His gaze travelled from the tips of her toes up to the brim of her hat, pausing for only a moment then falling to rest on the fullness of her body. ”I’ll see you home?” he said with a cheeky grin, knowing full well he was antagonising her acquaintance. His dark eyes flashed under the brim of his well-worn hat. She hadn’t known him for long. The friend of a friend from a long time ago, who happened to be passing through and had promised to call in if the opportunity arose. He seemed to be a loner. He had lots of tales of far away places, places she had only read about in cheap novels. They had met in town by accident. He had stopped for a cool drink in the only half-way decent looking place he could find in town. He had heard her refer to their mutual friend in her conversation. She had been in town, meeting her fiancé for a late lunch. She and Frank had been engaged for over a year now but there was still something holding her back. She didn’t know what it was, it was just a feeling that things just weren’t right. Frank had been annoyed at her today, as he was most days now, and she had been glad off the offer of a lift home. To have to put up with Frank for the return drive would have been unbearable. Also, there was no guarantee that once she had got home, she’d have been able to get him to go leave. He was growing impatient for her and it was getting harder and harder to get him to go home at the end of each of his visits. He didn’t like the fact that she lived alone or even that she still considered it improper for him to stay the night. She lived way out of town and it would have been very unlikely that they’d have been found out if he had stayed occasionally, but that wasn’t the point. Even if it didn’t mean anything to him, it meant something to her. He just wasn’t the one. It wasn’t her, it was him. Something about him that made her hesitate. He just didn’t understand. A year, he would tell her. A year! Still the answer was no. She had made no secret of the fact. Nothing he could say would change her mind, and it certainly wasn’t from a lack of trying on his part either. She had been lonely and had craved some degree of affection. It had become common knowledge in town years ago that that was how it would be with her and the young lions had left her alone after that. That was probably why Frank had crept into her life so easily. Everyone in town knew it, even the stranger who was riding so close behind her, knew it. She sighed, and gathering her large skirts about her, she realized that she was definitely looking forward to being home by herself again. She held out her hand for her rescuer to pull her onto his horse.. He grasped it firmly and pulled her up onto his horse. To her amazement, he swung her up in front of him, to sit squarely in the saddle, instead of behind as was usually done. There was nothing usual about this man though. He was tall and well-built, not overweight but muscled in all the right places. He had a few days growth in a soft blond colour that seemed to cup his masculine jaw. He was wearing a white linen shirt with tight breeches with a matching vest as was the latest trend in men’s fashion. She looked behind her where he was sitting. He seemed to be perched rather precariously on the back of the saddle and his bedroll, which was in turn tied to the saddle. He smiled at her again as he picked up the reins and clicked to his horse. “Best be getting on, I reckon” he said. The horse started off, barely noticing her extra weight on his back. It would be a long ride home and the scenery was nothing to write home about. All around her the land was flat, and brown and dusty. There were no picturesque streams to dangle one‘s sweaty toes in. There were no treed gullies filled with coolness and certainly no relief from the sun’s rays anywhere. But that was alright, the wind had picked up a little, and the breeze was cooling and besides, the ride home would give her lots of time to contemplate this man behind her. While she had been turning all this over in her head, he had somehow managed to slide forward with the momentum of the horse, and she had not noticed. Now he was riding fully in the saddle, with his body wedged tightly against hers. One arm was loosely around her waist holding the reins in front of her, the other resting on his cotton-clad thigh. He shifted his weight slightly and she suddenly realized to her embarrassment, that at some point in her day-dreaming she had leant back against him. She made a conscious effort to sit up straight but the horse’s movements were making it hard to hold that position. It just seemed easier to lean back and enjoy the ride. The air had gotten more cooler now and it made the day seem somewhat dim. She lay there, looking up at the sky. Still - not moving even the tiniest muscle. She was that close to him that she imagined that she could even have heard his heartbeat if she listened hard enough. Imagine what the town gossips would say if they could see her now. She was glad they weren‘t there, for some reason she couldn‘t fathom, she was enjoying the ride home more than usual. The scenery hadn’t changed any in the last half hour, and his horse certainly wasn’t anything special. The only thing left that it could be was the man himself. “How strange” she thought. A cold wind blew just then and he huddled in closer to her, as if to shield her from the cold. She immediately moved forward and the edge of the saddle rubbed against her again. She liked the sensation. He leant forward and said close into her ear “Think a storms brewing - better hurry or we might get wet”. With that he nudged the horse into a quick canter. Suddenly that gentle rubbing of the saddle became a much firmer caress, one, which in her innocence, she never experienced. Bewildered at the strange sensations that seemed to be flooding up and down her body, she lay back against him, and closed her eyes. Without realizing it, she shivered slightly. He felt that and deliberately mistook it for coldness, and pressed closer to her, causing her to slide even more forward. A gentle moan escaped from her lips before she could catch it. He seemed only a little startled to hear that, then smiled an all-knowing smile to himself as if he now knew something special. He tightened his arm and moved a little more forward. “Cold isn’t it” he said huskily in her ear. His voice flowed through her whole body like a hot whisky. She could only nod. She wasn’t sure that if she opened her mouth, anything that made sense would come out. All she knew for sure was that she had never felt like this before. She had no idea what was happening to her. She felt out of control, out of her body, as if floating, and watching from above. The bodice of her dress was heaving as if she had been running. She knew that her eyes were now closed, and that there was this strange smile on her face, as if she knew a very big secret. She moaned again. He had heard the little moan earlier, and had been waiting for another, just to be sure. With a knowing smile, he placed his hand on the top of her button-up boots and slowly slid it up her bare leg with the barest of caresses.. His hand slid, without protest under the ballooning skirts that were so fashionable now. He slowed down then, but he doubted she had even noticed what he was doing. She noticed and knew she should be protesting against what his hands were doing but she couldn‘t. She knew she should have been stopping him, only she knew she didn’t want it to stop. Slowly his hand started caressing her leg again. Stroking her slowly, he made his way up her shapely calf, then higher and higher. She held her breath, not daring to exhale in case she missed something or he stopped. His hand had reached the top of her thigh and his fingertips ever so gently touched her tender skin through her cotton underthings. She bucked slightly and pushed forward against his hand as if encouraging him. He slid his fingertips under the folds of material and found the soft little nub he was searching for. Only it wasn’t so soft or so little now. After all that rubbing on the saddle, it was hard and full, and he rubbed it boldly. She shuddered. Her whole world, as she knew it, was spinning madly. She didn‘t care about anything else now, as long as he didn’t stop. And he didn’t. He paused for a minute, as if gauging the reaction he was getting and rubbed harder. She leant even further back and he leant down and kissed her neck. It was the gentlest of kisses, not something you would expect from a man like him. Her mouth formed a silent “oh” as he left a trail of kisses from her shoulder to her ear. He spoke one word, “wench” and kissed her hard. The huskiness of his voice sent shivers down her spine. She didn’t care. Couldn’t care. Wouldn’t care. She would worry about her reputation later. Now was certainly not the time. He leant away abruptly and she suddenly felt bare, alone and more than a little bewildered. But he was only pulling the horse up. He motioned for her to move her leg over the front of the saddle, which she did, and he turned her right around to face him. They sat there, just looking at each other. She noticed that his eyes were of the deepest blue and that she could have almost fallen in them, they looked so deep. He leant up close to her and she held her breath. He reached around and tied the loose reins to the front of the saddle. His horse felt the reins go slack and slowed down to a dignified walk. Her stranger leant forward in the saddle and kissed her in such a way that he took her breath away. She had never been kissed like that in her whole life. His lips came down on hers again and with such force, that he was bruising her lips. His hands were searching under her skirts again for the spot they had found moments earlier. He pulled her closer to him and reached down between them. Suddenly he pushed his thumb into the warm spot he had found before. She moaned out loud and he was quick to take advantage of her open mouth. He kissed her again and took her tongue and sucked it gently, stroking it with his. She seemed to hesitate then responded in reply. These feelings and actions were all foreign to her. The pressure of his thumb had not abated and it was creating waves of passion that were rushing through her like lava from a volcano. Sensing she was close to losing control, he pushed up her skirts to her waist. His thumb was joined by his fingers, and her head had rolled back in ecstasy, exposing her creamy neck. She was moaning almost rhythmically now. Without releasing the pressure his fingers had on her, he quietly unbuttoned his trousers. He was so ready for her, but was she that ready for him? Slowly he drew her towards him. She had not known his intentions until he had slipped his entire length into her. There was only the slightest resistance to him. She was so wet and hot that he fought to keep control of himself. He rubbed harder against her skin as his other hand curved around her hips and pulled her closer to him. She struggled against him as she realized what had happened. As quickly as the thought of pulling away entered her mind, it disappeared. He pushed deeper into her as she moaned again. Pulling her closer to him, he saw the sheen of sweat on her face as she was lost amongst the waves of passion. He just sat there, letting her enjoy the sensations he was creating for her. She let her head fall back and he couldn’t help himself. Suddenly, he gathered her up in his arms, and pulled her so close that it seemed their hearts were now beating as one. It seemed so wrong to be doing this but it felt so right. His hand was now wedged into the gap that that lay between them, and it was doing unspeakable things to her. She tucked her legs in behind him and slid deeper onto him, now it was his turn to groan as he once again fought to control himself. She dug her heels in and thrust up at him. The horse, feeling the nudge in his ribs, started off at a trot. Almost losing their balance and ending up on the ground, he made a grab for the reins, and her at the same time. The horse’s movement had created a rhythm that neither of them wished to stop. She bounced up and down, and closer then further away. He just leant back, smiling as his steed seemed to be doing all the work for him. Sensing she was ready to explode, he pulled her close and matched her thrust for thrust. Suddenly, gloriously she came. And came. And came. He held on to her as it seemed like she was just going to float away. When she came back down to earth, she turned to look at him. With loving in her eyes, she turned to look at him in awe. She asked him if it was always like that. Shaking his head, he wondered if anyone else would ever be able to recreate this experience for her again. He laughed at the thought of the poor guys that would try to and fail abysmally. Those eyes of hers just seemed to melt him to his core right. With a smile, he leaned forward and kissed her passionately. There was no-one about and the road was deserted. He pulled her close and whispered his intensions in her ear. She smiled up at him and nodded. After all - it was a long ride and the scenery was nothing to look at.