back.”
“And you didn’t send anyone to look for him?”
With an exaggerated sigh, Lester rolled onto his back. “Of course we did. I went myself, with some others. But there was no sign of him. We planned to search again once the sun is up.”
Fargo glanced at the ring of covered wagons. “So who is standing guard tonight?”
“We’re taking turns. I believe Floyd should be on watch. But it’s been so quiet, it wouldn’t surprise me if he fell asleep.” Lester rolled over once more. “I’d very much like to do the same. Good night.”
Fargo checked an impulse to swear a mean streak. He rose and tied the horse to the rear wheel.
Suddenly a warm hand closed on his wrist and warm breath fanned his ear. “Welcome back, handsome. Did you miss me?” Rachel whispered.
“Didn’t you hear what I just told your father?”
“Sure I did. But we have the rest of the night and everyone is asleep.” Giggling softly, Rachel tugged on his arm. “Come on. Let’s go for a stroll.”
Fargo couldn’t believe it. These people had blocks of wood for brains. Here he was, trying to save their hides, and they treated him as if he were a simpleton.
“Come on,” Rachel said again, pulling.
Fargo let her usher him around to the other side of their wagon. There she stopped and gazed off toward the timber.
“If we hurry, we can be back in an hour or so.”
“You don’t care that Gore and Rinson aim to kill all of you?”
“Not until the middle of the morning. Your very own words.” Rachel grinned and took a step.
Fargo shook his head in bewilderment. Now was hardly the right time. Then again, everyone else
Rachel regarded him uncertainly. “Then where?”
Turning her so her back was to the wagon, Fargo pressed her against it. His hands on her hips, his mouth close to hers, he said, “Right here.”
“They’ll hear us.”
“Not if we’re quiet.” Fargo kissed her. She tensed, then gradually relaxed. Her mouth parted and their tongues met in a wet, silken swirl. She started to groan but caught herself.
“That was nice,” Rachel whispered when they drew apart. “I think about you doing that all the time.”
“Do you ever think about this?” Fargo asked. Cupping both her breasts over the long cotton nightgown she wore, he squeezed them as if they were ripe melons.
Gasping, Rachel arched her back, her body taut against him, her thighs flush with his. “Oh, God.”
“Careful,” Fargo said with a grin. “You don’t want to wake them.” Her nipples become tacks and he pinched them between his thumbs and forefingers. It elicited a tiny mew. Her fingernails sank into his shoulders.
“The things you do to me,” Rachel husked. “No man has ever made me tingle like you do.”
Fargo silenced her with another kiss. She ground her hips against him, her twin peaks mashed against his chest, her fingers exploring high and low. She caressed his legs but didn’t touch him
“I could do this all night.”
Not Fargo. He wanted to get it over with so he could catch some sleep. But there was no rush. He licked her neck. He nibbled on her ear. For her part, she kissed his forehead, then took off his hat, dropped it, and ran her hand through his hair.
Rachel dreamily whispered in his ear, “You know, if things work out, you’ll be the second-best part of this whole business.”
Idly wondering what she meant, Fargo delved his tongue under the top of her nightgown as low as it would go. He couldn’t reach her nipples so he started to hike up her nightgown.
Rachel gripped his wrists. “I don’t know. Maybe we shouldn’t.”
“You started this,” Fargo reminded her. Swatting her hand away, he yanked her nightgown up and plunged his hand underneath. At the contact of his fingers with her thighs, her mouth became a delectable oval of raw desire. She kissed him fiercely, her passion uncontrollable.
Sculpting her smooth skin as if it were warm clay, Fargo kneaded her thighs, starting at her knees and kneading upward. She grew warmer, and her ardor climbed. She thrust hard against him, rubbing herself on his iron member. When he lightly brushed her nether region, she bit his shoulder, then whispered excitedly into his ear.
“Yes! Yes! Do me! Do me right here!”
Fargo wasn’t about to stop. Spreading her legs, he pried at his belt and pants. When his pole was free, he ran the tip along her moist slit. Her reaction was to rise up onto her toes and practically bury her nails in his upper arms. The pain distracted him a few moments, and the next he knew, she had a hand down there and was fondling him.
“You’re magnificent. Do you know that?”
“Not so loud,” Fargo warned. The last thing he needed was to wake her mother and have Martha come charging around the wagon with a cleaver or an ax.
“I want you in me,” Rachel breathed into his ear. “And don’t worry. I’ll keep quiet.”
Fargo thought he heard a sound, and paused.
“What are you waiting for?” Rachel impatiently whispered.
Before Fargo could reply, she rose higher, shifted slightly, and impaled her exquisite rose on his engorged thorn.
Sucking in a deep breath, Rachel closed her eyes and rested her forehead on his chin. “You have no idea how good that feels.”
“Care to bet?” The very first time Fargo coupled with a woman, he became addicted. To him, the soft savor of a female body in the throes of lust was as good as life got. He could never get enough.
“Don’t stand there like a fence post,” Rachel teased. “Do something, will you?”
“Whatever the lady wants.”
“Read my mind.”
Giving her no chance to set herself, Fargo rammed up into her. Rachel threw her head back and bit her lower lip to keep from crying out. Then it was more of the same, up and in, up and in, in an ever faster tempo, Fargo rising onto the tips of his toes with each penetration.
Rachel was in a delirium of rapture, her eyelids hooded, her mouth forming soundless cries as she matched him stroke for stroke.
The explosion ripped Fargo out of himself and left him near breathless with pleasure. Luxuriating in the feeling, he sagged against Rachel and felt her fingers at the nape of his neck.
“I’m sorry,” Rachel said.
Not sure he had heard her correctly, Fargo responded, “What do you have to be sorry about?”
Rachel Winston wistfully smiled and tenderly ran a finger along his jaw. “If you only knew.”
19
Pink and gold tinged the eastern sky when Lester Winston grunted and sat up. Scratching himself, he sleepily regarded the slumbering figures on either side of him. He looked up and gave a slight start. “My word. You shouldn’t scare people like that.”
Fargo had been up for half an hour. He had failed to make his point before, but he would by God make it now. “Do you remember what I told you last night?”
“How could I forget?”
“We need to talk about it some more.”
“Can’t it wait until I’ve had my coffee?” Lester asked, running his big fingers through his hair. “I’m not hardly
