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“ARE YOU READY?”
Laura nodded. The good thing about traveling light was that there wasn’t much to worry about. She had her sole bag at her feet.
“Let me help you up there, then,” Joe said, stepping close and holding out his hand to steady her while she climbed up to the driver’s seat of the wagon.
“Where’s Dan? I want to make sure I say goodbye.”
Joe shrugged. “I don’t know where he is right now,” he said. “What time does the stagecoach arrive?”
“Ten o’clock.”
“We’d better get a move on, then,” Joe said. “I’ll let him know you said goodbye.”
The breath was tight in Laura’s chest as she scanned the fields around them. There was no sign of the boy; his pony trotted around the paddock alone. This isn’t how I wanted to leave, she thought, and she felt a familiar sting in the back of her eyes. I’ve had enough of parting without saying goodbye.
The seat creaked slightly as Joe climbed aboard next to her, and with a light snap of the reins, they were on their way. Joe turned the wagon from its spot next to the house and headed toward the trail. Twin ruts scarred the plain, showing the way back to Lincoln, but before they even left the property, Joe took a sharp turn and started driving toward the heart of the ranch.
“What are you doing?”
“I just need to make a little stop first,” he said.
“A stop for what?”
“You’ll see. It won’t be long.”
She stared at him like he’d gone quite out of his mind, but Joe ignored her gaze.
“Beautiful day for a drive, isn’t it?”
That much, at least, he was right about. The autumn sky was clear and crystalline blue, yet the heat of the summer had passed on. It was as close to perfect weather as she’d ever seen.
As they drove over a small rise in the land, she saw the treetops of the copse near the river. “Are we going back to our picnic spot? Did you forget something?”
He smiled softly, as if to himself. “No, not really,” he said. “I just realized that there was something else I was supposed to do.”
“What was that?” He only smiled and snapped the reins again, hurrying them along. He parked the wagon under the trees, set the brake and just looked out at the scenery. This spot by the river was perhaps her favorite place on the ranch. She hadn’t been here often, but it was very pretty, with the trees and the water surrounded by the lush fields. Even if she were going to be late for the stagecoach, she was glad to have had one last chance to see it.
Joe hopped down from the wagon and came around to her side. “Let’s get down for a bit,” he said, reaching for her hand and helping her to the ground.
She walked to the water’s edge and watched the sunlight dancing on the current. She couldn’t help but remember playing with Dan the day before, and a bittersweet smile came to her face. “So what was it that you had to do?” she asked.
“I had to talk to you,” Joe said. “I just wanted to do it here, where it’s pretty.”
“Well, you picked a nice spot, I’ll give you that much,” she said. “What did you want to talk about?”
He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a sealed letter. “I wrote to Patty and broke off our engagement,” he said. “This letter goes in the mail today.”
She gasped. “Joe, how could you do that? What about what we talked about? Dan needs a mother, and you need a wife.”
“All that’s still true,” he said. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that he doesn’t need this Patty woman, and neither do I. We need a woman who...well, shoot, Laura, do I have to come out and say it?”
She reached for the tree trunk beside her to steady herself. In spite of the breeze that was flowing around them, it suddenly seemed like there wasn’t enough air to breathe. “Say what, Joe?”
“What I’m saying is that I don’t want you to go,” he said. “I want you to stay here with us. Like you said, Dan needs a mother and I need...I need you.”
This can’t be happening, she thought. Men like Joe don’t pick girls like me. She looked around as if to find some clue that she was dreaming, but the trees, the river, the sky all looked real. “Joe, I can’t let you do this. There’s so much you don’t know about me,” she said. “Before I met you, I...well, I haven’t had a perfect life,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of things I’m ashamed of. Things I had to do.”
A tenderness like she’d never seen filled his gaze, and he took both of her hands in his. “Laura, do you think I’ve never made a mistake? You think I’ve never sinned?”
“Honestly, I have a hard time imagining you ever doing anything wrong,” she murmured. “You’re such a good man.”
“And you’re a good woman,” he said. “I don’t care about anything that happened before; I only care about who you are now. If you want to tell me more someday, that’s fine. If you don’t ever want to tell me, that’s fine too. I just want to know one thing right now.”
“What’s that?”
Joe dropped to one knee in front of her. “Laura Ford,” he said, “will you marry me?”
She had never experienced such a secret hope becoming real before, and she was almost too stunned to speak. Almost.
“Yes,” she said, after a moment, then practically leaped into his arms. “Yes, yes, yes!”
It was as if any barriers between them had been swept away by that one tiny word. Joe’s mouth found hers in an instant, and his embrace grew tight as his tongue slipped between her lips. It was the first time they’d kissed, but Laura couldn’t help noticing how right it felt, like she had finally found her home there in his arms.
She pressed her chest against him, enjoying the feel of his body against hers, when an idea formed in her head. Laura took his face in her hands and stared into his eyes. “You give me your word you’re going to marry me?”
“Of course,” he said.
“Then how about I give you a little something in return?” Laura dropped her hand from his cheek and pressed her palm against his groin.
Joe’s eyes flashed wide. “What, right here?”
“Why not? There’s no place better,” she said. “Nobody’s around for miles.” She stopped rubbing. “Unless you don’t want to.”
He reached for her wrist and started guiding her hand back and forth again. “I want to, believe me,” he muttered. “It’s been forever since I felt a woman’s touch like that.”
She squeezed him warmly. “Did your wife ever kiss you...you know, down there?” Laura felt his cock jump in her hand, as if the mere mention made him even harder than he’d been.
Joe gritted his teeth, and when he spoke his voice sounded strained. “No,” he murmured. “She never did. Said it was a sin.”
“You poor man,” Laura said quietly as she lifted her skirts out of the way and lowered herself to her knees in the thick prairie grass. As she undid his belt and unbuttoned his trousers, she could feel him growing larger. When she finally freed him from his drawers and saw his cock for the first time, she couldn’t help but smile.
She had taken a lot of men in her mouth over the last year. Most she hadn’t cared for. Some she hadn’t minded. A precious few, she had enjoyed. Joe looked like he was going to be one of the precious few.
His cock was neither the longest nor the fattest she’d ever seen, but as she took him in her hand, finally feeling his skin against hers, she realized that his rod was just about perfect. It felt like his cock was right at home in her grasp.
Joe shuddered and murmured her name as she stroked him, but he only gasped softly when she slipped her tongue out and flicked it across the tip. As she opened wide and let the head pass between her lips, she could feel him grow even harder and more swollen, if that were possible.
He dropped one hand to the back of her head, sliding his fingers into her hair. “Damn, honey,” he growled. “That feels better than I even dreamed it would.”
Laura felt her nipples firming up as he slid back and forth over her tongue. It was terrifically exciting to see how good she was making him feel, and there was a soft tingle growing between her legs. She slipped one hand behind, clutching his ass, and pulled him closer, then ran her tongue all the way up and down his cock several times before finally taking the head inside her mouth.
She loved the sensation of the smooth skin sliding in and out of her mouth, gliding over her lips; the hardness of his flesh against her soft tongue; the heat of him inside her.
Joe loved it as well: too much to stand, in fact. “Honey, you’ve got to stop,” he said through gritted teeth. “I can’t hold on forever.”
She drew her head back only for a moment, but pumped him with her fist while she spoke. “I don’t want you to hold on,” she said. “Just let yourself go.” Laura tucked him back between her lips and eased him in as far as she could, until she felt him tickle her throat.
“Goddamn,” Joe muttered as his whole body stiffened.
Laura slipped one hand up and cupped his balls gently while she bobbed her head only the slightest amount. It was enough. In only a moment she felt his cock pulse on her tongue, and there was a warm splash against the back of her throat. She tightened her grip on him as he poured his essence into her mouth, wringing every last drop out of him as he thrust himself deeper and deeper. His cum was sweet and sticky, just like honey, and she savored every drop before she let it slide down into her belly.
“Damn, sweetheart,” he muttered, as soon as he got his breath back. “If I’d known how you were going to react, I would have asked you a whole lot sooner than this.”
Laura carefully tucked him back into his trousers, buttoned him up and squeezed him one last time for good measure. “That’s just a little taste of what you’ve got coming,” she whispered as she stood up and leaned close. She gently bit his earlobe. “The rest you have to wait for until you make me a married woman.”
The fire she could still see in his eyes made her sure that she wouldn’t have to wait too long. She could practically feel her juices running down her legs, she was so aroused. Her insides were aching, longing to feel that wonderfully firm cock within her, but she only had one chance to do things right from now on, and she was going to take it.