White Hot Holidays 3: Scarlet Stockings Read online

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Scarlet Stockings

  ISBN # 1-4199-0448-5

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Scarlet Stockings Copyright© 2005 Mary Wine

  Edited by: Sue-Ellen Gower

  Cover design by Syneca. Photography by Dennis Roliff.

  Electronic book Publication: December 2005

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Warning:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. Scarlet Stockings has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  SCARLET STOCKINGS

  Mary Wine

  Chapter One

  Silver Peak, California 1874

  A person really could hear their heart stop beating.

  Bethany Wilton stood looking out the second-story window of her home as her entire world froze and everything that mattered to her was sneaking into one of the upper rooms at the saloon across the street.

  Her heart was simply frozen as she watched Gabriel hand over three dollars to a feminine hand before the woman stepped out of the doorway and he dashed inside. The door closed shut as Bethany sucked in a huge gasp of air. Her temper exploded right at the same time her eyes filled with tears. She couldn’t seem to decide just what to do and her mouth opened and then closed as she spun around to turn her back on the saloon.

  In her hand was a forgotten box of Christmas decorations that she’d left her first-story shop to come and pull from its shelf above the kitchen sink. The joy that had filled her heart for the impending holiday was now a mere vapor.

  Her eyes fell on the bed and those tears threatened to break through her temper. Bethany stomped her foot onto the floor and forced herself to turn back around to look at the saloon. She would not stand there and cry over her empty bed! She dropped the box on the kitchen table and wiped a hand over her eyes.

  No sir! Not her. Bethany moved towards the window to see if she could catch a glimpse of her husband in that upper floor bedroom. Oh, she knew full well what went on, on that second floor of the saloon.

  Sex. It was bartered and sold right there by women who made the journey west to earn a fortune on their backs. It was the shameful truth that most of the madams across the way wore finer clothing than she did.

  What Bethany wanted to know was just why her husband was paying three dollars a throw when she was his wife. Her temper boiled so hot, it was a wonder steam didn’t rise from her ears. What on God’s green earth could that woman possibly know that was worth three dollars an hour?

  Bracing her hands on the window frame, Bethany leaned out to look at the saloon. It had a railing that ran the entire length of the second story. On Saturday night, the madams would hook one of their legs over that wooden railing and show off their ankles and calves to the men drinking below them.

  Bethany had always been taught to turn a blind eye to the “sin” being practiced in front of her home. After all, those same miners were in her store the next morning keeping her small tailoring shop open. Women were still rather hard to come by in the new state of California. The harsh conditions accounted for the lack of feminine population and that fact also allowed both her business and the saloon to flourish. If a man didn’t have a wife to make his shirts, he had to lay down his money in her shop.

  There appeared to be two things that men needed and would always manage to find the money for. Clothing and sex.

  Oh…but that didn’t explain why her husband was paying for what she would willingly give him at home. Bethany felt her face burn for another reason now. It was the honest truth that she would eagerly follow Gabe upstairs for an afternoon marriage chore. Yes, she knew she was wicked. Good girls didn’t long for any more of their husband’s attention than needed, but she did.

  Bethany suddenly stood up. Well, obviously Gabe hungered for something that he wasn’t getting either. She set her teeth into her lower lip as she tried to think of just what a man did with a madam. Half the good ladies in town would have fainted at that idea but Bethany wanted to know. In fact, she was almost certain she needed to understand what Gabe was doing right now that he had not received in their bed.

  If that colored her scarlet with shame, so be it, but there was no way she was going to let another woman take her husband before their first anniversary had even passed.

  The corners of her lips rose into a smug grin as she remembered one little detail that she’d noticed about the saloon girls. Turning around, Bethany pulled her bonnet off its holding peg and quickly tied the bow on the right side of her face. She picked up her shopping basket and took the stairs two at a time on her way down. She only stopped as she flipped the sign on the front window over so that it read “closed”.

  She had a bit of shopping to do before her husband came home.

  Three blocks behind the saloon and rows of mercantile shops was where the Chinese lived. Bethany held her head high as she stepped right up onto the boardwalk that was teeming with men who had long braids hanging down their backs.

  Gabe wouldn’t be very happy to hear she was walking alone but that felt rather fair to her way of thinking. She might be a good girl but she still had ears and knew where the madams got their fancy silk dresses. They came here to the Chinese to get their garments made because the proper businesses on the main street of town wouldn’t have them in their shops.

  Bethany found the dress shops rather quickly. Bright silk was displayed in the windows and a cage crinoline hung over the door. She looked at the silk lovingly. It was plum and shiny but ever so unpractical. For one tiny moment she was actually envious of the saloon girls. They had a reason to dress up and look pretty. The church social was the only event worthy of fancy dressing in her life and silk would be quite misplaced among the calico and white lace.

  Bethany froze in shock for the second time that day as she walked a little further into the shop. Right there was a corset made of another silk. In all her dreams she had never considered owning an undergarment that was so decadent. She moved closer to it and ran a single finger over the scarlet corset.

  “You like pretty corset, lady? It make your husband happy man.”

  Her face flamed red but her lips curled back up into that smug smile. Did she dare? Who would have thought that women wore silk undergarments!

  Bethany felt her smile fade as she noticed a stack
of colorful stockings. She pointed at them and the shopkeeper instantly moved them onto the counter. This was the thing that had sent her into the Chinese shops. When the saloon girls hooked their legs over the railing, you could see the scarlet stockings on their legs and the shop on the main street in town would never sell the colorful underwear. Bethany looked back at the silk corset—it would appear those girls did not stop at fancy hosiery.

  Well, that felt like a good place to begin. It might all erupt in her face but that was a chance she was willing to take. Gabe’s face swam across her thoughts as she felt her nipples tighten. Her body always shivered when she saw her husband. He was covered in thick muscle that made her belly twist. The way he looked at her made her blood race through her veins.

  Bethany stepped back into the sunlight with her basket loaded and a bread cloth carefully tucked over the scarlet stockings and silk corset. Her body tingled as she hurried back towards her shop. She was suddenly so hot that she hated her dress. Just the idea of putting on the scandalous underpinnings made her passage ache.

  She couldn’t quite feel guilty about it. Gabe was her husband. Was it so wrong to think about having sex with him? Or in this case—to plan his seduction?

  Bethany did not know, but she was very certain that she would not be standing by turning a blind eye while her husband took his body to the saloon.

  * * * * *

  Honey sighed as she watched the one thing that she had never had walk out her bedroom door. Gabe Wilton was a man worth trying to keep but he just cleared his throat and tipped his hat before he left.

  Honey stroked the three dollars he’d paid her and giggled at what the man had demanded from her in return. For a woman who made her living at men’s demands, Gabe’s still slightly astonished her. He had wanted to know what pleased her.

  The other girls would fall over with laughter if they knew a man had paid her to tell him…bluntly…what she enjoyed while on her back.

  Well, Honey did have to admit that there were a whole lot of men out there who could benefit from a few lessons like the ones she had just given Gabe. Most of the males in California thought stuffing their cocks into a woman was the complete beginning and end to sexual enjoyment.

  Oh, but there was so much more, if you took the time to linger over your lover’s body. Honey smiled as she folded the money and hid it away until she could get to the bank. It was rare but she had known a few lovers in her time. Men who demanded more than spread thighs from her. A shiver crossed her skin at the image of the things they had her yield to them and the pleasure that they applied to her body.

  Gabe Wilton was that kind of man. The sort who could make a woman scream and beg him for more. His only problem was his ideas that good ladies didn’t have all the same parts as a madam did.

  His wife was in for a rather interesting surprise when she got into her bed tonight. Gabe Wilton was about to toss off his respectable image and show her what kind of man lurked beneath the polished suitor who’d won her hand.

  * * * * *

  Gabe wasn’t a drinking man but he was looking at the scotch rather fondly as he walked in front of the bar. The liquor wouldn’t cure the ache in his cock though. He cast his vision across the street at the little “tailor” sign and growled.

  Bethany was rustling around in her shop, just as sweet at the day he’d first laid eyes on her and watched his heart land smack at her feet. His brother had always threatened him with the fact that a woman could do that, but until a man faced the reality…well, there was no way to truly understand the level it reduced a man to.

  Their wedding night had scared the hell out of him. Gabe considered the shop again as he recognized that three months later, he still hadn’t managed to muster the courage to show his wife what kind of man her husband was.

  Bethany had just looked so damn angelic when he pulled back the bedding that first time. He was so sick with love that the idea of frightening her with his darker cravings actually scared him. There wasn’t a man walking the face of the planet whom Gabe feared. Somehow, he’d ended up with a virgin in bed with him and it was still rattling his chain.

  But it didn’t change the hunger growing in his cock. The craving for more than gentle intercourse was keeping him awake at night. The scent of his wife’s body helped to push his control to snapping point and let the harder side free. He wanted more than the controlled penetration he’d forced his cock to limit itself to. Maybe that was blunt, but so was he.

  His visit to the madam’s room hung in his thoughts. Sure, he’d had a lot of women before meeting Bethany. Worldly females who understood the harder needs of a man like himself. Honey was one of those kind, which explained why she’d been the woman to give him what he needed today.

  Knowledge. Fucking a woman and understanding just why she enjoyed it were two vastly different things. He’d taken partners to the edge of sanity but never really known exactly why they flung their bodies against his and cried out for more.

  Christ! Gabe needed to hear Bethany demand that of him. His control was in tattered strips now. Another night of soft penetration wasn’t going to satisfy him.

  But thanks to Honey, he had a few more clues as to just how to open Bethany’s eyes and senses to the darker shadows of lust.

  Chapter Two

  Gabe was silent when he got home. They lived above her shop because he was an official working on the railroad. He hadn’t had a home until meeting her and it was almost funny sometimes to see his huge frame in her tiny kitchen.

  Bethany held onto her courage as she served up supper and flashed her husband a saucy smile.

  At least she hoped it was a “saucy” look. His eyes closed slightly as Gabe stopped chewing but she turned around to hide her pleasure at having gained that much of a response from him. Her husband was a man of action and he didn’t waste time on conversation. It was something about him that had made her follow him out of a church dance to investigate. His dark silence drew her to him, somehow it hit her as solid strength, the sort that no words could explain.

  Gabe’s fork clattered to his plate and his chair went sailing into the wall. He shook out his body as Bethany turned around to face a man she was not certain she knew.

  “What are you wearing, Bethany?” Gabe knew her inch by inch and a peek of scarlet on her ankles as she turned grabbed his complete attention. His cock sprang to instant attention as he watched his sweet wife lift an eyebrow, and then grab a handful of her skirt and petticoat and pull it to her knee. It was the most forward thing he’d ever seen her do.

  “Do you like them?”

  Gabe felt his mouth go dry and his cock harden painfully. The scarlet stocking was more than his control could bear. But the fact that Bethany had something so scandalous on gave him one startling clue.

  “You saw me going into Honey’s room.” He cussed under his breath but relief slammed into his head as well. There was no longer any reason to hold back his needs.

  “If you like scarlet stockings, Gabe, you should have just told me so. I’m all the woman you need.” It was a bold statement, one Bethany wasn’t too sure she knew how to back up, but she was not yielding her husband to Honey.

  Gabe’s face lit with something she did not understand but she felt it hit her like a wave of heat. Every nerve ending she had tightened as hunger burned in her husband’s eyes. Bethany stood straight as Gabe lowered his eyes to her exposed calf. Something…raw…crossed his face and she felt her mouth go dry.

  “God, I hope so.” His voice was dark and husky as he raised his gaze to hers again. Something flickered in those eyes that shot straight into her belly making her passage twist with heat. It was pure reaction, the thing that happened to her whenever Gabe was near her. It was a good thing the man had offered to marry her, because the stark truth was, he could strip her of any self-control just by looking at her…like he was right now.

  Gabe lifted one hand and curled a single finger at her. “Come here.” His tone demanded immediate obedience.
Bethany had heard him use that voice on his men but never between them. A shiver worked its way through her belly as her passage twisted yet again. She was suddenly wondering just what else he might order her to do.

  The hunger in her eyes made his mouth water. Gabe watched the skirt drop back over her leg as she moved towards him. Need burned painfully through his body as his wife moved towards him with a firm expression on her face. There wasn’t a hint of fear anywhere in her dark eyes and the need to get between her thighs doubled as he witnessed her strength. She had made some kind of firm resolution and was determined to stick to it.

  Damn, he loved her spunk.

  Gabe cupped her face between his hands and her body jerked in response. Her breath got stuck in her throat as he hovered over her mouth a moment before lowering his lips to hers. His mouth slid over hers just once before he pushed her lips apart and took a deep taste of her. His tongue swept into her mouth where it stroked her tongue. Bethany listened to her own moan as she twisted with surprise. Gabe hooked an arm around her waist to pull her against his body as one hand moved from her cheek to the back of her head to hold her in place for his kiss.

  It was a hard branding of possession. His tongue thrust deeply and then stroked hers, teasing her to return the touch. Bethany twisted in his embrace once more, only this time her body was trying to get closer to Gabe’s. Her hands landed on his shoulders as the fingertips lamented the layer of cotton denying her his skin.

  Gabe pulled her head away from his with the hand that gripped the back of her head. Bethany had never felt so completely helpless in his embrace before. She should have, Gabe was large for a man and twice her size. Yet he had always managed to hide it and trick her into thinking that she was in control during their lovemaking.