“Some burden,” he said huskily. “You take my breath away. I can’t even believe that you’re married to me.”
She smiled. “Really? You don’t act like you want me around lately.”
“I want you around all the time, that’s the problem,” he said through his teeth. “You’re new to marriage, and intimacy. I thought it would be better to give you a little breathing space.”
“Silly man,” she said, with her heart in her eyes. “I don’t need any breathing space.”
He drew in a breath. “You don’t? Really?”
“Really.” She hugged him close. “After supper, I could convince you of that. I mean, if you wanted me to.” She looked up at him intently. “You can tell me if there are times when you’d rather not be with me. I can handle it.”
“That’s the problem.”
“What is?”
He cleared his throat. “I want to be with you all the time. Too much.”
“Awwww,” she whispered, kissing his warm throat. “I want to be with you all the time, too, Butch.”
His breath caught. His arm contracted hungrily around her. He felt his body start swelling at once.
“That’s really nice,” she whispered, and moved closer.
“Esther . . .” he choked.
She reached up and whispered in his ear, shameful things, intimate things that would make her squirm in the aftermath, but all she wanted right now was Butch.
He caught her hand and drew her down the hall, into the bedroom, and locked the door. She went into his arms at once and started kissing him.
* * *
A couple of hours later, lying in a tangled, damp mass, Esther looked up at the ceiling and she laughed.
“What’s funny?” he asked drowsily.
“You thought I wanted breathing space,” she teased. “But I can’t even breathe away from you. I was afraid you were having second thoughts, that you might want me to leave.”
“I’d do anything to keep you here,” he confessed quietly. “You make everything good and sweet. If I lost you, it would take all the color out of my world. I wouldn’t even want to go on living.”
It was a powerful thing to say. She could literally feel the words. She moved closer to hug him close. “I’m so glad I married you,” she whispered. “Even if you weren’t the best lover in Colorado, I’d still be glad.”
His heart ran wild. She loved him in bed. That meant so much. At the last, his fiancée had noted that he wasn’t very good at satisfying a woman. But here was Esther, who had been innocent, and he knew without words that she achieved satisfaction with him every time they were together. Of course, so did he.
“It makes me proud, that you feel that way about me,” he said softly.
She smiled, sighing against his hair-roughed, muscular chest. “I’ll never leave you,” she said gently. “Unless you throw me out,” she added, and felt sick to the soles of her feet.
He just laughed. “Fat chance.”
He didn’t know how rich she was. It was going to be a hard thing to have to tell him. Maybe she should do it now.
“Butch, there’s something I need to tell you, something about Mama, and about me,” she began reluctantly.
The only answer she got was a mild snoring sound. She lifted up so that she could see his face. He’d gone to sleep. She sighed and sank back down against him. “Well, maybe I can tell you later,” she murmured softly to herself. And she drifted off into sleep as well.
* * *
J. L. Denton’s attorneys lived up to their excellent reputation. They arrived in Benton two days later, loaded for bear. Esther already knew the attorney she’d spoken to, Mr. Frazier. But this time there was another attorney with him, one belonging to the same law firm, and he made Esther uncomfortable. Not that Edward Thornton was unkind. He was simply taciturn, and his pale silver eyes made her nervous.
“Don’t let Thorn intimidate you,” Mr. Frazier chuckled. “He’s hell in a courtroom, but he’s mostly kind when he isn’t doing a summation.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Thornton,” Esther said gently, and lifted a hand.
He shook it gently and gave it back. “Where can we sit to discuss our findings?” he asked at once. “And do you want to call your husband so that he can share the news?”
“Mr. Thornton,” she said in a low tone of voice, “my husband thinks I’m the daughter of a wealthy woman and I’m hiding from my mother’s boyfriend. He doesn’t know how wealthy my