The Rancher's Virgin Acquisition

Her shoulders were trembling and Luke felt a disturbing mixture of unwanted emotion. He knew he should be feeling guilty, contrite that he'd upset her, but the emotion that rushed through his veins and landed in a pool of heat in his gut was anger.

Anger that she misunderstood his meaning. Anger that she considered herself lame. Anger that she was pissed at him when he was the one that couldn't have her.

His hands landed on her waist and he pushed into her from behind. He crowded her until she was pressed up against the stall wall and her cheek pressed flat against the roughened wood as she turned her head to breathe.

He put his mouth to her ear. "You're not stupid and you're not lame," his voice was guttural. "And I better not ever hear you call yourself that again. What you are is stubborn. The most stubborn woman I've ever met. Don't turn things around and make it seem like I've said something I shouldn't have."

Emma was still and silent as she listened to him.

His hands slid to her hips and then around to her stomach, feeling her feminine form under the clothes she was wearing. He slid one hand to her breast and held it firmly, while he slid his other hand down to the vee between her thighs and cupped her intimately at the crotch of her britches. She gasped and he jerked her tighter as his strong arms wrapped around her in a relentless grip. "The fact is I want you bad, Emma-girl, and I'm gonna have you. Your body's screaming for mine, too, and we're going to do something about it. There's no damn reason we shouldn't. You're not innocent; you know the ways of men. Nobody but us will ever have to know. It'd be different if you were a virgin, but you're not."

Luke rubbed his palm over her feminine heat and felt it the moment she melted in his arms and her body released the silken fire he so badly wanted. She moaned and began undulating and for a split second he considered dragging her down to the hay and having her right then. But he didn't want their first time to be hurried. He wanted her soft and naked, her body glowing in the lamplight, in a bed where he could hold her afterwards. "I want sex from you Emma," he stated baldly, "but I don't want any misunderstanding where it's going to lead. I'm the one who's having to be noble, I'm the one who's going to have to let you go. Don't for one second think that I wouldn't like to keep your sweet little body chained to my bed for the rest of my godforsaken life, because I would if I damn well could."

His words shocked Emma out of the sexual stupor she had fallen into as pleasure exploded within. She tried to turn in his arms to face him. "But--"

She was interrupted by a loud voice coming from the front of the barn. "Boss? You in there?"

She heard Luke swear under his breath, and his hands dropped from her. "Yeah, back here."

Cody walked to the opening of the stall and tried to see while his eyes were still trying to adjust to the dimness of the interior of the barn. "We got trouble, Luke."

Emma was still standing close and she felt a different kind of tension enter his body as he steeled himself for the news. "What's wrong?"

"Jesse's down. That bull from Monroe's finally got him."

"Shit. How bad?"

"Don't know. He got it in the thigh, and it's bleeding pretty bad, but it don't look like it hit an artery."

"Where's he at?"

"Bunkhouse was closest. Miss Maria's with him now and seems to have a good hand on it."

"I'll be there in five minutes." Luke dismissed the other man as he turned back to Emma. "I'm sorry, we'll have to go out another day."

"Yes, of course." Emma couldn't even feel disappointed at the prospect of not going riding. She was too worried about Maria and Jesse. "Can I help?"

"You know anything about stitching wounds?" He asked her as he began leading her from the barn.

"No, I don't. I don't want to get in the way, but you might need me to help. I'm not scared of the sight of blood."

"Maria won't want to leave his side. You'll be a help to her if I can tell her you have everything handled at the house. Feeding me, keeping the house clean for the next few days, that stuff."

"Yes, of course. I'll see you later, then." She began to walk in the direction of the house but he continued to follow her when she expected him to turn and go toward the outbuildings.

"I'll get you home first."

"Don't be silly. I can get there by myself."

"I'm not ever silly, Emma. I won't be able to concentrate on what needs doing if I don't know you're safe."

"But I--"

"Shut up and walk." Emma gasped and stumbled as Luke reached out and slapped her on the bottom as he made that statement.

"Damn it! I'm sorry." He reached out with his strong arms and Emma thought he was going to steady her, but he swung her up in his grasp and began walking with quick strides toward the house.

"Put me down. I can walk. You don't have to carry me."

"Maybe I want to carry you." His voice was deep and held a degree of what could have been surprise.

"Maybe I don't want you to carry me," she argued just for the sake of arguing. She couldn't deny she loved the feel of his arms around her.

"You know darlin', any other time you want to squabble with me about inconsequential issues I'll be happy to oblige you, but Jesse needs me and I got somewhere to be so just shut those pretty lips and hang on."

Emma did as she was told and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Within minutes, and much faster than she could have gotten there on her own steam, he dropped her to her feet in front of the back door and opened it for her.

"Can you cook?" He questioned as she stood in front of him.

"Better than some. I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

His demeanor became serious. "Don't go outside and don't burn the house down." He lifted her chin with one finger and stared down at her with molten eyes. "I don't want to have to worry about you. Not when you still owe me." With that, he turned and walked off.

It took Emma only a moment to figure out what he meant and by that time, he was already gone. She watched him for a long moment, hoping against hope that Jesse would be all right, that Maria did indeed have it under control, and with a small streak of guilt, that Luke would be home in time for supper.

****

Luke wasn't home in time for supper, and after storing the meal away in the ice box that was as fancy as any she'd seen in the city, Emma went to her room for the night. She paced the floor until her leg began to ache. The doctors had always told her that exercise was good for it, so she paced some more.

And then finally, she had no choice but to stop.

She left her door open, turned the lantern down as low as the wick would allow, and crawled under the sheets in her nightgown. She said her prayers, and then some extra ones for Jesse, and then tried to fall asleep. Her mind kept imagining what the gash in Jesse's thigh looked like, and then she'd start thinking about the way Luke had made her feel in the barn. She tried everything to fall asleep. She counted backwards from one hundred, but that was incredibly boring and she gave up at eighty-five. She tried counting sheep. But that didn't work and she gave up trying to sleep and just let her mind drift.

Over and over her mind played back the moment when Luke's hand pushed between her thighs and cupped her intimately.

It was late by the time she finally fell asleep.

She thought she was still dreaming when she felt Luke's lips against hers. But she knew she wasn't when the side of the bed sagged where he sat down beside her, his body turned toward hers. His arm reached across her and fell lightly on her stomach.

She was groggy, still half asleep, but she knew he was there.

He leaned in and kissed her again. His lips were soft but firm, and they never tried to penetrate the interior of her mouth. They brushed against hers, back and forth. "Good night, Emma," he said in a whisper.

"Good night," she mumbled against the lips that had returned to hers.

He lifted his hand and ran his finger down her cheek, then down to her chin, and then slowly to her neck, unt

il it landed in the valley between her breasts. His fingers spread out, his thumb touching her right breast, and his fingers touching the left one.

His lips continued the slow stroke back and forth as he gently kissed her again and again. "Goodnight," he whispered.

"Goodnight," she softly responded, not quite awake enough to understand he was claiming part of his bet.

With great reluctance, knowing he needed to let her sleep, Luke stood up and walked to the door. He had his hand on the knob when she lifted from her pillow.

"Is Jesse all right?" Her voice was groggy, but coherent.

"Yeah," he rasped out. "We got him stitched up. Cody was right, it didn't hit an artery, thank God. He's running a low fever, but with any luck, Maria should be able to keep it down."

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" his voice sounded grim.

"I--I don't know." Her words were hesitant.

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep." His voice was deep, hypnotic in the late hours of the night.

He studied her from across the room, and the terrifying realization washed over her, that although he hadn't voiced the exact words earlier when they were in the barn, he was right; she was in danger of giving her heart to him. She tried to steady her racing pulse. "I made your supper, but I put it in the ice box."

"I ate at the bunkhouse. We can have it tomorrow."

The matter of fact words didn't give her much to go on. "Goodnight, Luke."

His eyes ran over her in silence for another few pulsing seconds. "Goodnight, Emma."

Luke shut the door and she lay back down on her pillow and shut her eyes. The strong cadence of his voice still ringing in her ears, the taste of his lips still on hers, and the memory of him telling her that there would never be a future for them together was a direct warning that was causing pain in her heart.

It was a long, long time before she finally fell back into a restless sleep.

****

Emma didn't expect to see Maria the next day and she was right. Luke slept in later than she did, obviously tired from the day and night before. She wasted no time and after her quick ablutions, went to the kitchen where she made him a large breakfast.

Her mind was still occupied with what she'd acknowledged the night before, and she knew that in order to protect herself, she needed to leave his ranch as soon as she could.