Seducing the Sheriff Read online

  Ignoring Cord’s silence, she pasted a smile on her face and sashayed back to the sitting room where the reverend waited. The good reverend had settled on a rough-hewn chair where his dusty derby rested on bony knees.

  “Here you go, Reverend.” She handed him the cup then sat on the settee, balancing the biscuit tin-cum-tray on her knees. She shot a quick glance at her brand new, if still reluctant, fiancé. He’d followed her into the sitting room and stood awkwardly, one foot pointed toward the door and one in her direction.

  Hm. Undecided whether to stay or go, was he?

  If he knew what was good for him…

  He took a step toward her—good choice—and swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple jumped in his tanned throat. She smiled and handed him his cup. “You must be parched. Why don’t you sit a spell and we’ll iron out the details for Sunday.”

  “Details?” His eyes widened then reason dawned and his face took on a dark tint. Was the shameless and adventurous Cord actually blushing?

  “Why, we have to plan the wedding, darlin’.”

  The preacher cleared his throat. “Well, now, Miss Star, Kenton Valley isn’t anything like Boston. I’ll make an announcement at the beginning of the service and anyone who desires to attend will stay after the service.”

  “Works for me.” Cord shifted on the settee while one of his knees shook.

  Where these two men dimwitted? Set them straight she would. “But what about food? Surely our wedding guests will expect to partake of a slice of wedding cake—doesn’t have to be a fancy one. And something to drink? Punch, maybe, or cider? Tea would set a really nice tone for after the ceremony, don’t you think?”

  The reverend’s eyes grew large then he smiled. “Of course, Mrs. Moore brought a fine tea service with her from back East. And her oatmeal cake is admired by one and all in these parts.”

  “Wonderful,” she said. “Simple is always the best way.” An oatmeal wedding cake. Heaven forbid anyone served such back East. But she wasn’t back East and oatmeal it was.

  Reverend Moore stood, emptied his cup and replaced it on the tray. “Thank you for your hospitality. I best head home and let my wife know of the plans. Otherwise she’ll have my hide if I wait too long or forget altogether.” He gave a self-deprecating chuckle.

  Star moved the tray to Cord’s knees and rose to escort the reverend to the door. There was much to do…and learn…before Sunday.

  Cord shook his head. A woman like Star could be the death of him. No sense of shame. The way she prattled on about wedding guests and cake and punch…

  And during all this, all he could think about was her wet pussy and how her scent lingered on his fingers, even now. He stood and carried the tray to the kitchen and set it on the table. He’d have it out with her just as soon as the preacher got on his horse and cleared the property. Yes, he would.

  He trudged back into the sitting room and waited in the doorway while she ushered the preacher to his mount and waved him on his way. Like she hadn’t been caught with her shirt undone and her tits hanging out.

  He closed his eyes. The damp heat of her cunny. Damnation, he could still feel her silken folds as she pressed against him. At the memory, his cock hardened instantly. Adjusting his crotch, he willed his Johnson to wilt. One way or another, she’d be the death of him.

  The lady herself returned, elbowing by him.

  “Gonna stand there and let the flies in? We’ve unfinished business.” She started to fumble at her shirt as she headed for the stairs.

  He planted his feet. “Hell, no! We don’t.”

  She stopped, turned then gave him a lazy smile. “My eyes don’t lie. Your Johnson is ready, even if you say you aren’t.”

  Difficult to argue with a sharp-eyed woman. What decent woman looked at a man…down there? Much less commented out loud on the state of his prick?

  And he was set to marry her in less than a week? Lord help him, he was in quicksand and sinking fast. “Nothing that can’t wait until we’re hitched proper.”

  She tugged at the top of her lacy undergarment. Her tits spilled out…white…full…soft tits.

  Good Lord! His heart hammered like a miner who’d discovered a bonanza. How would he ever keep from making love to her the way a real husband would? He’d meant it when he’d said the words. But damnation, how would he keep his word with a temptress who was intent on seducing him with every breath she took?

  Intent on escape, he looked around for his hat.

  “Not so fast.” She closed the distance between him and the door, blocking his getaway. “We’re officially betrothed. Nothing wrong in sampling the goods…for either of us.”

  “Ain’t fitting.”

  “Dammit, Cord!” She stamped her foot. “Stop acting like you’re the virgin.”

  He took a step backward. The house had a backdoor in the kitchen. “As you should be when you marry.”

  “Why bother? The reverend doesn’t think I am. Let’s make it true. If I’m a fallen woman, so be it.”

  Without warning she grabbed his head and pulled him into a kiss. His blood warmed and his head grew light. Her soft lips parted to his tongue.

  Dammit, he lost himself in her heat. His heart pounded like a sonofabitch, so what else could he do but scoop her in his arms and carry her upstairs.

  “Good choice,” she murmured, her breath a warm whisper against his neck.

  Chapter Three

  “I knew you’d come to your senses.” Star buried her face in Cord’s strong shoulder and held on tight while he bounded up the stairs.

  At the top of the stairs, he managed to gasp, “Just this one time then we wait ’til we’re man and wife.”

  “Just once? Is once enough?”

  “Just once to finish what we started. Has to last ’til Sunday.”

  He set her down on the floor and started undoing the buttons on her men’s pants. “So sweet and so pretty. You smell so good, like washing hung out on a sunshiny day.”

  “Had no idea you were such a poet, Sheriff.” He lifted her hair and kissed her neck then left a trail of tiny kisses across her shoulders across her back. She shivered with every touch of his lips against her skin.

  “Had no idea you had so many freckles. I aim to kiss every one of ’em.”

  “Might take all day if you do that. I have another place in mind that wouldn’t be offended if you gave it the same regard.”

  He chuckled. “Just bet you do. But I’m of a mind to take my time.” He spun her around to face him. “We’ll get there eventually.”

  Desire mixed with a healthy dose of impatience eddied through her body in waves. “Never know. We might be interrupted again.”

  He frowned. “You expecting somebody else?”

  She grinned then shook her head. “I guess there’s plenty of time if you’re not in a rush.” His dark eyes glittered with something she’d never seen in the gaze of a man before. It wasn’t the sick lust of old Darwin. Nor was it the love of a man for his child.

  No, pure and simple it was desire and passion and hopefully more than a bit of love. Emotion surged through her, weakening her knees. What a powerful feeling to realize she could bring so much heat to his gaze.

  Never taking his eyes off her, he slowly unlaced her bustier. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” Once it was unlaced, he removed the bustier. “Women around here don’t wear these, unless they’re…”

  “What? Soiled doves?” Of course he’d know about such things. He was a man. A man whose wife was in the ground these last two years. “Every decent woman back East wears proper undergarments. It’s a half-corset. I’m used to ’em. But I hate pantaloons. Knickers fit better under trousers anyway.”

  “You going to wear those trousers to our wedding?” His mouth curved into a grin as he cradled both breasts in his palms and gently squeezed the tender flesh.

  No, she wouldn’t wear trousers to the wedding. The very idea. But what would he think if he found out she traveled all
the way to Texas disguised as a young man. “They’re just more comfortable…” she gasped as he latched onto one nipple and nipped it, “…round the ranch.”

  He slid the knickers down over her buttocks then gave cupped her naked bottom. “Love your ass. Round and firm—just damn near perfect.”

  “Just ‘damn near’? It’s a damn sight better than that. Careful, I might have to make you pay for that insult.” Still, her teasing threat didn’t keep her from unbuttoning his shirt and running her hands up and down his flat belly. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on the man. Years of riding and working his pa’s ranch had seen to that. “I think you ought to get rid of this.” She tugged at his heavy gun belt.

  Cord straightened, smiled down at her, unbuckled the gun belt and set it on the chest of drawers. He held back a deep sigh. The woman wouldn’t be denied. A man made of stone couldn’t deny this one.

  And only one part of his anatomy could be compared to stone. Before this day was over, he’d have to put it somewhere, but maybe not where she expected.

  Still, there was plenty of time before he took his pleasure. Giving her what she wanted was all well and good, but he wouldn’t risk her life. Too many good women were buried in the church graveyard. Too many women who died bringing children into the world.

  Never. Star was too precious. Couldn’t risk losing her again.

  Her hands were unbuttoning his trousers and yanking them down to his ankles. He stepped from them and nudged them aside. Her warm, delicate touch, lightly caressing his cock, threatened to make him come. His breath caught in his throat. “Hold on. Easy. You don’t want to do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’ll come and lose interest in finishing what we started.”

  She cupped her breasts and offered them to him, their small coral nipples tightened into pert nubs. “You’d leave me in the lurch?”

  A shudder shook his body. Untutored and still a virgin, yet his Star possessed the instincts of a true wanton. “Never.”

  Eyes widened and with a seductive smile, she shimmied out of her denim trousers with a wiggle of her hips. “Lesson one?” she asked with a smile that put a dimple in her cheek.

  He nodded. “Lesson one. Now, listen to me darlin’. I can’t make love to you, not like married folks. But there’s other things we can do. Don’t want to risk you having a baby.”

  “What other way is there? I only know one way. And before you think I’ve done this before, I haven’t—b-but I sort of know how it’s done.”

  “Yeah, you saw how it’s done out in the corral, but you’ve got a lot to learn and I’m just the man to teach you.” Mouth dry as the desert, he swallowed then collapsed onto the chair at the foot of the bed. He leaned back and groaned. “Darlin’, you’re killing me. Got me hard as a rock.” He reached for her, pulled her down to sit in his lap then slowly loosened the pins from her hair one at a time. She shook her head and let her hair cascade down her back. The silken red mass reached almost to her ass.

  “Now what?” Star held her breath while he lifted the hair and kissed the back of her neck, tiny hot kisses that sent threads of sensation pulsing to her nether regions. His breath was warm, and the image of the horses mating in the corral was vivid in her mind’s eye. Her core twitched in anticipation. At some point he’d mount her. He’d have to. Her cleft ached with desire to have him fill her. Ride her just like his stallion had ridden her mare.

  And just as hard.

  He nipped her neck. It was just like the horses. She bent forward, resting her hands on the bed, and wiggled her bottom. Every part of her body was burning hotter than the Texas midday sun. And her nether regions were the hottest of all, not to mention slick and wet.

  He backed away from the bed. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Shocked by his curt tone, she raised up. “I thought…I mean isn’t this how the horses did it?”

  A low rumble of laughter broke from his throat.

  She let out an annoyed huff. Maybe she was new at this stuff, but she didn’t mean to be laughed at. “What’s so damn funny?”

  “Didn’t your mother tell you anything?”

  “Not much. Her goal was marry me off to an old man with hard lips and clammy hands. Said he’d teach me what I needed to know.”

  “Well, she was right, only I guess it’s gonna be me who teaches you.”

  All right. Just do it. She gazed into his eyes. “That’s what I want. I want you.”

  “Then let me lead, dammit. I know what I’m doing.”

  She set her hands on her hips and shoved her chin at him. “Yeah, I guess you would. Being an old experienced man of the world.”

  “You talk too much. They teach you to talk smart in Boston?” He pulled her back into his arms. “I like to take things slow and easy. I want you to enjoy this.”

  Taking great care, he caressed her nipples. Her breasts throbbed; the nipples had tightened into little tingling nubs of need. Next he eased down her knickers until they were at her ankles where she kicked them off.

  Reaching for his chest, she found hard muscles lightly covered in dark hair that tapered in a V all the way to his jutting cock. It throbbed and jumped against her belly. Startled, she managed not to show it, and slid her fingers around his length. Smooth like a velvet-covered iron rod.

  God. No lie, he was hard as a rock and his Johnson was nearly as big as his stallion’s. She whimpered, whether from fear or desire she wasn’t sure. But she meant to have it…and him.

  He groaned under her touch.

  “My God. You’re beautiful.” He cupped her breasts in each hand and held them while caressing the nipples with his callus-roughened thumbs. Sensations of heat and need shot to her core. Her inner walls clenched. She moaned with the desperation to have him.

  He bent his head and sucked one of her nipples, nipping and pulling at it, grazing it lightly with his teeth. Her bones seemed to melt; she sagged against his hard member.

  His hands feathered down to her waist and caressed her hips, making her squirm and rub her lady curls against his cock. No man had ever seen her like this, but it was okay because this was Cord and they’d soon be wed. All the time she was in Boston, she never stopped loving him, worrying about him. Her knees began to shake. He tickled her calves and nibbled her knees. He lingered over her legs, caressing them until she thought she’d die from all the heat curling through her.

  His slid first one finger then another between her legs, inside her very body, moving them in and out. Her pussy was slick and wet as she tried to move to his rhythm. More amazing, her entire body burned and tingled as if she were on the brink again. He was going to make her his woman. And he would marry her. He’d have to.

  He licked her belly button and headed down toward her cleft. Her pussy clenched and throbbed with the raging need of having him inside her.

  And now. Nothing else could assuage the fire burning and building inside her body.

  He picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. “Spread your legs. Let me see your sweet little pussy. Let me taste it.”

  What? Her head popped up from mattress. “Taste it? Are you crazy?”

  “Just about. You’re driving me that way fast. Now spread your legs.”

  Smiling she did as he demanded then levered up on her elbows to watch. What was he about to do? He couldn’t really be going to taste her, could he?

  Well, it seemed he could and would.

  Cord knelt on the floor. Gently he parted her silky red curls to find the delicate wet folds and inhaled her tangy musk. Spreading her slender thighs, he buried his face in her pussy. Her female musk was fresh and heady. His cock grew even harder, if possible. He groaned, still unable to believe how responsive she was. He licked all up and down her pussy then buried his tongue inside her, tasting her tangy juices as she squirmed against his face. He thrust his tongue in and out then slithered it up to her pleasure nub, circling it. Sucked that nub and felt it pulse against his tongue. H
er thighs trembled and her hips arched to meet him. She knotted her hands in the sheets and begged him to take her.

  He lifted his head long enough to say breathlessly, “No-no. Won’t risk it.” He dipped his head again and went back to pleasuring her. He lifted her legs over his shoulders and continued licking her clit, while he massaged her breasts and squeezed them gently then tweaked her nipples, teasing them into sharp peaks.

  “Come for me, darlin’. Come for me.”

  Her body afire, Star bucked against his face. Wave after wave of pleasure washed over her until she thought her body would explode. But still he kept lapping her pussy until he took her over the edge. Her sex clenched over and over until tears came to her eyes, and she collapsed weakly against the bed.

  “You all right?” he asked softly.

  She opened her eyes and gazed into his dark depths. “Was that supposed to happen again?”

  “Damn straight it’s supposed to happen.” His hand eased between her legs, and he slid a finger all the way inside.

  Instinctively she squeezed her inner muscles to tighten as his finger moved in and out.

  “Easy, baby. There’s more.”

  “More?” she gasped. How could there be more?

  “Just getting started.”

  “Getting started? But you said you wouldn’t—you know—put it in.”

  “You still have a lot to learn.”

  “Where? ’Fraid my attention was a little lower.”

  “Don’t doubt it a bit.” He rose to his feet and set one knee on the side of the bed then slowly lay down beside her. “Maybe I should give you a little break. Too much, too soon can make you awful tender.”

  She let out a giggle and squirmed, arching her hips, trying to tempt him to do so much more. “I don’t want to stop.”

  He shook his head. “I was afraid of that very thing.” He levered up on his elbow and chuckled. “But Sunday isn’t so far away.”

  “So, I guess I’m still a maid, so to speak?”

  “For a fact, you are.”