Wildblossom (19 page)

Contentment flowed through Shelby's body like an intoxicating nectar, all the more pleasurable in the aftermath of danger. The bond between Geoff and her was strengthening every day, as even their quarrels brought them closer together. Happily, she snuggled back in the circle of his arms.

When they got home and stabled Charlie, Shelby checked on Gadabout, then went into the corral with a lantern and found the lost cattle. All eight of them stood at the trough, eating and drinking, and the sight of them brought stinging tears to her eyes.

"Look how happy they are to be home, where they needn't go hungry like Bart Croll's cattle! Some people might think it's silly for me to care about these poor creatures," she said to Geoff in an emotional voice, "but I don't care. They may not be very bright, but that's all the more reason for us to look out for them and protect them." She stroked the brown and white head of the nearest steer, and he looked over at her and lapped her hand.

From the other side of the corral fence, Geoff reached out and drew off her oversized gray hat, watching as her hair spilled free. "Your eight lost children are home again, safe. Let's go in now."

Cal, Marsh, and Lucius were just filing out of the kitchen, bound for their bunkhouse. "Hope you don't mind that we heated up some stew," Cal said. "Nothin' like danger to give a man an appetite!"

"Yup!" Marsh agreed, then burped and blushed, hanging his head.

"Glad to see that the boss found you okay, Miz Shelby," Cal added. "I hated to leave you there like that."

"Next time, do not," Geoff advised him in astringent tones. "I was nearly overtaken by Croll and his cousin, and Miss Matthews and I made an escape that was precarious at best. Shots were fired. In the future, I would advise you to follow your own instincts rather than allowing my... associate to persuade you to behave otherwise." He smiled then. "However, I must congratulate you fellows for rescuing our cattle and bringing them, as well as Gadabout, home safely."

Cal opened his mouth as if he would speak, but then thought better of it and simply said good night, and the trio shambled off. When Shelby went inside the ranch house, she began to shiver, hugging herself in her coat.

"What's wrong with me?" she wondered, teeth chattering so much that she nearly giggled.

Geoff, having looked in on Manypenny to assure himself that the nearly recuperated old gentleman was fast asleep, returned to wrap his arms around her. "You've had too much excitement, I imagine." The fragrance of her hair aroused him.

"It
was
exciting, wasn't it?" Shelby was still shaking, but there was a subtle shift in the mood as her body fit itself to Geoff's and his embrace hardened. Her face found its way beyond his open coat, seeking his flannel-clad chest. "This was the sort of night I've always longed for, but because my family are the pillars of Deadwood, I was forced to behave. I thrive on
this
life, though! I adore the ranch and the animals and the mountains and the river—and Cody! Just breathing on a night like this makes me happy...." And you—I adore
you!
Shelby thought so loudly, she felt certain he could hear her emotions.

"Might I be so bold as to add one more element to your list?" Geoff murmured with a touch of irony, still holding her close.

Her heart began to pound. "All right..." She felt her face getting hot and was glad he couldn't see.

"What about
danger!
Wouldn't you agree that you seem to relish being in peril?"

"Maybe," she agreed. "I have never been any good at prudence."

"No." Geoff's voice thickened as longing broke over him like a cloudburst. He'd known it was coming, but hadn't been able to predict the exact moment of impact. "Shelby... I..."

Her arms, encumbered by her thick coat, searched upward to fasten around Geoff's neck, and she turned her face up to his as if searching out the sun.

"Yes." The word was an affirmation rather than a question. A voice from a distant corner of her mind reminded her that this was absolutely outrageous behavior. "Yes."

He pressed her back against the oak icebox and he kissed her with unrestrained passion. No other female had tasted, felt, or responded to him like Shelby, and this was a matter quite beyond common carnality.

Geoff had long ago grown bored with the quest for intensified lust for its own sake. Yet, when Shelby opened her mouth to his hungry kisses, a new vista of complex sensations opened inside him. How perfectly she combined pure desire with—and a chemical reaction that only the two of them, together, seemed capable of creating.

The edges of the real world began to blur, muted by the rapture of their kisses and incendiary caresses. Staring into Geoff's brown eyes, Shelby managed to get out of her coat, and to pull his off as well. Now she was no longer shivering with cold, but hot, her cheeks flushed.

He returned her gaze solemnly. She was accustomed to good-looking men, having a father and brother who constantly turned heads, but Geoff stood alone in her eyes. Sculpted and lean and graceful as a lion, he lifted her into his arms and carried her out of the kitchen.

"Music?" he whispered, his breath warm on her ear, and Shelby nodded, nearly faint with pleasure. Geoff gently laid her on the sofa, lit one lamp, then put on the first record he could find. The gramophone magically produced the tinny strains of "Bring Back My Bonnie to Me," and Shelby dreamily sang along.

"My Bonnie lies over the ocean, my Bonnie lies over the sea..." she warbled while Geoff laughed aloud and pulled off her boots, then his own. He sat beside her and warmed her feet with his strong hands, softly joining in the chorus: "Brinng back! Brinng back! Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me!"

Soon the music died away and they rose together, holding hands, and went into Shelby's big bedroom.

"Manypenny?" she asked as Geoff lit the lamp by her bed.

"Snoring with gusto," he assured her.

Shelby's heart thudded again, but when Geoff turned and opened his arms, all her nerves dissolved. She went to him in her stockinged feet and hopped up, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he caught her in his strong embrace. Again their mouths came together, kissing, kissing, gasping for breath, tasting, nibbling, while his hands cupped her buttocks through the trousers she'd worn for the night's adventure.

"Yes..." she heard herself murmur again. It was as if the word was pulled from the depths of her soul. All of her trembled with a fierce need to blend with all of Geoff.

He sat down on the edge of the bed so that Shelby was on his lap and they were bathed in the soft glow of the lamp. Slowly, his long fingers ran through the mass of her cinnamon curls, feeling their glossy texture, then he caressed her face.

"Enchanting," he whispered in husky tones.

She had always been self-conscious about her wide mouth, but when Geoff outlined it with his fingertip and worshiped it with his eyes, she felt sensual, touching his forefinger with her tongue. The aching core inside her grew hotter, more insistent. She found the buttons on his shirt and opened them with surprising ease, drawing a grin from him. When his shirt was open, her hands reached inside to explore the mysterious territory of his male chest. His body felt thrillingly alien to her: hard tapering contours comprised of only muscle and warm, lean flesh. Shelby had never touched a man in this way. She was on fire with not just desire but curiosity as well.

Geoff indulged her, wondering when she'd wander below his waist and discover the real evidence of his maleness. His fingers were tender yet sure as they swept back her hair and drew her closer so that he could softly kiss from her cheekbones down the satiny column of her neck. He slipped loose the buttons of her shirt, then kissed her bared shoulders with feathery softness.

Shelby closed her eyes, drifting, caught in a powerful current of new sensations. She didn't see Geoff blink at the sight of her undergarment. Instead of a boned corset, worn by every woman of fashion he'd undressed in recent memory, Shelby was charmingly clad in a fine-ribbed cotton vest that resembled a child's undershirt, with narrow straps at her shoulders. However, the thin material clung to her beautiful breasts in a manner that was anything but childlike. A harsh groan escaped his lips.

Shelby sank her fingers into his hair as he eased her back onto the pillows of her bed. Through her lashes she saw him above her as if through a mist: the incarnation of her fantasies, smiling at her tenderly, lifting her hand to kiss her palm, her wrist, the sensitive inner side of her arm.

"My God, Shelby, you're exquisite."

When Geoff said it, she believed him. He kissed her throat, then cupped her breasts over the soft, ribbed vest. The shivery heat between her legs became a congested ache. Quickly he divested them both of their trousers. Shelby wore only cotton drawers and when he took her in his arms, she felt the exciting evidence of his manhood pressing against her. And she wanted more. She opened her bare thighs, instinctively arching upward so that his hot ridge could separate her puffy nether lips, even through the drawers.

Passion began to overtake Geoff, not just from his own body, but from Shelby's. She was so eager, meeting him kiss for kiss, her hands wandering over him in constant exploration, her arms and legs joining in the shared embrace. Geoff found that he couldn't get enough of her mouth, or the curve of her neck where he could inhale the fragrance of her hair. Her breasts were so warm, pressing against his chest, and finally his lips trailed fire down Shelby's throat. Her nipples were puckered under the thin ribbed cotton, their dark rose hue showing through, and Geoff suckled them through the fabric, the sensation of his warm, wet mouth and cool breath stunningly arousing to Shelby.

"Oh. Oh!" She threw her head back on the pillows, straining against him, throbbing with needs she had never imagined.

That was all Geoff needed to hear, for he had been hovering dangerously near the precipice for many long minutes. Gently, he drew off the rest of her underclothes, then held her close so that they could each savor the feeling of that full-length naked embrace. He kissed her again, smoothing back the hair from her damp brow, and waited for her incandescent smile. Shelby further responded by parting her legs to the slight pressure of his hard-muscled thigh. She found Geoff's long, lithe body to be as amazing as any sculpture she had ever seen in museums or books; she couldn't stop touching him, even in places she'd expected to be shy about. His buttocks were perfectly curved and unyielding as marble.

And he let her eventually find him, although the pleasure of her touch was nearly excruciating, and Shelby guided him into her body, jerking at the first hot stab of pain, but bravely urging him to continue.

So sweet!
Geoff thought, closing his eyes against the painful ecstasy of Shelby's snug warmth all around him. Her fingernails dug into his back, her mouth uttered low cries against his throat, her firm, rounded breasts seemed to scorch the surface of his chest. And each thrust was more exquisite than anything he'd ever felt in his life. There was so much he wanted to give to Shelby tonight, but his traitorous male body galloped toward fulfillment—and when it came, in a burning, shattering explosion, Geoff wondered if he could survive.

Primitive sounds seemed to be wrenched from the depths of his soul, and Shelby would never forget them. She clasped his shuddering body to her own, their sweat mingling, their hearts thundering in unison, and understood what it was that had bound her own parents together over the years. It was a bond of fire, the ultimate act of sharing—of intimacy, and of exposure.

Geoff buried his face in her neck and she stroked his hair, murmuring, warm from head to toe with satisfaction.

"Shelby..." he whispered in reverent tones.

"I know." Her eyes stung. She blinked and tasted her own salty tears. "I know."

Chapter 10

"Just what the hell is goin' on here, I'd like to know!"

Dimly, Shelby registered the familiar voice, then felt how sore her muscles were. She was exhausted. Without opening her eyes, she turned toward the wall, seeking to shut out the rude voice, the morning—but instead she was blasted with a windowful of bright sunshine.

A hand whacked her backside. "For Pete's sake, wake up, Shel!"

Where was Geoff? The last time she'd checked, he had been right here in this bed, spooning with her, holding her so tenderly...