“Not with me to keep you warm,” he said as he pulled her to him and began to nibble her neck.
Leah shivered, chills running up and down her spine and down the backs of her legs. The movement caused Wes to pull her closer, and when he kissed her again she felt fire run through her and attempted to move closer to him.
With a soft, seductive smile, Wesley pulled her down to the ground, but when Leah started to touch the grass, Wes moved her to the top of him. “That skin of yours shouldn’t touch the hard ground. Just touch me, my pretty wife.” With that he lifted her and set her down on his maleness.
With a gasp Leah began to move atop him, undulating to the delicious rhythm that began coursing through her body. Wesley caught her hips in his powerful hands and helped her move. And when she felt her body reach a crescendo, she fell forward, wrapping her arms about his neck, pulling him ever closer while his hard thrusts made her feel as if she were drowning.
“Wesley,” she cried as her body convulsed against his.
He held her so close she felt as if she might break.
Then suddenly he pushed her off him. “You certainly changed your tune. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather be with your lover instead of your husband?”
With a deep sigh, Leah rolled away. “Why is it that men are so agreeable when their male member is standing upright and so disagreeable at other times?”
Wesley made a noise that was half laughter, half shock. “Where are you off to? Back to Revis? What’s he like when his male member—?” He stopped because Leah swung around to glare at him, and since her beautiful nude body was still a highly unusual sight to him, all he could do was gape.
“Just because I’m a Simmons and you’re a lordly Stanford doesn’t mean I jump into bed with every man who asks me, and if you ever again insinuate that I’ve been to bed with Revis, of all people, I’ll never speak to you again. Or let you make love to me. Is that clear?”
He stood, catching her shoulder just as she reached her clothes on the bank. “I’m sorry, Leah. I guess I was just mad about today. The boys told me how you’ve kept away from Revis. But why the hell did you turn me down this morning? If Revis knew you were mine he’d think twice about touching you. Now I can’t protect you, at least not openly. Your little stunt of dumping cornmeal on me cost us a lot.”
“I knew you wouldn’t understand,” she said heavily. “I refused Revis because he’s a thief and I’m a married woman, so how would it look if you, another thief, walked in and I fell into your arms? Wouldn’t he be suspicious?”
“Well, I am…” Wesley said.
“You’re what?” she demanded. “My husband? We don’t want Revis to know that, do we?”
“No, I meant I’m…I’m a lot better looking than Revis and it would make sense that you’d want me and not him.”
“Oh Wesley,” she exclaimed, beginning to laugh.
“You don’t think so?” He was indignant.
Still laughing, she put her arms around him. “Yes, I do think so. I honestly believe you’re the best-looking man I’ve ever seen.”
He held back from her. “Better than Revis?”
“Much.”
“And my brother Travis?”
“By far.”
He grinned at her for a moment before beginning to kiss her.
As difficult as it was, she pulled away from him. “We can’t stay. Revis will want to know where I am. If we’re both gone he’ll suspect something.”
“I can handle Revis. I’ll tell him the better man won the lady.”
“No,” she said as her fingers played along the muscles on his chest. “Please don’t do that. You don’t know him. He’s evil. One night you’ll be sleeping and he’ll slip a knife into you. Please,” she begged.
With a little frown, he caressed her cheek. “What happened to the little cat who was spitting at me on the way up this mountain? Where’s the woman vowing to never give me anything but what I took?”
She pushed away from him. The last thing she wanted to do was tell him she loved him. When and if they ever got off this mountaintop and he abandoned her, she wanted to have some of her pride left. And when he walked out she wanted to be able to tell him she didn’t care, that he’d given her a few hours of bed pleasure and that was all she’d wanted.
She twisted away from him. “Of the two of you, you’re safer. If I stayed with Revis I might end up like Verity, and besides, you said you and your money could get me off from the murder charges.”
“Is that all I mean to you, Leah?” he asked quietly. “I’m someone whose money you can use?”