“No,” she said easily. “I worked all day on smelling good and now you expect me to roll around with some sweaty, unclean man. Ladies don’t—.”
He caught her ankle, pulled her down into the bed, and dragged her toward him. “I guess we’ll just have to make you smell a little less sweet.” With that he pushed her down into the feather mattress and covered her clean body with his dirty one, rubbing against her, smearing her with his sweat.
“Wesley!” Leah gasped, and she knew nothing had ever felt as good as this man. “Wesley,” she said again, her eyes shut.
He smiled at her then and began to kiss her body, starting at her neck, his lips grazing her breasts, moving down to her stomach, his big hands toying with the muscles by her hipbones, his tongue licking around her navel. His hands parted her thighs, rubbing the inner recesses as his lips followed his hands.
Working his way downward, he reached her feet and with his tongue caressed the little pads of her toes.
Leah was almost crying with desire by the time he made his way up her body again. He hovered over her lips for just a moment.
“Is the answer still no?”
“No,” she murmured, then her eyes flew open. “I mean yes. Oh Wesley.” She sighed and pulled him closer as her legs began to rub up and down his.
He made love to her with tenderness, so slowly she was frantic for him when he finally pulled her to him and with hard thrusts brought them both to a peak of ecstasy.
They lay together, wrapped about each other, their skin sticky and wet.
“You planning to feed me?” Wesley murmured against her shoulder.
With a laugh, Leah pushed at him. “I guess the honeymoon is over. But first we wash.”
As he rolled off her, Wesley sniffed. “You should wash. You smell like you’ve been out in the fields all day.”
“You!” she exclaimed, starting to pummel his chest.
“I sure do love the way you bounce, Leah. Now stop trying to entice me and go fix me something to eat.”
“And if I don’t?” she challenged.
“I’ll do something else with that bare little bottom of yours, such as smack it.” His threat lost meaning as he began to kiss her, and she snuggled against him.
A loud knock on the door made her pull away. “Who do you think that is?”
“Probably Bud and Cal. Seems you promised to cook for them.”
“When? Oh yes, when they were going to take me back to Revis’s cabin. But tonight I haven’t cooked anything.”
Wesley moved to the side of the bed. “I’m sure that if you just explain to them that you spent the day making yourself pretty in order to seduce me, they’ll understand.”
“I could tell them I dumped dinner over your head. They’d understand that even more.”
The knock sounded again.
“Come on, get dressed,” Wes said as he pulled on his pants. “You can fry up half a hog and that’ll do fine. You know, I think I like making love to you in a bed.” With that he left the room and momen
ts later Leah heard him talking to Bud and Cal.
Hurriedly she dressed, pulled her hair back from her face, and went to join them. It was obvious that the big men were so glad to see her that they weren’t going to mind too much about food.
While Leah fried ham and potatoes, boiled water for corn on the cob, and mixed cornbread batter, they all talked. Bud and Cal slowly told about their farm, about the animals they planned to buy, and what kind of house they’d build.
“Perhaps you should build two houses,” Leah suggested, “in case you get married.”
Bud and Cal looked at one another. “No women would marry us. Women are afraid of us.”
“I’m not,” she said, a hand on each big shoulder, “and I’ll bet Sweetbriar is full of women who’ll fall in love with you.”