How Miss West Was Won (3 page)

She was silent for a few moments. Finally, she said, “That contract did not include my maidenhead.”

“No, it did not.” So she was a virgin. Eli found that idea to his liking. Obviously, she and her late boyfriend had been lovers of a sort. He wondered what they had engaged in, and how he could get her to tell him. He wondered, also, if she had ever had an orgasm, of if he would be the first to coax one out of her luscious body. “I don’t plan on making love to you tonight, Cordelia. Mrs. Dunlap expects to see blood, and we will provide it for her, just not in the joining of our bodies.”

More silence, and then she sighed heavily. “What do you mean?”

Eli chuckled. “I do believe there is a way of fooling a husband who has a non-virginal wife.”

“And that is?”

“By pouring the blood of an animal on the sheets, of course.” Eli shrugged. “I can get a cup of it from the butcher pens. It will dry on the sheets, and it will fool Mrs. Dunlap into believing you and I were intimate.”

The relief on her face made him smile. “Very well,” she said, smoothing her hands down her skirts. “But I still find it inexcusable that you asked me about my… virginity.”

“A husband has a right.”

“You are not my husband,” she said, her voice a low hiss.

“I am to everyone but you and me, and… Stuart.” He took a step closer. “If you treat me as if we know nothing about each other, people will notice.”

Her anger was back, and he wondered if she had thought this proposal out before she’d accepted it. Was she running from something? Was there some issue in her past that she wanted to hide? Did she come here with the idea of trapping him into marriage? True, he’d gone looking for her, and had found her through a friend. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t be pulling the wool over his eyes. Women could be devious; he knew that from past experiences. An idea occurred to Eli, one that made him stop in his tracks. “Are you with child?”

“Certainly not!” she screamed. “I told you I am a virgin.”

A chuckle from the doorway made them both turn their attention that way. Three of Eli’s cowboys stood there, saddles in hand. Eli had forgotten it was that late in the day. These men would be putting up their gear and heading either to their own wives, or to the bunkhouse.

“Sorry Eli,” one of the men said. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you like that.”

“Get your gear up, and get out,” Eli said. The men hurried to do his bidding, but Eli knew the damage was done. It would be all over the ranch the next morning that Eli and his wife had been arguing about sex.

When they were gone, she turned to leave. Eli caught her by the arm and turned her toward him. “Oh no, you don’t,” he said. “What just happened was bad, but we can counter it.”

“How do we do that? I am mortified. Those men are going to tell everyone I am afraid of my husband, afraid of him taking me as a wife should be taken. These matters were supposed to be kept between the two of us. This isn’t going according to plan.” She did look like she was going to burst into tears.

Eli did the only thing he could think of that would make it look like they had just participated in a fight, and were making up. He took her in his arms, and he kissed her.

Cordelia felt as if every ouch of oxygen was forced from her lungs. The ability to breathe was gone, replaced by the lips that bore down on hers. His touch was heavy, dark and demanding. There was nothing gentle about this kiss.

She put her hands against his shoulders and pushed as hard as she could, but it was no use. He had his arms around her waist, holding her to him tightly. The first kiss broke, and he immediately came back for another. This time she could feel his tongue pressing against her lips, demanding entrance into her mouth.

She mumbled, “No,” realizing too late that she’d tried to say it out loud. His tongue found its way inside her, and the taste of him awakened desires she had thought were long gone.

“Stop it,” she whispered against his lips when he broke the kiss. He still held her tight, though, and she wanted to run her hands down his back and over his shoulders, feel his muscles, which were much larger than the ones William had possessed. Eli’s hands were larger, and rougher. They were almost frightening to her.

“Sorry Eli,” a voice said from behind them. He still held her close, but Cordelia turned her head to where two men stood. They both had saddles in their hands, as had the other three.

“Put ’em up and get out,” Eli said. She heard the men chuckle as they went about their business.

“Oh my Lord,” Cordelia said. She couldn’t help it. She rested her head against his chest. “Please release me, Mr.—Eli.”

He didn’t listen to her, and she tried once again to push away. “Do you realize what has happened, Cordelia? The first group of hands will report they saw us fighting, over your virginity. The next group will report we were kissing, as if we were making up from that fight.”

Cordelia felt as if she might cry. “It all leads to my shame.”

“Nonsense,” Eli said. “It is normal that a new wife would be frightened of being with her husband for the first time. The men will think I’m comforting you, and that you and I will enjoy ourselves tonight.” He finally let her go. Cordelia staggered a bit, and he put his arm around her waist.

“This was supposed to be something private,” she said. “I never expected to discuss this matter with you.”

He ran his hand down her back, and Cordelia fought back a shiver. “Cordelia, we need to realize people see us as husband and wife. True, we should have had this conversation in private, but it is over and done with. Tonight, I will spill the blood on the sheets, and in the morning, Mrs. Dunlap will think I took your maidenhead. It will be as simple as that.”

He had spoken words so low that she doubted anyone else could have heard them. He also made it sound so simple. “Why can’t we wait a few days?”

“You’re nervous enough about it now. Best to get it over and done with.”

She supposed he was right. But talking about these things with him when she barely knew him was hard. And the kisses? She had not expected that. “Please do not kiss me anymore, Eli.” She looked up at him, expecting to see anger.

Instead, he seemed amused. “I will kiss you as often as I like. If I don’t people will wonder why.” To prove his point, he kissed her again. This time she kept her lips firmly closed, and she felt him chuckle when he tried, and failed, to press inside.

“Let me go,” she whispered when he broke the kiss.

“For now,” he whispered. “Don’t worry, Cordelia, I won’t take your maidenhead tonight.” He pressed past her and walked toward where the other men had been going to store their gear.

Cordelia watched him as he went away, and her body reacted in ways she did not want. Her nipples hardened, and the spot between her legs, the one she had touched at William’s insistence, tightened in the most pleasurable way. William had never touched her there, but he had watched while she had done so. It had been a most pleasing encounter, and one she always wanted to repeat.

They had been together on the night before he left for Missouri, and he had told her that watching her touch herself in her most intimate of places was a going away gift for him. It would give him, he’d said, something to remember on those lonely nights he was away from her.

After that, he had guided her hand while she stroked him. There had been nothing wrong with it, she had thought, because they were to be married. Now she wondered why she had not kept herself chaste until their wedding night. They had planned on marriage, and consummating that marriage, when he returned. Now she felt bad for what she had done, and she had never been married.

Cordelia shook her head to clear her thoughts. She needed to go back to the house, get away from this barn before he kissed her again with the professed object of letting his hands see that they were getting along.

As she walked, Cordelia touched her fingers to her lips. They still throbbed from where his lips had pressed down on her. They felt warm, and wonderful. But partway to the house she stopped as realization set in.

Eli had said he would not take her maidenhead tonight. He had said nothing about not doing so in the future. Anger rushed through her. She had not come to Colorado to be his mistress. She was here to write a story, help him over his rough spot and then go back to New York. She would make that perfectly clear tonight.

I am not in the habit of writing in my journal twice in the same day. Usually it is an activity I save for right before bedtime, so that I may include all the activities of the day. But today’s events have changed things for me. They have made me question my decision to take on this assignment. Mr. Bannister has stepped outside the bounds of a proper relationship between an employer and employee, because that is, in truth, what we are.

Truth in fact, he kissed me. He gave some excuse as to how it explained an argument we were having, but I do not see how that is possible. Worse yet, he will be in my quarters soon with the blood of an animal that he says will fool Mrs. Dunlap into thinking that he and I engaged in sexual intercourse.

I am nervous, and am thinking about blocking the doorway between our rooms. Why? Because, as much as I hate to admit it, I enjoyed his kiss. I do not want to be alone with this man, because he is so unpredictable. What if he decides that he has the right to come to my bed? What would I do about that?

I have to find a way out of my predicament, and I do believe that means going back to New York. I will have to return the funds he already gave me, but it might be the only way I can get out of this situation.

I—

* * *

Cordelia lifted her head at the sound of Eli knocking on the door that connected their rooms. Her heart lodged in her throat, and she closed the journal. Once she had stood and straightened her skirts, she went to the door and opened it.

“I would like a key for this, Mr. Bannister,” she said as Eli came into the room.

“Eli,” he said as he closed the door behind him. “You have to call me Eli.”

“Nonsense.” She crossed the room to the desk where she had been seated. Once there, she took her journal and placed it under her pillow. She should have done it before he entered the room. She didn’t want him to see where she was keeping her notes for the article she would write; she would have to find a better hiding place tomorrow.

“Nonsense?” The uplift of his voice as he tried to imitate her made her angry.

“Nonsense,” she repeated. “My parents did not call each other by their first names.

“Maybe not, Cordelia, but in this household we use first names. You will call me Eli.”

“Or what?” Cordelia glared at him. “Will you lock me in my room, or send me to bed without supper?” She wanted to slap the grin off his face.

“Cordelia, my name is Eli. Each time you call me Mr. Bannister, I’ll be upset. Please don’t make me angry.”

“You did not answer my question,” she said. “I will try to meet your needs, but…” Cordelia sighed and sat down in the chair she’d just vacated. “I suppose you have brought the blood to use on the sheets?”

“It’s in my room,” he said. “We’ll dump it after lights out, and then we’ll sleep in here.”

Cordelia’s mouth fell open. “What did you just say?”

He chuckled. “I’m not sleeping in wet blood, and neither are you.”

“You are not sleeping in my bed.” She clutched the edge of the writing table. “Pour the blood before dawn.”

“We need time for it to dry,” he said. “I will be up before dawn to work on the ranch, true, but it will be cold enough that it might still be wet. We have to do it tonight, and then sleep together.”

“Out of the question.” Cordelia stood. “There are other rooms in this house, are there not?”

“How would that look?” As if to bolster his right to sleep in her bed, he sat down on the edge and dropped a piece of wood on the floor. He placed his foot in the oval cutout part and stepped on the other and pulled up. His boot came off his foot, and he soon performed the same act on his other foot.

“What an interesting apparatus,” Cordelia said.

“It’s called a boot jack,” he said. “They’ve been around a few years now. It means I don’t have to ask my
wife
to help me take off my boots.”

His emphasis on the word wife reminded her of their discussion. “I am afraid…” she paused before she said, “Eli, that our venture has come about too quickly. I think you and I should have had a few more discussions before I came here.”

“Why?” He sat down on the bed, bringing his legs up and crossing them at the ankles. “As a mail order bride, you and I would hardly know anything about each other. It’s better that way.”

“But as—as a business transaction, I worry that—that…”

“Things like this afternoon will keep on happening?”

“Yes, that is it.” Cordelia fidgeted with her skirt. “You cannot kiss me. You cannot touch me.”

The room was quiet for a few minutes. “If I don’t, people will talk.”

“Let them talk,” Cordelia said, realizing her voice was more forceful than usual. She took a deep breath. “Speaking of talking, have you considered what you will be telling people when I leave? They will be… angered that you lied to them.”

He shrugged. “I’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

“You seem unconcerned.” Cordelia watched him as he obviously thought about what to say next.

“We have time to consider the solution to that problem. Right now, we need to take care of this. We need to spill the blood, and go to sleep. I get up very early in the morning, and I need some rest so I can take care of things on the ranch.”

Cordelia thought about arguing, but she knew it would get her nowhere. He was right; this needed to be done. She would have to trust him to keep his hands to himself tonight. Something told her he would do that.

“We need to go into my room, where you can lay down on the bed so I can pour the blood in the right spot. You might want to strip down to your…” here, he faltered before he said, “underthings. We wouldn’t want anything spilled on your dress.”

“Of course,” she said, knowing that Mrs. Dunlap would question any spills on her clothing. “If you would, please.” She indicated his room. Without saying a word he left, closing the door behind him.

Cordelia started to unbutton her dress, her hands trembling as she worked. Today, she wore a Dolly Varden, and it took her a few moments to get the overskirt off. When she had taken off the second skirt, she was down to her drawers. She planned on keeping them on; if anything happened to spill on there, she would soak it and try to get the stain out herself, since she had a second pair she could use. She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before she went to the door and knocked.

“You don’t have to ask for entry,” Eli said from the other side. “Go ahead and come inside.”

She opened the door, deciding at the last minute not to be afraid. She was a grown woman, after all. She had accepted this job knowing what it might entail, and she needed to be strong. If she showed weakness, he might wonder exactly why she had come here.

Once she was inside, she took a step toward the bed. He stared at her for a few moments, and she felt her heart quicken. “Lie down on the bed,” he said, his voice steady. After this afternoon’s kiss, she had thought that maybe he might be a little excited to see her in her all togethers, but obviously he was not.

She did as he asked, centering herself on the mattress at his request. When he lay down next to her, she almost objected. It did not take her long to realize he would have to get the position right for their subterfuge to work. He sat up, then centered himself on top of her, keeping his hands near her head. His knees touched her thighs.

Cordelia’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest, and that space between her thighs, where no one had ever touched her, tightened and grew wet. “Please, Eli,” she whispered. “This is too much for me.”

Without responding to her, he dismounted and asked her to roll to her side, away from him. She heard movement behind her, and then his soft, “You may go into your room now. I will be there shortly.”

Cordelia did as he asked. She closed the door and took advantage of the time alone to change into her nightclothes, using the screen as protection from being seen. When she was dressed, she pulled back the covers and lay down, pulling them back over herself to hide her body.

After a little bit of time, which she guessed to be about ten minutes, she heard the door open. He extinguished the lamp near his side of the bed before he joined her on the mattress. He lay on his side, as she did, so that their backs were to each other. Cordelia clutched the covers to her bosom, praying he would stay where he was and not touch her.

“Good night, Cordelia,” he said after a few moments.

“Good night, Mr.—Eli.”

Before long, she could hear him snoring. It was a comforting sound, one that let her know he was sleeping and would keep his promise not to touch her that evening. She allowed herself to relax, and soon fell asleep.

* * *