Wicked Temptations (14 page)

Adam's words brought prurient images rushing into Priscilla's mind, which she was determined to quash. "What torture?" she said. "You've been gone two weeks. I haven't even been with you."

"You're always with me. You're on my mind when I'm riding the range and when I'm laying awake at night. And whenever I bathe, you sure as hell are on my mind. And seeing you now is driving me crazy to carry you up to bed and end this torment."

"I'm sorry," Priscilla said, "but you will not be carrying me to bed tonight because—"

"We'll discuss that after I do this." Adam pulled her roughly against him and covered her mouth with his. Her response was immediate and demanding, matching the thrusts of his tongue with hers, shoving her fingers in his hair, rasping her fingernails down his back, pressing her breasts against his chest. She kissed his jaw, and his neck, and the hollow of his throat where his shirt gaped open. But when he scooped her up in his arms to carry her upstairs, the sound of footsteps on the floor above caught him up short. He slowly lowered her to the floor. "Is there someone here?" he asked.

Priscilla patted her chest, finding it hard to catch her breath. "Oh, my goodness! Yes! I forgot... that is... I didn't really forget. I was just momentarily distracted."

"Miss Priscilla?" Trudy's voice called down. "Is there someone down there?"

"Yes, Trudy," Priscilla called up, while hastily rearranging her hair. "Go back to your room."

"Then you'll be coming up soon?" Trudy asked. "I want to talk to you some more about Viscountess
Harberton
and the Rational Dress Society."

"I won't be long." Priscilla assured her.

Adam's jaws clenched. "Trudy's staying here with you tonight?"

"It's been our arrangement since you left for the ranch," Priscilla replied. "You said you didn't want your mother having to monitor her, and I was afraid Trudy might slip away with her young man, so your mother and I decided this would be the best arrangement until you returned. So you will either have to go to your house or to the Cheyenne Club, because you will not be staying here. But then, that would not have been an option even if Trudy were not here."

"I see," Adam said, fists knotted at his sides. "Like I told you before, my life was a whole lot less complicated before you arrived."

"Well, it can be uncomplicated again, if you stay away from me," Priscilla said, fighting the urge to pound the man's chest... or strip off his clothes, and hers, and shove him to the floor and cover his naked body with hers. Instead, she drew in a long breath to settle the erratic beating of her heart, and said, "I did not ask you to come here tonight. That was your decision. And what you had planned for us was also your decision."

"Maybe what I had planned tonight was mine alone, but to refresh your memory, you were the one who confronted me about divesting you of your maidenhead so you could experience the marital act. I just came here tonight to oblige."

"Well, I wouldn't want to put you out in any way," Priscilla huffed. "In spite of the unappealing way that I look, I imagine I could find a man who would be willing to take care of that problem for me. At least from the neck down I'm not too unsightly."

"There's nothing wrong with the way you look!
It's your bloody attitude. You make a man impotent by your sexual demands."

Priscilla glanced down. "You don't seem to be impotent right now."

"No, I'm frustrated as hell!"

"Well, I'm frustrated too, Adam, but circumstances have changed. I still want you to do all the things you described, but I also realize that turning to you for sexual gratification is not enough. I have to feel something for you."

"Then you're telling me you feel nothing for me."

"No. I feel something very strong for you," Priscilla said. "But there has to be more. I have to admire and respect you, and during the two weeks you've been gone, there have been several more acts of violence by cattlemen against homesteaders."

"Miss Priscilla?" Trudy called out. "Is my father here?"

"Yes, Trudy," Priscilla said, disturbed that she would not be able to carry out her thoughts with Adam, when what she'd wanted was his assurance that his men had no part in the two latest incidents. She wanted desperately to love and respect him, because she also wanted him to come to her bed and fulfill his promise.

The footsteps on the stairs quickened, and Trudy emerged from the shadowy stairwell. "Father, why are you here?" she asked, her voice void of affection.

"I'm here to see Miss Phipps," Adam replied. "How are you?"

"Fine," Trudy clipped. "Are you staying long?"

"Probably not," Adam replied. "Do I get a hug?"

Trudy made no move toward him. "Did you hear about Mr. Watkins' mule?"

Adam looked at Trudy, puzzled. "I don't even know who Mr. Watkins is."

Trudy glared at her father, as if holding him to blame, and said, "Mr. Seth Watkins is a homesteader. Cattlemen shot and killed his mule. He can't work his land and he won't be able to get his crops in. The women were talking about it at the last Town Tattler meeting. And three cowboys attacked the wife of another homesteader. She's too afraid to stay, so they are packing up and leaving."

Adam looked at Priscilla. "This is your doing," he said, "bringing Trudy here and allowing her to listen to all those rabble rousing females at your meetings."

"Trudy staying with me has nothing to do with what's going on between the cattlemen and the homesteaders!"
Priscilla paused to draw in a long breath to check her temper, then said in a measured voice, "The acts of violence are happening, and there's no question cattlemen are behind them."

Adam glared at her. "You and the rest of your flock have made up your narrow female minds that cattlemen are behind every misfortune that happens to any homesteader, and nothing's going to change that."

"Narrow female minds!"
Priscilla clenched her jaws to keep from spitting out a string of expletives she'd never uttered. When she'd regained her composure, she lifted her chin and said, "Since you're running for mayor, why don't you refute these claims in an opinion piece for The Town Tattler. You could outline the measures you'd take to make sure incidences don't continue to happen. Or if they do, you could assure readers that you will make every effort to see that the perpetrators are held accountable. So far, no one has looked into any of the incidents. It looks very suspicious, since the lawmen who are supposed to be protecting the people were hired by the Stock Growers Association."

Eyes narrowed, fist knotted, legs spread like he was primed for a gunfight, Adam said, "Let's get a few things straight. My men had nothing to do with any of the incidents those women have been filling your head with, and I will not be adding my voice to the gossipmongers who are writing for your paper." He looked up the stairs. "And Trudy, collect your things because you'll be coming home with me. Now!"

"Taking Trudy away from here will not prevent her from hearing the stories that are going around town," Priscilla said. "The only way you can do that is to take her back with you to the ranch. Is that what you really want?"

Adam's thick chest heaved with a slow intake of breath, and the anger on his face
 
changed to dismay. While he seemed to be deliberating what to do, Priscilla looked at Trudy, and said, "Please go upstairs, lovey. I'd like to speak with your father alone."

Trudy looked at Adam for confirmation. "Go ahead," he said.

Trudy turned and scampered up the stairs.

Priscilla said to Adam, "We need to continue this in the back room, where Trudy won't hear us." Without waiting for Adam's response she turned and walked through the open doorway, and Adam followed her into the darkened storage room, shutting the door behind him.

Priscilla turned to face him. In the dim light sifting through the murky window, she said, in a hushed tone, "If you take Trudy back to the ranch, she'll soon be with your young cowboy. As it is, she's occupied with her studies during the day and with writing poems and essays for the paper in the evening. And with her here, I'm able to monitor her comings and goings. So far, she has not protested or tried to slip away because she's being kept busy with things that interest her, which I believe is more important than making sure she's not having her head filled with what you consider suffrage nonsense."

When Adam didn't reply, Priscilla said, "You have to recognize that Trudy is a young woman who is becoming aware of needs that only a man can fill. Because of her age and her innocence, she's vulnerable, and she should not be allowed to find herself alone with a young man who awakens her body to unfamiliar longings, which will happen if you take her back to the ranch. Before I met you, I believed that a woman was capable of maintaining complete control of her actions at all times, that if a man tried to lure her into doing something she knew was improper, she'd have the will to stop herself, and him. I was wrong. When you hold me and touch me and kiss me I have no control at all. My only wish is for you to strip off my clothes and have your way with me. It has become a problem of late, but I'm trying to deal with it."

Adam stared at her, clearly uncertain whether they were engaged in an argument and he should keep his distance, or whether her proclamation was an invitation for him to take her now. And all she knew, as she waited for him to decide, was that she wanted him to end the terrible yearning that was foremost on her mind. She didn't want to think about whether he could be involved with the incidents with the homesteaders. Later, she'd consider it, and probably regret anything she might let him do. But for now, her thoughts were singular. And Adam knew it.

He opened his arms to her, and when he did, she rushed into them, and said, "This is exactly what I mean, and why Trudy must stay with me."

"You're right," Adam said. "But I'm also obsessed with having you. You're the only woman I want. And I want you now." His fingers went to her bodice and he fumbled with the buttons.

Shoving his hands aside, Priscilla quickly unfastened the buttons herself and opened her dress. "This is as far as we can go tonight," she said, slipping loose the lacings of her corset. "Trudy's upstairs, and I'm trying my best to convince her that she must remain chaste until marriage. And I'm a terrible example right now, but I want you to do what you did in the buggy. I'll worry about the consequences of my lack of willpower later." She shoved open her corset and pulled Adam's head toward her breast, and his lips latched onto a nipple. As Adam lathed and suckled one breast, and kneaded the other, Priscilla tipped her head back, closed her eyes, and let out a string of little plaintive moans. "Please don't forget that I have two breasts, and the other is equally ready for your ministrations," she said, in a voice heavy with passion.

Adam moved to her other breast, and Priscilla let out a moan of pure pleasure. "I'm about to go mad with wanting you," she said in a raspy voice. "What you're doing is simply not enough. But there's no way you can take my virginity quietly right now. I'm certain to let out some very dubious sounds. I almost did in the buggy when we came so close, and it wouldn't do to have Trudy come bursting in on us to find out what was wrong with me."

Vacillating between pressing Adam's head closer against her, or lifting it away, she gave a long moan of frustration, took his head between her hands and pulled it off her breast, then drew her corset together and tugged on the lacings. "Thank you," she said, while buttoning her bodice. "That was a delicious sampling of what I might expect from you, even though I'm more frustrated now than ever."

"I understand frustration," Adam groused. To Priscilla's shock, he took her hand and pressed it over his male part. "This isn't going away for a long time, and it's damn uncomfortable while it lasts. "

Priscilla cupped her hand closer around him, her fingers surveying the lumpy hardness of him and the surprisingly large size of the thing she had been so curious about. "It does explain what was going on beneath my skirt in the buggy though," she said. "I couldn't see that part of you at the time, and what I felt when you placed it where you did was puzzling. Does this happen often?" she asked, while continuing to inspect the thing through the fabric of his trousers.

Adam's face looked grim. "Unfortunately, yes...every time I see you, or think about you, or smell something that reminds me of you, or see a woman with red hair and freckles and blond eye lashes. It even happens when I see a picture of a woman who lived three hundred years ago!"

Priscilla laughed and moved her hand away. "I'd like to have that power over men three hundred years from now." She placed her palm on his chest and reached up and gave him a kiss. "I'm sorry you're uncomfortable," she said, "but there's nothing we can do about it tonight. I also think you should leave or Trudy will wonder what's going on in here and come to investigate."

"I suppose you're right." Adam sighed. "When will I see you again?"

"I don't know, " Priscilla replied. "There are things I need to sort out. We have an abnormal physical attraction for each other, which is beyond my understanding. I've never attracted men. Then you came along and made me feel desirable. Perhaps that's why I'm obsessed with wanting you in my bed. Maybe it's simply because I may never have another chance." She let out a weary sigh. "I just wish love would play a part," she said, wistfully. "I don't feel love for you, Adam. I feel this uncontainable passion when I'm with you, like a female cat in need of a tom. I've seen cats in heat, howling incessantly, tails raised in invitation. That's what it's like when I'm with you. I want to raise my tail and have you take care of me. But I also want to love you."