by Carol Finch
He leaned forward to press a soft, lingering kiss to her lips. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I stuffed some trail rations in your satchel, in case you get hungry. You’ll have all the fresh water you need right here.”
Jonah retrieved his badge from his pocket and pinned it on his black shirt. “This is for you, princess. I’m going to use my rank with the Rangers to clear you of wrongdoing. I’m going to get your world back in order before I do us both a favor and get out of your life for good.”
He kissed her tenderly one last time before he rose to his feet, then stared at her for a long moment before he turned and walked away.
When he disappeared into the tumbling falls like a wraith evaporating at dawn, Maddie brushed her fingers over her lips, savoring the incredibly tender kiss. The man’s constant change of demeanor and conflicting words had her thoroughly confused. One moment he was pulling away from her, as if he resented physical contact. The next he was initiating kisses, as if she meant something special to him.
Perhaps he did care, but resented the attraction, she mused pensively. Just because Jonah didn’t love her as much as she wanted him to did not necessarily mean that he didn’t like her with all that he was capable of giving to a woman.
Well, whatever motivated Jonah’s actions was too complex for Maddie to sort out tonight. Sighing tiredly, she stretched out on the padded quilts to rest. She’d been riding an adrenaline high for days on end and fatigue had definitely caught up with her.
Odd sensations spilled over her as she closed her eyes and nestled in the warm cocoon of Indian blankets. This was the second time in the past few days that she’d felt as if she partially understood what it was like to be inside Jonah’s skin—and in his head. She was practically entombed in his past, ensconced in a sacred haunt greatly revered by his people. Knowing Jonah had come here often as a child was comforting to her.
Maddie smiled drowsily. When Jonah walked out of her life for good she could come here and absorb this deeply ingrained part of him that she felt reverberating within these stone walls. Indeed, she could almost feel a spiritual presence now, the same presence that his people must have instinctively gravitated toward in this place in days gone by.
Relaxed and content for the first time in hours, Maddie fell asleep.
Chapter Twelve
Jonah arrived at the Hanson ranch to find Sheriff Kilgore and Boone inspecting the corral. According to Boone, the sheriff had already questioned several hired hands, who claimed to know nothing about the stolen cattle. Jonah wasn’t surprised. He’d spent half his life taking statements of proclaimed innocence from criminals who were as guilty as sin.
While the cowhands prepared for the trail drive to the railhead at Dodge City, Jonah ambled over to formally introduce himself to the sheriff.
“I recommend that you wire the sheriff in Dodge and have him oversee the accounting for the sale of Hanson cattle,” Jonah suggested. “It’s fairly obvious that Hanson has been stealing from the Bar G Ranch, and the Garrets should be compensated for their loss by paying them with the profits from the trail drive.”
Sheriff Kilgore, a crusty law officer with a handle-bar mustache, weathered face and a permanent squint in his brown eyes, nodded agreeably. “I’ll do just that, Danhill.” He sent Jonah a solemn frown. “Boone tells me that you had a situation in one of these canyons last night.”
“An extremely deadly encounter,” Jonah clarified. “And before wild rumors run rampant, you need to know that the bushwhacking brigade consisted of white outlaws masquerading as Indians. I asked Boone to guard my back with bows and arrows because we had to rely on silence and stealth. The odds were stacked heavily against us.”
“Were you able to identify the outlaws?” Kilgore asked.
Jonah shook his head as he glanced at the cowboys who were stowing their gear in the two wagons. “Some of these hired hands might recognize them, but obviously they’re pleading ignorance to avoid involvement.”
Kilgore hitched his thumb toward the milling cowhands. “You need to know that some of these men are quick to presume that you and Boone are involved with the Indian raids and that you’re using your badge as protection. One of the men referred to you as the rogue Ranger.”
Jonah wasn’t surprised. Because of his heritage he’d been blamed and accused of all sorts of things. He’d conditioned himself not to be concerned with white folks’ low opinion of him.
He gestured toward the ranch house. “Let’s check the office. I’m sure Boone told you what I found last night.”
“Yeah, hell of a mess that poor Maddie has found herself in,” Kilgore remarked as he hurried to keep up with Jonah’s long, swift strides. “First her father’s disappearance and our ongoing search for him. Then rustling and kidnapping, and now her neighbor ends up dead, along with one of her cowhands.”
Jonah stopped short and stared down the older man. “Just so you know, Maddie found the bodies when she came here last night to confront Avery with her suspicions. It rattled her badly. I can attest to that. It’s my opinion that she wasn’t involved in the killings. I’ll stake my reputation on that.”
Kilgore stared at the tin star pinned on Jonah’s shirt, then nodded. “Your word is good enough for me, son.”
Jonah breathed an inward sigh of relief when the sheriff took him at his word, half-breed or not. It was the first time since he could remember that he’d cared what someone else thought of him. But it was for Maddie’s sake, not his, that it mattered. His top priority was to clear her name. He’d made a promise to set her world to rights, and Jonah wasn’t leaving West Texas until he’d tied up all the loose ends in this case.
Maddie stirred sluggishly when she felt the whisper of warm lips against her cheek. She opened heavy-lidded eyes to see Jonah crouched beside her, and she smiled drowsily.
“You can go home now, princess,” he murmured as he combed his fingers through the curlicue strands that tumbled over the side of her face.
“I’m no longer a potential murder suspect?” She sighed in relief when he nodded.
And then it hit her like an unseen blow to the solar plexus that Jonah was going to leave for good. Everything inside Maddie rebelled against the thought. This would be the last time she would be alone with him, the last time she ever saw him.
Forbidden Canyon was the last place on earth he wanted to revisit.
The need to share the incredible intimacy she had known with him overwhelmed her. She wanted to brand herself on his mind and heart for all eternity, because she would never love anyone as deeply and devotedly as she had come to love Jonah.
Maddie reached up to trace the rugged features of his face, then cupped her hand around his neck to bring his head to hers. “Maybe you don’t want to hear the words whispering in my heart, but I need to say them,” she murmured against his sensuous lips. “I love you, Jonah Danhill. I will always love you, even if it has to be from afar.”
“Maddie, it’s just gratitude—”
She kissed him to shush him, and held on tightly when he tried to retreat. She stared him squarely in the eye and said, “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a woman who knows her own mind.”
Jonah chuckled softly. “I might not be the brightest star in the heavens, but, yeah, I’ve figured that out.” Then his expression sobered as he stared down at her. “I’m not what you need, princess. I have nothing to give that you don’t have already.”
“You have you,” she insisted as she clutched her fist in the front of his shirt and pulled him down on top of her. “That’s all I want, and you’re kidding yourself, Mr. Ranger, if you think you’re leaving this cave until I’ve had my way with you one last time.”
She flashed him what she hoped was a provocatively playful smile, even if she was crying on the inside, knowing she couldn’t keep him forever. She was going to touch him as intimately as he’d touched her, arouse him to the limits of his sanity. He would remember her, she vowed determinedly. She might be left behin
d, but she couldn’t bear to be forgotten by the man who held her heart and soul.
Her free hand drifted down his chest to unfasten his holster, then his breeches. Jonah’s hand folded over hers to forestall her. “Stop that before I lose the ability to think straight,” he said hoarsely.
“I don’t want you thinking,” she said as her hand drifted lower to trace the hard bulge in his breeches. “I want you naked.” She grinned saucily and added, “You assured Major Thorton at Fort Griffin that your life is easier when you just give me what I want.”
Jonah sucked in a breath when her nimble fingers escaped his grasp to loosen the placket of his breeches. He hissed in tormented pleasure when her hand folded around his aching flesh, then stroked him from base to tip. He’d never allowed a woman such liberties, but he was helpless to stop Maddie because he welcomed only her touch. She explored the textures of his body and purred in feminine satisfaction when he groaned in pleasure.
“You need to lose that badge and those clothes, Mr. Ranger,” she insisted playfully. “Now.”
He should pull away. He should surge to his feet and run for his life. Should, but couldn’t. Maddie held the kind of power over him that defied physical strength and iron-willed resolve. She could make him a slave to passion with one intimate touch, one mind-boggling kiss.
A trembling sigh tumbled from his lips as he allowed her to divest him of his shirt, then peel his breeches down to his knees. Jonah wasn’t sure how he’d landed on his back with Maddie hovering over him. She was like a mystical siren who’d captured him in her potent spell, and he melted into the pallet. Her adventurous hands mapped the expanse of his chest, swirled over his belly, then stroked his throbbing erection again—and again.
Jonah could barely remember the feeling of surrender or defeat. He’d been trained to refuse to accept either one in his years with the Rangers. But he was definitely becoming reacquainted with those vulnerable feelings and he was at Maddie’s mercy. Her gentle hands were driving him out of his mind—and making him savor every moment of it.
Desire slammed into him with the force of a cannonball when her silky hair grazed his chest and her moist tongue flicked out to tease the tip of his arousal. Jonah forgot to breathe—and couldn’t recall why doing so was necessary—when she took him into her mouth and suckled him. Fire raged through his blood, and the fierce impact of her intimate caresses and kisses left him burning alive. Before he passed out from the intense pleasure, he reached frantically for her, but she pressed him to his back again and held him captive with that hypnotic smile that had been his downfall since the day he’d met her.
“I want it understood that when you leave me for good and say ‘I’m pleased to have made your acquaintance,’ that you mean it in every sense of the word.”
Her tongue glided over his pulsing length, and Jonah swallowed a howl of maddening pleasure.
“I am pleasing you, aren’t I?” she asked.
Jonah was beyond speech, beyond thought. He could barely nod his head as dizzying pleasure kept tossing him off balance.
“And does this please you, too?” she whispered before she took him into her mouth and nipped lightly with her teeth.
“Mmm…” It was all he could get out while she introduced him to her exquisite brand of seductive torture.
The world went out of focus and Jonah clawed at the pallet, trying to anchor himself in reality, but it was damn near impossible when Maddie kept launching him from one disorienting plateau to another. Bulletlike sensations pelted him as she stroked him repeatedly. Heat coursed heavily through him when she flicked him with that teasing tongue and caressed him gently, over and over again. He shuddered in wild desperation when she levered over him to kiss him hungrily, and he tasted his own passion on her lips.
“Come here,” he rasped, frantic for her.
“Do you want me?” she asked as she stroked him, then enfolded him in her hand. “I need to hear that you want me.”
“I don’t remember when I didn’t want you,” he admitted as another rolling wave of pleasure cascaded over him.
He reached for her again, but she rocked back on her knees and knelt between his legs to remove her blouse. He drank in the alluring sight of her, marveling at her feminine perfection. All the while her eyes remained locked on his, watching him stare at her in masculine appreciation. She seemed unashamed of baring herself to his hungry gaze and unafraid of confiding her feelings for him—misinterpreted though he knew those feelings were.
When she had shed all her garments and hovered above him, guiding his hard arousal to her, Jonah nearly passed out again. His ragged breath wobbled in his chest when she sank onto him and he felt her softest flesh burning around him like a living flame.
For sure and certain Jonah knew this spell-casting siren had bewitched him for all eternity. He was hopelessly entranced as she moved above him. He arched up to meet her and her golden gaze never left his as they rocked together, then apart, setting a frantic cadence of passion. Jonah watched desire overtake her, heard her gasp in pleasure as he buried himself to the hilt, then retreated. She took all he had to offer and gave herself generously, wholeheartedly to him.
Pleasure mushroomed inside him, converging then scattering like debris in a cyclone. Jonah struggled to draw breath and swore he was about to fly off in every direction at once. Complete and total surrender had never been so welcomed, so inevitable. When unleashed passion exploded inside him, he curled upward to topple Maddie against his chest. Shudder after helpless shudder riveted him as he clutched her shapely body in his arms and held her close to his heart. His mind reeling, he inhaled the scent of her hair, savored the unique scent of her and felt the last remnants of pleasure burn a fiery path to the depths of his soul.
The most remarkable sense of contentment flooded over him as his spent body sagged on the pallet. Jonah had gone so many hours without sleep that exhaustion overtook him immediately. His eyes fluttered shut and he drifted into oblivion, letting his erotic dreams take up where reality left off.
Maddie smiled in feminine satisfaction when she felt Jonah slump beneath her and heard him breathing deeply. She’d had her way with him. It was an empowering feeling that she wouldn’t soon forget. Her only regret was that both times they’d made love she had initiated the trysts. She would have given almost anything if just once he had come to her.
Perhaps then she would have known that what he felt for her had transformed from physical desire to love—or at least something very much like love. She suspected that Jonah had so little association with love and affection in his life that it was foreign and unfamiliar to him.
Easing away, Maddie gathered her clothes and dressed quietly. All the while she made a dedicated study of this man who had become her guide, her guardian spirit and her one true love. “As a child I dreamed of a dark, daring knight, my own unique prince,” she murmured to him, though he heard not one word. “Regardless of what you believe, my Comanche knight, I will always love you. And if we have created a child together he will know that his father is the most remarkable man I’ve ever known and that I chose you without hesitation or regret.”
Maddie twisted the gold band on her finger, knowing she should return it to Jonah, but she was reluctant to give it up. “We are married in all the ways that truly matter,” she whispered. “You make me feel whole and alive and incredibly happy. I draw from your strength, your invincible capabilities and your determination, Jonah. I will always admire and respect you.”
Impulsively, Maddie knelt beside him to press one final kiss to his unresponsive lips. Her warrior had worn himself out in setting her world to rights again. “I’m grateful for all you’ve done,” she murmured as she withdrew. “But gratitude is only part of what I feel for you, even if you won’t believe it. Wherever you are will always be the place I long to be.”
Turning away, Maddie exited the cavern. She mounted the spare horse that Jonah had provided for her, and left his black gelding grazing near the pool. Whe
n Jonah awoke and returned to the house to gather his gear and say farewell, Maddie vowed she wouldn’t throw herself at his feet and beg him to stay.
He knew how she felt about him. She had made it abundantly clear that he had her heart. If Jonah felt anything strong and lasting for her, if he wanted to return one day, then he would have to make that decision.
Maddie rode home, knowing she was leaving the best part of herself behind with the man who had been born under a wandering star and who would never be content to live in the valley where painful memories tormented him. When she considered what she would be doing, asking for him to put down roots in this place, she knew she wanted the impossible—even of a man who dared to face impossible odds in the name of duty.
But not in the name of love for her.
Destined to live with this empty ache in her soul, Maddie returned to her life, vowing to ensure her younger sister was well on her way to recovery and to turn this ranch into the prosperous property it had been—before Avery Hanson undermined it with his treacherous schemes.
Smiling ruefully, knowing her sister was destined for disappointment, Maddie stood outside the bedroom and watched her sister practically drool over Boone. It didn’t take a genius to realize that Chrissy was completely infatuated. The girl was all smiles and laughter when Boone teased her playfully.
Unless Maddie missed her guess, Boone was smitten, too. He was hand-feeding Chrissy bites of beef, bread and cheese, although Chrissy appeared to have recovered the strength to feed herself. But given the hellish week Chrissy endured, she was entitled to all the pampering and pleasure she could get. She was, however, setting herself up for the kind of heartache Maddie experienced. But when a woman met her prince—no matter how poor the timing or ill-fated the situation—she listened to her heart, not her head.
“Maddie, you’re finally back!”
