Much Ado About Madams (35 page)

He took her by the arm and practically dragged her into the office. She grabbed up her skirts to keep from tripping. He shut the door.

Without a word, he gathered her up in his arms and kissed her—deeply. Her knees went weak again and she wrapped her arms around him and held on to keep from collapsing. She kissed him back, letting her tongue dance with his. He laid her on the desktop and kissed the rounds of her breasts.

Breathless and dazed, she wanted more.

Then he looked her right in the eye and asked, “Why in the hell are you breaking off?”

She could barely speak. “Please... don’t curse in front of a lady.”

He tugged her dress top down and teased her nipple with his tongue. A rope of pleasure tugged from her breast to her thighs. She could barely hold still. Her hips wanted to move against him. And they did.

“
Do you love me?”

“
Of course I love you.”

“
Then what’s this crazy idea that we shouldn’t get married all about?

She could still barely breathe, but he didn’t seem nearly as affected as she. “Because you don’t want children.”

He straightened as pulled her to a sitting position. Still holding her shoulders, he kissed her once more, then stood back. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“
Children. If I’m going to sacrifice my dreams of fighting for women’s suffrage to be married to you, then I want to have children. And you don’t want them.”

“
Woman, that’s the most harebrained idea I ever heard. First of all, I don’t know why you can’t continue your campaign for the women’s vote, and second, I do want children.”

“
In fact...” He tipped her back and ran his hand up her thigh, putting fire in places she’d rather be cool right then. “Let’s make one right now.” The brush of his whisper tickled her ear. “We’ll start with a little girl, ornery as her mother.”

She pushed at his chest, but her hips sought him. “Not here! They’ll know.”

“
They know.”

Mortified, she knew they did know—all the more reason to join the party. “So you’re not marrying me just because we, uh...what we did at the hotel?”

“
Nope.”

His fingers rubbing the juncture of her thighs was entirely too distracting. “And you want children?”

“
Lots of them—all with your eyes.”

She shoved his hand away while she was still able. Every touch left her wanting for more. She didn’t understand how this one man could affect her so. “Then we must go back to the party and make our announcement.”

Groaning, he pressed himself against her. “I’ll have to wait here.”

She glanced down at the problem. The very large problem. “Ice water?”

“
There’s a better way.” He slid her forward to the edge of the desk and stripped off her bloomers. Then he bent over and touched his tongue to her nipple, sending more liquid fire through her veins.

“
We have to wait,” she whispered.

She didn’t want him to stop—not really. The laughter in the other room slipped from her consciousness, and she focused on his passion darkened eyes. As she ran her hands over his chest, he pushed her hand on down to his velvety hard shaft. She grasped it and squeezed. He caught his breath, and she knew she had as much power over him as he had on her.

“
I can’t...” Taking her hand away, he scooted her even closer to the edge, then, holding her bottom, he plunged inside her. She wrapped her legs around him. Taking her cue, he plowed deeper and deeper until her head swirled and the pressure mounted.

She threw her head back and he kissed her neck, never breaking the rhythm that brought her closer and closer to the black oblivion with the promise of bright lights. She clamped her legs tighter, and he plunged harder and faster. She heard a moan. Her own.

The lights burst and she felt herself clamp down on him, wanting everything he had to give. Hot and warm and wonderful. A low roar sounded from his throat and he shoved into her one last time. Beads of sweat clung to his brow, and he laid his head on her shoulder, kissing her neck.

Slowly, she remembered why they’d needed to talk in the first place. How could she ever have thought he didn’t want her or her baby? The entire notion seemed absurd, but the resolution to her dilemma had been quite delightful.

Yes, she’d marry this impossible man.

Chapter 19

Cold wind swirled around the back of Reese’s neck as he slammed the hammer on the nail, embedding it into the last bunkhouse shingle. “Lucky for me the weather’s holding.”

“
Lucky for all of us. There’s no comfort in the palace until we get you two lovebirds hitched.”

Reese ignored Gus’s remark, but couldn’t disagree. “We’ve got a lot more to do before spring, what with the heifers calving, all those damned corrals to build, and the Comfort Palace to fix up.”

Unscrewing the lid from the canteen, Gus took a long draw of water, then offered the canteen to Reese. “Yup. We got to get going on that cabin of yours, too, now that you’re nailing your feet to the floor with a woman.”

“
I don’t plan to have my feet on the floor much.” In fact, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on her again. And again. He doubted if he’d ever get enough of her. Things started stirring every time he even thought of her, which is why he tried not to.

Gus shook his head and chuckled. “Maybe we should speed the wedding up before we have more guests than expected—maybe a miniature McAdams.”

Reese grimaced at the bunkhouse. “What a sorry-ass place to bring a beautiful bride on her wedding night.” But he only had so much money, and he couldn’t have seven ladies and three men living in a ramshackle building while he built a home for himself.

“
The glass you ordered for the Comfort Palace oughtta come in the next week on the freight wagon, barring a snow storm.”

“
Lord, I hope so. With a little luck, it won’t be busted all to hell, either.” And he hoped the new Stetson he’d ordered would be with the glass shipment, although he might have to wait for the stage the day after. The hat he’d borrowed from Gus was too tight and too floppy. He felt like a damned fool, but a man had to wear a hat, even if it looked stupid.

“
I’m paying for half the glass.”

He looked at Gus, who carefully poured Bull Durham into the paper, then expertly rolled and licked it sealed. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“
I plan on buying the building. You don’t want it. Never did.”

“
I thought you wanted Fannie to get out of the business.”

“
She’s got to run something, or else she’ll want to run me. I’ll turn it into a hotel and let her have at it.”

“
Does she know this?”

“
Nope.”

“
You gonna tell her?”

“
Nope.”

Reese knew Gus was done talking, and picked up his own. “Let’s get back to town.” And to Lucinda.

* * * * *

The late autumn air dipped to near-freezing and Lucinda’s fingers grew numb with cold as she pinned sheets to the clothesline. Reese would be gone all day, and although happy about his project—making a home for them, even if only a bunkhouse at first—she still missed him.

“
You got that look,” Felicia said, picking up the empty basket. “He’ll be back by nightfall.”

“
Am I that obvious?”

She heard the clopping of a horse trotting and felt a little let down that it wasn’t Reese. Trinket burst out of the Comfort Palace to meet the rider. Sheriff Tucker. He swung down and the two of them chatted a bit before he led the horse to the hitching post. Tucker threw a couple wraps around the post and greeted Lucinda.

“
Just who I wanted to see. Trinket’s getting us some coffee, and we can talk.”

Why he wanted to talk to her, she couldn’t even speculate, but she was happy to go back inside and sit by the hot stove. “Good morning, Sheriff.” She hurried in and took off her jacket and neck scarf. “How was your ride?”

“
Colder than—um, cold, but I’m warming up.”

She could see that, since Trinket had shooed Sadie from the kitchen, fetched him coffee, and brought a warmed blanket, the one Lucinda had place by the stove for herself, to wrap around his shoulders.

“
I’ll ask one of the twins to take care of your horse.”

“
Trinket already did.”

“
Well, then.” She poured herself some hot coffee and sat at the table across from him. “You have news for me?”

“
You know anyone named Hurdall?”

“
Yes, I stayed with Reverend Hurndall and his wife for a brief time after my mother passed away.”

“
So you know of their two children?”

“
Children? No, they were childless.” Lucky thing, too. No child should have to put up with such unbending, unloving parents.

“
Miss Sharpe, I’m not sure how to put this so I’ll just say it right out. Hannibal Hank is their son.”

She sucked in her breath. Never in a million years would she have guessed that. The Hurndalls were iron-willed, but they were righteous and God-fearing. Hannibal Hank consorted with women, cheated men, and beat whoever got in his path.

“
And a woman named Pansy who worked in a St. Jo brothel owned by Hank and Fast Hands Stuart was their daughter.”

“
Pansy?” Her mother. Lucinda’s stomach churned and she felt lightheaded. So the wretched Hank was her uncle and the horrid Hurdalls were her grandparents? Tears welled and spilled onto her cheeks.

“
Hank told me all about it, how your mother met her end. He’s due to be hanged, so he wrote out a will. You’re his only surviving heir, so he gave you all his holdings, which are considerable—eight saloons scattered from St. Joseph to Seattle, and all or half of a dozen brothels.”

“
I don’t want anything of his.”

“
Then sell it all, but they’re yours. The hanging’s in three days.”

She couldn’t think of a thing to say. Here she’d condemned Reese for owning one brothel, and she’d have a dozen in three days.

“
One of the saloons is across the road, so you don’t have to go far to see it. The others will require some traveling. All in all, you’re wealthy.”

“
All those poor women.” The very thought made her sick.

“
I’d say they were all lucky women, to work in a house owned by an honorable woman such as yourself.”

Even stunned, her mind leapt with ideas. All those women needed help, and she was just the person to do it. She stood and paced the room.

“
He told me something else.” The sheriff pointed to her chair. “You’d better sit back down.”

She complied, but her turmoil worsened and her mind raced.

“
Do you know who your father is?”

Her father? She knew little, only his title and last name. “Mama told me his name was Lieutenant Sharpe, and he was killed in battle.”

“
No, his name is Zachary Milner Sharpe and at the time of your birth, he was the mayor of a town just outside of St. Joseph. He’s still alive, still married, so Hank says.”

“
Still?”

“
Apparently, he got your mother with child and the Hurdalls planned to take the baby to an orphanage, so she took you and ran off. Nearly starved before she found a place to live. You know the rest.”

It all made sense. The Hurdalls had taken her in after her mother was lynched but neither Lucinda nor the community knew they’d done it for any other reason than to give a young girl a home. Even then, they’d shipped her off to Miss Hattie’s School for the Refinement of Young Ladies the moment there was an opening.

The sheriff took a thick packet of papers from his duster pocket and laid them on the table. “Here are the deeds. Hank has signed everything over already. He’s sitting in the jail cell reading his Bible, preparing for Judgment Day, which won’t be too kind on him, I’m afraid.”

* * * * *

The ride back from the ranch had been long and cold. Reese left Buster with Gus and hurried into the Comfort Palace to see his bride-to-be. She greeted him at the door with a hug.

“
I must apologize to you, Reese.”

“
Good, there’s only one way for a woman to apologize to her man and I’m ready.”

She whapped him on the shoulder. “Would you be serious?”

“
Darlin’, I couldn’t be more serious.” He gave her a big bear hug and nuzzled her neck.

“
Stop!”

The ladies giggled and he saw they had an audience. He set her back.

Lucinda dabbed at a curl behind her ear. “I can’t think when you do that.”

“
Good reason to kiss you, then.”

Fannie opened the office door. “You two lovebirds argue about who’s kissing and who’s thinking in here. Sadie’s got some coffee on to boil.”

Lucinda grabbed his hand and pulled him into the room. He kicked the door shut and captured her by the waist. “Let’s do a little more kissing before we do all that thinking.”

Her gaze looked with his. She seemed so vulnerable, he wanted to hold her forever. He lowered his lips to hers and all thought left except for his desire to make love to her again.