Chapter 9
SETH
What an infuriating woman! She'd been like a mouse, scurrying into hiding at the sight of me for the past three months.
Why? Because she was afraid for me. I'd thought she'd been afraid of me, my overlarge size often putting the fear of God in many.
It was to my advantage quite frequently, as with the drunk who'd cared to touch Rachel in front of the saloon.
With a woman such as Rachel, I didn't want her fearful, I wanted her lustful.
For my desire for her was unlike any need I'd felt before.
I was distracted at the mine, consumed with thoughts of her dark hair, her pale, creamy skin, the succulent sway of her hips.
All this time--months!--she'd maintained her distance and a cool air of disdain as a falsehood, for she had just revealed her desperate need for me.
My cock swelled as big as my pride at the discovery.
She wanted me. Wanted me enough to avoid me at all costs.
The stupid, willful woman! I could have had her in my bed beneath me, on top of me, any way I could have her all this time.
Instead, I'd been like a schoolboy with his first crush, chasing after her.
The woman needed protecting. Overzealous and lecherous men abounded in Collins, eager and ready to pluck a ripe fruit like Rachel.
I'd given many a man clear warning as to whom Rachel belonged.
Unfortunately, there were too many men to lecture and Rachel had free roam of town.
I couldn't run a mine and keep Rachel safe simultaneously.
There were most certainly moments when she was prey for the underbelly of the town.
Now, well, now everything changed. When I had her standing still long enough to speak with her, I was able to glean so much.
She'd not only confirmed the status of her marriage to Aaron, but she'd intimated that her desire for me was so great she had to maintain distance to keep from possibly tarnishing my honor.
Complete rubbish. As a man, it was my job to ease the woman's worries, to remove any concerns or hindrances to her happiness.
It wasn't Rachel's job to defend me. I was strong enough to protect the both of us.
In one quick action, I'd taken control, taken the worry away from her and put it on my own shoulders.
I claimed her quite publicly, which, when news spread, would tarnish my honor, not hers.
There was only one way to make it right and that was to marry her.
This was what she wanted all along, but needed me to take control of the situation.
Finally. I'd been tiptoeing around like a pansy until the truth of it struck me like a pickaxe to the head.
She wanted to submit but didn't know how. I did. With one passionate kiss, she'd given herself to me and now she was irrevocably mine.
"Are you insane?" Rachel asked two hours later.
I lifted her up in my arms and carried her over the threshold and into my house. The soft feel of her in my arms was incredible and I intended to carry her directly to my bedroom to continue to touch her. Without the hindrance of clothes.
"I was, but no longer." For the first time since Aaron was killed and Rachel had become a widow, legally available for marriage, I was clearheaded.
"Seth, put me down!"
I kicked the door shut behind me and strode up the steps and into the bedroom, ignoring her attempts to escape. I released her only when my large bed was beneath her and she landed on the blue quilt. Her eyes widened in surprise at the realization of her surroundings.
"You have been leading me around by my dick for the longest time, and I've been insane enough to allow it. No longer. It's time you realize who has control in this marriage."
I started to undo the buttons of my shirt and her dark eyes widened. She licked those plump lips of hers and my cock pressed painfully against my pants. I'd been this way for months, whenever she crossed paths with me. Hell, whenever I caught a hint of her scent. I could do something about it now.
"You married me!" Somewhere along the way her hair had fallen loose from the pins that had held it securely at her nape and she looked a little disheveled. In my opinion, not disheveled enough. "I had no choice since you compromised me most thoroughly out on the thoroughfare."
"Damn right." She was trying to make me feel contrite for my actions when I felt anything but. I tugged my shirt from my pants, stripped it off. Her eyes lowered to my chest and it appeared I distracted her. "You don't dictate how I feel about you."
"Half the town saw your kiss and all but marched us to the church."
"Damn right," I repeated, thinking the very dour, very austere members of the community would have lynched me just as readily as led me to Reverend Pick if I'd had less than honorable intentions.
The town had even remained, settled comfortably in the church pews, to witness our union.
"Did you think I'd let you get away from me once I found out you want me as much as I want you? "
Her eyes darted from meeting mine, to my chest and back. "You do?"
I took a breath and ran a hand over the back of my neck.
"If that kiss didn't convince you, then I've got work to do. Now get that dress off before I rip it from you."
Her eyes widened and she shook her head. "You can still renege. We haven't consummated the marriage."
"You think the townsfolk will let me abandon you after the disgrace I made of you on the street?"
"No. You kissed me!"
I grinned, remembering the taste of her. "I did."
"Why? I told you the kind of person I was. What I did to Aaron."
"Yes, you told me. You wanted to kiss me, to do those things you are imagining that you consider whorish. I want you to. That's the difference. I want to do all those wild, dirty things." The bed dipped as I placed one knee upon it. "Tell me what they are, Rachel."
She came up on her elbows and started to scurry back but I stopped her with one hand on her ankle. "You've disgraced me enough. Do you think I will shame myself further by uttering something such as that?"
I shrugged, threw my other knee over her legs so I straddled her, planted my hands on either side of her head so I loomed over her. "You don't have to say. Just knowing you're thinking it is enough for me. Perhaps I'll give you a boon. Answer yes or no to my questions, all right?"
She gave a slight nod of her head in agreement.
From this position, I could see the dark flecks in her eyes, the color that bloomed in her cheeks, the glistening wetness on her lips, the throbbing pulse at her neck.
"Did you like the kiss we shared?"
Her gaze dropped to my mouth. "Yes," she whispered.
"Do your dirty thoughts include us being naked?"
She nodded.
"Good girl." I grinned at her. "I've thought of you naked often. The color of your nipples, the size of them, whether they are sensitive and like to be licked and sucked. Pinched."
Her eyes flared and she flushed a pretty crimson.
I directed her with a tilt of my chin. "Take off the dress, baby. Let me see."
Slowly, her hands moved to the front of her dress, all the while her eyes met mine.
In my periphery, I could see her working the little buttons free until the bodice gaped open, a creamy patch of skin exposed above her white corset.
Just that sliver of skin had me losing that last bit of control.
Shifting back so I sat on my heels, I reached to the two panels of her dress and spread them wide, slid them off her shoulders and down her arms, leaving her upper body in just her corset.
She shimmied beneath me to release her wrists but I shook my head.
"Oh no. You've had control for months and that wasn't working. That's all over. I'm in charge now. All you have to do is feel."
She squirmed, her thighs nudging at my cock and I couldn't stifle a groan.
The stays on her corset were snug, but easy to release.
I did only the top half, letting her breasts pop free.
With the stiff material beneath them, they were pushed upward still, firm and plump and full.
I cupped both in my large hands, the flesh so satiny soft and pale in comparison to mine which was rugged, calloused and dark complected.
I hissed out a breath at the sight. Her nipples were a soft coral and quite large, a succulent mouthful.
Lowering my head, I ran my tongue over the tip of one, eliciting a moan from Rachel.
That had just been a simple lick. I wanted to see what kinds of sounds she could make when I suckled there, when I twisted and tugged at the tip beneath my fingers.
And so I took her into my mouth and found out.
My other hand moved to her other breast, working it with my fingers.
Her back arched up into my belly and her fingers went first to my bare shoulders, leaving no doubt, half moon indents with her fingernails, before snagging in my hair.
One moment she was pushing me away, the next holding me close.
Switching sides, my fingers took the slick tip and tugged.
Hard. I lifted my mouth enough to look up at her.
She had her eyes closed, her mouth open and her soft breath came out in little pants.
Her skin was flushed and a slick hint of perspiration coated her brow.
All of the pins had fallen from her hair as her head thrashed about on the quilt.
"Like a little pain with your pleasure?" I murmured.
"Seth," she replied breathily.
I kissed her then, my tongue delving into her mouth to taste her again. The kiss on the street had been an all out assault on her senses, making her and everyone else around us know that she belonged to me. I kissed her the same way now, ensuring she understood that she was mine.
She was just as I wanted her, mindless to anything but what I was doing to her.
As I continued to play with her breasts even while I kissed her.
Eventually I lifted my head and I undid the remainder of her corset, letting the two sides fall to the bed on either side of her.
My mouth followed the path of the stays down the center of her belly to her navel where I dipped my tongue into the slight indentation, then lower until I encountered her dress.
My hands bunched the hem of the garment and I slid it up her body, one slow inch at a time, revealing trim ankles, smooth calves and dimpled knees within cream stockings.
Her smooth flesh appeared a few inches above her knees and my hands ran over her creamy thighs. I pooled the material at her waist.
I tsked her as I took in her drawers. "Oh, baby.
A woman as wanton as you shouldn't be wearing drawers.
" Putting two hands on this insides of her thighs, I ripped the center seam apart so that her pussy was exposed even while she still wore her drawers.
"Or you can wear your underthings like this from now on, with a big slit down the middle.
This way I can gain access to all your treasures without any impediment. "
"Seth, let me touch you."
I looked up her body at her. It was quite the view. Rounded stomach, plump breasts, flushed cheeks, aroused, passion filled eyes and tousled hair.
I shook my head from side to side. "No. I decide your pleasure. You denied me for three months, Rachel. It's time I denied you so you know what I went through."
Slipping backward, I lowered myself to the floor, grabbed her ankles and tugged her forward so that her legs went over my shoulders and her pussy was right at the edge of the bed.
She squeaked at the shift, but could do nothing else with her arms pinned.
"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to squirm.
I grabbed her thighs from underneath and wrapped my hands around them, parting her wide and securing her just where I wanted her.
Through the torn seam of her drawers, her pussy was clearly visible.
With dark, soft hair at the juncture, it hid her most luscious parts.
Her lower lips were a pretty blush pink and as dainty as she, slick and coated with her arousal, evidence that she wasn't unaffected.
"You can question my attentions, deny your interest in what I'm doing, fight me even, but your pussy does not lie.
Don't act the virgin with me, Rachel, when you've admitted to having whorish ways.
I want to see that inner vixen. Give over, baby. I know what you really are."
She lifted her head to look down at me. "I don't want to be lusty like that."
I frowned as I ran the very tip of my finger over her slit.
"Oh, God," she cried out.
"No, my name's Seth, baby. You can cry out for God all you want, but I'm the one who's going to make you come."