The Education of Madeline Read online

He nodded. “That answers why it’s so damn bright.”

  She laughed and waved her hands at the cards.

  “Deal again, Teague. I’m itching to ask you a truth question.”

  This time, Madeline won. She pondered her question for several minutes, earning a sigh and rolling eyes from the sore loser.

  “Why didn’t you say no to my proposition to bed me?”

  He clearly hadn’t been expecting a personal question like that. The cards he’d been shuffling fell out of his hand like an explosion, raining down all over the table and floor.

  “I had to stop myself from saying yes too quickly.”

  Heat pooled low and insistent in her belly, and a throbbing began between her legs.

  “Does this mean you’re saying yes to my…proposal?” she asked. Her mouth felt as dry as cotton. “I mean, it sounds as though you’re going to say yes.”

  He stood abruptly, and she could see the outline of his penis clearly in his pants. My, oh, my! That certainly was a large-looking organ. Much larger than ones in the drawings in the book.

  Teague let the rest of the cards fall from his hands and came around the side of the table. The primal way he walked was enough to make her nipples pucker. He clearly wanted her. Her. Madeline Brewster!

  When he reached her side, he knelt down on the floor next to her and cupped her face in his big hands.

  “Why me?”

  She shrugged, somehow. “I need a big man. I’m not…petite or feminine like most women. I didn’t want my teacher to feel embarrassed by the size difference if I was bigger. You…You’re bigger than me. And…”

  “And?”

  “Just looking at you makes my body hum.”

  His pupils widened, and he licked his lips.

  He’s going to kiss me!

  Madeline closed her eyes. She expected his lips on hers. What she didn’t expect was featherlight kisses along her brow, down her nose, across her cheekbones, to her chin. Small, jittery kisses that made her ache that much more.

  “Hurry up and kiss me,” she demanded.

  He chuckled against the corner of her mouth. “If you want me to be your teacher, you’re going to have to be the student. Can you hand over the reins, Maddie girl?”

  Madeline thought long and hard about that question. It wasn’t a matter of being under his thumb like her father. It was trusting that he would teach her what she wanted to know without doubting or interfering in his methods.

  “Yes,” she breathed.

  She felt him smile. “Good. Now just close your eyes and feel. This is lesson number one.”

  “Wait! Does this mean yes?”

  “Yes,” he said, and then he pressed his finger against her lips. She had the absurd notion to lick it and almost giggled.

  She felt his hands in her hair, and suddenly it was tumbling down around her shoulders. She wanted to stop him, to say no, but didn’t. Lesson number one.

  Teague ran his fingers through her hair, gently massaging her scalp with incredible tenderness. She leaned into him, letting the languid motion lull her.

  “Your hair is magnificent. Whenever we’re having a lesson, you will have it free like this, understood?”

  Madeline nodded.

  “Good girl.”

  His fingers traced the outline of her ears and then down her neck. His lips brushed across her cheekbone until he reached her lips. His tongue traced the seam of her lips ever so lightly until she shivered.

  He nibbled the corners of her mouth. She wanted so badly to kiss him. This waiting was torture! But it was sweet torture…oh, so sweet. The anticipation was heightening her arousal. She could feel it.

  Suddenly his lips were on hers, a slow, moist kiss that felt like a decadent dessert. She leaned into him, and a mewling sound erupted from her throat. His thumbs rubbed her neck as his lips captured hers again and again.

  Teague’s tongue lapped at her lips.

  “Open for me, Maddie.”

  She opened her mouth, and his tongue plunged in like a conqueror. The twining serpent taught her how to dance with it even as her thighs grew wet with moisture. The roughness of his tongue scraped deliciously around her teeth. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth and gently bit it.

  With sweet, slow kisses, he taught her about the inside of her mouth. How sensual the roof of it was, how tingly her teeth could feel, how fast her heart could beat without bursting from her chest.

  He kissed her hard and then pulled back.

  “Look at me, Maddie.”

  She opened her eyes, and it took her a moment to focus on his face. His eyes were heavy lidded.

  “That was lesson one. How to kiss. You did very well.”

  He stood, and she was suddenly at eye level with his erection. Her hand itched to feel it, test the length and breadth of him.

  “Is that all?”

  “For today.”

  “When is lesson number two?” she asked, anxious to continue.

  “Tomorrow after dinner.”

  “Can we do them every day after dinner?”

  He chuckled and pulled her to her feet. He kissed her again, this time pressing his body fully against hers.

  Holy Mary! He was as hard as an oak tree from top to bottom. She was positively sizzling from the heat between them. He pulled away and turned to leave.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, Maddie.”

  With that, he was gone. Madeline was left standing there pulsing, pounding, throbbing without her teacher. She was frustrated and hoped lessons would move along more quickly so she didn’t have to go to bed so…unfulfilled.

  Teague walked out to the carriage house with a dick hard enough to hammer nails. He wanted to kick his own ass for giving in to his urges and kissing Maddie.

  Kissing her? Ha! He wanted to throw her on the table and fuck her. To make matters worse, he had agreed to her proposal. He could have stayed his month here, found out what he could, and then left for places unknown. But, no. He gave in and said yes!

  He pounded one fist onto his thigh until it grew painful. He was not only betraying Claire, he was betraying his vow to never be with another woman. He’d broken that vow three times in seven years, and all with whores.

  This was different. This scared the bejesus out of him. She scared the bejesus out of him.

  Three days. He lasted three goddamn days before he touched her. He reached the carriage house and pounded up the stairs to the small room at the top of the stairs. He yanked off his shirt and shucked his pants in rapid-fire succession.

  When he was naked, he lay down in the bed and tried to ignore the throbbing hard-on that lay heavily on his belly. It didn’t work.

  Instead his hand, seemingly of its own accord, crept down his chest to wrap around his hardness. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief as his hand began squeezing, moving up and down rhythmically.

  Faster and harder he pumped. His balls tightened as he felt his release coming. Pleasure coursed through him in waves until he groaned with the ultimate pleasure.

  Teague was distressed to realize it was Maddie’s face he had seen when he came and not Claire’s.

  Chapter Four

  Madeline woke with an ache inside her. An ache that seemed to have taken over her body. Insistent, impatient, and unceasing. She hoped Teague would move along quickly with her lessons because she didn’t think she would last two hours, much less two days.

  She was just brushing her hair when Eppie flew into the room with her usual fluttering.

  “Oh, Madeline, I tried to tell them it was too early, but they wouldn’t listen.”

  Madeline’s stomach did a funny flip-flop.

  “Who?”

  “That witch Matilda Webster and her coven.”

  Her stomach flipped again. Matilda was the sheriff’s wife as well as a beautiful, petite blonde. She was also a pain in the rear end who took pleasure in pointing out all Madeline’s flaws. Preferably in front of lots of onlookers, for the fullest effect.

&nbs
p; “Don’t you go looking all pitiful now. You let them wait while you finish with your hair. Let them stew in their own juices for a while. They came to your house unannounced.”

  Madeline nodded. Eppie was right. It was just so…intimidating to have them in her house. She always felt out of place and awkward.

  After Eppie left, Madeline sat at her small vanity and took great pains donning one of her nicest dresses, one of deep blue, and then put her hair up into a chignon at the base of her neck. She pinched her cheeks to put color into her pale skin and then scowled at her reflection.

  Why couldn’t she be even slightly pretty? Being plain was hard. Being plain and big was doubly so.

  She stood and smoothed her skirt and then headed downstairs. By the time she reached the bottom, she could hear them chattering in the parlor. Thank God Eppie hadn’t put them in the sitting room. They didn’t ever belong in there.

  Her palms were wet with sweat, which she quickly wiped on her hanky and tucked it back up her sleeve. She entered the room with as much grace as she could muster.

  Matilda sat with her two best friends, Virginia Ralston and Beatrice Adams. Their husbands were prominent businessmen in Plum Creek and, as such, they considered it their duty to stick their noses into everybody else’s business.

  Matilda sat on the settee, flanked by Virginia on the left and Beatrice on the right. All three were petite, ranging in hair color from blond to blonder, with stunning blue or green eyes and flawless skin. They were like the triplets from hell. If Madeline hadn’t known their parents, she’d swear they were spawned from the same evil source.

  They all smiled prettily with their white, razor-sharp teeth, like blond, overgrown rats.

  “Good morning, Madeline. I see with a man around the house you can keep late hours,” Matilda said.

  “I’ve been up for hours. I was in the middle of balancing the household accounts and didn’t want to lose my place,” Madeline lied as she sat on the wingchair across from them.

  “Oh, household accounts? Jerome takes care of all of that kind of thing,” tittered Beatrice. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about it.”

  “That’s too bad, Beatrice. What if something were to happen to Jerome?”

  She gasped, and her hand flew to her chest as if wounded. “Why would you say such a thing?”

  Madeline shrugged. “I like to be able to take care of myself.”

  “Then it’s lucky you never married, so you can follow through with that,” said Virginia with a smirk.

  “What can I do for you ladies?” Madeline asked, holding her temper in and her pride up with forcible effort.

  “Why, Jackson told me about the criminal you are allowing to stay in your house. I thought it was my civic duty to come over and make sure you were all right.”

  “He’s not a criminal. He is a man accused of a crime. Innocent until proven guilty.”

  “I heard he had the horse and taunted the sheriff right there in town,” said Beatrice.

  “I heard they tried to hang him, and Madeline jumped on the horse to stop them,” said Virginia.

  “Ladies, I did no such thing, and neither did he. Yes, the horse was in his possession, but until the judge or sheriff speaks to Old Clem, no crime has been committed.” Madeline felt like she was talking to twelve-year-old girls.

  “Hmph,” said Matilda. “I heard—”

  The door swung open, and Teague looked in. And my, oh, my, was he looking captivating in his too-tight shirt and trousers. He was a hell of a man, and he was hers.

  She glanced at the three women, who wore identical shocked expressions. Shock mixed with interest, and was that envy?

  “Good morning, Miss Brewster.” Teague’s deep voice reverberated through the room.

  “Good morning, Mr. O’Neal.”

  “I see you’ve got company. I’ll speak to you after you’re finished.”

  With that, he shut the door, but not without a surreptitious wink at Madeline. Eppie! She must have run out and told him to interrupt the pecking party.

  “W—was that him? The criminal?”

  Madeline stood. “That was Mr. O’Neal, and he’s not a criminal. Now if you ladies have nothing further to discuss, I have a lot to do this morning.”

  They couldn’t ignore a dismissal even if they wanted to. With a few grumbles and squawks, they were out the door, and Madeline gratefully closed it behind them.

  Eppie poked her head out from the kitchen and grinned broadly.

  “Are they gone?”

  “Yes, you evil girl, they’re gone. What possessed you to send Teague in there?”

  Eppie stepped out into the hallway and put her fists on her slender hips.

  “When a man looks that good, he scrambles stupid women’s brains like eggs.” She shrugged. “He didn’t mind.”

  Madeline shook her head.

  “It definitely scrambled their brains. I never saw Matilda so flustered.”

  Before she could stop it, a giggle burst out of Madeline’s mouth. Eppie laughed right along with her.

  “What did they want?”

  Madeline sighed. “To be nosy and sanctimonious.”

  “Sancti-what?”

  “She means they think they’re better than Maddie and me and you, but they’re wrong.” Teague’s voice joined the conversation from behind Eppie. Madeline nearly jumped out of her shoes. How could a man that big be so silent?

  “Yes, that’s exactly it.”

  “That’s the gospel truth. There were never three more wrong women in the world.”

  Madeline’s heart began to pound a little harder as she stared at Teague across the hallway. He stared right back.

  “I’ll just go back to the kitchen,” she heard Eppie say.

  “Good morning, Maddie.”

  His voice unnerved her. The echoes of lesson number one danced up and down her spine. She felt her body respond like an instrument longing for its master musician.

  “Hello, Teague.”

  “Did you sleep well?” he asked with a small tilt to his mouth.

  “No, I’m afraid I didn’t. I was…restless.”

  She wanted to pinch herself for telling him, but she wanted to be completely honest with Teague always.

  “I was restless, too.”

  She found herself walking toward him as if in a trance. Her nipples strained at her dress, rubbing delightfully against her chemise. When she stood a foot from him, she breathed in deeply. He smelled of soap, sunshine, and man.

  “Lesson number one?”

  Madeline felt bold this morning. Ready to snatch what was in front of her. In this case, literally. “Will there be a repeat of it? I believe I need a refresher course.”

  Teague made a sound, low and deep in his throat that reminded her of a cougar. Feline, primitive, and raw. An answering feminine creature within her howled.

  He grabbed her and was in the dark of the linen closet before she could blink.

  “Teague?”

  “Shhhhh…” His hands cupped her cheeks, and his thumbs ran across her lips. The familiar quality of it heightened the experience.

  His hands moved to her shoulders and down her arms until his hands grasped hers. He laced his fingers with hers and pulled her flush against his body.

  She let out a shaky breath and opened her mouth to ask a question when his hot mouth descended on her. There were no gentle kisses this time. It was raw masculinity at its very finest. His tongue plundered her mouth even as he backed her up against the shelves. She could smell the starch Eppie had put on the sheets, and she could smell Teague.

  His mouth was as insistent as it was strong. She kissed back as best she could. Her heart hammered in her chest; pressed against him, she could feel his heart, and they were nearly in tune with each other. He groaned and pressed his hardness into her softness.

  His erection felt like a log, it was so firm. She found herself grinding against him in small circles. Much to her delight, pleasure began to radiate out fro
m the contact until her mons became wet with need. Her nipples were aching points of desire that rubbed against his rock-hard chest.

  It was a riot of senses that nearly overwhelmed her. She wondered what she’d do when they were naked. The very thought made her groan loudly.

  “Shhhhh…” he said again.

  He lapped at the inside of her mouth like a cat with a bowl of cream. Like she was delicious and he couldn’t get enough of the treat.

  Her breath caught in her chest like a fluttering bird trying to get out. She felt like she was drowning, gasping with pleasure as intense as anything she’d ever felt.

  He finally let her mouth go and pressed his forehead against hers. His breath rasped out and flew into her mouth. She breathed him in even as her own breath filled his mouth. She felt dizzy and so out of control of her own body.

  She loved every second of it.

  “Jesus Christ, Maddie.”

  “I think…I’m going to enjoy these lessons. Lesson number one was…stimulating.”

  He chuckled huskily. “Lesson number one? I think I’m going to be dead before lesson number three.”

  “Madeline?”

  She could hear Eppie’s voice through the closed door.

  “Where did you get off to?”

  Madeline had to hold in a giggle. Twice in one day! She felt ten years younger.

  He held her against him for another minute until Eppie’s voice faded away. Then he kissed her softly, gently sucking on her lower lip, before he pulled away.

  Without a word, he let her go and opened the closet door. The brightness of the morning brought tears to her eyes. When she was finally able to focus, she realized Teague was gone.

  She was alone, standing in a closet, looking thoroughly kissed, she was sure. Madeline smiled and walked out of the closet to find some breakfast.

  Madeline sipped her tea and munched on a piece of toast. She could not stop thinking about that kiss. Lesson number one.

  Sweet Mary. She couldn’t believe her luck. Choosing Teague had been the smartest thing she had done in a long time. He was a very skilled teacher. Very skilled.

  Eppie came in from gathering the eggs with her basket and raised one brow at her.

  “Are you gonna tell me what you were doing in that closet with him?”