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Chapter For I'LL COME TO YOU BY MOONLIGHT by Pepper Espinoza
Winter, 1770
Bess watched the slanted moonlight slide across the floor
as she waited for the familiar sound of an approaching rider. The inn
was silent, empty, like a tomb. Her father was asleep in the back. A heavy
sleeper, she didn’t have to worry about him stirring. Now if he
would only come. Her nightly vigils often ended in disappointment and
she struggled to accept the inevitable absences, the unheeded danger,
and the uncertainty of his life even as she longed to embrace him.
Bess fingered the soft material of her shift, letting
the hem brush against the floor. In anticipation for his arrival, she
wore nothing beneath. Since the night of his first visit, when he stood
beneath her window, pledging himself to her, she always dressed for him.
Despite the landlord’s efforts to keep Bess hidden from sight, the
highwayman spotted her, sought her, called to her and wooed her from his
horse, beneath her window as the moon drifted overhead.
The torrent of wind abated and she heard it; first the
clatter of his horse over the cobblestones, followed by the light touch
of his whip against the shutters. A familiar signal, so delicate, one
could mistake it for the wind or a bird. He whistled a tune that carried
through the crisp air. Her heart leapt to her throat. She didn’t
hesitate to open the window to him. Her breath caught as she studied him
in the moonlight. He sat high on the horse, proud in his smart clothes.
His guns and knife twinkled, a jeweled reminder of how dangerous her man
was.
“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after
a prize tonight…” he said, his voice as dark as the clouds
above them.
Bess put her hand out and wrapped her delicate fingers
around his. He wore soft leather gloves to protect his fine hands, but
they were strong, steady and sure. She knew from experience how gentle
and clever they could be. “Don’t go. Not yet.”
“I shall be back with the yellow gold before the
morning light.” She understood the implied promise in his words.
He would be back to carry her away, as prized as the gold he stole. But
a part of her never truly believed he would return—a part of her
always feared that each moment they spent together would be their last.
She couldn’t be content to let him go.
Bess leaned as far out the window as she dared, her breasts
straining against the thin material of her dress. She unbraided her hair,
allowing the dark tresses to cascade down. He wouldn’t be able to
resist her, she knew. He lifted her hair to his mouth and inhaled deeply.
“Tarry with me awhile,” she whispered. “Everybody is
asleep and the road is quiet.”
He threaded his fingers through her hair and seemed to
be weighing his options. The clouds parted, revealing his face in the
light. Sharp, handsome and thoughtful. A face that could charm, a face
that could mask cruelty and evil intent with a suave smile. He looked
at her with half-closed, smoky eyes. “Come down to me, my love.”
Bess closed the shutters of her high window and slipped
out of the room, moving like a shadow down the stairs to the backdoor.
She had taken this route a thousand times before. She quietly navigated
past her father’s room and descended the stairs. He met her there,
lifting her onto his horse without a word. Ebony pranced as she settled
her weight in front of the saddle, but didn’t make a sound. He tossed
his head toward the sky and Bess caught the horse’s silky mane,
holding it tightly.
He held her against his body, his arm resting just below
her breast, his free hand tangled in her hair again. He guided his stallion
along a thin trail, deep into the purple moor. She closed her eyes, taking
a deep breath, reveling in the night. Above the intoxicating smell of
heather and the night, she caught the familiar and haunting smell of him,
his journeys and his adventures. She relaxed against his solid chest,
the warmth of his skin radiating through their clothes, heating her flesh.
He kicked the stallion into a gallop and her hair flared
out behind her, trailing wildly in the wind. She clutched the arm around
her waist, but she wasn’t afraid. He wouldn’t let her fall
and the horse’s feet were sure on the moor. The horse knew every
rock and hole, every twist and turn in the trail. Her body vibrated with
every beat of Ebony’s hooves against the ground, her blood pounded
in her ears and her skin felt impossibly warm in the cool night. Even
the fresh gust of wind couldn’t cool her face. Every second made
her achingly aware of the man behind her, of his body, his warmth, the
beat of his heart.
When the inn was only a dot on the murky horizon, he dismounted.
Holding his hand out, he helped her to the ground. As soon as her feet
touched the soft heather, his mouth found hers. She tilted her head up
to meet the kiss. The clouds parted above them as she closed her eyes
with relief and elation. The first touch of his lips was always charged,
like the air before a violent thunderstorm. He always made her a little
tipsy. She almost couldn’t stand the intensity of her need and his
hunger as the two forces of nature clashed with a single kiss. Heat flared
in her breast as she wrapped her arms around him, clinging to his body
as he ripped at her dress.
She knew it was perilous to even talk to him. If anybody
could track him down to her father’s inn, it could lead to his death.
She knew she shouldn’t open her window to him, or go to him every
time he called her name in the night. She knew she shouldn’t be
with him, shouldn’t surrender herself to his fingers, his lips,
his flesh. But she couldn’t resist him. He slid the shift past her
shoulders, down her arms and goosebumps erupted on her exposed skin. Her
mouth ran dry, her throat clenched, her stomach tightened and every inch
of her was awake, electrified.
He dipped his head and wrapped his lips around one of
her nipples. She arched her back, burying her fingers in his fine, brown
hair, his hat forgotten on the ground at his feet. Bess closed her eyes,
imagining what it would be like to have him whenever she wanted him, to
be able to reach for him and always find him waiting for her. To feel
his hot mouth on her quivering body anytime, night or day, to never have
to worry about somebody seeing them, somebody giving them away or betraying
their secret.
He released her, straightening long enough to pull his
jacket off and spread it on the ground. Her shift pooled at her feet.
She stepped out of it, into his waiting arms. His hands were all over
her, caressing her neck, back, thighs and stomach. She worked the buttons
on his pants free, her fingers numb and almost uncooperative. Her head
was cloudy, her body felt far away.
He lowered her to the jacket, still warm from his body.
He knelt beside her and kissed her again, lifting her back off the ground
and cradling her against him. She could feel a certain urgency in his
kiss and she knew their time together would be short. He still had visions
of gold in his head. She couldn’t stand between him and the call
of that challenge, the thrill of the danger, the ultimate ecstasy of victory.
She knew it, but still, she clung to him, kissed him with desperation
like she wouldn’t let him go.
When he broke the kiss, he gently laid her onto the ground
and straddled her. She watched him watch her in the moonlight, his eyes
like shadows, casting her body into darkness. He knew every inch of her,
he knew her by sight and by touch, but he still gazed her like he had
never seen her before. Bess did not fidget beneath his stare. She didn’t
look away from him or turn her head in embarrassment. The rapt look on
his face was enough to make her wet, enough to make her ache.
Finally, he touched her. He ran his fingertip lightly
from her neck to her thigh, skimming the skin, a delicate whisper of a
touch. Her blood thrummed, pulsed, made her skin and flesh sensitive,
made her slick and hot. He pushed her legs open, exposing her completely,
moving his finger down her body. His knuckle brushed against the sensitive
flesh between her legs and her nub quivered, waiting for his touch.
Bess didn’t have to wait long. He brushed his finger
against her engorged, sensitive flesh and she gasped in shocked pleasure.
She thought the softest whisper of contact would consume her. Just feeling
his skin against hers, against the most secret, sensitive part of her
was enough to make her body tense. She could feel the moment quickly approaching
as her fingers and toes dug into the damp, fragrant earth around her.
Before the pleasure could shake her entire body, he pulled
his hand away. Bess watched with hungry eyes as he positioned himself
above her, biting her lip to keep herself from begging him. She was on
the edge, tense, almost in pain and even a little afraid. But then he
slid into her, filled her, stretched her, and they both sighed with the
ultimate contact. She arched her back, surrendering herself to him as
he moved faster and faster.
The sounds of his heavy breathing and her fast, pleased
whimpers rose above them, carrying across the moor on the wind. She was
oblivious to the sounds, to the danger, to the wind, to the world. All
she could feel was his hot flesh, his divinity, the blood that moved faster,
hotter. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, moving her hips against
his, encouraging him to move faster, to give her more, to give her all
he had.
She thought she heard him say he loved her, but that could
have been the entangled sounds of wind and breath and blood. But she told
him. Her hair spread around her like a blanket, the bright red ribbon
resting on her milky skin, the moonlight fading in and out behind mountains
of clouds, she whispered the words and her body proved her declarations
as she rocked with him in the swaying grass.
He kissed her, his mouth moving from her lips, down the
gentle line of her jaw, to the sensitive areas of her neck. He nibbled
on her skin, sucking it between his lips and teeth, responding to her
moans of approval. The pleasure went directly to her head and made everything
seem smoky and distant, fuzzy and out of reach, except him. She slid her
fingernails down his back and he shuddered in response. She dug into his
shoulders, pressing red crescents into his skin and moved her body faster
and harder.
A chord of satisfaction began where his mouth touched
her skin. It wound around her body, wrapping around both of them, binding
them together. Not even an inch separated their bodies. The chord tightened,
cut off her air, blinded her, made her light-headed and finally, unable
to tolerate the tension for another second, she burst. The world exploded
in color and the air rattled in her chest as she fought to breathe. He
held her, keeping her grounded. He kissed her, giving her his air. She
felt the echoes of her pleasure in his body as he thrust into her one
final time.
Bess felt lethargic, her limbs were heavy, her vision
blurry. But he was all business, already on his feet and looking at the
road that stretched beyond them. She pushed herself to her feet, then
pulled her shift on with shaking fingers. She suddenly felt very cold
and she just wanted to wrap herself around him, but he was already pulling
himself onto Ebony’s back. He helped her up without a word.
Each second weighed heavily on her. Her body felt sated,
but her mind and heart were already steeped in disappointment. The inn
loomed large, her prison on a road she never traveled. She thought she
would die there, waiting for him to return.
He pulled Ebony up just a few feet from the back door
and surprised her by dismounting and offering his hand. She took it, sliding
off the horse to the ground.
“Wait for me.”
She nodded. “I will.”
“I’ll be back by the morning, but if they
press me sharply and harry me through the day, look for me by moonlight.”
Bess nodded again, swallowing hard as she felt the night
press in on them from all sides. He gripped her shoulders and kissed her
thoroughly, his lips promising her more than his words ever could. She
took his promise, holding it close to her chest, matching the fierceness
of his kiss.
“I’ll come to you by moonlight,” he
whispered against her lips, “though Hell should bar the way.”
Then he was gone. She watched him ride until he was only
a blurred shadow on the horizon before she returned to her bedroom. She
thought she heard something near the barn, but when she turned to look,
nothing but the wind greeted her. Frowning, she scanned the area for several
moments, but didn’t see anything. Finally, she slipped through the
back door and glided up the stairs to her bedroom. She changed her shift
before sitting by the window to watch the moon.
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I'LL COME TO YOU BY MOONLIGHT by Pepper Espinoza
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