Western Romance Collection: Rugged Cowboys Part 50

"Father-you can't let them take Jamie. I've heard the most awful stories about orphanages, and I simply cannot-"

He turned his eyes on her.

"I've already given you a fresh start, Miss Bainbridge. After all the controversy that you and your..." his eyes flicked over to Chris. "... friend, have caused, I would think that you might be in less of a hurry to make requests."

"And I would, Father, but I cannot let this go. I told you I was raised Christian, and I wasn't raised to leave a boy to the pit because it might not be convenient."

Her jaw tightened up as he considered it. She didn't have anything else to fall back on. But if she had read him right, then maybe-just maybe...

He nodded. "I see what you mean."

"Then, does that mean-"

He nodded again. "If you'll permit him to join us at church, and perhaps see fit to attend service yourself, then-"

She tried to thank him, but her teeth chattered and she knew that if she opened her mouth, not much but a sob would escape it. So she nodded, blinking back tears.

"Then go get him," the preacher said softly. "And go home. This crowd is blocking the road."

Epilogue.

Chris leaned his head back against the wall. They'd been in the new house for a long time, now, more than a year. But there were still days that it seemed like he'd just moved in. Days when he wanted to turn to Marie, and tell her, 'you know, we're in our own place.'

Jamie sat cross-legged between his knees, watching Marie. Chris forced himself back under control, his body still not quite used to the work he'd been doing lately. Getting back into carpentry had been one thing. But working for hours out there, and then coming back to work on his own house, took a heavy toll.

That pain was something he could deal with later, though. Today wasn't a day for him. He could complain tomorrow, when they were coming home from church. It still felt strange and foreign to be going, even after all this time. He hadn't been in a church, aside from pa.s.sing through, since he was Jamie's age.

"How's she doing?"

Marie looked up and smiled. She didn't look half as tired as she must have felt. Claire was just starting to think about sleeping through the night, but that didn't make up for months of Marie being the one to spend all night lulling her back to rest. Nothing ever would, but his wife never complained.

"She's good. Do you want to hold her?"

Chris smiled, pus.h.i.+ng himself up and ignoring his body's protests. "You know I do, Mrs. Broadmoor."

He took the baby in one big arm. She was so big, now, and yet even though Claire had more than doubled in size since she was born, she was so small, too.

"Hey, little girly. Happy birthday. Are you being nice to your Momma?"

"She's being a little sweetheart-like she always is around Daddy."

Jamie smiled at her and Claire cooed and gurgled. Chris couldn't help the smile spreading across his face.

"What a good girl."

The little girl squirmed in his arms, desperate to be put down. Chris let her down slow, and the minute her kicking legs found the floor, she wobbled to find her balance. He'd never known how much it would mean to see someone walking across the room. Not before Claire.

But now, watching her, he couldn't help but smile.

"Are you alright, hon?"

Marie looked over at him. "Don't tell me you're worried," she said. "About little old me?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as Claire tried valiantly, ultimately fruitlessly, to climb into the seat of a chair that was nearly as high as she was tall.

"I'm always worried, when it comes to you."

"That's why you're the husband," she teased. "Always fussing. You ought to try having a child some time."

He raised an eyebrow at her and gave a smile that said all he needed to say. "Another one, you mean?"

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Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s spilled out of the top, her bra pushed roughly up to reveal them. Wesley's hungry mouth took a plump nipple between the teeth and bit down, eliciting a moan. This was a mistake, Minami thought. The best mistake she'd ever made.

His hands started to explore lower, his fingers dancing on her belly, lower, his palm pressing into her mound. He hiked up the dress with those dancing fingers until his fingers danced on her panties, touching and rubbing and caressing the right part of her until it drove her crazy.

He took her hand and guided it right where he wanted it, right on his hard c.o.c.k. It seemed almost too big for her, feeling too big even to wrap her hand all the way around it. He removed his hand from her and helped her to unzip the fly on his jeans.

His c.o.c.k was hard, and far too big for her. How on earth could anything that size fit inside of her?

"Suck it," she heard Wesley growl. She looked up at him, and then slowly moved to her knees. She took a moment to look at it, and then experimentally kissed the tip.

He took a fistful of her hair, the feeling of his fist pulling at the roots a heady shot of pain that went right to her p.u.s.s.y in spite of herself. He used that grip to show her exactly what he wanted her to do, like she was just a puppet, a f.u.c.k-toy. As if her ability to move herself was a mistake.

Minami should have hated it, but she didn't. It was as if she was feeling normal for the first time. As if finally someone had understood her. She didn't want to be responsible for her family's future. She didn't want to have to have some guy ignore her, or worse, worry about her every whim. What she wanted, what she needed, and what Wesley understood about her, was that all she wanted was to be useful.

His c.o.c.k probing her throat? That was useful. That was what she could do. She took him as deep as she could, enjoying the soft groan and the whispered 'oh f.u.c.k' from above her.

She gulped in air when he pulled her off his c.o.c.k, and then as soon as she had her lungs full again he was pus.h.i.+ng her back on, stretching her mouth to the breaking point, and shoving that incredible c.o.c.k down her throat, thrusting in and out of her mouth.

"Oh, Jesus, your mouth is good."

Minami didn't want to admit how much she enjoyed the compliment. She was a good girl, she wasn't some kind of s.l.u.t who just wanted to be-but she was, a voice inside her said. The voice that was causing the tingling all over her body. Minami's hand started circling around her c.l.i.t, the shocks of pleasure starting to build along with the pleasure of Wesley's c.o.c.k shoved down her throat.

He came without warning, his c.o.c.k pressed right into the back of her mouth, deep enough to bypa.s.s her swallowing completely. She did her best to swallow it anyway and came up coughing, every inch of her skin swollen and sensitive and aroused.

"G.o.d f.u.c.king d.a.m.n it, girl," he growled.

"Did I do okay?"

"f.u.c.king Christ," he said, and turned around, his c.o.c.k still half-hard and hanging out of his pants. He opened the door to the fridge and pulled out a beer, opening it with a twist. "You always that good?"

Minami didn't like how much she wanted to do it again.

One.

Minami Minami s.h.i.+mizu pulled her coat around her tighter and waited a minute longer before going back inside. Her father wouldn't stand for it if she were more than a few seconds, not now that Higa had arrived. Whether they took it badly or not, Father would see it as an insult to the guests, and one that could end very badly for both families.

She turned back inside. They were still stuck in the same mentality they'd had back in j.a.pan. There might have been some hope that an American wife would calm her father down, but it seems that her mother had only rubbed off on Minami, not changed Father one bit.

She pulled the coat off and took off her shoes as she entered. Takuya was sitting on one side, with his parents on either side, and her parents were similarly flanking an empty s.p.a.ce on the opposite sofa. She put herself in the s.p.a.ce she knew was there specifically for her.

She wondered if, perhaps, they could have done without all this ceremony, but when you were dealing with families with this much pride at stake, apparently you didn't. Minami wasn't even interested in the man, who looked small and sickly even by Higa standards, and both of his parents were willowy and growing willowier in their age.

She didn't say anything, and no doubt she would have been punished if she had. They started the ceremonies off with what amounted to little speeches about how they were going to merge their two families and it would be to everyone's benefit-Minami wasn't past marriageable age yet, so the entire idea that an arranged marriage would be to her benefit rang untrue.

But she wasn't in a position to refuse her father, so she'd at least go out on a date or two. When the time came to make apologies for her, he would do it if she made the effort, the same as he had the previous times.

By the time they were finished talking the sun had already set and Higa was visibly agitated. As annoyed as she felt, it seemed. Finally they were allowed to leave. He opened her door for her, then took the seat beside hers. A driver in the front, another holdover from their previous life in j.a.pan, looked into the mirror for direction.

Takuya gave the directions to a place downtown that she hadn't been before. It might have been rude, she thought. Part of her knew that Father would want her to be on the lookout for things like disrespect to the s.h.i.+mizu family. If the marriage went through, and the families merged, everyone knew that it would essentially be a favor to the Higa family.

Their business would quintuple in size, while the s.h.i.+mizus would gain a little bit of new territory. It was clear who was the real winner here, especially with the only son of the Higa marrying the only daughter of the s.h.i.+mizu family. They drove a little way, and then Higa started giving turn-by-turn directions, finally leading them into an underground Parking structure underneath a tall building.

She hadn't lived in America long, but it didn't seem like the usual place for a date. Higa stepped out of the car, opened the door for Minami again.

"Where are we?"

"My family's doing a little bit of business with the Americans while we're in town."

"So you're taking me out to do business?"

"No," Takuya said, his face splitting into a boyish grin that made him look like he might topple over with the weight of it. "We're here to watch."

"Watch what?"

"You'll see."

Minami saw the crowd pressed together first. Then, she saw the stand where they were selling long-neck beer bottles. They almost certainly didn't have a liquor license, but it didn't seem to stop them.

Takuya led her through the crowd, and all the way up to the front. She could see a roped-off section, currently empty. The concrete floor was bare and unchanged from the usual, except that the parking blocks had been removed seemingly especially for this occasion, leaving a large, flat empty s.p.a.ce perhaps ten feet to a side.

The first few rows of people actually had folding chairs set up. Higa took her to where one chair was left conspicuously empty. A big American smiled when they approached.