Part 2

And that night Adam had rushed to see the woman he loved. He was too impatient to wait for hot water for a bath so he had just grabbed a bar of soap and went to the small fishing lake and bathed there. He had told his father and Hop Sing not to wait dinner for him so as soon as he was dressed, Adam left for Mrs. Clavell's. And she had welcomed him into her arms and he carried her up the stairs to her room. The lovers undressed each other while his lips coursed over her body as he revealed her breasts, her belly and her rounded thighs with their secret buried between them, the secret that only he was allowed to explore and enjoy She locked her ankles around his waist as his hips rolled in matching movement to her body's desire for him.

And then, after both had reached their release and a sense of calm and quietude overcame them, they lay together, their arms around each other, and she asked him about his trip. Adam told her about the cattle drive—and how he had missed her.

"What did you miss the most?" she asked as they lay in the dropping darkness. The fading light emphasized the contrast between his swarthy skin and her alabaster perfection.

His laughter was deep in his throat. "It should be easy for you to know what I missed." He kissed her again. "And then I missed your voice, how you say my name and tell me that you love me and how you moan in the pleasure I give you."

"Hush," she said, placing her fingers over his lips to still them. "You make me sound like a wanton hussy!" But she smiled.

"The best kind of hussy," Adam said and then he pulled her down to him, gently melding his mouth with hers and he could feel her relax into his embrace. That was what he needed, a soft woman in his arms, a woman he loved and who loved him. He ran his hands down her back, enjoying the soft curve of her spine and the fullness of her buttocks.

Before she had welcomed Adam into her bed, she had never even known the bone-shaking pleasure, had just found a comfort in her husband's arms and his kisses but she had always ended their love making with an ache of fullness in her belly and restlessness in her soul and always had trouble sleeping afterward. But she had been told it was thus so she never expected more—until Adam Cartwright touched her body and set her skin aflame with a desire that threatened to overwhelm her, consume her.

Adam held her closer to him, a sense of desperation overtaking him, and kissed her throat and she threw her head back as his heated lips pressed against her skin. Adam felt that if he ever lost her, he would go mad. But with her, he felt himself transported to such raptures that he lost who he was until his senses returned—and it was because of her that he experienced such physical joys. He always searched for ways to express his deep gratitude and love.

"I love you," he said, hoarse with desire. "I need you more than air and I want you more than food or water. Those I can exist for a short time without but not without you—I want you and only you. Oh, Asia, I love you—adore you." And then he pressed her mouth under his and she willingly opened her mouth to him as she had opened her legs and as he had earlier pushed himself inside her, so he did with his tongue, commanding her to allow him in her dark, moist mouth.

One night a few months earlier, as they lay in the darkness, after she had kneeled between his legs and given him pleasure with her mouth, how the language for both orifices was the same. Both openings of the woman, he said, had lips and they both were rosy and inviting. And the lips protected the "mouth" and both were moist and dark and either opening could take a man into it and please him.

"And I suppose," Asia said, "above both is a pleasurable spot and that if you rub my nose I'll roll around in ecstatic pleasure?"

Adam laughed. He propped himself on an elbow, leaned down and kissed her on the tip of her nose. "Now, let's do a little experiment. Remember the kiss on your nose." He moved down on the bed and she knew what was coming, a thrill running through her as she pulled her arms into herself, placing her fists over her heart. She felt his fingers and his mouth as he placed a gentle kiss. She sighed in delight. Then his mouth was near her ear and she felt the roughness of his beard against her neck. "Was it the same?" he murmured.

"No." She turned her head to look into his gray-green eyes that were often so serious but now were drowsy and warm. "And it's a good thing it's not or I'd be constantly rubbing my own nose and embarrass myself in church constantly—and if I ever sneezed..."

Adam paused for a moment and then he laughed and pulled her to him, smiling. He kissed her hair. "You are everything to me," he said, "and I'll never give you up. Never. You're my lover, you're my friend and you make me laugh when I need it."

Asia was comforted by that; she knew Adam loved her. After all, he showed her in every way he knew to show her. He told her, made physical love to her, gave her little gifts and most of all, he respected her wishes and the way she wanted to handle their relationship. Some nights, he would bring his guitar, and calling those their "courting" nights, he would sit with her on the front porch of her house and sing while strumming his guitar. And then he would slowly seduce her, touching her gently and kissing her with a tenderness that he couldn't control when they were in the throes of passion, both striving to please the other and yet find their own joy in the other person's body.

Asia and Adam stood in her open doorway, her arms entwined around his neck while he leaned down and kissed her goodbye, his arms around her. She always insisted that Adam be gone by five in the morning. That was when Mr. Miller and his two sons came out to work the farm; she and they split the farm's profits between them and although Asia trusted Mr. Miller and his two grown sons and had never heard any gossip from them, she didn't want to give them any fodder to support the town gossips' presumption that Adam Cartwright spent long nights with her. So Adam left, coming back for one long kiss and then rode away. Asia watched until he was out of sight, thinking about the small birthday dinner that he had insisted she attend that night. Then went back into her house and closed the door. The house always seemed so empty to her after he left. He brought a light and joy to her quiet house that she needed. Asia admitted to herself that she needed a man in more than one way, but not just any man. She knew Adam was the only man she could love.

She had just put on coffee when there was a knock at her door. Since it wasn't yet time for the Miller men to arrive, it had to be Adam having returned to kiss her one last time or to tell her some small detail of his birthday dinner that he had forgotten, so she rushed and opened the door, smiling. But it wasn't Adam; it was a tall, handsome man whom she would have sworn she had never seen before.