After the Ashes(17)
By the time he worked his tongue into her mouth, she clung to him, kissing him as if her life depended on it. The realization of how far they had strayed from a pretend kiss stiffened her. She would have stumbled in her abrupt attempt to pull away had he not still cradled her close to his body.
She stared up at him and glimpsed the same wonder where she had expected a satisfied smirk. He was breathing as hard as she. She licked her lips, trying to wipe away what had happened, but even her own tongue against her tingling mouth sent sparks racing over her skin. He looked like he felt the same jolt, because his eyes widened. He appeared on the verge of swooping down and swallowing her whole.
She dislodged herself from his embrace, unnerved at how easily her plans went astray. “I need to get the stove lit before you have to settle for supper.”
He nodded. When she turned, he stopped her by sliding his hands down her arm to gently hold her hand. The sweet gesture took her more off guard than if he had roughly pulled her back into his embrace.
“Lorelei.” His voice sounded impossibly gruff. But Lorelei found the sound pleasant rather than threatening. The deep timbre vibrated through her like a caress.
He brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles in a touch so genteel he had to have learned it at a cotillion. “With me you always have a choice. You can say no at any time.”
The sudden spark in his hazel eyes prompted her to jerk her hand out of his warm grip. “Fine time to tell me.”
She did her best twirl, which didn’t have the same punch when she wasn’t wearing a hoop and taffeta petticoats. Even so, she managed to resurrect her old belle-of-the-ball haughtiness. Some things you never forgot, no matter how sad or silly they seemed later.
A hard slap on her rump ruined her exit.
She kept on marching, not daring to turn around lest he see the red burning her cheeks, a fiery combination of fury and humiliation. She wasn’t the belle of anything anymore. Not even her own life.
“That’s my girl,” he called to her back.
She forced herself not to slam and bolt the door behind her. A quick glance around the room landed on the lone bed. If the display outside the adobe was any indication, it was going to be a long night.
CHAPTER FOUR
Braddock woke to the smell of sun warmed rain. He propped himself up on one elbow and winced at the pain that shot through his side. Blistering daylight poured through the open windows.
His gaze wandered to Lorelei’s empty bed. He punched his wadded, sheepskin jacket that served as his only cushion, then seriously contemplated crawling into the space Lorelei had left. The way his heart sped up at the idea made his mind up for him.
A good portion of the night he had listened to the sound of the heavy rain while cursing the fact that Corey’s trail would be obliterated. In between, he damned the cold, hard floor he slept on. But mostly he held his breath to hear the soft intake of hers. He must be crazy. She asked him why he’d come back. After pondering the reasons all night, he’d found that insanity was his only explanation.
Braddock brought himself to his feet. His muscles screamed in protest. The hours of hard labor required to patch up the sorry excuse for a barn had taken its toll. Hunting men was easier. Maybe that’s why he’d become a bounty hunter instead of buying himself a piece of land as he’d intended when he’d first melted west.
Building a spread in this desolate place required vision, a dream. A man had to be able to carve something out of nothing. After the war Braddock had had neither. Still didn’t. He saw things for what they were. And why he was wasting his time with a woman who was surely going to come to a bad end made no sense.
He found his boots and pulled them on. Checking on how Lucky fared through the storm kept him moving, though he wanted to collapse in one of the straight-backed chairs shoved under the table.
If he’d stayed with the sole intent of bedding Lorelei Sullivan, his actions would have bothered him less. There was no denying he wanted her. The kiss he’d insisted on for Langston’s benefit confirmed her vulnerability. If he pushed it, he could easily breach her flimsy resistance. He rubbed his lower back. His long night on the floor proved he was just being a fool, gentlemanlike no less. He had to get out of here.
He staggered to the table in the center of the one room adobe. Lorelei had set out a porcelain pitcher and basin with a towel neatly folded beside it. Braddock poured water in the basin, then splashed some on his face. Instead of the icy shards he had unconsciously braced himself for, warm water splashed him. His muscles untwisted a notch as the pleasant sensation registered. She must have heated the water.