by Connie Mason
Suddenly Julie looked up, as if sensing Rod’s gaze, and she felt the brutal attack of his brilliant eyes as they found and held hers. Shock waves raised goosebumps on the surface of her skin and she swallowed convulsively. His pebble-hard, black eyes seemed to reach out over the distance that separated them, locking her in the prison of his barely concealed contempt.
A dainty hand flew to Julie’s lips. She opened her mouth but could summon neither words nor breath. Their eyes still riveted, Julie surged unsteadily from her stool and felt her legs turn to rubber as she collapsed. Luckly Brett was beside her, his strong arms lending her strength.
“Brandy!” Bret exclaimed, his concern clearly evident. “Are you all right?” Julie nodded weakly. “Good God, you gave me a fright, sweetheart! What happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Not a ghost, Brett, but a demon.”
For months Julie lived with the fear that Rod might one day venture to San Francisco and inadvertantly run into her. And now her worst fears had been realized. Why wasn’t her father here when she needed him? Was there no one to protect her from the violence she knew dwelt beneath the surface of Rod’s icy veneer? No, she silently answered her own question. Not even Brett could protect her from her husband’s fury.
17
Rod watched through slitted eyes while Brett saw Julie to her room, handling her slim form as if she were a fragile bloom. Rod had to admit Julie even looked fragile with her pale face and huge blue eyes eating up her delicate features. It was obvious to Rod that Julie’s guilt over her behavior these last months was the cause of her sudden malaise. That and her fear of him. She had good reason to fear him, Rod reflected bitterly, for he still had no idea what would happen when he actually faced his unfaithful wife.
Rod made a mental note of the room Casey and Julie disappeared into and also of the time lapse before the gambler promptly reappeared alone, making his way to the blackjack table where he took Julie’s place. A tiny bubble of joy burst somewhere inside Rod’s brain at Casey’s prompt exit from Julie’s room.
Rod waited a short time, fretting anxiously until he was certain Casey had no intention of rejoining Julie in her room before he arose and made his way unobtrusively toward the stairs. As fate would have it, luck was on his side. Just as Rod started up the stairs the dancing girls strutted out on stage again and all eyes turned in the direction of the scantily clad hoofers, allowing him to enter Julie’s room undetected.
Julie lay sprawled on her bed thinly-clad in nothing but a short shift. Misery gnawed at her, rendering her numb and tense. Knowing Rod, she realized it was only a matter of time before he showed up at her door, angry and vindictive. What would he do? She shuddered apprehensively. If Elena could be believed, Rod wanted her out of the way for good, maybe even dead. Would he be angered to find her still alive? Drawing a long, shuddering breath, Julie tried to imagine Rod’s reaction to finding her at Casey’s Pleasure Palace.
So intense was her concentration that Julie neither saw the slow movement of the doorknob nor heard the soft whisper of the door open under Rod’s gentle pressure. Only the muted rasp of the key turning in the lock alerted her to the chilling fact that she was not alone.
Raring up into a sitting position, Julie saw Rod’s long, lithe form lounging against the closed door, his sardonic gaze raking her scantily clad body insultingly. Julie felt the unleased violence of his tightly coiled muscles strike her from across the room. It was almost like a physical blow and she recoiled instinctively.
“Rod,” she whispered shakily, the tremor in her voice unmistakable.
“Who were you expecting, your lover?”
Julie flushed, a look Rod instantly mistook for guilt.
“What do you want? How did you find me?”
With studied calmness, Rod walked loose limbed toward the bed, but his stance did not deceive Julie who likened him to a sleek panther about to strike. “I’ve come to take my ‘loving’ wife home where she belongs,” Rod mocked nastily. “Surely your father must have told you he was at the rancho.”
“My father!” cried Julie, becoming very excited. “You’ve seen him? Oh, thank God! I thought something terrible had happened to him when he failed to return to San Francisco. I had no idea where he had gone.”
Rod’s black eyes narrowed suspiciously. Here was a turn of events he was unprepared for. “Your father turned up at the hacienda shortly before I left on the last cattle drive. He stayed but a short while.” A puzzled frown gathered along Julie’s brow. “Your beloved parent didn’t bother to reveal his identity to me. He also failed to mention that you were still alive after all these months when I thought you dead.”
Julie could not tell whether Rod was happy or disappointed to find her alive and healthy. “If my father didn’t tell you, how did you know I was alive and in San Francisco?”
“Felicia told me,” Rod stated sourly. “She spent much time with your father and guessed the truth. When confronted with Felicia’s suspicions he admitted his identity and revealed to her that you were alive and living in San Francisco. He promised Felicia he would return you to the rancho and Felicia was ecstatic. Of course he never showed up and Felicia was devastated. She told me the whole story when I returned from the cattle drive. Needless to say, I left immediately for San Francisco.” He paused for breath but Julie was still stunned by the news that her father should have returned from the rancho weeks ago. Where was he?
“How did you know I was working at Casey’s Pleasure Palace?”
“Purely an accident. I’ve been watching you all evening, you and your lover. Did you think I wouldn’t learn that you are Casey’s mistress when everyone in town is aware of it?”
“Rod, I’m not—”
“Julie,” he interrupted sternly, “the time for lies is long past. What I want now is the truth. Start from the very beginning, from the moment you were abducted until you became Casey’s mistress. Were you Murieta’s mistress, too?”
The lavishly appointed room was amply lit by two tall candles resting on the nightstand as well as by firelight from the hearth across the room and Rod nearly lost control of his senses when he saw how the lamp glow played over her tawny hair, alive with gold, russet and copper. He had not forgotten the silken feel of those gleaming tresses caressing his body when they made love. Nor the sweep of her dark lashes as she unsuccessfully tried to hide the desire that flared in her blue eyes when she wanted him, or the seductive curve of her smile when sated with love. She was a beguiling creature and Rod fought desperately to corral his rampaging emotions, and in so doing his face appeared harsh and unforgiving, his eyes cold and empty.
Julie knew a moment of panic when she viewed Rod’s rigid features, but in her determination not to be cowed, retorted angrily, “You know more about my abduction than I do!”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Take it any way you want!” Deliberately she turned her head away.
“Damn you, Julie, answer me!” Rod demanded as he grasped her small pointed chin between thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look at him.
“All right, Rod. I know you’re stronger than me,” Julie shrugged, momentarily defeated. “You can force me into anything. If you want me to put into words how you and Elena planned my death, so be it.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” I wasn’t even at the rancho when you were taken by Murieta’s men.”
Eyes spitting blue flame, Julie ground out mercilessly, “Elena told me you wanted me gone by the time you returned from San Antonio. Just because she carried out the deed instead of you doesn’t absolve you from guilt. Do you have any idea what Pedro had in mind for me before he killed me?”
“Por Dios, querida, you don’t think … Surely you don’t believe I had a hand in anything so despicable? What kind of monster do you take me for?” The thought of Julie in the hands of Pedro was terrifying. But the knowledge that Julie blamed him for her abduction and possible death was too horrible to con
template.
Julie looked long and hard into Rod’s horrified eyes and read the truth for herself. Whatever happened to her had been all Elena’s doing, but that did not change things between them.
“Rod, perhaps you are blameless as you say,” Julie acknowledged slowly. “But I can’t forget what I was put through by your mistress. Or the pain you caused me when you deliberately bedded Elena.”
Rod winced. “Did Pedro … was it so terrible, querida? Tell me about it. I know Murieta and I find it difficult to believe he could behave so cruelly, especially toward a beautiful woman.”
“Joaquin was not there. Pedro was in charge.” Julie ignored Rod’s loud groan and continued, telling him all she knew. When she came to the part about her father, Rod interrupted.
“So that’s where your father had disappeared to. Thank God he was there when you needed him.”
“And nearly lost his life in the bargain. Joaquin arrived in time to save my father’s life. I’ll always be grateful to him. As soon as he recovered sufficiently, we left Murieta’s camp and came directly to San Francisco.”
There was a faraway look in Julie’s eyes that Rod had no desire to delve into at this time. Instead, he asked, “Why did your father come to Rancho Delgado?”
“I don’t know. He told me only that he had business to attend to. I expected him back in a couple of weeks. That was months ago.”
“I suppose he wanted to learn for himself what a despicable libertine you had married,” Rod couldn’t help but remark. “Especially after you told him that I had engineered your abduction.”
“After what Elena told me, how could I believe otherwise?”
“You could have trusted me, querida,” Rod said with bitter emphasis. Abruptly he changed the subject. “How long have you been Casey’s mistress?”
Julie fumed with impotent fury. If Rod chose to think she was Brett’s mistress, she wouldn’t disabuse him of the idea. It served him right. Knowing well his pride and arrogance, he probably wouldn’t believe the truth anyway. “Do you know about Mae Parker?” she asked, deftly avoiding Rod’s question.
“Si, I went there first,” Rod said grimly. “It … it was a great tragedy.”
Julie nodded sadly. “She would be alive today if she hadn’t run back inside the burning building to rescue her valuables. And I might well have ended up just like her but for Brett. He stopped me when I attempted to follow Mae inside the burning house. Afterwards he found I had no place to go, the money my father left was destroyed in the fire as was everything I owned. Brett brought me here, offered me a job until my father’s return and treated me with kindness. I owe him much.”
“You could have come home, Julie, instead of becoming his mistress,” Rod said, a thread of steel tempering his softly spoken words.
“Believe what you want, Rod, you will anyway. I can see it will do me no good to deny being intimate with Brett.”
“None whatsoever.”
“Hadn’t you better leave? Go back to the rancho. No doubt Elena is anxious for your return.”
“Elena is no longer at the hacienda.”
“No longer at the hacienda?” Julie repeated dumbly.
“That is what I said, querida. I … I sent her away. When we return she will no longer interfere with our lives.”
“Return? I have no intention of returning with you. At the rate you casually cast women aside it’s no wonder that you have replaced Elena already.”
“You are my wife, Julie. I married you according to the rites of the church and as long as you live I can never replace you. It is your duty to return with me and fulfill your duty.”
“My duty?” Why must I repeat everything Rod says, Julie asked herself dully?
“I need an heir. As my wife you are the only woman capable of providing one. Legitimately, that is.”
Red dots of rage exploded in Julie’s brain. “Never!” she retorted hotly. “I will not be your brood mare! When my father returns he will take me back east where I belong.” Julie had no intention of leaving California but she wasn’t about to admit that to Rod.
“You belong with me. What if your father doesn’t return? What then?”
“I have my job. Brett is good to me. I can stay here as long as I like.” Julie had no idea how damning her words sounded. If Rod harbored any doubts before, Julie’s outburst convinced him that she was Casey’s mistress just as Rita claimed. Besides, not once had Julie denied his accusation.
Now it was Rod’s turn to become incensed. “Puta! Slut! You are no better than Elena! Is Casey such a good lover that you prefer him to me?” His words smote her like tiny pebbles.
“Yes! Yes!” cried Julie vehemently, wanting to hurt, to wound, as he had hurt and wounded her. “He is a much better lover than you could ever hope to be!”
“Perhaps you have forgotten, querida?” Rod said with deceptive calm. “Perhaps you need to be reminded how I made you feel, how your passionate body came alive beneath my touch. Come, wife, let us recapture the bliss we once shared.”
Julie was not gulled by his soft words. “Leave me alone, Rod. Just go away and leave me in peace. You have my permission to tell everyone I’m dead.” She wished she had more than words to fling at him, for once he touched her she knew she was lost.
Rod laughed sardonically, sensing her confusion. “Afraid you might like what I do to you, querida?” One long finger traced a delicate path from brow to jaw, then lower to outline the pale skin rising above her filmy chemise. “Afraid Casey might not measure up after I finish with you?”
“You arrogant bastard!” Julie gritted from beneath clenched teeth. Must she fight her own body’s arousal as well as Rod’s compelling voice and male allure, she reflected miserably?
A devilish smile curling his sensuous lips, Rod’s fingers curved insultingly on the thin material covering her breasts and ripped downward. Julie gasped as she felt the chemise slide from her body and the hot rush of Rod’s breath caress the tender flesh he had bared to his passion-glazed eyes.
“Don’t do this, Rod,” Julie begged, vividly recalling their last night together when he took her with a cruelty that left her bruised and disillusioned. “We were wrong from the start.”
“Ah, querida, do you not remember what was right about us?” She remembered. “Can you deny the magic of our lovemaking?” Julie could deny nothing. “I have no desire to ravish you, but I will if you resist me. Show me what makes Casey mad for you.”
Hard fingers stroked her shoulders and slid down confidently to enclose her breasts. Hungrily his mouth claimed hers, his tongue surging between her lips to possess her, reminding her that she belonged to him and he intended to possess her utterly, in all ways. His tongue withdrew, and slid along the moist contours of her lips like a searing flame, then delved suddenly between them to drink greedily of her special nectar. He stroked and caressed, fingertips trailing fire down her throat, playing over her breasts to continue across quivering stomach, settling in the shining curls covering her womanhood.
Julie groaned, fighting her rising ardor, cursing the wav her body rose and swelled beneath his trailing fingertips. “Please, Rod, don’t do this to me.”
“Do what, querida?” he asked innocently. “Make you feel like a woman? I love to watch your blue eyes kindle into flame, your slender body flush with desire.” He laughed nastily, breaking the spell he had cast upon her senses.
“I hate you, Rod!” Julie spat, nearly choking on the lie. “I don’t want you! I don’t want this!”
“Your body tells me otherwise, querida. See how your nipples reach for my lips?” His tongue brushed back and forth across a sensitive nub and Julie felt it spring to life beneath his touch. His lips could not resist the tender bud as he drew it into his mouth, flipping gently with his tongue and sucking with maddening thoroughness. When he began the whole process again with the other nipple, Julie groaned aloud as an ache began in her loins spiraling upward throughout her entire body.
“Will you sti
ll deny me, mi amor?” Rod chuckled, a mocking sound low in his throat.
“Yes! Yes!” agonized Julie, fighting desperately to hang on to her sanity.
Apparently in no hurry to sate his own desire, Rod’s hands dipped downward to cup the furred mound at the junction of her thighs, massaging gently with the heel of his hand. When his two fingers found her open, her honeyed sheath ready for his entry, he murmured huskily, “You are wet with desire, mi amor. Do you still say you do not want me?”
Somehow, Julie found herself stretched out on the bed with Rod lying beside her. She turned to him, burying her face in his chest, need riding her like a wild stallion. “Oh God, Rod, hurry!” she sobbed, writhing against his lips and hands.
“Not yet, querida,” Rod rasped raggedly. “I’ve waited too long for this. I want to touch you, to taste you, to fill you with me in my own good time.”
His weight shifted away from her and Julie cried out in deprivation. Once again she heard his amused chuckle and if she wasn’t in such desperate straits she would have gladly strangled him. “I’m only going to remove all of my clothing, mi amor,” Rod laughed softly. She heard the whisper of leather and then his weight was pressing her down into the soft mattress, crushing her full breasts against the furred expanse of his chest.
His manhood thrust hard against her soft belly, smooth as satin yet stiff and demanding. Beginning with her mouth, he touched a trail of sweet fire along her body, to her painfully sensitive breasts, drawing them one at a time into his mouth, toying with their dusky aureoles until they honey-combed and their peaks filled his mouth. When his hands parted her legs and his lips descended to close over her most sensitive spot, Julie protested violently.
Rod slid his body upward to stare into her eyes. “You win this time, querida, but next time you won’t escape so easily.”
His smoldering gaze held her enthralled as he thrust strongly into her velvet moistness. Her long legs rose to imprison his flanks and draw him more deeply into her. His hunger overpowered her and Julie felt herself drawn into it as rapture consumed her and flung her skyward with a cry of release, bringing her to spasms of hot delight, matching her rhythm to his as he guided her through a continuously mounting passion to the peak of exploding desire.
