Love Rules (3 page)

She winked, and he was gone. Harry could get through the woods faster than anyone. He’d be fine despite the number of Confederate troops swarming the area lately. She’d learned long ago to hide out when the Confederates came up the mountain then come home when they left. She had a special old cave she would hide out in when they got too close. No one knew about the cave except an ornery old bear, and Maggie knew when he was about by the droppings outside.

Alone in the cabin with the soldier, she stared at him in disbelief. Handsome as sin, and probably twice as much trouble, but something inside her turned to mush just looking at him.

Was it some kind of magic or something? Whatever caused it, Lord, she was attracted to him. That had never happened to her. Maybe she was loco. He was a well-built man, towering several inches above her, with lots of thick black hair and tanned skin.

She washed his wound and examined it. She'd have to remove the bullet if she wanted him to heal, but her hands trembled too much to do it without hurting him. Just having him here was enough of a problem. Maybe if she waited, she wouldn't have to get the bullet out. She'd wait, at least till she could steady herself. For now, she covered him with a blanket, and went about her regular routine of making stew and cleaning what she could of her cabin, but her eyes kept straying to the man on the bed. If the Federals caught her, she’d be in a world of trouble. But they seldom came to her cabin any longer. They depended on her getting word to them. If she didn’t, they’d be after her.

Harry was right. She shouldn’t have brought the wounded rebel to her place.

As nightfall came, the man began to shake and shiver, almost violently. Maggie stared at him long and hard, uncertain what to do. She didn’t want him dying on her. She’d seen her mama comfort her husband by getting into bed with him, stark naked, and holding him. Could she dare?

She moved closer and watched him. His whole body shook. Sweat peppered his face. Fear ran down her spine. He couldn’t die. Not now. She had to warm him.

Her supply of wood had run low, but she couldn’t make it much warmer without breaking out in a sweat herself. It was still very warm outside. Moving the blanket up around him and tucking it in, she frowned when he still shivered.

His eyes opened briefly. They were a deep blue, compelling.

She stared at him for a long time. Fear and the desire to keep him alive drove her. She needed this man, not as a man, but as someone who could fill the loneliness in her heart. Missing her mama, missing her family, she had been alone far too long. Why did this one man pull at her heart strings like no other?

Maybe it wasn’t right. He was white after all, but the feelings he stirred told her

differently. How could he stir feelings inside her like this? Was it some kind of black magic?

There was no answer for why she chose him to latch on to, but she sensed he craved solace, too. She unbuttoned her dress and let it slide to the floor. She watched him to make sure he wasn’t looking at her. Staring at him, she moved the covers off him and inched herself into the bed so that she lay next to him.

She’d never done anything so bold in her life, but somehow this didn’t seem the time for judging her actions. He needed her body for warmth; she needed him for comfort that she had lacked for so long.

“God, I don’t want him to die!” she cried aloud. “Please don’t let him die.”

He moaned, and his lips brushed her shoulder. A spark darted to the most womanly part of her. Warmth stole over her. Goose bumps covered her from the imagined kiss. Instinctively, she slowly slid her body over him, careful to only lean against his left side, resting her head under his chin; she hugged him to her.

She lay very still, for a moment, then ran her hands up and down his body. She unbuttoned his uniform as it was abrasive to her skin. Realizing his shirt had to be agitating him, she removed it. Feeling the slick heat of his chest, she held him to her.

“Don’t die. I’m here for you, and you for me. That is enough. You’ll never know I did this. It’s just, I can’t explain it, I’m just…so lonely.”

Gradually, he stopped shaking as their shared heat enveloped them. She relaxed against him and studied his lips. Nice lips, full but not too full. The urge to touch hers to his was too much, and she kissed him. As his breathing became almost normal again, holding him to her, warming him with her body, she began to relax and to feel. Her breasts tingled when she moved against him. More sparks went through her. She settled closer, seeking a comfort she couldn’t name.

The soldier brought a human element into her life that had never been there before. Her lips crept over his body, slowly at first, then almost in a frenzy, marveling at how taut his muscles were, how smooth. She kissed him down to his belt buckle where a line of hair began, and then stopped. She liked kissing him very much.

“I’m sorry. I have no right, but you feel so good, and you make me feel things I’ve never felt before,” she muttered. Sliding up his body, Maggie braced her arms on either side of his broad shoulders, her lips hovered above his. She couldn’t stop herself. She had to feel those lips on hers once more, and she kissed him with a heat she didn’t understand. She imagined what it might be like if he kissed her back.

When she woke the next morning, she rose up and saw him still sleeping. She kissed his lips again, enjoying the sensation it evoked. His response made her tingle all over. Her hands splayed against him and moved over him in total wonder. When her fingertips touched his nipple, she sighed heavily. It became erect and hardened beneath her touch. Butterflies fluttered through her, as though her touch had done that. She marveled at it. She put her lips to the small nub and drew against it. Kissing a man was new to her, but she liked it. Ashamed of her wanton feelings, she got up and dressed and went about her chores, but her heart was still with the soldier lying in her bed. Through the night she had somehow grown attached to him beyond ordinary feeling. Distracting herself, she tended her stew. As the day grew, she tried to feed him, but it didn’t work. He slept peacefully though, and contentment filled her that she had met his needs, and her own.

She felt herself flush when she thought of how she’d touched and kissed him, and wondered what it might be like if he were awake. Kissing him once more, she smiled. “At least you’re alive.”

She touched his cheek, so soft with stubble already growing back. “I don’t understand myself, or why I brought you here. I don’t know why I kissed you, but I’m very glad I did. I think I’m in love with you, and I’ve only met you. How can that be? Is it my loneliness that drives me toward you? I never slept with a man before. Not like that, skin against skin. But now, I’ve got to do the decent thing and get you well and send you on your way. I can never let you know what happened between us.” She glanced at him, touching him tenderly. “We gave each other what we needed, that’s all it was.”

She’d helped many soldiers as they lay dying, bandaged them, gave them water, even patched a few up and sent them on their way, but she’d never brought

one home with her. Never slept with them or touched and kissed them as she had him. Perhaps he was an
angel.
For her heart had reached out to him with almost a blackened despair.

“I had you if only for a little while, and you’ll probably never know how much it meant to me to be as close as we just were, to have someone to love. Thank you.”

She raised her eyes. “And thank you, God, for the moments. Amen.”

Jesse opened his eyes and slowly took in the run-down condition of the place, the cracks in the roof, and the dirt floor. The dim light didn’t do much to make it look homey. The well-worn bed he rested on creaked as he moved, and his body seemed to sink into the mattress. Beyond where he lay, a plain, wooden table, a wood stove in the center of the room, not much else. Despite such meager furnishings, no words could describe the vision of a woman stirring a pot above the fireplace. Angel or seductress, he wasn’t sure. He sniffed, and she turned around.

His heart gave a quick lurch. It was her! Two things ran in his mind as he got a glimpse of her—deadly and provocative.

“Well, you’re still alive.” She smiled stiffly as she looked at him from across the room.

She was small and fine boned, with hair enough for three women. She wore a tattered dress that barely covered the essentials, so thin it left little to Jesse’s imagination. One curvy, gorgeous leg peeked out from the slit in her skirt. She didn’t bother trying to hide it though. She acted as though she wasn’t even aware of her own beauty. Nor did she cover the dark shadows of her nipples that pushed hard against the dress and left nothing to the imagination.

She was so young and beautiful and almost shy.

Jesse’s eyes focused on the leg first, and he felt himself grow warm. Dear God, he’d found the Black Widow, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He’d have known that body anywhere. Being trapped in a secluded cabin, deep in the forest and hills of Arkansas with a woman that defied imagination could be a living hell.

He shifted restlessly on the bed. He’d barely opened his eyes, and he wanted her already. That would never do. He had to harden himself against her. His shoulder and arm ached but he ignored the pain. He had to take her in.

“Where am I?” The pounding in his head made him grab it. He didn’t

remember hitting his head. He remembered the ambush, loading his gun, and shooting himself, but that was it.

“Your safe for the time being,” she answered, coming closer, eyeing him from under a veil of thick, curly dark lashes.

“What happened?” He started to get up. His shoulder shot pains through his chest. He grunted and lay back down.

“You were wounded, Lieutenant. I found you in the woods not far from here.”

She checked his head for a fever with the back of her hand. When she leaned over, ample cleavage tested the strength of her tattered dress, and Jesse cleared his throat. How was he supposed to control his body when hers called out to him every time she moved? Sinfully provocative and yet somehow innocent, she played with his mind.

“I don’t remember hurting my head.” He reached up to feel the knot.

“I did that, I’m afraid. Sorry, but you were a little delirious and fighting me as I tried to help you. So I knocked you out. I couldn’t handle a flailing man and help him, too.” She still did not look into his eyes.

“How did you get me here? I mean, you’re a small woman. I’m over six foot.”

“Does it matter? I got you here, didn’t I?” She smiled and relaxed her hand on her hip.

He glanced at his boots and saw the tips had a hole rubbed nearly through them. He'd pulled them off a dead Federal only last month. “I need to get back with my company.” He tried in vain once more to get up. He couldn’t gain an advantage over the woman while lying in bed. He needed to think clearly, be on the watch. He had a job to do, despite the pain in his shoulder, and his own attraction to her.

“All in good time, Lieutenant,” she cooed, giving him the benefit of another smile and pushing him down again. Her voice was soft as a whisper and very close. “You’re seriously wounded and need to rest. I don’t think you’re going anywhere for a while. You’ve lost too much blood.”

He turned his head away, trying not to look at her. He couldn’t stop himself.

She was too beautiful to ignore. He tried to think rationally about capturing her

and taking her in, but every time she moved, she distracted those thoughts.

Arresting her was the last thing he wanted to do.

He lay there on the bed and almost chuckled aloud from the irony of it all. He was with the most dangerous woman in the South, and he wanted her. How stupid could he get? He had a mission and no matter what, he had to remember it.

“Who…who are you?” He stared at the ceiling, which he could actually see through.

“They call me Maggie…and you?”

“Jesse. The name’s Jesse Coleman.”

“Well, Jesse, we’ll see about getting you back to your camp when you’re healed.

For now, I should take care of your wounds.” She came closer. “I’m sure your head hurts. I had to whack you good.”

“What did you whack me with?”

“The butt of my gun.” When he lifted an eyebrow at the thought of the little woman carrying a weapon, she glared. “Yes, I carry a gun. I’m a woman in a forest full of soldiers, Federals and rebels. I’m alone here and not about to be defenseless.” She satisfied his unasked questions. “I know how to use it, too, so don’t get any wild ideas, Lieutenant.”

Jesse studied the way she stared at him. “How did you know I was a

lieutenant? Most women wouldn’t know that right off.”

“I’ve been around a military fort before. I recognize the insignia.” She came to stand over him, her breasts heavy at his face. His breath hitched. If he lifted himself just a bit, he could wrap his hands around her breasts, and they would be handfuls, he gauged.

“You’re sure a skeptical one, aren’t you?” Her smile teased him.

Up close, she was much younger than she appeared.

“Well, I guess I should thank you, except for the blow to the head. I appreciate the hospitality, but I need to get back to my unit. Are you in a habit of rescuing wounded soldiers?” He didn’t even glance at her. He couldn’t concentrate on what he wanted to say if he could see her innocent face and distracting curves.

She stood way too close.

“Only handsome ones.” She laughed. “I’ve had to doctor a few. I’m practically in a war zone here. It’s either help them or leave them to die.” Her voice sounded almost sad, as though what she did affected her deeply.

He didn’t want to, but he had to look at her to see if she was serious, even then, he wasn’t sure. Her lips were so beautiful, full, and captivating, tempting. He smiled but she moved away, a soft blush tinting her cheeks.

“Looks like this place needs a few repairs.” He nodded to the ceiling.

“Shore does, but I’m used to it. I’ve been here nigh on to a couple of years, well not here, but around about. This is a roof over my head, for now.” She shrugged.