Arizona Caress: She Feels The Heat Of His Hot Embrace

by Bobbi Smith

  They were married the following day according to Pima custom. It was a joyful occasion. Doug and Nilakla were rapturous about their newly declared love for each other, and the rest of their lives stretched before them in an unending blending of days spent loving.

  Chance watched his brother's obvious delight and was glad for him. As he celebrated Doug's newfound happiness later that night at a wedding feast, he knew his own time in Arizona was coming to an end. Soon he was going have to start home.

  As Chance wandered away from the reveling, he wondered idly where Rori was. He had caught a glimpse of her during the wedding itself, but she had not attended the feast tonight. In truth, now that he thought about it, he realized that he had seen little of her since the day before when he had taken her to meet with Chief Lone Hawk.

  Chance thought of the chief and knew that Nilakla's father was truly a kind man. He had accepted Rori warmly into their midst and generously provided her with a lodge of her own even though she had no relatives among the tribe. Rori had been subdued during the encounter, and it had surprised him.

  Chance wondered how she was going to take to the Pima way of life. They were primarily a farming community. The men worked the irrigated fields while the women worked at making baskets and pottery. For an instant, he questioned his judgment in leaving her behind in such foreign surroundings. However, he knew Rori was a smart girl, and he felt certain that given time, she'd adapt. It would be good for her to be with people and socialize. Living as she had with Burr, she'd never really made any friends, and he hoped she would find some here and begin a whole new life. Thinking of her, believing that he'd made the right decision for her future happiness, Chance wandered away from the camp for a few minutes of quiet reflection alone beneath the stars.

  Rori lay on the mat in her tipi, longing for the days to pass. She felt as if she was suspended in a limbo of sorts waiting for the rest of her life to begin, and she didn't believe that would happen until Chance was gone. Only then would she be able to escape from this prison called a village.

  Though Rori had put on a show of humility and thanks to the chief for his generosity, the truth was she had no intention of staying once Chance was gone. She hated women's work, she hated pottery, she hated basketry. She wanted to be free and wild like the land she was raised in, but she knew she would have to bide her time until Chance left. Once he was on his way back East, she'd be able to do whatever she wanted, and he'd never find out because he would never bother to check on her.

  The last thought upset her, and she became irritated with herself. He'd made it no secret that he didn't care about her, so why should she let it bother her that he would never think of her once he'd gone from the territory?

  Rori tossed restlessly on the bed as she closed her eyes and sought sleep, but images of Chance assailed her, leaving her wide awake and miserable—images of Chance kissing her, touching her, making love to her . . . A dull ache grew in her heart, and she found herself longing for him in spite of everything.

  Rori swore vividly out loud. She was angry with Chance for what he made her feel, and she was angry with herself for feeling it. She couldn't want him! She wouldn't! It was useless to even think about it. He was leaving. If she allowed herself to care, she would only be hurt.

  "Jakie . . ." She whispered his name as she saw him watching her from where he lay.

  At her call, the big dog got up and lumbered slowly to her. He flopped down lazily beside her on the mat, getting as close as he possibly could. Rori needed the intimacy, was glad for it, and she hugged him to her.

  Things were happening so quickly that she wasn't sure what to think or do. Reluctantly, Rori admitted to herself that she was scared. What would she and Jakie do once they left the Indian village? She knew they could go back to the small cabin she and Burr had occasionally called home, but she wasn't sure what would happen after that.

  The frightening feeling of being totally alone settled over her in a smothering mantle, and unable to deny it any longer, she gave vent to her tears. She cried softly into the night, until at long last, exhausted, she finally fell asleep.

  "What are you doing out walking around?" Chance asked Doug when he met him as he was returning to the village.

  "I was allowing my wife a few minutes alone before I go to her," he told his brother, his eyes alight at the thought of his new bride and the excitement of the night ahead.

  "I see," Chance chuckled. "I don't know that I could be as patient as you are."

  "Don't be fooled, I'm anxious. It's just that we've got the rest of our lives to be together, and I wanted tonight to be special."

  "That's true," he agreed as they walked slowly through the village toward Doug and Nilakla's lodge. "Have you given any thought at all to bringing Nilakla home for a visit?"

  "As a matter of fact, I have. I do want Mother to meet her. I think she'll like her."

  "I know she will," Chance assured him. "Why don't you make the return trip with me?"

  Douglas would have liked to make the trip right away, but due to Nilakla's delicate condition, he decided to wait. He didn't want to put her in any stressful situations until after the baby was born. "We'll come later."

  "Why not travel with me now?"

  "Because Nilakla's pregnant," he explained, not sure how his brother would take the news, "and I'm afraid that such a long trip might cause problems."

  Chance was surprised, but pleased by the news. "Congratulations, Doug. That's wonderful!"

  "Thanks. I'll wait until the baby's old enough to travel and then I'll make the trip back."

  "That's a good idea." He grinned, fancying himself as an uncle and wondering how their mother was going to react to being a grandmother.

  As they spoke, neither man noticed Nilakla emerging from the lodge that was now hers and Doug's. She was looking for Douglas, for she missed him and wanted him with her. They didn't realize that she was coming their way, and they didn't know that she could hear some of what they were saying.

  ". . . wait until the baby's old enough to travel and then I'll make the trip back."

  Agony shrieked through Nilakla as she froze in her steps. The fear that her original assumption had been right and that everything he'd told her had been lies jolted through her. It was obvious from his statement that he planned to stay with her only until she had the baby and then he was going to take their child and leave.

  Nilakla backed silently away, returning unseen to the seclusion of their tipi. Though her heart was breaking, she knew she wouldn't turn Douglas away. She loved him madly, and if she was only to have these months with him, then she would take them and live them to the fullest. There was only one thing she could hope for—that he would come to love her so deeply during the months that she carried his child that he would never be able to leave her.

  As Nilakla returned to the lodge, Chance was saying. "Have you decided yet when you're going back to the mine?"

  "I'd planned on going back tomorrow. We should be able to carry everything on three or four pack horses. The trip should take a day or two, and then you can be on your way."

  "Fine."

  Doug glanced toward his lodge and smiled at the thought of his bride awaiting his arrival. "Well, I think it's time for me to turn in for the night . . ."

  "I'll see you some time in the morning."

  Chance watched his brother walk away, ready to begin his new life as husband and father, and he could sense how happy and fulfilled Doug was feeling. Chance felt a strange sense of emptiness in his own life as he thought about his brother's excitement. Doug had only been away from Nilakla for a short time, and yet he'd been chomping at the bit to get back to her.

  Doug's desire to be with Nilakla made Chance wonder why he wasn't even a bit lonely for Bethany after all these weeks. Certainly, she would make him a good wife, but if he felt no deeper emotion than that for her, he was skeptical that any union between them would be successful, no matter how good a financial merger it might seem to b
e.

  Chance tried to conjure up a picture of Bethany in his mind, but he could manage only a general vision of petite, blond perfection. Then, as he was pondering the excitement of her kiss, he found that instead of seeing her delicate loveliness, the image of a dark-haired, innocent, green-eyed beauty superimposed itself in his mind. Rori . . . her raven tresses tumbling about her shoulders, her emerald eyes flashing at him, her body responding wildly to his . . . Rori desolate and crying in his arms over her fallen grampa . . .

  Desire, hot and unbidden, surged through Chance at the thought of Rori, along with another deeper emotion he didn't recognize and couldn't name. The force of what he felt startled him, but he refused to take it seriously. It was just lust, nothing more. He'd known that from the very beginning. But even as Chance tried to dismiss his feelings for Rori as unimportant, he found himself wondering where she had disappeared to that night.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Nilakla was waiting eagerly for Doug when he finally entered the lodge. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him. To Nilakla Douglas was the epitome of male beauty, and she knew no matter what the future held that she would make tonight a night he would always remember.

  Doug was excited about joining Nilakla for their wedding night, and at the sight of her reclining nude on the mat that was to be their bed, he paused, enthralled. He knew in that instant that he'd never want another woman. Nilakla was perfection, and he loved her with all his heart and soul.

  Their eyes met across the width of the darkened room, and Nilakla, reading the sudden heat in his expression, lifted her hand to him in invitation.

  "I love you, Douglas, my husband," Nilakla told him in a husky voice. "Come let me love you . . ."

  Doug's mouth went dry as his gaze dropped first to her slightly parted lips. Nilakla saw his interest, and she ran just the tip of her tongue over her slightly fuller bottom lip in a slow, sultry gesture. Entranced, he let his gaze move even lower, and he stared hungrily at her lush beauty. Her dark hair was unbound, falling about her shoulders in a satiny black cascade that veiled her breasts teasingly, allowing him just tantalizing glimpses of their succulent glory. Her slender waist blossomed to the gentle roundness of her hips, and her long and shapely legs were coyly posed, shielding her womanhood from his view.

  Mesmerized by Nilakla's loveliness, Doug moved forward toward her, stripping off his shirt as he went. She was his wife, his love. He wanted her. He loved her as no other, and he would only be happy in her arms.

  "I love you, Nilakla," he told her hoarsely, choked by the power of the emotions that were welling up inside him.

  His declaration should have thrilled her, but it didn't. Instead, it only served to remind her of her doubts about his sincerity. She didn't reveal the pain his words were causing her, nor did she reveal the tears she was crying inside. Instead, despite the anguish she was feeling, she smiled.

  "Then love me, my husband . . ."

  Doug could wait no longer to join her on the bed. He lay down beside her and took her in his embrace. He held her tightly as his mouth moved over hers in a possessive, demanding kiss. Her lips parted to his questing tongue, and they shared that even deeper exchange. They breathed as one, each sharing the other's breath in an odd intimacy that evoked a primitive heat in Douglas.

  When his mouth left hers to explore the shell-like curve of her ear and then trace molten excitement along the sensitive cords of her throat, a shudder of pleasure wracked Nilakla. She arched seductively against his hard male body, wanting more from him, much more. The crests of her breasts hardened as he continued to plunder the sweetness of her throat and shoulders, and she moaned in joyous agony. She wanted him to kiss her breasts, to touch and caress her until she was mindless to anything but the splendor of their joining.

  Doug could feel her excitement building, but he was not going to give her what she wanted just yet. He continued his sensuous play with practiced expertise, arousing her to a fever pitch, making her want him wildly. The thrilling torment he inflicted upon her only encouraged her to return the favor.

  Nilakla's hands were restless as she caressed him. She was impatient to know the heat of his flesh upon hers, so she did everything she could to encourage him to hurry. Her touch was bold as she sought his manly strength, and the power of Doug's response to that caress pleased her. Brazenly she began to remove the rest of his clothing, and when he would have helped she pushed him back down upon the bed to stop him. Nilakla's movement were definitely designed to seduce as she undressed him. When she'd discarded the last of his offending garments, she began to kiss and caress him with fiery abandon. Her hands and lips trailed over him, seeking out his pleasure points and coaxing him to greater and greater heights of arousal.

  Finally, Doug could stand her rapturous torture no longer. He pulled her to him for a kiss and then rolled over, bringing her fully beneath him. Nilakla gave a throaty laugh as Douglas moved between her legs, and she lifted her hips to accept him deeply within the hot confines of her body. The moment of their joining was electric, and the ultimate pleasure could no longer be denied. He began to move in a steady, thrusting motion, but Nilakla was hungry for him. Her hands sought his hips, guiding him, encouraging him, until Doug was lost in the frenzy of their mutual need. They lost track of everything except the wanton splendor of their mating. This was where they both knew they belonged—locked in each other's arms, sharing the gift of love. This was their heaven.

  They reached ecstasy's pinnacle and hung there suspended in heart-stopping excitement. Their rapture faded slowly. Wrapped in the bliss of love's blending, they began the descent back to reality.

  "Will it always be this way?" Doug managed to ask after a long, quiet moment. He still had not released her and, in fact, did not even want to consider letting her go just yet. Nilakla felt too wonderful in his arms, her silken limbs entwined with his, the heat of her body still holding him captive.

  "Yes, Douglas, always," she whispered dazedly. What had passed between them had been so breathtakingly beautiful that she was afraid to talk about it further, lest they destroy some of its perfection.

  "If that's true, we may never leave this lodge again . . ." he responded in exhausted good humor.

  His words touched Nilakla with a poignancy that almost brought tears to her eyes. She knew that if there was some way she could have held him captive in that tipi forever to keep him from leaving her, she would have done it. "That would be heaven for me, Douglas. There is nothing I'd rather do than love you . . ."

  Doug answered her with a passionate kiss. When the fire of his desire stirred again, he did not deny himself, but swept her away with him on a tidal wave of ecstasy.

  Long hours later, Nilakla lay beside her sleeping husband, her head resting on his shoulder, her hand resting on the broad expanse of his chest. She could feel the steady, solid beating of his heart beneath her palm and said a prayer that her love would be strong enough to bind him to her for all time. Tears dampened her cheeks, but she didn't care. At long last, she slept, and her dreams that night were visions of them in the future, living happily together with their baby, a complete and loving family.

  The following three days passed in a blur of activity for Doug and Chance. The day after the wedding they'd ridden out late for the mine. They'd made the trek there without incident, and they headed back to the village, the pack horses ladened with their few personal possessions and the gold.

  "I guess you'll be wanting to leave now . . ." Doug remarked as they rode into the Pima village.

  "It's time," Chance agreed, knowing that their mother was still awaiting word from them and feeling the responsibility of the business weighing heavily on his shoulders.

  "How soon do you want to go?"

  "I want to check on Rori and make sure she's all right, and then I'll be ready."

  Doug nodded. "It may take Rori a while to get used to the life-style here, but I'm sure she'll be fine."

  "I hope so . . ." Chance was l
ess certain than his brother that Rori would do well living within the restrictions of Pima life, but he was trying to be optimistic. She obviously hadn't wanted to live with Nilakla and Doug, and she had been outraged at the thought of going East with him. No, Chance reasoned, the village was the best place for her . . . the only place for her.

  "We'll plan on riding out some time tomorrow, then," Doug concluded. He wasn't thrilled at the idea of being away from his new bride so much, but it was important that he get into town and find out what lands were available. The thought of founding a Broderick dynasty in Arizona appealed to him, and he was looking forward to buying a ranch and developing it into the best the territory had ever seen.

  "I'll talk with Rori tonight, and I'll be ready to leave when you are," Chance decided. He was anxious to find out how she was faring. During the course of their trip back into the mountains, he'd often found himself thinking of her, wondering what she was doing and how she was adjusting. Now that he was back, he planned to satisfy his curiosity.

  Rori was sitting with Nilakla and a group of other women, listening to their chatter of babies, pottery, and baskets, and quietly going out of her mind. She silently cursed the circumstances that had brought her to this fate and cursed Chance Broderick. As frightening as her future seemed if she left the village and struck out on her own, it couldn't be worse than the present torture of trying to take part in the women's work. She felt nearly insane with the desire to run from them screaming her lungs out. She was meant to be out riding and hunting and tracking, not sitting here by the cookfires.

  "Look, Nilakla! Your husband returns!" Dawn Blossom, a middle-aged, heavyset mother of five, whispered to her excitedly as she caught sight of the two white men returning.

  Nilakla was quick to look up, and when she saw her husband riding into camp, she left the women without word and ran to greet him.

  Rori had glanced up at Dawn Blossom's exclamation, and just as she did, Chance looked her way. Their gazes collided and locked, and Rori felt the shock of his regard all the way to the pit of her stomach. She swallowed nervously as she wondered why just one look from him should affect her so. She wanted to glance away, but found she couldn't. It was as if she were pinned and held immobile just by the force of his gaze.