Mountain Laurel (Montgomery/Taggert 15)

Maddie held still a moment, her eyes wide, then she looked up at him. His eyes were not only darker, his breathing different.

Slowly, he lowered his mouth to hers and lightly kissed her.

He had kissed her before, but this was different. Now there was an intensity there that she’d not felt before. She blinked at him, then swallowed and backed out of his arms. “I think I, ah, I need to talk to Laurel.”

He took a step toward her.

She put her hand on the door. “I think I heard someone calling me.”

’Ring reached over her head and dropped the latch on the door so that no one could get in.

Maddie backed toward the piano and he followed her. “Did you see that your horse is being taken care of? You know how the animal eats everything. I would hate for him—”

He backed her into a corner, put his hands on either side of the wall by her head, leaned forward and kissed her, long and softly. When Maddie started to melt toward the floor, ’Ring caught her by the waist and pulled her close to his body. When he released her mouth, she looked away from him, her breath coming in short gasps. Nothing ever had made her feel quite like this. She looked up at him, her body growing hot just at the sight of the intensity on his face. “I…I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.

“I don’t know all that much either,” he whispered. “But I’d sure like to learn.”

She gave him a weak smile. “Maybe we should hire teachers.”

His hands started working with the many tiny buttons at the back of her dress, and he gently kissed her neck, her cheek, her eyes. “I’ll teach you if you’ll teach me.”

“Yes,” she whispered, her fear beginning to disappear. “Oh, yes.”

“Maddie, I…” he said, and she could feel his fingers trembling on her dress.

She wasn’t sure what happened next. The buttons wouldn’t easily come unfastened, so he gave a pull and the fabric tore away, the dress landing in a puddle about her feet.

He kissed her again, this time not so gently. He spared one hand to turn her head sideways and she opened her mouth under his. She didn’t know which of them groaned, but it was a B flat.

She didn’t even feel her other clothes fall away, but within minutes everything lay at her feet and she stood in the circle of his arms, wearing only her stockings, caught with lacy garters at her knees, and her heeled shoes.

He held her hands, stepped away, and looked at her. The little cabin was dimly lit from a single window, making the light in the room golden.

Maddie felt her body blushing under his look, but he put his fingers under her chin and lifted her face. “You’re as beautiful as your voice,” he said.

High praise, she thought, the very highest praise. “I want to see you,” she whispered.

’Ring ran a trembling hand down her shoulder to the curve of her breast, then downward to her waist, moving his fingers over the flat softness of her belly. Finally, he looked back at her eyes and gave her a crooked smile. “Men aren’t half as interesting-looking as women.”

She put her hand to his chest, eased one button loose and slipped her hand inside, feeling the hair on his chest, the warm skin, the shape of his hard muscles. Slowly, she unfastened one button after another, put both her hands inside his shirt, and eased it off his shoulders. As she did so she looked up at him and saw that there was passion on his face, but there was something else too. Something akin to wonder. From what she knew of him, she knew that there hadn’t been a lot of women in his life and she knew that all this was almost as new to him as it was to her. This thought sent a new thrill through her. She had always imagined that she’d someday love a man who knew all the arts of lovemaking, a man who’d take her to bed and teach her everything—she’d certainly had enough men offer to do just that for her. But she sensed that ’Ring was a student as much as she was, and somehow this pleased her very much. Perhaps it was the difference between being given a gift of a new pair of shoes or a pair that had been worn by many other people.

She put her arms around his chest, felt her breasts against his skin.

He held her tightly to him. “I never imagined,” he said softly against her hair. “I never had any idea what they were talking about. Toby said that this was something that a man had to have.”

He began to tremble again, then he held her away from him and looked down at her, his eyes dark. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I do feel a, well, a sense of urgency.”

She laughed. “Hurt me?” she said, laughing, then bit his chest. “Hurt me? I’d like to see you try.” She bit him a couple of more times before he allowed his lust to overtake him.

Years of suppressed passion exploded within him. Years of looking but not seeing; years of wanting but denying; years of loneliness came to the surface.

At first Maddie smiled as he eagerly began to kiss her body, bending down to her, his hands at the small of her back, pressing her bare legs against the rough wool of his trousers, his belt buckle gouging into her soft belly, but when his mouth fastened onto her breast, she stopped smiling. Her eyes opened wide, then she gave a little moan and leaned back against his arms, allowing him to support her full weight.

He pushed her against the wall, holding her in place with one hand against her shoulder while he used his mouth and free hand to explore her body.

“How beautiful you are,” he murmured, his mouth on her hip. “How very interesting.”

“So glad I please you,” she managed to whisper.