He nudged closer and she felt the heat of the thickness invade a tiny measure. Breathless, waiting, she nodded affirmative.
“Say it?”
“I want you, Noor.”
He pushed a little further, caused his cock to press deeper, and invaded her opening, stretching her. Allura sucked in her bottom lip and shivered at the pleasure of heat that sizzled through her pussy.
He stopped and it irritated her. “Don’t stop.”
“Say what I want to hear?” he said, poised, tensed above her.
She hesitated, clearly confused. “I don’t understand?”
“This is serious, Allura. You need to understand what is about to happen. I’m going to put my cock inside you and take your virginity. We can’t undo it once it’s done. Is that what you want?”
“I want you to fuck me deep and hard.”
“Jesus,” Noor breathed.
She smiled impishly. “You’d be surprised at what someone can learn at boarding school. My friend Katherine told me it’s what her boyfriend wanted from her. She wanted it, too. Katherine has always been very liberated in these matters.”
“Remind me to discuss at length this Katherine and whether or not you two are still associated. Later,” he growled, and moved the infinite amount of space needed to penetrate—Noor froze, hearing the communicator bleep.
“What is it?” Allura whispered.
* * * *
“What?” Noor pretended not to hear it.
The damned thing sounded again, louder, more insistent, and if Sterns’s neck was within reach, he would have been dead.
“That sound?”
Reluctantly, Noor moved away and grumbled, telling Allura not to move. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and walked into the living area. He snatched up the bag, almost ripping the lining, and pulled out the nuisance.
It was at the forefront of his thought to ignore Sterns, but he might have something critical he needed to know. He had damned better.
“Yes, sir,” he said, his tone far from indulgent.
“Rynoir,” Sterns barked. “The idiots at the command center somehow erased your exact coordinates. I need your location positioning.”
“How did that happen?”
“When I find out, whoever is responsible will feel the grip of my wrath so tightly he will think I have his balls squeezed. What is your location?”
He hesitated, unsure why. Something didn’t seem quite right.
“Is everything okay?” Allura called from the bedroom.
“Is that a female voice I hear? Are you down there screwing around when you should be out looking for the target?”
Noor hit the volume switch. He leaned forward, hissed into the intercom, and rattled off the longitude and latitude specifications. He was about to disconnect and scramble the privacy module frequency when Sterns mouthed off again.
“I swear Rynoir, if you are wasting time banging some backward country girl when you should be focused on the assignment, your ass is grass. Get yourself in gear and get this finished. McGovern and Farrow are breathing down my ass, something I’m not too fond of right now, so you get your dick out of some pussy and take care of business. Do you hear me, Rynoir?” Sterns shouted.
“I hear you loud and clear.”
He tossed the egg back into the sack and threw it behind the couch.
Allura scooted to the edge of the bed and watched him. “What happened?”
“Get dressed.”
“Excuse me?”
“You need to put your clothes on. You’re leaving.”
Allura batted her eyes. “I don’t understand. I thought—”
“It isn’t going to happen. This, us.” He waved his hand about. “Never should have started in the first place.” He snatched his clothing up and balled it in his hands.
She jumped to her feet and walked over to where he stood. “I’m so confused right now, I don’t know what to think or feel. One minute you were about to make love to me, and the next minute I don’t know who is standing before me.”
“We were going to fuck—love had nothing to do with it. I told you this in the beginning.” He stalked to the bed, grabbed her clothing, and shoved the skirt and blouse toward her. “Put your clothes on. Now.”
He sensed her fury bubbling at the cusp. He knew Allura felt enraged with anger at his sudden transformation into something cold, emotionless. He stood there unmoving, transfixed, so brutally chilly he knew she wondered if his heart continued to beat.
“I don’t deserve this,” she said, bristling.
“I agree.”
“Then why are you doing this, Noor?”
“Call it fickle, a change of heart, or whatever appeases you the most. I can’t name it either, Allura.” He sighed, raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Please put your clothes on. Will you?”
Allura watched with her stomach knotted in agony as Noor left the room. It took everything she possessed not to go after him. She refused to give chase and damned her imprudence to get entangled with a man like Noor Rynoir. Channing tried to warn her, protect her, and she ignored his advice, thinking she knew better than her brother did. Who, of all people, could identify a man with a habit for profligate behavior if it wasn’t Channing?
First Dunst.
Noor.
“You foolish girl. When are you going to learn?” She swore beneath her breath, feeling like two kinds of fools.
He stood against the hearth, leaning with his back against the mantel, nursing his second shot of whiskey by the time Allura entered the room. She walked past, intent on leaving without saying a word. He should have let her go. He shouldn’t have thought to fuck her. Right now, he had a long list of shouldn’ts to regret but it didn’t stop him from catching up to her. She opened the door. He grabbed the frame between his fingers, and the other hand rested on her shoulder.
He felt obligated to say something, a form of an apology. “If I could explain right now, I would.”
Allura set cool eyes on him and her tone was crisp. “No, you don’t want to or you would. Please take your hand off me.”
“Damn it, Allura. It’s complicated. Trust me.”
She jerked away from him. “I don’t trust you, and I never should have in the first place. Channing warned me about men like you, and I should have listened. Hell, you warned me yourself, but I refused to hear you. My mistake, I assure you it won’t happen again. Have a good evening.” She ducked beneath his arm and squeezed by.
* * * *
Silent prayers went up. Please…please come after me. She walked along the porch, listening for his footsteps. Quiet ensued, eerily void, and made a loud statement. Noor wasn’t coming.
Why was she surprised? A man like Noor Rynoir probably had a liege of women at his disposal to fawn over him. Surely, he was not one to give chase. Well, she didn’t intend to be one of his numerous available females.
When Channing was in a snit he called her a ball-buster, and maybe he was right. If any other man treated her like Noor, with casual indifference after he had dallied with her, she would have slammed her fist in his gut. Thank god she had the sense to leave her gun behind in her room. She wanted Noor to hurt. If she had had her pistols, she would have sought satisfaction and taken care of the matter.
Allura stopped and inhaled to calm her emotions. No, she could not hurt Noor. How could she harm the man she had fallen hopelessly in love with at first sight?
Chapter Twelve
Allura glared at Noor, eating as if he expected his plate to fly away. His appetite had suddenly returned since last night, when he had barely touched his meal, and this morning he devoured food while her stomach was in a tight, hard kink. She could not think of breakfast, let alone eating, and it piqued her Noor didn’t seem to have an issue. The way he consumed the eggs, bacon, potatoes, biscuits, and buttered apples on his plate was an obvious indication what happened between them hadn’t affected him.
She glanced at him. He l
ooked thoroughly refreshed, while she had tossed, turned, and, by the time morning arrived, had raccoon eyes.
She put down her fork, letting it clank against the porcelain. Noor didn’t budge. She fumed and sighed heavily. “Well, your appetite certainly returned,” she said snippily.
Noor didn’t bother to look up. “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t be hungry?”
Unable to help herself, Allura was about to tell him exactly what she thought, all the things she hadn’t said last night, when Channing waltzed into the room. She pinched her lips. Her brother was the last person she wanted to know about anything that transpired between her and Noor.
“Good morning,” Channing said.
“Morning,” Noor said.
Allura mumbled something close to a greeting and failed miserably. Channing misstepped, eyeing her perceptively.
“What’s the matter, sis? You haven’t had your coffee yet?” He turned to Noor. “Fair warning, my sister isn’t agreeable to being polite until after her first cup.” He grinned, then walked to the buffet, heaped mounds of food on his plate, and then sat down.
Two bites into his eggs, Channing stopped and looked between Allura and Noor. He wiped his mouth with the napkin, laid his fork down, and leaned back in his chair. “What happened? Did somebody die and nobody thought to inform me?”
“Everybody can’t be a morning person, Channing.”
“You certainly are not, but that doesn’t explain why you two are sitting here as rigid as mortar. I swear the tension is so thick I could cut it with a butter knife.” Channing leaned toward Noor. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Channing faced Allura. “Sis, what’s going on here?”
“Nothing you need to be concerned with, so please don’t start to pry and get all riled up for nothing.”
Channing’s eyes darkened. “If this nothing has anything to do with you and Noor, it’s my business.”
Noor continued to eat, unwilling to let Channing draw him into the conversation. Allura sipped her coffee. It was cold, but she pretended not to notice. It helped distract her from Channing’s scrutinizing gaze.
“I and father are scheduled to ride out shortly. If I need to stay…” He eyed Noor.
Allura pretended to be happy and smiled warmly. “Why on earth do you think that is necessary? Because Noor had to find out the hard way I can be testy first thing in the morning? I think I scared the poor man.” She gave Noor a mirthless smile, and then turned to Channing. She poured on the charm to disarm him. “It’s as you said, Noor had to realize the hard way that everybody can’t be a cheerful as you, Channing, especially when they haven’t slept a wink.”
Channing finished off his eggs and started on the apples, pausing to glance at Allura. “What kept you awake?”
Noor spoke up, saying, “Allura visited, and we got carried away.” Allura stiffened. Surely, he wouldn’t. “Your sister was kind enough to bring your uncle’s documents to me to view. She stayed overly long, I’m afraid.” He looked at Allura directly, holding her gaze. “The subject matter proved interesting, and I found myself entranced, and before long, the time slipped away from us. My actions were inappropriate, and next time Allura’s consideration will be top priority. I apologize, Allura.”
Maybe it was dreaming on her part. Had he apologized for his beastly behavior last evening? It was difficult to tell with Noor. She could read him as much as a wooden board. His expression unreadable, she assumed the best because she wanted to think he wasn’t callous.
Channing said between munches of a biscuit, “There’s been a change of plans this morning. Father and I have to ride over to Glen Heights and bring back the herd.”
Allura said, “Watkins always handles the purchase and cattle drive.”
“Well, he would, except he is dead. He was killed in a gunfight two days ago, and we just received word early this morning.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t know Watkins very well,” she said, turning to Noor. “He was new to the ranch, here less than a month, but he seemed like a likeable fellow. I’m surprised he ended up in a shootout. That’s shocking to hear. His mild demeanor didn’t denote bad temperament.”
“Though unfortunate, with too much liquor and a pretty woman involved, these things happen, sis. Mother isn’t happy about Father leaving for a few days, so he is pacifying her by bringing her along. We will leave her at a friend’s house, and then pick her up on the return. She wanted to go to Glen Heights with us, but Father said no. He said there might be trouble with Dunst and Matt Graham’s men.”
Allura stammered, “Dunst? Dunst is here? I mean—not here…in town—Dunst is back in the territory?”
“This Dunst man seems to be a problem,” Noor said, watching Allura closely.
“No.”
“Yes.” Allura gave him the evil eye, a blatant warning to shut his mouth, which her brother ignored.
“Dunst and Allura have a bit of a history.”
“We do not,” she snapped.
“Sis, you almost married the man. I would say that is more than a past. Thank god Father had the insight to stop you from making a serious mistake. You were young, foolish, and clueless about how to judge a man’s character. It’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
“This Dunst hurt you, Allura?” Noor’s tone was level.
“No.”
“Yes, he did, sis. He crushed your heart, but in hindsight, it was worth your suffering. If you had married Dunst, your life would have been horrific, and I would have had to kill the bastard. Dunst is one of the best cattle rustlers, but he isn’t the marrying type. You were too young and infatuated, confused about love versus lust.”
Allura rolled her eyes dramatically. Channing talked too much. She glanced at Noor, who had become rigid, and she wondered why.
“Father thinks Dunst might still be holding a grudge as well. After all, marrying you would have immediately elevated his status from ranch hand to one of the richest son-in-laws this side of Texas. I can see why he might be bitter. Mind you, I don’t care what his grudge is, if he tries anything he is a dead man,” Channing said.
“You need help? I wouldn’t mind going along and meeting this man,” Noor said.
“That isn’t necessary,” Allura said.
“I wouldn’t mind if you tagged along, but Father will feel better if you stay behind and watch over things while we’re away.” Channing wiped his mouth and stood up. “Well, we need to ride out. Sis, stay out of trouble. Noor, keep your eye on her. I wouldn’t put anything past Matt Graham to try and do something foolish if he knows Father and I are away.”
“I won’t let her out of my sight.”
Allura waited until Channing left the room before she spun around in her chair and hissed at Noor. “I don’t need you or anyone else to follow me around like I’m incapable of handling myself.”
Noor pushed his plate aside. He leaned forward, sat his elbows on the table, and matched her stare. “I never said you did. However, if you are my responsibility while your family is away, I take the task seriously. When do we ride over to the McFarland spread?”
“You think I should just forget what you did last night?” she said tersely.
Noor’s lips curled upward in the corners. “I don’t think you ever will, sweetie.”
Allura tossed her napkin down. “You know what I’m talking about. You hurt my feelings. Though I should not tell you that, like all men, you will probably try to use it to your advantage. My god, why I have any feelings for you continues to puzzle me. After all, it’s not as if we have known each other for a lifetime…or a full week. This is ridiculously insane what is happening.”
“If you only knew,” Noor mumbled.
“Do you care to explain your comment?”
“I will tell you when we ride to the McFarlands’. Shall we?”
Allura folded her arms like a defiant child. She glowered at him. “Mister, if you think I want to go anywhere
with you after what you did to me, you are sadly mistaken. Luck would be on your side if I ever speak to you after today…this minute.”
Noor tilted closer, his tone dropped an octave. “Do you know how hot and bothered it makes me seeing you all flushed, breasts heaving and straining against your bodice? Those damned nipples poking at me, sweetie. My cock is so hard, I’m surprised it hasn’t drilled through the tabletop. Settle down. You and I both know you will not only speak to me again but damned well enjoy it.”
“Don’t be so sure of yourself. In fact, I’m thinking about asking you to leave here and ensure you never step foot on our ranch again. I can have you escorted from the property by a few ranch hands.”
Noor gave her an insolent smile that wasn’t a smile at all. “Sweetie, this is between you and me, and if you involve anyone else, you are signing their death certificate. I will kill the bastard who touches me. Hell, if a man touches you, he’s as good as dead, too.”
Allura huffed, and folded her arms beneath her breasts. “I have a good mind to follow through on my threat and have you tossed off our land by a dozen men, if that’s what it will take. I should.”
“You want me to go?” he said challenging.
“I’m thinking about asking you to leave.”
“I heard you the first time…yet, here we are—make up your mind,” he said smoothly, unconcerned.
Allura scooted back from the table. “I will show you the McFarland ranch because I promised to, unlike some who start something and not finish it. Unlike some people, making a commitment means a lot to me.” She eyed him, gathered her skirts, maneuvered around him, and walked to the door. “I will see you outside when you are ready, but I swear if you don’t appear in ten minutes, all agreement is off, and I will ride without you. Then you can find the damned McFarland ranch by yourself, if you can.” She turned to leave when Noor called her name. Allura halted abruptly, looked over her shoulder at him. “What do you want now?”
Pure Desire [Pure 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 10
