“To take things slow and gentle, Megan. Slow, easy, and gentle. First champagne, then a bath, then the bed.
All right?”
“Aren’t we even going to eat?”
He laughed outright. “Megan, we can have food sent right up to the room, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
“How much money do you have?”
“I won three hundred dollars in a poker game the night before I was supposed to board that eastbound train. All of this is coming out of my winnings. Don’t worry if spending taxpayers’ money is bothering you.”
“It is, a little.”
“I get an expense account and it’s damned spartan. To supplement it, I’ve learned to play a pretty good hand of poker. That’s where the luxuries come from, Megan.
That’s what makes the difference between enjoying life and just getting along. Comprende?”
“Sure,” she said.
He went back down stairs and ordered champagne and a bath for two. “Then about nine o’clock, we’ll have dinner brought up to us on a silver platter,” he told the clerk.
“Of course, Mr. Jefferson,” the clerk said, looking extremely impressed. “Anything else?”
“A little brandy. But you can bring that up with the dinner and leave everything to be collected in the morning. I don’t want us to be disturbed until then.”
“Of course not,” the clerk said, bowing slightly. “And may I add that Mrs. Thomas Jefferson is stunning?”
“Of course you may!”
When Longarm went back up to his room, Megan took him by surprise. She was already undressed and in bed with the satin bedcover pulled up to her neck.
“Well now,” he said, “I guess if ever a man had to get his balls shot off, having a beautiful virgin like you for the night would be a fair price.”
She giggled a little, but it was forced and nervous. “I didn’t know if this was the thing to do or if I should wait for the bath.”
Longarm unbuckled his gunbelt, and then he went over to the porcelain washbasin and stared at himself in the mirror. “I’m going to shave first just for you, Megan,” he told her. “Because once we get started, if I didn’t shave I’d probably scratch your face.”
Megan gulped. “I know what is going to happen. I’ve seen a lot of mares bred. I’m a little scared, to be honest.”
“Nothing to be scared about,” he promised. “Not if we go slow, easy, and gentle.”
Megan sighed and closed her eyes. There was a knock at her door, and it startled her so badly that she sat up straight and the bedcover dropped so that Longarm could admire her lovely breasts in good light.
“Come in,” he called to the door, his voice already starting to get hoarse with desire. “Megan, better lie back down and cover up.”
She flopped back down and lay as still as death. There were two boys and each one had two pails of hot water.
When they saw Megan in bed they blushed, but were well enough trained that they didn’t stare. In fact, they dumped their water and practically bolted for the hallway, the last one out shouting, “We got two more trips to make in order to fill that tub, Mr. Jefferson!”
“Good,” he called.
“Mr. Thomas Jefferson!” Megan exclaimed, shaking her head. “You are such a liar.”
“Sometimes you have to be,” Longarm said, coming over to sit on the bed and kiss her lips.
Megan was already breathing fast. Longarm slipped his hand under the bedcovers and laid it on her warm, muscular thigh. Megan groaned, and Longarm felt himself stiffen. Two more trips he thought, wondering if he could wait so that he did not embarrass those boys anymore.
By the time the tub was filled, Longarm was shaved and the champagne was poured. They each drank, and then they avoided each other’s eyes as they quickly climbed into the hot water.
“Oh, dear heavens, this feels wonderful!” Megan squealed, sinking into the suds and closing her eyes.
Longarm slipped his legs around her legs, and then he reached for his champagne glass. “This is going to be a night that neither one of us is ever going to forget, Miss Megan Riley.”
“I’m sure that’s true for me,” she said, eyes popping open, “but I’m also sure that you’ve done this a thousand times with a thousand different women.”
“Wrong.”
“Really?”
“Maybe a couple of hundred,” he said teasingly, “but probably not a thousand. Although …”
She splashed water in his face. “You’re awful!”
“No, I’m not,” he said, leaning forward and cupping one of her splendid breasts in his hand and then rubbing its nipple until it grew hard. “And you’re going to find that out very, very soon.”
“Let’s wash up quick and get to it,” she breathed. “I’ve waited too long.” Longarm was of the same strong opinion. They washed, and then they did a lousy job of drying themselves before jumping into the bed. Longarm took her warm, wet body into his arms and began to kiss her sweetly. He was really going to take his time with Megan. He was going to be so slow that she’d moan with desire before he gently entered her and then stirred her passions until she howled with pleasure.
“Hun-y,” she breathed, legs opening wide. “Put it in now.”
“Soon,” he promised, fingers slipping down her smooth, wet belly to sink into the mound of her passion.
Megan’s back arched and she moaned as his finger gently stroked her most private places. And later, when her heels were raking the silk sheets and Longarm wanted her so bad that his teeth ached and his balls felt as big as balloons, he mounted his Reno virgin. She gasped, and then grabbed his hard buttock and pulled him deeply inside her. “You feel like a log inside of me. A big, hot log!”
“Does it hurt?” he asked anxiously.
“Not anymore,” she panted, filling his mouth with her tongue even as her legs began to shake and his body began moving over her until they were both lost in a vast, roiling ocean of passion.
Chapter 6
“Are you sure that you want to go along?” Longarm asked. “Marshal Kane can be pretty irascible at times.”
“Are you kidding?” Megan asked. “Why would I ever want to miss the chance to meet the legend? Besides, he knows and respects my father. I expect that Marshal Kane will behave like a gentleman.”
“I hope so,” Longarm said. “But Ivan Kane has always been unpredictable, and that’s one of the reasons that he’s been able to survive in his profession so long. And frankly, it’s also a quality that has caused a lot of people to question his stability.”
“Let’s go,” she said, kissing Longarm on the cheek. “The sooner we meet him and figure out what is the problem, the sooner we can return to our bed and breed some more.”
Longarm winced. “We don’t call it breeding, Megan.”
“But that’s what it is,” Megan said.
“Yes,” Longarm had to agree, “but horses breed. People make love.”
Megan’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “All right, Mr. Know-It-All, what if you just want to breed and you’re not the least bit in love?”
Longarm pretended shock. “I may have ruined you, Megan. At the very least, I expect that you’ll never be quite the same gal again.”
“You’re right,” she said. “And given the way my father acts whenever a man even smiles at me, it’s going to be hard to find anyone to replace you, Custis.”
“Would he really shoot ‘em?” Custis could not forget the solemnity of Wild Bill’s grave warning.
“You bet he would,” Megan replied. “And tell me this. Is my father the reason why you registered us at the U.S. Hotel as Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jefferson?”
“Yep. If your father unexpectedly shows up and can’t find my name on a hotel register, it might give us time to book separate rooms in another hotel.”
“And here I thought you were just being silly.”
“Uh-uh,” Longarm said. “There’d be nothing silly about it if your father showed up all of a sudden and found us in bed together.”