To Bed A Montana Man (Montana Men) (24 page)

“Tell me how you feel,” he whispered, pulling out and filling her again.

Allison’s chest rose and fell with each word she spoke. “I see stars when I close my eyes.” She moaned and arched off the bed. “I’m coming apart.” Her body sought TJ’s heat. The intensity built inside of her. “I can’t get close enough.” She held him tight, digging her fingernails into the hard, muscle of his shoulders. She wrapped her legs around his hips. Her body bucked. Bright light blinded behind closed eyelids. She cried out her pleasure, breaking into a million little pieces.

TJ growled, tensed, and followed her orgasm with his own. His cock pulsed deep inside her. He continued to thrust, penetrating deep. Her womb contracted. She shivered and melted, dissolving into a quivering release. She held to the pleasure until the final spasms ebbed.

TJ collapsed beside her. Allison curled into his contours, a contented sigh slipping from her lips.

* * *

Rain pelted the window when Allison woke a few hours later. TJ wrapped an arm possessively around her waist. They touched from shoulder to toes. When she tried to move away from him, he tightened his hold.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Coffee, breakfast, get ready for the children to return.”

“No one knows were back. I think we should stay in bed all day and listen to the rain.” He kissed her neck.

“No one knows we’re home,
yet
. As soon as someone checks the horses they will.”

“Who cares?” He sounded like a petulant child. “They’ll assume we arrived late, and we’re still asleep.”

“There’s too much work to be done and not much time.” She slid out of his arms, pulling the covers with her. She clutched the blanket to her breasts as she looked for her clothes.

TJ propped up on an elbow. “There’s always time.” He patted the bed.

“You have work to do as well. I could use some help cleaning the chandeliers.” She bent over to pick up her skirt.

“I like this angle.”

Still bent, she narrowed her eyes, glancing at him lounging on the bed. When she stood, she flipped her hair out of her face. “We have a week to get this house in perfect condition. You still have some cleanup left over from the fire.”

“What happens in a week?” he asked, sitting up.

“Oh, I guess I forgot to mention.” A smile spread across her lips. “I invited Marion and Sandy to the house. They promised to come.” She found her blouse and put it on. She tossed him his trousers, but he set them aside. “If you don’t get dressed, we won’t get anything done. And if I’m to have the perfect wedding, I’m going to need your help.”

TJ leapt off the bed in a flash. He picked her up in his arms. “When did you change your mind? Never mind, I don’t care.” He kissed her mouth and hauled her onto the bed.

“No.” She laughed.

TJ tore her clothing in his haste to get her undressed again. She pushed his hands away, squirmed out from underneath him and scrambled off the bed. “No more farming or fertilizing.” She waved her hand. “Or what ever it is you call it when you ravish a woman.” Her Bostonian accent grew thicker with her nervousness.

“I believe the word you’re looking for is plowing, and as my future wife—”

“Your future wife worked in a brothel. I know a good deal about plowing.” She held out her hand to stop his approach. “But we can’t. I promised Sandy. TJ, don’t.” He continued to stalk closer to her. She squealed, and then sprinted for the door.

TJ blocked her exit with his arm. “You know what I’m waiting for.”

Allison slipped her arms around his neck and stood on her tiptoes. After kissing his lips she whispered, “I’m not going to fuck you.”

“I’ll change your mind.” He feverishly explored her mouth, kissing, tongues tangling. He grasped a handful of her hair, gently pulled her head back, and gazed into her eyes. “I swear, I’m going to make you a good husband.”

“But you can’t say anything to anyone. Not yet. Not until I talk to Joseph.”

TJ sighed and loosened his hold on her. “Ah, hell.”

“You were right. I haven’t been fair to him, but I was honest. I know I’m still going to hurt him.”

TJ groaned. “He’ll hurt, but he’ll understand.”

“I hope you’re right.”

A few minutes later, she went to find Joseph and TJ went for the children. She found him in the stables, cleaning out stalls.

“I see you made it back,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d be back this soon. How’d it go with TJ?” He stopped working and leaned against the handle of the pitchfork.

She didn’t answer right away. Her stomach knotted and her nerves tingled with anxiety. She sat on a bale of hay, and folded her hands in her lap. “I think we should talk.”

His lips pursed. “You made a decision, I take it?” He inhaled through his nose. Breaking TJ’s rule of no smoking in the stables, he pulled his pouch of tobacco from his pocket. “What happened?”

“Enough. We’re going to be married on Saturday. I’m sorry, Joseph. I thought if I put him in the back of my mind, he’d stay there.”

He rolled his shoulders, took a long drag off his smoke, and ran his hands through his hair.

The knot in her stomach coiled tighter. Pain played across his face. His jaw ticked and his nostrils flared as he took another deep breath. Seeing Joseph work through his emotions, Allison understood TJ’s concern. Because she couldn’t have TJ, didn’t mean she had a right to give Joseph false hope. Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“TJ’s my best friend. I’m not mad at you or at him. Hell, TJ always gets the girl.”

Allison stood in front of him and made him look at her. “At least now he’s off the market. The next girl’s for you.”

He smiled. “I don’t expect another woman like you to hitch a ride out here to become a ranch hand. You’re special. Don’t let TJ change you.”

Joseph deserved better than she gave him. Moreover, his understanding didn’t lessen her guilt. “Believe me when I tell you his heart is in this marriage. Nothing you or I do can change him. I accept that. I don’t want to change him. I’m doing this—marrying TJ—for me. He won’t change me. He claims he doesn’t want to. I believe him. He says he needs me and I know the children need me.” She spoke softly. “And I need him.”

To say anything more to Joseph was inappropriate now. Like her soon to be husband, she wanted her marriage and the secrets therein to remain private. A special connection only she and TJ would ever share. But she needed one more thing from Joseph.

“I have no right, but I want to ask a favor of you.” She took a steadying breath. “Will you stand with TJ? I know he won’t ask because he’s afraid there’s going to be bad blood between the two of you. I know I’m asking for more than I deserve. I never meant to come between the two of you.”

“There’s no problem.” He snuffed out his cigarette against a wood post. “Don’t tell on me for smoking in the barn.” She threw her arms around his neck, but Joseph kept distance in the embrace. “Where is he? Probably best if I see him right away. I want to be the first to say congratulations.”

“He went to get Sis and Michael. Come up to the house for coffee and we’ll wait for him.”

“I think I’m going to need something a little stronger.”

She linked her arm with his. Then they made their way up the hill to the house. “I think somewhere there is a very, lucky girl waiting to be swept off her feet by you.”

“If you see her, could you bring her home?”

Chapter Thirteen

Sitting on opposite ends of the couch, Allison rubbed TJ’s feet as they rested in her lap. She pressed her thumb into the instep.

“You’ve been quiet tonight.” TJ said. The children were in bed adding to the solitude. “Not having doubts, are you?” He pulled his feet from her lap and scooted closer.

“Sentimental thoughts I guess. Every little girl dreams about her wedding.” She shifted her position and leaned against him. “Cake has made the most incredible looking food for tomorrow. He could have been a chef in Boston or Philadelphia if he’d had the mind to. As for Betty, she has the wedding cake all but finished. If my mother were here, even she’d be impressed.

“Everyone has been helpful and excited,” she continued. “It almost seems too magical to be real.”

“Then why do you look miserable? You’re marrying the man of your dreams,” he said and winked. “You have all the components of a perfect wedding.”

“Except a white dress, parents to give me away, a father to walk me down the aisle, family, my brothers, life-long friends, and if I go on I’ll sound like the spoiled brat I was raised to be. I’m not ungrateful for the gifts you’ve given me, the house, children…you. It’s hard to remember all I’ve given up even when looking forward to the better things to come. Tell me you understand.”

TJ ran his hand along the back of the couch. “Actually, I’m experiencing a fair amount of guilt. I’ve been thinking about Janelle. And the memories don’t seem as important. How can I remember…when I only want to think about the future?”

Allison turned in his arms. “We both have to let go of the past.” She brushed her lips against his. His tongue tasted cool. Then his mouth slanted, her head tilted, and heat fused them together. Passion ignited. His fists tangled in her hair. He pulled her onto his lap. His cock pressed against her bottom. She wiggled trying to align her sex with the solid length of his erection.

“What about your rule? You said I can’t
plow
into you until after the wedding.”

“I didn’t realize what would happen if the fields were neglected. I’m not the farmer.” Her hands quickly worked the buttons of his shirt. “Besides, I decided I like your rules.” Finally, she had his shirt open. Her hands ran along the contours of his chest. She tried to lie down, but instead TJ lifted her up until she straddled him. He moved the folds of her skirt until she felt his heat slide against her, parting the moist lips of her sex.

“You’ve spent enough time on Sugar to know how to ride.” TJ put his hands behind his head.

Allison reached between her legs, gripped TJ’s shaft with her hand, and positioned him at the entrance of her body. Slowly, letting him fill her, she lowered onto his cock. “Ahh.” Impaled completely, she put her hands on his torso and rocked her hips.

TJ closed his eyes, and clamped his teeth together. He growled, clutched her hips, and surged into her body. Her breathy gasps gusted past her lips. “Will it always be like this?” Her body pulsed around his.

“It gets better.”

“I guess I know why Marion enjoys her job.”

TJ chuckled.

She fingers dug into his flesh. Her body raced toward release. “It’s coming,” she hissed.

“No sweetheart, you are.” He groaned, squeezing her hips. Back arched, jaw clenched, every muscles in his body visibly tensed. Hot fluids bathed her clenching womb. Each rhythmic pulse sent frissons of fire scorching through her body.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” she said, collapsing onto his chest.

The End

Dear Reader,

I took liberties with history in writing
To Bed a Montana Man
. Allison would have had to take the stage into Butte from Salt Lake City. The draw of a bustling copper boom motivated my decision to create Copper City, a fictional town.