by Jan Hudson
* * *
At dinner that night, the excitement was running high as they started making plans for the treasure hunt. Everyone was talking at once. Everyone except Dan. He sat picking at the casserole Ivan had left for them.
“I just know we’ll find it. Providence had a hand in this,” chattered Martha Craven. “Why just the weekend before I found the journals, Olivia and I were at Delta Downs and found out Pirate’s Pleasure was for sale. We were wishing we could buy him, weren’t we, Olivia?”
Olivia nodded. “He reminded me of a thoroughbred my granddaddy used to have. Pirate’s Bounty, his name was. Fast as the wind. When we investigated, we found out that that Pirate’s Pleasure’s bloodlines could be traced back to that very same horse.”
“What in the world would you two do with a racehorse?” Dan asked.
“Why”—Olivia’s face was perfectly straight—”we’d planned to tether him in the backyard and sell rides on him for a dollar.”
Dan looked appalled.
“Miss Olivia’s pulling your leg,” Hook told Dan, his gold tooth flashing as he grinned. “Don’t let her fool you. Miss Olivia’s a fine businesswoman and she knows horses. Had a bunch of winners last year. She’s got a nice little string of fillies on her farm in Louisiana, and she’s had her eye out for a good stallion for stud.”
Tess couldn’t resist a satisfied smirk and a smug little dip of her chin. “Jumping to conclusions about people will get you every time, Friday.”
“Danny, we’ll need to get the RV right away. Would you take care of transferring the cash to my checking account?”
“If you’re sure that’s what you want,” Dan said, “but I don’t understand why you need an RV, Gram.”
“Tess says that we’ll be much more comfortable with a portable place to rest and refresh ourselves while we’re searching for the treasure. We thought about renting one, but if we buy Pirate’s Pleasure, we’ll be following the races more. Most of the owners have RVs at the track since they’re so convenient.”
“I see.”
Tess was beginning to feel a little sorry for Dan. At every turn, his misgivings had been countered. “I’ll get the dessert,” she said, pushing away from the table.
“I’ll help you.” Dan followed her into the kitchen. “Tess, we need to talk.”
She sliced the pound cake and distributed it to the dessert plates, then leaned back against the counter. “Dan, I know you still probably think this treasure hunt is bunk, but trust me, I’ve researched it very carefully for a long time. The authentication from Dr. Staats was simply a final verification of what I already knew.”
“I’ll admit I still think the whole idea seems farfetched, but I’m more interested in talking about us.” He wrapped his fingers around the side of her neck and stroked the edge of her jaw with his thumb. “We have some unfinished business to discuss.”
He was so close that she could feel the heat from his body, and his blue-gray gaze was on her mouth. Her lips tingled and she parted them to moisten them with her tongue. His fingers tightened around her neck and he pulled her closer.
“Do you have any idea of what just the scent of you does to me, Tess?”
She shook her head slowly. “Tell me,” she whispered, her voice husky.
“It sets me on fire.”
He was lowering his mouth to hers when a voice said, “Oops!”
They both turned to see the flash of Olivia’s long red hair and green dress as she slipped back out of the kitchen.
Dan smiled. “Later.”
She chuckled, then turned and ladled lemon-butter sauce over the cake slices. When Dan helped her carry the plates to the dining room, Martha and Olivia, who had their heads together, ceased their whispering and jumped apart. Tess could almost see canary feathers dangling from the mouths of the two smiling ladies whose eyes darted back and forth between Tess and Dan.
* * *
Tess rose from the tub where she’d been soaking in a warm bubble bath and dried off. Wrapping the towel around her, she went to the door, opened it, and poked her head out, listening. The late-night news had been over for half an hour and the house was quiet. Not even the usual drone of Johnny Carson and his guests marred the silence. She smiled and closed the door.
What did one wear to a seduction?
Particularly when the seducer might meet a restless chaperone while sneaking in or out of the house? That precaution eliminated some of her more obvious choices. And it was a bit nippy out for some of the things she had considered. With a wicked grin, she finally settled on a slinky silk robe in pulsating purple. It was split up each side, cut low in front, and decorated with a long gold tassel attached to its zipper.
Dan was good with zippers.
Grinning as she dressed, she thought of how surprised Dan would be when she showed up on his doorstep in nothing but a whisper of silk and a smile. He’d never be able to resist; she was going to turn his libido every which way but loose.
Tess picked up the map and the journal and, carrying her slippers in her hand, quietly tiptoed downstairs. She paused at the second floor landing to listen. The only sound she heard was the tick of the grandfather clock in the hallway below. She shrugged and, descending close to the wall to avoid squeaks and creaks, stole down the stairs and out the back door.
She stopped to pull on her slippers, then made her way to the guest cottage. The short hairs on her neck prickled and she glanced over her shoulder. A movement at a second floor window of the big house made her freeze. She could have sworn that a curtain had fluttered, but she saw nothing.
How silly, she scolded herself. She was acting like a guilty teenager. Certainly Aunt Olivia wouldn’t care if she visited a man alone at night, even if she knew Tess’s purpose. In her day, her aunt had been quite a coquette, and she was extremely broad-minded. But Dan’s grandmother was another matter. She seemed a bit more old-fashioned than Olivia, and Tess didn’t want to embarrass Aunt Martha.
Waiting in the shadows and staring at the window until she was sure that the movement had been a figment of her imagination, Tess bit back a nervous giggle. The whole thing was beginning to feel like a scene from a Pink Panther cartoon. Her heart was racing and she could feel the flush of excitement on her cheeks.
She only hoped that Dan wouldn’t throw her out. She’d given him a hard time after dinner. Instead of maneuvering for a way to talk with him privately, she’d insisted that they join Olivia and Martha for a few rubbers of bridge. Dan hadn’t been able to concentrate on the game at all; the two older ladies had thoroughly trounced them. Perhaps it was because Tess had kicked off her sandals and run her toes up his leg while they played. The first time it happened, he’d made a funny strangling sound and trumped her ace.
Grinning as she remembered the look on his face, she went to the door of the cottage and stepped out of her dew-dampened slippers. Her hand was raised to knock when the door swung open.
Her eyes glazed and her mouth went dry.
Soft music was playing inside, and there, outlined in the dim lamplight of the living room, stood Dan. Leaning with one hand on the knob and the other on his out-thrust hip, he wore the low-slung bottoms of the loden green silk pajamas she’d bought for him. She’d had an idea those pajamas would look good on him. They did. They were dynamite. If the women of America could see him now, by noon tomorrow there wouldn’t be another pair of pegged silk pajama bottoms left in the country.
His feet were bare and only a patch of light brown hair curled over the muscles on his chest. His hair on his head looked damp and slightly mussed, as if he’d run his fingers through it a few times while he waited for her.
A slow smile lifted the corners of his lips, and his eyes flashed silver in the soft light as they flicked over her. “I thought you’d never get here, love.” His words were a deep, rumbling caress.
“How did you know I was coming?”
His smile widened and he reached for the side of her neck and pulled her toward him. �
�I’m beginning to understand how your mind works.” He bent and brushed his lips against hers.
“I brought the map and journal to show you.”
His eyes never leaving hers, his hand still stroking her neck, he took the documents that she clutched against her breasts and laid them on a table. “The only treasure I’m interested in now is you.”
He pulled her into the room and closed the door. Both arms went around her, one across her back, the other, lower to pull her hips against him. Tess almost purred as he nuzzled and nibbled the side of her throat. His hands slid over the soft silk of her robe as he rubbed his chest against hers and made soft, sensual sounds deep in his throat. Shivers rippled over her skin.
“What do you have on under this, love?”
She laughed a deep, husky laugh. “Only perfume and me.”
His mouth opened over hers with a low growl, and staid Daniel Friday went wild. Her knees buckled as he thrust his tongue between her lips, retreated and thrust again. His kiss was wet and hot and hard and his hands roved all over her. It was like standing in a summer storm of sensual fury. She whimpered and he went wilder.
His broad hand slid between their bodies and pressed upward in a slow, firm stroke until he reached the swell of her breast. He tested and explored and teased its sensitive fullness until her spine undulated like a serpent’s as she strained toward the delicious sensations his fingers created.
A hiss of the zipper and his hand was against her bare flesh. He moaned; she moaned. And his tongue went deeper.
He tore his mouth away and looked down to the deep V where his hand cupped her breast and brushed its hardened tip back and forth against his chest. Her eyes followed his and she watched as he pushed the silk from her other breast and cupped and stroked it as well. She trembled as an aching need began to blossom in her body.
She raised her eyes to his. The silvery blue band had narrowed around a dark core.
“God, but you’re beautiful,” he murmured. “I never dreamed that any woman could be so perfect. I want to see all of you. Now.”
The zipper hissed again and he stepped back. Tess shrugged her shoulders and the silk slithered down her body and draped itself into a purple pool at her feet. She could almost feel the heat on her skin as his gaze caressed the length of her.
“Oh, my Lord.” She could see his chest heave as he sucked in great gulps of air.
“Dan?” she whispered. “Is something wrong?”
“Wrong?” He gave a wry half laugh and his gaze slid over her again. Not one dip or curve did he miss. Her breasts swelled and her belly contracted under his hot scrutiny. “Sweetheart, you’re beyond my sweetest fantasy. One look at you and I’m about to go up in smoke.”
“So?” She licked her lips, smiled, and, with a provocative little rotation of her torso, she stepped toward him.
“I want you so badly that I’m about to explode, and I don’t want to hurry. First I want my hands and my mouth on every inch of your luscious body. I want to taste and tongue and feel and smell. I don’t want to miss a single spot.”
His words flashed sparks that raced through her blood and ignited a flame deep inside her. Never in her life had she wanted a man the way she wanted Dan. Never had she felt so wanton or uninhibited. It was as if they had been born for one another, and she’d been waiting for him her whole life.
Her back arched and she breathed a low, sexy laugh. “I want you to be able to take all the time you need. I don’t want to miss a minute of it.” She smiled, took another step forward, and reached for him.
“Tess!” He groaned and, shuddering, clutched her to him like a dying man.
Chapter 7
Tess was a writhing mass of nerve endings as she lay on the big bed. Dan had kissed and licked and nuzzled his way from her toes to her forehead, then turned her on her stomach and started over again. Her body had yielded all its secrets to him. In his slow, sensuous quest he had explored every square millimeter of her, and he’d found erogenous zones she hadn’t dreamed existed. It was exquisite torment.
“Dan,” she pleaded, breathless with longing. “I can’t take much more of this.”
He chuckled as his tongue did lovely things to her back. “You should never have let me get my second wind.” His arm and leg held her immobile while his free hand teased the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh.
“Please, I’m dying.”
Gently, he rolled her onto her back. His eyes were bright with tender ardor as he smoothed the dark waves from her brow. “Then let’s die together.”
“Dan,” she whimpered, reaching for his hips to pull him to her.
His control was about to blow all to hell as he looked into her magical eyes, heavy with the passion he’d stirred in them, and saw her lips ripe and swollen from his kisses. He loved Tess Cameron with every cell of his being. He didn’t give a damn if he was nothing more to her than a stray she’d brought home. He ached to bury himself in her beautiful soul.
Sweat popped out on his forehead as he knelt between those gorgeous long legs. Her skin shone with the damp fever his mouth and hands had kindled, and it felt like warm satin under his fingers as they slid over the curve of her hips to cup and lift the shapely swell of her buttocks. He tried to enter her slowly, to take her tenderly, but the moment he felt the hot wetness of her, when her legs clamped around his waist, he was lost.
Their joining was a primitive, frenzied dance of hard thrusts and grinding hips and clutching hands and reaching, straining, straining.
She arched her back, cried his name, and convulsed with such a sweet throbbing that he was carried over the edge.
She pulled him against her sweat-slicked breasts and they lay silent, sated, for long moments.
“Oh, Tess. My Tess.” He stroked her and murmured soft endearments as their breathing gradually slowed. He started to roll away, to take his weight from her, but she held him fast.
“Stay,” she whispered. “Stay.”
* * *
Sometime near dawn Dan awoke. “What are you doing?”
Tess giggled. “I’m nibbling your toes.”
He laughed. “Come here.”
* * *
Tess nearly had a stroke when she saw the sun streaming between the blinds. She glanced at the bedside clock. It was almost nine! She’d meant to leave and be back in her room before dawn. Throwing back the covers, she tried to get out of bed, but Dan had both arms around her and one leg thrown over hers. He tightened his hold when she moved.
“Where are you going?” he mumbled, half awake.
“It’s almost nine o’clock. I’ve got to get out of here.”
“No, you don’t.” He nuzzled her neck and trailed the tip of his tongue along her shoulder. “I have a better idea.”
“Dan, please don’t.” She wiggled under the taunting ministrations of his mouth. “I’ve got to go. What about your grandmother?”
“She can get her own fellow.” His tongue snaked a shivering path down her spine.
“Dannnn!” she squealed as his hand slipped between her thighs.
* * *
It was ten o’clock before she tried to sneak in the back door of the big house. Ivan called to her from the kitchen. He was grinning from ear to ear and he wiggled one bushy eyebrow. It was obvious that he’d seen her come from the guest cottage. The kitchen window provided an unobstructed view of Dan’s front door. He’d probably seen the steamy kiss that Dan had planted on her as well.
“You want some breakfast? Shall I make French toast?”
Tess gathered her dignity and clutched the front of her rumpled silk robe. “Not right now, thanks. When did you get home?”
“Only a moment ago. My seminar was a great success!”
“Great,” Tess said distractedly. “Where are Aunt Olivia and Aunt Martha?”
He shrugged. “They’re not here. I thought they were with you, but—” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows again.
“Hook probably took them shopping for an RV.�
�� Relieved at her reprieve, Tess started to make a hasty exit to her room, then stopped. “Ivan, not a word of this to anybody.”
He put his hand on his chest. “My lips are sealed.”
Tess was dressed and coming down the stairs when Olivia, Martha, and Hook came in the door. Hook was carrying Martha, whose left foot and ankle were swathed in an elastic bandage.
“What happened?” Tess asked, concerned when she saw the wrapping.
“Oh, nothing to be alarmed about,” Olivia said, waving a dismissing hand. “Martha twisted her ankle. The doctor said it’s just a sprain, but she must stay off of it for a week or two.” She heaved a sigh. “Of course this means that we can’t go with you on the treasure hunt. Martha must rest and keep her foot up, and I must nurse her.”
“I feel simply terrible about it,” Martha said, heaving a sigh of her own. “I suppose we won’t need the RV for a while yet if Olivia and I aren’t going. But Tess, this mustn’t stop you. I know you haven’t much longer on the option for your house. I’m sure Danny would go with you and help.”
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Olivia said. “This afternoon Hook can gather everything you’ll need, and the two of you could start first thing tomorrow morning.” Hook grinned and his gold tooth sparkled. “No problem. I’ll even loan you my truck.”
* * *
Early the next morning, as they drove Hook’s big SUV across the long causeway spanning the bay, Tess said, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Dan laughed. “Is the pope Catholic?”
She smiled. “Where have I heard that before? Seriously, Dan, I know how you feel about the treasure.”
“That was before I read your great-great-grandmother’s journal. After studying her account, I believe that there was once something there. Whether it’s there now—” He shrugged. “In any case, I couldn’t let you go anywhere without me.” Taking one hand from the steering wheel, he reached across the seat and gave Tess’s hand a squeeze. “Having you all to myself for a few days is like a gift from heaven.”
