Whether that was an excuse for his appearance at the dance or a demand for her attention now couldn't easily be discerned. It didn't matter. Daniel kept Georgina protectively behind his back.
"Get lost, little brother. She's my wife now and none of your concern. And don't come back this way again if you know what's good for you. You're persona non grata in these environs."
"The cowboy speaks Latin. How fitting." Shoving his handkerchief back in his pocket, Peter turned his tailored back on them and strode away.
It was only then that Georgina realized Daniel had just driven off his brother for her sake. He had given up all hopes of coming to terms with the only family he had in favor of the one he hoped they would make together.
She wasn't certain if she was honored, terrified, or just plain dismayed at the thought.
Chapter 28
They were both silent as they climbed the stairs and by mutual agreement entered the bedroom rather than the office. Georgina was glad that Daniel stayed with her rather than going to his easy chair, but now that he was here, she was nervous of his presence. Somehow, tonight, he seemed to fill the room with his energy, and she was acutely aware of their physical differences. She didn't mistake him for an older brother or a platonic friend anymore.
She almost jumped when Daniel caught the back of her gown and began unfastening the hooks there. Her stomach knotted as she realized what this action must mean. She had to remember she was a lady and behave circumspectly so she wouldn't disgust him again, but what she wanted more than anything was to turn around and throw herself into his arms and beg for his kisses.
That was a rather dismaying notion, and Georgina stood silently for his ministrations. She wanted Daniel to care for her, but she hadn't the slightest idea of how to go about it. She was terrified she would drive him away as she had every other man in her life. She just wasn't the type of woman who attracted men. She knew that. It had never mattered until now, and she had given it little thought in the past. She was regretting her carelessness now.
"Well, Pecos Martin was never much of a ladies' man." Humor tugged at his drawl as Daniel unfastened the last hook and stepped away. "I guess I'd better find another hero to emulate if I'm going to try this courting business."
Georgina held her bodice in place as she turned around to look at him. His cowlick had fallen in his face again despite all his attempts to keep it slicked back. She wanted to brush it back from his forehead, but something in the glitter of his eyes kept her from reaching out. They stood in the light of only one lamp, and the shadows between them were too great.
"I've been courted before," she murmured uncertainly. "When I was twelve, I went to a garden party with a boy and fell out of a tree and broke my arm while racing him to the top. Last year, in London, I attended a perfectly extravagant ball with a viscount. We ended up arguing over my mode of dress, and when I threw champagne at him, he poured wine on me. When I looked around, we had an audience laying wagers on the outcome. I won't bore you with all the other disasters in between those two episodes."
Daniel chuckled and pulled a pin from her hair, sending a carefully arranged curl tumbling to her shoulder. "The Incorrigible Miss Merry. Maybe we're made for each other. Did Evie tell you I once blew up the main street of town?"
"Really?" Laughter came easily with Daniel, and Georgina felt a surge of warmth as he continued taking down her hair. She wasn't certain if it was for his understanding or his closeness, and she didn't care.
"When this is all over, I want to take you down south to meet some of my friends. They'll like you." Daniel dropped the handful of hairpins on the stacked crates she used as a dressing table.
Georgina didn't want to know what "this" referred to. She prayed he meant the fight with Mulloney's and not what was between them. She didn't want what was between them to ever end. Daringly, she placed a hand on his chest and fiddled with his shirt stud. "How can I make you like me?" she asked softly, staring at his chest. She felt his soft intake of breath, but didn't dare look up.
"I've liked you since the first day we met, Georgina. To tell the truth, I more than like you." Daniel caught his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back until she met his eyes.
Georgina tried not to gulp at what she saw glittering there behind the gentle gray. His brows were a sharp brown line that pulled together with the intensity of his emotion, and his lean jaw set with a determination she recognized too well. Perhaps she was beginning to see deeper than a person's surface after all. It certainly wasn't the genial journalist she was seeing now.
"I want you, Georgina," he murmured, lowering his head until his lips brushed against her ear. "I don't want to frighten you again, but I don't want to sleep in the chair, either."
She didn't know what she was supposed to do. Should she turn her back and begin obediently undressing so he could assert his husbandly rights? Should she slide her arms around his neck as she longed to do and show him that she wasn't in the least frightened? Should she just wait and let him do as he would?
Taking a breath, she dared to do as she wanted. Let him think her a loose woman. She had never spent much time trying to be something she wasn't; why start now? Georgina lifted her arms and slid them around Daniel's neck and stood on her toes to reach his lips with hers.
He grabbed her waist with both arms, lifted her from the floor, and eagerly accepted everything she gave him. Georgina's joy shot through them both as she returned his kiss with a ferocity that nearly had them tumbling into bed before they could undress.
Georgina's bodice had fallen down with her impulsive gesture, but she scarcely noticed until she felt the skirt tapes give way beneath Daniel's quick fingers. Her gown lay in a puddle on the floor as he lifted her out of it and carried her down to the bed.
She lay in corset and petticoat beneath him as he leaned over her, and she didn't feel in the least ashamed. Georgina drew her fingers over Daniel's lean jaw and smiled as he bent to ply her mouth with kisses again. She liked his kisses much too well.
Daniel pushed himself off her and stared down into her face as one hand went to unfasten the hooks of her corset. "How do you feel about children, Georgina?"
The sensation of his strong, long-fingered hand inserting itself between her corset and her breasts clashed with the cool control of his words, but the combination made some insane sense in her mind. Georgina reached to tangle with a man's shirt studs for the first time in her life.
"I always wanted brothers and sisters," she murmured irrelevantly as she dropped the first stud to the floor and brushed his warm flesh.
"They start out as babies, you know. Tyler told me we should have had this discussion before we married."
The corset came unfastened, and Daniel lifted Georgina's back and pulled it free to fling it to the floor. The exquisite freedom made her tingle even before his hand circled her chemise-clad breast. Delicious waves of warmth swept through her as Daniel's fingers located the aching tip through the thin material.
She wasn't even certain she was capable of speech, but valiantly, she tried to reply to the question he wasn't asking. "I'll give you babies, Daniel. I think I would like to have your baby very much."
"I've always wanted several, Georgina," he warned, even as his hands went to the fastenings of his trousers.
"Then we had better get started, hadn't we?" Just the idea of it surged through Georgina with a primeval need that sharpened every touch to an unbearable intensity. She wanted to make a baby, and she wanted this man to give it to her. She put her hands around Daniel's neck and pulled him closer so she could feel all of him against her.
That movement probably saved him from grievous injury. Glass spattered across the room at the same time the street echoed with the sound of a shotgun blast.
Diving down to the bed, Daniel grabbed Georgina's waist and rolled them both to the floor. More blasts followed. Glass shattered and spun crazily across the floor. He rolled them under the high bed and out of the hurricane of flying sh
ards. Across the hall Max howled with rage.
"Stay here." Pulling the cover from the bed, Daniel rolled himself in it and raised up.
"Daniel!" Georgina tried to hold him back, but it was akin to holding back the wind. He was gone before she could do more than touch a hand to his arm.
Glass crunched as Daniel bent over and ran to the door. Georgina cried out as another blast sent more glass and pellets flying through the room, but Daniel made it to the door without any noticeable injury.
She knew where he was going, and her heart lodged in her throat as she waited. He kept his guns locked in a chest in the pressroom where the boys couldn't get at them. She knew he was cursing his caution right now, but she was thanking the good Lord. She wanted those villains gone before a shoot-out ensued.
It looked as though her prayers would be answered. The street grew quiet, and the few remaining panels of glass were left unshattered as Daniel returned with his rifle. Georgina stayed where she was as he stood against the wall and searched the street. She hadn't known how hard her heart was pounding until she saw Daniel standing there, looking murderous with a rifle cocked and ready in his hands. She held her fist to her mouth to keep from crying out while he scanned the street. He was fully capable of shooting anyone who emerged from the darkness.
He cursed and blew out the lamp and waited a while longer, but apparently none dared show their faces, not even the police. Georgina gingerly reached for her fallen corset and used it to sweep a path through the glass beside the bed.
Still cursing, Daniel set the rifle aside and came over to help her. When they'd cleared a safe place, she rolled out and he clasped her tightly in strong arms. She gave in to the urge to cling to his greater strength. Wrapping her arms around his waist, Georgina buried her head against his chest and let him soothe her shivers.
"Why would anyone do that?" she whispered against his shirt.
"I haven't exactly made myself welcome in these parts," Daniel reminded her. "I just hadn't thought they'd endanger you, too." He stroked her hair, smoothing it down her back.
"But everybody around here likes you," she protested. "It's just Mr. Mulloney and my father that you've made mad."
"And the other businessmen like them, and the thugs that they hire. The circle grows wider with every editorial I publish. If this was Texas, they'd have tried to tear up the press by now. I'm sorry, Georgina, I just thought it would be a little more civilized here."
"What are we going to do?" Georgina didn't want to let go, but she felt the tension in him building. She was learning that when Daniel got tense, unpleasant things happened. She stood back and looked up at him.
He was glaring at the shattered windows with a thoughtful frown. When she pushed away, he turned his gaze to her, and his expression softened. He pushed a fallen curl from her face and smiled. "We're going to take that old pallet back to the pressroom and sleep where there aren't any windows tonight."
That seemed reasonable. Georgina shook out a sheet and gathered up their pillows. The broken glass could wait until morning when she could see what she was doing. It crunched beneath her shoes as she followed Daniel across the hall to the office.
The office hadn't been lit, and the vandals had left the window in here alone. Max came trotting up to lick Georgina's hand, calm now that the danger had ended. Without a lamp, the room was filled with shadows. She stood back and waited as Daniel dragged the pallet to the windowless pressroom. This wasn't exactly the romantic encounter that she had anticipated.
It didn't get any better, either. Once they had the bed made up, Daniel picked up his rifle and kissed her cheek. "Get some sleep. I'll find a safer place for you to stay in the morning." And he walked out.
Georgina stared incredulously at the empty pallet. She'd made her bed, and now she supposed she would have to sleep in it—without her husband. Why did that not surprise her?
She jerked open the door between the two rooms and found Daniel settling into the chair, the rifle across his lap and Max at his feet. "If they're coming back, I don't want to be asleep." She stepped through the doorway, suddenly aware that she wore nothing but her chemise and drawers.
"There isn't anything you can do. One of us ought to get some sleep out of this night. Go on to bed, Georgina. I'll be fine."
He wasn't even looking at her. That annoyed her more than his words. She wanted him to look at her. "I didn't marry Pecos Martin, I married Daniel Mulloney. I wish you would make up your mind who you are."
He looked up then, but she couldn't see his face in the darkness. "I'm still Daniel Mulloney. Pecos would be out chasing the varmints down. Now go to bed, Georgina. I'll catch up on my sleep tomorrow when you're up and about to keep an eye on things."
She went then, knowing there was no other argument she could offer if he didn't want what she tried to show him. She shut the door softly behind her.
Daniel stared at that closed door for a long time afterward, feeling the ache deep down inside him, longing to take those few steps to where she waited.
But she deserved a whole lot more than he had to offer right now, and he wasn't starting any babies until he could keep them and their mother safe, no matter how much the rest of him longed to do so.
Ignoring the ache in his loins, he waited patiently for their attackers to come back and investigate the damage they had done.
He must have dozed sometime after dawn. Daniel woke to the sound of Max's low growl, and his gaze instantly lifted to the door separating him from Georgina. The door was open, and she was standing there, the morning sunlight caressing the tumble of curls down her back. One strap of her chemise was falling off her shoulder, but she held the cloth in place with her arms crossed beneath her breasts. She couldn't disguise the full swell of those lovely curves however, and Daniel swallowed hard at the sight revealed. She was doing this to him deliberately.
"What happened to that slinky piece you wore the night you came here?" he couldn't keep from asking.
"You didn't give me time to put it on last night," she informed him coldly.
He caught what she didn't say easily. "You mean you've been wearing it the other nights?" The nights he hadn't come to her bed.
She nodded, and a golden curl fell over her shoulder. Daniel drew a deep breath and started from the chair. He was only a man, after all. The admission wasn't difficult for him to make while she was standing there, a goddess of the morning emitting a siren call that even he could hear. Vows made under duress weren't valid when exposed to the morning light.
As Daniel rose and started toward Georgina, Max began a furious howl and dashed to the door, scratching and barking for it to be opened. Torn between the temptation in sheer linen on one hand and warning signs of danger on the other, Daniel halted in mid-stride. His lame leg locked and sent a shooting pain through his muscles.
The door slammed open and Peter stood there. His gaze instantly swept from Daniel still in his formal shirt and trousers to Georgina leaning against a dooijamb in her underwear. His eyebrows shot up as he respectfully turned to face Daniel, giving Georgina time to duck back into the other room.
It was more than Daniel could stand. With a bellow of rage he reached for Peter's shirtfront and hauled back his fist, slamming it solidly into his brother's jaw, sending him flying backward into the hall.
From behind the pressroom door came the distinct sound of a ladylike voice sighing, "Oh, damn it to hell." A moment later, Georgina stood in the center of the office, wrapped in a blanket, golden hair flying over bare shoulders like a Valkyrie, glaring at Daniel and the man sprawled outside the door.
Without another word she stepped over Peter and disappeared into the bedroom with a loud slam of the door to shut them out.
From his position on the floor Peter rubbed his jaw and commented thoughtfully, "If that's the way you both get up in the morning, you damned well deserve each other."
Chapter 29
They could hear her crunching across the floor in the other room. A mom
ent later, a trunk lid creaked, followed by more muttered cursing.
"I'll have to go in there and help her," Daniel advised the man still sprawled across the hall. "Her gowns were all designed for a maid, and we don't seem to have acquired one yet."
Peter propped himself on one elbow and rubbed his aching jaw, testing for broken bones and teeth. "What do you carpet your rooms with, glass? I never heard a floor that crunched before."
"Is that supposed to be a declaration of innocence? Because if it is, I'm not buying it. Save yourself some grief and disappear while I'm gone." Daniel stepped over him and entered the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
A moment later, a hard object crashed against the other side of the door. Sitting up, Peter listened as a few murmured words were exchanged, followed by another distinct crash. He moved out of the line of fire and leaned against the wall just in time for the bedroom door to fly open again. This time when Daniel emerged, he reeked of expensive perfume and the front of his half-open shirt clung to his skin with the smelly liquid. The door slammed behind him.
Shoving his hair back out of his eyes with his hand, Daniel glared at the man sitting on the floor watching with interest. "Are you still here? You like to live dangerously, don't you?"
"What are you going to do, set Georgina loose? At least she only used lemonade on me. You stink like a polecat. Want me to rub you down in tomato juice?"
Grunting, Daniel stepped back into the office and rummaged around for a towel in his scattered belongings.
Feeling momentarily safe from another attack, Peter stood up and followed him in. "I never could figure out what sets her off. One minute she's all smiles and flirty eyelashes, and the next she's flinging things and screaming. Must be a woman thing." He eyed the rifle by the chair with curiosity.
"Are you still here? A glutton for punishment, aren't you?" Daniel toweled off his chest and glared at his younger brother. Peter was dressed casually this morning in tweed jacket and khaki pants instead of his usual formal suit. Daniel's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Just what the hell are you doing here anyway?"
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