Archer's Lady: Bloodhounds, Book 3 (6 page)

It would have been less torturous as one hard thrust, and less intimate too. By the time his hips bumped hers she felt cheated of the discomfort that would have given her distance. Even on her knees, face buried in the covers, she could feel that tender focus in every deliberate movement.

And that was before he eased one hand under her and lifted her to his chest. His free hand tangled in her hair, and he tugged her head to the side, baring her throat for a soft, lingering kiss.

She was trapped. Pinned against him with no leverage, nothing but blazing skin and a wicked mouth and his cock buried so deep inside her that every squirming movement made her pant for breath. “You can fuck me,” she promised, clinging to the arm braced across her chest. “I’m ready. I want it.”

Archer laughed as he moved his lips to her ear and dropped his hands to her hips. “I’m going to.” He lifted her and held her in place as he thrust up into her.

Lightning. Like the wild storms that swept the plains, like when she’d shocked herself trying to fix the light in her schoolhouse. It crackled through her every time he drove into her, not release in itself but a pleasure almost too intense to handle. Her head lolled back against his shoulder as he hit the spot again and again, eliciting a stifled moan from her lips.

His growl raised goose bumps on her arms. “You like that, honey? When I fuck you right—
there
?”

She tried to answer. Tried to speak, but the sharp angle of their hips, the way their bodies fit together—alchemy. Magic. She choked on a plea when he thrust into her again, past thought or reason, and turned to muffle her gasped moans against his throat.

“Say it, Grace.” Almost a grunt, effort and restraint and desire rolled into one. “Tell me what you want.”

He made her name an obscene caress, and she loved it. She parted her lips against his neck, tasted salt and shuddered. “To come. I want—” Another thrust, and she whimpered.

She was close again, so close—but not like before. Not like release wrested free with frantic fingers circling and coaxing. This built slow and dangerous, boiling up and up until she couldn’t wait for him to push her over the edge.

She reached down and touched herself, slicked her fingers over her clit and bit Archer’s neck to hold back the keening noise that ripped through her as tension shattered her into a thousand pieces.

Archer groaned his approval and rode her orgasm with two hard, uncontrolled thrusts. He came with another muffled sound that rumbled in the back of his throat and shivered through her.

Without his hands spanning her waist, she might have slid bonelessly to the bed. Panting, she clutched at his forearms, dug her fingers into the impossibly tense muscles and strained for the sound of hurried footsteps, anything that might indicate that they’d been heard.

But the night was silent save for the ever-present whisper of water through pipes, running in endless circles to and from where the boiler sat behind the kitchen, the beating heart of the building.

Trembling fingers smoothed her hair, and Archer’s voice broke the quiet. “Tired?”

“Very much so.” What did one say, when a man had stripped away any pretense of civilization? Everything felt awkward and foolish. “That was…very enjoyable.” And now she sounded like he’d taken her to see a particularly interesting play at the theater.

His laugh blew hot over her ear. “Thank you very much too, Miss Linwood.”

Shivering, she smoothed her thumb over the inside of his arm. “Aren’t you growing tired of holding me upright like this?”

Instead of answering, he released her slowly and sank down to the bed with a yawn. Grace followed him because she didn’t have a choice. Her arms and legs seemed no steadier than those of a newborn colt. She imagined climbing from the bed in an attempt at unconcerned sophistication and ending up in a tangle of naked limbs on the floor.

It drove a laugh from her, even as she stretched out on the sheets. “I don’t believe I can walk just yet.”

He smiled, slow and lazy. “My job is done, then. You’re not supposed to be able to walk.”

That was the smile, the one that set her heart to pounding. “Even if it means you can’t be rid of me yet?”

“Bed’s big enough for two.”

Her nightgown was still tangled around her waist, but she settled it in place with a few moments’ squirming. A little more and she tucked herself against his side, already drowsy. “You’re very warm,” she murmured, a convenient excuse for pressing close.

“Bloodhounds are,” he mumbled. “Or didn’t you know?”

Sleepiness made her reckless. “I avoid bloodhounds. People say they can spot a liar. That they have a truth sense.”

He wrinkled his nose. “That’s bullshit. Most wouldn’t know a bald-faced lie if it shot ’em in the ass. No more than anyone else, anyway.”

That didn’t seem right. “You did.”

“That’s me, not the hound.” He opened one eye and peered at her. “Always could smell a lie.”

Tired as she was, danger shivered up her spine. “I’m not lying to you anymore. Not much reason to, with the world all but ending.”

“I know that.” He wrapped his arm around her. “I know, Grace.”

It was comfort, affection, and it felt like more than two bodies taking what they could in the dark of night before going their separate ways before dawn.

This was why she needed to leave. She’d let him under her skin, too close and too quick, and stupid girls who opened their hearts to too-charming men deserved the pain of being discarded like the fools they were.

She hadn’t been a fool in a very long time, and she wouldn’t become one now. Not even for a bloodhound.

Chapter Five

Archer stared at himself in the mirror as he buttoned his shirt. He looked like hell, which was stupid. He’d slept just fine—right up until the moment Grace had slipped from the bed and crept out of the room.

His hands clenched convulsively, and he cursed as the top button popped free and skittered across the floor. What did he care if she stayed until morning, anyway? What was he going to do, smile pretty and offer to bring her breakfast?

That wasn’t him, even if she
did
want anyone to know she’d let him touch her, which he doubted.

“Fuck it,” he growled. He didn’t need that top button any more than he needed to get mixed up with a pretty grifter posing as a schoolteacher.

He stomped down the stairs and found Cecil at the corner table, which held its own pot of coffee and a loaf of bread so fresh from the oven it steamed as the man cut into it. He smiled and nodded to an empty chair. “Have a seat. Enjoy the quiet while the children are still abed.”

Archer stifled a yawn and sat. “I’ll probably ride out before that happens. I want to check more of the caves outside town.”

Both of Cecil’s eyebrows rose. “Miss Linwood gave me the impression the two of you might be taking a trip to Doc’s place. Want me to make sure she waits for you to get back? I don’t think she should be that far out without you, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

Archer reminded himself to take a deep breath. “She shouldn’t be out at all. Where is she?”

“Speaking with Diana.” Cecil poured a cup of coffee without taking his worried gaze from Archer. “I’d assumed she wanted to ask permission or get the keys. Doc was peculiar about security.”

“Right.” Come to think of it, the old man might know things Grace didn’t. “You know, she seemed to think the doctor knew something about the Bloodhound Guild. That maybe he’d been involved with it, once upon a time.”

“Did she?” Cecil pushed the mug toward Archer with a quick frown followed by a shrug. “That’s as possible as any other explanation. People don’t ask too many questions this close to the border. Not when a man with good skills comes to settle, even if he is…odd.”

“There’s odd, and then there’s the kind of person on the run from the Guild,” Archer pointed out.

That earned him an uncomfortable smile, wide and sudden. “I always figured he’d gotten in trouble back East. He seemed the sort to not quite follow the rules.”

The man was hedging, no doubt about it. “It might be nothing. We’ll see.”

Cecil drummed his fingers on the table. “Doc was eccentric, but he had a big heart. Just look at what he did, taking in Diana and keeping her alive, when most would have washed their hands of her.”

Most, including the Guild. “No argument from me, old timer.”

“I miss the crazy coot. Too much young blood in this town.” He jerked his chin toward the door. “Jacob has been around once already this morning. I told him you’d find him when you had work for him to see to.”

They were unlikely to run into the kind of danger that would require the boy’s help. “If he wants to work today, he can patrol the town perimeter. Keep watch.”

The cook pushed through the door from the kitchen and settled a tray on the table before either of the men could rise to help her. “Bacon, courtesy of the Millers. I traded a few of those hand-crank lanterns from the banker’s house for one of their pigs.”

Cecil smiled at the plump old lady like she had both hands wrapped firmly around his heart. “And I’m sure we’ll all appreciate it.”

“Sure will, ma’am.” But Archer had no appetite, so he drained his coffee and rose. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go find Grace.”

Cecil watched him warily but only nodded. “I can show you to Diana’s place, if you like, but it’s not too hard to find. Take the small lane next to the bank, follow it until it ends and go right. Diana’s in the little house at the end of that road.”

“Thank you, but I’ll make it.” He headed out into the morning, where the sun hadn’t quite burned the dew off the ground and everything was a quiet bustle of activity.

Grace was already walking away from Diana’s house, her gloved fingers curled around a large brass key. She tensed when he turned the corner, but when she met him in the middle of the shaded street, only the faint color in her cheeks proved her discomfort. “Diana said we’re welcome to look around Doc’s old place. And she’ll come with us, if we’d like.”

“Would you rather she did?”

Grace arched one eyebrow at him. “Are you asking if I’m afraid to be alone with you?”

“Don’t scowl, pretty lady.” He mirrored her expression. “You’re the one who snuck out of my bed before dawn.”

“No promises, no regrets.” She held up the key. “Last night was a memory I’ll always hold dear, but now’s the time for business.”

They could have been his own words, but he couldn’t resist challenging them anyway. “Is that why you’re blushing, Miss Linwood?”

“It must be the exertion of a brisk morning walk.” When he didn’t take the key, she closed her fingers around it and swept past him, her back stiff. “We can walk to Doc’s house, but it might be quicker to ride. He chose to live away from other people.”

“Horses.” They needed to be able to move quickly—just in case.

She took two steps in the direction of the stables and then hesitated, glancing over her shoulder. “I’m sorry if I hurt you by leaving. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Yeah, I know.” He walked past her, avoiding her gaze. “What else were you going to do, right?”

Grace fell into step beside him. “No woman wants to overstay her welcome in a man’s bed.”

It wasn’t a conversation he was remotely ready to have. “Did you ask Diana about Doc and the Guild?”

“I asked. She couldn’t remember anything of note. I’m not sure he’d tell her, though. He was very protective.”

“Protective enough to keep her ignorant?”

“Protective enough to do anything he thought might keep her safe.” The words held a sadness, a lonely sort of jealousy. “Anything, Archer. Lied for her.
To
her. He would have killed for her.”

“Family,” he said softly, fighting the urge to reach out for her. “You haven’t mentioned anything about yours.”

Her shoulders stiffened slightly. “My family…is no longer mine. By their choice. And considering the type of person I turned out to be, my younger siblings are rather better off without me as a role model.”

He still remembered the day his mother had told him not to come home. If she had been angry, it would have been an easier memory to hold than the reality—her desperate tears, her bewilderment. “Your story sounds a bit like mine.”

Oddly, her lips twitched. “Hopefully not too much, unless you had a scandalous affair with your employer’s handsome son.”

“Nothing so pleasurable, I’m afraid.”

“I’m sorry.” Her fingers brushed his hand. “In some ways, I think I’m fortunate to have been disowned before I did anything worse than trust the wrong man with my heart. At least I made my mistakes knowing that I’d already lost them.”

Archer wrapped his hand around hers. “It was a long time ago, Grace. You don’t have to make me feel better.”

Her hand was warm and smooth, and she clung to him with a strength that belied her calm exterior. “It doesn’t stop me from wanting to.”

“Then feel free,” he told her as they drew close to the stable.

She opened her mouth and closed it again. She approached the stable doors in silence, but slipped her hand free as she hurried through the door. “You are a dangerous man.”