Angrily reining his horse in the opposite direction, he told himself that what he was feeling was nothing more than lust, pure and simple.
He figured that all he needed to restore his balance was a tried-and-true diversion in the form of a fresh water stream. Rainbow and German brown trout were feeding in the early evening glow, jumping left and right, rippling ever-widening rings across the top of a series of connected ponds. With a gentlemanly flourish of his dusty cowboy hat, Cody volunteered to show anyone who was interested the finer points of catching their supper. After a long day spent eating the dust and fighting the heat, just about everyone eagerly accepted his offer.
Hot, gritty and exhausted, Danielle could only dream of the luxury of at hot shower. Her appreciation for the pioneers who had forged the way across the backbone of the continent over a century ago had increased immeasurably over the past twenty-four hours. She ran her fingertips beneath her eyes and rubbed the grime she found there between her thumbs.
Sand.
In her hair. In her ears. Sand in her eyebrows, in the folds of her clothing, in the creases of her skin. Sand in the back of her throat. Every inch of her body was incrusted with the stuff. There was little consolation in the fact that everyone else looked as awful as she felt, but when Mollie sauntered into camp a few minutes later offering to help with supper, it was impossible not to notice that from the top of her damp blond hair to the soles of her cowboy boots, the child was squeaky-clean! Drops of water clung to the ends of two long, gold braids.
Danielle stared into that eager, freshly washed countenance in disbelief. “Did you just take a bath?” she asked suspiciously.
Mollie nodded her head.
“Well, for heaven’s sake, lead me to the tub!”
A wide grin split Mollie’s face in two. “Shh—I went skinny-dipping in that big, deep pond back around the bend.”
Skinny-dipping, huh?
It wasn’t exactly what Danielle had been dreaming of, but to a woman who had been sandblasted for the better part of the day, it sounded heavenly. Immediately a plan formed in her head. She would feed the girls dinner, tuck them in for the night, and slip quietly away by herself for the luxury of a private bath. The very thought was refreshing.
Humming a tune under his breath, Cody sauntered into camp carrying his guitar and a string of fish. The trout had literally jumped on bare hooks. He had been firm with the girls about taking only enough to provide them dinner. A simple country boy at heart, Cody couldn’t abide the wasteful misuse of God’s creatures. A couple of fish a piece was plenty. Any more than that, in his opinion, was simple gluttony. He believed that each generation had an obligation to preserve the land for the next.
He was secretly glad that the girls insisted he continue his campfire serenade for the remainder of the trek. Not only was it helping him overcome the mental block he’d encountered lately every time he sat down to compose a song, but Danielle’s cooking also made it worth his effort. How she managed to make dinner such a palatable affair under such rustic conditions was a mystery to him, but he thanked his lucky stars that his daughter had been assigned as a driver for the troop with the best cook in the whole darned wagon train.
After heaping helpings of everything, Cody began tuning up his guitar. Something in the curling smoke from the campfire that separated them pricked at Danielle’s memory, but just as quickly as it came, the tiniest of breezes blew away whatever her subconscious was trying to tell her. Once again she was struck by the quality of his voice. There was something dreamy and stirring about it that penetrated the secret places of her heart and carried her back to a time when falling in love had been something to look forward to with hopeful anticipation, not looked back upon with melancholy bitterness. This man’s music was more than simply seductive, she decided. It fed the soul, and had the power to make one want to reclaim lost dreams.
An hour later, the nodding heads around the campfire confirmed Cody’s suspicion that everyone was as dead tired as he was. It had been some time since he himself had ridden all day in the saddle, and his backside was sure to remind him of it tomorrow.
“I think I’ll turn in early tonight,” he said, standing to go.
No one could muster much of a protest. Today’s bucket-in-the-face wake-up call established one thing for certain. Come morning there would be no sleeping in.
“Me, too,” Danielle fibbed, working on an exaggerated yawn.
Ever since Mollie had mentioned skinny-dipping, all she could think about was slipping down to that pond and lathering up by the light of the full moon. Her hair was so laden with sand it felt like a Brillo pad, and though she swore Cody’s cracks had nothing to do with it, she was anxious to take another stab at toning down the color with a thorough shampooing.
She waited until Cody was well out of sight and the children were all snugly tucked into their bedrolls before grabbing a towel and a bar of soap. The full globe of the moon provided her with ample light to trace her way out of camp. The secluded pond was a shimmering oasis. Silver moonlight played off the still surface of the water, turning it into a mirror. With a long look up the creek and a long look down, Danielle shucked off her clothes and hung them on a nearby shrub. Gingerly she approached the edge of the pool and stuck in a toe.
The water was cold.
Almost cold enough to make her entertain second thoughts about the wisdom of her decision to bathe in it. Danielle scratched at her itchy scalp and considered the filth beneath her nails.
Taking a deep breath, she plunged in headfirst.
Danielle broke the surface choking back a yelp. The frigid water literally took her breath away. Considering the possibility of hypothermia in the middle of summer, she hastily lathered up her hair.
Despite the cold, it was impossible not to be aware of the beauty that surrounded her. Never before had she seen such a night sky. Away from the lights of the city, the innumerable jewels of the cosmos sparkled overhead and were reflected in the deep waters of the pool. Danielle felt as if she had somehow fallen into God’s mixing bowl. On a night such as this, she was sure that nothing could disturb her sense of inner peace and harmony with the universe.
Unexpectedly, from out of the shadows came a deep voice far more chilling than the icy water in which she stood.
“What a nice surprise! So glad you decided to join me...”
Chapter Four
Danielle peered into the shadows. Though physically unable to put a face to the voice responsible for the thrumming awareness surging through her body, she would have known that rough-around-the-edges drawl anywhere.
“I didn’t know I was joining anyone,” she piped up in a squeaky voice she barely recognized as her own. Hoping that a dose of guilt might buy her time enough to figure a way out of this embarrassing situation, she added in a hiss, “You scared me to death, you, you...Peeping Tom!”
Cody didn’t bother apologizing. Standing in water up to his waist, he advanced out of the shadows.
Danielle’s heart did a swan dive. Glistening with water, his broad shoulders looked strong enough to carry off any prize he sought. The very thought sent a shivery sensation skittering across her skin.
“Since I was here first, I’d say that was the pot calling the kettle black, but I guess there’s nothing I can do about it now if you snuck in a peek or two at my expense...”
“Don’t you come any closer!” Danielle warned as the bubble of fear that had been rising inside her burst into a valiant spurt of bravado.
Bending at the knees to keep her shoulders beneath the surface of the water, she asked, “Why don’t you just do the gentlemanly thing—get out and leave me alone.”
The tone of her voice was enough to freeze the water in which they stood, but Cody didn’t so much as break stride. “As much as I’d like to oblige you, Red, the fact of the matter is that I’m just too doggoned modest to let a lady see me in the state of undress that I happen to find myself.” Moonlight illuminated the wry smile that curved h
is mouth. “As I see it, the only fair thing to do is for both of us to get out together, simultaneously, that is.”
Oh, he was having a grand time, all right, at her expense! At the mention of his modesty, Danielle made a loud harrumphing sound. Despite his words, it was clear that Cody was far more comfortable with his nudity than she. Nibbling on her lower lip, she frantically searched her brain for a graceful way out of this predicament.
In all actuality Danielle found the stirring of physical desire deep inside her far more troubling than the sheer embarrassment she was feeling. Despite the frigid temperature of the water, she was burning up. Lord, the man was magnificent. Like a primitive warrior arrayed in nothing but muscles and shimmery wet flesh, Cody Walker looked as far removed from the dictates of civilization as the rugged land that encompassed them. Feverish aches attacked her senses. Drowning in mindless sensation, she wondered why she didn’t have enough sense to call out for help.
What was the matter with her?
She was too mature to engage in such juvenile albeit titillating games. For heaven’s sake, she was no bashful virgin. The mother of a teenage girl who herself had a little crush upon this handsome Neanderthal, Danielle was quick to remind herself that she was past such foolish palpitations.
“Well, what do ya say?”
The caressing, cajoling tone of that husky voice had the effect of liquefying the marrow in her bones.
“You wash my back, and I’ll wash yours?”
“Thank you—no.”
Danielle divided each word into a crisp syllable. Clearly, Cody wasn’t going to be chivalrous about this. Danielle sensed their wagon master was not the sort of man easily manipulated by feminine wiles. Barring begging—a level to which she refused to sink—or playing coy—something she doubted she could successfully carry off even if she wanted to—Danielle instinctively understood that if anyone were to give in first in this adult version of chicken, chances were it would have to be she.
Each second spent in contemplation brought Cody closer, closer, closer...
“Okay, fine. You just stay right here,” Danielle called in a voice too shrill to come off as convincing as she had hoped. Never having been a strong swimmer, she struck out toward the shore in a frantic dog paddle. When she at last reached the shallows, she put her feet on the gentle slope of the pond and peered over her shoulder. She was oddly both relieved and disappointed to discover Cody had done exactly as she had requested and stayed put.
Fully aware that he had an unrestricted view of her, Danielle’s first instinct was to run out of the water into the bushes as fast as she could with arms chastely crossed over her breasts. She made herself resist that temptation. She was not a child, nor was she ashamed of her body. Though it was, in her opinion, far from flawless, she was still slim and in reasonably good shape. She was not about to give Cody Walker the satisfaction of knowing how completely unnerved he had made her.
Haughtily tilting her chin up, Danielle advanced out of the water. Moonlight illuminated her every step. White shoulders, breasts, hips, and legs emerged from dark waters. With businesslike speed, she dried herself off and donned her clothes.
The ribald comment Danielle was undoubtedly expecting never came.
Cody was enjoying the show too much to utter a single word. He stared shamelessly. Who would have thought that beneath that long gingham dress was a body to die for? Full, luscious breasts, a bottom that was purely a piece of art, shapely legs that went on forever...
Belatedly Cody remembered to snap his mouth shut. He hoped Danielle hadn’t caught him drooling.
Filled with an almost painful influx of desire, he made himself face the facts. No doubt about it, he wanted this woman. Right here and right now. He wanted to put his hands all over that luscious body, to feel her warm, full lips against his, to couple beside these placid waters the way God intended men and women to do since the dawn of time.
Groaning with the desire that swept through him, Cody wondered what was it about this particular woman that reached so deeply inside him when so many others had tried and failed? Was it merely the fact that, unlike the others, this spunky lady neither fawned over his celebrity nor tried hustling him from the bed to the altar, but rather regarded him warily behind those utterly astonishing eyes as if he were a tiger on the prowl?
Right now, however, it seemed that Danielle was as immune to his presence as a marble statue, cold and ever so beautiful. Had he not already felt this prim den mother ignite beneath his kiss, Cody could have believed that the blood in her veins was as cold as the water feeding this mountain pool.
He deeply regretted that impetuous kiss that had stirred in him feelings he had so long ago buried with his deceased wife. Unfortunately he could no more erase the memory of that kiss from his mind than he could dismiss the desire to repeat it, to lengthen it, to let it lead him straight down the path to perdition.
Surely the woman knew that all she had to do was crook her little finger in his direction and he’d be bounding from that water faster than a Garth Brooks’s ballad hitting the top of the charts. Danielle gave no indication that she would like him to put on a similar exhibition for her benefit. She merely stepped out of that pool with as much grace as a professional dancer and, without so much as a backward glance, disappeared into the high country night, leaving him up to his neck in icy water and red-hot fantasies.
Shivering, Danielle slipped back into camp and into her sleeping bag. Determined to block out the image of the most alluring naked male body she had ever seen, she pulled the down-filled bedroll up to her chin and squeezed her eyes shut. Cursing the man for making her feel as unworldly as her thirteen-year-old daughter, Danielle wondered whether it was simply silly feminine pride that had kept her from turning around and studying a buck-naked Cody Walker at her leisure. She certainly wasn’t so literally bound to her principles that she thought she would have turned into a pillar of salt like Lot’s inquisitive wife or been blinded like the unfortunate sot who snuck a peek at Lady Godiva.
Chastising herself first for her wantonness, then for her prudery, she regretted the fact that whatever of that delicious male body had remained concealed beneath the surface of the water couldn’t have possibly been any more arousing than what she had imagined.
When she at last fell into a semiconscious, torpid state of sleep, it was with the image of Cody’s mischievous blue eyes and warrior-like body burned into her subconscious.
Her first thought upon awakening the following morning was that she had been a fool to have let modesty deprive curiosity of such a satisfying eyeful. Dragging her aching bones out of her sleeping bag, she donned a tired smile and with red-rimmed eyes set about the business of preparing for yet another day on the trail.
Watching Cody saunter into camp half an hour later looking bright-eyed, well-rested and, as always, cleanshaven, was nothing short of infuriating. No matter the conditions, the man somehow managed to look as if he had just stepped out of the shower.
She was surprised by how nonchalantly he was able to greet her “Good morning.” After the performance she had put on for him last night, the least he could do was have the decency to look a little sheepish. She had, after all, put on a private exhibition for him, and he was acting as aroused as a piece of old driftwood. It was insulting. While she had spent the night battling erotic fantasies, Cody had apparently slept like a babe.
Danielle glared at him over her eggs. He was impossible!
She’s adorable! Cody watched a becoming blush climb from the collar of Danielle’s dress to stain her cheeks with twin roses. It had been a long time since he’d met a woman modest enough to blush so sweetly. More than once over the past couple years he’d found himself in the predicament of having to fight off some hot, half-dressed bimbo awaiting him in his hotel room after a concert. None of those supple young bodies had stirred him like the sight of Danielle emerging from that shimmering, moonlit pool last night. That she was embarrassed by the lustful spectacle she had m
ade of herself for some reason pleased him very much.
He wondered how well she had slept after their midnight rendezvous. If she were to have the moxie to ask him that question, he would have to report that he hadn’t slept worth a damn. What little of the night he hadn’t spent wrestling an enchanted water nymphette in his dreams he had spent examining his reaction to Danielle. They definitely struck sparks off one another. It was an attraction that he would like doused as quickly as possible. There was no room in his life for another woman, not even one as intriguing and sassy as Danielle Herte. He had worked too hard to prove himself in a business that ate men like fire just to toss it all away over a bad case of hormones.
Despite the overwhelming odds, Cody had not only survived, he’d thrived. And somehow he made it look easy. No one would suspect what the struggle cost him. From the top of his sequined cowboy hat to the soles of his fancystitched boots, he was depleted. It wasn’t just that he deserved a short break before throwing himself back into his work like gangbusters; he had to have one.
The last thing he’d expected when he’d signed on as wagon master for this little “vacation getaway” was to have his tenuous peace of mind shaken by a den mother whose antipathy to him was as conspicuous as her bottlered hair. Cody was tempted to take a strand between his fingers and test its texture. Were those springy curls natural or the result of a talented beautician’s artistry? Strangely enough it seemed that her wild mop of hair was a little softer today.
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