Making a Madam Read online

  Her soft, feminine snort pleased him. “You think I’m naïve—that I don’t know what happens in the rooms up here.”

  “If I’m wrong, then you’ve lost nothing.” He held his breath, giving her time to chew on his words. Once she said yes, he wouldn’t let her back down, because now, the saloon wasn’t the only prize he sought. Another more satisfying challenge presented itself. One he never would have imagined from Millie’s descriptions of the woman she’d known only through her correspondence.

  Merry Winslow’s lips pursed as she considered his challenge.

  He wondered if she knew the invitation her lush pout issued.

  Finally, she took a deep breath that lifted her gently rounded bosom and raised her gloved hand. “I agree to your terms, sir.”

  Pure animal heat surged through Nathan at the sight of the slender hand waiting for his to enclose it. His mind leapt ahead, thinking of another pleasurable grasp he longed to accept.

  Then he remembered the calluses on his palm and hesitated, not wanting to snag the delicate fabric of her gloves. Instead of sliding his hand alongside her fine glove, he fingered open the button at her wrist and tugged it off.

  Merry Winslow’s chest rose on a sharp gasp, but she didn’t pull away her hand. She allowed him to carry it to his mouth.

  Nathan had never kissed a woman’s hand before, would have laughed if he’d seen another man do it, but her scent and the smooth-as-cream feel of her soft skin had him pressing his lips to her knuckles.

  He couldn’t help sliding his tongue along the little bumps just to get a taste.

  “Mr. Boone!”

  “Nathan,” he whispered, letting go, “and keep your voice down. The show’s starting. Turn around and get rid of that veil. You need to see this.”

  She hesitated, her teeth worrying her bottom lip.

  He arched a brow. “Gonna let me win this bet so soon?”

  Another soft snort and she reached up to lift her veil, giving him the first full glimpse of her face.

  Merry Winslow’s wide eyes were a dreamy blue, like a summer sky in the high country. Spaced wide and fringed with gold-tipped brown lashes, they blinked up at him. A faint flush of pink painted her cheeks a rosy color any of the working girls would have admired. A rather square, short nose didn’t detract from a face he’d call pretty rather than flashy.

  He cleared his throat, trying to get back to the “business” at hand. “Turn around and have a look.”

  “I’ve seen the wall.”

  “Let me surprise you.”

  Her glance swept down his body—so quickly, he thought he might have imagined it. Then she turned slowly in the cramped space, her hip grazing his groin before she’d made the full circle. She ignored his indrawn breath and kept her gaze on the wall in front of her.

  Wondering whether her touch had been deliberate, he reached over her shoulder and slid up a little wooden circle nailed to the wall to reveal the peephole.

  Merry leaned toward the wall, peering through, and inhaled sharply.

  “I’ll douse the candle so you can see better,” he said, his awareness of her deepening scent and soft, shallow breaths increasing as darkness enfolded them both, with only the light from the bedroom beyond their niche to illuminate Merry’s features.

  Exposing a second hole, he bent closer to her shoulder to look into Daisy’s bedroom.

  “Must you stand so close?” Merry whispered.

  Nathan grinned. “How will I explain what you see if I don’t watch, too?”

  He couldn’t quite catch her softly muttered retort, but grinned as she fidgeted against him. Then she grew silent except for her shortening breaths as she watched.

  Daisy lay sideways on her bed dressed only in white drawers that reached below her knees and a corset cinched tightly over a short chemise. Her legs draped over the edge of the bed as a brawny miner leaned over her, kissing her naked breasts above the edge of the corset he’d worked beneath them. The man still wore all his clothes.

  Daisy held his head between her hands and guided him from one nipple to the other, her eyes closed tight, a throaty groan erupting from her open mouth. Daisy was typical of the women Millie had chosen from the many applicants who applied to the emporium—a buxom blonde with a girlish voice that lulled a man into thinking he led the dance.

  Nathan had chosen Daisy’s room because the woman had the knack of seeking her own pleasure with her customers. Soon enough, Merry would figure out that not all the women were as aggressive or adept. Tonight, Daisy served his purpose as Merry Winslow’s wide, unblinking stare took in every detail of the nasty nature of the woman’s profession.

  The miner lifted his head and grinned at Daisy, who rose on her elbows and lifted her eyebrows in a brazen challenge. The man backed away and nearly busted every button on his shirt as he pulled it off and opened his pants.

  When he approached the bed again, Daisy held up her hand to warn him away and slipped off the bed. She approached him, her shoulders back, her nipples winking above her corset. As she neared him, swaying her hips, she scraped a fingernail along his naked arm then his back as she walked in slow a circle around him.

  The miner reached inside his pants and pulled out his cock, stroking it up and down. As she came around in front of him again, Daisy sank to her knees, her eyes widening and her hands cupping her cheeks in mock surprise. “Oh my, Johnny! I missed dinner tonight and thought I’d starve.”

  “Daisy, you can take a lick or two of this sweet thing,” Johnny said, his voice deepening beneath her praise.

  Nathan judged the other man’s cock about average length, but the fuss Daisy made had him almost believing she’d never seen anything quite so satisfying in her life. Nathan laughed softly and turned to Merry.

  Her curious gaze watched every practiced lick of Daisy’s tongue as the other woman trailed down the length of Johnny’s cock and back up the sensitive top. Johnny groaned like a wounded bear when Daisy opened her mouth and swallowed him whole.

  Merry emitted a sharp gasp and lowered her lids. “Does Daisy know?”

  “That we’re watching? Yes, ma’am. Matter of fact, she likes it.”

  Watching her tense profile, he could tell she didn’t quite believe him. “Show’s not over,” he reminded her.

  Merry drew in a shaky breath and took another peek inside. “Does Johnny know?”

  Johnny pumped his hips, sliding his cock in and out of Daisy’s noisily slurping mouth.

  “Probably not. Only the women and few special customers are even aware these closets exist. Miss Millie liked to use them to make sure the girls were treated well.”

  “Do those special customers pay to watch?”

  “More than what Johnny’s paying for Daisy to suck him.”

  “Mr. Boone!”

  “Sorry if that sounded coarse, but you’re going to hear much worse—if you stay.”

  Her swallow was audible. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll accustom myself, over time—my word!”

  Johnny’s head snapped back, and he gave a low roar as he shot seed all over Daisy’s pretty upturned face.

  Daisy made a great show of licking her lips, trying to capture all the creamy lather, but Nathan couldn’t take his gaze off Merry’s trembling lips.

  “She likes that? To be used that way?” Merry slipped a finger beneath the collar of her dress as though it was suddenly too tight.

  “She likes the cash—but keep watching. Daisy always takes her pleasure, too.”

  Daisy stood in front of Johnny, shimmied out of her drawers, then reached into her dresser and pulled out a long, glass phallus.

  This wasn’t part of Daisy’s usual repertoire, but something Nathan had arranged—special for the new owner of the emporium.

  The urge to watch Daisy as she lay on the mattress and spread her pale thighs wasn’t nearly as strong as his desire to watch the expressions crossing Merry’s face. Her mouth gaped, and her eyes grew round.

  Nathan felt his own
desire rise, crowding against the placket of his trousers. Although a widow, Merry seemed an innocent, something he’d never experienced. Seducing one now was a tantalizing prospect.

  “Johnny,” Daisy said, reaching for his hand and bringing it between her legs to wrap around the clear glass cock. “Fuck me like it’s your big cock.” She spread the plump outer lips of her sex and pushed the glass cock inside, sliding it in and out, showing Johnny just how to twist it and how deep she liked it.

  Merry’s tongue swept out to glide in a circle around her mouth. Her breaths grew ragged. “That’s for her pleasure?”

  “What do you think?”

  “It’s so…large,” she said, in a voice so low and husky he had to lean closer to hear.

  “Have you never felt something…large…inside you?” he asked softly.

  She shook her head, and the netting of her hat brushed his cheek. “My husband, well…he wasn’t…”

  “Wasn’t large?”

  “I don’t think so, but I never saw it.”

  Nathan grew still beside her, feeling a sickening anger wash over him, knowing her husband must have taken her in the dark, likely never fully undressed. Merry Winslow had never been “improperly” loved. “Perhaps you need to compare for yourself. Just so you know.”

  Merry bit her lower lip and cast him a quick sideways glance. “You mean I should try a glass…member?”

  “No, try another man.”

  One corner of her lips twitched, and Nathan began to wonder who was leading whom.

  “As part of my education?”

  “Only if you want to,” he said quickly.

  “But who would be willing?” she asked, her tone too perplexed to be real. “I don’t have the experience to give a man…anything like that.”

  Amused at her attempt to flirt, Nathan forced himself to keep his voice casual as though his question didn’t matter. “You’re already offering to pay me for instruction, so why not use me?”

  Chapter Three

  ‡

  In the scant light filtering through the two peepholes, Merry’s forehead wrinkled, betraying her indecision. “Um…can we wait until I’ve learned everything there is to know here?”

  He smiled, understanding how curiosity warred with her own rising desire and wilting morality. “Why not do both at the same time?” he said silkily.

  She blinked. “That sounds…efficient…but is that even possible?”

  He nearly strangled on his reply, torn between a laugh and a groan. “It might be a struggle, but we’ll manage.” He leaned closer to press his erection against Merry’s round bottom, half expecting her to protest against his advance.

  Instead, he felt her tremble as though her legs suddenly went weak.

  “Keep watching them, Merry,” he said, his voice beginning to grind like a rusty gear as his whole body tightened in anticipation.

  Daisy guided Johnny’s hand, helping him work the glass cock inside her as her hips lifted from the mattress, pumping to meet his thrusts. Her folds darkened to a deep rose, stretching around the large phallus. Wet, slippery sounds reached the watchers in the closet.

  “Like that, Daisy?” the miner asked, his voice strained.

  “Yes, Johnny. You’re the best. Harder!”

  Nathan slid a hand slowly around Merry’s waist, pulling her tighter against his groin, and then worked his other hand downward, smoothing it between her legs.

  Merry’s thighs clamped hard around his hand, halting his movements. Her back stiffened.

  “Want me to stop?” he whispered in her ear.

  “This is…embarrassing,” she said breathlessly. “I’m becoming very wet.”

  Nathan drew a deep breath, pleased she’d been so honest. “That’s desire, Miz Winslow. Have you never felt your body dampen this way before?”

  “Yes…but I was alone,” she said, her voice dropping so low he had to strain to hear, “and there wasn’t quite as much…moisture.”

  Imagining the widow sliding her own fingers between her slippery folds in the dark, seeking an elusive release, made his cock twitch and lengthen. Nathan grew certain her worthless husband had fucked her dry. “All that moisture lubricates your cunt. Makes you ready for me to come inside.”

  Her outraged gasp was contradicted by the trembling of her soft belly and the tightening of her thighs.

  “I can stop,” he gritted out. “Say it now, and I won’t press you.”

  Slowly, Merry eased apart her thighs, one hand bracing against the wall. Her head dipped, touching the wall. “I need to know what she’s feeling.”

  Nathan drew a deep breath, relieved he didn’t have to stop, because he honestly didn’t know if he could without scaring her to death. With both hands, he drew up her skirt in front, bunching the fabric around her waist. Then he slid a hand down the front of her thin muslin drawers, enjoying the suppleness of the muscle beneath and little tremors that danced across her belly.

  He slipped his fingers between her legs, finding the fabric warm and damp, and tucked the thin muslin into her folds as he searched for the little slit at the center.

  A breathless little moan tore from Merry’s throat, and her back arched, pressing her shoulders against his chest. Her hand came up slowly and clutched the back of his neck.

  His fingers parted the fabric and slid into rich, creamy moisture pooling between her pussy lips. “Keep watching,” he rasped, and strummed his fingers along her sex, enjoying the way it clasped and tightened. When he traced the edges of her folds to the source of the wetness, he circled slowly, drawing a tiny moan from the woman trembling in his arms.

  Daisy’s hips pumped up and down as Johnny pushed the cock in and out, faster now. “God, Johnny. Don’t stop,” she wailed. “Don’t stop.”

  Nathan stroked two fingers into Merry’s wet cunt and gently ground his palm against the hard nubbin at the top of her feminine folds.

  “Don’t stop,” she echoed.

  “Promise,” he gritted out, thrusting as deeply as he could reach. His fingers swirled in silky heat.

  Merry sagged against him, gasping, her fingers constricting in his hair.

  He bent his head, pressed his lips against her neck, and continued fingering her, twisting into her slick heat as her hips began their first tentative pulses, mimicking Daisy’s frantic movements.

  Nathan couldn’t help grinding his cock against her bottom, rutting softly to ease the ache building there. “That’s it, Merry,” he whispered roughly. “Dance those hips for me. I’m coming deeper.”

  “Dear God,” she gasped. “I can hardly breathe.”

  “Shall I stop?”

  “Please, no.”

  Her bottom pulsed against his cock then rubbed, nearly driving him out of his mind. He scraped her nubbin with the rough pad of his thumb and stroked inside again.

  Her whole body shuddered hard. “It’s my corset,” she said, breathlessly.

  “Want me to remove it?”

  “No, please. Keep doing that…don’t take your hand away.”

  Nathan smiled against her neck, liking the sound of her feminine desperation. “Still want me to come inside you?”

  “You are inside me,” she said, her voice straining higher.

  He nibbled her earlobe and paused to whisper. “My cock, Merry. Want my cock sliding into you?”

  “Oh God.” Her pussy clasped his fingers hard. “Please, yes. Do it.”

  Nathan cupped her chin and brought her face around to his. His mouth slid over her lips, opening to suck on them, then rubbing, working her mouth like he meant to work her pussy the first chance he got her back against a mattress.

  Teaching Merry Winslow the ropes might be everything Millie had promised.

  Merry drew in a deep, labored breath as Nathan slid his hand between their bodies and unbuttoned his trousers. She recognized the sounds of clothing sliding down, felt his thighs struggle against hers as he pushed the material awkwardly down his hips, and then felt the heaviness of his
cock press into her backside.

  She nearly moaned when he rucked up her skirts in the back, high enough they bunched between her back and his hard belly, and felt the thickness of his cock tap her buttocks.

  Amazed at her own temerity, she could scarce believe she allowed a man who’d introduced himself less than an hour ago to bare her backside, still clothed in muslin, in preparation for an illicit bit of sex.

  While she’d never done it like this, standing braced against a wall, she trusted he knew what he was about. The watchful glint in his dark eyes when he’d led her down the hallway to this observation room had been warning enough—but she hadn’t wanted to heed the message, being only too eager to begin her new adventure.

  That he cleaned up well, had likely dressed to impress her in a dark jacket that brushed the tops of his thick thighs, a crisp white shirt to replace the plain homespun, and dark pants, only added to the attraction she’d felt when he’d first landed at her feet.

  Towering over her at her office door, his dark gaze had landed on her lips and sent a frisson of awareness buzzing through her body before he’d seduced her with his wicked, sliding drawl.

  She’d wanted this, with him, before he’d ever tempted her to let him lift her skirts.

  Now, he rooted his cock between her legs, nudging against the thin fabric of her undergarments until he met his thrusting fingers and guided himself into her moist, hot channel, shoving in shallow pulses as he inched inside.

  Lord, he was thick—stretching her as he worked his way up.

  Still, her body didn’t resist his invasion. Her inner muscles clutched around his shaft, drawing him deeper.

  As awkward as their position should have been, somehow she felt less embarrassed faced away from his knowing eyes. The veil had offered her some protection, but once he’d commanded her to raise it, his gaze had continually fallen on her. Now, she could concentrate on the sensations threatening to overwhelm her rather than trying to protect herself from his canny observation.

  With her back to him, his sex thrusting up inside her, robbing her of breath, she could revel in the wickedness consuming her. She, Merry Winslow, was engaged in a tryst with a stranger in a closet! She arched her back, pushing up her bottom to give him better access.