by Faye Hall
Following Phoebe into the darkness, her white shirt visible through the blackened scrub, she was almost highlighted by the moonlight. Hearing her fast moving steps pulling to a halt not far in front of him, he slowed his own steps, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself.
Creeping forward through the flora surrounding him, careful not to step too heavily on the dry leaves beneath his shoes, he noticed what looked to be a clearing up ahead of him. He inched forward through the trees until he saw her stop near the bank of what looked to be the waterhole she had spoken of earlier. He knew he should turn back to camp now as he watched her throw her clothes over the branch of the black wattle standing near the waterhole.
He couldn’t be near this woman while she was undressed knowing she would surely rip his fraying control from him in minutes.
He needed to turn away now and return to their camp.
Still he couldn’t.
He inched forward, and stopped on the edge of the clearing. He stood in awe as he watched Phoebe step carefully into the water. The ripples surrounded the curves of her rear and inched up her slender back as she stepped further and further into the water.
His heart thudding hard in his chest, and he found himself wanting to go join her in the cool water, to hold her naked softness against him again. He wanted to taste her and all the pleasures of her flesh.
“Why are you here, Duncan?” she suddenly asked, drawing his attention away from his thoughts and again to her naked beauty before him.
He shrugged at her question, hoping to appear casual. “I’m just watching you.”
Phoebe ducked down further into the water obviously trying to cover herself. “I’m not trying to escape if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Duncan found his eyes unable to leave the image she made before him. He took a cautious few steps forward to finally clear the shrubbery.
“I’m more worried that some wild animal may find you and think you a tasty meal.” He let out a steadying sigh. “Or that some other hunter might be roaming the area and decide you would make the perfect catch for the night.”
She began wading around in the water, her head tipping back and dipping her hair to wet it completely.
“And what, Duncan?” she asked as she straighten again, her hands coming up to wipe droplets of water from her forehead. “You don’t want to share me?”
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t share my women, Phoebe.”
She stood up in the waterhole then, water droplets covering her and cascading down her naked breasts.
“But I am not one of your women, Duncan.”
He stood, walking toward the edge of the waterhole. “So you say, honey, yet still you are allowing me to watch you bathe.”
“A man like you must have seen hundreds of naked women. What is one more?” she asked as she lowered herself back in.
He watched her frolicking in the water, her luscious curves looking far softer than he remembered. He felt his senses straining at watching this woman swimming around so carefree barely a few feet away from him. When she stopped to look at him, her breasts sat just above the water surrounding her. He fought hard to hide the soft growl in his throat.
“Maybe you are right, Phoebe,” he replied, barely loud enough to be heard. “But unlike the other women I have laid with, your family is paying me well to not even lay a hand on you.”
“Seems you didn’t stick to the deal, Duncan.”
Her words rang true to him, reminding him of just what he had shared with this woman, her legs wrapped around him, her soft pleas begging him to pour himself deep inside her. He had caressed her like they were lovers and not just two lonely souls swept up together in the events of time.
Taking his seat back on the fallen old tree, he buried his face in his hands, and tried in vain to block out the allure that was Phoebe Porter. Usually he had little trouble separating his emotions for the women he bedded from his business. Usually there were no emotions at all, just a physical release needed by both parties involved. What had happened with her, though, was different...it was seductive...passionate…tender…
Phoebe was unlike any of the other women Duncan had indulged his sexual appetite with over the years. She was so different from any other woman he’d ever known, being braver both in her actions and her words. She was so disparate to any woman he had ever slept with, her own passion and hunger for him ripping every inch of control from him. She was everything he’d always been careful to avoid over the years; knowing the consequences that would most likely follow should he become involved with such a woman. Yet here he was now, pining for even a slight show of her affections.
Duncan knew what a fool he was. He also knew he should never have laid a hand on her. He certainly shouldn’t have…
His frustrations at his own weakness building, he raised his gaze back to the night sky around him, and hoped he might find anything that might distract him until he could bring some sense back to his obviously wayward mind and emotions.
What he saw, though, was a femme fatale swimming in the small waterhole before him, curling herself around in the water like some siren lost at sea. Watching her naked, frolicking so freely in the water, he could feel his groin tighten as he thought of what might happen should he join her in the cool water, damning all restrictions to hell. After all, he had already taken her purity, so to lay with this woman yet once more couldn’t really cause any extra harm.
Reminding himself that such a young woman could very well fall with child should he not be careful in his indiscretions with her, Duncan knew this was a consequence he wasn’t ready for. He hoped such a dash of reality would be enough to convince him that he should no longer share a bed with this woman. As his gaze held on her, he found himself imagining Phoebe’s beautiful form changing and her belly swelling with his child.
Cursing under his breath, Duncan silently called himself a fool. These thoughts had no place in his life. This woman was not just some whore for his taking. She was a lady with standing, one with a fiancé waiting for her.
He couldn’t afford to be playing these games with her.
Studying her in the water, his breathing came to him short and ragged, heat shooting through him. He had to get this woman home and soon. He could barely resist the temptation that was her now. The more time he spent with her...well...he could only image what would happen.
Getting up he walked to the edge of the waterhole, trying to convince himself the only reason he was so attracted to her was because he had been told not to lay a hand on her.
“Phoebe,” he yelled out to her. “It’s time you got out of that water.”
She stopped her swimming, turning in the water to look at him. “But it’s so much cooler in here, Duncan. Can’t I just stay in a while longer? I won’t cause no harm. You could always come in and join me for a bit if you want.”
He tried to hold strong and ignore the urge he had to take up her on her invite to join her.
“Either you come out of that water now, or I’ll come in there to get you.”
Standing up in the water, Phoebe smiled daringly at him. “Well then, Duncan, it looks like you’re going to have to come in after me.”
Chapter Four
“Do you really want to play this game?” he asked her.
Phoebe looked as if his threat didn’t concern her. “You tell me, Duncan.”
Holding his control in check, knowing he couldn’t again risk succumbing to this woman, he stormed into the waterhole and, lifting her up over his shoulder. He tried to ignore her struggles as he carried her from the water. Finally reaching the bank near where her clothes were hung, Duncan set her feet down. Reaching up for her clothes he threw them at her.
“Now cover yourself up!” he yelled at her.
Wrapping her shirt around her, Phoebe held her trousers close to her. Walking to him, she stopped in front of him, her hand reaching up and slapping him hard across the cheek. He reached up and grabbed her wrist hard.
“What the hell was that for?” he asked sternly.
She didn’t reply though. She just stood there staring at him, her shirt hanging loosely around her barely covering her naked breasts.
Duncan stared at her, trying not to see the inviting woman before him, her nakedness mere inches from him ready and willing for his taking. He had not come here for this. Or had he?
Unable to control his desires, he cautiously reached out to her, his fingers light on the crease between her breasts. Her skin was so soft, so tender that he found himself forgetting any restraint he’d thought to have. All logic and sense of mind left him. All he could think of now was this woman and how much he wanted to taste her.
Leaning into her, his lips lightly caressing her own, he tasted her sweetness. Pulling away briefly, he studied her, marvelling at her beauty...that was until she slapped him clean across the face again and went to storm back in the direction of the camp.
Reaching out to her, his hand caught hers, and stopped her retreat. He knew he should let her go back to the camp and as far away from him as possible.
Still he couldn’t.
Pulling her back to him, he embraced her passionately, his lips consuming hers begging for more than just a simple taste of her on his lips. Lifting Phoebe up into his arms, he carried her back to their camp, and laid her down on her bedding as he succumbed to his intense desire for this woman.
Duncan stripped her of her meagre clothing in what seemed seconds. His unquenchable desire for her governed his actions. Taking her trousers, he threw them to the ground beside her bedding and laid her carefully on her blanket. He knelt into her, his lips lightly kissing her stomach. His tongue tasted her creamy skin just above the patch of soft dark curls at the apex of her thighs. He was hypnotised by the mere presence of this woman, her flesh against his burning for whatever pleasure he wanted to give her. But he wanted more than this...he wanted more of this woman.
His caressing lips lowering, his hands shifted to cup Phoebe’s curvaceous bottom, lifting her upwards to him, his direction certain. He wanted to taste this woman, had wanted to taste her from the moment he first kissed her, and he knew nothing would stop him now from what he desired most.
Lowering his head to meet her raised hips, Duncan carefully ran his tongue through her soft curls, the taste of her quim igniting his already raging desires. He wanted to take her hungrily, wanted to show her the madness she had been creating in him, but he didn’t want to scare her. After all, she was still so much an innocent, and very inexperienced in the pleasures a man could give a woman as passionate as herself. He wanted to teach her just how pleasurable the joining of a man and a woman could be.
Hearing her impassioned gasp as he again lapped at her, he feared he wouldn’t be able to hold onto his control long enough to give Phoebe all he wanted to. The mere thought of her experiencing pleasure and allowing him to drink from her filled him with rapture and desires that were already bordering on breaking point.
Tasting her sweet quim juice on his tongue, Duncan knew he wanted more than just this. He wanted to taste all of her. His tongue still caressing her swollen clit, he carefully slid a single finger into her tight hole. Instantly he felt a shudder go through her, and she tried to pull away but his hand still cupping her rear wouldn’t let her.
“Please, Phoebe,” he begged her. “I want you to…I want to taste you…”
As if triggered by his plea, her hands went to his head, her fingers gripping in his hair firmly as another gasp of passion escaped her. Her hips began jutting slightly against his mouth as if searching for something more than he was giving her. Duncan pushed his single digit inside of her further, filling her as deep as he could, his tongue still busily sucking and licking her clit, wanting to milk her passion from her, to give her a pleasure he was certain no other man had.
She jutted her hips against his tongue faster, her motions getting more erratic as her legs began to slightly quiver, her gasps turning to moans of pleasure as her quim orgasmed against his mouth.
Her hips relaxed back down against her bedding, her legs spread wide. He gently removed his digit from her, his tongue still lapping at her sweet juices. Reluctantly leaving her throbbing slit, he slid his body against hers and hungrily kissed her lips, letting her taste herself on his still wet lips. Pushing his jeans urgently down from his hips, he positioned himself readily between her thighs and plunged his throbbing shaft inside of her as far as he could.
Their passions sated, Duncan held her to him, her slender nakedness spooned against his own, her still naked rear nestled against his sated manhood.
“You are such a beautiful woman, Phoebe,” he whispered close to her ear, his lips gently kissing the tender spot below her earlobe. “And you taste...so intoxicating.”
When she made no attempt to respond to him, his hands pressed affectionately against her stomach, pushing her against him.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked cautiously, not sure he wanted the answer.
She shook her head. “Why would you ask such a thing?”
He shrugged. “You are so small, honey. So unlike any woman I’ve ever been with.” Again he kissed her lightly on the neck. “I’ve never taken a woman’s innocence before. Had I have known…”
His words drifted off. He knew he should say something to the likes of not wanting to have bedded a virgin but he couldn’t. He couldn’t deny the pleasure he felt when he finally broke through her purity, something she could never give any other man.
“Had you have known what?” Phoebe asked intruding into his thoughts. “Are you claiming that had you known I was still a virgin you wouldn’t have bedded me?”
Duncan thought on her question, and shame filled him as he admitted the truth. “I merely meant I would have been more careful with you...I should have been more careful with you.”
Again silence fell between them. His hands gently caressed the soft skin on her upper arm, as his lips kissed her lightly on the back. Even now he felt consumed by this woman and by her passion. He tried to be gentler with her tonight fearing she may have still been sore from their first encounter, but try as he did he couldn’t control the hunger she stirred in him. When she had raised her knees up, her thighs spreading wider and wider welcoming him deeper and deeper inside her tightness, Duncan couldn’t stop from pouring his seed as deep into her as he could reach.
This woman had given him so much that no other woman ever had. She had given him so much she could never again give to another man…not even her fiancé.
Remembering the man that he was supposed to be returning her to, and how little he knew about him, Duncan’s curiosity finally got the better of him.
“Who is your fiancé, Phoebe?” he asked her as he held her.
* * * * *
“How can you ask me such a thing?” Phoebe asked him as she pulled the light sheet covering them up higher to cover her naked breasts.
His fingers traced a light and affectionate pattern down her slender back.
“I ask because I need to know which man I have wronged by being the first to enjoy your passions...and which man I shall envy knowing he will be able to touch you at his pleasure.”
She pulled away from him, and reached for her clothes and began to dress.
“My fiancé is not of my choosing, Duncan. I am an arrangement. Nothing more.”
“His name?” he asked again.
Phoebe stalled while she buttoned her shirt.
“His name is Gordon MacAllester.”
When she heard nothing from him, she turned fully to face him. She couldn't ignore the look on his face.
“You know him, don't you?” she asked him.
He nodded slowly. “You could say that.”
“Then surely you must understand why I don't want to go back to him.”
He held her stare, looking as if he already knew what she had to confess.
“Gordon was engaged to another woman some years back, Duncan. Rumour has it he bea
t her within an inch of her life,” she continued.
Still he didn’t look at her.
“I’d hazard a guess by the look on your face that you know this story all too well.” Phoebe uttered, slightly concerned.
“Gordon did more than beat her,” he finally spoke up, pulling the sheet around him. “He raped her again and again. He beat her again and again. The night she died, Gordon gave her to his friends to play with at their will. They, too, beat her again and again. They, too, raped her again and again.”
“You knew her?” Phoebe asked carefully.
He nodded. “We were…” He stopped then, as if realising what he was going to admit to. “We were friends.”
She raised her brow suspecting this man wasn’t telling her the whole truth. “Did you sleep with her, Duncan?”
Reaching for his jeans, he pulled them on. “Honey, if you want a list of all the women I’ve slept with, we could be here for the entire night.”
Standing up, he fastened his jeans. “We have an early start in the morning, Phoebe. You best get some rest.”
He walked away from her then and returned to his own bed.
Suddenly feeling the emptiness of his departure, she wondered exactly what she had said wrong to upset him so much. He obviously knew more about her fiancé and the woman they had spoken of more than he was letting on.
When at first she had learnt of Duncan’s surname, she thought nothing of it due to its familiarity. Now given his reaction, she started wondering if indeed these two men shared more than just their last names.
Early the next morning, the sun still breaking the sky, Phoebe was shaken awake by a strong masculine hand.
“We have to leave—Now!” he demanded, his voice low yet stern.
Sitting up alert in her makeshift bed, she struggled to clear her still sleep filled mind. “It’s barely daylight, Duncan. What has happened?”