Page 13 of A Bride for Brodie

CHAPTER4

Lottie held a fistful of skirts and hurried to keep up with Brodie. He was in an awful hurry to show her the barn. “Brodie. Wait. Your legs are longer than mine.”

He slowed. “Sorry, I’m just a bit anxious.”

She huffed a bit to catch her breath. The corset was keeping her from being able to take a decent breath, so she felt continuously breathless. “We’ll get there. If there’s anything I learned in prison, it’s that hurrying doesn’t help anything happen faster, it just makes the good stuff end quicker.”

“Okay. Here’s the barn.” The largest doors were still open from when they arrived. “Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.”

She chuckled. “I’m surprised you read poetry.”

He straightened. “I’ve read all kinds of things. Did you notice all the bookshelves in the living room? Thefullbookshelves?”

“I admit I didn’t see the living room at all since you rushed me through. You’ll have to take me back and show me the house.”

They approached the ladder to the hayloft.

“Here we are. After you darlin’.” He swept his arm toward the ladder.

This wouldn’t be the first hayloft Lottie had been in, but she suddenly realized from his smile and his gesture that Brodie would make love to her here. He knew she was a virgin, but she guessed he couldn’t wait until tonight. Should she let him? Her curiosity said yes.

“I hadn’t expected you to be a virgin, Lottie. Would you rather wait until tonight? Would you feel better that way?” He put his hands in his pants pockets.

Lottie smiled. “Thank you for asking me.” Then she turned and climbed up the ladder. She sat at the top with her feet dangling through the square hole in the floor before pulling them up and standing. She looked around and noticed he had spread a red patchwork quilt over a thick layer of hay. He was trying to make things comfortable for her. At least he didn’t spread it on the hard wooden floor.

The hay loft held hay for the animals in the barn in winter. They lifted the bales into the loft through a double door on the side of the barn, using a block and tackle. From there, some were stacked, and they spread out a couple to make it easier to toss it over the side. The square hole in the floor allowed them access to the loft to work in any kind of weather.

“I know it’s not a bed, but I tried to make it as comfortable as possible.”

She thought about it hard and finally decided it didn’t really matter where she lost her virginity, as long as she lost it to her husband. She smiled. “This will be just fine.”

He closed the trapdoor. “There might be people walking around down there but with the trapdoor closed, I guarantee no one will come up here.”

Brodie walked over to Lottie. “I want to make love to you, Lottie. I don’t deny it, and since the moment I saw you, it’s been the only thing on my mind. Will you allow me to make love to you? I know this isn’t the best place, but with everyone in the house, we’ll have the most privacy here.”

Lottie considered letting him swing for a while, but couldn’t do it. She was nervous. What if he didn’t like her body? Or she did it wrong? If there was a problem, she’d just as soon find out now. “Yes, I’d like it very much if you’d make love to me.”

He held out his arms. “Come here, darlin’.”

She walked into his arms.

Brodie kissed her and then moved his mouth to behind her ear and pressed a little kiss there, as well.

Shivers ran up and down her spine.

He kissed down her neck, taking little nips that made her squeal and then soothing them with his tongue and a kiss, making her shiver once again.

Brodie unbuttoned her dress, pushing it off her arms and into a pile at her feet.

She stood in only her corset, chemise, bloomers and stockings. She unhooked her corset and let out a long sigh. “Ah, that feels so good. I’ve always hated wearing a corset. It’s a torture device invented by some man who hates women.” She threw it on the hay. “I’ll throw it in the trash for burning later because I will never wear one again.”

Brodie chuckled softly and then untied the ribbon on her chemise with his teeth and let it splay open.

Lottie’s breathing quickened. She threw back her head.

Brodie lifted her chemise over her head and let it fall on top of her dress.

“Sit on the blanket and take off your boots, please.”