The Rancher's Virgin Acquisition(30)

Or she could comply with his outright demands, while seeming to take his suggestions under consideration. Instead of trying to fight his forceful domination with aggressiveness that would only raise his hackles, she could wage a war with feminine fortitude.

Was it being totally honest to her principles? No, it was not. But she only had to answer to herself, not to anyone else, and if it caused her no guilt and no sense of shame then she didn't think it should matter. It was true; he was territorial and possessive, he was coarse and almost brutal. But he was brutal in his need to protect her. He could even be harsh and ferocious with her in his obsessive compulsion to keep her safe. But he wasn't trying to subjugate her; he wasn't trying to make her subservient to him. And it was that difference that allowed her to let him get away with his behavior.

She knew with every breath that she took that she loved him, and she loved the faults that made him who he was, and with every beat of her heart, she desperately wanted a marriage free of acrimony, a relationship of peace and calmness, and fighting against him would never accomplish that.

Instinctively, she knew the key to the answer lay somewhere hidden in the impenetrable defense he seemed to put up whenever they weren't in bed together. If she could break through that, figure out what was making him act the way he did, then they could have a completely happy union  . Or at least she hoped so.

He was silent as his eyes narrowed on her and Emma could plainly see the impatience glittering in his gaze. Impatience and something else. His nostrils flared and as he scanned her critically his gaze dropped to her breasts. The air turned hot and sultry between them and suddenly Emma felt the same hot intensity she felt when he slipped naked into bed at night.

Her first thought was that it was shocking that he would turn that heated look on her now, when they were outside in the barn. But that was quickly followed by elation that he was looking at her with heat and lust even though the sun was still high in the sky.

But that didn't matter now in the dimness of the barn, with the musky smell of hay and the earthiness of the dirt floor under their feet.

He focused his attention on her and the rest of the world disappeared. Her hand dropped from the horse's flank and a blush rose on her face. Just as she thought he would reach for her, he turned and walked back the way he had come in. Once he got there, he took the beam of wood that barred the door and lifted it, letting it fall into the slots that would insure their privacy.

He returned back to her and lifted her chin. "When will you learn to do as I say?"

"You never told me I couldn't come out here," she repeated softly.

"Is that what it's going to take?" His eyes were brooding as they studied her and his voice sizzled with the authority he could impose.

Emma looked up at him with her heart in her eyes. "Please, please, don't say it."

A tic worked in his jaw as he smoothed his thumb over her cheek. "It's dangerous out here."

"No, it's not," she quietly denied.

His hand rand down her throat and settled on her breast. "Anything could happen to you." His words were exquisitely threatening to her system.

She studied his chest as arousal pierced her in a hot steady stream as he flicked his thumb back and forth over her nipple and seductive images crept into her mind of what could indeed happen to her if he kept this up.

"Emma."

Her eyes flew to his and hung in a balance as his thumb became more determined to drive her crazy.

His head lowered and his mouth grazed her ear. "I only want you safe."

"I know, I am safe, Luke. Nothing can hurt me on your ranch."

One hand landed on her butt and pulled her to him while he continued the maddening movements on her breast. "That's not true, baby. Remember the snakes?"

Her disjointed brain tried to keep up with the conversation as her body was drowning in passion. "I--that was different--I walked too far from the yard, I didn't know."

"Something like that could happen again."

"No--I'll be more careful."

"It's driving me crazy. Every day, all day. The thought of something happening to you--"

"Nothing will happen to me. You taught me how to shoot, you showed me the ranch--"

Her words came to an abrupt stop when his hands landed at her throat and he began unbuttoning her dress with quick, jerky movements.

When he came to her bosom he stopped, and pulled in a long, shuddering breath. "I shouldn't have been so damn selfish, marrying you, forcing you to live in such an isolated place." His eyes ran over her repeatedly, focusing on the line of her collarbone and her breasts under her camisole.

"You didn't force me," she disputed on a quick breath.

"I didn't give you a choice."

"I didn't want a choice."

He reached up and gripped her shoulders. "You're too small," he paused as his eyes ran over the line of her throat, "your skin is too soft and white for this kind of life." His fingers landed on her collarbone and he moved it back and forth. "You're too delicate--your leg already puts you at a disadvantage out here. I never should have thought this would work."

He pulled her closer and his mouth landed on hers in ruthless intent.

She let him take the agonizing kiss and then broke away and held him at arm's length, her chest heaving. "Don't send me away--please, please don't give me up just because of my leg--"

He cut her off as the hands that were fastened on her shoulders tightened with unyielding intensity and he lifted her off her feet so that only her toes dragged the ground. "I'm not giving you up!" He glared at her with savage denial. "I'll never give you up. I'll give up the damn ranch before I give you up."

Emma blinked up at him as his meaning became shockingly, amazingly clear. Tears came to her eyes as she lifted her hands to his cheeks. "It's all right, Luke. You don't have to worry over this. You can have both. I promise you, nothing will happen to me. I'm always careful, I won't take unnecessary risks."

"If I find out you've been going anywhere near that stallion, I'll take you over my knee and you won't be able to sit for a week." The animal he was referring to was the prized stallion he kept for inseminating the mares. The horse was kept in a paddock by itself and Emma had mentioned before that she thought the horse was lonely. Luke had warned her repeatedly the horse was dangerous.

Her breath hitched as his intoxicating fingers danced ever so softly over her nipple while the threat in his words was a disparity that brought a ravenous sexual hunger screaming inside of her. Her eyes began to slip closed.

"You understand me?"

"Yes. I haven't--" She tried to focus as consuming need began to swirl around her. "I won't go near the stallion."

His hands continued to hold her unmercifully and his brows drew down in a grimace. "You'd better not." His eyes held hers and the words were laced with anxiety.

"I won't. And I promise I'll always be careful."

"I'm afraid you won't be."

"Don't be afraid," she tried to soothe.

"Well I am!" He clenched his jaw and his nostrils flared as he ran his gaze over her again. A deep glitter lit his eyes and his mouth flattened in agitation. "In fact there's only one thing that eases my mind, only one thing that keeps me sane--" His words stopped in the middle of that thought as he took one quick step forward and pushed her backwards, and then one more until his legs tangled with hers and she felt herself being dropped to the dirt ground.

He followed her down, and his mouth covered hers as he began devouring her with lips and tongue. One of his knees was positioned at her hip, and the other was pushed between her legs, and shockingly, she realized that he was on top of her, looming over her body and kissing her with a ruthless intent that in a sudden flash of clarity, she knew she didn't want to end.

He hung over her on all fours, and she couldn't stop a shudder as his hand fell to her throat and he began unfastening the rest of the buttons that ran down her dress.

It happened so quickly, she was startled when he took his mouth from hers and with one grasping movement, seized both sides of her dress and ripped it over her head. As he lifted to his knees to fling the garment away, she rose up on her elbows in mild panic. As much as she wanted the walls to be lowered between them, finding herself on the dirt floor of the barn wasn't something she'd remotely considered. She knew he wouldn't hurt her, knew in fact, from his words of only moments ago, that he cared for her, maybe even more than he would admit. But he was sexually threatening nonetheless, and she was rendered helpless as his body enticed hers with masculine domination. Her heart banged loudly in her chest.

Luke felt the moment when nerves took her. She shifted restlessly beneath him, and she had a thunderstruck look on her face, no doubt from the position she found herself in. But there was also a sensual aura about her, an irresistible curiosity shining from her eyes that inflamed him. Her utilitarian dress was serviceable and practical; there was no reason the small buttons and coarse material should have sent him into paroxysms of unmitigated lust.

And yet his body was gripped in a maelstrom of raging desire; he was swollen to his fullest, his erection rigid and engorged, and his brain was taking directions from the lust rampaging through him. He felt the need to soothe her, keep her quiet until he could get her clothes off, because he knew that when he had her naked skin under his hands, she wouldn't be able to fight her inner desires anymore.