Wings of a Dove (20 page)

    "I'm just looking for work."

    "No, you aren't."

    Delaney's light eyes narrowed.

    "You aren't lookin' for work anymore because you found it."

    Delaney remained silent, eliciting an impatient grunt from Marshall as he continued, "That's what you said you came here for, isn't it? Well, you're in luck. The young fella who usually helps me around here just quit. Part-time is all I've got for you but if you can come in three afternoons a week, I'll give you all the experience you need." The editor narrowed his gaze. "You won't be able to live on what I pay you, so don't get yourself in trouble with that family or you'll end up starvin' to death."

    Delaney nodded his head. "I'll take care of that."

    "And let me know what days you'll be comin' in, so I can be expectin' you."

    Delaney nodded and extended his hand. "Agreed."

    Surprised by the strength in the knobby hand that gripped his firmly, Delaney paused before speaking again. "Thank you."

    Mr. Marshall gave a short laugh. "You surprise me, boy. You don't much look like the type to say thanks."

    "I'm not."

    "Well, in that case, you're welcome."

    Pausing only a moment more, Delaney turned and walked out the door.

    Outside on the sidewalk a few seconds later, Delaney felt the first flush of elation sweep his mind. He had done it! He had taken the first step, and he was on his way. Dammit, nothing was going to stop him now!

    Striding rapidly down the street, Delaney glanced at the clock in the post office window. Was it possible that only fifteen minutes had passed since he left the general store?

    Unexpectedly, he laughed. Damn, he felt good!

    Pausing, Delaney cast a speculative glance at the general store. Elmer Winthrop was a notoriously slow worker. There was no way he had filled Mrs. Case's order yet. If he went back there now, he'd have to wait in that stuffy store, with silly giggles grating on his nerves. He had better things to do with his time.

    Delaney turned and a few minutes later climbed a familiar wooden staircase. He felt too good right now to let it all go to waste. Reaching the landing, he paused to catch his breath before knocking boldly on the door there. The sound of a light step inside preceded the slow opening of the door and a huskily voiced comment from the striking red-haired woman standing there.

    "Well, if it isn't the farm boy back for an afternoon on the town. What happened? Did they need to get you out of the house for a while to cool things off?"

    Delaney's smile faded. He didn't like questions, and he didn't like having keen eyes drawing answers from his silence in response to them.

    "All right, Delaney Marsh, you can keep your secrets, and little old Lil will keep hers. Come on in, darlin'."

    Pulling him forward, the woman tucked her arm through his and pushed the door shut behind them. She plucked off his hat and tossed it on a chair. The sound of a honky-tonk piano from the saloon below reached his ears as Delaney flicked a fleeting glance around the ruffled, fussy, but meticulously clean room, the center of which was a broad satin-covered bed.

    The room reflected the personality of the woman standing in front of him in a bright red gown that lay against her generous female curves like a second skin, but Delaney knew this woman's heart was as generous as the full breasts that lightly brushed his chest. He raised his hand and touched her cheek.

    "I don't have to start back for a little while yet, Lil. I thought of you and I figured I'd come and visit."

    Lil's light eyes flicked over his face. "I done some thinkin' about you, too, darlin', since the last time you were here." Lil placed her palm against his cheek and slowly slid her fingers up into his hair. "You sure enough are one beautiful fella, you know that, Delaney Marsh?"

    "If you say so, Lil."

    Lil gave a short laugh and took a step closer, bringing her body warmly up against his. She laughed again as she felt him harden against her. "Yeah, I say so. That's why I crooked my finger at you that day you walked past me on the street and took you under my mature and experienced wing."

    It was Delaney's turn to laugh before he lowered his head to brush her full lips with his. "Is that what you did, Lil?"

    "Yeah, that's what I did, all right. And you remember what I said that day, after you showed me there was more to a young farm boy than meets the eye?"

    "Yeah, I remember." Lil's persuasive fingers has slipped below his belt to caress him and Delaney paused with a short intake of breath. Lil laughed, her hand then moving freely against him.

    "I said I'd always have time for you, boy, and that you were more man than most full-grown men I knew."

    Delaney's head dropped to Lil's neck, and he moved his mouth against the white skin there. He remembered the musky scent of her flesh. It was all woman, just like Lil. He remembered a lot more, too. His hands moving to the narrow straps that supported the plunging neckline of her dress, he paused, drawing back to look soberly into her lightly flushed face.

    "Lil, I don't have much money."

    "You never needed money with me, boy, and you never will."

    Her experienced hands made short work of the buttons on his shirt, then opened his belt buckle and the closure below it. Having freed him from his trousers, she caressed him warmly, growing breathless as she pressed her mouth against his chest.

    "I don't feel much like talkin' now, boy."

    "My name's Delaney, Lil."

    A spark of annoyance lifted Lil's eyes to his. "I'm sorry, darlin'. It's not that I can't remember your name. Hell, I whisper it in my sleep."

    Delaney gave a short laugh. "You're a damned good liar, Lil."

    "Am I? Well, maybe I am and maybe I'm not. Anyway, darlin', I'm no damned good when it comes to patience."

    Reaching behind her, Lil worked at the fastenings of her dress and then took a short step backwards. The silky garment fell into a bright circle around her feet, and a gasp escaped Delaney's lips. Clad only in black lace underdrawers and sheer black stockings, Lil began to stroke her full white breasts.

    "Darlin', they're all yours, and they been waitin' to feel you touchin' them again. Come on, darlin'. I'm warm and ready for you."

Pulling Delaney with her toward the bed, Lil lay down, staring up at him as she slowly slid her underdrawers down her firm, full legs. She smiled as Delaney finished the task, and within seconds he was as naked as she. He stood looking down at her, and Lil made a small strangled sound.

    "Dammit, Delaney, get yourself down here and put yourself inside me, you damned fool boy!"

    "Yes, ma'am."

    Delaney lowered himself over the soft cushion of Lil's womanly flesh. A low gasp escaped his throat at the moment of his body's contact with hers, and he covered her warm, hungry mouth with his. Her anxious, taunting tongue sought his, but he freed himself from her clinging kiss to follow a heated trail down her throat to the pale mounds that rubbed his chest. He covered the dark moons that ringed their crests with his mouth, drawing on them until she was gasping. He grasped her ample buttocks in his hands, kneading and cupping them as his mouth played against her skin.

    Lil gasped, breathless. Her voice was a hoarse whisper against his hair. "Damn you, Delaney, I can't wait any longer."

    His unspoken sentiments the same, Delaney raised himself and thrust inside her. She was ready for him all right.

    With a brief laugh Delaney thrust again, his mind gradually losing count until the sudden explosion that went off inside his brain resounded in deep, convulsive shudders. He was motionless atop her, except for the breathless heaving of his chest, when he heard Lil's husky whisper.

    "Delaney."

    Raising his head, he was startled by Lil's sober expression as she raised her hands to cup his cheeks with her palms.

    "There aren't many times when a woman like me puts business aside and forgets about money, but you're different from the rest of the
fellas
who visit me. You know what you are, Delaney? You're a present
to
me,
from
me, darlin'. A real indulgence. And I'm tellin' you now, I'll never give any man more, at any price, than I give you."

    Touched by the sincerity in the light eyes looking into his, Delaney smiled. "I appreciate that, Lil."

    "Now kiss me, darlin'."

   Touching his lips lightly to hers, Delaney shook his head. "I have to go, Lil. My time's not my own yet."

    "I said kiss me."

    Drawing his head down firmly toward hers, Lil met him with a warm, opened-mouthed kiss that was slowly tantalizing. Releasing him at last, she whispered against his mouth, "That was just the beginnin', darlin', now that I got that first heat out of my system."

    "Lil, I have to go."

    Sliding her hand down between them, Lil cupped him caressingly, manipulating him with her expert touch in a way that brought a low groan to his lips.

    "Let the sound out, darlin'. There's more to come, and then you can show me again the man you really are, just like you did before."

    "Lil, I can't. I"

    "Give it up, darlin'."

    Drawing his mouth down to her lips, Lil captured him again, and his protest went unspoken as he slid his arms around her, drawing her smooth, damp flesh close.

    "All right. Just a half-hour more."

    They were the last words he spoke.

    Almost an hour later, Delaney strode across the bright sunlit street toward the general store. In a few rapid steps, he was inside. Elmer Winthrop looked up as he approached the counter, and a low grunt escaped Delaney's lips.

    "Not finished with that order yet, Elmer?"

    "Just
puttin
' in the last few things. What's your hurry?"

    "I got things to do, and Mrs. Case is expecting me back."

    "All right, that's the last of it." Placing one final sack next to the two previously readied, Elmer released a slow breath.

    "Will that be all?"

    Halting as he reached for the first sack, Delaney turned abruptly toward the roll of pink ribbon lying on the counter. "How do you sell that ribbon?"

    "By the yard. It's on sale, marked down because"

    "I'll take a yard."

    His thick lips twisting into a knowing smile, Elmer picked up the roll and stretching out the ribbon in an expert manner,    snipped off a length and wrapped it in paper. He was about to add it to the other items in the sack when Delaney took it from his hand.

    "I'll pay for the ribbon." Slapping down a coin, Delaney waited for his change as Elmer's smile widened.

    "Well, I'm guessin' I can expect to see Miss Sarah Case
wearin
' a pretty strip of pink ribbon the next time she comes to town. And I'm thinkin' you got real good taste in women, Delaney."

    Stifling the comment that rose to his lips, Delaney took the change Elmer held out and shoved it in his pocket. "Expect what you like."

    Scooping up all three sacks at once, Delaney turned to the door without another word.

    A short time later, Delaney slapped the reins against the old mare's back and urged her to a modest pace as he drove back along the main street of town. A smile lifted his lips. He hadn't really expected to dally so long. He was a little tired, but he was also more relaxed than he'd been in weeks. He knew he had Lil to thank for that, and he knew, all other considerations aside, Lil was a damned nice woman. She was the only person other than Allie who accepted him the way he was.

    Annoyed with himself for unconsciously linking the two in his mind, Delaney turned from that thought with an intense frown. In any case, he had accomplished all he had intended today. Now an even more difficult task lay before him. He was anxious to get it settled.

    Looking briefly at the sun as it sank toward the horizon, Delaney gave an unconscious nod. By sunset tonight he'd know where he stood and where he'd go from there.

    Her eyes intent on the road, Allie saw dust rising in the distance. It was the wagon! Delaney was coming home!

    Glancing at the house behind her, Allie paused only a second longer before starting down the road at a run. Breathless, she slowed her pace as the wagon came more clearly into sight, and a smile stretched across her lips. It
was
Delaney! She had been so afraid.

    Drawing herself to a temporary halt, Allie attempted to compose herself before continuing toward the approaching wagon at a fast walk.

    Everything had been so terrible when Mother Case sent Delaney to town. James had been angry, and Papa Case's brow had been as black as thunder. She wasn't certain what had set off the trouble this time, and in truth, she didn't believe it was anything of particular consequence. It didn't have to be. James and Delaney were like oil and water. They'd never mix, not for long.