Desert Rogue (26 page)

When Vicky would have parted her lips to welcome him, however, he chose instead to lick the corner of her rosebud mouth, his rough tongue inflaming her with brief strokes of unbridled fire. Then he claimed her lower lip and nibbled lightly at it.

Shivers of wordless sensation echoed through her, coursing sudden heat from her feet to her head. Unprepared, Victoria gasped aloud at the pleasure he evoked so effortlessly.

“Jed,” she moaned softly, her small hands clinging to him for support as her body yielded control to his touch.

“Right here,” he murmured against her ear. The warmth of his breath sent waves of delight spilling over her. By the time she recovered her sense of balance, he was assailing her senses again.

“Je-Jed.” Vicky had trouble forming his name, so intense were the sensations crowding her. She felt as though she were drowning in a sea of ever-increasing fire, and while she didn't want it to end, neither could she go on without a brief respite. “I—I need to catch my breath.”

At once Jed was repentant for his urgency even as he rejoiced in her inexperience. Of course, he should have anticipated Vicky's unfamiliarity with her body's responses.

“I'm sorry,” he apologized quietly, his fingers stroking her neck while he held her close. “I shouldn't have hurried you.”

“No, no. You've done nothing to apologize for,” Vicky answered, her words coming in small panting phrases. Hesitantly she drew back from his embrace so she could see his face. “I just didn't expect to be so overwhelmed.”

Jed's eyes were dark and unreadable in the starlight, but his warm smile told her that her words had pleased him.

“If you trust me, I promise to take you to the stars and back tonight,” he said softly.

“Of course I trust you, but
I
spent the evening imagining that we'd bathe together first,” she reminded him with a seductive smile.

Reaching down, she undid the clasp at her waist and dropped her skirt, stepping out of it and tossing it onto the waiting blankets as Jed watched.

If Vicky wanted to direct part of their journey of discovery by returning to the river, as much as it might try his self-control, Jed decided that he couldn't deny her. He could, however, assist.

As she lifted her hand to unfasten the buttons of her high-necked blouse, Jed's hands stayed hers.

“May I?” he asked, his voice hoarse as his body telegraphed its surging need, a need he would have to keep in check.

At her ready nod, Jed swallowed deeply and brought tremulous fingers up to meet the challenge. Awkward as a schoolboy, he struggled with the first fastening while Victoria watched in amusement until finally, after excruciating minutes, the stubborn button fell to the ground. Suddenly the sweet hollow at the base of her throat was visible, its rapid pulse demanding Jed's immediate attention.

Slanting his head to kiss the small patch of quivering flesh, the American found his hands surprisingly able to complete the rest of their task unsupervised. Quickly he undid the last closure, but as he parted the fabric, unveiling the beauty of her high, firm breasts, Jed's breath caught in his throat.

“You're magnificent,” he praised, drawing the blouse off her shoulders and dropping it to the ground. Impertinent nipples, half erect in the night air, called to him, and he could not refuse to reward their allure.

Then he was kneeling before her, one arm wrapped around her waist to lend her support as he raised his head and feasted his eyes on her breasts, all thoughts of the river forgotten. He reached out, carefully caressing the small pink nubs with rhythmic strokes until Vicky writhed at the sparks his touch set off. When his lips opened and he leaned forward, his tongue laving one nipple while his fingers continued to fondle the other, she could not contain the tantalizing shivers riddling her body, making her yearn for she knew not what. Curling her fingers in Jed's hair, she wordlessly appealed to the heavens for release.

When he heard her moan and felt her tremble in his grasp, Jed belatedly recalled his intention to introduce her
slowly
to loving and he cursed himself. Her pleasure and her acceptance of it should have been his primary concern, and yet he had selfishly taken when he should have been giving. At once he ceased his delicate ministrations and held her tight, his head pressed against her chest, newly appreciating the warm, musky smell of her. Running his hand down her well-formed back until she quieted, he felt her relax in his arms as her breathing slowly eased.

“Jed,” he heard her whisper a few minutes later. “I can't speak for you, but I think I reached the stars.”

“You're only halfway. Come down here, sugar, and we'll get there together.” In an instant, she was kneeling on the blanket beside him, caught once again in his feverish embrace, this time meeting and answering each thrust of his tongue with her own demands. Somewhere deep within, her lust had been set aflame, its unleashed power threatening to vanquish all else, and Victoria knew she must yield to its demands.

She craved the feel of Jed's naked flesh against her own, and anxiously undid the buttons of his shirt, yanking it free of his trousers and trying to push it off his shoulders as they kissed.

When her rustling about disturbed Jed sufficiently, he reluctantly released her and shrugged out of the garment, but before he could pull her close again, Victoria reached for the buttons of his trousers.

“Wait,” she protested, her hands lowering to the task.

“No, let me,” he ordered hoarsely. Jed stood, removed his pants, and rejoined her, reclaiming her lips as his due.

“What about our swim?” she murmured against his splendid assault.

“Later.”

In no mood to argue, Victoria splayed her fingers across the broad expanse of his chest. Teasing the fine dark hair that formed a triangular path downward, she circled his nipples with the flat of her palms, massaging him softly as she trailed her touch lower and lower with each rotation she made.

Just as her hand slipped near enough to touch him, however, he caught it and drew it to his mouth, desperate to distract her before the cost of the game became too dear. While he wanted to avoid setting limits on her exploration, Vicky was not yet ready to accept him.

Gently Jed took one of her slender fingers between his lips, sucking it briefly, nipping it with his teeth and encircling it with his tongue before surrendering it and moving on to the next.

She watched him, too tremulous to do more than observe, her skin flushed, her blue eyes heavy with passion, the roar of her blood pulsing too quickly to allow for rational thought.

Then they were lying side by side and he shifted his attention once more to her breasts. Loving them devotedly with his mouth, he dispatched his large hands to rove the wondrous contours of her body, fondling every inch of her sensitive skin, learning her as no one ever had, sending off brilliant flares of excitement that penetrated her very core.

When his teasing fingers reached the juncture of her thighs, Vicky stiffened briefly, but as he caressed the soft inner flesh of her leg, concentrating his favors there, she trembled with untold fire and realized she could deny Jed Kincaid nothing. Even as she trembled, he made her feel as though she were aflame.

When he brushed against her feminine essence, Victoria knew she was losing her mind from the fierce shudder he precipitated. But then as Jed coaxed his fingers within her, igniting her soul, she knew this frenetic madness was only the beginning.

Tremors took control of her, growing with each stroke, and she found herself arching upward to meet his touch, wanting the moment to last forever.

“Je-ed? What should I do?”

Her voice was strained, he noted, every syllable as much a signal of her readiness as the sweet, wet feel of her.

“Be patient a little longer,” he urged, positioning himself between her thighs.

“Hurry. I can see the stars, Jed, but I have to reach them with you,” she cried, nearly weeping for the sudden emptiness within.

Covering her mouth with his own, Jed hesitated only briefly before thrusting past nature's curtain into Vicky's moist warmth. Once he assured her all pain was past, she began to stir beneath him, eager to satisfy her body's demands.

Though Jed, concerned for her inexperience, struggled to ease her pace, Victoria was determined to climb to the heights fast and furiously. Unwilling to be left behind, he acquiesced, escalating his rhythm to match hers. Together they rode the wild waves of summative desire, the tempo of their loving building rapidly to a crescendo of frenzied delight.

Victoria's heart was pounding madly, her whole body was aquiver, and still she knew the pinnacle was yet to be reached. Urgently she pushed on and suddenly she heard Jed gasping for air, his voice imprinting her name upon the heavens. Then all creation split asunder for her as well, as jagged bolts of white-hot lightning splintered her soul into a thousand fragments, each spinning mindlessly out of control, carrying her far beyond the stars, into the very center of the universe.

Long moments later as she found herself slowly drifting back to earth, Victoria opened her eyes, almost expecting to see the face of an angel before her.

Instead Jed tenderly smiled down at her, his flushed face mirroring the joy that she felt.

“Thank you,” she murmured, lifting her hand to caress his unshaven cheek, “for my tour of the stars. I doubt anything in this world could ever compare to it.”

“Then, honey, you don't know Jed Kincaid very well,” he retorted. “If it's comparison you want—”

“You mean...do it again, now?”

“Unless you want to take that bath you mentioned?” Jed drawled, shifting as if to rise.

“Later.”

Her reply was brief, but the kiss with which she accompanied it left Jed no doubt what was on the lady's mind. And, for once, relishing the role of gentleman, he gladly obliged her wishes.

I
t was barely dawn when Jed awoke to the symphony provided by the wildlife living on the banks of the Nile. Luxuriating in the lushness of the cool grass against his back and sight of the pink-and-gold sky announcing the imminent arrival of the sun, he listened to the squawk and chatter of ducks, ibises and herons, and the lazy humming of countless insects.

He felt pretty indolent himself this morning—indolent and satisfied. A contented smile tugged at his lips while the memories of the passion he and Vicky had fashioned in the darkness welled up inside him. They were the sort of memories that could last a man a lifetime, but they wouldn't have to, he thought, his mouth broadening into a grin.

Inclining his tousled head, he studied the beautiful feminine face at rest atop his bare chest. In sleep Vicky's fiery beauty was softened and her delicate features more fragile. The heavy lashes that swept gracefully along her shuttered eyes became a source of momentary interest for him until he allowed his gaze to roam to her full, pouting lips. Yet, yielding as she appeared in repose, she couldn't hide the slightly stubborn line in which her chin was set, and the discovery made Jed want to chuckle in delight. It was an urge he resisted to spare her from disturbance.

Instead, Jed ran a forefinger along a shining curl with a reverence that was quickly transformed to possessiveness. Vicky was his now, every bit as much as he was hers. Her sweet, hungry response to him had told him that more clearly than words ever could. At the thought, a new wave of well-being surged through him, leaving him feeling more domesticated than a man of his temperament had any right to be.

The handsome American crinkled his brow in amazement. Despite the fact that he had been leery and had bucked like a bronco, Miss Victoria Shaw had gentled him. She had placed her mark upon him as surely as if she had heated a branding iron and literally applied it to his hide. His days of being a maverick were over.

He laughed at the incongruity of it all, watching his woman stir slightly in her sleep, her lips parting and a breathy little moan escaping them in the most provocative manner. Regarding her with tenderness, Jed knew that words like bachelorhood and freedom held little meaning any longer. Their importance had been irrevocably diminished, brushed away by the gentle touch of his lover's lips beneath his own.

And though he might have thought he had glimpsed it before, high in the Rockies in springtime or during sunset along Mykonos's shore, he knew now he hadn't truly discovered paradise until last night beside the Nile, wrapped in the arms of the woman he loved.

Loved! Jed wanted to whoop his joy out loud. He didn't know how it had happened, but last night he and Vicky had uncovered the secret that eluded so many who searched for it. Under the panoply of stars playing overhead, the passion they shared had been alchemized into something rarer and more refined than physical need.

What was Ali going to say, and Mama Abigail, and...Vicky's parents? A shadow crossed his face for a fleeting instant at the idea, until his jaw clamped down in determination. If they didn't like it, if they preferred a man such as Hayden for a son-in-law, he wouldn't allow them a say at all.

Any way he considered it, they had no cause to be riled about the way things had turned out no matter what dreams they may have harbored for their daughter. Certainly he hadn't set out to woo Vicky. If anything, he had intended to keep away from her and her high-society life.

Still, he could put up with a tad of it for Vicky's sake, he supposed with an indulgent sigh, just as she would no doubt yield to a little adventuring for his. As for the Shaws, they would come around eventually, he concluded with his usual confidence.

“Jed?” Victoria murmured suddenly, her sapphire eyes flittering slowly open.

“Who else would it be?” he asked. Bending to place a kiss on the tip of her nose, he smugly noted she wore the look of a woman who had been well loved. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Victoria echoed faintly. She burrowed her head back into his shoulder in an effort to prolong such a luscious moment. She didn't want to consider anything other than the fact that she was in Jed's arms, naked, beneath the open sky, relishing the feel of this man, the scent, taste and sound of him. She thrilled to the vibrations of his chest against her cheek as he spoke to her, his strong voice made all the more appealing by the gentleness that had crept into it, the same tenderness that had tempered the raw masculine power she had seen unleased within him under the starlight.

“Has anyone ever told you that you make the most marvelous pillow?” she asked, filled with contentment. “No, never mind, don't answer that,” she amended. “I don't really want to know.”

“All you have to know is that no one else will ever have the chance to tell me again,” he returned, his tones husky and his breath coming hot and soft against her neck as he permitted his hand the luxury of stroking her silken skin.

“What do you mean?” Victoria asked, bewildered.

“Just that you'll never have to worry about me straying, sugar. From what I saw last night, I think I'm going to like staying home just fine.”

“Pardon?” she asked, her heart constricting when his words dissipated the drowsy haze that had so comfortably enveloped her. His smile radiated through her like sudden sunshine on a rainy day. But like the sun's strongest rays, it harshly illuminated the flaws in their flight of fantasy, flaws that had been too well hidden in the night's velvety blackness.

“You're not exceptionally sharp in the morning, are you, sleepyhead?” Jed said with a chuckle that began to die away when he saw Victoria's eyes widen. If he didn't know better, he could have sworn he had heard a small gasp, as well.

“Aw, forgive me, darlin', I'm doing this all wrong,” he said with endearing sheepishness. “Here I am talking about the type of husband I'll be, and I haven't formalized things by asking you yet. I just figured that after last night there'd be no need for words. But if you're insisting on a proper proposal, I'll be glad to oblige. Vicky, I love you. Will you become my wife?”

Victoria's thoughts ran wildly as she looked at him. Last night, she had known when she had accompanied Jed out of camp how such an excursion would end, yet she had gone, anyway, needing to answer the urgent call that had spoken to her. Burning with desire, she had been a creature crazed. Driven by a mad obsession, she had acted impulsively if instinctively. She had responded to the man's magnetism, the masculinity that had haunted her all throughout their journey into the desert, the primitive essence that had drawn her to him and made her want him even when she had hated him most.

And when she had finally capitulated, he had not disappointed her. He had been everything she had thought would be forever beyond her reach, the sort of male not allowed to dwell within the narrow confines of her staid world. He had, in short, been Jed.

She had answered his virile summons with no care for anyone or anything, but in the eyes of the world, she had been Hayden's fiancée last night. And regardless of the joy Jed had given her, Victoria discovered in the first rays of morning that, in her mind, God help her, she still was.

Yet, here was Jed giving her the opportunity to partake of all he was, all he could give, for an entire lifetime. Completely unprepared for his offer, she was overwhelmed. But from the anticipatory gleam lighting his dark green eyes, Victoria knew that Jed both expected and needed her answer immediately. What she required, however, was time to think.

As incoherent, half-formed thoughts whirled around in her head, Victoria yearned to be as wild and impulsive as the man who held her in his arms. But such behavior was not a part of her nature.

Certainly Jed knew her by now. He should see they would never suit. She belonged in his world no more than he belonged in hers. In fact, she would be a terrible wife for him, and eventually he would only come to hate her. She couldn't bear the thought.

Though she had always been spoiled, and had everything she wanted, for the first time in her young life, Victoria Shaw was faced with denial. And the most ironic thing about it was that it would be entirely self-imposed.

“Well, Vicky, I'm waiting for your answer,” Jed reminded her with warm amusement. Women tended to complicate the simplest matters. All she had to do was say yes.

Victoria steeled herself to give him a response. “No,” she finally whispered, wishing she could say otherwise.

“No!” he repeated in surprise, sitting up so abruptly that Victoria found herself flat on the ground. But before she could recover, he had leaned over, bringing his face next to hers. “If this is meant to be humorous, Vicky, I'm not laughing. What do you mean, ‘no'?”

“It's not a very complex word,” Victoria muttered, turning her head to the side so she didn't have to witness the hurt clouding Jed's eyes, reducing their usual brilliance to a dull gleam.

“Now, listen to me, Vicky,” Jed insisted, jumping to his feet and pulling Victoria with him, refusing to relinquish his grip on her. “I don't know what this danged foolishness is, woman. I'm not a man who makes commitments easily, but when I do...” His words trailed off as he released one of her hands so that he could run his own through his thick dark hair in frustration. “Why the hell won't you be my wife?” he bellowed.

“You forget I'm engaged to marry Hayden,” Victoria replied. The earnest supplication in Jed's eyes almost undid her resolve, until she recalled what an affliction she had been to him since they had fled Khartoum. On several occasions she had almost cost him his life. How long would it be before he realized she was a burden he didn't wish to bear? Why couldn't he understand that her pampered upbringing hadn't prepared her to be the wife he needed, and that she loved him too much to give way to her selfish urgings by binding him to her?

“Oh, is that all?” Jed murmured in relief. “You can't really want to go through with that after the night we spent. Hayden isn't the first man to be jilted, Vicky. I know you don't want to hurt him, but all you have to do is let him down easily.” Yet as Jed uttered the words, he had a strong sense of foreboding his instructions would come to pertain to him and not Hayden Reed.

“I
want
to marry Hayden,” Vicky persisted, confirming Jed's instinctive dread. Her words caused him to set her free altogether.

“You're lying!” Jed said, his prior vulnerability hidden in an instant as his face became thunderous. “I was there last night, remember? I heard the way you called my name, just as I felt you tremble beneath my touch. And I distinctly heard you moan without shame as I peeled away each stultifying layer of civilization encrusting your passionate core. Passion would never be that way with Reed, and you know it.”

“Exactly,” she answered in clipped, emotionless tones while she retrieved her clothing. Hastily, she pulled the garments over the curves Jed wanted to claim as his own forever, hoping the material, along with her words, would erect a barrier between them. “Hayden is a gentleman who knows how to treat a lady.”

“And I'm a man who knows how to make you feel like a woman,” Jed growled, his voice deep and dangerous. He wanted nothing so much as to enfold this stubborn female in his arms and prove his point, falling with her upon the grass, its crushed blades evidence of the fulfillment they had already shared. But though he cursed himself for a coward, he found he couldn't force her, and the birds he had thought so melodic when his own heart had been singing mocked him for his failings.

“But I was
born
a lady. I'm going to marry Hayden and he's going to receive a title. I was bred for such an existence and nothing else,” Vicky responded quietly, her heart wrenching painfully within her when she placed a conciliatory hand upon Jed's shoulder only to have him shrug it off.

“And breeding always tells, doesn't it?” he muttered. Here he had believed he had penetrated Vicky's natural restraint—no
damn
it, he
knew
he had. Could it be fear that was making her skittish? Was all this because she was afraid to abandon her life for his? But before he could explore such a possibility, she spoke again.

“Certainly you can see that you and I don't belong together,” she lied. The pain of telling such an untruth deepened when Jed stalked away from her and roughly shoved his legs into his trousers.

“The only thing I can see is that you have a mighty big problem looming ahead of you,” Jed said coldly, his face stony and impassive. “How do you think Hayden will react when he discovers his future bride is no longer a virgin? Will your gentleman still want you after you inform him that you have lain with me?”

“I'll never disclose that it was you,” Victoria said, her face paling. “Hayden can think it was one of my abductors who ravished me, and I won't tell him any differently.”

“So you figure he'll find it easier dealing with an Arab taking your maidenhead rather than a barbaric American mercenary?” Jed asked, his quiet voice nevertheless bursting with rage.

“It will be better if he doesn't suspect the truth.”

“And what makes you think I won't tell him?” he demanded.

“Because,” Victoria whispered with sincerity, “for all the damage we have done to each other, Jed, I know you would never willingly hurt me.”

With that, she raised herself up, reached over the barrier he had constructed by folding his muscular arms across his bare chest, and planted a kiss on his cheek. Then she turned and ran back to camp before the images of their shared rapture and the torment lurking in Jed's expression caused her to change her mind.

“Damn you, Vicky!” he muttered, ruefully admitting that Victoria had spoken some truth. He wouldn't do anything to cause her harm—but he wasn't about to let her go, either. He called out, his deep voice fierce and threatening, “Run off if you like, Vicky, but how far do you think you can go? You'll have to stop when you reach the river. And I swear on all that's holy, this discussion isn't over yet.”