The Education of Madeline Read online

  As Teague listened to a pair of squirrels chattering in the top of an evergreen tree, he came to the startling realization that the pain was gone.

  Gone.

  It was Maddie. Being with her had somehow healed that scab until it was a smooth scar. He would never forget what he went through; however, he was ready to forgive.

  He loved her. Holy shit. He really did love her.

  The touch of a hand on his back did not startle him. He somehow sensed she was near, as if his imagination had conjured her up. He closed his eyes as her hands ran up and down his back.

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t—”

  He cut her off by spinning around and clasping her face in his hands.

  “Don’t ever, ever be sorry, Maddie.”

  Her dark eyes were unreadable in the moonlight, but he thought he saw a tear in the corner. He couldn’t stop himself from kissing her any more than he could stop the sun from rising.

  “I love you, Maddie,” he whispered before his mouth closed on hers.

  The first touch of lips was soft, like a butterfly. But it was as powerful as good whiskey. Intoxicating. The second kiss was firmer. Then the control was lost, and his arms wrapped around her and pulled her flush against him.

  As his mouth and tongue danced and tangled with hers, he could feel her body heating. He could smell her. Intoxicating.

  Her nipples were hard, pressing against his chest like small pebbles waiting for him to touch and taste. Her hands continued to move up and down his back; then, with no hesitancy, they landed on his ass and squeezed.

  He smiled against her lips. Maddie was beginning to learn how to spread her wings and take what she wanted. Now she needed to learn how to let go of that control.

  Teague backed her toward the bed, never letting go of her lips. When the back of her legs hit the frame, he stopped and, with one last kiss, pulled away. Looking into her eyes in the gloom, he saw everything he wanted. And more.

  He ran his hands down her shoulders and felt the night-clothes.

  “Take them off.”

  With only a second of hesitation, she unbuttoned her bathrobe and dropped it to the ground. Her white nightdress shone brightly in the moonlight.

  “I said take them off.”

  Teague could see the points of her nipples straining against the cotton covering. His hands itched to touch them. His mouth ached to possess them.

  Maddie’s beautiful hands reached up and pulled off her nightdress. It floated to the ground beside them like a ghostly apparition fleeing into the darkness below.

  Maddie was naked. Deliciously naked.

  “What about your clothes?” she whispered.

  He placed his finger against her soft lips.

  “Shhhh…no talking. You listen tonight and obey. Can you do that?”

  A shudder ran through her from top to bottom. Her generous breasts shook with it. His cock grew another inch inside his tight pants.

  Maddie.

  She nodded, and his chest swelled with the breath he sucked in, albeit shakily. This was too important to make any mistakes. It had to be perfect. He had to earn Maddie’s trust again.

  Madeline’s heart was singing the song of ages. He loved her. Nothing could ever be as perfect as that.

  She nodded at his question. Control was his tonight.

  “Lesson seven.”

  She was shaking inside and out. She had come to Teague because she had no other choice. Whatever it was between them had drawn her here, with or without the situation between her and the town.

  Teague was like the other half of herself. The half that had been missing her entire life. She had always felt…incomplete. Until now. Until Teague.

  The first touch of his calloused hands on her skin forced another shudder through her. She was already wet for him, ready and willing. Yes, she was willing. Ready to give him control.

  “Sit,” he said.

  Madeline immediately sat on the bed, which put her at eye level with his cock. Even though it was dark, she could clearly see the length and width of his erection. She felt herself pulse deep inside at the anticipation of his hardness plunging into her softness.

  He pulled his shirt up and off in one swift movement. She wanted to reach up and caress his chest, but she waited. Impatient as she was, she waited.

  “Take off my trousers, Maddie.”

  With a big grin deep inside, she reached for him. Her fingers trembled a bit, but she ignored them in favor of her hunger. As the last button was undone, she thought she heard him groan. She was happy to note he wasn’t wearing drawers. His erection sprang free, literally into her hands. She immediately started caressing him, but he grabbed her wrists.

  “Not yet, honey. Finish taking them off.”

  Madeline was surprised to find herself obeying him. She pushed his trousers down to his feet. She could feel the heat from his erection near her cheek. All she had to do was turn her head, and she would be able to kiss it. The thought should have shocked her, but it didn’t. It excited her.

  She leaned slightly as he lifted his foot to step out of the pants, and her cheek brushed him. He sucked in a breath. As he stepped out of the other leg, she brushed against him again.

  “You’re playing a game, but you don’t know the rules, Maddie.”

  She didn’t answer him. She just continued to rub her cheek against his velvet steel.

  “Take down your hair.”

  Madeline immediately took apart the braid she’d made when she went to bed. She was aching to touch him, but she knew he would let her. Would tell her to. Oh, God, she wanted him to.

  Teague’s fingers threaded through her hair, and he tugged on it slightly. Her scalp tingled at the sensation. “Do you want to touch me, Maddie?”

  She nodded against his hands, eager to touch him.

  “Do you want to touch me with your mouth?”

  Her imagination was running wild at the question. He’d touched her with his mouth on her pussy. Now he was asking her if she wanted to do the same.

  “Yes,” she answered without hesitation.

  He tilted her chin up with his hand and looked down into her eyes. “Are you sure, honey?”

  Her answer was to lean forward and kiss him on the hard part of him that was waiting for her. It jumped about a foot and smacked her in the cheek. He groaned, and she laughed.

  Madeline wrapped one hand around his shaft and felt the breadth of him. Impressive, nearly the size of her wrist. He pulsed against her, and she kissed him again. This time she stuck out her tongue and tasted him, too.

  “Jeeeesus,” he mumbled.

  She decided the taste of him was as intoxicating as the smell and feel of him. Her tongue and lips took over, following her instincts honed by thousands of years of women pleasuring men. The more she licked and suckled him, the more he groaned.

  Finally he pushed her away forcibly with her shoulders.

  “Hang on, I don’t want to finish so soon.”

  “I—” She started to protest that she wasn’t finished but stayed silent. He had said to obey him, so she did. Madeline wanted to take control, but Maddie knocked her aside and relinquished control to Teague.

  “Kneel on the bed.”

  She did so in a few seconds. Her tail was up in the air like a bitch waiting for her hound. She could even smell her own arousal. The bed creaked under Teague’s weight as he climbed behind her.

  His large hands cupped her ass, and, to her surprise, he spanked her once. Hard. Instead of anger, she felt…well, she felt excited. Her nipples rubbed against the wool blanket beneath her, the cloth lightly scraping the hard peaks.

  “I’ve wanted to do that for a month. Your ass is made for spanking.”

  Madeline thrust her fanny even farther in the air, waiting, hoping for more. Instead his hands dipped lower, and his fingers delved into her wetness, teasing her. She moaned and leaned into his hand, needing more.

  He pulled his fingers out and rubbed up and down from her behind
to her pleasure nubbin. She couldn’t help it—she gasped but bit her tongue to keep the command to touch her more from escaping.

  Teague replaced his fingers with his cock. He rubbed up and down, over and over. Before she even knew it had happened, he had entered her and withdrawn. Then he did the same thing on her other hole, the one in her fanny.

  “What—?”

  Teague slapped her skin again, and she moaned at the sensation that shot through her like a bullet.

  “You are not to speak. Just feel and obey.”

  Madeline nodded, knowing he couldn’t see her, but she figured he understood her silence for consent.

  He teased her again in her other hole, this time a bit farther. In and out, in and out. Again. And again. She didn’t understand it, but she began to crave it. Different pleasure, but equally exciting.

  Yes.

  He plunged into her without warning, right up as far as he could go. She was full, full, full…and incredibly close to having an orgasm. He withdrew and plunged again into the forbidden. His talented fingers started pinching her clit, pushing her pleasure even higher.

  Madeline came so hard she saw stars and the moon and everything in between. She heard herself shouting Teague’s name, and then he plunged into her deeply. She clenched around him, still rolling on her own pleasure.

  It was like the current of the creek, flowing and twisting around her. It seemed like hours, but it was probably only a minute, perhaps two. Teague found his own peak with a groan and a thrust that had her peak beginning all over again.

  It was incredible. It was amazing. It was too much. Along with her second peak, Madeline’s breath disappeared. Teague withdrew; then, within seconds, she was lying beside him, and he had pulled her close to him.

  Madeline closed her eyes and felt a peace steal over her. A peace she hadn’t ever remembered feeling. Teague’s warm, strong arm was around her waist.

  It was indescribable, really. She knew then that she had forgiven him for his betrayal. But if he ever broke her trust again, it would destroy her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Teague was readying the carriage for the trip to Denver when he felt a presence behind him.

  “Be careful, Mr. Teague. The sheriff knows you’re leaving.”

  Teague knew before he turned around that the speaker was gone. He knew who it was. Isaiah. Why was he warning him? Before he could even think about what he was doing, he turned and ran to follow Isaiah. He found him just rounding the corner of the barn. Teague grabbed the boy and had him pinned to the ground before he could even take a breath.

  He stuck his knee into Isaiah’s back and kept him helpless.

  “All right, the way I see it, you’ve been spying on this house since you got here. You want to tell me what you’re up to?”

  Isaiah grunted and tried to dislodge the knee. No such luck. Teague outweighed him by probably sixty pounds.

  “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you, Isaiah.”

  “I said get offa me and I’ll tell ya.”

  Teague eased the pressure on his knee but did not let him loose.

  “That’s all you’re gonna get, so start talking, or I start pressing harder.”

  Teague was suddenly furious. He was tired of the whole fucking town watching Maddie, recording her every move, scrutinizing her. The first time he’d caught Isaiah, he’d figured it was Eppie the boy was looking at. Now he knew different. It was Maddie.

  “Who are you?” he demanded.

  “Orion is my grandfather.”

  That explained a lot. Matilda Webster had had Orion since she was a child. Although a free man, he was still under her control completely. Teague was surprised he’d had time to have a family.

  “Why are you watching Miss Brewster?”

  “Sheriff told me he’d kick my granddaddy out without a penny if I didn’t do what he told me to. I didn’t have no choice. I like Miss Madeline and Miss Eppie…. I’m sorry for what I done.”

  He did sound sorry. Even to Teague’s cynical ears. In fact, he sounded like he was going to cry.

  “Isaiah, you and me are going to have a chat.”

  He let Isaiah up and helped him stand. He looked the boy in the eye and was not surprised to see tears glistening in them.

  “You help me, and we can help your granddaddy and get him away from the Websters.”

  A small spark of hope ignited in Isaiah’s dark eyes.

  “Truly?”

  “Yeah, let’s go into the carriage house. Might as well help me get this goddamn carriage ready while we talk.”

  As Teague and Isaiah headed back across the yard, he helped the boy wipe the dirt and grass from his shirt. He had a feeling he and Maddie had just found their ace in the hole.

  Madeline found Teague in the carriage house sanding something. He looked up at her and smiled.

  “I wanted to finish this before we left, but you might as well see what it is.”

  Madeline’s natural curiosity roared, and she made her way quickly over to him. It was a beautiful bench made of a darkish wood, and in the middle was an inlay that wasn’t quite finished.

  “The color is mahogany, like your hair. I wanted to give you something your money couldn’t buy.”

  Her heart sighed as she looked over the beautiful curves and lines of the bench.

  “What is the inlay?” she asked as her hands felt the warm wood.

  Teague touched the unfinished middle with his calloused fingertips. “A rose. Like you. Your skin smelled of roses the first time I touched you.”

  Madeline grabbed his hand and pulled him up. His blue eyes were so full of love she wanted to weep. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

  She had just received the most incredible gift of her life, and he’d made it with his hands. For her. She hugged him close and thanked God all over again for bringing Teague into her life.

  The trip to Denver seemed to take days, when in reality it took only hours. Madeline squirmed so much on the seat that Teague snapped at her. Twice. She was as fidgety as a sinner in church, which certainly wasn’t a stretch. She was a sinner, through and through. Her sins were in plain sight for anyone to see. In fact, he was sitting right beside her, expertly handling the reins of the Brewster carriage. It had sat unused for two years until today. Her father had had it made by some fancy outfit in Kansas City, with plush velvet seats and gold handles. Just another way to rub his wealth into the noses of Plum Creek.

  Madeline hated it, but she couldn’t very well ride all the way to Denver. It would definitely defeat the purpose for going if she showed up with horse shit and trail dust on her.

  “How long until we get there?”

  Teague sighed and shook his head. “You’re worse than a kid at Christmas. Probably thirty more minutes, Maddie. Just relax.”

  “I can’t. I’m…nervous.”

  That one word made her whole body clench. She hated admitting it to anyone, even Teague, who held her heart and soul in his big hands.

  “I’m sure you are. You’ve never been anyplace before. Denver is a big city by Plum Creek standards. You’re likely to see things you’ve only heard about. Don’t worry. I’ll be there with you, honey.”

  His deep voice reverberated through her chest, its echoes calming her heart and feeding her starving self-confidence.

  “Are you going to tell me what we’re going to do in Denver?”

  Madeline thought it was safe to tell him now. There was no way anyone else would overhear it.

  “We’re going to find a lawyer and a judge, find evidence against Jackson Webster and Earl Martin, and put them in jail for embezzlement and fraud.”

  He turned to look at her with shrewd eyes. “You think we can do all that in two days?”

  “We’re damn well going to try.”

  The inspiration had hit her days earlier. She wanted to turn the tables on the very men trying to destroy her. She wanted to take away their lives, their future, and show them what it felt like to be an outca
st, shunned and disrespected.

  In short, she wanted revenge. She also didn’t want them to know it was coming.

  Madeline was about to become a Brewster and show her claws.

  It was a bit overwhelming, but as Teague explained everything to her, Madeline learned. There were so many things that were different from what she knew. He was very patient with her, like he was teaching a small, inquisitive child with endless questions.

  He took her to the Regency Hotel, an establishment he knew to be reputable. It was quite fancy inside, with velvet chairs, beautiful plants, and a sparkling chandelier that must have had a thousand candles in it. He explained it was electricity, not real candles, but, nevertheless, it looked like a star had come down from the sky.

  “Stop gawking, Maddie.” He nudged her with his elbow until she closed her mouth.

  “I read newspapers and books, Teague, but this…” She couldn’t help but look at the chandelier again. “It’s real. Do you understand? Like being with you. It’s not just words. It’s real.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “Never thought I’d meet someone who was so book smart but didn’t know a damn thing.”

  Madeline’s pride stung a bit at that, but she knew he was right. It was a little sad that a thirty-two-year-old woman with enough money for two lifetimes was goggle-eyed at a chandelier. She smiled back at him and squared her shoulders. “Proceed, Professor O’Neal.” She gestured to the desk that had a man behind it in a navy-blue jacket pressed with sharp creases. He eyed them with a neutral expression as they walked toward the desk.

  Madeline was dressed in her brown serge traveling dress and matching hat, directly imported from New York three years ago. It wasn’t new, but it was of the highest quality. One look at the man’s eyes confirmed he knew it. His slicked-back hair shone from some kind of pomade; his eyes were small and set deep within his pale complexion.

  “Good day, madam. May I help you?”