How Miss West Was Won Read Online Free Page B

purposes, my wife.”
    She was silent for a few moments. Finally, she said, “That contract did not include my maidenhead.”
    “No, it did not.” So she was a virgin. Eli found that idea to his liking. Obviously, she and her late boyfriend had been lovers of a sort. He wondered what they had engaged in, and how he could get her to tell him. He wondered, also, if she had ever had an orgasm, of if he would be the first to coax one out of her luscious body. “I don’t plan on making love to you tonight, Cordelia. Mrs. Dunlap expects to see blood, and we will provide it for her, just not in the joining of our bodies.”
    More silence, and then she sighed heavily. “What do you mean?”
    Eli chuckled. “I do believe there is a way of fooling a husband who has a non-virginal wife.”
    “And that is?”
    “By pouring the blood of an animal on the sheets, of course.” Eli shrugged. “I can get a cup of it from the butcher pens. It will dry on the sheets, and it will fool Mrs. Dunlap into believing you and I were intimate.”
    The relief on her face made him smile. “Very well,” she said, smoothing her hands down her skirts. “But I still find it inexcusable that you asked me about my… virginity.”
    “A husband has a right.”
    “You are not my husband,” she said, her voice a low hiss.
    “I am to everyone but you and me, and… Stuart.” He took a step closer. “If you treat me as if we know nothing about each other, people will notice.”
    Her anger was back, and he wondered if she had thought this proposal out before she’d accepted it. Was she running from something? Was there some issue in her past that she wanted to hide? Did she come here with the idea of trapping him into marriage? True, he’d gone looking for her, and had found her through a friend. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t be pulling the wool over his eyes. Women could be devious; he knew that from past experiences. An idea occurred to Eli, one that made him stop in his tracks. “Are you with child?”
    “Certainly not!” she screamed. “I told you I am a virgin.”
    A chuckle from the doorway made them both turn their attention that way. Three of Eli’s cowboys stood there, saddles in hand. Eli had forgotten it was that late in the day. These men would be putting up their gear and heading either to their own wives, or to the bunkhouse.
    “Sorry Eli,” one of the men said. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you like that.”
    “Get your gear up, and get out,” Eli said. The men hurried to do his bidding, but Eli knew the damage was done. It would be all over the ranch the next morning that Eli and his wife had been arguing about sex.
    When they were gone, she turned to leave. Eli caught her by the arm and turned her toward him. “Oh no, you don’t,” he said. “What just happened was bad, but we can counter it.”
    “How do we do that? I am mortified. Those men are going to tell everyone I am afraid of my husband, afraid of him taking me as a wife should be taken. These matters were supposed to be kept between the two of us. This isn’t going according to plan.” She did look like she was going to burst into tears.
    Eli did the only thing he could think of that would make it look like they had just participated in a fight, and were making up. He took her in his arms, and he kissed her.
    Cordelia felt as if every ouch of oxygen was forced from her lungs. The ability to breathe was gone, replaced by the lips that bore down on hers. His touch was heavy, dark and demanding. There was nothing gentle about this kiss.
    She put her hands against his shoulders and pushed as hard as she could, but it was no use. He had his arms around her waist, holding her to him tightly. The first kiss broke, and he immediately came back for another. This time she could feel his tongue pressing against her lips, demanding entrance into her mouth.
    She mumbled, “No,” realizing too late that she’d tried to say it out loud. His tongue found its