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Ben crossed the room to the table and looked into one basket sitting on top of it. “This one has pastries and bread in it.”
She joined him, peeking into the baskets and boxes. “What is all this for?”
He shrugged. “Some ritual ladies do for newly married couples. They give gifts to wish them well.”
Morning Dove met his gaze across the table. The heat she saw in his eyes was unmistakable.
He glanced around the room. “I wish I had more to offer you than this.”
She rounded the table to where he stood. “You are all I need.” She nodded to the room with a tilt of her head. “The rest of it is all bonus.” She raised her arms and started unbuttoning his shirt. “Not once in my adult life did I think I might someday have a home of my own. It may not be much to you, but to me, it is a dream come true.”
She parted the material of his shirt and leaned in, placing a soft kiss on his chest. He groaned when she licked a path to his throat. “You are something I never thought to have either.”
“You could have found a broken down cowboy anywhere.”
She pulled back far enough to see him. “The only cowboy I have ever wanted was you.”
The confession made something in his eyes heat. He stripped her of her dress right there in the kitchen before kicking off his boots and pants. He grabbed her and turned, bracing her back against the wall, and kissed her until she was breathless and aching for him.
Since the day they came back to Willow Creek, they had only shared a few stolen kisses. Betsey took great pleasure in torturing them both, demanding Ben go home alone every night and always peeked out the door when they said goodnight to each other. Ben’s sister insisted it would make their wedding day more special if they were separated for a while, and the past month had been the hardest of her life.
Ben entered her without a word but groaned her name when he was in as far as he could go. He watched her face as he pushed back between her thighs. Betsey had been right. She was so wound up, she knew it would not take long before she would be screaming his name. Her need for him was too great.
He kissed her before setting a brutal pace, his hips slamming into the back of her thighs and she knew he felt the same desperate need she did. Within minutes, they were both lost in such euphoric bliss, her entire body quaked.
They stood there breathing heavily, their arms tight around the other, and Morning Dove sighed. “I hate to admit it but your sister was right.”
Ben laughed into the curve of her neck. “Do not tell her that. We’ll never hear the end of it if you do.”
When their breathing had returned to normal, Ben carried her to the bedroom. Whoever had been in the house had set a few jars filled with wildflowers around the room. Someone had turned the bed covers down, and laying on the pillow was a single daisy.
He laid her down before covering her body with his. He picked up the daisy and ran it over her cheek, then over her lips. “You really don’t mind that we’ll never be rich?”
“I would live under a tree with you, Ben Atwater, and enjoy every single day.”
He smiled and kissed her, lingering as he took slow, lazy tastes of her mouth. She did not know how long they lay there, touching and reacquainting themselves with each other. Morning Dove held no delusions that their life would be easy. People were still not comfortable with a Native woman living amongst them, and she wondered what prejudice any children they eventually had would face.
Her life had never been easy and chances were, it never would be, but with Ben by her side, the happiness she had found would make any heartaches that came her way seem trivial because she finally had what she always dreamed of. A man who wanted her, despite her heritage, and she would live the rest of her life, thankful he could overlook all that ... and simply love her.
