Sweet Silken Bondage

by Bobbi Smith

  "Which room is Mr. Cordell's?" she asked George, regally.

  The bartender looked up, shocked, to find the fine Miss Reina Alvarez standing in the middle of his saloon. He had seen her from a distance before, but never up this close, and he decided that she was even better looking than he'd thought. She was wearing a white blouse, leather riding skirt, matching vest and riding boots that hugged her shapely calves. The outfit emphasized her luscious curves, and her hair ...oh her hair! What a man wouldn't want to do with those silken tresses... George gulped twice trying to find his voice to answer her.

  "Well?" Reina demanded, wondering at his speechlessness. Her brown eyes were flashing at him now in impatience.

  "Twenty," he finally answered.

  "Thank you," she said curtly.

  A moment before Reina had entered, Frenchie had started up the steps just to see if she couldn't change Clay's mind. Seeing the Alvarez girl now, though, she knew she didn't have a chance. She stopped, hand on the railing, and waited for Reina to pass by.

  Reina, her head held high as if daring anyone to stop her, strode purposefully across the room. As she passed the saloon girl on the steps, she'd intended to give her a frosty look, but the other woman's expression was so friendly and so amused, she found she could only smile at her.

  "It's on the right, three doors down," Frenchie offered helpfully.

  "Thanks," Reina whispered in reply.

  "Make him happy..."

  "I'm going to try," she promised, then hurried the rest of the way up to the top and moved out of view down the hall.

  Frenchie returned to the bar and waited patiently while George poured her a drink. "Lucky woman," she sighed.

  "Lucky man," the bartender answered.

  They both took one last glance up the staircase, then turned their thoughts to other things.

  Clay lay on the bed, the lamp turned down low, his mood even lower. The knock at the door both startled and irritated him. He'd thought he'd made it plain to Frenchie that he wasn't in the mood. He didn't want to be bothered right now. He just wanted to be left alone.

  "Yeah?" he called out, not even wanting to get up and answer it.

  "It's me, Clay," came the muffled woman's voice in answer. "Open the door."

  He expected it to be Frenchie, therefore, he didn't even consider that it could be anyone else. Exasperated by her persistence in the face of his refusal, he got up and went to open the door so he could tell her that it was nothing personal, but that he just wasn't interested tonight.

  "Frenchie, I told you downstairs that I needed to be alone tonight. Why -" He stopped in mid-sentence as he swung the door wide and came face to face with Reina. His eyes widened in shock. She was absolutely the last person he'd expected to see, and the one person he'd longed to see. His heart leapt at the sight of her. "Reina?"

  Reina's heart nearly burst with joy at his words. He hadn't wanted the other woman! She was thrilled.

  "Hello, Clay," she said softly. "May I come in?"

  He studied her for a moment, not wanting to question his good fortune, then stepped aside and waved her in. "Why the hell not?"

  "Clay..." She heard the coldness in his voice and turned to him beseechingly. "Clay ...I came to tell you that I love you, and I'm sorry."

  He looked profoundly stunned by her announcement.

  "Look," Reina rushed on. "I know you have absolutely no reason to believe me, but it's true."

  "Sure, it is," he drawled derisively, remembering all too vividly the little scene just a few hours before in her father's study.

  "It is!" she insisted. "I love you, and if you love me.. .really love me like you said ...I want to marry you." She paused only long enough to draw a deep breath before rushing on. "I know you don't trust me, but if you'll just listen. I want to explain, now, before this goes any further."

  "Go on." Clay was fighting down the urge to take her in his arms and kiss her. It was hard for him to believe that she'd changed so completely, so quickly.

  "I honestly didn't know about your friend being in jail. My father just told me about that after you'd left the ranch. See, I didn't think you loved me, because you let my father take me from the boat. I didn't know he was blackmailing you."

  "I see."

  He still sounded disbelieving to her, so she went on, "I also didn't know how you really felt about me until just a little while ago. I thought you'd only proposed because you thought I was pregnant. I didn't want you that way, Clay," she entreated, boldly going to him and putting a hand on his arm. "I didn't want to think that you'd been forced to marry me. I wanted a lovematch when I married, not an arrangement." She gazed up at him soulfully, seeing a warming in his regard and feeling a first bud of hope. "Clay? Can you ever forgive me for sending you away? Can we start all over again? From the beginning?"

  "I don't think the beginning is a good place. I don't think I'd want to be the cause of Sister Mary Regina forsaking her vows."

  Reina heard a note of humor in his voice and smiled for the first time since she'd entered his room.

  "Maybe we could just start from here.. .from tonight... from my love to yours?"

  "From my love to yours, Reina. I love you, darling. I always have and I always will." His words were a groan of deep emotion as he took her in his arms.

  Pushing the door shut behind them to ensure their privacy, he bent to her. His lips met hers in a deep, passionate kiss of promise and devotion, of infinite tenderness and love everlasting. It was yesterday and tomorrow. It was the beginning and the end.