Compromised Cowgirl (17 page)

“What’s this all about?” Ace looked from Sin to Jessie.

“Jessie says it doesn’t matter, so I’ll shut up,” Sin replied. He shrugged it off and turned to Jessie. “Where did you say that hot spring was? We can all go.”

“No,” said Henry. He looked at Ace and Sin. “If anyone’s taking Jessie anywhere, it’s me. If, that is, the lady wants company.”

Henry looked at him with quiet determination and a certain gleam in his eye. Ace’s cock had hardened when he opened the cabin door, and it hadn’t softened since. Henry usually took things lightly, preferring to laugh at the world as if nothing mattered. But when he set his mind on something, he went after it full bore.

“We need to get to know each other better,” said Henry quietly to Jessie. He watched her as he slowly scratched his chest. She crossed her arms over her breasts, her bravado gone. His hand drifted down his belly to hang in front of his hip, framing his erection. Jessie’s nipples hardened.

“You’re right,” she said, still staring. She cleared her throat. “You could wash my back.”

“I intend to do more than that, Jessie Bonham,” murmured Henry. “I am going to seduce you.”

Henry’s eyes roved over Jessie’s body, from knees to forehead. A flush followed, rising from her belly, spreading over her breasts, and continuing to her face. She crossed her ankles and tightened her arms around her breasts.

“You can’t seduce a woman who’s already been with a man,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

“Yes, I can,” he said, meeting her eyes. “But it will take a very, very long time.”

She gulped. “It will?”

Henry nodded absently, as if he was already planning his strategy. “I’ll have to start from the beginning in case one of these louts missed something. I’ve been accused of being fussy, but I prefer to say I’m meticulous.”

Ace looked at Sin, who shrugged and grabbed his pants. Since Henry and Jessie stared at each other as if no one else existed, he gave in to the inevitable. Henry would take his time with Jessie, but she would share his bed when they finally returned. He bent over and picked up her clothes from the floor. He held them out.

“Sound travels far at night,” he warned Henry. “If Jessie screams, it’ll echo off the rocks and all down the valley.”

“She’ll make plenty of noise, all right.”

Henry trailed his finger in a curve along Jessie’s belly. Her skin quivered at his touch. He used the same fingers to twirl an imaginary moustache as he leered at her like a stage villain.

“Prepare to be thoroughly ravished.”

Chapter Fifteen

Something in Jessie’s chest fluttered as she rode quietly beside Henry. She hadn’t bothered with anything under her shirt, since the spring wasn’t far. She wore a coat since the wind was up and she didn’t know how long they’d be out. Her hard nipples rasped against the cotton shirt and her swollen pussy rubbed against the saddle with every step. But that didn’t arouse her as much as the man beside her.

Every now and then she glanced over at him, but he looked straight ahead. He hadn’t said a word to her since he declared his intention to ravish her. Though she caught a flash of his old self in the moustache twirl, his entire demeanor had changed. No more the flirting, easygoing friend, he had an intenseness that rivaled that of Sin or Ace. While she enjoyed the friend, Henry exuded a power she hadn’t known was there.

How would she react when that intense power was directed at her?

Her saddlebags were full of quilts and food, more than they needed for the evening. She didn’t know what was in his bags, and wasn’t going to ask. He held a wooden bucket in his lap, having declared that no soap should ever go near the pristine water. They would soap up then rinse each other off with buckets of water before soaking.

It all sounded so ordinary. Get clean, soak in warm water, eat supper and then have a bit of sex under the quilts before coming home.

The smoldering looks he gave her in the cabin, combined with his new aura of strength, suggested reality was going to be far different.

“What happened back there in the cabin?” she finally asked. “I’ve never seen you like this before, but Ace and Sin seemed to take it in stride.”

They rode for a minute or two before he answered.

“You’ve never seen me when I want something bad enough to fight for it.” He nudged his horse closer and looked down at her. “I want you.”

“Fight? For me?” She laughed. “I’m willingly with you, knowing you said you’ll ravish me. There’s nothing to fight.”

He shrugged and looked forward, head high. “I want you, Jessie Bonham Elliott. More than I’ve wanted anything in my life.”

He spoke as if stating an unassailable fact, like declaring the sky was blue. She shivered at his fervent claim. Did he mean this night, to seduce her for hours? Or was he proclaiming to mark her as his, forever?

She worried her lip as they rode. She didn’t want “forever” with any one man, like a husband, but she enjoyed sex. She didn’t have a lot of experience yet, but so far she hadn’t found any reason not to continue to do so. Since she intended to live on the Bitterroot Ranch, and the Double Diamond was halfway between there and town, she’d be able to visit when she wanted. Until Ace found that perfect wife he demanded, she could enjoy herself with all three men.

“I want you, too, Henry Bennett. And I intend to enjoy this evening immensely.”

“That makes two of us. Is this it?” He pointed to the huge boulders rising on their left.

“Yes, we walk from here.”

She dismounted and led Trouble up the path. The horse, knowing good grass was near, eagerly followed. They left their horses hobbled, took the saddlebags, and continued on. They’d have another hour or so before sunset, then the temperature would drop. Since it was a clear night, they were likely to get frost. She planned to be in bed with Ace’s warm back against hers by then. No more sleeping in the barn with only a few cats to snuggle up to.

“This is wonderful, Jessie.”

They stopped at the top of the path and looked down into the pool. Steam drifted across the water, thicker where the water was warmer. A burst of wind almost blew her hat off. It skittered down her back and she shivered.

“Seems that wind is determined to follow us here. Maybe it won’t be so bad near the water,” she replied.

She carried her saddlebags over to the sandy patch on the right. It was close enough to the water to make it easy to rinse off, yet the soap would go into the sand instead of sliding over the rocks and into the pool. Henry set down his saddlebags, dumped something out of the bucket and followed her.

“If that wind doesn’t slow up I might not take as much time washing every square inch of you.” Henry sat on a rounded rock to take off his boots. “We’ll have to come back on a sunny, warm day.” He looked around. “The sun won’t be up long enough for me to count all your freckles.”

“I don’t have freckles!”

“You ever checked your back end in the looking glass?”

She shook her head. She didn’t want to know how badly her back was scarred.

“Then you wouldn’t know, would you?” He adjusted his hat as he looked her up and down. “I guess it will take me even longer, since I’ll have to find them first.” He leaned back on one elbow, shifting until he was comfortable. “Strip ’em off, Jessie.”

His sharp eyes bored past her clothing, past her skin, into her soul. No one had looked at her like that before. Not Ace, not Sin, and certainly not the elegant dudes back East. Heat flowed wherever he looked. If he kept looking at her like that, she wouldn’t care if it was chilly. She took off her coat. He held his hand up, so she tossed it to him. He set it on the rock so it protected his elbow and ribs. He gestured for her to continue.

When she took Henry’s hard cock into her mouth, she felt the power a woman had over a man. She felt it again now. He wanted her to get naked for him. Would she rip her clothes off, as he had earlier, or take her time, teasing him?

As long as she wasn’t naked, she controlled him. She turned around and bent down to undo her boot. She aimed her bottom at him, wiggling it a bit as she worked the boot off. She caught a glimpse of him as she switched to the other foot. He looked like he was carved into the rock, he stared at her so hard.

Beth told her that the woman controlled many things, including the bed. She liked having this power over men so much bigger and stronger than her. She stood up and faced him. He winked, as if saying he knew what she was doing. She ignored it and pulled out her shirt tails.

She started at the bottom, opening one button at a time, prolonging his agony. At least, he looked like he was in pain, the way he grimaced. He shifted and undid his pants buttons. He groaned as he pulled out his cock. It pointed right at her. The setting sun touched the drop on the tip, making it shine like a diamond. She licked her lips, remembering his taste. He suddenly sat up. In the time it took her to undo the rest of her shirt buttons, he was naked.

Naked, alert, and very aroused.

“Get those clothes off now,” he growled.

Her heart thudded at his demand. She lifted her shoulders and pressed them back. She knew it would make her breasts stand out and the shirt gape. “Or what? Your threats won’t scare me.”

His threats mightn’t, but the way one corner of his mouth curled up in a slow leer did.

“I don’t make threats. Just promises.”

She undid her belt and buttons. She pushed them over her hips and let them fall to her feet. She stood there in her long shirt. The wind caught one side of it and flipped it open, exposing her right breast. His cock bounced, and he caught it with his hand.

“That’s how I’d paint you. A wild, brazen witch, the fires of sunset blazing behind her as she dared any man to take her.”

“You… You paint?” She managed to get the words out past her shudder of arousal. The way he stared at her made her feel like that witch.

“I used to. If I had a brush I’d…” He looked down, then back up. “I don’t need a brush when I have fingers.”

He stalked toward her. She went to move but almost tripped on her pants, still around her ankles. He caught her around the waist before she fell. When she was steady he got rid of her clothes, tossing them on the rocks.

“You don’t have any paint.”

He touched his finger to the end of his cock. It came away wet.

“Yes, I do.”

He pressed his finger against her nipple. As soon as he lifted it, her now-damp nipple tightened in the chill. He did the same with the other one.

“I need more paint,” he murmured.

He ran his knuckles over her belly and down. He did it so lightly she felt her skin contract at the same time as a jolt hit her pussy. His hand followed, sliding between her wet lips. She tilted her hips to encourage him to go deeper, but he shook his head, his eyes smiling at her.

He placed his wet fingers over her breast, drawing radiating lines as his fingers narrowed around her nipple.

“Rose with magenta and a pale shadow of cobalt blue,” he said. His hand rose to her face. One finger outlined her lips. She opened them to breathe more easily. “Alizarin crimson, like a dark foxglove petal.” He sank his finger into her mouth.

“This is from you and Sin. Before we leave, you’ll taste my essence mixed with yours.”

She sucked his finger deep, using her tongue to play with it as she had his cock.

“You liked sucking my cock, didn’t you?”

She nodded, and then nipped his finger. He pulled it out with a laugh. “The soap is in my left saddlebag along with a couple of flannels. I’ll get some hot water.”

She squeaked when he slapped her bottom as he passed. She rubbed it and glared, more for the effect than any pain. In fact, she felt a surge of need. A need to know what his cock could do to make her demand more.

She opened the saddlebag and found two bars of soap, an example of Henry’s usual thoughtfulness. He might call it being fussy or meticulous, but she appreciated it. She set the soap nearby and took out a couple of wide but thin strips of flannel, likely from old bed sheets. She rose on her toes to set them on the rocks, high enough that they wouldn’t get splashed.

A set of rough, wet hands caught her breasts and held her there.

“You have any idea how those curves of yours affect a man?” He pressed his chest snug against her back. His hard cock stopped them from spooning closer. His breathe warmed the left side of her neck.

“When you reached up like that with your ass out, your belly and breasts leaning forward…damn!”

He nipped a tendon and instantly soothed it with a kiss. He groaned and turned her to face him. His cock jutted out, slightly to the right of center. It was thicker than Ace’s or Sin’s. She lifted her breasts and rubbed them against his hairless chest. The smooth skin was a nice change. Her nipples caught against his skin rather than sliding through chest hair.

He took a step back. She pouted up at him. He touched her nose with his finger in an unspoken warning to stand still. She admired his smooth bottom as he picked up the oval bar of rose-scented soap. He dipped it quickly in the hot water and turned back to her.

“Clasp your hands behind your neck. I don’t want your hands in the way while I’m working.”