“Well, for a woman hell-bent on becoming a respectable teacher, you sure crawled into my bed fast enough last night.”
She didn’t respond, pulling free of him and walking over toward a small vanity table. She reached up, pulling her hair free of pins. Wade came up behind her, combing her long, soft hair with his fingers as she started unbuttoning her gown.
“I suppose I could blame the cider,” she said finally. She finished the buttons, and pulled the dress over her head and shoulders, Wade helping. Her petticoats followed, and when she finally turned to face him she wore only her chemise, pantalets and corset. She put one hand on her hip and cocked it at him playfully.
“But I’m not entirely sure that would be the whole truth,” she admitted. “I think that maybe a little part of me wanted to get caught.”
“Well, a big part of me wanted you to get caught,” Wade laughed, grabbing her hand and pressing it against the front of his trousers. “I’ll be happy to introduce you to it.”
“We’ve met,” she smirked. “Several times.” Wade kissed her again, reaching around to pull at the strings of her corset. “I thought you liked it on,” she said, giving him a sultry look. He nodded, and laughed.
“Yes, I have to say it does great things for your figure,” he said. “But I’d like to see all of you.”
“Well, I haven’t seen all of you yet,” she said. “And you’ve seen lots of me. I don’t think that’s quite fair, do you?”
He shook his head, smiling at her, and she sashayed around him over to the bed, dropping down with a bounce.
“Strip,” she ordered.
Wade stopped short. She knew he wasn’t used to a woman giving him orders, but it was about time he learned what it felt like. He’d been ordering Catherine around for years. Her new husband stood, just looking at her, and she lost patience.
“I said strip.”
He nodded his head at her, and then reached down to the vest, unbuttoning it slowly. Then he pulled the fine fabric off.
“Oh, I think you can do better than that,” Catherine said, smirking. “I’ve been giving you peep shows for months now, at least that’s what you told me in the kitchen. I think you owe me a little more enthusiasm.”
He offered her a challenging stare, and then dropped his hands to his stomach, rubbing it through the thin fabric of his soft cotton shirt. He rubbed up and down several times, pulling the fabric free, taunting her with little glimpses of the muscular flesh beneath. Then he started pulling the buttons apart from the bottom up, revealing his sculpted muscles and the light sprinkling of dark hair that covered his chest. Finally the shirt hung loose, and he pulled it off his shoulders, tossing it to the ground.
“Is that better?” he asked. She smiled and nodded, licking her lips absently. His ni**les were round and tight, and she wondered how they tasted.
“Now the trousers,” she said, leaning back on her elbows, thrusting her br**sts up and out toward him. She watched his eyes follow her body hungrily, and gave a husky chuckle.
“Trousers, Wade,” she repeated.
He nodded his head, dropping his hands down to his fly. One by one the buttons slipped open, revealing smooth, warm skin. She gave a little gasp when she realized he wasn’t wearing anything beneath, the proud tip of his erection peeking at her through the open fabric. Then he turned away from her slowly and deliberately, leaning over as he pulled one boot and then the next free from his feet, followed by his socks. The fabric of his pants hung loose on his ass, almost but not quite slipping down to show off his tight rear. Catherine shivered. She couldn’t wait to see all of him. He pulled his socks free, and then stood back up, still facing away from her.
The moment seemed endless.
When he finally pushed his pants down her breath caught. Everything about Wade was handsome, but his rear was something to be truly admired. Tight and hard from years of riding and working on the range, each cheek curved slightly concave at the edges, crafted like a fine sculpture. Catherine wanted to reach over and cup them in her hands, squeeze him like a piece of ripe fruit. Instead she decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. When he turned back toward her, she was fondling herself between her legs with one hand, the other sliding down into the tight fabric of her corset to rub against her nipple. Wade’s eyes flared, then he strode powerfully across the room toward her.
His mouth took hers with all the force of the desire pent up between them. It wasn’t a kind, gentle kiss. No, this was the kiss of a man long deprived, a man who wanted to brand his woman for all to see. He reached down beneath her body, cupping the gently swelling mound of her ass and pulling her up and into his embrace. There to brand his woman for all to see. He reached down beneath her body, cupping the gently swelling mound of her ass and pulling her up and into his embrace. There could be no doubting how much he wanted her—the evidence prodding against her stomach was unmistakable. He pulled his mouth from hers, gasping.
“I need to be inside you right now,” he said, and she nodded her head against him, agreeing wholeheartedly.
He pulled back, ripping her pantalets off and pushing up her chemise before shoving himself into her body with one smooth, hard stroke. She shrieked, her legs coming up to clutch his waist, pulling him down into her body as far as he could go. Again and again he pounded into her opening until they both gasped for air, desperate to complete the act that would make them a married couple. Each stroke brought them closer—the tension in Catherine’s body pulled as tight as she could bear. Then it drew tighter still, and she exploded into a thousand pieces. She felt his seed shooting deep into her womb, heard him grunt as he climaxed, and then he collapsed on top of her, kissing her and murmuring soft words of love. Finally he rolled to one side, pulling her into the crook of his arm and nestling her down against his body.
Catherine wanted to say something to him, explain her complex feelings, but she couldn’t put the words together. She hadn’t wanted this marriage. Yet when she searched within her heart, she couldn’t be upset with the way things had turned out. Having her own house would have been nice, but how lonely would her bed have been? No, that wouldn’t have been nice at all. And the thought of him with another woman made her vision blacken with dark jealousy. Catherine had to be honest with herself—she would never have left him alone with Maria out on the ranch. No way. Just the idea made her want to brand him, mark him as her own. She leaned up, kissed Wade’s chest and licked her way over to this nipple, drawing the tight little bud into her mouth. Then she gave him a sharp nip. Wade groaned.