didn't tell you. I guess it just didn't seem to matter. It was before you came back from going after those rustlers last year, back when Henny had just died. I guess I needed to hear from the horse's mouth what was going on between you and Annie." She began unbuttoning the front of her dress, turning to face Luke. "Actually, it was because of some things that Annie told me that I decided I wanted to make things right between us."
His eyes moved over her lovingly. "I guess we've both had reminders today of big mistakes we made." He walked closer, grasping the back of her neck and pulling her closer. "I don't ever want anything to come between us again, Let-tie. This thing with Katie was a big test, but thank God it didn't keep you out of my bed. We can't let that happen again."
Lettie arched an eyebrow teasingly. "And did you give Annie Gates a kiss good-bye?"
Luke grinned the handsome grin that had always stirred her deeply. "Maybe I should let you wonder about that."
"Luke Fontaine—"
He met her lips before she could finish, his tongue searching suggestively. He left her mouth and moved to kiss and lick at her neck. "Only on the cheek," he answered. "A quick peck on the cheek for good luck." He sighed deeply, pulling some combs from her hair. "Annie Gates is gone for good, and Nial Bentley is married. We're getting our lives back to normal, and Katie seems to be getting stronger every day." He kissed her eyes. "And right now the kids are all over at the church having a good time. How about you and I have our own good time right here before we go back?"
"Luke!" She pulled away. "In the middle of the day? While everyone else is at a church social? That is absolutely wicked."
He just kept grinning and began removing his shirt. "You have to undress anyway."
Lettie drank in the sight of his still-solid chest and arms. At forty-three, and after all he had been through, Luke Fontaine had only grown more masculine and handsome. Age and hard work had been good to him, and the sight of his many scars, from the grizzly attack and bullet wounds brought back aching memories, and awakened her heart to how it had felt every time she thought she might lose this man to death. Still, through it all, he had somehow remained invincible, and now he had accomplished every dream for which he had come to this land. The only thing that she knew still troubled him deeply was that he had never heard from his father and brother back in St. Louis, in spite of all the times he had written them.
She finished unbuttoning her dress as Luke sat down to remove his boots. They had come through the loss of Nathan, had survived little Paul's death and Katie's rape. They had risen above trouble with the land and the weather, rustlers and outlaws, the loss of their two best friends. She knew Luke still missed Will, and she sorely missed Henny; but their deaths had brought them closer, both realizing that all they had was each other.
Luke stood up and removed his pants and underwear, and Lettie finished undressing, blushing, hoping she still looked as good to her husband in broad daylight as he still looked to her. "This is ridiculous," she protested.
"Then why did you strip naked?" he asked with a grin, walking closer. "You could have just changed your dress."
"You forced me," she replied. "I have to do what my husband commands."
He chuckled, pulling her close and rubbing his chest against her breasts. "You don't seem to be fighting me, and I don't hear you arguing." He hoisted her up so that she wrapped her legs around his waist and her breasts were near his face. He kissed eagerly at them as he carried her to the bed.
"This is absolutely outrageous," Lettie told him, grasping his hair and closing her eyes in sweet ecstasy.
"Mmm-hmmm," he answered. He knelt down and set her on the bed, laid her back. He licked at her breasts, then gently tasted a nipple before moving his lips to her throat while massaging a breast teasingly. "Do you realize you're just as beautiful as that first night I took you in that awful little cabin we use now for a storage shed?"
Lettie ran her hands over his solid shoulders, feeling a familiar fire make its way through