A Settler's Wife's Dreams (Erotic Romance, Romantic Erotica, Erotic Historical Romance) by Ashley Olsen
Authors: Ashley Olsen
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matter because they do matter. They matter quite a bit because their money matters.”
“I can't afford to pay the rent here without everyone in the town supporting me.” He continued, “If people stopped coming in here then demand would be created and someone else would open another shop. Right now I'm the only shop that does what I do so I get all of the business. I hope you understand.”
Ted nuzzled his face into Lisa's neck and let his full body weight rest on top of her. Lisa found herself pushed deep into the down mattress that Ted slept on. She tried not to cry. It wasn't that the sex hadn't been good, because it had been. It was just that she wanted to be emotionally closer to Ted and that just wasn't going to be possible until they were more or less married.
Maybe they could just up and get married. She hadn't ever asked Ted what he thought about it because she just assumed that he would say no. Getting married was a pretty serious thing. It would mean that she had some kind of legal right to all of his property and that he could treat her like property if he wanted to. She knew that many men beat their wives and got away with it because most law men looked at women like little more than chattels. Frank had been good about treating her like an equal, and she had really loved him for that. Ted seemed like he thought she was an equal as well but business was always going to come before her right now.
As Ted snuggled into her, Lisa thought about asking him if he would marry her so they could live how they both wanted to live; or at least how she knew she wanted to live and Ted said he wanted to live. Was it even a good idea to ask? Asking something like that couldn't be taken back when if he gave her an answer she didn't want to hear. She pushed her face into his neck.
“Are you . . . are you crying? Why does my neck feel all wet?” He asked.
“I want us to get married, Ted,” She sobbed. “I can't stand living in the same house and living apart like this. I need to be near you every night. I want to feel your touch on my skin every night. I'm sick and tired of acting like we are brother and sister in public. It's not fair to me and it's not fair to you. We both have strong feelings for each other so I don't know why we aren't acting on them.”
“I know we both have strong feelings,” he said, “but I don't know if it's as simple as just acting on them. It might not be a good idea for either of us to act on them. If we did there could be a backlash that would negatively affect my business. People would talk Lisa. Less than a few months ago you were happily married to a man on a homestead on the plain to the south. He suddenly died and then you shack up with the local up and coming business man? I mean, you and I know it's not like that, but no one else will. Everyone else is going to think that something funny is going on, especially when I'm the person in charge of rounding up the tribe of Indians that doesn't exist and everyone is afraid of. What if people get to talking and decide to think that I somehow was involved in your husband’s death?”
Lisa pushed her face deeper into his neck and listened as he talked, caressing his back with her fingernails.
“Maybe it could work though,” Ted said. “Maybe we could get married and live our lives like everything is normal. The truth it everything is normal. Neither of us had anything to do with some lone savage kicking in your homestead door and killing your husband. There is absolutely nothing either of us could do about that. I'm more sick of hiding what we have than you know. I just want to be able to hold you in public. You have no idea how much I want to hold you in public. I want to shout my feelings about you to the world. But I can't because I have to pretend that we don't have feelings for each other to keep people from talking. It's stupid.”
Lisa tried to hold the tears back but knew that her efforts wouldn't be able to do so for
“I can't afford to pay the rent here without everyone in the town supporting me.” He continued, “If people stopped coming in here then demand would be created and someone else would open another shop. Right now I'm the only shop that does what I do so I get all of the business. I hope you understand.”
Ted nuzzled his face into Lisa's neck and let his full body weight rest on top of her. Lisa found herself pushed deep into the down mattress that Ted slept on. She tried not to cry. It wasn't that the sex hadn't been good, because it had been. It was just that she wanted to be emotionally closer to Ted and that just wasn't going to be possible until they were more or less married.
Maybe they could just up and get married. She hadn't ever asked Ted what he thought about it because she just assumed that he would say no. Getting married was a pretty serious thing. It would mean that she had some kind of legal right to all of his property and that he could treat her like property if he wanted to. She knew that many men beat their wives and got away with it because most law men looked at women like little more than chattels. Frank had been good about treating her like an equal, and she had really loved him for that. Ted seemed like he thought she was an equal as well but business was always going to come before her right now.
As Ted snuggled into her, Lisa thought about asking him if he would marry her so they could live how they both wanted to live; or at least how she knew she wanted to live and Ted said he wanted to live. Was it even a good idea to ask? Asking something like that couldn't be taken back when if he gave her an answer she didn't want to hear. She pushed her face into his neck.
“Are you . . . are you crying? Why does my neck feel all wet?” He asked.
“I want us to get married, Ted,” She sobbed. “I can't stand living in the same house and living apart like this. I need to be near you every night. I want to feel your touch on my skin every night. I'm sick and tired of acting like we are brother and sister in public. It's not fair to me and it's not fair to you. We both have strong feelings for each other so I don't know why we aren't acting on them.”
“I know we both have strong feelings,” he said, “but I don't know if it's as simple as just acting on them. It might not be a good idea for either of us to act on them. If we did there could be a backlash that would negatively affect my business. People would talk Lisa. Less than a few months ago you were happily married to a man on a homestead on the plain to the south. He suddenly died and then you shack up with the local up and coming business man? I mean, you and I know it's not like that, but no one else will. Everyone else is going to think that something funny is going on, especially when I'm the person in charge of rounding up the tribe of Indians that doesn't exist and everyone is afraid of. What if people get to talking and decide to think that I somehow was involved in your husband’s death?”
Lisa pushed her face deeper into his neck and listened as he talked, caressing his back with her fingernails.
“Maybe it could work though,” Ted said. “Maybe we could get married and live our lives like everything is normal. The truth it everything is normal. Neither of us had anything to do with some lone savage kicking in your homestead door and killing your husband. There is absolutely nothing either of us could do about that. I'm more sick of hiding what we have than you know. I just want to be able to hold you in public. You have no idea how much I want to hold you in public. I want to shout my feelings about you to the world. But I can't because I have to pretend that we don't have feelings for each other to keep people from talking. It's stupid.”
Lisa tried to hold the tears back but knew that her efforts wouldn't be able to do so for
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