Acres, Natalie - Propositioned by Outlaws [Outlaws 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (8 page)

“I didn’t say I was scared.”

“You are.”

“You don’t know me.”

“So you’ve said a few times.
Victoria
, I understand all I need to know about you.”

She stopped walking. The barn was as quiet as it had been when he’d first entered. “You find me attractive.”

“I find a lot of women appealing, but that doesn’t mean I want to put my dick inside them.”

“Well, I never—”

“Yep. That’s what I’m betting on.
You’ve never
.” He grunted, cursed himself for what he was about to do, and did it anyway. He sat upright and stared right at her. “Am I right?”

She glared back at him. Her eyes held that pretty shimmer of lust, and yet there was no way she could deny the truth. His suspicions were accurate.

“I’d let you,” she said, softly. “I mean if you wanted to poke me. I’d let you.”

His heart stopped and he took a short breath. He’d never heard such a delicious offer fall from such sensual lips. “Woman, go on back to your cabin. Lock your door up real good and tight. Then, take whatever silly notions you have about being with a man—me, Art, or any other man for that matter—right in there with you. Tomorrow, you’ll thank me for sending you away.”

She didn’t budge. He looked over her shoulder, peering through the small cracks between the wooden planks holding the barn together. He wondered then how many times he’d wished for a moment like this. He’d always hoped he’d find another woman like the one he’d buried, but maybe it was too soon.

Maybe he’d wished too hard for something he didn’t deserve to have, or perhaps he saw the innocence in
Victoria
’s eyes and appreciated her purity and beauty far too much to tarnish it. But she was pure. That much was a given and a gift.

His eyes defied him, but that wasn’t the worst part. As much as he tried to behave himself, his cock rose in his breeches, hard and responsive. Good God, he couldn’t help but crave her. And innocent or not, when she approached him, he wanted her. Right or wrong, he desired her, but more than the lust he was battling, he was cursing and condemning himself for something else as well.

Lane wanted what Art suggested. He longed to lay her down with another man to witness it all. He wanted to share her. He longed to experience the kind of things he missed with Sarah all because he was too stubborn ask if he could join his wife when she took his best friend to her bed.

“I’d probably enjoy the hell out of body like yours,” he whispered, starting at her ankles and allowing his gaze to drift upward. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind. He’d get lost in her voluptuous form.

Allowing for an indulgent opportunity, Lane gaped at the space between
Victoria
’s thighs before he shifted his eyes up, holding at those full, ripe breasts. Good God, he knew how to please a woman like Victoria, but it had been a very long time since he’d allowed himself the pleasure.

“I’m not the type of man who loves a woman right for one night and then leaves her the next morning. That’s how come I said we ought to wait. Let me get the marshal off my ass, and then I’ll come back here and see what we’ve got between us. If it ain’t a big deal, I’ll ride out of here the same way I rode in, but—”

“But—”

“There’s nothing else to add,” Lane said, refusing to elaborate. He’d already said enough. “
Victoria
, there’s no reason for me to take you to my bed when I plan on riding out tomorrow. You don’t want a man who’s due to hang.”

“Art seems to think the three of us have a connection.”

“Art or you?” he countered.

“Art,” she assured him.

Lane smacked the side of his face, slapping a gnat that landed on his cheek. Flicking the dead bug away, he said with annoyance, “Art believes in the justice system.”

“You might like me, too,” she said, ignoring his comment.

Might hell.

Before he had a chance to rein in his control, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her atop him. What the heck was he doing? There was no point in trying to explain why he felt the laws there would later fail him. Besides, he was due to hang. Since he figured he’d be swinging by sundown, he certainly wouldn’t have a guilty conscience for long.

“You’re thinking about it,” she whispered against his lips.

“Yes I am. And you know what? I believe you’re right. I like ya, Victoria, and I believe we’ll have us a real fine time.”

* * * *

Lane took her lips and made an impression. He shoved his hands through her hair as he kissed her, his mouth working over hers as he drew her to him, bracketing his arm around her waist.

Victoria
was taken aback by the kiss. A surge of need rushed through her body as he brought her down over him. The way he made her feel was like sitting in the sunshine right after a heavy rain.

The heat warmed her while the dampness between her legs made her appreciate the hot sensations stirring inside her. Arousal licked at her lips as her pussy clenched with the desire he instilled inside her.

Lane would make her first sexual encounter memorable, even pleasurable. She had waited for the right man, but didn’t have unreasonable expectations of finding a happily-ever-after. Still, she’d always hoped her first time would be with someone who wasn’t in a great big hurry to get in there and get finished.

At the moment, Lane seemed to be living on prairie time.

He rolled atop her, tucking her under him. His lips trailed across her cheek, down her neck, and came to a stop at her collarbone. His tongue rubbed left to right, up and down. “You’re so pretty,
Victoria
.”

“Thank you,” she said, nervously, arching her neck, wishing for more.

He took her hand in his and guided her toward his penis. Leaving her palm against his size, he whispered across her lips. “Stroke,
Victoria
. That’s all you have to do, sweetheart, just stroke me.”

Her fingers stilled against him. She studied his expression as she pressed her palm to his groin, willing her hand to move, but unable to gain the courage to pet him the way he perhaps wanted her to caress him.

She was inexperienced, and he obviously knew that from the start, but the way she responded to him was so unexpected. Apparently, her thoughts were unreasonable. She’d anticipated being able to do what came naturally. Instead, she found herself limited by her fears, disabled by her lack of previous liaisons.

“It’s okay,
Victoria
. We can stop if you want.”

“No,” she said firmly, grabbing hold of his dick. “I want to have relations with you.”

He smiled. His hooded eyes looked darker as he watched her. His lips thinned. He bumped against her hand, bucking back and forth as he rolled his hips to and fro. “Relations, huh?”

“Yes,” she said shyly.

“Then stroke,
Victoria
. You won’t hurt me. Get a good grip and play with me.”

“I’m trying.”

“No,” he said, clutching her hand and bringing her fingertips to his lips. “You aren’t, and you shouldn’t have to in the first place. You’re frightened. Why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

She shook her head again. She’d wanted a man who would do all the work. She’d wanted a fellow who would show her how to love as he taught her how to become a good lover.

Taking a deep breath, Lane pushed away from her and stood. “You need to go home.”

“I am home,” she said, straightening her skirts. With her legs extended, she placed her arms behind her for support. She tilted her chin up and watched him. What would he do next? Did he really plan to send her away?

“I mean go to your cabin,” he said, adjusting his sleeves and then cursing under his breath. “Or go find Art and tell him we need to get out of here.”

“Why? What did I do wrong?”

Lane ran his hand through his hair. “You’re asking
me
why?”

“Yes, Lane, why?” A beat later she said, “I may not know how to please you, but if you’ll give me a minute, I’ll figure it out.”

He took a deep breath and stared at her with the kindest eyes she’d ever seen. Then, he said, “No, Victoria. This isn’t right. I’m ten years your senior. I know things about loving a woman that would scare you to death.”

“Then show me,” she insisted. “Show me how to be your woman, even if it’s only for a little while.”

Lane stomped across the dusty barn and then stormed back. Apparently, she’d enraged him somehow, and she hadn’t meant to do that. “You’re nothing but a tease.”

“I’m not.”

“You are,” he said, snarling. “You think you want me? Is that what you think?” He jerked his shirt up and tore the material over his head. Jagged scars marked his belly and chest. “Is this the man you think you desire,
Victoria
?”

She gulped. She’d never seen anything so horrible in her life. “What happened to you?” Her trembling voice was quiet and subdued. She didn’t know what to say. Whatever had gotten a hold of Lane had torn him up at one time, ripped him to shreds, and somehow he’d survived.

“Is this what you long to experience,
Victoria
?” he bellowed. “I fought for my wife, and as you can see, it didn’t do me any good. I still have the daily reminder of what I lost when I wasn’t man enough to save her.

“I can take you to her grave and prove to you that the effort made was in vain. She’s still buried in a cemetery right outside of
Tombstone
.” He turned around and showed her his back which was marked up a hell of a lot worse than his front. “See this, woman? Is this the kind of man you think you can look at for the rest of your life?” He stomped around for a good little bit and then said, “You don’t seem to understand. If I’m your first, and I reckon I am, you will not want me to leave.”

Well, she didn’t know about all that, but he seemed pretty certain. She glanced at his cock. He must’ve had something awful special in his breeches if he believed he possessed the power to make a woman want to change her life overnight.

He continued pacing and rambling. She decided to let him go ahead and get everything off his chest. For a man of few words, he sure had a lot to say all of a sudden. “I might be content to stay here if I didn’t have a rope waiting for me, but even that doesn’t matter. You deserve better than to look at a marked-up man for the rest of your life.”

Victoria
felt the first tear roll down her cheek. She stared at the wayward cowboy she’d come to know in a short period of time. She saw his heart then, the ache in the pit of his gut. She caught a glimpse of the harrowing past he tried to protect others from seeing, too, the shadow of a ghost refusing to leave him alone.

His burdened expression was wrought with pain, filled with fury and sadness. It was a dangerous concoction for a man of Lane’s stature, another woman’s husband who trembled with his agony but refused to break. Holding
Victoria
in his arms had been his undoing.

She’d done this to him. He’d warned her. He told her he still grieved his wife, and she refused to listen.

“I think you’re beautiful,”
Victoria
admitted. “I don’t care about the scars on the outside. What bothers me are the internal wounds. I want you to heal, Lane. Maybe I can help you.”

“Gosh damn it to hell, woman! What do you want from me?”

Reaching a decision,
Victoria
rose and went to him. “I don’t want anything from you, but I have something to give you. Maybe someday you’ll thank me.”

Chapter Six

Lane wasn’t disillusioned.
Victoria
backed away with stark determination marking its place in her haunted, midnight blue eyes. She was frightened, but not scared enough to change her plans, her eager pursuit.

Her trembling fingers unhooked the first button, and then one more. Her hands propelled straight down her chest and belly as she slowly eased one pearl away from the material, then another.

Her expression never changed. Her confidence refused to shatter.

“You don’t have to give me anything,
Victoria
.”

“A gift,” she whispered, easing her shoulders away from her dress and camisole. She knelt then, stripping off her petticoats and pantaloons as she left her clothing in the dust and went to him.

He rubbed his lips together, thoughtfully contemplating the night ahead. “What present are you prepared to give me?”

“You know,” she whispered, her arm draping over his shoulder.

He took her then, hoisting her into his arms as he carried her nude body to the stall where he’d been resting. Rather than placing her on the blankets he’d used to make a bed, he gave her a perched position on the top wooden rail.

She gripped the board under her seat as he stepped away, taking his time to undress as her eyes followed his. He shrugged away his shirt, bought new a few days back, but worn long enough to look old and tattered.