In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

at his wife, stopping dead in his tracks as an enormous surge of lust caught him unaware. The wedding dress had muted her sexuality, but this gown revealed all that the dress had shielded.

Iris took another gulp of the champagne. "They left this," she pointed to the bucket. "Would you like some?" Despite her confident words to her sister, her voice squeaked a little.

Carlos heard the underlying nervousness and caught hold of himself.

"That sounds good. Why don't I sit here while you bring me a glass," he sat down in the overstuffed armchair by the window.

Conscious of his eyes devouring her, Iris went to the dresser and poured a second glass. When she brought it to him, he took it and set it on the table and pulled her down into his lap.

"You aren't afraid of me, are you?" he asked.

"No, of course not," she said, a little defensively, "but this is new to both of us. What if I don't do it right?"

Carlos snorted. "So, we keep trying until we get it right. Just like learning to ride a horse."

Iris gave a gasp of laughter at the image his words provoked, almost spitting the champagne. He caught her glass before it spilled on them and set it on the table with his.

Carlos slid his hand into the silky mane of her hair and pulled her mouth to his own, parting her lips with his tongue. The invasion of his mouth created a pleasant tickling sensation in her groin, and she could feel the fabric of her thin gown and his shirt against her hardening nipples. When he cupped her full breast with his hand and rubbed a thumb across them, she moved restlessly against him, her hands skimming over the tight muscles under his shirt.

When she fingered the buttons tentatively, he encouraged, "Go ahead, I want to feel your hands on me."

His skin was smooth, with a light sprinkling of hair on his chest. Iris combed her fingers through it, sliding her hands over his hard ribs to the waist of his pants. Carlos moaned in pleasure against her mouth, and abruptly stood up, keeping hold of her so his hard arousal pressed against her legs.

Iris turned to face him, pressing a kiss on his throat while her hands pushed the shirt off his wide shoulders. Carlos dropped both hands to cup her bottom under the nightgown, lifting her against him. The slit sides of the gown allowed Iris to wrap both legs around his waist, soothing the need in her nether mouth.

She made a small protesting sound when Carlos let go and let her legs drop.

"Hold on Darling, let me get my pants off," his voice was guttural. He stepped out of his pants and lifted the edge of her gown, pulling it over her head before catching her under the buttocks and lifting her again. Iris flung her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her tongue dueling with his as he walked toward the bed. Turning around, he fell backward on the bed with her riding his hips. He rocked, his shaft rubbing against her nether mouth, and Iris moaned.

"Ride me," he whispered, and she rubbed herself against him frantically, going over the edge when he stroked both her nipples with his thumbs.

When she collapsed atop him after her climax, Carlos rolled, lifting them both further up on the bed. Frantic now to assuage his own lust he thrust himself between her already spread legs. Iris gave a gasp of pain and stiffened under him as he broke through the tight barrier inside her womb.

Carlos kissed her, lifting himself so he could rub her nipples to bring her back with him. She was too sated to be fully roused, but when she wiggled against him, he couldn't resist moving inside her. His movements softened and lubricated her channel and pleasure returned. When he gave a final thrust, and pumped into her, she experienced an echo of her earlier intense gratification.

The next morning Iris was yawning when they joined the family at breakfast in the dining room. Carlos had woken her three more times in the night to make intense love to her. She had enjoyed it each time, but she was conscious of a little soreness between her legs.

Iris ignored the amused and knowing looks her sister and Grandmother gave her when she and Carlos both ordered a hearty breakfast.

"I spoke to a couple of folks last night after you married folks all went to bed," Henry said. "Hennessy hasn't been seen here in town for a couple of days, so he may be hiding out up at the mine."

Alec nodded. "Henry, you and I will go to his house and ask his wife if she knows where he is." He looked at Carlos and Iris. "You two be careful up there. Hennessy may be a cowardly rat, but rats have teeth."

"It's good thing both of us are going," Iris said, adding as she correctly interpreted the scowl on Carlos' face, "No, I will not stay here and hide, so don't even think about it."

The Queen's Gambit

FOR SOME TIME AFTER Iris and the men had left the Hotel to find Hennessy, Giselle and Bethany sat at a table in the Hotel dining room, thoughtfully sipping their coffee.

The plan the family discussed earlier had Alec and Henry paying a visit to Hennessy's home to search for evidence of his complicity in forging the loan papers and searching the Crossing and Minerstown for him if he wasn't home. Iris and Carlos intended to take the train up to the mine and search Hennessy's office and rooms there to see if they could find evidence he had forged St. Vyr's signature on loan papers.

"He is a painstaking man," Carlos had said. "If he made an agreement with Lutz, he will have kept a written record of it to avoid being cheated."

Giselle had an additional plan she chose not to share with her son and grand-sons-in-law.

"Bethany," Giselle