Her gaze was still lowered. “Enough.Callihan is still on this earth.”
Pale eyeslifted to his. “That was my supposition; I knew it had to be true.A man such as he would not bless us all with an early demise. Wasthere more?”
Areluctant smile tugged at him. Always she pushed him for more.“There is more. Callihan will most likely return toIronwoodfor the winter.”
Her eyes widened, just a fraction.“The winter approaches.”
“It does. I heard heraises camp just outside town, and his men come in for supplies andliquor on a regular-like basis. Sometimes they’ll even come in for,uh, female companionship. They’ll stay until the snow melts andthen they’ll be off again.”
Her gaze turned distant. “So we willhave a month, maybe two.”
“Yes.”
Still distant, she nodded. It wereclear she was distracted by her thoughts. Breaking another biscuit,Jake slathered it with butter.
Hergaze focused on him as he took a bite. “Mr Wade?” She seemedstrangely hesitant, though it were clear something was on hermind.Ever so slightly, her shoulders squared. “I would likeyou to have intercourse with me.”
He choked on his biscuit.“What?” he managed.
Her expression remainedimpassive, as if she had not just asked him to fuck her. “I amalmost thirty-three years of age. I have not found someone whointerests me in that time. We seem to have an attraction to eachother. It behoves me to seize the opportunity while it ishere.”
Bamboozled, he stared ather. She met his gaze, her own calm, but the grip on her handsclasped in her lap were tight. Chin rising slightly, she said, “Ifyou are not amenable—”
“Hang on,darlin’, I ain’t never said that. You’ve…you’ve thrown me a bit.”Abandoning his breakfast, he rubbed his jaw. This...He could neverhave seen this coming. She were right in there was an attraction.Occasionally he had seen her glance at him, and now and then itseemed they had shared a moment, but he had not thought she hadfelt strong enough to prompt an action. Now she’d raised thenotion, hewanted. He wanted by all that was holy todiscover for himself what lay beneath her drab clothes, what soundsshe would make when his mouth was on her, when she came. He wantedto know if she would let him hold her after they were done, if shewould relax in his arms, and if she would let him treat her withthe affection he felt.
“Shall Ileave you to consider?”
Her voice broke into histhoughts. She regarded him with the same expression she always did,and to those observing them it would seem she felt no emotion. Hecould see, though, the anxiety in the faint crease of her brow andthe slight tightening around her eyes. “No, darlin’, I would bewanting some of the particulars first. The hows and whens, as itwere. What, exactly, do you intend?”
“Of course. Iknow something of the act, of course. I am not aninnocent.”
God damn, but she couldbe amusing. “I should never have thought so.”
She continued, obliviousfor once to his teasing. “I should not wish to become with child.While I understand there is no method that guarantees such a thing,I am willing to accept the consequences. You should have no concernI should ask anything of you.”
He lost his smile. “Holdup, darlin’. You saying you would take my child fromme?”
“I am sayingI expect nothing. This is solely for our own edification, ourpleasure, and my education. If a child should result, I have themeans to care and provide for them.”
“And Idon’t?”
Colourless eyes regardedhim levelly. “What do you have, Mr Wade, besides your horse andyour gun? That I have more wealth than you is not a debate. It isfact.”
A sourness took him. Sheweren’t wrong, but.... “You’re not tempting me toacquiesce.”
“I am merelystating facts. We are both grown and will enter this with eyesopen.”
Eyes open. If his eyeswere open, he would acknowledge this were a terrible idea. He wasalready more attached to her than was wise, and she intended thisto be temporary. If he weren’t careful, she’d return to Californiaand he would remain, with memories and a gaping hole where hisheart had been...but he were getting ahead of himself. Maybe it wasthey would get what they both wanted from the enterprise and partways friends when the sex was done.
“Darlin’, myeyes couldn’t be any more open,” he said softly.
Her own widened. Lipsparting, she stared at him, her tongue wetting the corner of herupper lip. He tracked the movement, his chest tight and his cockhard, and he tortured himself with the thought of how she’d taste,of the sound she would make if it were him slicking her lips withhis tongue.
Then she stood, breakingtheir connection. The plates on the table rattling with the hasteof her motion. “I shall give you some time to consider. We candiscuss the particulars should you agree.” Her words held a slightbreathlessness, and she almost stumbled as she departed, her narrowshoulders hunched.
Placing his utensilseither side of his plate, he stared down at the mess of eggs, baconand biscuits. It took some time for his breathing to return tonormal. She were…something else, were Miz McElroy. WereHope.
He savoured her name. Hecould say it now. She’d asked him to fuck her—or, as she’d put it,have intercourse with her—and that intimacy could lead to another.It were obvious Hope knew next to nothing of the practicalapplications, and the thought of showing her all the possibilitieshad his already-heavy cock hardening to stone. Well, hell. Now hecouldn’t stand up, or he’d embarrass himself before the otherpatrons.
