And she changed beneath his hands, rising to meet his caresses. When his nails raked lightly over her nipples, her breath stopped, then started again, much more raggedly.
Holly kept watching Linc’s hands despite the wires of sensation tightening throughout her body, making her burn. She was fascinated by the beauty of his fingers, held by his lightest touch more surely than if she had been chained.
With dreamlike slowness, one of his hands curved around her breast. He caught her nipple between his thumb and finger, rubbing lightly. She arched against his hand, tormented by a touch that was too light and too knowing. He bent and took the nipple tenderly between his teeth, making her gasp with pleasure.
Linc lifted his head almost immediately. His fingers moved over the front fastening of her bra. Even after it came undone, indigo lace still clung to the fullness of her breasts.
One of his long fingers slipped beneath the lace, peeling it slowly away from first one breast, then the other, watching her with eyes that were nearly green with the intensity of his passion.
Holly saw Linc’s lips close over her breast. Her nipple hardened even more as his tongue and lips tugged at her in a loving caress that made her moan. She held his head between her hands and succumbed to the heat that twisted through her, melting her.
His teeth closed over her again, less gently this time, knowing she was too aroused to feel a light touch any longer. She made a fierce sound of pleasure and buried her fingers in his hair.
For a time Linc held Holly hard against his body, taking as much pleasure from the desire that shook her as she did. Then his mouth gentled again, nibbling between her breasts, ignoring her sensitive nipples. He blew on her hot skin, teasing her until her nails dug into his arm in frustration.
“Linc?”
“Nope.”
“You’re right,” she said huskily. “It’s worse. Love me, Linc.”
He laughed softly despite the talons of need that had raked his body into full arousal.
“I said much worse,” he reminded her.
Before she could protest, he took her mouth in a kiss that consumed her. She gave it back just as fiercely, needing to feel the power of his body against her naked breasts.
With quick, almost fierce movements, Linc undid her jeans. He pushed the faded fabric down over her hips, then her thighs, then all the way to her ankles. When he was finished, only a wisp of indigo lace covered her.
Holly trembled but made no protest. She wanted him with a force that was shaking her.
His hands roamed over her smooth skin, savoring her heat and the tremors of desire that quivered through her. His right hand moved over her lacy briefs, then slid beneath the elastic. Fingers rubbed lightly over her hidden softness.
When Linc found that Holly was moist with desire, he had to clench his teeth against losing control.
He hadn’t known he could want a woman so much and not take her.
Slowly, gently he stroked the soft folds he had discovered. His fingers slid easily over her, for he was slick with her helpless response. With tender care he searched out the hardening bud of her passion and caressed it.
Holly gasped and shuddered convulsively, gripped by intense, wild pleasure. Her fingers dug heedlessly into Linc’s naked back.
He smiled narrowly, fighting his own need.
“What are you doing to me?” she asked shakily.
“Not a tenth what I’d like to,” he said, his voice thick. “The passion in you makes my head spin.”
His palm cupped between her thighs, pressing against her, sharing her heat. With a groan he knelt to kiss her shadowed softness.
“Linc—!”
Shock and desire were mingled equally in Holly’s voice.
With a shudder he turned his head away and rested his cheek on her stomach. For a time he was rigid, fighting to control himself.
Then Linc stood up fast and hard. He pulled her jeans into place with swift motions.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize that your virginity isn’t just a technicality. No man has ever really touched you.”
Linc picked up her bra and blouse and handed them to her.
“Put these on,” he said tersely. “I don’t trust myself. I want you too much. Too damned much!”
He turned away and began loading the Jeep with quick, fierce motions.
“Linc—”
“No more, Holly,” he interrupted in a raw voice. “I can’t take it right now.”
She hesitated, then looked down at her own hands. They were shaking.
If it’s this bad for me, she realized, how much worse must it be for him?
Silently she turned away and began putting her clothes back on.
Ten
Holly dressed quickly. She was too shaken by her own headlong passion to argue with Linc that they could end the ache of unfulfilled hunger by making love.
Yet as soon as her surprise at her own reaction to his touch passed, she wanted nothing more than to feel like that again, weak and strong, burning and melting, aching and ecstasy all wound together.
A glance at Linc’s strained features kept her from saying anything about how she felt. He looked like a man at the end of his rope.
Without a word Holly helped him finish loading the Jeep and tie the last tarp in place. By the time the work was done, he was looking much less forbidding. He was even smiling when he came around the Jeep to her side.
“Record time,” Linc said. “We make quite a team.”
Relieved that the fierce tension had left his face and body, Holly returned his smile. Impulsively she ran her finger over the edges of his mustache.
“Took you long enough to figure it out,” she said softly.
Linc’s eyes changed as he remembered just how well they did some things together. He reached for her, then stopped himself with a muttered word.
“We’ll never get home that way,” he said.
“Depends on what you mean by ‘home.’ ”
“A bed with you in it,” he said bluntly.
“We just packed it in the Jeep.”
“Damn straight. I made sure the bed went in first. Just thinking about this morning . . .”
He shook his head, baffled by his urgent, nearly overwhelming need for Holly.
“Linc? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t have any self-control with you,” he said after a moment. “When the time comes, I’ll do my best not to go too fast. If I lose it, I’ll make it up to you. Okay?”
She wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about, but she agreed anyway.
“Okay,” she said. “Anytime you want to, er, lose it, just let me know.”
Linc gave a bark of laughter and shook his head, bemused by Holly’s acceptance of a situation that he didn’t understand himself.
And thinking about it just aroused him all over again.
With a silent curse, he turned away from her. He gave the sky a measuring look.
“Antelope Wash looks like a bad risk,” he said after a moment.
Holly looked up. There was a blue-black density to the margin between cloud and land that told of mountain storms at the higher altitudes. He was right. Antelope Wash was out, which meant she had to stay at Hidden Springs.
She groaned.
“Now I’ll have to set up camp all over again,” Holly said.
“No. We’ll both ride Sand Dancer out. I’ll send some men to pick up your stuff tomorrow.”
“I can pick it up after the shoot on Monday.”
The instant the words were out of her mouth she regretted reminding Linc about her job as a model.
“Them!” His voice was scornful. “The tame Viking and his black-haired whore.”
When Linc saw Holly’s stricken expression, he controlled his tongue with an effort.
“Sorry,” he said. “I forgot. You’re with them. Of all the mismatches—”
Abruptly he cut off his words. He simply shook his head and forced a smile.
&nbs
p; Tears and anger and fear twisted Holly’s throat, squeezing her voice until it was barely recognizable.
“Royce models are just that,” she said. “Models. I’m one of them.”
Linc heard her distress more than her words. He hugged her gently.
“I’d make a terrible diplomat,” he said against her black hair, “breaking my own truces and saying all the wrong things.”
Holly made a muffled sound.
“The last thing I want to do is hurt you,” Linc said, kissing her forehead. “Truce? Again?”
“You’re wrong about Roger’s models,” she insisted.
“I’m wrong about Roger’s models,” Linc repeated dutifully. “Truce?”
She knew that he hadn’t changed his mind. Words alone weren’t enough to take away the cruel lessons of his childhood.
“Truce,” she agreed. “But someday I’m really going to have to rearrange your prejudices.”
Linc smiled thinly. “It took a lifetime to arrange them.”
“And all I have is two days.”
“You have a lifetime, niná, if you want it.”
“Do I?”
He sensed her despair, although he didn’t understand its cause. He held her in a fierce grip, trying to banish the fear he saw in her golden eyes.
She leaned against him, glorying in the rasp of beard stubble against her cheek. First, her hands slid around his back, then her arms. She held him with a woman’s surprising strength.
Holly and Linc stood pressed tightly together, each storing up the other’s presence like land drinking water after a long drought. There was nothing sexual in their embrace, simply an elemental need to comfort one another.
The long ride to his ranch in Garner Valley was the same for Linc and Holly, a time of simple closeness, of comfort given in silence and accepted the same way. She rested her cheek against the warmth of his naked back and gave herself to the remembered rhythms of being on horseback.
Feeling at peace despite the uncertainty of her future with Linc, Holly let the familiar landscape of desert slide by around them.
All too soon Sand Dancer climbed over the ridge that separated the lush Garner Valley from the desert. The valley lay between two ridges of the San Jacinto Mountains. The contrast between the sand and rock of the high desert and the pine and grass of the valley was startling.
“It hasn’t changed,” Holly said dreamily.
“What hasn’t?”
“The Mountains of Sunrise. The ranch is even more beautiful than I remembered.”
Linc smiled, pleased that she still liked his home. Part of him had feared that the ranch would look less appealing after six years in Manhattan’s sophisticated concrete and neon wilderness.
“The ranch takes a lot of time and money to keep up,” Linc said.
“It’s worth every minute, every penny.”
The white fences around the house, show rings, and paddocks were as clean as the clouds gathering against the mountains. The irrigated pastures were green. The grazing Arabians were sleek, elegant, lively, obviously bursting with health.
On either side of the Mountains of Sunrise were other horse ranches—Garner Valley was famous for its carefully bred, expensive horses.
A big yellow dog came trotting out from the barn and stood near Sand Dancer. The dog looked up, waving a thick tail in greeting. Linc lifted his right leg over the horse’s neck, slid down to the ground, and scratched the dog’s ears affectionately.
“Hello, Freedom,” he said, looking around. “Did you lose Beth?”
Holly landed lightly beside Linc. She got a big lick from Freedom as soon as her feet hit the ground.
Linc was still looking around for his younger sister.
“Beth will be glad to see you,” he said. “She missed you almost as much as I did.”
“I missed her too. Of all the kids I baby-sat for, she was the only one I wanted to keep.”
Linc smiled rather grimly.
“Good thing you didn’t let on,” he said. “Dad and my dear stepmother always made Beth feel like they would give her away to the first adult who came in the door.”
“You wouldn’t have let her go.”
“I still won’t, even though she’s driving me nuts.”
“Beth?” Holly asked, surprised.
“Beth,” Linc said.
He sighed heavily, gave the dog a final pat, and turned to face her.
“Beth is at the age when all her friends stay in town,” he explained. “She’d rather be at our Palm Springs house than at the ranch.”
“It must be lonely for her here.”
“Don’t you start in on me,” he said in curt tones.
Warily Holly looked at Linc.
He grimaced.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “Beth and Mrs. Malley keep harping on how much nicer it is in Palm Springs.”
“Um,” Holly said. “If you say so.”
“I don’t. They do.”
“So send them off for a few weeks.”
“Mrs. Malley can’t keep Beth on a short enough leash,” Linc said bluntly, “and I can’t afford to be away from the ranch for weeks on end.”
“Beth used to love the ranch.”
“That was before she discovered boys. Now all she can think about is painting her face and buying flashy clothes.”
Holly touched Linc’s arm.
“Hey,” she said, smiling gently. “It’s normal at fifteen.”
“You weren’t like that.”
She shrugged and made a dismissing gesture with her hand.
“I was an awful tomboy,” she said.
Smiling, he didn’t disagree.
“Is Beth doing well at school?” Holly asked.
“She’s a straight-A student.”
“Are her friends wild?”
“Her girlfriends wear too much paint,” he said, “but they’re nice kids underneath all the crud.”
“Then you’re worrying over nothing.”
“I sure as hell hope so.”
Linc rubbed his hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration that was becoming familiar to Holly. Then his mouth flattened into an unyielding line.
“Some days Beth reminds me so much of her mother it scares the hell out of me,” he admitted. “But Beth won’t end up like that if I have to lock her in her room and eat the key.”
Holly winced. Before she could say anything, the back door of the house slammed and a girl nearly as tall as Holly came running toward them. She recognized Beth by the long, honey-colored braids that bounced behind her.
“Holly! Is it really you?” Beth asked.
“It really is.”
Beth threw herself into Holly’s arms and held on almost as fiercely as Linc had.
“I always told my brother you’d come back,” Beth said. “Where did you come from? How did Linc find you? Why were you riding double? Are you back to stay? Did—”
Laughing, Linc put his hand over Beth’s mouth.
“Slow down, Button,” he said.
“Button!” Beth muttered hotly beneath her brother’s palm. “I’m nearly sixteen!”
Holly looked at Beth’s clean, shining face and felt like an ancient lump of mud.
“I’ll flip you for the bathtub,” she said to Linc.
“We could share,” he said, only half-joking.
Holly threw a startled glance at Beth.
The younger girl looked surprised, then smug.
“You can use my bubble bath,” Beth offered.
Smiling, Holly shook her head.
“Spoilsport,” Linc said.
“Me?” Holly asked, despite the red staining her cheeks. “I seem to remember a certain male of my acquaintance who couldn’t stop saying no when I—”
“Use the master bath,” Linc interrupted quickly. “Beth and I will take care of Sand Dancer.”
“Huh?” Beth said. “But I want to talk to Holly.”
“Later,” he said. “Right now you can tell me a
ll about the latest dress you want to buy for the Arabian Nights party.”
“Which one?”
“The one that’s years too old for you to wear.”
“How did you—” Beth began.
“Psychic,” Linc interrupted dryly.
Without looking over his shoulder, he began leading Sand Dancer toward the barn.
“Go get him, tiger,” Holly muttered to Beth. “I know where the bathtub is.”
Beth’s eyes gleamed. She started after her brother with a determined stride. As soon as she caught up with him, her clear voice floated back to Holly.
Dresses weren’t the topic.
“Okay, big brother,” Beth said. “Yesterday you rode out of here alone with a shirt and a saddle. Today you show up shirtless and bareback with Holly. Give.”
Smiling to herself, Holly headed for the house.
Linc’s home was just as she had remembered. The rooms were spacious, clean, cool, and decorated in the same earth tones of the old Navaho rugs that Linc’s father had collected.
Holly had never been in the wing of the house that held the master bedroom, but she knew where it was. The size of the bathroom that adjoined the bedroom startled her.
“My God,” she said aloud. “This is as big as my whole apartment in Manhattan.”
The sunken bathtub—with Jacuzzi—was nearly big enough to do laps in. And like a swimming pool, the tub was kept full of hot water beneath a transparent plastic lid.
Holly looked at the tub longingly, but could not bring herself to waste all that water just to clean one body.
A quick search of the bathroom turned up soap and shampoo. She took off her clothes and stepped into the oversized shower. With a sigh of sheer pleasure, she let hot water pour over her, washing away the dust of the long ride up and over the ridge to the ranch.
Finally she got out, pulled a towel off a nearby hook, and was nearly buried in an avalanche of soft cloth. Obviously the towel had been made for Linc. It was longer than she was and twice as wide.
Smiling, she rubbed herself dry, then took the unused half of the towel and went to work on her hair.
When she was finished, she deftly French-braided the sides and crown, blending the shorter hair around her face into a sleek cap and leaving the longer hair to dry in gentle waves down her back.
Desert Rain with Bonus Material Page 9
