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make him desperate enough that the condom would go by the wayside. “I mean it,” she said.
    Ace brushed his longish brown hair out of his face and stared at her for a tense moment. Gabby tried to set her jaw, to let him know that she wasn’t kidding.
    “Alright,” he finally said. Ace tucked his diminishing cock back into his jeans and zipped them up. “You know I won’t force you.” He looked up at her, searching her face. “That’s not what this is about, is it? You don’t want to play-act me forcin’ myself on you or somethin’ like that, do you?”
    Actually, it could be fun, but maybe another time. She was determined to get her way. “No, that’s not what I intend.”
    “Okay.” He scooted to the side of the bed and, before standing, turned back to her. “I think you’re gonna regret this, li’l girl.”
    Not as much as he was going to regret not giving her a baby though it was clear that she was perfectly ready for one. “I’ll take my chances.”
    He stood. “Well then, I’d best get back to the oak grove parcel and help the men with those fences. There’s plenty of chores to do.”
    Gabby pulled the coverlet over her nakedness, suddenly feeling exposed. “Right. I’ll see you at suppertime.”
    “Yep.”
    That night, as Gabby crawled into the chilly bed by herself, she watched her husband as he sat in the bedroom chair. A book of Roman philosophy rested in his lap and he was reading quietly. He loved that Roman stuff, even reading it in Latin. She’d asked him once how he came to know that obsolete language, and he’d explained that he needed to learn a language in college, and Latin was the natural choice since he needed to know a lot of Latin words for the biology parts of his animal husbandry degree. It seemed logical to her, since he was already fluent in Spanish and not the kind of man who’d take the easy way. But he’d always had a love of philosophy and Roman philosophy in particular, so he’d started reading the Latin versions. Gabby thought it was weird–that he should be reading “Rodeo Times” or something, since he’d been a bull rider once–but he was a man of many facets. She learned more about him every day.
    “Coming to bed?”
    “I think I’ll stay up and read awhile,” he told her. “You go ahead and sleep.”
    She eyed him, taking in his broad, bare chest and the flat stomach that slid into his pajama pants. “You sure?”
    He nodded and smiled gently. “G’night, li’l girl.”
    “Night, Ace.”
    She turned off the light, and the room got dim, though the light from near the chair still cast a yellow glow. Burrowing into the soft covers, Gabby lay there awake for quite a while. Finally, she fell asleep as she watched the shadows on the wall.
    Two days later, nothing had changed. He stayed up and read each night, ignoring her until she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer and fell asleep. Gabby didn’t know what time he finally came to bed, but she couldn’t see any change in him that indicated that he was either sexually suffering or weary from staying up late. It was frustrating in the extreme.
    She made a trip into Sonora and brought home the thing that she was sure would turn him on so much that he wouldn’t be able to keep away from her.
    As they started their now-familiar good-night routine, she got out the vibrator she’d bought. Pushing the covers off her nude body, she started by playing with her nipples. They hardened to her touch. Ace didn’t look up from his book.
    Gabby tried a little moan, and he glanced up, his eyes following her hands as she pinched her sensitive peaks. Good. He was finally paying attention.
    She slid her hands down her belly and played with the sparse curls at the juncture to her thighs and watched as a gleam began in his eyes. He closed his book.
    “What are you up to, Gabby?”
    “I miss you.”
    “I miss you, too, li’l girl.”
    She smiled and parted her legs. “Then come over here.”
    He shook his