“You were saying?” he said, caressing her cheek and neck with his big hand.
“Any man,” she said, trying not to look at him. “I’m not afraid of any man, any…”
Wesley began kissing her neck in hot little kisses that were oh, so very nice.
“It occurred to me today, Leah, that even though you’ve been married for years and even had a baby, you’ve never been made love to.”
She pulled away from him. “That’s absurd. How can I have a baby if…I mean you…the night of the storm we…”
“My beautiful wife, I thought you were a prostitute and used you as such. Had I known that was our early wedding night I assure you I’d have acted differently.”
“Differently?” she asked, curious. It was rather nice to be held by someone, to be touched and caressed.
“Wait a minute!” she said with a gasp. “You can’t touch me. I swore you’d have to take whatever you wanted from me, that I’d never give in to you. Just because I’m a Simmons doesn’t mean—”
“Shut up, Leah,” he murmured, “and consider yourself forced.” His lips took hers and held them—and held them until Leah’s arms slipped around his neck and pulled him closer. With one arm he pulled her down into the bed, one thigh going over both of hers.
When he pulled away from her, he saw wonder in her eyes and Wes felt a wave of guilt that this woman was his wife yet he’d taught her nothing. Slowly, with great patience, he began to caress her body.
The dress she wore was dirty, stained, and very loose on her. With a practiced hand, he began to undo the buttons down her front.
“Wesley, I don’t think…” Leah began. “Maybe we shouldn’t…oh dear!”
His hand slipped inside her dress, his warmth going through her layers of underclothes. He kissed her again as he lifted her off the bed and slipped the dress from her shoulders.
As the dress lay about her waist, it was Wesley’s turn to look at her in wonder. Never had he seen women’s underwear like this. Nearly transparent fabric showed the rosy pink crests of her nipples, floated downward, and barely concealed her creamy skin.
Leah immediately turned a pretty shade of pink. “Nicole’s dressmaker thought that since my outerwear had to be coarse, my underwear should be…should be…”
“Let’s see the rest of you,” Wes said eagerly, and before Leah could say a word he lifted her and removed four cotton petticoats to reveal lacy drawers that showed her long, firm legs to advantage.
“Leah,” Wes said in a slightly shaky voice as he grabbed her to him and began to kiss her passionately.
Leah responded instantly. She’d never been taught that she shouldn’t enjoy sex, and as a result she acted with as few inhibitions as a child. She began kissing him back with enthusiasm.
Wesley, surprised for a moment, perhaps remembering Kimberly’s rationing of kisses, smiled with pleasure at his wife’s response. His hands began a journey down her body, and her warm skin, barely covered by the silken fabric, excited him more.
While kissing her neck he began to unfasten the buttons to her underwear.
Leah was losing herself to his touch. Her sexual experience consisted of one quick fumble more than a year and a half ago. This caressing was different and it was sending the oddest feelings through her body. Her fingers clutched at Wesley’s head, entwining in his soft hair.
She protested when he pulled his mouth from hers and groaned with pleasure when his lips touched her throat. When his lips encircled her nipple, she lay still as one shock wave after another went through her.
“Wesley?” she asked in such a surprised way, her head coming up.
He paid no attention to her but continued to make love to her breasts.
Leah swallowed hard, her head rolled back, and she arched her body upwards in an instinctive reaction. Wesley’s hard hands gripped her waist tightly as his hot mouth moved down her body.
She grabbed handfuls of his shirt, caught buckskin fringe in her mouth. “Skin,” she murmured. “Let me touch you.”
Wesley came out of his clothes instantly and soon knelt over her wearing nothing but a bandage across his ribs.
Some part of Leah’s mind told her she should be concerned about his wound, but truthfully she didn’t care if it tore apart—at least right now she didn’t care. Her eyes trailed down to his swollen manhood and with no shyness she clasped it in both hands.
Wesley gave a deathlike groan and fell on her, kissing every part of her he could reach before climbing on top of her. He’d been worried she’d be afraid of him, but her eagerness was more than he could bear.
She arched to meet his first thrusts, threw her legs about his hips and pushed. Wes grabbed her and rolled to his back so she was on top. His hands on her waist, he guided her up and down, sometimes watching her, glorying in the look on her face, her expression of pure, undiluted pleasure.
When Wes could stand no more, he flung her to her back and with two blinding thrusts, brought both of them to a height of pleasure neither had experienced before.
Both lay together, locked in each other’s arms, until Wes raised himself on one elbow and looked down at her. Her eyes were glazed, her mouth soft, her hair in sweaty curls about her face. There was wonder in Wesley’s eyes: to think this hot little beauty was his very own wife, to have forever! Anytime he wanted her, she was his.
Leah opened her eyes and the look she saw on Wesley’s face made her come back to reality.
“I have to go,” she said abruptly.
He frowned because he didn’t want her to go, but he knew she must. Right now the only way he could protect her was by letting her go, entrusting her care to the two large strangers. “Go then,” he said with more harshness than he meant. It was difficult for his pride to allow what his common sense was forcing him to do.
Leah heard only the coolness in his voice and quickly she began to dress. She didn’t say a word as she slipped from the cabin into the darkness. But halfway down the mountain she sat down on the ground and began to cry.
She was never, never going to be a lady! Not all the cosmetics, pretty clothes, and hair rinses in the world were going to change her into a lady. She made vows of chastity, then at the first opportunity, she frolicked in the bed with a man who had done all manner of rotten things to her.
At each thought she cried harder. What would Regan or Nicole do now? No doubt Revis would see that they were ladies and he wouldn’t even try to molest them. It was only because she was a Simmons that Revis wanted her. And now that she’d shown Wes she wasn’t anything like a lady, he’d probably be glad to turn her over to someone like Revis who was her own type.
After a while she tried to collect herself and started down the mountain. Wesley Stanford might think she was of the same class as Revis, but Leah knew she wasn’t.
The cabin was silent when she entered, except for Abe’s snoring in a corner. There were no beds, so Leah took a place on the floor beside Verity, who often whimpered in her sleep.
The next morning Leah woke to the loud sound of Revis’s boots on the floor.
“Get up all of you!” he said with a growl. “You,” he said, addressing Leah, “where are the boys?”
Leah refused to be frightened of him. “Behind you,” she shot at him.
Revis gave her an angry look before turning. “I got a wagon sunk in the mud about two miles down the road. You two go get it out and Abe, you lazy nothin’, go help them.”
“Yes, Mr. Revis,” Abe said cheerfully. “Come on, you big louts, let’s get to work. We’ll have it out in no time.”
Leah held her breath for a moment, afraid Revis would stay with her, but he left with the others. Breathing a sigh of relief, she started cooking breakfast. No doubt the boys would be even hungrier after a morning’s exercise.
It was while she was reaching for a slab of bacon that hands caught her about the waist.
“They’re gone now,” Revis said into her ear.
She twisted away from him. �
��Don’t touch me or—”
“Or what?” he half purred, advancing on her. “You can’t get away from me.”
Leah kept backing. “Why do you even want me?” she asked. “You’re a good-looking man and you could have your choice of women. There must be women prettier than I am who are quite willing to have you.” She backed into a wall.
He grabbed her arm. “Ladies like you always think they’re too good for somebody like me. You think you’re better than highwaymen.”
“Ladies!” she exclaimed. “Abe is my brother. Do you think any lady could be related to that piece of filth?” Keep him talking, she thought. Maybe the boys will get back before he touches me.
“I’m not convinced he’s your brother.” Revis drew her to him. “What makes you stay here? Each night you leave here and go up the mountain. But you come back.”
He smiled at her gasp.
“Did you know the boys follow you? And when I try to follow, one of those stupid brothers of mine stops me. What do the three of you do on top of that mountain?”
“You’re disgusting. Now release me before they return.”
“We have hours. I sunk that wagon in two feet of mud. They’ll never get it out. And while they’re wallowing, I’m going to have myself a lady.”
“No.” She twisted in his grasp.
“What’s up the mountain, little sister? Shall we go have a look? Would you like to go with me and see what we can find?”
“No! I mean, why not? There’s nothing up there except a little privacy. I need to get away from the stench of you and this hideous place.”
“So why don’t you leave? Why do you stay and cook and take care of that nothing that used to be a woman?”
Leah couldn’t think of a quick answer to his question.
“Come on, lady, tell me.”
“I promised to help my brother. He did something for me once and I owe him,” she said in one breath.
“Abe never did anything for anybody. What are you hiding?”
Before Leah could answer, Bud appeared in the doorway, the lower half of his body covered in mud. Silently he walked across the room and put his hand on Revis’s shoulder.
With a flash of hatred, Revis whirled on the young man. “You got it out already?” he snapped.
Bud nodded once.
Leah clutched at the wall behind her as Revis shot her a malevolent look before leaving the cabin. “Thank you,” she whispered to Bud.
For the rest of the day Revis seemed always to be near her and that night she was afraid he would be able to follow her and find Wesley. She didn’t dare make the trek up the mountain and risk discovery.
“Will you take this to him?” she whispered to Bud, holding out a food-laden basket, her eyes pleading.
He nodded briefly but said nothing. Leah wasn’t sure how much she could trust the boys, but now she had to depend on them. “Don’t let Wesley see you,” she said. “He doesn’t know that I’m…where I am.”
Later Leah lay alone on the coarse blankets on the cabin floor and remembered the night before in Wesley’s arms. Her husband wanted her because she wasn’t a lady and Revis wanted her because he thought she was a lady.
“Men!” she hissed into the darkness and Verity, waking, crawled nearer to Leah.
“Ssh,” Leah soothed as Verity began to whimper. “No one will hurt you.”
But even as she said it, Leah knew she was lying. Revis obviously didn’t like being thwarted and Leah knew he was going to do his best to hurt her.
Chapter 19
Leah woke to even louder whimpers from Verity and when she opened her eyes she saw Revis kneeling over the woman, caressing her arm. Verity began to inch away, her head sliding up the cabin wall.
“Leave her alone!” Leah said.
“Will you take her place?”
“No, but—.”
“She’s not like you, Leah,” Revis said, using both hands to caress Verity’s arms. “This one is easily terrorized. She doesn’t have much of a mind now, but I could make her lose what she has. All I have to do is…”
He broke off as his hands went to Verity’s throat.
“Stop it!” Leah commanded, grabbing his forearm. “I’ll call Bud and Cal. They won’t let you harm her.”
“I won’t harm her. All I’ll do is let her see me. Wherever she looks that’s where I’ll be.”
Leah knew instantly that what he was talking about would work. Verity had a very tenuous grasp on sanity as it was and with Revis intimidating her she’d not last long. “Why?” Leah whispered. “Why would you hurt her? She’s nothing to you.”
“Because I want something from you,” Revis said. “I want you to take a ride with me.”
This took Leah aback. “A ride? Where? And when you get me away from the cabin do you attack me?”
Abruptly, Revis moved his hands away from Verity and sat back on his haunches. “Maybe I’ve been a little too rough on you. Your brother’d spent an hour an’ a half telling me how pretty you were and how willing you’d be to jump into my bed. So when you resisted me I thought it was an act, but when you used my own brothers against me…” He gave her a reproachful look. “I’m only human, Leah, and I guess I got a little angry.”
Leah sat quite still, looking at him, her mouth half-open in astonishment.
“And I don’t want to terrorize this young lady either, but I want to show you that I’m not such a bad person and I know the only way you’ll come riding with me is if I blackmail you.”
Leah looked at his handsome dark face, his eyes begging her to believe him.
Revis caught both her hands in his. “I know I’m a thief, but maybe you could help me find a way out. Just get to know me a little, Leah. Let me show you that I’m human. I swear by everything I cherish that I won’t hurt you. I won’t touch you at all. We’ll just ride down the mountain a little way, talk some, look at the flowers. That’s all. I swear to you.”
“I…I don’t know,” she stumbled. “The boys wouldn’t—.”
“The boys can’t know!” Revis snapped. “Now that you’ve turned my own brothers against me even they don’t trust me. If you and I go off together and come back and you’ve not been harmed maybe I can win their trust again. Do you know what it’s like to lose the people you love most?”
Leah thought she just might cry at that question. She’d lost everyone she’d ever loved. Even the man she’d spent her childhood loving had turned against her. “Yes,” she whispered, “I know what it feels like to lose people.”
“Then help me,” he begged. “Give me a chance to prove to my brothers that I still deserve their respect. And let me show you the man behind the villain.”
He grinned at her then and his smile, which she’d never seen before, was charming. What could it hurt if she rode with him? And if she didn’t he’d no doubt keep his threats about terrifying Verity.
“Please, Leah,” he said softly, squeezing her hands.
“All right,” she agreed. “How do we get away?”
“Right after breakfast slip into the trees. Tell one of the boys you need privacy. They’ll obey you. I’ll wait for you at the bottom of the ridge.” He smiled again. “Thank you, Leah. This means a lot to me.”
With that he stood and left the cabin.
While she was cooking breakfast, Leah thought about Revis’s words. Who was she to judge a person when her own brother and father were criminals? Perhaps Revis wasn’t all bad. Maybe some of him was good. He did take care of Abe and his young brothers who were possibly too stupid to be able to take care of themselves. Maybe there were extenuating circumstances. Maybe there were reasons why he thieved. Maybe she could help him, show him there were other ways.
By the time she’d cleared away breakfast, she was actually looking forward to her ride. As she picked up the empty dishpan, Verity caught her arm.
“Don’t go,” Verity said in a hoarse whisper. “Revis is evil.”
In spite of herself, Leah pulled away
from Verity. She couldn’t very well say what she thought, that Verity was frightened of her own shadow. Verity was afraid of Bud and Cal. No doubt she’d warn Leah not to be alone with one of those harmless giants.
“I’ll be fine,” Leah said patronizingly. “You just rest and when I return I’ll bring you some flowers.”
“Leah,” Verity pleaded.
“Go rest,” Leah half ordered and the light went out of Verity’s eyes. Slowly the scared little woman turned back toward her corner.
Leah clucked her tongue for a moment over the woman’s lack of courage, but she didn’t waste time thinking about Verity. As soon as she started getting along with Revis, she could get Wesley out of the forest.
A half hour later she was running down the mountainside. It’d been quite easy to escape the boys and now she was looking forward to a morning away from work. When she saw Revis, she smiled tentatively.
“Come on.” He half laughed. “Your horse awaits you, my lady.”
At first Leah was so pleased to be away from her worries for a few minutes that she barely noticed Revis. It was hot and the air was hazy with mist—and it all looked beautiful.
“There’s fire in you, Leah,” Revis said beside her. “You’d be a good partner for a man.”
“I’m a married woman,” she said, patting the horse’s neck.
“And where is your husband?”
“In Sweetbriar, Kentucky,” she said quickly. “Are we going anyplace in particular?”
“Just down the mountain. Any man who’d let you out of his sight would be a fool. I could give you a silk dress.”
She smiled at him. “I have several silk dresses, thank you. And I don’t think my husband would want me to remain here.” How she wished that were true!
“Is there nothing I can do to persuade you to stay with me?”
In spite of telling herself it didn’t matter, it was very nice to be desired by this good-looking man. He thought she was a lady even though he knew she was a Simmons.
The woods began to thin as stumps showed where travelers had cut down trees.
“Isn’t that the Wilderness Trail down there?” she asked, looking at the deep, permanent wagon ruts. “We’d better go back.”