ten of her husbands combined. Arching her back, she held his level dark gaze and felt the smoldering heat linger, then caress her body like licking flame. "How do you do it? How can you make me feel this way?" she asked, breathy, taut, flushing with pleasure.
"Charm of personality," said Hazard with a lazy smile, "together with lucid recall of the last four weeks without a woman," he teased. "Come, Lucy, you're too far away…"
Any woman in town would tumble for him and he knew it. How many had already this trip, she didn't dare wonder. Taking a step closer, she shivered at her urgency. "I never know, Jon," she said with a trembling, ingenuous smile, "whether I want you to rape me or treat me like a virgin bride."
The seductive black eyes, slowly moving in speculative appraisal, stared at her. "Why not both?" Sliding deeper into the steaming water, he paused, almost completely submerged, his midnight hair drifting on the surface of the water and his heavy-lashed eyes slanting upward. "Decide," he said invitingly, "which you want first."
Short moments later, two dark friendly hands reached up, held and steadied the impatient slim, nude body, as the chief justice's wife, dipping first one dainty foot, then the other, joined Hazard in the warm silky water. And he was very careful. That's why women adored him, because he was slow and gentle and… careful. Much later, when every part of Lucy's body was taut with longing, when every inch of her smooth flesh had been bathed in warm sensation, she opened her heated interior to the slippery water and to something else as well. Peaking exquisitely, she whimpered for release.
"Patience, sweet," Hazard murmured. "I haven't started yet." And the soft intensity of the statement silenced her. The floor became alarmingly wet after that, as small charged waves crested over the tub's rim, but the lady's hair, as promised, remained untouched.
An hour later, they helped each other dress and be-fore leaving, kissing him fiercely, Lucy unexpectedly pleaded, "Please, Jon, if you're really going back up mountain tomorrow… once more?"
He hesitated.
"Don't you want me?"
"I'm only thinking of preserving your clothes from" —his mouth smiled—"the rude savage."
Lucy's lashes came up to reveal heated desire. "Meaning you?" said the young matron in a hushed voice.
"Meaning me," Hazard echoed softly.
It was what she most adored in him, his wildness and unorthodoxy. Her eyes, holding his, were passionate, full of need. "Damn the dress," she whispered.
His smile, warm and rakish, was celebrated. "Your servant, ma'am."
So Hazard had the Chief Justice's wife despite petticoats, mousseline de soie, lace-trimmed drawers; and, he noticed later, her silk-slippered feet left only slight marks on his black evening jacket.
When Lucy left to join her husband at the ball, Hazard adjusted his clothes in a haze of contentment, and poured himself another brandy. He'd give Lucy time to make her excuses before he arrived. A half-hour later, he gently closed the door on the strewn, damp-carpeted room, stepped out onto Main Street, and set out for the Chief Justice's Territorial Ball.
AN OPEN carriage arrived for the Braddocks and they were driven the short distance to the large stone building serving as temporary quarters for the legislature. It was the only structure in Virginia City with a space suitable for a ballroom.
Their driver proudly pointed out the more resplendent dwellings and businesses. "That there is McBundy's Emporium; brought the stone three hundred mile on ox cars. Purty, ain't it? Past those willows is Forsyth's. See the one with the tower? And over yonder, on that rise, is Chessman's place. Took him a full two years to build."
While Millicent sniffed disdainfully at the Gothic three-story jumble of gingerbread, Blaze politely said, "It's lovely, like a white palace."
"Ain't that jus' so. A palace, sure
"Charm of personality," said Hazard with a lazy smile, "together with lucid recall of the last four weeks without a woman," he teased. "Come, Lucy, you're too far away…"
Any woman in town would tumble for him and he knew it. How many had already this trip, she didn't dare wonder. Taking a step closer, she shivered at her urgency. "I never know, Jon," she said with a trembling, ingenuous smile, "whether I want you to rape me or treat me like a virgin bride."
The seductive black eyes, slowly moving in speculative appraisal, stared at her. "Why not both?" Sliding deeper into the steaming water, he paused, almost completely submerged, his midnight hair drifting on the surface of the water and his heavy-lashed eyes slanting upward. "Decide," he said invitingly, "which you want first."
Short moments later, two dark friendly hands reached up, held and steadied the impatient slim, nude body, as the chief justice's wife, dipping first one dainty foot, then the other, joined Hazard in the warm silky water. And he was very careful. That's why women adored him, because he was slow and gentle and… careful. Much later, when every part of Lucy's body was taut with longing, when every inch of her smooth flesh had been bathed in warm sensation, she opened her heated interior to the slippery water and to something else as well. Peaking exquisitely, she whimpered for release.
"Patience, sweet," Hazard murmured. "I haven't started yet." And the soft intensity of the statement silenced her. The floor became alarmingly wet after that, as small charged waves crested over the tub's rim, but the lady's hair, as promised, remained untouched.
An hour later, they helped each other dress and be-fore leaving, kissing him fiercely, Lucy unexpectedly pleaded, "Please, Jon, if you're really going back up mountain tomorrow… once more?"
He hesitated.
"Don't you want me?"
"I'm only thinking of preserving your clothes from" —his mouth smiled—"the rude savage."
Lucy's lashes came up to reveal heated desire. "Meaning you?" said the young matron in a hushed voice.
"Meaning me," Hazard echoed softly.
It was what she most adored in him, his wildness and unorthodoxy. Her eyes, holding his, were passionate, full of need. "Damn the dress," she whispered.
His smile, warm and rakish, was celebrated. "Your servant, ma'am."
So Hazard had the Chief Justice's wife despite petticoats, mousseline de soie, lace-trimmed drawers; and, he noticed later, her silk-slippered feet left only slight marks on his black evening jacket.
When Lucy left to join her husband at the ball, Hazard adjusted his clothes in a haze of contentment, and poured himself another brandy. He'd give Lucy time to make her excuses before he arrived. A half-hour later, he gently closed the door on the strewn, damp-carpeted room, stepped out onto Main Street, and set out for the Chief Justice's Territorial Ball.
AN OPEN carriage arrived for the Braddocks and they were driven the short distance to the large stone building serving as temporary quarters for the legislature. It was the only structure in Virginia City with a space suitable for a ballroom.
Their driver proudly pointed out the more resplendent dwellings and businesses. "That there is McBundy's Emporium; brought the stone three hundred mile on ox cars. Purty, ain't it? Past those willows is Forsyth's. See the one with the tower? And over yonder, on that rise, is Chessman's place. Took him a full two years to build."
While Millicent sniffed disdainfully at the Gothic three-story jumble of gingerbread, Blaze politely said, "It's lovely, like a white palace."
"Ain't that jus' so. A palace, sure
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