Love’s Sweet Revenge(122)

She cried out his name in an almost painful climax and grasped his hair as he worked his lips back over her belly to her breasts and finally her mouth.

“Do you know how much I love you?” he asked between kisses.

“It had better be a lot for me to let you do such disrespectful things to me.”

Jake grinned. “I love your wicked side.” He searched her mouth, trailed his lips to her throat, then began kissing her everywhere again—her eyes, her ears, her neck, between her breasts, her nipples, her belly, back down to press his tongue against her swollen, aching privates to refresh her climax, teasing her in a way that made her mad with the want of him.

“You didn’t get enough of this last night?” she teased in a groaning whisper as he kissed his way back to her throat.

“That was desperate, terrified lovemaking, and I wasn’t gentle with you,” he answered. “I’m sorry, mi esposa.”

“Right now I don’t want you to be gentle.” She leaned up and kissed his chest. “And if you don’t get inside of me right this minute, I’m going to die of frustration. You are deliberately making me crazy.”

Jake kissed her again as he entered her, grasping her bottom and shoving deep. He groaned from the most intense love and satisfaction he’d felt in a long time.

“Jake, you’re really here!” Randy couldn’t help the tears as she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried out with the agony and the ecstasy of having him inside of her, filling her deep and hard. Always there was the terror inside her that she might lose him. He grasped her hair and moved in a gentle rhythm until finally he groaned with his own climax, wondering how a man could make love to the same woman for so many years and still find it so satisfying.

He knew the answer, and it wasn’t just because she was so beautiful on the outside. It was because she was so beautiful on the inside…because she’d loved the unlovable…because she’d forgiven the unforgivable…because she’d waded through hell with him and never once complained…because she’d taught him about this glorious thing called love.

He held her close. “I’ve decided not to wait another day,” he told her. “Let’s head home tomorrow. Lloyd is well enough to at least ride in the buggy or in the covered wagon, and Brian can take care of changing his bandages and keeping an eye on that wound. Besides, the best medicine for him is what’s probably going on in that room next door right now. Going back to the J&L will heal him even faster.”

“Oh, yes, let’s go home: to our beautiful little granddaughters who must wonder if we’re ever coming back, to the valleys and the mountains and the horses and the cattle and that big log home and our own bed.” Randy ran her hands over his firm biceps and into his hair, drawing him down to meet her mouth in another delicious kiss. She smiled when the kiss ended. “I guess I would pay for these kisses if I had to.”

“Oh, you’ll pay, all right.” Jake moved inside her again. “Get set for a wild ride, baby,” he told her, “and I don’t mean tomorrow on a horse.”





Thirty


Ben and Stephen rode in circles, chasing each other off and on as the whole family headed home after disembarking a train at Boulder. The horses that originally brought them to Denver, along with the wagons and buggy, had also been loaded onto the train so the family could bring everything back home. Now they were on Harkner land, wagons, buggy, horses, and all, heading for home and family and peace. Jake, Lloyd, Cole, and Pepper had their own mounts, and Lloyd bought two more horses in Boulder so the boys could ride. All three women and Lloyd rode in the buggy with Brian driving, and Cole drove the covered wagon.

Today was warm and sunny. Lloyd asked the women to put down the folding top of the carriage for a better view. They were getting close to home base, and he wanted to drink in the sight.

Little Jake rode with his grandfather, and he seldom left Jake’s side when off the horse. When they passed Fire Valley, the boy insisted on getting down to collect a few rocks. Jake had to dismount and yank him back from peering a bit too far over one area that had a steep, rocky drop-off.

“Little Jake, do I have to tie you to a tree to keep you from doing these crazy things?” He plunked the boy back onto his horse.

“That’s my valley, Grampa—all that great big hole with all that yellow grass.”

Jake remounted. “Who told you that?”

“Mommy told me. She said someday her and Daddy would rename it Little Jake’s Valley.” He yelled to Evie. “Didn’t you, Mommy? You and Daddy said this was my valley.”