Dark Rider (20 page)

“Good evening.” Cassie rose from the chair and faced him, a touch of bravado in her stance. “I thought you’d never come.”

His eyes widened as he stood frozen in the doorway. “Good God.”

She was barefoot, bare-breasted, and her hips were draped in the sarong she had worn the night he had met her. His gaze slowly moved over her, from flowing hair to pink-tipped breasts, and then lifted to her face. Her cheeks were burning with color, but her eyes met his with defiance.

“I’ve been waiting a long time,” she said.

The sheer lust that tore through him was so violent, it shocked him. It was immediately followed by fierce triumph. By God, she was
his
.

He stepped into the cabin and closed the door. “But it’s said all good things come to one who waits. I’ll try to see if I can’t reward you for your patience.”

She had not felt naked until he walked into the cabin. Her breasts swelled as his glance touched them, and her knees felt weak as she stood before him. But she was not weak; she must show him only strength, or she would be lost. She took a deep breath to ease the
tightness in her chest. “I’m not patient. I
hated
waiting for you.”

“Well, I’m here now.” He paused, his gaze wandering down to the sarong. “Kanoa, I presume? I know I said I detested that gown, but I’m surprised you went to such lengths to please me.”

“I didn’t wear this to please you, I did it to please me. I feel more comfortable in it.” She lifted her chin. “What you want means nothing to me.”

“Then why are you here?”

She moistened her lips. “Why do you think? I’m not the first island woman to come to your cabin.”

“You’re certainly the most interesting.” He leaned back against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “But I’d prefer you put it into words.”

She couldn’t say them. She had not thought it would be this difficult. She started across the cabin toward him. “To devil with words. You know why I’m here.”

“You’ve decided to let me have you?” he asked softly.

“No.” She stopped before him and stared directly into his eyes. “I’ve decided to use you.”

His smile faded, and she thought she saw a flicker of anger in his expression. “I see. I suppose I should have expected that response. May I ask in exactly what manner?”

Her gaze went to the bunk. “It seems very clear.”

“Nothing has ever been clear between us.”

She drew a deep breath, then said in a rush, “I’ve reached the time when my body needs a man. You will do as well as anyone.”

“Thank you,” he said caustically. “How flattering.”

She couldn’t help it if he was displeased. It was his own fault; he had asked for an explanation. “I’ve
thought about what you said. For some reason I find you …” She hesitated, searching for words. “You draw me. I cannot understand it.”

“Oh, I can. I’m a very charming fellow.”

“You’re my father’s enemy,” she said flatly. “And my body should be more selective. But since it is not, then I must find a way to please both my body and my father’s needs.”

“Then, by all means, let me—” He smiled sardonically. “The temptation to lie to you is almost irresistible. I believe I must be more virtuous than Bradford thinks, or I wouldn’t bother. If you think by playing Delilah I’ll soften toward your father, you’ll be disappointed. I’ll be more than happy to please your body, but it won’t change my intentions.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. First, you call me Lucrezia and then Delilah. I didn’t poison you, and I wouldn’t know how to go about playing Delilah. But Lani thinks—” She stopped.

“What does Lani think?”

She shrugged. “She thinks you’re not as hard as you’d like to be. She says you might have second thoughts about killing Papa if—”

“If you couple with me?” he prompted.

“I told her it wouldn’t do any good, but she thinks that you’re—” She broke off again and gestured impatiently. “It doesn’t matter what she thinks. I know you have no softness, but if I’m close to you, I’ll still find a way to use you.”

“A challenge,” he said softly.

“I don’t mean to challenge you. You wanted an explanation. I gave it.”

“With your usual honesty and bluntness. I do believe I must teach you a bit of diplomacy for the sake of my self-love.”

“I don’t care about your self-love. I don’t care anything about you.”

He lifted a brow. “Yet you wish to give yourself to me.”

“You keep saying that. I’ll never
give
myself. That’s not why I’m here.”

“Isn’t it the same thing?”

“Not to me,” she said. “And I don’t think it’s the same to you, either. You’d like to think I’d meekly surrender to you.”

He slowly shook his head. “You’re wrong. I’d be very disappointed if you surrendered, and I can’t imagine your doing anything meekly.” His gaze moved down to her breasts and his smile was purely sensual. “It’s my earnest hope you’ll display no meekness whatever.”

A tide of heat enveloped her, and she had to take a moment to steady her voice. “Then you’ll not be disappointed. I’m coming to you because it suits me to do it. After we couple, I’ll get up and walk away. It will mean nothing to me.”

Rage momentarily crossed his face before he said lightly, “What a peculiar attitude for a woman.”

“Only peculiar to a man. You all wish us to be meek and faithful and let you be the ones to get up and walk away. Your world is very unfair, and I won’t live by your rules.”

“All of this is more of your Lani’s teachings, no doubt. Do you know, I believe I value your virginity more than you do. I actually felt quite guilt ridden before I overcame it.”

She shrugged. “Because you’re a foreigner and have strange ideas.” This pose of boldness was growing more difficult by the moment. Why wouldn’t he stop talking and begin their coupling? Anything
would be better than this tension. “Why are you just standing there? I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“But I do. I find it fascinating to explore your reasoning in this matter.”

“Why? You told me to use you as you intended to use me, and you said I’d come to your way of thinking.”

“But not this quickly.” His gaze went to the sarong. “And not in this charmingly barbaric fashion. Now, I wonder why you chose to present yourself in this guise.”

“It’s no guise. As I’ve said, I feel most comfortable dressed this way.”

“It’s the way Kanoa would feel the most comfortable,” he corrected. “Not Cassandra Deville. Kanoa would dress like this. Kanoa would not hesitate to come to my bed. I’d wager you came to me like this because at the moment it’s easier pretending to be Lani’s little sister.”

“I’m not pretending.” She had acted purely on instinct when she had donned the sarong. She had not even thought about it. “I don’t need excuses to do what I choose.”

“Kanoa doesn’t need excuses, but what of Clara Kidman’s charge?”

She was beginning to think he might be right and was becoming uneasy that he knew her so well. “What does any of this matter? Don’t you want me?”

His mockery vanished. “God, yes, I want you,” he said thickly.

She inhaled sharply. “Then stop arguing. What difference does it make? I told you why I came here.”

“To use me.” He repeated the words with a grimace. “For some odd reason the term bothers me.”

“You don’t make sense. It’s the term you used to me.”

“I know.” He unfolded his arms but still did not touch her. “But it’s difficult to think coolly at a time like this.” Suddenly he laughed harshly. “Christ, I can’t believe I’m still standing here instead of inside you on that bed.”

He reached out and touched her upper lip with his index finger.

She stiffened at the gentle touch as if he had struck her with a torch. Her lips felt as if they were swelling, softening, ripening at the caress. She involuntarily jerked her head back.

“No.” He took a step closer and his finger outlined her upper lip. “No, Kanoa, let me … This is why you came here.”

She stared up at him in helpless fascination as wave after wave of heat washed over her. “I don’t think that this is all I came for.”

He chuckled. “You’re damn right it isn’t. But I have to start somewhere. I’ve never had a virgin before, and this seems fairly innocuous.”

Not to her. Everything he did or said, everything about him shimmered with sensuality—the scent of him, the planes of his face, the tension of his body. She was drowning in it, and her gaze clung to his as if to a safe mooring. No safety there, only glittering promise.

His fingers brushed the upper swell of her breast.

She shivered, and the muscles of her stomach contracted in response.

“You’ll take me and then get up and walk away?” he murmured.

“Yes.”

His fingers were at the knot of her sarong. “It will mean nothing to you?”

She had to force the answer through dry lips. “Nothing.”

The sarong fell to the floor. She was naked.

He unbuttoned his shirt and threw it aside. “The hell it won’t.” He buried his hands in her hair and tilted back her head. His eyes were blazing. “I won’t be nothing to anyone, goddammit.” He pulled her into the cradle of his hips. Arousal. Stark, bold, merciless against her nakedness. “Is this nothing?” His palms cupped her buttocks, lifting her, rubbing her against him.

Shock tingled through her. The hair of his chest was brushing against her nipples, and they were growing more sensitive and hard with every passing second.

“Is it?” he asked again.

She could barely remember the question. “It’s very pleasant … I think.”

“And this?” His head bent, his tongue touched her nipple.

She cried out, her spine arched.

He lifted his head and he smiled. “Pleasant? I think you’ll find that too tame a word.” Then his lips closed on her breast, sucking strongly.

Fire. Hunger. Emptiness. It seemed impossible they could exist together, but they did. She reached out, her fingers burying themselves in his hair, holding him to her. Dear heaven, even the feel of his hair between her fingers was causing a tingling heat. She wanted to scream, moan …

He switched to her other breast, sucking, licking. His hands began to open and close on her buttocks. Pressure. Heat. Her heart was beating so hard it filled
the cabin—no, it filled the world. Darkness and flame … and hunger.

He finally lifted his head and looked down at her dazed face. “I can’t take this anymore,” he said hoarsely. “I have to be inside you.” He took her hand and pulled her toward the bunk. “Come.”

She followed him docilely. In that moment she would have followed him anywhere.

Then he was over her, parting her thighs and moving between them. His hand was on the curls surrounding her womanhood, patting, stroking. “So soft.” He tugged gently as he positioned himself. The muscles of her stomach clenched as a bolt of heat went through her. He nodded. “You like that? I’ll give you more after I—” He stopped, not moving. “Christ.” He looked down at her. “I don’t know anything about this.”

She looked at him in bewilderment through the haze of lust he had so skillfully built around her. What on earth was he talking about? It was clear to her he knew everything about this. “You appear to be very … well versed.”

“Not with virgins, dammit. I don’t know— It’s supposed to hurt. I should take more time.”

More time? When every nerve in her body was on fire? “No!”

“But I don’t want to—” He broke off when she took matters into her own hands and lunged upward. His eyes closed as her tightness closed around him. “Damnation.”

He plunged hard and deep!

Pain. Fullness. Joining.

Her teeth sank into her lower lip as sensation after sensation stormed through her. She felt so stretched, she was sure she could take no more. Yet, as the pain
subsided, she was beginning to feel again that throbbing emptiness that had to be satisfied.

He was frozen within her, every muscle of his body knotted and strained. “Shall I move?” he asked in a low voice.

She would die if he didn’t. “Yes.”

“Thank God!” Some of the tension left him, but he was still braced as if on the rack. He moved stiffly, the first few thrusts slow, easy. “I’ll try to—” he whispered. “It’s no good. I’m sorry. I can’t do—”

He exploded, thrusting short, long, fast, frantic.

She clutched his shoulders, desperately holding on to him as that emptiness grew and the hunger sharpened. She tried to help him, thrusting upward, instinctively clenching around him to keep him inside her when he left her.

“No, don’t do that,” he gasped. “I can’t—”

She had to do it. She had to have all of him. Her head thrashed wildly from side to side on the pillow. She could feel the wetness on her cheeks, and she realized tears were streaming from her eyes. Lani had said this unbearable hunger was supposed to end. Why didn’t it? Why was it growing and changing, making a slave of her body until she could only move mindlessly to the rhythm Jared set?

“Please, make it—” She didn’t know what she wanted to ask of him. Make the torment stop. Make it go on forever. Belonging. Every stroke was drawing them closer. Jared. Possession. Darkness. Hunger. Faster, harder, Jared’s breath was a harsh sob above her.

Or was she the one who was sobbing? It didn’t matter, they were one.

“Now!” he said through his teeth, plunging to the heart of her.

She screamed as the dark hunger exploded, splintered into a brilliance like nothing she’d ever known.

Jared collapsed on top of her. “Dear God.”

It seemed they lay joined together a long time, but Jared’s breath was still harsh and uneven when he leaned forward and his lips brushed her closed lids. “I think it’s safe to assume you found me ‘pleasant.’ You’re definitely more Kanoa than prim Cassandra.”

His voice was a velvet reverberation in the darkness, Cassie thought dreamily, as lazily seductive as a summer breeze. This was beautiful, but she wanted it to start again. Soon he would touch her, stroke her, and the flames would start.

She opened her eyes. He was only a heartbeat away, looking down at her, his eyes so blue and clear she felt as if she were looking into forever. She wanted it to be forever. She wanted to float on and on in this special place until there were no more tomorrows. “Ku’aihelani,” she murmured.