her with the full force of his need. It had been so long for her that it was almost painful, for he was greatly swollen with pent-up desire. His shaft was hot and hungry, and he moved in wild rhythm, groaning her name, his heated body sliding against her skin, his broad shoulders hovering over her possessively, protectively.
She had never wanted him with such aching passion, not even in those first years of marriage. The troubles they had seen had come full circle and now seemed to bond them more closely, sealing vows made long ago. He grasped her hips and shoved himself deep, shuddering when his life spilled into her, and they both knew, in that moment, that nothing, no sorrow, no hardship, no other human being, could ever again come between them.
CHAPTER 23
May 1878
"I swear, Luke, it's just not fair." Joe Parker laughed, and finished a cup of punch. "You've got the prettiest wife and prettiest two daughters of anybody around."
Luke gave Katie and Pearl each a light hug, his arms around both of them. He was proud to bring his family to the spring dance being held at Billings's new, larger town hall. It felt good to rejoin society after a long, cold winter, good to be out in public as a family again. The past winter had been one of discovery. He had made a point of staying home more, sharing wintry nights with Lettie and the four children around the fireplace. There had been a lot of talking, and more than a few tears. They had read together, played games together, and Pearl had entertained them nearly every night with her piano playing. The family had never been closer.
Behind the refreshment table, Lettie dipped more punch into Joe's cup. "These pretty girls get their looks totally from their mother," Luke answered Joe with a grin.
"Oh, Luke, Katie looks just like you," Lettie answered, handing the cup back to Joe.
Joe nodded. "Pearl there, now she gets her looks from her ma; but Lettie's right about Katie. She's tall like her pa and has your dark hair, Luke. I guess she's just a real pretty mixture of the both of you. How old are you now, Katie?"
Katie blushed, always shy. Tonight she worried that the elegant, mint green dress her mother had had specially made for her fit her too perfectly. The darts in the bodice drew the dress over her developing breasts in a way that made them look too big for her thin build, and she felt that she should hide them, wear something looser. Lettie had insisted she looked beautiful and not at all out of proportion. Part of her enjoyed the fact that she was becoming a woman in many ways, but the child in her was embarrassed by her blossoming body. "I'm almost fourteen," she answered Joe.
"Fourteen! Girl, you look closer to sixteen."
Katie wondered why he said that. Because of her breasts? She folded her arms over them self-consciously.
"You see that line of boys over there?" Joe pointed to four young men who stood across the way, watching other couples dance. "They're all wanting to ask you to dance, Katie, but they're afraid because you're so pretty, and because you're Luke Fontaine's daughter. They're not sure you pa wants you dancin' with young men yet."
Katie reddened more. "I don't really want to dance anyway," she said shyly.
"Katie, it's all right if one of them asks you," Luke told her, giving her another squeeze.
"I don't think so, Pa." Katie wasn't sure how she felt about boys. Only lately had she begun to look at them differently, with a new curiosity.
"I'll dance with them," Pearl spoke up with a dimpled grin. "I'm only ten, but I can dance."
"Pearl! Ten-year-old girls don't dance with anyone but their brothers or father," Lettie scolded, a teasing smile on her face.
Katie wished she could be more like Pearl, who didn't have a bashful bone in her body. It was easy to see that Pearl was going to be the most beautiful sister, at least in Katie's eyes; and Pearl was the most talented child in the family. She could picture her sister attending a fancy school far away and making a great splash with her piano playing. She didn't fear anything, and she loved attention. Katie, on the other hand, wanted only to stay close to home and maybe teach school and read quietly in her spare time. She hated attention as much as Pearl loved it, and