STORY EXCERPT
Esmerelda jolted upright and hurriedly covered her ankle with the hem of her muddy skirt. “It’ll be fine. I just need to rest it a bit.”
Duke wrapped a hand around her calf, trying to ignore its softness. “Let’s see if she can move it.”
“I don’t want to move it.” Esmerelda tried to pull away, but Duke held firm. “Let go.”
Dread at the pain he would be causing her filled him with a sense of helplessness that ignited his temper. “Look, Red. Either you can move it or I will. If you can move it, we know it’s a sprain and can wrap it. If you can’t, it’s broken, and Will is gonna have to set it. We gotta know one way or the other.”
Esmerelda lifted her chin, trying not to cry at the thought of them setting her ankle. “My name is Esmerelda.”
Only the tenderness in his eyes and the memory of the gentle way he’d held her gave her the courage to defy him.
Seeing him in the light, without his jacket and hat, she found herself scared to death of him.
The first thing she’d noticed about him had been his strength. He’d single-handedly caught a galloping horse and brought him to a stop using nothing more than brute strength.
Even while watching it, she hadn’t believed what she saw with her own eyes and had braced herself to be trampled by him or have him fall on her.
He’d done neither—holding on to Lucky’s bridle with a fierce determination that he would win or die trying.
The scar that ran down the side of his face should have detracted from his compelling handsome features but, instead, added a sense of danger and raw masculinity made even starker by his shaved head.
His lips thinned, and he adjusted his hold on her ankle, the little sparks of awareness travelling up her leg unnerving her. “I know what your name is. Now, are you gonna try to move your foot, or am I?”
Panicked to recognize the same determination to get his way, Esmerelda whipped out a hand. “Don’t touch it! I’ll do it.”
He nodded once, appearing relieved. “Then do it.”
The man at her side smiled encouragingly. “Real easy. No sense in making it worse. Duke and I just need to be sure.”
Duke. It suited him.
He smiled again. “By the way, my name’s Will, and that pretty lady holding on to you is Sarah.”
Duke made a noise in his throat that sent a chill down her spine. “We can make introductions later, Will. You ready, Red?”
Will sighed and smiled at Esmerelda, shaking his head. “Duke’s bedside manner stinks, but he’s a great cook, so nobody says anything.”
Duke’s gaze narrowed as he shot the other man an icy look. “We’re supposed to be helping her—not courting her.” He turned his gaze back to hers again, the anger in it confusing. “Go on, Red.”
Sucking in a breath, and aware of the tense silence and rapt attention of everyone gathered, she turned to smile her thanks at Sarah, who reached out to take her hand, before turning back to look at her swollen ankle.
Squeezing the other woman’s hand, she sucked in another breath and shifted her gaze to focus on the way Duke’s large, darker hand contrasted with her pale leg and slowly moved her ankle.
Flexing her foot proved more difficult than she would have thought, probably due to the swelling, but she did it.
Swallowing a moan of pain, she gently lowered it again, lifting her gaze again to meet Duke’s, smiling through the pain at the relief in his eyes. “I did it.”
Several shouts of excitement came from all around her, and she looked over to see a sea of grinning faces.
Duke squeezed her calf and gently lowered her foot again. “So you did.”
Will’s smile was followed by a sigh. “I can wrap that up, but we need to know where else you’re hurt.”
Not about to tell them about the raw flesh on her inner thighs and the cuts and bruises she felt on her bottom, Esmerelda shook her head, her gaze going to Sarah’s. “I’m fine. Please. Just sore.”
Sarah nodded and smiled before lifting her gaze to the tall Indian beside her. “Blade, we need to take her to our house. I can help her take a bath, and she can wear one of my dresses.” She turned to Duke. “I can check out her injuries. Please. This is the most crowded place on the ranch. Men are coming and going all day. You can’t embarrass her that way. Once she has her bath, you can give her some laudanum.”
Esmerelda stared in fascination at the sight of the hard features of the tall Indian softening at the pleading look in Sarah’s. “Please. I promise I won’t lift her or hurt myself.”
Duke straightened. “No. I’ll carry her.” He stared at Blade as if daring him to refuse.
Esmerelda reached out to Duke, pleased when he immediately turned to her. “Thank you.”
She turned to Sarah. “And thank you. Being stripped out of my clothes in a room full of men is more than I can take.”
Duke smiled and glanced at Will. “I guess that’s settled. Stay here while we get your bath ready, and I’ll come get you.”
ADULT EXCERPT
Duke’s eyes flared with heat but remained narrowed on hers. “You’re a greedy little thing, aren’t you?”
Not understanding him, she moaned in frustration when he abruptly withdrew. “I’m sorry. What did I do wrong?”
Duke’s smile made her heart do flips. “There’s nothing to be sorry about, and you didn’t do anything wrong. I like that you like this.”
Bending lower, he touched his lips to hers. “Nothing makes a man feel as good as knowin’ that his woman wants him.”
“Really?”
She hadn’t quite believed Maggie, and found herself relieved that Duke liked that she wanted him.
Straightening, he knelt between her legs again, releasing one to slide his hand lower. “Really.”
Esmerelda jolted when he ran his finger over her clit, crying out at the intense pleasure—a sensation that spread through her, warming her everywhere. “Oh! It feels so good. Please.”
“I like that my touch gives you pleasure.”
“It does. Duke, please help me.”
“I am.” His voice sounded rougher than before, and watching her face, he lightly stroked her clit. “I want your ass. It’s mine, too, and before we’re done here, you’re gonna know who you belong to.”
Adjusting his hold, he held both of her legs together again, pressing them against her chest.
She held her breath when the head of his cock pressed against her puckered opening, a ragged moan escaping when he began to push it into her. “Duke! Oh God!”
Squeezing her eyes closed, she fought the sensation, stunned by the intensity and stark intimacy.
He groaned and pressed deeper, forcing her tight muscles to give way. “Easy, Red. I won’t give it all to you. Just a little this time.”
Her cries and ragged moans sounded desperate to her own ears, the burning, too-intimate feel of his cock pressing into her warring with the pleasure of his fingers on her clit.
She could tell when the head of his cock was inside her by his harsh groan and the feel of her opening closing on him.
Shaking harder, she sucked in a breath when he closed both hands on her knees and spread them, easing them down to her sides. “It burns.”
Her pleasure faded, the too-intense burning and stinging sensation taking over.
Duke groaned and leaned forward, bracing himself with a hand on the bed while he used the fingers of his other hand to stroke her clit. “Look at me, Red.”
Forcing her eyes open, she fought not to clench on him, but her body seemed to have a mind of its own.
“You feel so damned good. You’re so tight, and your ass is gripping me good. I ain’t gonna last long. Don’t fight it, darlin’. I’m not movin’. Just feel.”
She couldn’t look away from the hunger in his eyes. “I don’t. I can’t.”
Writhing beneath him, she strove for the pleasure she knew he could give her. “Please.”
The burning sensation in her bottom eased, and to her amazement, the fullness and decadence of having Duke’s cock inside her most private opening added to the need raging through her instead of detracting from it.
“I’m gonna move real slow.” Duke’s gravelly tone both excited and scared her, the depth of the hunger in it breathtaking.
“Duke?” She couldn’t hide the trepidation in her voice, the fear of his hunger taking over and making him lose control overwhelming.
Duke’s smile appeared strained. “Darlin’, I’ve got you. Just let go. Take the pleasure.”
He slid his cock a little deeper and withdrew until only the head remained inside her while he continued to caress her clit.
He did it over and over, each slow stroke taking him a little deeper, his cock stretching her bottom to accommodate him.
She found herself rocking again without meaning to, the feel of his cock moving inside her bottom and filling her more with each thrust making her clit burn even hotter.
The pleasure built, the unfamiliar sensation of having her bottom filled creating a different kind of pleasure that was no less overwhelming.
Staring into Duke’s eyes, she saw his own pleasure, which made hers even more intense.
His strokes to her clit made it burn and then begin to tingle, and between one breath and the next, the tingling heat washed over her in a rush, tightening her body unbearably as the sublime pleasure washed over her.
Crying out his name, she writhed beneath him, clenching her hands over and over on the bedding. “Duke! Oh!”
Duke slowed his strokes to her clit, keeping the rush of heat rolling over her in waves as he continued to thrust into her.
He stopped moving suddenly, gripping her waist tighter and throwing his head back with a deep groan that seemed to come from deep inside his chest.
Fascinated at the sight, she sucked in a breath at the feel of his cock moving inside her, something that felt like little ripples.
Duke’s eyes opened immediately. “What’s wrong?”
The lingering pleasure wiped away most of her embarrassment. “What was that?”
Frowning, Duke slowly withdrew, once again startling a gasp from her at the strange sensation. “What was what?”
Her embarrassment returned in full force under his sharp gaze. “Inside me. Before you…uh…took it out.”
Duke leaned over her, taking her lips with his again. “What did it feel like?”
With his face so close to hers, she felt her own becoming hot. “I don’t know. Like ripples maybe. Right after you groaned.”
“I came inside you. That was my cock shooting my seed up your ass—the same way I came in your pussy.”