Page 91 of A Fortune for the Outlaw's Daughter

He was taking his time with each button and his due diligence had her simmering like a pot to boil. “You said you don’t mind me telling you what to do, either,” she said, “in the carriage tonight.”

“Yes, I did,” he said, kissing the back of her neck. “And I don’t.”

Excitement flared inside her. “Will you hurry up, then?”

He laughed, but didn’t speed up his movement. Instead, he kissed the other side of her neck. “I bought the ring on your finger this afternoon, fully intending to ask you to marry me tonight.”

Her insides melted. She attempted to turn around, but he wouldn’t let her. “No,” he whispered against the back of her neck while pushing the gown off her shoulders. “I’m not done.”

“You did?” she asked, even while she wanted to insist he hurry.

“Yes, I did. I love you, Maddie, and will forever.”

When the dress pooled around her feet, he lifted her camisole over her head and then slid a fingertip all the way down her spine to the base of her back before sliding his hands inside her pantaloons and around her stomach to untie them. “But, darling, there’s something you should know.”

“What?” she asked, holding her breath, both because of the sensations erupting inside her and because she had no idea what he might say next.

“I’d never have left with Trig. Not without you.”

She giggled, even as her breath caught in her throat again when her pantaloons fell to the floor. “I don’t know about that. Trig is somewhat easily manipulated,” she finally managed. “Rescuing girls he didn’t know, paying their room and board.”

“Aw, yes,” Lucky said, keeping her stationed with her back to him while he kissed her shoulders. “But he’s also sly. He did convince both of us to take care of the other one.”

His hands roamed over her midriff and upward, toward her breasts, which had grown heavy and full. Maddie nodded in agreement. “I guess you’re right about that.”

Lucky fondled her endlessly, sweetly, until she was trembling with desire so great her legs wobbled.

“Remind me to thank him for that,” Lucky whispered. Then he picked her up and slowly, gracefully, swung around and laid her on the bed. His eyes were twinkling, full of stars brilliant enough to make wishes upon. There was love there, too, sparking brightly, and Maddie wondered how she’d never recognized it before now.

She lifted her arms, looping them around his neck. “I will, and I’ll thank him, too.” Kissing the center of Lucky’s chin, she added teasingly, “He drove a hard bargain with that fifty percent clause.”

“I’d have had to pay him a hundred percent if you didn’t return with me.”

Maddie was taken aback, and the glimmer in Lucky’s eyes didn’t tell her if he was teasing or not. He didn’t let her ask, either, not with the way he kissed her.

Lucky took his time then, loving her at his leisure. Kissing, caressing and pleasing her until her scalding release could wait no longer. She’d barely regained her senses when he began again. Just as slowly, just as patiently. Maddie dug her hands into the tangled bed covers and held on. He was so relentless she might float up into the heavens, into the vast dimension overhead filled with the stars like the ones in his gaze, and never return to earth.

He was unyielding in withholding his own satisfaction, even when another spasm tore through her, signaling she’d reached her limit yet again. When he finally disrobed and positioned himself over her, entered her, he continued to hold back, bringing her to yet another peak, encouraging her to tumble over the edge while he forged onward.

She was beyond reality, and at his complete mercy, no longer able to control a single muscle when he let out a husky groan and went stiff. Her body was there, too, driven to another pinnacle, fully glorifying in one more bright and astonishing union   he’d perfectly orchestrated.

Astounded by her own stamina, she held on to him as her final release proved to be the most earth-shattering of them all.

When he relaxed, rested upon her briefly, he whispered, “I love you, Mrs. DuMont.”

Maddie was too spent, too exhausted to do much more than smile as her heart went rather wild. She vowed to tell him how much she loved him as soon as her strength renewed.

That didn’t happen until morning when she opened her eyes to a room already awash with light. Maddie reached for him, but her arm encountered an empty pillow. Spinning to the other side, she grinned, seeing him sitting in the chair.

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