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He surprised her by sweeping her into his arms and carrying her into her bedroom. “I think I need to make love with my wife.”
“Is that so?” She grinned at him, happy that he was finally ready.
“It is!” He set her on the floor and leaned down, kissing her softly. “Except I don’t exactly know what I’m doing. Perhaps you can help me.”
“I’ll do my best!” Her fingers went to the buttons at the collar of his shirt, and she worked her way down the front of him. “I remember what you looked like standing in my kitchen the day you arrived. I’ve been wanting to get your shirt off you ever since.”
“My shirt?” he asked.
“Yeah, I really liked how you looked without it, and I was wanting to get it off again so I could see it.”
He shook his head. “Does that mean you were standing there with a rifle pointed at me admiring my chest?”
“And shoulders,” she said. “I really like your shoulders.”
He laughed. “I would have thought you could like the fact that I cooked for you best, but no, you like my lack of shirt.”
“Why weren’t you wearing a shirt, by the way?”
He shrugged out of his shirt, turned her around, and unbuttoned the back of her dress. “The man who told me how to get here told me you’d be working on the range until late in the evening. So, I heated up water and took a bath in your kitchen while you and Walt were away. I kept thinking I heard someone, and I was worried the first time we met I’d be missing a lot more than a shirt.”
She laughed. “Well, I guess that makes sense. And you just never took the time to put your shirt back on?”
He shrugged. “I was hoping you’d like my chest and shoulders.” He pushed her dress off her and let it fall into a pile on the floor.
“You did not!”
“No, butnowI wish I had!” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. Within seconds, his tongue explored her mouth even as his hands moved over her body.
Her arms went around him, and she sighed contentedly. Touching him was more than anything she’d ever dreamed of. It was pure heaven as far as she was concerned.
When he covered her body with his, she felt nothing but pleasure. He stumbled a little, but it didn’t matter. He more than made up for his lack of knowledge with enthusiasm.
Afterward, he lay beside her, with her snuggled close against him. “Why did I think I needed to wait for that? If I’d known it would feel that good, I really would have been waiting naked in your bathtub.”
She laughed. “I’m not sure how Walt would have reacted.”
“I feel like it’s my job to teach Walt so many things. What would be wrong with a little education about where babies come from?”
“In a few years, that will be appropriate.” She yawned. “We have to sleep.” She wanted to lie there and keep touching him all night, but dawn came too early for things like that.
“I just want to lay here like this and hold you forever.”
Charlotte liked that idea. “Hold me while we sleep then.”
Earl smiled. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
Chapter Ten
Earl spent much of the next day asking his men questions, one on one. “Did you know Howard?” he asked repeatedly.
Some had and some hadn’t, but they all knew one thing about his wife’s late husband. He was a mean one. He’d lost many of the men who were working for him because he’d threaten them, and once he’d even threatened to whip one of the Negroes who worked for him.
“What about his wife? Did he talk about her?” Earl asked the man who was rapidly becoming his right hand there at the ranch. He was experienced not only with ranching, but with this ranch in particular.
Peter shook his head. “You don’t want to know what he said about your wife…”
“I do. People act as if she’s done something evil. I need to know what was said about her so I can understand what kind of situation I’m in here.” Earl knew the man would be the most likely to be the one to tell him. They’d become friends of sort in the time he’d been there.
