The Divine Creek Ranch Collection, Volume 1 [Book 1 - Divine Grace, Book 2 - Her Gentle Giant, Book 3 - Heavenly Angel] (Siren Everlasting Collection)

by Heather Rainier

  It was late, and Teresa was immediately worried that something was wrong, but Angel reassured her as they answered the door. Ash stood at the bottom of the steps with Deseo saddled and ready to ride. Angel helped Joaquin bundle up a bemused Teresa, complete with muffler, gloves, hat, and earmuffs. They wrapped her in her heavy winter jacket before leading her outside.

  “Joaquin, I put an extra wool blanket up there in case you want to wrap her in an extra layer or cover her legs. It’s pretty chilly tonight.”

  Joaquin pulled his gloves on and shook Ash’s hand. “Thank you for the consideration, Ash. I appreciate it. I’ll take care of Deseo after we’re done.”

  Ash nodded and said, “Have a nice ride. See you in the morning.”

  “Thank you, Ash,” Angel said. “I appreciate you staying available to us this late.”

  “You’re welcome. Good night.” The tall cowboy strode off into the dim light cast by the security lights from the barns.

  Teresa turned to Angel and then Joaquin, a questioning look on her face as Joaquin put on his new black felt hat and his heavy jacket.

  Angel smiled as he tucked a stray lock of hair into her crocheted wool scarf. “It’s a perfectly clear night tonight. Joaquin wants to take you for a moonlit ride, beautiful. How does that sound?”

  She was awed. “It sounds wonderful. I’d love to.”

  “I’ll stay here with Michael and watch a movie,” Angel said as he pulled her jacket closed and adjusted her scarf to cover her neck fully. “Take as long as you like and enjoy yourselves.”

  Joaquin climbed into the saddle, and Angel assisted him in lifting Teresa carefully onto Deseo in front of Joaquin, sitting crossways on his lap. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, feeling a little nervous. It was just a horseback ride, but the moment felt huge, and she felt small and vulnerable. She looked up into Joaquin’s eyes, and he smiled at her, easily controlling the horse as he touched her cheek with the soft, work-worn leather of his glove.

  “Now don’t you worry, sugar. Deseo loves women and won’t make any false moves with you in my arms. He doesn’t mind carrying the both of us. All you need to do is relax against me. Angel, let’s wrap that blanket around her legs.” The horse shifted slightly under their weight but made no other move. She caressed Deseo’s neck and patted him.

  After they had her situated, Angel went back in the house and waved to them from the open front door. She hadn’t been on horseback in quite a while but relaxed against Joaquin, trusting that he would keep her safe. Deseo was a fine, beautiful animal, majestic in his stature and carriage, and she wondered briefly at the romantic sight they made riding off into the starlit night.

  Once away from the house and the security lights, she looked up and sighed appreciatively at the night sky. The moon was nearly full and shown its light on their path. The night was still, and the smell of wood smoke from a chimney faintly scented the air. For a while they rode on in companionable silence, lulled by the rhythm Deseo created as he moved along at a leisurely pace.

  “I think this is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me,” she said, snuggling into him with her hands drawn under her chin. His arms around her, holding her securely, felt like home.

  “We were hoping for a nice, clear night tonight, and we lucked out.”

  “It’s beautiful tonight.”

  “Are you cold?”

  “No, you bundled me up well, and the wool blanket helps, too. How about you?”

  “Being near you keeps me warm. I’m fine.”

  “I adore you,” she stated simply. “You make me happy.”

  His lips were hot, pressed against her temple. “I’m glad to hear that, sugar. Oh, look. Did you see it?” He quickly pointed into the sky.

  She looked up in time to catch the streak of white light that shot across the sky overhead. “Yes! I saw it,” she said as they reached the top of the rise and continued on.

  “Aren’t you supposed to make a wish or something when you see a shooting star?”

  “Yes. You make the wish.”

  “I already have what I want. You make the wish,” he whispered in her ear as he nuzzled her. Deseo continued on at the same gentle gait.

  “Okay.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest.

  Chapter Nineteen

  When Teresa opened her eyes, his bare hand was held up in front of her. In his fingers was a diamond ring. The platinum and diamonds glittered and shimmered ethereally in the bright moon and star light. She whimpered and slipped the glove from her hand to touch it.

  “It’s beautiful, Joaquin.”

  “I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you, and it doesn’t matter if I’ve know you only four days or four years. You have a beautiful heart and a sweet spirit, and I absolutely, utterly adore you. Sugar, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife, too?”

  Teresa hugged him tight, and looked up at him. “I would love to be your wife. I can’t imagine my life, our lives, without you in it. My son loves you and obviously adores you, also. You’re about to make him one happy little cowboy.”

  “Would you like me to put it on?” he asked, taking her hand in his free one.

  “Yes! Yes, please.” She held out her hand for him. He slipped the ring on her left ring finger and then held her hand in his palm so they could see it.

  “I’m glad it fits.”

  “I love it Joaquin. It’s gorgeous. Thank you.” She hugged him again, then he kissed her. His kiss was intense, with a promise of passion yet to come.

  In a shaky voice, Teresa said, “I’ll keep this memory, out here with you, forever in my heart.”

  “I decided to propose to you in a way that showed you something of me. Proposing on the back of my horse under the moonlit sky seemed to fit the bill. Want to keep riding or head back?”

  “Oh, let’s keep riding if that’s all right with you and Deseo.”

  “Its fine, but you let me know when you start to get chilled, so I can take you back. Angel and I will warm you up once we get home.”

  Teresa knew exactly how she wanted them to warm her. “This means we can set a wedding date.”

  “Yes. I have a feeling this is going to be a wedding put together in record-breaking time.”

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” She giggled and tilted her lips up for another long kiss. “So, what else is planned for this evening?”

  “Well, we had some thoughts and ideas, but you’re the one in the driver’s seat.”

  “Were you considering making tonight ‘the night’?” she asked quietly.

  “As in ‘the night we make love to you for the first time’?” Joaquin asked, his eyes sparkling. She felt his body’s response to the change in subject as his cock swelled beneath her bottom.

  She smiled and her cheeks tingled as she nodded. “Angel told me he’s explained what happened to me so you’d understand me better. I’ll always carry the memories of the violent way Michael was conceived, but I want to break free from what happened and make new memories with you both.”

  Joaquin nodded. “I hope you don’t mind that he told me.”

  “No, because it saves me from having to tell the story over again.”

  “If I could get my hands on him, I’d avenge you.”

  She smiled and assured him, “I believe in God. He says that vengeance belongs to Him, and He’ll repay Ranulfo for what he did to me. Although, if he accidentally becomes the hood ornament on the front grill of an eighteen-wheeler going down the highway at seventy miles-an-hour, I wouldn’t shed any tears.”

  Joaquin chuckled and asked, “What about Michael? Would it be inhibiting for you to have him close by and possibly hear us?”

  “Michael is a sound sleeper. Once we’re married, he’d be in the house with us when we made love, wouldn’t he? We’ll always have to be careful about being too loud. If you’d rather wait, I can ask Grace to invite him to a sleepover, and then we’d have the house to ourselves the first time. It
’ll be special to me either way.”

  “What do you want?” he asked simply, his hands sliding around her hips and holding her close.

  “I want you both to make love to me tonight.”

  “It’s unromantic, but I need to ask. Are you on birth control pills?”

  “No, but I plan to get on them,” she replied, thinking she probably should have already done that.

  “We’d need to use condoms until you’ve been on the pill a month or so. Would you mind that?”

  “Not at all. I want to wait a while before we start adding on to our family. Plus, we’re a little limited on space right now.”

  Joaquin chuckled. “You’re right about that. Angel has mentioned the possibility of building a new house for us once he turns the duties of ranch foreman over to Ash.”

  Teresa raised her eyebrows in happy surprise. “So that’s working out? He seems capable and levelheaded.”

  “In most things, yeah.” He chuckled and said, “Right now a certain redhead has got him tied up in knots.”

  “He has a girlfriend? Who is it?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t call her his girlfriend yet, but he met your friend, Juliana Meyer, at the party the other night, and she must have made an impression on him. That’s what he wanted to talk to me about earlier. Plus, we needed to plan the details for our ride tonight.”

  “They met at the party? I never even saw them talking together. Juliana is…such a city girl. I can’t imagine her with a cowboy. And Ash is one hundred percent cowboy.”

  “Not to change the subject, but—”

  Teresa grinned. “Right. I’ll make an appointment with Dr. Guthrie and get on the pill. Do you by chance have condoms we could use?” she asked, proud of herself for being so direct about the subject.

  “Yes. We had a feeling you weren’t on the pill and decided it would be better to be prepared. You didn’t ask, sugar, but I always use condoms.” She hugged him and nodded silently, appreciating his fastidiousness.

  A light breeze kicked up a few minutes later, and Joaquin turned Deseo back toward home. “Let’s get you home. I want to make love to you.” Her core quivered at the prospect.

  * * * *

  By the time Joaquin got Teresa in the house, she was chilled. He took Deseo back to the barn to care for him while Angel helped Teresa get her extra layers off and started a hot shower for her. She was grateful because parts of her did feel a little frozen. She took her time washing her hair, exfoliating, shaving, and scrubbing nice and smooth. She thought about her conversation with Joaquin a few days before, about making love. They put her in control of when that finally happened, and she’d made her wishes known. Now ultimately, it felt like Angel was the one in control of how much happened tonight.

  She heard a light tap at the door and called out a welcome as she dried off in the tub and blotted the water from her dripping hair. One of her men came in and closed the door behind him. She peeked around the curtain and smiled at Angel, figuring it would be him coming to talk with her.

  “Are you feeling warmer now?”

  “Yes, the hot water felt wonderful.” She wrapped the towel around her and stepped from the tub onto the mat. Angel stood there gazing at her with a far-off look in his hypnotic eyes. His expression was hard to interpret. “Did I do something wrong?”

  He tilted his head, and his features softened immediately. “No. You haven’t done anything wrong. Why would you think that?”

  “I couldn’t tell from the way you were looking at me.”

  “I’m sorry. I was thinking. Soon I’ll get to see you stepping from my tub fresh from your bath everyday for the rest of my life. It floored me.”

  That thought filled her with happiness. She smiled and felt like her heart was stretching from all the love for him it held. “Well, that’s a good thing.”

  Angel glanced down at the new ring she wore on her left hand, “So, he asked, and you said yes. Did you like the ride?”

  “Very much. I want to do things like that with you, too, Angel. It was so romantic out there.”

  “Joaquin said the same thing. He told me you’re ready for us to make love to you.”

  She nodded, water droplets sliding along her cheek. “I am.”

  “You’re sure you don’t want to wait for the wedding night?” She wondered if he might be teasing her, judging by the hint of mischief she saw in his eyes.

  She shook her head slowly. “No. Nerves, remember? I want you both to make love to me tonight.”

  “And Michael?”

  “I’ll do my best to keep my screaming at a minimum.” Her cheeks tingled with heat as she giggled.

  Angel gave her a lop-sided smile. “But we like it when you scream. That’s how we know we’re doing it right.”

  “Everything I’ve experienced at your hands has been done right, Angel.”

  “Mmmm, now you’re just flattering us. Why don’t you let me help you dry off?” He reached for the corner of the towel that was tucked in at her chest.

  There was a knock at the door, and a deep voice from the other side said, “You better not be starting without me.”

  Angel opened the door a bit. “She finished her shower, but she’s not dried off yet. We don’t want her to get chilled if she comes out wet, so I offered to help her dry off.” He gave her a crooked little grin. “Come in and help if you want to, or better yet, why don’t we light a fire in the bedroom fireplace?”

  “Oh goody!” Teresa chirped. She’d always been intrigued by the small fireplace in Angel’s bedroom. A night like this would be perfect for lighting it.

  Joaquin stuck his head in the doorway and eyed her hungrily. He even growled a little as he looked her up and down. “She sounds like she likes that idea. I’ll get firewood and kindling, and we’ll have things warmed up in no time,” he said with a playful wink and closed the door.

  Angel reached for the towel, and she let it fall from under her arms. A smile spread across his lips as he lifted it and began drying her off. She reached for another towel and started drying her hair.

  * * * *

  Angel admired the full, sexy sway of her breasts as she dried her hair. She had no idea how tempting she was. All she saw were the things she thought were imperfections, like her shapely, rounded thighs and derriere, and the flesh of her upper arms. She didn’t see herself the way he and Joaquin did.

  Those very things made her attractive to them and a tremendously hot turn-on to be pressed against.

  He loved nuzzling into Teresa’s fragrant flesh and that was a big part of what he was looking forward to tonight, being hip to hip, buried deep in her hot, wet silkiness.

  She sighed as he rubbed her dry, seeming to enjoy his touch. Finally she put the towel down and ran her fingers through her wildly tangled locks to tidy them. He loved her fresh from the shower like this, her skin glowing and her cheeks rosy.

  He looked up when she giggled. “You keep drying me, Angel, and I just get wetter and wetter.”

  He had finished drying her and was now just using it as an excuse to keep touching her. They heard Joaquin out in the bedroom starting the fire. Angel swept down his hand down her back and gently patted her lush ass, feeling the sexy shudder that passed through her at his touch.

  * * * *

  After Angel slipped out of the bathroom, Joaquin entered to take his shower. Teresa noticed that he had stripped down to his boxers and his snug, long-sleeved thermal shirt and socks. He gave her a funny pose and said, “Sexy huh?” to her in the mirror, making her snicker and cough on toothpaste. “Angel is already in the bed warming it up for you. When you’re finished, why don’t you join him, and I’ll be along as soon as I’m done. I smell like horse.” He nuzzled her cheek, and she shuddered with anticipation when his callused hand glided down her naked waist and caressed her hipbone.

  In the mirror, she watched him as he undressed. His cock was rigid and standing at attention against his abdomen. She’d stopped brushing her teeth and stood there ogl
ing his reflection. She caught his twinkling eyes watching her. “Huh? Oh, all right.” She rinsed quickly and left the bathroom as he stepped into the shower.

  The bedroom was lit only by the light of the crackling log in the fireplace and candles on the bedside tables. Angel lay back against all the pillows piled at the headboard, his head propped up on his forearms. He looked over at her and smiled tenderly then reached to pull back the covers so she could join him. As she climbed up into the bed, she felt the warmth emanating from the fire on her backside and the slickness of her lips as the heat licked at them.

  She went into his arms and climbed in alongside his naked body. His strong arms encompassed her, and his hand moved in a slow glide over the small of her back as he tucked her to him. He slid his other hand down her ribs, over her ass, and drew her thigh across his until it rested over his erection. He hissed and shuddered a little.

  “You looked lost in thought when I came out. What were you thinking about?” She sifted her fingers through the light layer of hair on his chest.

  His fingertips stroked her as he said, “I want tonight to be the beginning of something wonderful for you.” The emotion of his words was reflected in his shiny eyes, and she had to close her eyes and press her cheek to his chest. His heart beat comfortingly under her ear as he spoke again. “I want to make love to a woman who loves me and wants me as much as I want her.”

  She remembered that she wasn’t the only one with painful memories. He needed this as much as she did and not just physically but emotionally, as well. Patricia had wounded him deeply, more than just the gunshot wound. That was a void in his life Teresa was happy to fill. Because he was so often the sexy, confident man she admired, she’d forgotten that he’d been hurt by Patricia, whether he would admit to it or not.

  She whimpered a little when his hand slid up her thigh to the underside of her ass. He slid his fingers into her cleft and stroked her drenched lips. She cried out when he slid a finger slowly over her clitoris. “Angel!”