"He's talkin' that Httle fella into thinking it might be real nice to have a man on his back," Carey said. "Most folks break a horse by showin' 'em they can't be throwed. Sooner or later, the horse figures out there ain't nothin' so terrible about carryin' somebody around and they give up buckin' and fightin'."
"Doesn't Kel do that?"
Kel was stroking his hand over the young horse's neck, a slow, rhythmic motion that was hypnotic to watch.
**He*s been known to ride a bronc with the best of 'em," Car^ said. "But this little fella is one of Dude's get, and the boss has plans for him. So he's whispering him. Makes one of the best damn—beggin' your pardon, ma'am—ridin' horses you're ever like to swing a 1^ over."
"What does he say?" Megan found herself mesmerized by the motion of Kel's hand on the horse. Waves of energy seemed to shimmer from the center of the corral where the two of them stood.
"Nobody but the horse knows," Dick said. "Can't just anybody whisper one, either. You've got to have the right feel or touch or something. I'd heard about such things but never believed it until I saw the boss do it."
He continued, but Megan had lost track of what he was saying. Watching Kel, she could almost feel the pressure of his hand on her skin, hear the low rumble of his voice. She felt as if her bones were melting, all her fears slipping away. As if he was whispering her as well as the colt.
As if feeling her gaze on him, Kel's head lifted, his eyes finding her where she stood on the other side of the fence. Megan felt the impact of that look from her head to her heels, like a long, shivering stroke down her back. Kel didn't speak, only looked at her, and her heart was thumping against her breastbone, heat was pooling between her thighs, spreading outward to encompass her entire body until she was on fire.
She had no idea how long she stood there, transfixed, conscious only of those deep green eyes touching her. It was the colt who broke the spell. Surprised to find himself sudd^y being ignored, he snorted and nudged Kel's shoulder. Kd turned to him and Megan drew a shuddering breath.
She glanced around self-consciously, sure that the cowboys must have seen what had happened, that the electricity that had sizzled between her and their boss must have created visible arcs in the still air. But no one was looking at her oddly. They were still watching Kel and the young horse. The whole exchange must have been over in a matter of seconds, she realized.
She backed away from the fence, half surprised to find that her legs would support her. Himing, she walked up to the house, feeling as if she'd been battered by a windstorm.
Chapter 7
1 he storm still hadn't broken by dinner. The clouds had drifted down out of the mountains, but they seemed to simply press the hot air closer to the ground, making it difficult to breathe. Occasional gusts of wind spun dust devils in the yard and rustled the leaves of the big ehns that sheltered the house.
No one had much to say during the meal. Colleen was quiet, as she usually was in Gun's presence. More than once, Megan saw the girl sneaking looks at him across the table, such a tangle of emotions in her eyes that it was impossible to decipher any of them. A couple of times, Gun looked up as if sensing her gaze, but Colleen's glance would dart away before their eyes could meet. The regret in Gun's face was easy enough to read.
Megan thought again that she should try to get to the bottom of whatever was going on between the two
of them, but her thoughts couldn't focus on the problem tonight. In fact, her thoughts couldn't focus on much of anything tonight. They skipped around like a grasshopper in a field of daisies, nibbling here and there but never stopping long enough for her to catch hold of one.
She was vividly aware of Kel sitting at the head of the table but she was careful to avoid looking at him, afraid of what her eyes might reveal. She was still shaken by the impact of the look they'd exchanged this afternoon. She was almost grateful when he disappeared into his study right after dinner.
The restlessness stayed with Megan as she cleaned the kitchen and made her plans for the next day's meals. Colleen was watching television in the living room but Megan wasn't in the mood to listen to canned laughter so she said good-night and went upstairs to her room. Her eyes Imgered on the bar of light that showed beneath the door of Kel's study as she passed it.
Too restless to settle down with a book, she took a long, cool shower, letting the water sluice over her body. By the time she stepped into her bedroom, the storm had broken and the rain had finally begun to fall. It should have eased the tension, but M^an didn't feel any more relaxed than she had before her shower.
She pulled on a knee-length white cotton nightgown and brushed her hair until it crackled around the brush. Then she went to stand next to the window, watching the rain stream past, letting her thoughts drift where they would. Standing there, she lost track
of time, and she was shocked to see how late it was when she finally turned and looked at the clock. It was past time she was getting to bed. But her gaze drifted to the door.
Had Kel come up? Or was he stiU downstairs? And what difference did it make to her, unless she was thinking of going to his room, which she wasn't.
Was she?
Kel stood in front of the window, watching the rain. Ranching, like farming, was largely dependent on regular rainfall. The Lazy B was in a better position than most, with a couple of sources of water that hadn't failed in the last hundred years or so, but plentiful rains meant good grass and good grass meant fat cattle that brought a better price on the market.
But Kel wasn't thinking about cattle prices or what the rain meant for the grass those cattle fed on. His thoughts weren't on the range, they were much closer to home. Just across the hall, in fact.
Was Megan asleep? Or was she lying awake watching the rain? Was she thinking about him? The look they'd exchanged this afternoon had damn near shattered his control. If they hadn't been standing under the blazing sun with half a dozen of his cowboys watching, he'd have had her right then and there. No more frustration, no more cold showers, no more waiting.
He'd told her that the decision was hers, that he wouldn't push. He'd been a damned fool. She wanted him. He could smell it as surely as he could smell the sweet, musty scent of the rain soaking into the dry
ground outside. She could be his tonight. All he had to do was walk across the hall and she'd be his for the taking.
But he'd given his word and he wasn't quite ready to admit that he wanted her so much he'd break his promise. He didn't like that his hunger was powerful enough to make him even consider the idea. He didn't want to want her quite so much.
Lightning forked over the prairie, and Kel automatically counted the seconds until he heard the rumble of thunder. Ten miles or more. It would be a little while before the center of the storm reached them. There'd be plenty-Some small sound reached him, and he felt the skin across the back of his shoulders tighten with sudden awareness. She was here. She'd entered with the thunder, the sound drowning out the click of the door latch. But he didn't need to hear her or even see her. He could feel her.
The thought that he was so attuned to her might have worried him if he'd given it much consideration, but he wasn't in a contemplative mood at the moment. He turned slowly. He'd left only one small lamp burning beside the bed, and the pool of its light fell far short of where Megan stood, but Kel's eyes were adjusted to the dimness, and he had no trouble seeing her. She was standing against the door, her white gown and pale hair stark against the dark wood.
She stayed where she was, letting her eyes adjust to the light. Looking for him. He could see her teeth worrying her lower lip and knew how difficult it had been for her to come to him. He heard her soft little
catch of breath when she saw him, heard it change to a gasp of shock when hghtning slashed across the window behind him and she realized that he wore not a stitch of clothing.
Thunder rolled across the room, and he had her in his arms before the echo of it faded, sweeping her up against his already aroused bo
dy, his mouth swallowing her startled cry. For the space of half a heartbeat, she was stiff in his hold, and then she seemed to dissolve against him, her slender body pliant and giving.
Wrapping his arms around her, Kel lifted her off the floor, crushing her against his hard frame. His tongue plunged into her mouth, tangling with hers, tasting her response, tasting her hunger.
By the time he'd walked with her to the bed, he could feel the breath shuddering in and out of her. Her fingers were wound in his hair, her back arched to press the fullness of her breasts against his chest. Kel flattened one hand across her bottom, lifting her up so that the soft core of her cradled his erection.
Lightning exploded outside, closer now, the thunder rumbling on its heels, drowning out the roar of his heartbeat, swallowing Megan's soft cry of surprise as he eased her legs apart, sUding his aching flesh between her thighs, supporting her so that she straddled him. The slick moisture of her arousal soothed even as it made the ache worse.
He tortured them both by easing his hips back, then forward again, a teasing hint of what was to come. Megan's head fell back, her breath leaving her on a sob. He could see the taut thrust of her breasts against the fabric of her nightgown. There was something
wildly erotic about holding her like this, a heartbeat away from completing their joining, and seeing her still clothed in prim white cotton.
He felt her knee lift against his hip and knew that he could have her right here, those long legs wrapping around his hips as he lowered her onto his arousal. He let the image roll through his mind as his hand shd downward, drawing her knee higher on his hip, his fingertips brushing the damp curls at the juncture of her thighs. He felt the shiver that ran through her at the light touch. He'd known it would be like this with her, known the passion would explode between them, known how she'd respond to his touch.
With a soft groan of regret, Kel eased her down. The himger was too great this time, too powerful for him to try anything exotic. Later, he promised himself as he dragged the nightgown over her head. Once the initial himger was slaked, there'd be time for him to fulfill every fantasy he'd had during these endless weeks of waiting and wanting. But this first time, he wanted her stretched out beneath him, her hair spread across his pillow, just the way he'd imagined her a hundred times.
Megan whispered his name as he eased her onto the bed, following her down, the thick mat of hair on his chest abrading her swollen nipples. Kd wanted to taste her there, wanted to let his tongue explore the indentation of her belly button, wanted to taste the slick dampness between her thighs, to hear her cries of pleasure as he brought her to a peak with his mouth and tongue.
But Megan parted her l^s, those legs that were much too long for a woman her size, the ones that had haunted his nights ever since they met. Lightning lit the room as her knees came up on either side of his hips, her soft whimpers urging him to complete their union.
Later, Kel promised himself. Promised her. Later, there'd be time for everything else. This first time, the hunger was too great, the need too powerful. This first time, there was no room for anything but slaking the elemental hunger that gnawed at both of them.
He caught one of her hands in his, lowering her fingers to where their bodies almost joined. In the darkness, he saw her eyes widen as her fingers closed around him as if she was surprised by the size of him. Well, he was damn near surprised himself, Bvel thought with painful humor. He'd never been so achingly aroused in his life. Just the touch of her small fingers nearly sent him over the edge.
Any uncertainty she felt was only momentary. She eased him forward, and Kel thought he'd surely die from the pleasure as he felt her soft folds yield before the blunt pressure of his erection.
Heat and dampness enfolded him. He closed his eyes and ground his teeth together as he eased himself deeper into her soft sheath. She was so small and tight. So tight. Almost as if he was the first man to know her like this. Ahnost as if she— His eyes flew open at the thought, and he stared at her, reading the uncertainty behind the need, the flicker of fear behind the hunger.
"You're a virgin.'* The words hovered somewhere between statement and accusation.
"It doesn't matter." Her short fingernails dug into the firm muscles of his buttocks, urging him deeper. "Don't stop," she whispered frantically. "Please, Kel. Don't stop."
"Stop?" His laugh ended with a pained groan. "Hell, woman, do you think I'm made of stone?"
He was most definitely not made of stone. Megan was sure of that if not much else at the moment. He was tight skin over hard muscles. He was the crisp brush of chest hair over the almost painfully sensitive skin of her breasts. He was a heavy pressure building inside her. But he was most definitely not stone.
She was trembling with a sudden, completely unexpected and purely feminine fear. He was so much bigger than she was, stronger, more powerful. There was something a httle frightening about that strength, that power. For a panicked second, she wanted to tell him she'd changed her mind. She wanted to sUde off the big bed and flee to the safety of her room. But the thought of stopping, of not finding out what lay at the end of this path she'd started out on, was more than she could bear.
"Please," she whispered against his throat. She hardly knew what she was asking for.
At the sound of her plea, she felt Kel still against her, and for an instant she was afraid he was going to stop after all. With a whimpered protest, she arched
her hips, taking him deeper. Kel groaned, a low guttural sound of pleasure.
"Easy," he whispered against her temple. His voice was hardly audible over the hiss of the rain outside. "There's no need to rush."
There was a need. She was burning up inside, trembling against him. Kel caught hold of her arms, sliding his hands down until his fingers were wrapped aroimd hers. Megan murmured a protest as he pressed them to the pillow on either side of her head.
"Look at me."
As if she had a choice. His eyes glittered green in the thin lamplight, and Megan had the odd feeling that it would be possible to lose her soul in those eyes. But it wasn't her soul that concerned her at the moment.
His gaze locked with hers, his hands still holding hers, Kel flexed his hips forward, completing their union with one heavy thrust, filling her emptiness with his solid presence. Megan forgot how to breathe.
She'd thought that there was no real mystery. She knew the mechanics of it, knew what went where, knew that everything was designed to fit together, though she'd experienced a few doubts on that score when she'd felt the size of him. But despite that momentary hesitation, she thought she knew exactly what to expect.
She was wrong.
Nothing could have prepared her for the incredible feeling of invasion, the sensation of her body stretching to accommodate Kel's, of sharing herself so intimately with a man. With an inarticulate sound that could have been protest, could have been welcome, she
arched beneath him, not sure whether she was trying to throw him off or take him deeper.
Kel groaned, a low, tortured sound from between clenched teeth, as he sank fully within her. She was as tight as a glove around him, all heat and dampness. He felt the faint ripple of tiny muscles as they adjusted to his presence. It was a sweet torment.
She gasped as he eased back, then slid forward again. He saw the startled pleasure in her eyes just before the lids dropped. He lowered his mouth to hers, drinking in her soft moans, tasting them more than hearing them. The storm seemed to have stopped directly over the house, and the sound of the rain was a constant roar. Or was that the blood rushing in his ears?
Lightning flashed almost continuously, illuminating the two figures on the wide bed. Kel had left the window open a crack, and the smell of rain and damp earth mixed with the musky scent of sweat and sex. KePs big body arched over Megan's slender form, his slow, steady movements becoming less measured as she struggled for control of the moment, struggled for the release she could sense just out of reach.
Tension coiled
inside her, tightening with every move Kel made until she felt as if she might burst. The pleasure was so intense it hovered on the knife edge of pain. There was something, something she couldn't quite... Kel slid his hands under her, his fingers digging into her bottom as he lifted her into his thrusts, controlling the rhythm, controlUng her uncertain movements, giving her what she sought.
A bolt of lightning ripped through the air just outside the window. As the fierce, blue-white light slashed across the room, Megan saw Kel's face above her, the skin tight across his cheekbones, his eyes a gUtter of green. And then the tension within her snapped abruptly, and the resultant waves of pleasure convulsed her body.
Thunder crashed a heartbeat after the lightning, and the house rocked with the force of it. Or was it the bed rocking with the force of their loving? Megan neither knew nor cared. Instinctively, she brought her knees up on either side of his hips, taking him deeper still, as her short nails dug into the taut muscles of his back. And then Kel was shuddering in her arms, his harsh groan of fulfillment all but drowned out by the sound of the storm.
It was a long time before Kel gained enough breath to ease himself away from Megan. Her faint murmur could have been protest or good riddance, but there was no mistaking the way her fingers clung to his shoulders.
"Fm not going far," he whispered, half surprised he was still capable of putting together a coherent sentence.
Surely, the intensity of what had passed between them must have burned out a few synapses in his brain. True to his word, he didn't go far. As he settled on the bed, his arm was already around Megan, pulling her close against his side.
They lay quietly, listening to the storm outside, though it seemed but a pale imitation of the storm that
had just raged between the two of them. Kel stroked damp tendrils of pale hair from Megan's forehead, only a little surprised to see that his fingers were not quite steady.
He was stunned by the force of what had just happened. He'd never experienced anything quite like it, as if everything he was, both body and soul, had been poured into that one moment. Kel shied away from that thought, not caring for the direction it could take him.
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