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“The worst. . . ?” she gasped.
“The meeting last night?”
“Yes .. . ?”
“I guess his men told him about me . . . and . .. my men,” Michael said, plucking a weed, thrusting it between his teeth.
Maria's insides turned cold. “No, Michael,” she whispered. “He just can't know.”
“H
e's readying himself for the union. I guess he is going to fight us all the way.”
“Hold me, Michael,” Maria said, lifting her arms to’ him. “Please hold me. I'm so frightened.”
Michael leaned down over her, covering her body with his, a fortress. “We shouldn't be here, Maria,” he said. “What if I was followed? What if you were followed?”
“Please don't think about that now,” she said, running her hands over his back, loving the feel of the tightness of his muscles, then her fingers lowered and touched the bulge beneath his breeches buttons. “The tall grasses. It would take someone a long time to search us out here. The wind is our protector. It will continue to blow the grasses around and over us. As it weaves and dips, it will be as though nothing is disturbing its flow. Please kiss me. Please hold me.”
“I only have a moment, Maria,” he said thickly, flicking his tongue over her lips. “My men are awaiting my decision on our next move.” His lips lowered and covered the throbbing flesh of her bosom. He reached upward and pulled a breast free and devoured it with his lips, inching his hands downward until he was touching her in the softness between her legs.
“Take me now, Michael,” she whispered, trembling. “No preliminaries this time. I only hunger for you to be inside me. I need you to fill me completely. Please take me. Now.” She lifted her hips, making it easy for him to pull her underthings down. Maria became dizzy with passion. She felt her desire for him increase in momentum as his hands released his manhood from its confines and leaned it down into her. A groan of ecstasy flowed from between her lips as he began to thrust inside her. Her body began to move with him, her hair falling free, settling around her face like a crown. She had become as part of the wind, thrashing against his body as she lifted it to meet him. She no longer cared about the dangers of being discovered. She was as the tall grasses around them, weaving, dancing, as Michael continued to move inside her.
“Michael, oh Michael,” she sighed, tossing her head sideways, clamping her teeth together, desire for him a never-ending thing. His tongue, his lips, were as pollen to her, so sweet, so very, very sweet. She was the bee, taking from him, enjoying, always enjoying. . . .
“Now, Maria,” Michael whispered, feeling the ache inside him turning to a hungry pain that needed to be quelled. He felt the perspiration rising on his brow and even felt it on her body as she moved so quickly against him. His hunger for her was so great, would he ever be completely fulfilled? As now, the explosion inside himself was almost ready to begin. . . .
He groaned, then let the spasms engulf him in wondrous splashes, smiling to himself when he felt her own similar spasms of delight, pleasure, joining in with his own. Then he pulled from her, panting. He began to laugh hoarsely, reaching to touch the softness between her thighs once again.
“What's so funny, Michael?” Maria whispered, leaning into his fingers, feeling almost wicked, knowing how easily she continued to give of herself to this man. Did he think her shameful? Was he even now laughing at her and her weaknesses for him?
“Us,” he said. “Here we are in broad daylight, with dangers all around us, and we still are able to make love. I find us both a bit amazing, don't you?”
“Yes. Quite,” she purred. Then she tensed when she was aware once again of the hammerings in the distance. She frowned. She rose to a sitting position and looked toward the sounds of the racket.
“And what shall we do when it is impossible for us to meet one another?” Michael said, buttoning his breeches, also rising to a sitting position. He reached and smoothed Maria's hair back from her face. “And you? Won't everyone know you've just been with a man? Oh, Maria, I've missed you so.”
•Maria's face drained of color. She hadn't thought to worry about that. She looked down at the disarray of her dress and reached up and felt her hair. She had even lost its'pins in the depths, of the grass. “I didn't think. . . .” she murmured. Then she smiled coyly. “But, my love, it was worth it,” she said, smoothing her dress down after pulling her underthings back up. “I would even die to get to be with you. Don't you know that?”
Michael helped her up from the ground, and they stood arm-in-arm looking toward the coal mine tipple and the fence that was being erected. He hugged her to him. “We shall make this thing right,” he grumbled. “I must leave now. I must meet with my men. See-what our strategy will be. That damn Nathan Hawkins. What does he think he's doing surrounding his coal mine with a fence? Doesn't he know a fence won't keep men from talking? Doesn't he know that a fence won't keep his men from being unhappy with the conditions of the coal mine once Alberto discloses the dangers to them?”
“Alberto. He and Papa . . . how will they react once they see the fence?”
“Mad . . . scared. . ..” Michael grumbled. “Damn. Who knows?”
Michael framed Maria's face between his hands. “But, Maria, I must truly leave. I don't know what this day will bring for us all. Please understand my haste in saying goodbye.”
“You don't know when we can meet again?” she whispered, leaning into his hands, loving the warmth they evoked.
“I think we'd best let some time pass before our next rendezvous. Nathan Hawkins will, well, he isn't a dumb man. In time, he would find out.”
“I see,” she murmured, tears burning at the corners of her eyes. “Then, my love, kiss me once more. Long and lingering.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt the usual giddiness of her head when his lips covered hers; then he was gone from her almost as quickly as he had appeared, waving, leaving her there alone with the wind and the grass, still wiping a few tears from her eyes. She waved over and over again, then lowered her eyes when he disappeared from her sight.
With an emptiness inside her, she moved through the thigh-high grass until she reached the road that led to her home, a home that she could not feel comfortable in. She knew that it had been home to many women before her, and that it would always be Nathan's, even when she was just another passing thought in his mind.
Reaching up, she tried to straighten her hair. But without pins, she could not make it presentable. Then she looked downward. Her dress. It was so wrinkled. How could she explain it away if she was asked? She had to hope that Nathan was still away at his meetings. He hadn't arrived home yet when she had left near sunrise. Maybe she would continue to be as lucky.
