The knock at the door startled him. Seth sloshed water as he sat upright in the tub. “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Celia… ma...may I come in?”
“Wait a minute,” he snapped, more harshly than he’d intended. It took a moment of stretching at the low-slung table just out of arms reach, but Seth managed to retrieve and strategically place a towel over the tub for her sensibilities. “Come on in. It’s open.”
“I didn’t get a chance to speak to you when you arrived,” Celia said as she slipped into the room. Her polite but prim demeanor faltered when she spotted him in the hipbath. “Oh! Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were bathing. I’ll come back later.”
She wheeled and her hand was already on the doorknob when Seth called out to her, “No, wait. It’s okay. I’m covered.” His wry smile topped off the smoothing of the cloth over the big brass tub.
Slowly, Celia turned.
He had to chuckle to himself. It was admirable she didn’t turn scarlet or wave away the vapors or some such nonsense at the sight of a half-naked man. He reminded himself of others who would do just that, when presented with a bit of male anatomy. Satisfaction surfaced. Probably seen all there was to see in the surgery theater, Seth mused. With a waving of his wrist, he motioned her in as his smile became wicked. “Come on in and keep me company. I might even get you to scrub my back later.” He took a deep swallow of the whiskey before setting his glass on the stand beside the tub. The dark liquor burned all the way down and still didn’t numb the feeling of need growing in him. He watched her out of eyes gone to slits. For the life of him, he couldn’t seem to curb the irritated bend to his mood.
Cutter got up from his post near the hammered brass tub, and wagging his tail, before sashaying over to greet Celia as she neared the bed.
Traitor, Seth mused as the dog thumped his tail with affection for the room’s newest member.
Lighting on the bench at the foot of his bed like a butterfly, Celia relaxed fractionally and let out an exaggerated breath when she noticed the hint of mischief in his expression. “I never know how to take you.” Trying to get her bearings back, she reached out and rubbed the cow dog behind the ears. “I wanted to ask if you’d heard anything about the… the… about my father’s murder while you were in town?” She finished in a rush. “You went to the sheriff, right?”
Nodding, Seth cupped water in both of his big hands and splashed it into his face. He was in no hurry to respond as he wiped the back of his hand across his face and then shook his head like a dog sending droplets of water in all directions. “I went to alert Sheriff Cole and Major Chance at the Fort like I said I would.” Seth reached for the bar of soap and began to scrub. “We checked the tracks leading away from Lone Eagle’s campsite. They headed north into Oklahoma territory. We lost them not to far from the boundary to the reservation.” He shook his head. The ponies still carried Army issue shoes. The riders are either U.S. Army or somebody with balls of steel. They left a lot of signs and discriminating evidence. I’m thinking they did it on purpose. Whoever is responsible wants it to look like the army did it.”
His gaze met and held hers for minute. “I spoke to Jake earlier.” He waited a beat. “How did you like your ride?” Watching her closely, Seth waited.
Celia looked away, “Fine.” She worked her hands in her lap. The knuckles she gripped turned white under the pressure. “Your place is so big. I still have trouble with how vast it is.”
Seth watched as Celia placed her hand on her stomach and rubbed.
“We spent most of the day seeing a great deal of your place. It’s beautiful,” Celia concluded quickly.
Too quickly, Seth thought, Nerves - not a good sign.
“Jake said we’d only skimmed the surface. He mentioned how far away the outlying line shacks sat. He reminded me the Shooter Creek remained the northern boundary of your spread. He said you own everything almost to the Oklahoma territory.”
Seth watched her and only nodded. His expression remained benign.
Celia reacted with her hands moving to grip the bench on either side of her. “Do you need help with your back?” She rose.
The question came out of the blue. To his surprise, Celia got up and walked toward the tub. Leaning over the squat table to retrieve the soap, she began to lather his back.
What was she up to? Seth stilled in the water. His next thought had nothing to do with the cooling temperature of the water. He realized the true reason he’d been driven to get back to the ranch so quickly, which had nothing to do with her safety and everything to do with her.
The stroke of her fingers along his back had him tensing and sent blood rushing to his shaft. Seth closed his eyes and willed himself to focus on something else. His back muscles twitched as her hands glided up and down in a slow, rhythmic dance along his backbone.
“Seth, I wanted you to know how much I appreciate all you’ve done for me.” Her voice sounded like distant music. “I don’t think I would have made it without you.”
Trying valiantly to regain his composure, Seth sat in the water in silence for a time. Her words sounded sincere. Then as if driven, he slowly leaned back in the tub. He had to admit, if she was toying with him, she was damn good at deception. “No need to thank me, Celia. You’ll always be able to count on me.” Seth took mental stock one more time and assured himself he was in control. But the need churning inside him had other ideas. One look into those emerald green orbs and his heart gave a little lurch. His mind simply stopped working.
Celia’s fingers continued to glide over his soap-slicked skin. With each stroke, her fingertips were sending molten heat straight to his loins.
They reminded him of satin. He wanted more.
Before he realized what he was doing, he reached out and clasped the nape of her neck. Feeling her start to pull back, Seth whispered, “Relax girl, I won’t hurt you.” With his eyes on her lips, Seth hesitated briefly, searching for something – anything, which would let him know how she would react. Then he reached up and took her mouth with his. The hunger breaking free had nothing to do with sensibilities. This time he coaxed her mouth to open and let him taste the sweetness of her tongue. Seth’s pulse hummed as her lips gave warm and tender under his. She opened for him like a flower and Seth tasted the warmth of her lips, which were pliant against his. He groaned softly. She tasted like honey and the line of her throat like cream heated by the sun. He thoroughly explored the inside of her mouth and then the slender neckline she offered when her head lolled to the side on her own gentle moan. Slowly he discovered every slick, wet curve of her mouth. His teeth grazed her lips and tasted the salt of hunger in her response. Did she want him as much as he wanted her right now?
Celia exhaled and her eyelids fluttered shut.
The hunger growing inside him knew only one end. Long agile fingers sank deep into the silken strains of her hair as he levered himself up the side of the tub angling for a better hold on her warm skin. Cupping her head in his big hand, he kissed her again. This time it was with the fever of need. A need he’d, long ago, locked away. It surged up from the cold depths of his own desire and rocked Seth with its intensity. Taking her mouth in an attack meant to capture and possess, Seth realized too late he was losing the battle with reason, but he’d lost the will to care. She tasted so good. Her head fell to the side on another soft sigh of pleasure. Seth found himself trailing long wet, ardent kisses down her neck. The soft dip of her collarbone was a perfect place for him to linger. He could feel the blood pulsing there, just under her skin. Her smell, the smell of roses was all around him. Another soft moan escaped. So full of life, a life he’d thought he’d never hold in his arms again. The warning bells were going off in his head by then. His blood was roaring in his ears. He was in too deep to heed any of it. He felt like a drowning man with no desire for rescue.
It took a moment for it to register. She was saying something and the air around him was cooling as she drew back.
“Seth…” Her
voice was a fragile murmur as she pushed gently at his chest. “I think I better go and let you get out.” Celia shifted and disengaging his hands. She slowly rose from the edge of the tub.
His eyes were on hers, those deep green orbs, pulsing with a thinly veiled need. He could see it lying there in their depths, a molten-hot, burning fire. Then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone - snuffed out like a candle flame. Logic reined once more.
“You better get out before you turn into a prune,” she said primly. The words, spoken so plainly, sounded strange coming from the swollen mouth Seth saw was bruised red with passion. Her lip quivered before she bit down on it.
He noted a small mark along her neck where, he surmised, he’d used his teeth. Some base demon urged him to pull her back and take what was so close. He simply stared. Unable to say anything, Seth watched her cross her arms over her breasts in a protective gesture. There was no question in his mind she’d been affected by the kiss. She ran her tongue over her lips again and looked away. Seth watched her as she brushed deliberately at the front of her day dress before she spoke again.
Long, sooty lashes rose and Celia looked once more into his face. “I better go,” she whispered. Heading for the door, she quickened her pace when, she heard him sloshing water as he rose.
***
With the door to her own room at her back, Celia leaned on the frame and tried to slow her breathing. The warmth in the pit of her stomach wasn’t just nerves. She was no virgin. After all, she’d known Seth’s body all those years ago. Just now, something had happened. Something shouldn’t have happened, but it had. She told herself not to think about what it had meant. It meant nothing – nothing at all!
She had been sitting on the bench one minute and the next minute she had been washing his back. Stupid, stupid move, Celia berated herself with the obvious. Looking for someone to blame, she focused on Seth. She couldn’t forget the picture of how he looked in the tub, those broad shoulders gleaming in the water, with the scent of his soap lingering in the air. It had been a trap and she’d fallen for it. The steam seeping from the tub had swirled around his glistening dark hair in what she could only think of as a sexual haze. She had watched droplets of water trail down his chest. Celia cursed low for considering their path. His touch had set off warning bells she’d blatantly ignored. Damn him to hell, but he had no right to make her feel the way she had only moments ago. Clutching her stomach, she realized it was exactly what she had wanted to feel. Celia cursed him all over again.
Forcing herself to consider the situation rationally, Celia decided her mind had left her, simply disappeared at the sight of him. There had been all those midnight swims down at the creek so long ago. She was simply reminiscing. Stamping her foot in frustration, Celia began to pace, her feet hitting the wooden floor echoed in the room. The voice in her head only laughed at her dilemma.
Suddenly, the same voice reminded her of why she’d ventured across the hall to begin with. Damn the man, for making her forget! Berating her reflection in the mirror, Celia countered with the fact she’d been distracted. She’d gone to tell him about Red Bear. If for no other reason than to give the Loflins the chance to defend what was theirs. She owed Seth that much. Celia scrubbed at her face in frustration.
The small voice of reason reared its uninvited head, yet again, and reminded her of the consequences Red Bear faced if she told Seth about her discovery. She could inadvertently be signing The People’s death warrant.
***
Seth toweled off and pulled on clean pants. His movements collided with irritation. Surprised at the sensations running through him, he swore under his breath. His mood had gone from dubious, to aroused, to sullen, all in a matter of minutes. The only defense he had for what he’d done was the way she looked when he’d first seen her standing there gawking at him. So alluring and sensual, Celia was oblivious to what she did to his insides. The kisses they’d shared on minutes ago were branded on his brain. Not even the cooling water of the tub had dampened his arousal. Damn his soul to hell and back for trying a move like that on her! He’d had no right to turn her words of gratitude into something so base.
He could claim ignorance of her all he wanted to. The years may have passed, but she was still Celia. She’d come to him and offered him a gesture of appreciation, a gift of thanks and what had he done? He’d almost forced himself on her. Damn him!
Seth drank deep from the whiskey in his glass while his mind ran along a path he was pretty sure he’d regret. He wanted her. It shouldn’t come as a shock after all, she was a beautiful woman. But the timing couldn’t be worse.
***
When the knock came at the door, Celia jolted. “Who is it?”
“Seth. May I come in?”
Celia rubbed her damp palms across the front of her skirt. “Yes.”
He looked like a clean cowboy now. Having donned a fresh pair of pants and a white cotton shirt hanging un-buttoned, Seth padded in on bare feet. The dark hair she could see on his chest still glistened with tiny droplets of water. She unwittingly followed the trail of dark hair to where it disappeared below his pants riding low on narrow hips. Celia swallowed hard.
Seth reached for the back of his neck and rubbed. His grin was crooked before he flicked a glance at her and blew out a breath.
She watched as he hooked his thumbs in his front pockets and glanced around uneasily.
“I wanted to apologize for what happened in my room a while ago. I got a little carried away. It would seem, when I’m around you, I lose my head completely.”
Celia’s own heated emotions cooled as if he’d thrown cold water on her. The bastard! Chilled green eyes watched him squarely as he stood there in the middle of her room with his thumbs hooked casually in his pockets and his hair all damp. So this was how he saw it. She shoved those fresh, new thoughts of Seth deep into the crevice of her broken heart. He could come swaggering into her room with a devil-may-care attitude as if nothing of consequence had just occurred in his room across the hall. Celia felt like cursing him for the cur he was. She should have known better… “It’s okay.” She wanted to claw his eyes out.
“Listen, I didn’t mean any harm. Things just got a little out of hand, that’s all.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I just…” Her voice trailed off as her hands clasped tightly at her waist. The urge to plow her fist into his ruggedly handsome face surged up like the People’s reaction to a chieftain war cry.
“Look I had no right. I’m sorry, okay?” He was stepping toward her.
She nodded. Her bottom lip disappeared inside her mouth and she dropped her hands suddenly. Furious at herself for allowing things to have gone so far, she reminded herself how good his kiss had made her feel. The hand wringing began again.
“Would you stop that? What’s wrong?”
“I’m okay,” she lied.
“If you’re okay, then why are you acting like I almost attacked you? You know I’d never stoop so low. Don’t you, Celia?” His questions sounded sincere. He stepped closer and took her by the arms. “Is that what’s wrong? You’re having flashbacks?”
“No!” Celia shoved at his sleeve looking away when she couldn’t get free.
“Tell me what’s wrong.” Words gentled now, Seth drew her to a settee.
“Tell me what’s wrong…” Celia could feel the weight of his words closing in on her as he led her to the small couch. Her mind had no difficulty with his request. Oh, there was something wrong all right. She flicked a glance up at him as he towered over her. Something was definitely wrong, but it would have to wait, because she had things she had to tell him. Celia took a deep breath and looked down at her tightly clinched hands. “Seth, there’s something I have to tell you. It happened while you were in Tyler.”
Seth’s mouth thinned into a hard line. “What are you talking about?”
“I did something yesterday and I shouldn’t have.” She saw the wary glint come into his eyes. It was like a fist squeezing
her heart. Her hands were damp again and trembling now. Celia wished fervently she could take the words back, but it was too late now.
"Well, what is it, Celia?” Seth snapped the words out.
Celia flinched.
Seth reached up and pinched the skin between his eyes before dropping his hand onto her shoulder. Scowling, Seth breathed deep. “Sorry, you look pale,” he observed. “Let me get you a drink. Then you can tell me what’s on your mind, okay?” Without waiting, he moved to the small ladies bar set up in the corner of the feminine room and selected a bottle from among the Sherries, wines and other mild drinks. Fixing her a brandy, he brought her the snifter and found a seat directly across from her on the matching settee. With his elbows resting on his knees, Seth leaned in and gave Celia his full attention.
She took a sip of the brandy. The liquid burned and Celia grimaced.
“All right, Celia, talk to me?”
Briefly, she thought about running. She could feel the panic teasing at her throat. Her mind tried hard to quell the attack. Celia took a couple of deep breaths and looking directly at Seth before she began, “Yesterday, while Jake and I were out riding, I spotted my cousin, Red Bear.”
Seth’s blue eyes cooled a few more degrees.
With a sudden need to defend her actions, she rushed on, “He’s alive, Seth.”
Coming to the edge of the couch, Seth spoke low, "That’s good. Were others with him?”
It struck her peculiar he didn’t sound too surprised to hear Red Bear had come back. A tiny warning bell went off with his question about ‘others’. She realized what he must think. The same warrior who was reputed to hate all whites and Celia had seen him.
“No.” She purposely omitted the fact Red Bear had assured her there were others of their band who were safe. Fleetingly, Celia saw Father Miguel’s face from the St. Mary’s Finishing School in her mind. She would surely go to hell for lying.
Comanche Haven (The Loflin Legacy: Book 1) Page 13
