A Woman's Touch (18 page)

When she began to fumble with the zipper he caught her fingers. „You’re trembling.“ He seemed pleased with this small show of the depths of her response.

„I know. I can’t help it.“

„I’m glad. Do you know what it does to me?“

„What?“

„Find out for yourself, although you ought to know by now.“ He guided her fingers back to his zipper and helped her ease it down. Then he pushed her hand inside his briefs. „Oh, baby,“ he muttered as she cupped him intimately.

„Baby.“

He was hot and heavy and aroused. He filled her fingers, straining against her. When Rebecca stroked him lightly, he groaned in response and pushed his hips against her, urging her to caress him more firmly.

Then he impatiently kicked away the jeans and briefs. In the firelight he looked very primitve and very male.

His hands slid warmly down her back to her buttocks. He squeezed slowly, fingers flexing in the soft flesh until she was shivering.

When she sighed his name against his chest, Kyle eased her down onto the rug in front of the fire. She opened her eyes to find him leaning over her, gazing down at her with a glittering passion that took away her breath.

„Kyle?“

„Did you really think you could just walk away from me?“ He trapped one of her legs beneath his heavy thigh and kissed her thoroughly. His tongue penetrated deep for a long moment, reasserting his claim to her warmth. „Did you think I’d let you go after what we’ve found together?“

Rebecca had no answer for that. She wrapped her arms around him, accepting the force of the physical attraction that existed between them and accepting, too, the power of her own love.

Kyle responded instantly to the silent, feminine summons. He parted her thighs and lowered himself between them.

„Wrap yourself around me,“ he urged thickly. „Hold me tight, baby.“

She obeyed, aware of his throbbing maleness at the entrance to her softness. When she twisted her legs around his waist, he muttered encouragement and began to push himself into her.

Rebecca moaned softly as Kyle filled her. She tightened around him, pulling him deeper into her body. Then he began to move with slow, deliberate strokes that inflamed her senses. He knew her so well already, she realized. He knew exactly how to send her into the heart of the whirlwind.

Within seconds she ached for him. Within minutes she couldn’t get enough of him. Her nails sank into his back, her hips lifted demandingly and her cries were soft, imperious commands that seemed to inflame Kyle.

„Touch me,“ she begged.

„How?“

„You know how,“ she said quickly. „The way you always do.“

„I’ve forgotten.“

„Kyle!“

„Show me how you want it.“

„Please, Kyle. Now. Touch me
now.“

„I’ll do whatever you want, baby. You know that. All you have to do is show me how you want it.“ He gave her his hand.

He was teasing her, and she was in no mood for it. She was on fire. She caught his fingers and guided them awkwardly down between their bodies. „There,“ she said breathlessly. „Touch me there. The way you always do.“

„Like this?“ His fingers danced across her intimately, and Rebecca thought she would fly apart.

„Yes.“
She arched furiously against him. „Again.“

„Such a demanding little cat.“ But he repeated the tantalizing movement until she was crying out his name in shuddering ecstasy.

Kyle lost his own self-control at that point.

„Becky.“
He drove into her one last time, plunging himself to the hilt of her softness. His body arched violently and his shout of satisfaction filled the room.

For a long time there was only the flicker of firelight and the crackle of burning wood. Rebecca felt warm and safe, tucked way from reality. She nestled against Kyle’s lean, strong body and refused to think of the future. Tonight all was as it should be.

Kyle’s mouth curved faintly as he watched her. After a little while he got to his feet, picked her up in his arms and carried her down the hall to his bedroom.

The dawn light filtered slowly through the window. Kyle awoke and lay quietly for a moment, watching the sunrise as he had every morning in his lonely childhood. But this morning everything was different. This morning he was no longer alone.

The comfortable, sensual, delightfully familiar warmth of the woman lying next to him was having the usual effect on him. He realized he was already addicted to the pleasures of waking up beside Rebecca.

He turned on his side and trailed his hand lightly down her shoulder and over her thigh. She stirred and stretched like a sleek little seal. Then she turned her head on the pillow and looked up at him from under half-closed lashes.

„It can’t be morning already,“ Rebecca said.

„It is. But we’re in no rush.“

She yawned. „Then why did you wake me?“

„Courtesy. I thought you’d like to be awake when I make love to you.“ He kissed her shoulder, indulging himself in the taste of her.

„Thoughtful of you, but I assure you there’s very little chance I could sleep through your love-making.“ Her amber eyes glinted at him from beneath her long lashes.

„Why, thank you, ma’am,“ he drawled in his best cowboy twang. „I’ll take that as a compliment. Us country boys do our best, but it’s always nice to hear a sophisticated city girl like yourself say she appreciates the effort.“

„Just keep up the good work and I’m sure you’ll go far.“ She glanced around the room, taking in the dark, solid furnishings and bare walls. „Do you spend a lot of time here, Kyle?“

He followed her gaze. „Not as much as I’d like. I’ve been busy for the past few years.“

„Yes, I know. Building your company.“ Rebecca sat up slowly, hugging her knees.

He frowned. „You say that as if it were a crime. A firm like Flaming Luck Enterprises doesn’t get where it is without a lot of hard work.“

She shook her head quickly. „I know that.“

„You don’t sound very approving.“

„It’s just that you tend to get obsessed with things, Kyle. Your company, Harmony Valley…“

„And you,“ he growled, reaching out to pull her back down beside him. He leaned over her. „I’m obsessed with you, Becky. I’ve wanted you since the first day I saw you. And I’m going to make damned sure you believe me. I meant what I said last night. Sell the valley to Ballard, if that’s what it will take to make you realize you’re more important to me than that hunk of land.“

She lay quietly staring up at him for a long moment. „It’s all right. We don’t have to play this game.“

He was momentarily baffled. „What game?“

She moved her head slowly on the pillow, a wry smile touching her soft mouth. „You know what I’m talking about.

All that nonsense about encouraging me to sell the valley to Glen Ballard. You know me well enough to guess I’d never take you up on it. Just like you knew I’d never really sell the valley to some weird cult. I’d never ask you to prove yourself that way.“

Kyle couldn’t quite stifle the rush of relief that went through him, but he still didn’t understand what she was saying. „Let me get this straight. You’re not going to sell to Ballard after all?“

„You know I would never turn all of Harmony Valley over to him. Deep down, I’m sure you’ve known that all along.

Isn’t that why you made the grand gesture last night? Because you knew I wouldn’t take you up on it?“

Kyle finally realized just what she was thinking. Righteous indignation flared within him. „You think I was faking it?

You don’t believe I meant it when I said to sell the land to Ballard if that would prove I wanted you?“

She touched his shoulder, her fingers gentle on his skin. „I’ve worked for you for over two months, Kyle. You are one savvy poker player when it comes to business games. But I’ve seen you bluff before.“

„I was not bluffing, damn it!“ Kyle caught her wrists and pinned them above her head. He was angry now, but he controlled his temper, desperate to make her understand that his grand gesture, as she termed it, had been for real. „I meant every word I said last night. I wasn’t playing games, Becky. You’ve got to believe that.“

She shook her head ruefully. „You took a risk, you know. I was mad enough yesterday to actually consider selling the whole valley to Ballard.“

„Sell it, if it will satisfy you,“ he grated.

„I couldn’t do that. It means too much to you. I just couldn’t do it,“ she said quietly. „And you know it. Will you let me up, please? I want to take a shower.“

For an instant Kyle refused to move. He struggled furiously to think of some way to convince her his offer had been for real. His temper was near the explosive point. It was all he could do to keep from lashing out at the woman lying under him. He had to make her understand.

„Becky, listen to me. I wasn’t trying to run a bluff last night. I meant what I said. Every damned word.“

„Please let me up, Kyle.“

He didn’t want to let her up. He wanted to keep her pinned right where she was while he made love to her until she was shivering, until she couldn’t possibly doubt him.

But if he used force at this juncture, she might never believe him. Frustrated, Kyle rolled over. „Go on. Take your shower. When you get out, we’ll talk. I’m going to make you understand that I meant everything I said last night.“

She scrambled to the side of the bed as he released her. He watched broodingly as she disappeared into the bathroom. When the door closed firmly behind her, Kyle swore again, violently.

This was one event he hadn’t anticipated.

Last night he had made what had to be the noblest gesture of his entire life, and she hadn’t believed a word of it.

Rebecca had assumed he was bluffing.

Fury burned within him, but over and above that was a sense of desperation – a feeling that was dangerously akin to panic.
Rebecca didn’t believe him.

Kyle had dealt with a lot of problems in his life, but he had never faced the problem of rebuilding trust between himself and a woman after it had been shattered.

Rebecca’s doubt seared his soul.

„It’s the most fascinating thing to read,“ Rebecca said enthusiastically to Darla as they sat eating hamburgers in the town’s one cafe. „A real piece of local history. Alice had a wonderful eye for details and people.“

„Was she lonely out there all by herself in that valley?“ Darla asked interestedly as she dipped a French fry into a pool of catsup.

Rebecca thought about what she had read in the Cork journal. „Sometimes. But no more than anyone is from time to time, I think. She really loved her farm and the animals. She seemed to take a lot of satisfaction from the day-to-day routine of that kind of life.“

„Does the journal go all the way back to the time when she was engaged to marry Glen’s father?“

Rebecca nodded. „That part of the record is the only truly sad portion. When she discovered that Ballard didn’t love her and had seduced her in the hopes of getting Harmony Valley, Alice was crushed. When she found out she was pregnant, she was torn between a woman’s rage and a mother’s love. But she cried when she lost the baby. It made me cry to read that part of the journal.“

„Makes you want to throttle Glen’s father, doesn’t it?“

„Kyle’s father, too. Cale had the gall to try to seduce poor Alice, first. But he botched it. He pushed too hard and too fast, and when she resisted he lost his temper. He frightened Alice.“

„And Ballard senior was waiting in the wings to charm her,“ Darla concluded. „Typical Bal-lard-Stockbridge scenario. That poor woman. She resisted the rough, dangerous one, only to fall victim to the smooth-talking seducer.

And neither really cared about her. I told you the Ballards and the Stockbridges do not have a reputation for being nice folks when it comes to the subject of Harmony Valley. They’ve always been obsessed with that land.“

„I know.“ Rebecca picked up her hamburger and bit into it. She was still thinking about Kyle’s reaction to her this morning. She had expected him to be at least somewhat grateful that she hadn’t called his bluff. Instead he had been tight-lipped with anger. When he had driven her back to the motel, she sensed he had been as close to losing his temper with her as he had ever been.

He had, in fact, acted downright insulted, now that she thought about it. Insulting dragons was probably a dangerous pastime.

„So what’s the solution, Becky?“ Darla asked slowly.

„Believe me, I’ve given it a lot of thought. I just hope I can pull it off.“ She shook her head. „You know, Alice wrote at the end of her journal that she had a feeling I would be able to make a difference around here. She thought I could handle Glen and Kyle and the feud. But, Darla, I never even met the woman. What made her think she should leave the property to me?“

„Who knows? She probably had one of her feelings about you. I swear the woman was downright psychic at times.

Just ask anyone. If she had a feeling you were the right one to get Harmony Valley, she was probably right. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes, though. Are you going to sell the land?“

„And let Glen and Kyle harass some poor unsuspecting newcomer to the area?“

„An investor might not object to that kind of harrassment,“ Darla said with a chuckle. „After all, Glen and Kyle would both be offering top dollar.“

„True. But it doesn’t seem like the right way to handle the problem. The war would go on. This isn’t a normal real-estate deal. This is personal.“

„For you, or Alice Cork and her mother?“ Darla asked shrewdly.

„For all three of us,“ Rebecca said quietly. „Three different women caught in the middle of this battle. I think it’s time the opposing sides were forced to fight it out hand-to-hand.“

Darla eyed her with sharp interest. „You have a plan?“

„I have a plan,“ Rebecca confirmed. „It came to me yesterday evening as I watched Kyle and Glen haul themselves out of your pool.“