Deborah Camp (42 page)

“Do you really think you’re in love with Rutledge, or do you just wish it were so?”

His question caught her completely off guard, and she could do nothing at first but stare at him.

“Are you thinking about it or dreaming?” he jested, although his expression was serious.

“I just … why do you want to know?”

“Cassie,” he chided gently, bending his head and looking at her from beneath lowered brows. “Why do you think? You’re a smart woman. Surely you know why I didn’t get on that train.” When she made no comment, Rook pursed his mouth, thinking. “Now!” He slapped his hands down on his thighs, making Cassie jump. “About Rutledge. Does he make you swoon?”

“Of course not. I’m not the swooning kind.”

“Oh, no?”

“No.” She stared frostily at him but didn’t see the challenge in his eyes and his swift movement as he stood up until it was too late and she was in his arms, his mouth on hers.

Trapped in his arms, with his lips pressed against hers, Cassie could do nothing but give in. The abruptness of his advances and his obvious assumption that she would immediately respond incensed her, in light of the way he had left her weeks before, with no farewell and no hint that he
would ever return. And now here he was again, appearing with no warning out of nowhere and expecting her to be eternally grateful that he’d extended his stay an extra day or two. There was so much she wanted to say to him and so much she wanted to hear, but she couldn’t forget the desolation she’d known when she thought he was gone forever.

When she didn’t respond to his insistent mouth he ended the kiss and drew back to look inquiringly into her face. She stared back at him, unmoved. She waited for his hold on her to loosen, and when it did she ripped free of him and let her rage erupt. The anger she felt at the hours of loneliness, of sadness, of worry, and of heartsickness he’d made her endure whipped through her like a tornado. She lashed out at him, her fists landing blows on his shoulders, his jaw, and even his hands, which he’d held up to shield his face.

“You rotten son of a bitch! I was worried about you! I saw that blood and I thought they’d killed you!” The words broke from her lips as she swung her arms wildly and smacked the flat of her hands across his face and neck. “You have no right to ask me who I care for or if I care! No right at all!”

“Damn it, Cassie! Owww! Stop it! Ouch!” He finally caught her wrists and pulled her up to him so that she couldn’t move more than an inch one way or the other. When one of her shoes jabbed his shin, he winced and gave her a good shaking until the hair piled on her head fell from its pins and slid down to her nape in a loose bundle. “What’s gotten into you?” he asked, breathless from the one-sided fight and feeling the sting of its aftermath on his face, neck, and shoulders.

“Y-you made me need you,” she said, sobbing as her anger spent itself and left her limp and aching. “Then you rode off. I knew you would leave me, but I never thought it’d h-hurt so much to be alone. Now you come back into my life and expect me to roll over like a dog before its master. Well, I won’t, damn you! I won’t!” Her chin rose up and her eyes were steely.

“What were you crying about before I came into Jewel’s parlor?”

“What do you think?” she asked in a nasty tone of voice. “I thought you’d boarded the train and I’d never see you again. Why didn’t you? It would be over now if you had gotten on that train. Now I’ll have to g-go through the whole th-thing all over again!”

“No, you won’t.” He gathered her close to him, pressing her cheek against his chest, but she refused to be consoled. She tore herself from his embrace and went around to the other side of the bed. Glaring across the four-poster at him, she shook with anger.

“Don’t coddle me and don’t lie to me! You’ve got a life someplace else and you’ll go back to it. My life is here and I’m staying. That’s the truth and you damn well know it!” Her teary gaze fell on the bed pillows, and in a fit of rage she grabbed one up and flung it at Rook. “So don’t tell me different! I’m not stupid!”

With her hair half up and half down, her prim blouse disheveled, and her eyes flashing blue fire, she looked to Rook like the hellcat he’d come upon that very first day when he’d been weak with fever and in need of water for himself and Irish. She’d had a shotgun in one hand and a whip in the other then, but her only weapon on this golden afternoon was her disturbing sexuality, far more deadly to Rook than firearms or bull whips.

Without looking, he swung his leg back and slammed the door shut with his foot. Cassie blinked in startled amazement, then narrowed her smoky blue eyes.

“You said you’d keep that door open,” she said accusingly, putting on the show of bravado she used when she was trying to bluff somebody into thinking she was capable of breathing fire.

“I lied.”

He dropped the pillow back onto the bed and walked around the end of the bedstead with a determination that cowed Cassie into silence. His hands closed on her shoulders and he brought her up to his descending mouth. Cassie flattened her hands against his chest, her palms sliding up his satin vest to his shoulders. She laced her fingers together
at the back of his neck and held on, her senses reeling. Being proper suddenly became the most boring thing imaginable as Rook’s mouth explored hers and his tongue outlined each curve and dip of her upper lip.

He drew back and devoted himself to freeing her hair, one pin at a time, until the golden curtain fell to her shoulders and down her back. He combed it tenderly with his fingers, and a half smile tipped up a comer of his mouth as he let it slip like silk between his fingers and across the backs of his hands. Her head felt so fragile between his hands, reminding him of how petite his hellcat actually was. She might feel as big and fearsome as a bear inside, but outside she was as delicate as a doe. This thought conjured up another memory and he laughed to himself.

“What are you laughing about? Do I look funny?”

“No,” he assured her, kissing the tip of her nose. “I was thinking about that time you wrestled the bear in the mine.”

“I didn’t wrestle—”

“I know.” He dipped his head for another taste of her lips. “But I like my version of the story. Oh, Cassie,” he said, sighing her name, “my memories of you are so sweet … so special. I don’t want them to end. I want to add more to them until I have a lifetime of memories about you.”

Her heart became lodged in her throat, but she managed to force words past it. “Does that mean—”

“It means that I want you.”

She pressed her fingertips to his lips when he started to kiss her. “For the afternoon?”

“Yes, right now.”

Cassie grew still as her insides seemed to freeze solid. She looked around at the impersonal surroundings and wondered how many other men and women had met as lovers and parted as strangers in this room. She didn’t want to be added to that list.

“In that case, it’ll cost you.” She shoved him away and backed against the chiffonier. “If you’re going to treat me like a whore, then you’d better pay me like one.”

“For crying out loud!” He glared at her in exasperation
and flung out his hands, palms up, in appeal. “What the hell do you want, Cassie?”

“I want you to say sweet things to me,” she ordered, none too sweetly herself. Then she propped her hands at her waist, reminding Rook of a dour-faced schoolmarm. The association did nothing for his waning desire. Why did she have to be so damned difficult? Sweet things my ass! he thought sourly.

“You want me to talk pretty to you like Romeo Rutledge did?” he sneered.

“Like Romeo Rook did,” she replied. “Otherwise, open that door and let me go. I’ve changed, but not so much that I’d give myself to a man who won’t even tell me he loves me when we both know that he does.”

His brows shot up in surprise. Then he seemed to undergo an inner struggle before he shrugged helplessly in silent admission of the truth of what she’d said. Smiling, he pinched one comer of the bedspread between his thumb and forefinger and flung the spread back to expose the white sheets.

“I love you, darlin’,” he said, simply and without preamble. “And we both know it. The question is, do you love me?”

Cassie blushed, suddenly feeling shy toward him and the intentions glittering in his dark eyes. “Of course I do. Against my better judgement, I might add.”

She placed a tentative hand at the back of her head, where she could feel her tangled hair. In an unconscious ritual she combed the tangles free with her fingers and pulled the shimmering curtain of hair over her shoulder. Rook wet his lips, finding the simple movements of her hands so sensual that his masculinity reacted of its own accord. In a short span of seconds he was fully aroused and trembling with pent-up desire.

Time ground to a halt as he continued to look at her as if she were an idol. He lifted his hand toward her, fingers outstretched, and she hesitated only a moment before taking several tentative steps toward him and placing her hand in his.

“That’s better,” he said, pulling her into his arms and
pushing her hair away from her shoulders so that he could kiss the side of her neck. “When I think of how close I came to getting on that train this morning I get cold all over.”

“Why were you thinking of leaving me behind in the first place?” she asked. The note of irritation in her voice made him chuckle.

“I was attempting to act nobly. I kept telling myself that if I removed myself from your life you’d end up with Rutledge and that you’d be better off with him than with me.”

Cassie drove her fingers through his springy hair and lifted his head so that she could stare solemnly into his brown eyes.

“Don’t be noble ever again. Promise me.”

He grinned. “I promise.”

“Good. I want you to fight for me, Rook Colton. If it ever looks like I might stray or that some other man might be giving me the eye, I want you to get mad as hell and put up your dukes. You hear me?”

“I hear you, ma’am.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and swung her up and around in a circle. “Oh, Cassie! I’m glad I’m here and you’re here and we’re together!” He set her on her feet and his laughter died as suddenly as his passion had built within him.

Cassie stepped out of his arms and unbuttoned her cuffs and bodice as he watched. By the time she stood naked in a pool of her clothing, Rook had begun undressing too, but Cassie couldn’t wait. She burrowed into his embrace, loving the feel of being sheltered by him. Pressing swift, hot kisses across his chest she worked her way down until she had to drop to her knees to continue her journey. She unfastened his trousers and helped him push them down his hips and legs. Raining kisses across his flat stomach, she refused to wonder at her sudden bold behavior, preferring to give in to it and fully enjoy the knowledge that Rook Colton loved her as much as she loved him. Nothing they did to each other could be wrong, she told herself firmly to silence the inner voice that pleaded for modesty. Nothing!

She wrapped her hands around him, marvelling at the
silky skin that sheathed him and the bulge of veins under it. He seemed to grow in her hands, all muscle and surging flesh. His hands touched her face in a tentative appeal, and Cassie bent her head and ran her lips down the length of him in a sliding kiss. He trembled violently and bucked in her hands like a wild thing. She smiled and looked up into eyes that had become seductively dark with burning passion.

“My man,” she whispered. “My strong, beautiful man. I love you so much!”

He lifted her to her feet and laid her gently across the bed. He didn’t join her there immediately but dropped to his knees between her legs. While his fingers found her soft breasts, his mouth and tongue found the vestibule of her femininity. She grew wet with desire as he continued his deep kisses. When she finally began to writhe with passion he covered her with his body and parted her thighs with a lover’s familiarity.

He pierced her like lightning parting the night, white-hot and sizzling. Cassie cried out, her fingers digging into his shoulders and her ankles locking at his back. She could no longer tell where she ended and he began, where love gave way to lust, or if any of it mattered anymore. When she thought he would pass through her like a summer storm, he slowed his pace and gentled her with caresses and soft, clinging kisses.

“You’re wonderful,” he whispered against her lips. “I look at you and I’m ready to make love. I think of you and get hard. No woman has ever made me such a slave to loving.”

“It’s good for you,” she said, smiling. “I’m good for you.”

“Yes, you are,” he agreed without a moment’s hesitation.

He began moving within her like the surging tide, ebbing and flowing until she was adrift in a divine sea of passion. They sailed together to the edge of the world and then over it, falling more deeply in love than they’d thought possible. Rook framed her face between his hands and stared at her
in wonder. Cassie stared back, feeling what he felt and just as stupefied by it.

“We’re lucky, you know,” he said after awhile.

“I know.”

“So few people ever feel this way. We’re lucky.”

“Yes.”

“Your eyes look like wet sapphires right now. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, Cassie.”

“Pretty talk,” she chided.

“That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

“I got lies from Boone, but I don’t want them from you.”

He cupped his hand along the side of her face and made her look at him squarely. “I’m not lying, Cassie. You’re far too important to me for that.”

“Oh, Rook!” Her heart swelled painfully and she wanted to show him how desperately she loved him and how important he was to her. “Let’s do it again!” She planted a hard, smacking kiss on his mouth. “Loving a man is so much fun! No wonder your mama decided to make a living doing it!”

His laughter shook the bed and that made her laugh too.

Cassie traced the lengthening shadows across Rook’s chest and shoulders with her fingertips. His eyes were closed, but she wasn’t sure if he was asleep or merely resting after hours of making love. Unable to resist, she kissed his chin and her tongue slipped into the slight indentation, where his razor had left some stubble.