“I always believed a person had to rely on both to succeed.” She walked over to him. “Do you think your family knows you’ve made a success of this ranch?”
“I’ve told my mom that I’m doing okay for myself. She might tell my sister a few things. But not the menfolk.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t understand. What would happen if your mother told them she’d contacted you? So what? You’re her son. She has that right. It sounds like she’s more of a possession than a wife.”
He grimaced. “She’s—well, submissive. And she keeps her mouth shut to keep the peace. But I still talk to a few old friends back in Texas. I imagine they’ve passed information along to the family. But that hardly matters. I don’t have anything to prove to my dad or my brother anymore. And my sister has her own life to worry about.”
He suddenly reached for her, and as his hands came around her shoulders, she went willingly into his arms. “But you, Rosa, I do have something to prove to you.”
Her breath lodged in her throat as his hands slid against her back and drew her body snug against the front of his. His sinewy muscles were as hard as a rock and the heat radiating from his body torched her with excitement. “Like what?” she asked teasingly.
His head bent and his lips hovered temptingly over hers. “Like proving how much I want you in my arms. Not just for a few minutes, but for as long as you’ll stay.”
A shaky breath rushed out of her. “Tyler—I—this is—I think I need some air.”
He didn’t try to stop her as she slipped out of his arms and once she was past the open doorway, she didn’t stop until she was off the porch and walking down the slope of the mountain. By the time she reached a grassy knoll shaded by a copse of aspens, the fresh air had helped to untangle the jumbled thoughts in her head. As she leaned against one of the white tree trunks, it dawned on her that the uncertainty she’d experienced back in the cabin had nothing to do with Tyler. She’d not been running from him. She’d been running from her past.
Drawing in a deep, cleansing breath, she was trying to figure out how to explain herself to Tyler when she heard the snap of a twig behind her and realized he’d followed her. Then, seconds later, his hands came gently down on the back of her shoulders.
“Rosa, what’s wrong?” he asked gently. “You aren’t afraid of me, are you?”
She swallowed as a surge of emotions thickened her throat. “Yes, I am. But not in the way you’re thinking.” Turning, she faced him. “I’m afraid of the way you make me feel.”
“And how do I make you feel?”
Resting her palms against his chest, she was stunned at how right it felt, how the doubts and questions suddenly fell aside. “When I decided to come with you on this ride I think deep down I knew this might happen. And deep down I realized that I wanted it to.”
“That was a funny way of showing it. Running from me like that.”
Her hands slid up his chest and latched over the top of his shoulders. “I needed a moment to think, Ty. You know, wanting something doesn’t necessarily make it right.”
His lips twisting to a wry smile, he murmured, “Doesn’t make it wrong, either.”
Rosalinda looked into his green eyes and suddenly she remembered the first morning she’d met him. The iciness in his eyes had haunted her. But that coldness was gone now and thinking she’d brought warmth back to his life made her happy. As happy as anything had ever made her.
Lifting a hand, she gently brushed her fingers against the ridge of his cheekbone. “Make love to me, Ty.”
But would it be love or sex? As his lips came roughly down on hers, Rosalinda told herself that right now it didn’t matter. She wanted him and he wanted her. And this time she wasn’t going to run.
Chapter Ten
His hands came up to clasp her face and he held her like that for long moments, his lips prodding, urging her to give him more and more.
When their tongues mated and helpless moans sounded in her throat, he began to ease her down onto the bed of grass beneath their feet. The movement caused their mouths to break apart and Rosalinda used the moment to regain her breath. But the reprieve was short-lived. As soon as he had her lying next to him, his lips found a spot at the side of her neck and his hands molded around her breasts.
Sweet desire plunged through her body and drove a flare of heat straight to the very core of her. The intensity of it left her senses spinning and her hands clinging helplessly to his shoulders.
“Rosa, Rosa.” He whispered her name as his lips made magic circles over her cheeks, nose and chin. “When I first saw you, something hit me. I don’t know what it was. But I never expected to feel like this—to want you so much.”
His breath against her face was so utterly masculine it seeped into her skin like an intoxicating fog and sent her senses spinning wildly. She thrust her fingers into his hair as her head tilted back to give him even more access to the line of her throat. “Ever since you kissed me, I—oh, Ty—I think you’ve made me a little crazy.”
“Crazy. Wonderful. I think I’m dreaming,” he said against her skin. “But it feels too good—too real to be a dream.”
His fingers went to work on the buttons of her shirt and once the pieces of fabric parted, his mouth sought the flesh between the cups of her bra. The intimate touch shot a buzz of sensation up and down her body and drew tiny moans of pleasure from her throat.
“We could go back to the cabin,” he whispered the suggestion. “The bed would be softer for you.”
“I don’t need soft,” she assured him. “It’s beautiful here on the grass with the leaves above us.”
“Mmm. And it’s even more beautiful with you in my arms.”
Quickly, he tugged her to a sitting position so that he could remove her shirt and release the hooks at the back of her bra. Once he’d eased the blue lace away from her breasts and exposed them to his hungry gaze, she’d expected to feel self-conscious, especially since they were outside in broad daylight. Instead, she felt empowered by the reverent glow in his eyes. And the desperate ache to have his mouth upon her breasts caused her upper body to arch instinctively toward his.
Responding to her invitation, he laved one breast with his tongue. At the same time, she pushed her hands up his sides until she found an opening in his shirt. Wantonly, she pulled the snaps apart, slipped her hands inside and slid them brazenly across his chest.
The exploration of her fingers caused his head to lift, and with his hands on her shoulders, he slowly lowered her back against the grass. Once they were lying side by side, he pulled her close against him, his mouth feeding on hers while his fingers explored her breasts, the faint ridges along her rib cage and the smooth valley around her belly button.
By now her breaths were coming in tiny sups with hardly enough oxygen to replenish her starved lungs. It wasn’t right to want a man this much. No. This desire for him was so deep, so shattering that it had to be dangerous. But she was beyond caring about the danger now.
When his fingers finally reached for the zipper on her jeans, he pulled his head back and met her drowsy gaze.
“Rosa, if this is too much for you—if you want to stop now—tell me,” he urged, his voice raw with tightly reined emotions. “I don’t want this to be something you’ll regret.”
Her head shook back and forth against the thin mattress. “No regrets, Ty. No matter what happens later.”
He closed his eyes and she felt something stir in the middle of her chest as she watched the muscles in his throat work to swallow. He might show a tough veneer to everybody else, but he was a different person with her. He was a bit more open and vulnerable, and the gentle touch of his hands could only have been guided by a softness within him. And it was that softness that made her want to wrap her arms around him and never let go.
Pres
sing his cheek against hers, he pushed his fingers into her hair and stroked the dark strands away from her face. “How did I ever find you?” he asked, his voice full of wonder. “I was so angry about the fire. But now—the damned thing brought us together. Does that make sense?”
“Maybe it was meant for us to start a fire of our own,” she teased.
Groaning, he eased back from her and finished manipulating the zipper. Once he’d tugged off her boots, he slipped her jeans and panties over her hips. Tossing the garments aside, he looked down at her, and the smoldering haze in his green eyes shattered what little composure she had left.
With desire pounding inside her, she scrambled to a sitting position and reached for the front of his jeans. As she dealt with the buttoned fly, the sharp intake of his breath joined the sound of blood throbbing in her ears.
“Let me do this,” he said urgently. “Or I’m going to be the one going up in flames.”
Leaning back on her elbows, she watched him shed his boots and jeans, then lastly a pair of navy blue boxers. The sight of his erection caused her breath to catch in her throat and her fingers to curl into the blades of grass. The need to feel him inside of her was burning her mind and it was all she could do to keep from grabbing and pulling him close to her.
“I think I should tell you I didn’t bring any protection with me,” he said as he eased himself over her. “It hadn’t been a plan to seduce you. I just wanted to share this special place with you. If I’d thought there had been a chance...”
She curled her arms around his waist and tugged him against her. “It wasn’t my intention to seduce you, either. But this was meant to happen, Ty. Somewhere. Somehow. The time just happened to be now.”
His eyes delved into hers. “Is there a possibility you might get pregnant?”
“I’m not sure I’d stop this even if there was a chance of me having your baby,” she admitted in a rushed whisper. “But not to worry. I’m protected and healthy.”
“So am I,” he murmured against her lips. “Healthy, that is. And I want you, Rosa, more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
“Oh, Ty, make love to me. That’s all I want.”
There was no need to repeat her plea. In the blink of an eye, he rolled her onto her back and his hand sought the juncture between her thighs.
The instant his finger slid into her wet folds, a guttural sound of pleasure rolled from deep within in her throat. At the same time his head bent to her breasts and while his fingers teased her feminine core, his lips tormented one nipple, then the other.
Desire hummed through her until every particle in her body was throbbing and aching for relief. Finally, when she began to writhe beneath him, he removed his hand and used his knee to part her thighs even wider.
Gripping his buttocks, she urged his hips down to hers and he joined their bodies with one smooth thrust.
Overwhelmed with sensations, she could do little more than breathe his name. “Ty. Oh, Ty.”
“Rosa. Touch me. Love me. Before I break apart.”
His choked plea only added to the sweet ache his body was building in hers, and as they began to move in unison, she closed her eyes and let his driving thrust carry her away.
As Rosalinda’s heated softness enveloped Tyler, he lost all sense of his surroundings. All sense of everything but the woman in his arms. Over and over he took what his body was craving, yet at the same time he hoped he was giving something back to her. He wanted to fill her with the same sort of pleasure that was consuming him.
Behind them, sunlight streamed over the crest of the mountain. It cast streaks of golden color across Rosalinda’s lovely face, and Tyler thought how the prospector might not have found his treasure here, but he’d found his, right here in his arms.
The realization lanced through him like a sudden strike of lightning and the power of it sent his senses flying, his body into an even more frantic pace. Beneath him, Rosalinda matched his urgent lunges while her lips and hands touched him in places that drove him ever higher.
From somewhere far away, he could hear her choking out his name, begging him for release and then suddenly stars exploded behind his closed eyes and he gripped Rosalinda as he drove deep into her for one last time.
Awareness crept back to Tyler in whirling fragments. The bright afternoon sun slanting across the ground. The birdsong in the branches above them and Rosalinda’s warm breath brushing against the side of his neck. Something was holding him down and after dragging in another lungful of oxygen, he realized it was Rosalinda’s fingers gripping his shoulder blades.
His cheek was pillowed against the curtain of her hair. It smelled like lilac and sunshine while, beneath him, her skin felt like damp silk.
Slowly, her hold on his shoulders relaxed and her hands fell limply to their bed of grass. He needed to move. To relieve her of his weight. But he could hardly bring himself to break the connection of their bodies. It was paradise. She was paradise.
With a reluctant groan, he forced himself to roll away from her, then reached for his shirt and folded into a makeshift pillow. As he tucked it beneath her head, her eyelids lifted and she looked at him with a drowsy sweetness that melted his insides.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
A teasing grin curved his lips. “For the pillow?”
She sighed. “For everything.”
Stretching out beside her, he rested a hand upon her flat belly and nestled his head in the curve of her shoulder.
I’m not sure I’d stop this even if there was a chance of me having your baby.
Even as he’d made love to her, those words had rolled over and over in Tyler’s head. Had she really meant them? Would she ever be willing to give him that much of herself? Did he really want that much from her? The questions scared him, but it was time he started facing them.
“No, Rosa. I’m the one who’s thankful.” His throat tight with emotions, he pressed a kiss on the throbbing vein at the base of her neck. “Thankful that you’ve made me feel like a man again.”
She laid her hand upon his cheek. “Ty, I can’t believe you ever lost that feeling. You’re a man who could have most any woman you want.”
He picked up a strand of her hair and rolled the silkiness between the pads of his fingers. “That’s just it, Rosa. I haven’t met any woman that I’ve really wanted. Until you. Until now.”
For long moments she was silent and then she slid her arm around his waist and rolled toward him. With her face nestled close to his, she said, “What just happened between us...it was amazing. But do you think all of this might be happening too fast?”
Her voice wavered with uncertainty, but that didn’t surprise him. His own concerns were roiling around in his head, trying to put a damper on the afterglow of their lovemaking. But he wasn’t going to allow his or her worries to take over. This thing that was sprouting between them needed to be nurtured and protected. Not crushed with doubts.
“Would slowing things down make things any better for us?” he asked in return.
She gazed at him, her eyes soft and hopeful. “Probably not. But where do we go from here?”
He pressed his lips against her forehead. “We’ll figure that out together,” he promised.
Sighing, she edged her body closer to his. “Can we stay here like this for a few more minutes?”
He wrapped his arm around her. “I couldn’t move if I tried.”
* * *
The sun was down and twilight was settling over the ranch yard by the time Tyler and Rosalinda returned to the stables. Santo met them at the saddling paddock and immediately took over the task of caring for the horses.
Back at the house they found a note from Gib lying on the countertop.
Supper is in the warming tray of the range. Big poker game planned. I’ll be staying at the bunkh
ouse tonight with the boys.
“Poker game? Gib never cared about card playing,” Tyler remarked. “I think my cook has deliberately left us alone again.”
Drawing her close, he rested his forehead against hers. “Let’s get cleaned up and eat. I don’t know about you, but I’m starved. You don’t have to go home early tonight, do you?”
“Not unless I’m called out on an emergency.”
“Great. Then let’s hope everyone in the county is on their best behavior tonight.”
Much later, after their meal, they had coffee and dessert on the front porch, where a massive view of the southern sky spread before them and stars twinkled upon the distant mountain range.
Out in the lawn, frogs and crickets sang. Farther down the hill, horses whinnied back and forth to each other while cows occasionally bawled to their calves. Other than those peaceful sounds, the night was incredibly quiet.
“When I’m home, I don’t much like the quietness. But up here it’s different,” she mused aloud. “It’s like a comforting blanket.”
As she sat close beside him on a wicker love seat, his arm was around her shoulder and now and then his fingers played with the ends of her hair. She could easily picture herself with this man even after they’d grown old and feeble. But she couldn’t let herself start thinking and hoping now. It was too soon. Their relationship had just now begun.
“With your job you probably don’t have much time to spend at home,” he remarked.
“Since I’ve become a deputy, I’ve mostly volunteered to work extra duty,” she confessed. “I’d rather be busy learning my trade than home alone thinking about things I’d rather forget.”
He turned his head toward hers and she could feel his curious gaze sliding over her profile. Like a finger tracing a shadow on the wall. It was a slow, evocative study that shook her almost as much as the touch of his hand.
“We all have things we’d like to forget, Rosa. But I can’t see you having that many bad memories.”
The Deputy Gets Her Man Page 13
