Trail of Lust (19 page)

"Please, Graham. Stretch me. Fill me."

His eyes glowed down at her, his breath washing over her face and making her hungrier for him than she'd ever been.

You want to feel me stretching you, sweetheart? Like this?” He plunged two fingers into her channel, twisting them wetly, thrusting deep, then moving shallowly and stroking the spot that drove her wild.

Bucking against his hand, she turned her mouth against his throat. “More. Please."

"How about this?” He added a third finger, stretching her so her skin burned. The pleasure-pain sent erotic need to her every nerve. Juices spilled over his hand. Rocking upward, she forced him deeper. Clinging to the ledge, she felt herself tipping as he nudged her most intimate spot once...twice.

With a primal cry, she came apart. Each pulsation flooded her with more warmth until she could no longer drag breath into her lungs. He drove her on, thrusting his fingers into her. When she finally gasped for breath, he covered her mouth with his, swallowing her sounds of ecstasy.

He mimicked his touch on her pussy with his tongue. Finally, he slowed his movements. Aftershocks ripped through her.

"God, baby, you're soaking.” He brought his fingers to his lips and lapped them clean.

A shudder claimed her as her pussy clenched around the emptiness where his fingers had been. She wrapped her arms and legs around him. “More, Graham. Take me."

He nudged her intimately with the throbbing head of his cock. “Oh, don't worry, darlin'. I intend to get what I need. First, I'm going to work you."

Shock widened her eyes as he switched places with her. She was thankful for the dim light when he maneuvered her so she was straddling him backward. Even when he'd bent her over the hay bale in the barn, he'd covered her backside with his body. This way, with the thin moonlight flickering through the crack in the makeshift tent, he was able to see her nether parts clearly.

"Graham...” Uncertainty sounded in her tone, but warmth crept over her.

"Shh. You're beautiful, Kathleen. Let me just look at you for a moment.” He gripped her hips, holding her immobile atop him. Her slick folds kissed his shaft, and she ached to move against him, to force him inside.

Instead, he shocked her by plunging his fingers in again. Her body convulsed around him immediately, at the peak of sexual satisfaction with one swift motion. A guttural moan broke from her.

Mindless to anything but her pleasure, she rocked against his fingers, taking what she needed, climbing the steep slope of bliss.

When she was on the verge of release, he removed one of his wet fingers and ran it around the rim of her anus. She fell still, heart thudding wildly. Her body remembered the sensation, and she could nearly feel his touch again.

She longed to turn and see his face. How had it made him feel to touch her there?

"You like that, baby? There's so much more to explore between us. Let me show you the way.” He skimmed her private opening again. She held her breath, unable to move for fear the spasms would overtake her, embarrassed that they might. Was this really acceptable between lovers?

He pressed on her secret spot until his big fingertip breached the muscular rim. His cock thickened beneath her, and she realized how excited this play was making him. She shifted, and his finger slipped farther inside.

Her moan sounded muffled inside the private cocoon of their shelter. He eased his finger deeper, taking his time. The pressure filled her until she thought she'd explode. When his finger retreated, she found herself thrusting backward, urging him back to the unexplored region. He sank his finger back into her sensitive flesh.

"Mmm.” His rumble told her how satisfied he was with her reaction. He pulled another finger out of her pussy and rimmed her with two fingers. Her muscles clenched, anticipating his maddening invasion, dying for it. When it came, she cried out.

He sank both fingers into her nether hole to the first knuckle, then the second. His cock bobbed upward against her pussy. Without thought, she tensed her thigh muscles, lifting herself, and settled over his length.

"Fuck, baby!” He seated himself balls-deep, shaking all over. When she wantonly rocked against him, he simultaneously withdrew his fingers and cock. Then he slid them inside once more. Deep. Until the hot need in her belly was a fire that consumed all sanity.

Juices pooled on his cock, and she moved with him, forcing him deeper, pulling out and driving harder, taking what she needed She rode him wildly, her breasts bouncing and her wet hair lashing her torso.

When the first spasms struck, her sensations reached a seemingly insurmountable level, stealing her breath.

He plunged his fingers into her anus and his cock into her pussy again and again, sending tremors of ecstasy through her.

With a feral grunt, he came. The warm gush heated her walls, and she clamped down on his body, milking him. He continued to spurt inside her.

As the last jolts of need washed away, the only thing she could think was that she might be carrying his child.

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Graham tightened his hold around Kathleen's waist as he drew up Old Gray before the group of family members waiting in the yard of the Hollis ranch. Kathleen quivered, and he silently cursed anyone who dared to make her feel uncomfortable.

His father reached for the reins and held Old Gray still while Graham dismounted, then swung Kathleen down beside him. She'd worried on the way here about her appearance. Her gown was wrinkled and dirty from her trials with the Jenkins brothers, and she didn't have a proper bonnet.

He'd run his fingers through her long auburn waves, watching each strand of hair glint gold and red in the rising sun. Once he worked the tangles free, he announced that she was ready—and perfect.

Looking around at his mother and father and all his extended family, he found grins on their faces. Kathleen's father was there too, per Graham's command, and the man was positively beaming, if a bit frail-looking.

Graham raised his voice. “Everyone, this is my wife, Kathleen. In case you haven't heard the rumor, and that's mighty unlikely in this family full of big-mouths"—Kathleen gasped and several snickers followed—"we married in secret so I could protect her from any danger that continues to trail me from my war years."

"We're going after him, Graham!” Xander piped up. His little family huddled around him, including his wife holding the baby and their lover James.

A ripple of talk ran through his cousins, and his father stepped forward. “Graham, I know you've gotta take care of this son of a bitch.” He glanced at Kathleen. “Pardon me, ma'am, for my speech.” He continued. “You cannot live under the thumb of a man who would turn on his brothers, who had provided the enemy with information to kill those he had sworn to protect."

Graham met his father's gaze and read the fury there. If his pa had been able to fight in the war, he would have rallied the men with that look alone. Graham gave a nod.

"Take as much ammo as you need, your brothers, and your cousins, and end this war once and for all, son. But leave Kathleen to our care."

He flexed his arm around her waist, sealing his chest to her spine. “Can't do that, Pa. She stays with me. Bad things happen when I'm separated from my women."

It was the first time he'd openly spoken of his first wife and the fate that had befallen her. Now everyone knew it, but no one talked about it, and all averted their eyes from the reality of Graham's pain. Their former lighthearted attempts to communicate with him were well meant. But it was time to air his dusty past.

Because Kathleen was his future, and the only way a flower such as she could thrive was in the light.

"She rides with me. We're heading for the border in a quarter hour, boys. Gather your supplies."

About half the family dispersed, but his ma came right up to Kathleen, grabbed her hands, and towed her off to the house. His wife glanced over her shoulder, and Graham gave her a crooked smile. She was going to fit in here like the prettiest bloom in a bouquet.

"You can't fool me, Graham. You're concerned.” His father hitched a thumb into his watch pocket and stared Graham down.

He ducked his head. “That's true. But I won't change my mind."

"Things could get ugly. Your cousins spotted Wabash on the border but with an army. Who knows what you'll be walking into. Having a woman in the midst of that could spell disaster."

Though the prospect sent a spike of dread straight through Graham and turned his bowels to water, he couldn't make the same mistake a third time. “I won't lose sight of Kathleen."

"You love her.” It wasn't a question.

"I do. Lord knows how I came to be blessed with such a woman."

"Don't you know, Graham?” His pa's eyes held a smile and a touch of sadness. “You're a good man. Deserving of love and a good woman to love you back."

For the first time in a long time, some of Graham's guilt over his sins and the atrocities he'd committed during the war fell away. He believed his father.

Kathleen's head spun with a whirlwind of names and faces as she was stripped and prodded into a hip bath by her mother-in-law, her new aunts, and the only other female her age, Annabelle.

The women hastily scrubbed her, brushed her hair, and plaited it into a big braid on her back. Then one aunt pulled Kathleen out of the bath and dried her with soft cotton before asking her to step into a clean white chemise.

"However did you rip this down the front?” Annabelle cradled a plump cherub of a baby on her lap while plucking at the stitches Kathleen had used to fix her torn chemise.

A scorching blush climbed Kathleen's throat and claimed her face. How to tell her that Graham had torn it off her in a fit of passion?

Annabelle caught her eye and smiled. Kathleen would bet her life Annabelle already knew.

"Here, slip your arms into this bodice.” Graham's mother, Felicia, was a feminine version of him with wide-set eyes and a solemnity of the lips that echoed her son's.

Someone jabbed Kathleen with a pin. She squeaked, and a nervous laugh sounded from her mother-in-law. “Sorry, dear. My hands are shaking. Here, Margaret. You nip this bodice in. She's smaller than me."

Kathleen held completely still while Graham's Aunt Margaret fixed a couple of pins. Then the final lace was tied, and Felicia spun Kathleen to face her.

Her eyes—the same golden brown as Graham's—glowed with appreciation. “That will do for traveling, and who knows what other trouble those ruffian Hollises find for you. When you return, Kathleen, we'll fix you up proper with a gorgeous violet dress. I just picked up the cloth in San Antonio, but the color will suit you much better. I daresay, it will turn your eyes to match."

Kathleen's throat clogged at the warm feeling that spread through her. How she'd missed this motherly, female support in the years since her mother had died. As she looked around at the women who were now her family, a smile jumped to her lips.

"Thank you. I'd best get out there. I can hear the horses, and the men are restless, waiting for me."

Felicia reached out and snagged her into her arms. Kathleen found herself embracing her back, sad to be going so soon, yet knowing deep down she'd return.

"You keep your eyes peeled for trouble, and don't let that man take any stupid chances with you.” A tear hung in the corner of Felicia's eye.

Kathleen shook her head. “If there's anything I know in this world, it's that Graham will take care of me."

As the ladies led Kathleen back through the beautiful and comfortable rooms of the big ranch house, Felicia squeezed her hand. “Come back safe, daughter."

Kathleen stepped onto the porch, and her father immediately hugged her, and then handed her off to her husband. A warmth and joy suffused her unlike any she'd ever known.

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Xander brought his horse right up beside Graham's. His hat was pulled low over his eyes, his expression unreadable. But Graham knew that look well enough from the years they'd served in the war. Xander was tense. His lover, James, felt it as well, and he fairly twitched.

"Speak up, man. There's too much between us to hold your tongue,” Graham said.

Xander shot a look at Kathleen, who rode before Graham.

"No holding back,” Graham said.

Nodding, Xander spoke. “That border is crawling with gray coats. We didn't get close enough yesterday to see that."

Graham tried not to let the sickening knot take over his stomach. “It's common enough to see them, even now. Some of the men have no other clothes."

"Yes, but with Wabash among them?"

Graham narrowed his eyes, trying to puzzle it out. Wabash had turned on the South, had fed information to the men who would see their armies wiped out. Yet he dared to wear the colors of the men he'd betrayed?

Xander shook his head. “I don't know what he's plotted, but he's obviously not known among these people for what he is."

Chafing his knuckles over his rough jaw, Graham stared over Kathleen's head at the horizon. They were a couple of minutes’ ride from the border. Xander and James had ridden ahead and scouted the scene, but they'd done so stealthily so as not to alert anyone to their presence.

Graham groaned. He wished he could see what the hell was going on up there. “He's pretending he fought solely for the South as a way to gain the men's loyalty,” he said with conviction. “How many men are with him?"

"Forty."

Graham clenched his teeth and tried not to growl his displeasure at that number. There were thirteen Hollis men, and they were good shots, but he still didn't like those odds. Not with Kathleen in their midst.

"Give me the layout."

Xander began to talk, and James interjected with details too. Together they laid out the landscape and the position of buildings and men. James fell silent for a moment while Xander continued.

"We can't ride right up to them, even one at a time, without them realizing it. James and I hung near the cliff where we had cover. We've had a little experience shooting from cliffs, right, James?” The men shared a grin.