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Category: Erotica/Historical Fiction
Description: Book Two in the Arizona Heat series Jebediah Knight, Arizona territory's Marshal, is a big man. He's come to Arizona City to take care of business. Once the job is finished, Jeb realizes he's not ready to move on just yet. It seems a sweet, if cantankerous, little lady has caught his eye. Lilly Willingham is annoyed to find herself partial to this giant of a man, but partial is as far as she's willing to go. Without a doubt she does not love him and swears she never will. The problem here is Marshal Knight isn't the kind of man who takes no in stride. The little lady might act the shrew, but he knows the best use for that sharp tongue.
eBook Publisher: Resplendence Publishing, LLC/Resplendence Publishing, LLC, 2010 2010
eBookwise Release Date: August 2010

12 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [104 KB]
Words: 22643
Reading time: 64-90 min.

Chapter One

Lilly Winghamton's eyes were huge as she watched Jebediah Knight enter the house. She trembled in relief and felt unexplained tears burn the backs of her eyes. She took a deep fortifying breath. God, she'd been so scared. When the shooting had started, she hadn't known what to think. Lilly shivered at the memory, while praying she'd never suffer that kind of terror again.

The man who had stalked her niece Vinnie was finally dead. Vinnie was with her bodyguard, Jack, and the baby. She was safe. That was all Lilly had cared about for months.

In any case that particular problem was settled. Thank God.

Lilly watched as Jeb, Jack's brother, moved toward her. He'd been gone so long. She couldn't imagine why he hadn't come back. He'd left with the sheriff and two men who'd lagged behind, struggling with the body of the criminal. As the hours had ticked slowly by, she couldn't help but wonder if he'd been injured in the fray. She'd only seen him for a moment and at a distance. Had he only pretended all was well?

She felt suddenly starved for the sight of him. Her gaze moved over the width and length of him, as he came closer, more clearly into the lamp's meager light.

"You were gone so long. You're all right?" It was less a question than a need to state a fact.

He watched her closely as he came toward her, his darkly weathered skin, his somber expression, his eyes crinkling at the corners with squint lines as he studied her face. Suddenly, his gaze widened with surprise as he seemed to realize her worry. "Were you afraid for me?"

She shot him a nasty look, obviously unhappy with the question. He was a quiet man. Big, he towered over her small frame. Gentle, she knew that from the first touch of his hand upon hers. Still there was an unmistakable arrogance about him that both attracted and repelled. No, not repelled, she silently corrected, annoyed. He was easily as handsome as his brother, but maybe ten years older and just a bit too confident for her tastes.

"No more afraid than I'd be for anyone in the midst of a gunfight."

"Are you sure?"

Lilly backed up and bit her lip, fighting back the curse that nearly slipped out. She hadn't held her stance. She hadn't faced him down, and for some reason, that left her vaguely unsettled as if she'd lost some sort of battle she hadn't planned on fighting.

Her gaze rested on the toes of his boots. For some unknown reason, she couldn't look him in the eye. Lilly frowned at the thought. Why? What was it about this man that had her suddenly trembling and unsure of herself?

Her back was pressed against the kitchen sink. She couldn't just stand here and wait for him to make the next move. She had to say something. "Want some coffee? I've a fresh pot."

"What I want is an answer."

Trying to find a scrap of her usual confidence and control, she took a deep breath. It was a mistake. In taking that breath, she'd inhaled his scent. It sent a shiver down her spine and despite her best intentions, left her weak with longing. God, had a man ever smelled like this, so clean, so deeply dark and mysterious?

He moved closer, leaning over her, allowing her no personal space. She knew what he was about, knew what he wanted and cursed the fact that he wasn't about to be denied. She'd known in her heart, from the first moment she'd seen him, she wanted the same.

"Jeb," she almost pleaded, "it can't happen this fast. We only met this afternoon."

He gave the slightest shake of his head in disagreement "You know it can happen this fast. It has." Again he moved. His hips against her belly forced her to lean back from her waist; a rough knuckle under her chin brought her gaze to meet his.

"I'm involved," she managed with a touch of desperation. Lilly had had her share of men. She might not jump from bed to bed, but she knew what she wanted and never thought to deny herself the pleasure should a particular man catch her eye. She'd never been afraid before. Why was she hesitating now when every inch of her ached to feel him against her, in her?

Because she somehow knew this time, this man would mean so much more to her than the simple satisfaction gained in a good lusty lay. She wanted this man, perhaps too much. She wanted him to take her, to fuck her until she lost her mind. She wanted him to lose all control, and she wanted it more than her next breath.

He nodded.

"You were," he said with finality, and she knew he was right.

She tried to gather the outrage she should know at his unbearable confidence, but she couldn't. What he said was true. She had been involved. And it had taken little more than a hungry look from this man to know that her relationship with Tom was over.

"Look at me, Lilly. Tell me you don't want this."

She groaned a helpless, "Damn you," as her body, with a mind of its own, moved into his arms. Her hands slid up his chest and circled his neck, pulling at him, aching to touch him, to know the heat of him, the strength of sinew and muscle beneath his shirt and leather vest. Their lips met with a wild surge of unadulterated, mindless lust. She moaned, her senses boggled at the warmth and shivered at the pleasure of touching her mouth to his, of feeling the strength of thick arms engulfing her, lifting her, bringing her tightly against his hard frame. It was beyond her wildest imaginings. Had she ever wanted or needed a man like this?

It was madness and she didn't care. She tried to gain control of her thoughts, her senses. Nothing could be this good. She was sure she was imagining more to it than there actually was.

Only she wasn't. It was this good. It was exactly this good.

Lilly had never suffered anything like it. He murmured something, and she frowned unable to make out the words above the pounding of her heart, the roar of blood in her ears. He tasted so good, like rich coffee and a distant trace of good whiskey. He smelled delicious, dark and clean, like fresh air, like leather, like a man.

She tightened her hold, pressing herself closer, unable to bring him close enough, unable to touch him enough, breathe him enough. God, but she had to have more. She had to have all he could give her.

He might have initiated this encounter, but she was now the aggressor as she coated his lips with her tongue, teasing, taunting them to part. And when they did, she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and knew a nearly devastating, bone-melting moment as she savored his own special taste.

"Easy, sweetheart, easy," he murmured into her mouth, against her cheek, her throat, her neck. He sat her on the edge of the sink and with his hands under her skirt pulled away her drawers. He spread her legs wide to fit his hips between them.

After adjusting her slightly, they both groaned as her pussy pressed firmly against his rigid erection. She gasped for every breath. Her head fell back as his hands moved over her. A moment later, her bodice came undone. She knew a moment's surprise and wondered vaguely how he'd managed the chore. She'd never felt his fingers at the back of her dress.

His whiskered cheeks and jaw rubbed against her softness, and had the house fallen around them, she wouldn't have noticed. She felt nothing, knew nothing but the deliciousness of his mouth, tongue and teeth moving over her shoulder. Her dress and chemise slipped lower, trapping her arms to her sides, exposing her breasts to his dark, hungry gaze.

Nothing could be heard above the harshness of their combined breathing, the rush of her blood, the pounding of her heart. No words were exchanged, none were needed. He looked at her for a long moment before he gave up some inner struggle and with a groan his mouth latched itself to her breast. She hissed through clenched teeth at the unexpected heat of him, at sensations that rocked her to her core. Setting her aflame, his mouth was like fire, a raging inferno. She'd just been kissing that mouth, and she hadn't realized exactly how hot it had been until he took her breast into its depth.

Lilly forgot she was in the kitchen, forgot the distinct possibility that someone might come upon them. And had she remembered wouldn't have cared. Dazed and lost in the moment, in her need, she couldn't think beyond more, she only wanted more.

His fingers were under her skirt, penetrating her moist flesh. Two fingers, three, she groaned at the pleasure.

"More," she murmured amid gasping breaths. "I need more."

And he gave her more. He gave her a great deal more. Lilly would never know how she didn't scream her pleasure as his rapidly moving hand brought her almost instantly to a near ferocious climax. She frowned as she realized she'd just growled.

Eyes closed, gasping still for every breath, she felt him pull slightly away. Their gazes met and locked. His filled with masculine satisfaction that he had so easily brought her this pleasure; hers grew slightly annoyed, even as she freely admitted, "I want you. All of you."

Hot, wet and ready for him, she heard his warm chuckle turn into a groan that resembled agony as he slid his cock deep into her heat.

"God, Lilly. God, this is so..."

She moaned in return. "I know," she breathed on a choppy sigh then a strangled groan, "I know."

He was enormous. For a moment, she thought she couldn't take all of him, but she did. He entered her slowly and kept moving until he was buried in her. It was beyond heaven.

"You mind if I touch you here?' he asked as a rough finger came to play with her clitoris.

She moaned again unable to respond.

"I'd surely love to touch you here."

Her eyes opened to his teasing gaze. She could see he loved it all right, but he was making sure she knew he was keeping his senses about him, while she was lost in his every touch, his every movement.

Her gaze narrowed, and she muttered a low, "Bastard."

The word brought his amusement to a full laugh.

"Only if I can touch you here," she said as her hand reached inside his buckskins and began to gently massage his balls.

"Jesus, Lilly," he said as his hips began to move ferociously against hers.

And as Lilly struggled to hold to her senses, she vaguely wondered if she would live through pleasure so great.

She made a low sound, deep in her throat, a sound that resembled torment. It should have been impossible, but she was coming. Nothing had ever happened like this before. She was coming. And there was no way she could stop.

His mouth was on hers, absorbing her low agonized moans. She couldn't hold back a terrible need to cry out and would only later realize his mouth had absorbed her cries, her every gasping breath. Then with his body ramming hard into hers, he joined her in the ecstasy, the precious, perfect agony.

For a long moment, neither spoke. Lilly rested her head against his shoulder as she tried to come back, to bring her breathing under control.

"Jesus, that was somethin'," he groaned into her neck. "I couldn't stop touching you. Christ, I might never stop."

Lilly could only moan in response. She hadn't the power to form thoughts. She hadn't the strength to think beyond the deliciousness of aftershocks as her muscles gripped and throbbed around his huge, still thick cock.

"Where's your room?"

"Behind you."

Jeb grinned, realizing only then they were hardly ten feet from privacy. They'd just made love in her kitchen where anyone in the boarding house could have come upon them, when her room was only a few feet away. "You should have told me to stop. You should have told me your room was just a few feet away."

"Really?" She shot him a grim, no-nonsense look. For a moment, she wasn't sure who annoyed her more, this clod or herself. Could she have been any easier? God, were she one of the women above the saloons, she couldn't have offered less resistance. "Yes, I'm sure telling you to stop would have done the trick."

He grinned at her quick, nasty comeback. This lady wasn't about to let him get away with a thing. "Don't get riled, sweetheart. I was just teasin', is all."

His smile only deepened as he gathered her against him and brought her into his arms, cupping her ass in his hands, her legs around his hips. "For a little thing, you surely are a handful."

Her gaze narrowed, and she eyed him threateningly. "What does that mean?"

He grunted, exaggerating his efforts to hold her. "It means you ain't light as a feather."

"Obnoxious bastard, put me down." She struggled against him. Her efforts made not the slightest difference as he continued to carry her to her room. "Put me down this instant!"

He laughed as he ignored her curses along with her demand. "I'm carrying you into your room, Miss Lilly. Putting you down is not an option."

His cock was still buried deep in her pussy.

"You are an insufferable ass. Do you always get your way?"

"Can't rightly say. Never thought much about it."

"I'm sure you haven't. No doubt you just do as you please. What's to think about?"

"Are you the kind a lady that starts nagging after she gets what she wants from a man?"

"I'll let you know after I get it."

He chuckled. "If you didn't get it, someone was moanin' and groanin' for no reason."

She shot him a nasty look. "You really are obnoxious."