her body. "Your eyes are getting old, Luke Fontaine. You must not see so well anymore. My waist is a little thicker, my breasts have fed six babies and—"
He cut off her words with another kiss, this one deeper, hungrier, hotter. She said nothing more, returning his kiss with equal hunger, parting her legs in welcome. He quickly moved downward, tasting her breasts again, trailing his tongue over her belly and finally to that most intimate part of her that only Luke Fontaine had tasted.
"Luke," she whispered.
His only reply was a groan. He licked his way back up to meet her mouth again, then pushed himself inside her, his shaft hard and hot, filling her to surprising pleasure, considering the fact that she had borne six children. She had worried over the years that she would not please him as she once had, but the ecstasy of this splendid coupling never seemed to change. In moments they were moving in perfect rhythm, each trying to give as much as they could, glorying in this act that represented the deep love and affection they had shared over the fifteen years since they had settled here.
The thought of Luke doing this with Annie made Lettie grasp at him desperately. She dug her fingers into his arms, arching up to him in an effort to please, to erase any memory he might have of being with someone else. All the while Luke was reminded of how close he had come to losing this woman to another man. How he hated the thought of someone else touching his Lettie. He raised up to drink in her nakedness, grasping her hips and pushing deep, wanting to show her that in spite of all the babies, he was still man enough to please her.
Lettie threw her head back and cried out his name as a sweet climax engulfed her. Luke came down closer again, moving more gently now, teasing, moving in slow circles, licking at her cheeks, her mouth. "Luke, please," she cried. He grinned, kissing her savagely then, moving in hard, quick thrusts and burying his head in the pillow near hers to muffle his groans as his life spilled into her in blessed release.
"Stay there," he whispered. "Just once more before we join the others."
Lettie's only reply was to meet his mouth in another hungry kiss.
CHAPTER 26
September 1880
Katie walked up the steps of the new log building that sported a sign reading Billings Library. At Lettie's urging that she start socializing more, she had begun several months ago to join her mother at the women's club meetings, and it was at one of those meetings that she had proposed the idea of a library for Billings. All the women had raved that it was a wonderful thought. A library was another step forward in civilizing Billings, and through the library Katie planned to begin keeping records of local pioneers, those who had settled here first, where they were from, when they had first arrived and what businesses they ran or ranches or farms they had settled. It was part of Katie's plan to help her mother keep records that could be used to build a museum one day in honor of people like Will and Henny.
She felt good now about how receptive the women had been to the idea, and to her. All were kind and friendly, and she realized why her mother had wanted her to begin joining the meetings. Gradually over the past two years she had managed to come out of the shell into which she had withdrawn after her ordeal with the Walkers, and she loved her mother even more for the constant support she and her women friends had given her.
She carried a stack of new books inside, glowing from the fact that her father had also been proud of her desire to found a library. Luke had given the money necessary to put up the building, as well as making a generous contribution, along with other businessmen in town, toward buying books from New York and Chicago. Her parents, along with others, had also contributed books from their own libraries at home.
It was a dream project for Katie, who loved books more than jewels or pretty clothes or anything else she could think of. For five days out of every week she lived at the Stowe's boardinghouse on Will and Henny's old property, sharing a room with a new female teacher from Chicago, a widow named Yolanda Brown.