Tip of the Spear (30 page)

“Your
mother?” she asked. “Very pretty.” She stood under the portrait, which sat
above the fireplace in the dining area, where a large table would seat a dozen
hungry men after a long day working the ranch.

“She
was stubborn, like you,” he said, realizing it was true. Sky Dakota bossed
everyone in the house. They’d abided by her rules and basked in her love. Giving,
independent, and obstinate when she thought she was in the right, she’d have liked
Thais a lot. “Want to see the upstairs?”

Thais
nodded and turned from the picture. Beside the fireplace, Mahpee’s cabinet
remained empty. He’d crafted it with their father years ago to house Sky’s
prized porcelain dishes. After the attack that had destroyed most of the house,
they’d lost her prized possessions. Now only her picture and their memories
remained.

“This
is a grand house,” Thais commented as they walked down the hallway toward the
stairs. Up and to the right, the stairwell curved to a second level. Currently
made up of five bedrooms and a lavatory—thanks to Wolf’s odd penchant for pipes
and plumbing—the upstairs would soon have one area for each of the brothers and
a separate section for his father downstairs.

They
walked down the hallway, the floors again covered with woven rugs in dark
colors, and he showed her his brothers’ rooms. “Mahpee and Wolf don’t like
visitors, so make sure you remember where you’re sleeping.”

The
warning didn’t go unheard.

“Do
you really think I’m likely to forget that?”

The
whip-like staccato of her question warned him to tread warily.

“No,
not at all. I’m just telling you that Mahpee mistrusts anything in a skirt
thanks to Wolf’s antics. And Wolf is as likely to tear your clothes off as he
is to hear you made a wrong turn.”

She
calmed somewhat at his explanation, unaware of what he really wanted to say.
“You’re
mine, so don’t even think of sharing yourself with my brothers. Family they may
be, but you belong to me.”

Needing
to bridge the gap between them that had grown the past few days, Hinto led her
into his bedroom and closed the door behind them.

Granted,
the uncomfortable silences had been his fault, but how the hell was he supposed
to think when the woman made him hard half the time, and the other half he
spent figuring out how to keep her?

“Hinto?”
She held a wooden carving of a wolf in her hand. “You made this?”

He
flushed and grabbed it from her. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s
very good,” she said with surprise.

“There’s
a lot more to me than being a stupid gun for hire,” he snapped, despite not
wanting to take his anger out on her. It wasn’t her fault he could barely keep
his hands off her.

“If
this is about me leaving town earlier—”

The
perfect excuse. “Let’s talk about that,” he said, frustrated beyond reason when
it came to her stubbornness. He dug in his pocket for his handkerchief, an idea
forming.  

“I
don’t take orders from you. You can’t tell me to wait whenever you need to do
something. We’re partners. Equals.” She dared him to dispute her words.

“I
agree.” He moved fast, before she could stop him, and spun her around, yanking
her hands behind her back. “But we’re also something more than partners. We’re
lovers.”

“Hinto,
let me go,” she said in an even tone and tugged at the kerchief he’d tied
around her wrists. She glared at him, her ire enraging his need.

“I’ve
tried for days to give you space.”
To try to get you out from under my
fucking skin.
“To let you think about what we are to each other. I thought
by now you’d have come to me. But I think you’ve forgotten your place.”

She
gritted her teeth, but he could see the arousal she tried to hide. Thais needed
a strong hand. “My place is a knife at your throat. How dare you do this to me?
I am a guardian, an Amazon. My pride—”

“Has
no place here. I don’t want your pride, only your pleasure.”

She
faltered, her anger turning to confusion. “My pleasure?”

Hinto
turned her to face the wall, and she tensed. “I was worried about the town when
we arrived. I didn’t know who owned the new buildings. That’s all we need,
another Butch McKenzie type to deal with. I asked you—”

“Ordered
me.”

“—to
stay because I didn’t want you to get hurt if all wasn’t as it should have
been.”

She
swallowed loudly in the silence, and his pulse raced at her nearness. He
pressed against her back and nipped at her throat.

Thais
gasped and tried unsuccessfully to contain a moan.

“When
I couldn’t find you, I went a little crazy. I want to show you a little crazy,
Thais,” he whispered and knelt behind her to remove her boots, then her
trousers. He loved that she wore nothing underneath, just the long, lean lines
her Goddess had given her.

Unbuttoning
each and every button, he took his time undoing her shirt then unwinding the
binding beneath. He liked the idea of her wearing nothing but an unfastened
blouse as he pounded into her.

He
found it telling Thais didn’t fight him at all.

Slowly
running his hands around her front, he massaged her breasts, reading her body
language as he played. Her raised nipples scored his hands. Her belly tightened
with his every pass. She rubbed her thighs together, sliding them through the
moisture pooling just for him.

As
he made short work of his own clothes, he told her what he intended. “You’re
going to stay right there, Thais, like a mare awaiting her stud. I’m hard and
aching for you, ready to enter that fine, trembling body.” And trembling she
was. “You’re so soft, but so strong. I can’t wait to taste you again. But not
until you feel a little bit of what I’ve been feeling for days.”

Naked,
he molded himself to her back, groaning at how good she felt against him. “You
miss your family. You want to be near your sisters as I want to be near my
brothers. But you want me just as much , and that bothers you.”

Hinto
didn’t give her a chance to protest. He squeezed her breasts and pinched her
nipples. His cock begged for entrance, and he teased himself by rubbing between
her ass cheeks. He couldn’t wait to take her there and wondered if she’d let
him.

“You
feel me back here, don’t you?”

“Yes,
damn you,” she breathed.

“Someday
I’m going to push harder, and I’ll penetrate that virgin flesh the way I took
your pussy. You want it, don’t you?” He rocked into her and lowered a hand to
toy with her clit. Her cream coated his fingers when he delved into her cleft,
and he groaned with desire, so ready to fill her.

“No,”
she tried to deny him.

“Yes,”
he hissed and angled down, riding between her wet lips. Her pussy begged for
more. “I could make you so hot you wouldn’t give a damn if I shot inside you. Admit
it.”

Hinto
leaned back so he could slide his shaft between her bound hands. Her grip
tightened around him.

“That’s
it. Yeah,” he rasped as he struggled to control himself before he blew too soon.
“How do I feel, Thais?”

“So
hot,” she moaned. “I’m so wet for you. No matter how much I try, I can’t stop wanting
you.”

Gratified
she’d been as frustrated as him, Hinto’s annoyance with the irresistible woman
began to fade. “You told me to leave you alone, so I did. I was trying to give
you space. Hell, I was trying to give
me
space. It’s all I can do to
remember to pull out after I fuck you,” he said crudely, and she clenched him,
nearly making him come.

“Dammit,
ease off before I spend,” he growled. “Now spread your thighs, honey. That’s
it, wider.”

She
did and he pulled back, away from her touch.

“I
like you tied up. No chance for you to regret what you can’t control, right,
Thais? You can take the pleasure and enjoy it,” he bit off as he thrust slowly
inside her and held tight to her hips.

“Hinto,
yes,” her voice rose.

Beyond
caring, he shoved the rest of himself deep inside her. “Yeah, that’s right. We’re
joined now, but you can’t do a thing about it, can you?” He put a bit of mean
into his voice, loving the way she writhed against him.  “Can you?” he asked
again.

“No,”
she said and shoved back against him, grinding against his balls.

“Fuck,
I love how wild you are, how you need it as much as I do. Don’t you see, Thais?
This is right.”
You were made for me.

Hinto
pounded inside her but couldn’t get deep enough to satisfy him. He withdrew
from her heat and led her to his bed, where he shoved her onto her back. He
knew she had to be uncomfortable with her hands tied behind her, but he didn’t
care.

“Tell
me what you want,” he rumbled, fisting his cock, so smooth from her juices.

She
blushed but didn’t look away. “You think I won’t? That I’m too ashamed to be
honest of my woman’s need?” His warrior glared at him and spread her thighs
wider.

“I
think you’re scared of what you feel,” he rasped, taunting her to spill her
secret desires.

“Taste
me, then, with your tongue,” she said in a voice filled with desperation, as if
she didn’t want to feel the intensity between them but couldn’t help herself.

He
knelt and caught her clit in his mouth. Rolling the taut nub, he sucked and
licked, enjoying the feel of his woman on his bed. Her breathy moans as she
tried to ease back from him only inflamed his desire to possess her completely.
He wanted to fill her, to own her, to create a tie she’d never be able to
break.

“Please,
Hinto,” she panted as he brought her to the edge. “I need you inside me.” She
cried out as she came under his mouth.

He
mounted her and thrust deep, want mingling with the desire to protect her, even
from himself. Love for this woman gave him the strength to do what he’d promised
when his mind and body demanded he give her his all.

He
groaned her name, a litany of unrequited longing as he shafted her until he
could no longer stave his climax. He pulled out and spilled all over her belly.
The orgasm seemed to last forever. By the time he caught his breath, Thais was
running her fingers through his hair, comforting him with soft words of praise.

“So
strong, so sure. I always want you.”

“How—”
He croaked, swallowed, and tried again, embarrassed at the depth of his need. “How
did you get your hands free?”

“You
didn’t tie a very tight knot, did you?” She laughed softly. “Even as you want
to punish me, you don’t want to hurt me.”

He
leaned up on his elbows and regarded her with all seriousness. “Never, Thais. I
never want to hurt you.”

“Nor
I you,” she admitted and bit her lip.

You
don’t want to, but you will when you leave.

The
knowledge that they tread on shaky ground remained between them, but neither
spoke of the future. They made love again, slower this time, but still, Hinto
took control. That she let him was a testament to her trust, and he hoped, her
growing affection.

“I
know what you need,” he murmured as he brought her over.
You need me.

Chapter Sixteen

Pilar
needed to have her head examined. She could feel danger pulsing in the very air
around the ranch hands she passed. The ragged gathering of men had a manner of
lawlessness about them. Different from the contained chaos she and her gang
channeled, Butch McKenzie’s ranch seethed with oppression. To an extent, the place
and its people made her think of Aaron Bartel, and she had to force herself to
show no reaction as she rode into the center courtyard.

An
open area surrounded on several sides by a large house, a barn, side buildings
and feed stores showed a ranch used to being worked. She’d counted at least two
dozen men, and if she wasn’t mistaken, every one of them carried a gun of some
sort.

At
least she’d had the sense to leave Deke and Brian behind, conscious she might
need them to save
her
, for once.

She
didn’t see Gregor McKenzie until she climbed down from her horse, which she
tied up in front of the main house. She gripped her spear in her hand and
waited for him to step out from the doorway.

No
one spoke. No one moved.

And
then Gregor stepped outside onto the covered porch.

“Well,
sugar, fancy meeting you here.” The thin smile he wore did little to detract
from the coldness of his gaze. “Come on in and meet Butch.”

Pilar
followed him inside, her concentration on Gregor and not the extravagance
around her. Trust McKenzie to live like a pampered prince. Sculptures,
paintings, finely woven rugs and clean, plush furniture. The Amazon queen
hadn’t lived in such majesty. What made Butch McKenzie so special?

Intrigued
despite her resolve to remain impartial, she wound through a hallway and passed
two servants, the first women she’d seen other than the whores lingering
outside the bar in Morrow. Both women were young and wore clothing which
emphasized their curves and exposed their arms and their legs, from the knees
down. Bruises dotted the younger girl’s skin. The haunted expression in her
eyes warned Pilar to tread warily.