Page 66 of My Heart Will Find You

He swung her up into his arms and carried her into what appeared to be a house.Warmth, she thought.Dry!

But no. It was a stone shell of a house with no roof. He set her down in a corner. At least the walls blocked a bit of the glorious Kansas wind.

She stood there, trying to stay upright as Max led the horses inside to the opposite end of the house, then removed the saddles. The animals shivered in relief and seemed to go to sleep instantly. She envied them.

He came to her, and for a moment he held her in his arms. She didn’t know how it was possible, but his body was warm. She snuggled her cheek against his wet shirt and sighed in relief.

Too soon, he stepped away, went to the heap of saddles, and pulled out a blanket and a big black cloth. He spread the blanket on the stone floor close to a wall. “This is the driest place,” he yelled over the rain that was impregnating the fertile Kansas soil. She thought corn might start growing in her hair.

When Max started unbuttoning his shirt, she understood his meaning.Get out of the wet clothes.Hallelujah! She felt no shyness, just a desire to rid herself of her wet garments.

Max also undressed.

Seeing him disrobe and seeing his strong, muscular and oh so masculine body made the rain seem less strong, less cold.

She beat him in getting undressed.I’ve become a corset wizard, she thought. Naked, she lay down on the blanket, then pulled the black cloth over her. By all the glories above, it was some kind of rain cloth. The pelting drops hit it but didn’t penetrate it.

Max lifted one side and got in beside her.

Her cold, wet body found his warm one. He wrapped his arms around her and in seconds, he entered her. They’d had days of wanting each other, and they could not postpone any longer.

It lasted only minutes for both of them, but that was all right. The desire of fire filled them.

Afterward, she put her head on his chest and his arms went around her. He pulled the magic rain cloth over their heads. It was intimate under it: dark and warm, the rain hitting them but not touching them.

“You did well today,” he said.

“I had a good guide.” Smiling, she fell asleep in his arms. Her only thought was how perfectly their bodies fit together.

When she woke, she was aware of the aches in her body. She was on a blanket on a stone floor. The rain had stopped, and there was a bit of moonlight. In the silvery darkness, she could see Max with the horses. He hadn’t a stitch of clothing on, and he looked like a Greek god of old. No fat on him, all lean muscle.

He seemed to feel her watching and he turned. His smile was of lust and happiness. She returned it.

He spent a few more minutes with the animals, then he returned to her. She moved the cover back in welcome.

They made love more slowly, exploring each other’s bodies, touching, caressing, kissing. They fell asleep before dawn, clasping tightly to each other.

Etta woke to the smell of bacon, and for a moment she felt panic. At Henry’s house she had awakened to bacon frying. When her eyes flew open, she was relieved to see that she was still in the stone shell of a house. It had window and door openings, but no roof. There was a fireplace, but it was full of fallen stones.

The horses and saddles and her clothes were gone, as was Max, but she could hear sounds outside. She wrapped the damp blanket around her nude body and went outside. Max, fully dressed, was cooking bacon over a fire. The horses were munching on the rich Kansas grass.

“Good morning,” he said as he stood up.

He seemed cautious, as though he didn’t know how to approach her.

Etta went to him and put her arms around his neck. As they kissed, her blanket fell to the ground. “A very good morning to you,” she whispered.

For a moment they held each other, and she felt the way he clung to her. She suddenly saw his loneliness from over the years. So much responsibility was dumped on him at a young age. He had a mother and a sister to take care of. The next-door neighbor was demanding that Max marry his daughter.

He pulled back to look at her. “As much as I hate to cover up such beauty, we need to go.”

Reluctantly, she released him. He started to look away from her nakedness but then seemed to remember that they were married, and he unabashedly watched her get dressed. During the night, when the rain stopped, he had wrung out their clothes and laid them out. At dawn, he hung them near the fire. They weren’t dry but they were better.

In spite of the rush, Etta took her time dressing. This wasn’t a modern man who’d been watching internet porn since he was a teenager. Max wasn’t jaded and blasé about what he saw. As she put on the corset, she was glad for the thing. It was sex personified.

Max put out the fire. “That was worth all this bother.”

She laughed. She’d never felt so desirable in her life! “What is this place?” As she slipped the knife Rufus had given her onto the belt, she was looking at the roofless, doorless house.

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