duncan held Phoebe to him, his hands busily trying to strip her clothing from her, his own self aching to feel this woman’s limbs entwined with his own. He knew he shouldn’t be here with this woman, certainly not like this. He had told her family he would return her to them safely, with her purity intact. He needed to stop this now before it went any further.
Still he couldn’t.
Having her here with him now, the softness of her now only a breath away—the sweet smell of her clinging to his skin—the taste of her on his lips—Duncan knew he had only meant to kiss her to teach her a lesson; to teach her there were consequences for her actions, especially when that act was spying on a man bathing. What he hadn’t expected though was for her to return his kiss so ardently, her hands busily trying to push his unbuttoned shirt from his shoulders and to the grass beneath them.
Unbuttoning her shirt, he tentatively opened it, revealing the light shift she wore beneath decorated with thin Victorian lace. His hands went to her breasts, cupping them gently through the thin fabric, expecting any minute for her to slap him and push him away. When she didn’t, Duncan found himself wondering exactly what type of woman she was to be out here with him, allowing him the privileges he was wilfully taking with her.
Maybe she wasn’t quite the innocent her family had told him she was.
Hesitantly, as if testing her boundaries, he lifted her thin shift up over her head, the cotton fabric falling gently to the grass at their feet. Leaning into her, his lips gently tasted her soft skin at the rise of her naked breast, his senses going into turmoil at the mere taste of this woman. Taking her entire erect nipple into his mouth, he growled softly at the pleasure that filled him. His hands moved from her thin waist around to cup her still-clothed rear. He held her against him, and let her feel the hardness restrained in his jeans.
Phoebe’s hands went to his chest, and pushed him back away from her slightly.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, unsure if he would even be able to if such was her wish.
She didn’t answer him as her hands cautiously left his now-naked chest and slid down the firmness of his stomach to the waistband of his jeans. She struggled to try and unfasten them, stopping only when his hands went to hers and stopped her.
Her eyes went to his, her look almost pleading.
“Please, Duncan— I want—”
His lips on hers stopped her words though, his arms held her to him as he laid her gently on the soft grass atop their discarded shirts. His kisses trailed down her neck, as his hands eagerly unfastened her trousers, her only remaining attire, and pushed them down her legs. Freeing one of her legs, he lifted one of her knees to his side, and opened her to him.
His hand leaving her knee, he quickly unfastened his jeans, and unable to hold back any more, he plunged inside her warmth and straight through her layer of purity.
Hearing her stifle her cry of pain, Duncan stilled, unsure what to do next. He had never bedded a virgin before, and he didn’t want to cause her any more distress than he obviously already had.
“I’m so sorry, honey,” he whispered against her cheek as he kissed away her fresh tears.
Preparing himself to be told to leave her be, he readied himself to pull out from her, but her knees squeezed against his hips stopping him.
“Please don’t stop, Duncan,” she pleaded with him, her hips cautiously rising up to meet his again, her thighs spreading further apart inviting him further inside of her.
He didn’t try to hide his confusion. “Are you sure you want to?” he asked her hopefully.
Phoebe nodded. “I want you, Duncan. I want you inside me.”
Her words filled him with
a pleasure unlike any other, so he followed her direction, and plunged his throbbing manhood deeper inside her tightness, again and again as his entire body tingled with the rapture that consumed him.
He held her to him. Intentionally his arms protected her from the hardness of the ground, as his hands caressed the silken flesh of her naked beauty. As he moved his aching body in and out of her warmth, her honey caressed him. He begged to stay in control of himself and the unfamiliar emotions this woman forced through him. Never had he felt as if he was losing himself to any woman before, no matter what state of sexual pleasure he engaged in with them. That he felt like he was drowning in this woman by a mere connection of their skins scared him.
Feeling her thighs spreading further as she lifted her knees higher, her hips raised up eagerly to meet his in a rhythm, Duncan’s hand went quickly to her hip stopping her.
“You need to stop, Phoebe,” he begged of her, his words strained. “You need…”
But he couldn’t finish his plea, her lips caressed his naked chest, her teeth biting at him as he watched pleasure filled shudders consume her entire body. He tried to lift his line of sight slightly, needing to watch her experience her first intense sexual pleasure, but as he watched her face fill with gratification, the tightness of her quim squeezed at his now-straining organ, and he knew he was lost to this woman.
A shaky sigh escaped him as he drove his hardened organ again into Phoebe’s now drenched hole. A sudden bolt of pleasure shot through him, and ripped his control from him. Never had he been with a woman so passionate, so boundless that she was consumed by her own lustful hunger so much she would leave teeth marks on him.
Duncan could feel her warmth drawing him further and further inside of her now-pulsing quim, listening as a gasp of pleasure came from her yet again. He could feel her body tensing as yet another orgasm brewed in her lustful little body. The intenseness of this woman consumed him until he could feel himself drowning in her juices, his own release ripped from him. Thrusting deep inside of her one final time, he filled her with his cum.