Chapter 1

Westward rode the wagons, bumping over roots and ruts and rocks, shaking Matilda until her teeth rattled. She hadn't slept properly in days and food was scarce in these parts, but she knew without a doubt that her life was about to take a turn for the better. It must!

She relaxed into her makeshift bed and contemplated her circumstances for the hundredth time since she'd left St. Louis...

Her life had changed so quickly! Last summer she was a care-free girl - her parent's farm was thriving, her family was alive and well, she'd fallen in desperately in love with a man during one night of reckless passion... Then suddenly everything went horribly wrong.

Like so many other young men of that time, her lover had travelled West to build a life in the hope that she would be able to join him within a year or so. Shortly after she said goodbye to him she'd left home to help care for a distant neighbor who was having trouble with her pregnancy, so she wasn't there the night the fire destroyed her farm, and her family.

She bit back the sting of tears. Not only had she lost them, she seemed to have lost Jed now as well. She hadn't been able to contact him, not knowing where he'd settled or even if he'd made it West with his scalp intact. After months with no word from him she assumed the worst, said goodbye to the family that took her in after the fire, and headed West herself to become she knew not what. A maid? A teacher? There were worse fates she supposed, but none worse than the prospect of never seeing Jed again. Never feeling his hands on her skin, the touch of his mouth on her breasts, his softness, his hardness. At the very least she had to try to find out what happened to him.

The memories flooded into her mind...

The world was awash with the golden sunlight of a late summer evening. She had been out picking flowers for her aging aunt and then, realizing how late it had become, turned and started to run home. She knew she would never make it in time if she went around the woods, so she cut right through, daring to think that she was invincible as all young people do.

The light was dim in the forest so she never saw the branch. It was about four inches thick, just at forehead height for her, and she hit it racing at full-speed, knocking herself senseless. How long she lay there she didn't know, but when she came to and got her bearings he was already there next to her holding a lantern to push back the darkness.

Jedediah.

"Ma'am, you all right there?" he said quietly, gently.

"I am, thank you sir!" she replied. She chose not to tell him that the Southern drawl in his voice had more of an effect on her than the lump on her forehead. "Where, pray tell, am I?"

"Ah, you were walking home, I assume. You're in the forest."

"Oh, I... I have to go."

"No, no. Not yet. Just sit there. That's a nasty lump on your forehead."

"I'll be in so much trouble."

"Whatever for?"

"My parents. I was late already."

"You live in the big meadow?"

"Yes, on the far side. You know the area?"

"Yes Ma'am. That's too far for you to go now. I have a cabin near here. I could carry you there."

"Oh, you mustn't."

"It's no trouble."

"It's not that. It's... you're..."

"Oh. A man. Of course. Begging your pardon."

"I wasn't suggesting..."

"No of course not. I understand now."

"I don't even know... anything... about you Sir."

"Well, my name is Jedediah. Jedediah Smith."

"Oh, pleased to meet you Sir. Matilda Tapley. I am most grateful for your help."

"I'd shake your hand, Miss Tapley, but I need to hold these branches. Listen, could I please move you into the clearing there?"

"Oh, surely I can walk!"

"Well, I wouldn't advise..."

"Oh, my. I'll just sit back down a moment."

"Well, here Miss. Let me."

"I'm not sure I... well, I guess under the circumstances."

"I'll say you walked."

"You need not lie for me, Sir. I don't need that sort of help."

"I wasn't... my apologies. I was trying to assist."

"I'll thank you not to meddle. Though perhaps I'm being a little scratchy. I don't feel so very well."

"Right, enough arguing then Miss. Stop struggling, you'll hurt yourself. I'll carry you back to the cabin, and then find your parents, and they can come and get you."

"Look, I... Oh, I don't have much choice, do I?"

"You could be a little more graceful about it."

"I plead scratchiness yet again. I apologize, Mr Jedediah. You seem a good man."

"Thank you."

"Oh, is this the cabin?"

"It is."

"I walk near here almost daily, and I have never seen it."

"I value my privacy."

"This is intended to increase my comfort?"

"Sorry Miss Tapley. I mean you no harm."

"I was joking, Sir!"

"Oh."

"I think, could you just put me on that chair there?"

"You need a bed, Ma'am. You are not well."

"This is not the right way to behave, you know."

"I am doing nothing wrong. I... listen, do you need to remove anything?"

"What?"

"You are hardly dressed for bed. Maybe if I turn around?"

"I think not sir! I shall remove nothing."

"As you wish."

"Indeed, sir!"

"I must go, anyway. It will take me some time to get to your house, and inform your parents of your accident."

"Must you... Look, Mr Smith, do you have to go?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm injured, in a strange bed, a strange cabin, in the forest, late at night. I would have you stay and talk."

"And your parents?"

"I will explain to them tomorrow. I will be able to walk tomorrow, surely."

"I would imagine so. But your..."

"My honour?"

"Well, yes."

"Is it at risk, Sir? Are you, despite your promises, some blackguard, some rapist?"

"No, no. Not at all. I would not touch you. You have my word."

"That then shall suffice."

"I should stay?"

"Yes. Please."

"And talk?"

"Indeed."

"What about?"

She couldn't think of a thing! She searched the sparsely furnished cabin with her eyes, her gaze finally settling on a large ornate box on the small table in the middle of the room. It looked very out-of-place. "What, pray tell, is in that box? It's quite beautiful, and must hold something very precious."

"Tokens."

"Tokens?"

"Tokens of affection."

"Tokens of affection?"

"You've an odd habit of repeating everything that I say. Is it your head? Perhaps I should fetch the village doctor."

"No, no, no. I was merely... what... I mean, I don't..."

"You don't understand what a humble woodsman like myself is doing with an ornate box full of gifts from ladies?"

"Mmmhmmm."

"It really wouldn't be proper for me to say."

"Oh? Why ever not? You must always be frank with me sir."

"I must?"

"You must! Else-wise how am I to learn anything about the world? Certainly not by sitting in my parent's parlor until the day I marry and move away to sit in my husband's parlor. Now please sir, do tell me what is in your lovely box."

"Miss Tapley..."

"Please, call me Matilda."

"Matilda then. I've been to foreign lands and sown my wild oats far and wide..."

"Sown your wild oats?"

"Why yes ma'am."

"What does that mean exactly? And please, be frank."

"I... uh... that is to say that I've known many ladies. Well, women anyway. And that I've, uh, plowed their fields."

"So you have many friends who are lady farmers?"

"Well, when I say I've known them, it is in the biblical sense if you take my meaning."

"I'm afraid I don't. What do you mean you've known them in the... oh. OH! Oh dear!"

"Now don't get riled up, you're safe here. I've given you my word and my word is my bond."

"And each of these... ladies has... you've plowed their fields?"

"Yes ma'am, I have, and they've all been real generous to me. See here? This pretty leather belt with the gold buckle was given to me by a wonderful girl named Mary Ann in Virginia. I was, er, plowing her field when her husband returned home and she gave me her belt to use in my escape. I swung the belt over a guide rope and jumped from her hay loft door, sliding down the rope and onto my waiting horse as easy as kiss-my-hand. And this beautiful hat pin I used to pick the lock on a bedroom door in Boston..."

"To get in and steal something?"

"Well Matilda, it's not stealing if the lady gives it to you freely now is it?'

"She gave you a beautiful faceted hat pin for plowing her field?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Could you explain just a bit more about this plowing of fields sir? And please be quite frank. Perhaps a demonstration would also be in order... ?"

"Oh, I'm not sure that would be appropriate. I wonder though..."

"Yes, yes?"

"Well, I have a book..."

"A book?"

"Yes Ma'am. All about ah... plowing."

"Oh! Might I look at this book?"

"I'm not sure... what if you are offended?"

"I shall not be, and I promise you, if I am, I will take no action. You have my word."

"Well then, I guess that must suffice."

"I should think so!"

"The book, you understand, is mostly pictures."

"Of... plowing?"

"Mostly, yes."

"I hope you can be trusted Mr Jedediah. I think I would be no more pleased at your mention of my reading the book than you would be at the thought of my reporting its existence."

"We have an understanding?"

"We do, Sir."

"One moment."

Jed kept the book securely hidden within the spine of another publication, in a box stored within another. It took a few minutes to locate it. He rather gingerly handed it over.

"Miss Matilda?"

"Yes Jed?"

"Just one word, and I will return it to safekeeping, and never a thing will be said."

"Understood. Hand it over."

Matilda sat quietly in the candlelight, turning the pages of the book, and occasionally looking up at Jed, and blushing. She said nothing, only thoroughly perused the pictures, even turning the book at one stage to more closely examine one explicit illustration. Occasionally she licked her lips. After she had wound her way through the entire book, she closed it, put her hands on top of it, and looked back up at Jed properly.

"Mr Jedidiah, this is an exceedingly indelicate publication."

"Yes Ma'am."

"I would imagine there might be some fuss were it found here."

"I would imagine that, most likely."

"You put a great deal of trust in someone you just met."

"Indeed."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome Matilda."

"May I be blunt?"

"Indeed Miss. Any other seems pointless now."

"Indeed. Well then, seventeen."

"I beg pardon?"

"Seventeen. That was the one I most... liked."

"Oh. The... Oh, I should not say."

"No, Sir. I have been bluntly honest. I would thank you to return the favour."

"I see. Well, that particular position is termed 'doggy style'."

"Oh. I see why."

"Miss Matilda, do you speak this directly always?"

"No Jed. But I am curious and I feel safe here. You seem a gentleman."

"Thank you."

"I wonder though..."

"Yes?"

"I... I am a maiden, Mr Smith. I am not shy, but... well, aside from the solo activities at the beginning of the book, I have no experience."

"I see. You need not tell me..."

"Oh yes, I need to do so. Jed, would this 'dog style' be suitable for a first experience?"

"Well Miss Matilda, in my experience the, uh, 'plowing' method is usually best for the ladies' first time."

Matilda held the book out toward him. "Would you be kind enough to locate it for me please?"

"There's no need. It's number nineteen."

Matilda flipped to illustration nineteen and gazed at it for a few moments, thoughtfully nibbling on her lower lip.

"Mr. Smith... Jed, as I said I feel very safe with you and I've appreciated your kindness, your honesty, and your trust. I feel that it's only right that you receive something in return for all of this hospitality."

"Thank you ma'am. I'm not doing this for a reward, I'm doing it because you needed help and I was on-hand so to speak."

"You were very kind to help me out of my predicament, but I'd like your help with something else too Jed. I think we'd both benefit greatly if you agree to help me further."

"All right Miss Matilda, what is your request?"

"The book."

"The book? I'm not following..."

"One day I'll have a husband and I want very much to be able to please him. I'd like to learn how to do these things in the book."

"Oh."

"I'd like you to teach me Jed."

Jed stared at her.

"Am I not attractive to you Mr. Smith?"

"Why yes! Yes ma'am! You are a very comely young woman - one of the most beautiful I've had the pleasure to meet - and I would be honored to teach you all that you want to know."

"In that case, I would like to begin with number nineteen. Please commence the plowing of my field."

"Your voice is trembling, are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes, I'm quite sure."

"Let it be like the book then. If you but ask me to I will stop, and never a word will be said again."

"All right then."

"The field must be prepared first Miss Matilda."

"And how would you go about preparing my field for plowing Jed?"

"First thing is to uncover the field and warm the soil. Do you think you're able to stand now?"

"Yes, I think so." She took his hand for balance and rose from the bed.

The discussion finished there, for a while, as he took her hand and helped her up. She stood against him, and as she tipped her face up, her arms found their way around his waist. He looked down at her, and his lips met hers. His hands settled on her shoulders, and their mouths melted together. Matilda may have been inexperienced, but she had an instinctive understanding of what to do.

As their kiss progressed, so did Matilda's hands, pulling their bodies closer together, and exploring down over Jed's strong back. She could feel her breasts pressing hard against his chest, and the bulge in his trousers pushing just below her navel. She rubbed their bodies together, encouraging him silently as she explored his mouth with her tongue.

His hands strayed from her shoulders, wandering up to stroke her hair, caressing her ears, sliding over her neck and down her back. Gently stroking, and feeling for the slightest hesitation. There was none.

Matilda loved the feel of his bristly face on her skin, and his wet lips against hers, and could have kissed him forever. Her body had other ideas, however. She could feel the familiar dampness between her legs, a certain tickle that needed to be itched, and she was determined that this time she need not itch it herself. She knew what was going to happen, and wanted it more than anything. Taking her mouth from his for a moment, she whispered to him. "Let me go for a moment, Jed."

"I'm sorry Matilda. I should not have."

"No, no. I just want to remove some obstructions. You would rather stop?"

"Oh, not at all. If you are sure."

"Oh yes, I'm sure."

"I am too. Let me help you with these buttons."

"And these?"

"And these."