Desert Rain with Bonus Material

by Elizabeth Lowell

  “You’re good at that,” she said.

  Her voice was shaky, almost unrecognizable, but Linc didn’t care. He was too relieved that she was willing to speak to him.

  “I practiced a lot on Beth,” he said.

  For a time Holly stood without moving, watching herself and Linc reflected in the mirrored walls. She didn’t see her own beauty, the feminine curves of breasts and hips and waist, the tawny rose of nipples against her smooth golden skin, the lush midnight hair below her shadowed navel.

  Holly saw only Linc’s face, gentle again.

  She also saw the strength that coiled beneath his skin with every motion of his body.

  He secured the braid on top of her head with the same twist of gold she had worn before. When he was finished, he rested his hands lightly on her shoulders.

  His eyes met hers in the mirror for the space of several heartbeats. Then looked at the rest of her as though he had never seen a woman before.

  Holly forgot to breathe, waiting for Linc’s hands to follow his eyes.

  When his hands stayed on her shoulders, she didn’t know whether she was relieved or disappointed.

  Both, Holly admitted to herself. But mostly relieved.

  She was a bit frightened of his strength now.

  Linc saw the wariness in Holly’s eyes. It hurt, even though he knew he deserved it.

  Tenderly his fingers interlaced with hers. As he led her toward the water, he flipped a switch on the wall.

  Suddenly jets of water made dazzling silver swirls in the Jacuzzi. Bubbles fizzed and sizzled like a conspiracy of laughter.

  Without pausing, Linc walked into the water. He didn’t turn toward Holly until he was clothed to the waist in brilliant, opaque bubbles.

  Tension eased a bit in her. She hadn’t known until this moment that part of her dreaded confronting his nakedness again.

  Then she understood that somehow he had known how she felt before she did.

  “Watch the first step—” Linc began.

  “—it’s a lulu,” Holly finished, surprising both of them with her wry words.

  He smiled, took her hand, and lifted her fingertips to his lips.

  “It’s also slippery,” he said.

  When he was certain that she wouldn’t lose her balance, he released her hand. He didn’t want her to feel restrained in any way by him.

  Never again.

  The thought of how he had taken her before was like a knife turning in him.

  “There are benches built in at two levels,” Linc said, sitting down on the lower one. “You’re probably tall enough to sit down here without drowning in bubbles.”

  Holly hesitated, then sat at a midpoint on the lower level. She wasn’t next to him. Nor was she as far away from him as she could get.

  Linc noted every inch of the difference.

  Bubbles frothed up to Holly’s chin, hiding her behind their silver dance.

  “Too cold?” he asked, seeing her lips tremble.

  “Just nerves,” she said in a strained voice.

  “I won’t—”

  “I know,” she interrupted quickly.

  But did she?

  He stretched out his long legs beneath the water, bracing himself on the lower bench on the opposite side. He let his head lie back on the padded rim and closed his eyes.

  For a time Holly watched him covertly, comparing his face with that of the ruthless stranger who had taken Linc’s place when he saw Shannon instead of Holly.

  But now Linc’s mouth was no longer a thin, sardonic twist. His jaw was relaxed instead of tightened in a grim thrust of male aggression. His unfair strength was concealed beneath a gleaming froth of bubbles that fizzed and shifted each second.

  Holly shivered again, a tremor of muscles that were slowly relaxing. With a sigh, she rested her head against the padded rim of the Jacuzzi and let the water’s heat claim her.

  For several minutes there was no sound but that of the bright water seething over their bodies.

  The swirling water was alive with mischief, teasing Holly’s legs with a promise of support, then gently floating her toward the center of the Jacuzzi if she gave in.

  She braced her arms along the rim. Goose-flesh formed as the cooler air of the room poured over her skin. Her legs floated out and bumped against Linc.

  She froze.

  His eyes didn’t open, nor did his position change. If he had noticed the accidental brushing of skin against skin, he didn’t show it.

  The third time her feet drifted into his legs, she made a frustrated sound. The Jacuzzi had been built for his six-foot four-inch length. He could brace himself comfortably against the swirling currents, but she couldn’t.

  “Go ahead and put your feet on my leg,” Linc offered. “You’ll be more comfortable that way.”

  Startled, Holly glanced at his face.

  His eyes were still closed.

  After a few moments of hesitation, she let her legs float out again.

  Linc’s hair tickled slightly as the soles of her feet fitted themselves to the muscular curve of his thigh. She waited, half-expecting the water to carry her off again.

  It didn’t. His muscular thigh braced her securely.

  Linc is right, she thought. It’s much more comfortable this way.

  She sighed and began to relax.

  The heat and soothing murmur of the water slowly unraveled Holly’s tension. Letting out another long sigh, she rested her head against the padded rim and let her mind drift as aimlessly as a bubble.

  After a long time she opened her eyes. Linc was watching her with a gentleness and regret that made her throat ache.

  His arm came out of the water, reaching toward her.

  She tightened, but didn’t move away.

  He didn’t touch her.

  Instead, he leaned past her and took a towel from a stack between two flowering plants. He stood up swiftly, wrapping the towel around his hips as he came out of the water, shielding her again from his nakedness.

  When he was on the last step out, he looked back down at her.

  “Better?” he asked quietly.

  She nodded.

  He went to a cupboard and took out one of his huge bath towels.

  “Then it’s time to get out,” he said. “Too much of this will turn your brain to bean dip.”

  “And your skin into a relief map,” Holly said, holding out her wrinkled hands.

  Even so, she hesitated before she stepped into the big towel Linc was holding out for her.

  He rubbed her dry with impersonal hands. Then he wrapped the towel around her, covering her from collarbone to ankles.

  Holly shivered as her body adjusted to being out of the heated Jacuzzi.

  Or is it being so close to him that I can count the drops of water on his chest that makes me shiver? she asked herself.

  The answer was a startling impulse to lick up each silver drop on Linc with the tip of her tongue.

  The thought was as hypnotic as the hot water had been.

  “Where did you hide that oil you used on me last night?” he asked.

  For a moment Holly didn’t realize that he had spoken to her.

  “What?” she asked.

  She forced herself to look away from the bright rivulets of water that escaped down his flat stomach, only to be caught again in the crisp line of hair that began beneath his navel.

  “Oil,” Linc repeated patiently.

  “Oil. Um.”

  With an effort, Holly forced herself to glance around the room, but her eyes were too filled with Linc to see anything else.

  “I think I left you in there too long,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Your brain has turned to bean dip.”

  She smiled faintly, echoing the gentle amusement in his voice. Then she spotted an amber container.

  “There,” she said.

  Linc picked up the bottle and walked to the bed. When he turned back to look at Holly, she was still standing i
n the bathroom.

  He waited, saying nothing.

  Slowly she walked toward him.

  “If you’d rather stay on your feet,” he said, “that’s fine with me. But you’ll get your rubdown either way, or you’ll have skin like a horned toad by morning.”

  Her eyes glanced off his, then settled on her bare toes peeking out of the enfolding towel.

  “What about you?” she asked in a small voice.

  She didn’t see the instant of surprise on his face. He turned away before she looked up at him again.

  Without a word Linc pressed the bottle of oil into Holly’s hand and lay facedown on the bed.

  “Ready when you are,” he said matter-of-factly.

  She poured oil into her hands, warmed it, and bent over Linc without getting on the bed next to him.

  Silently she rubbed oil onto his back and shoulders. As she did, she tried to ignore the shift and gleam of his muscles and the tingling that began in her palms and radiated up her arms.

  When she had massaged her way down to the towel around his hips, she stopped.

  Linc bit his tongue against inviting—begging—Holly to keep on going.

  I’m lucky she’s willing to touch me at all, he told himself bitterly. And if I want more, tough.

  I had it all, and I blew it.

  He started to get up.

  “Stay put,” she said. “I’m not done yet.”

  Without a word Linc settled back onto the covers.

  Holly went to the foot of the bed and began rubbing oil into his feet and calves. She worked as she had on his back, briskly, avoiding the possibility of sensual pleasure.

  The further up his legs she progressed, the more difficult it became for her. She stopped just above his knees.

  Linc rolled onto his side.

  “Thanks,” he said neutrally. “I can get the rest.”

  Holly watched through half-lowered lids, fascinated by the gleam of oil spreading over his thighs as he finished the job.

  “Your turn,” Linc said.

  He looked at Holly’s eyes, waiting for her to decide whether to bolt or to trust him.

  Again.

  Eighteen

  Holly saw nothing but gentleness and regret in Linc’s eyes. His tone was neutral rather than intense. His whole posture told her that whatever decision she made, he would accept.

  After a moment he looked away from her. He didn’t want her to feel pressured in any way. With unnecessary care, he poured a bit of oil into his palm to warm and waited for her decision.

  Without saying a word Holly went to the bed and lay on her stomach. Other than her shoulders, arms, and feet, the thick towel covered every bit of her body.

  Linc made no move to rearrange the towel so that more of her would be within his reach.

  Slowly he smoothed oil into as much of her skin as the towel revealed. He kneaded down each arm to her fingertips, then back up again. He was careful to keep his touch firm and impersonal, a friend’s touch rather than a lover’s.

  Linc massaged up and down Holly’s arms several times. Finally some of the tension left her body. She relaxed into the mattress, no longer lying stiffly.

  Only then did he sit next to her on the bed. When she shifted her weight to adjust to his presence, he gave a soundless sigh of relief. His hands moved between her shoulder blades, loosening the towel.

  Tension crept into the line of her back.

  “Tomorrow,” Linc said, “remind me to show you Shadow Dancer’s foal. She’s a beauty.”

  While he spoke, he spread oil over her back with slow, impersonal movements of his hands.

  The touch reassured and soothed her. She relaxed again into the mattress.

  “Shadow Dancer is like a pagan god,” Holly said, her voice slightly muffled.

  “When did you see him?”

  “Beth and I came outside just as you were leading him around the auction platform. I thought you were going to sell him.”

  Linc laughed. “My prize stud? Not likely.”

  “That’s what Beth said.”

  With a tiny sigh, Holly relaxed more fully, reassured by the neutral topic and the fact that Linc’s touch went no lower than her waist.

  Linc breathed out another soundless sigh of relief. Obviously she hadn’t sensed the hunger that was tightening his body with each gliding, scented movement of skin over skin.

  He wanted her to stay relaxed. If she knew how aroused he was, he was afraid she would run from him again. Looking at her now, he could scarcely believe she was the exotic seductress known as Shannon.

  No, he told himself harshly. Don’t think about Shannon. I can’t deal with that right now.

  Grimly he admitted that it was all he could do to deal with Holly’s innocence.

  And with himself and his desire for her and his hatred of beautiful models.

  Thinking about Shannon and tomorrow or the day after or anything but now, right now, will be a disaster, he reminded himself.

  Neither Linc nor Holly could survive another such disaster, and he knew it.

  Impersonally he continued kneading oil down her back. His hands slid down the muscles on either side of her spine all the way to the swell of her hips.

  Holly let out a breath that wasn’t quite steady.

  Linc’s hands retreated instantly.

  “No,” she said. “It’s all right. I don’t mind. It feels . . . good.”

  “It feels good to me, too.”

  Linc resumed the massage.

  Sighing, eyes closed, she let her mind drift as it had in the seething heat of the Jacuzzi. His hands were strong, gentle, and demanded nothing of her.

  Yet he was giving her a sensual pleasure that was slowly turning her bones to honey.

  Holly made a tiny sound of disappointment when Linc stopped rubbing oil into her back.

  “So soon?” she murmured.

  “Just switching ends.”

  Eyes still closed, she didn’t see Linc’s hungry, sensual smile. She felt the bed shift as he moved.

  “How ticklish are your feet?” he asked.

  “Don’t you dare,” Holly said lazily.

  His answer was a laugh that was as gentle as his touch had been.

  He took one of her feet between his hands. Rubbing just firmly enough so that he wouldn’t tickle her, he massaged her foot. In time his hands worked up her calf, massaging muscles that were resilient rather than hard. She had a woman’s strength, different from a man’s yet just as enduring.

  Holly made a husky sound and flexed her leg with relief. Linc was working knots out of her calf that she hadn’t even noticed. But she knew just where they came from.

  “I hate high heels,” she said in a muffled voice.

  “Don’t wear them.”

  “Comes with the territory.”

  Shannnon.

  Linc thrust the thought from his mind.

  There’s only now, he told himself. Just now.

  When he finished with her calf, he went beneath the towel to the muscles above her knee.

  Tension crept back into Holly’s body, but she made no objection to Linc’s touch.

  The towel that had been so tightly wrapped around her loosened with each stroke of his hands. He kneaded her with fingers and palms, surrounding her thigh with warm, gliding pressure.

  He was careful not to go too high, too close to the lush softness he knew lay just beyond his reach. He could gauge the point at which he must stop from the subtle tension that came to Holly’s body each time he went too far.

  Linc worked down to her toes and back up, down and up, his touch impersonal. He made no attempt to turn the scented glide of his palms over her skin into a sensuous prelude to far more intimate touches.

  By the time he switched his attention to Holly’s other foot, she had stopped tensing every time his hands moved more than halfway up her thighs. Linc had made it clear in his words and in his touch that he wouldn’t force any intimacy on her.

  I won’t do
anything you don’t want me to. I promise. Trust me, Holly.

  Sighing, she shifted her position, loosening the towel still more.

  Trusting him.

  She drifted again as she had in the water, her mind empty, her body caressed by lovely, warm sensations.

  “Time to roll over,” Linc said easily.

  Even as she started to roll over, Holly murmured tiny complaints at being disturbed.

  The movement made her towel come undone. Belatedly she realized what had happened. She made a grab for the cloth, only to find it slipping through her fingers.

  “I’ll get you a dry one,” Linc said.

  Turning away as he spoke, he got up from the bed carrying the damp towel. Without so much as a look at the gleaming, naked length of her body, he set off again for the bathroom.

  Feeling self-conscious and vulnerable, yet not truly afraid, Holly waited, eyes closed.

  Trusting him.

  A few moments later Linc returned with another, much smaller towel which he draped over her with a casual motion. Cloth covered her from breasts to thighs.

  “That should keep the chill off,” he said.

  His voice was husky from the relentless hammering of desire through his body. There was nothing he could do about that any more than he could turn back the clock and take back his earlier mix of anger and fear after he had gone looking for Holly and found Shannon instead.

  His worst nightmare smiling at him, making his body leap with raw passion.

  Is that how it was for Dad? Linc thought. A hunger that possessed him no matter what his beautiful bitches did to him?

  Thank God Holly is too naive to know the hold she has over me.

  But Linc knew it wouldn’t always be that way. Inevitably, Holly’s innocence would give way to experience.

  Then life would become a living hell for him, as it had been for his father.

  Savagely Linc shoved his thoughts down. He would deal with the Shannon problem tomorrow or the day after or the day after that. Any time but now.

  Now there was only the night and scented oil and Holly lying in his bed.

  Trusting him.

  The mattress shifted as Linc began massaging Holly again, smoothing away her residual tension and self-consciousness with each stroke. He carefully avoided going any lower than her collarbones.