Jane Bonander (21 page)

By the time Dinah came downstairs, Alice had Sara-fina, Rose, and Flicker Feather making tortillas. Dawn stood on a stool at the stove, stirring what smelled like beans.

Dinah poured herself some tea. “What’s going on in here?” she asked around a yawn.

“The girls asked if they could make dinner,” Alice explained.

“That’s a wonderful idea.” Dinah was pleased the girls had become so helpful.

“By the way,” Alice added, “Tristan was up bright and early, as usual, but I swear he’d changed, somehow. I’d ask if you know why, but it wouldn’t be ladylike.”

Dinah blushed, hurrying to change the subject. “What can I do to help?”

“Well, if it were up to me, which it isn’t, I’d serve up platters of steak and potatoes tonight. The children took a vote, and we’re having chicken, tortillas with beans and fried potatoes, along with fresh fruit pies. Here.” She handed Dinah a paring knife, then nodded toward the fruit bowl. “Best you start peeling them apples.”

Dinah suddenly remembered Charles. “Where’s Charles this morning, Alice?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t seen him.”

“Oh.” Sarafina’s smile was shy as she dug into the pocket of her homespun skirt. “I was coming through the dining room and saw this note. It’s got your name on it, Miss Dinah.”

Dinah took the note and read it with a sense of disappointment. “He’s gone.”

“Gone? Gone, where?”

“He has an appointment in San Francisco. Says he’ll stop by on his way home.”

“I’m almost ready to say good riddance.”

“But, why? I didn’t even get a chance to ask him about his mother.”

“You obviously didn’t see the way Tristan glowered at him. Jealousy was written all over his scowling face.”

Dinah couldn’t stop her smile. “Really? How nice.”

Alice made a
tsk
sound with her tongue and returned to the stove.

Dinah floated through the morning chores. After peeling apples for the pies, she polished the silverware, shook the rugs, dusted the banister, and even learned how to churn butter. Flicker Feather was astonished that Dinah, a grown woman, had never learned such a necessary task.

When it was time to feed the children lunch, she and Leeta enlisted Emily’s help, insisting Alice take a short rest. Later, when Dinah crept into Alice’s room, she found the woman asleep.

With Leeta and Emily in the kitchen, Dinah took the outside entrance to the root cellar to get some potatoes, leaving the wide doors open. It was a dark, windowless room with a dirt floor. She waited for the panic to come and was surprised when it didn’t. Not that she wanted to spend an afternoon down there, but at least her heart wasn’t pounding.

A shadow crossed the opening. Startled, she turned.

“Hello.” His voice was seductive.

Her heart was pounding now. “Hello,” she answered, unable to keep from smiling.

He stepped into the cellar, his nearness making her quake. He stepped closer. “I’m glad I found you alone.”

“Maybe I should scream.” Each word was an effort. Her body vibrated like a tuning fork.

He wagged a playful finger at her. “Not before. Only during.”

He dragged her into his arms and kissed her as though he hadn’t seen her for days. It was a possessive embrace, yet tender. Dear. She melted against him. When he lifted his head, their faces were close, their breath mingling. His eyes were warm. “I’ve been waiting all day to do this,” he admitted, close to her mouth.

She swallowed, reveling in the rasp of his beard on her skin. “You…you have?”

“Umhmm. Now, you’re supposed to say you’ve been waiting for it, too.”

“I have.” Her answer was guileless. Unadorned. Even in the dim light of the cellar, she saw his eyes darken.

He brought her hand to his fly. She touched him, noting his size.

He made a groaning sound of pleasure. “All the way back from the village I’ve been thinking about you. You’re on my mind constantly. I want to take you right here, on the cellar floor.”

Her drawers felt damp, and she leaned into him to steady herself. “I saw a blanket by the potatoes,” she offered.

He left her briefly, shook out the blanket, and put it on floor.

She went into his arms again and they sank to their knees. He hiked up her petticoat and gown, finding the slit in her drawers. She was so hungry for him, her knees quaked. He was hard against her stomach.

He groaned into her hair. “God, but I love a woman’s unmentionables.”

With greedy fingers, she unbuttoned his fly, releasing him.

“Come,” he ordered softly, lifting her over him. “Ride.”

She followed his lead, feeling anxious and unskilled, until she was poised over him. She lifted her skirt and guided him inside, shuddering with a sigh of pleasure as she sheathed herself around him.

She moved on his shaft, helping him undo her bodice to free her breasts. He caressed them as she rode, and when she felt the familiar bursting of pleasure inside her, she waited until he stiffened beneath her, then she slumped to his chest.

“Dinah? You down there?”

Dinah’s heart leaped against her ribs.

“It’s Alice,” he whispered against her ear.

She struggled to sit and hurried to fix her bodice. “Yes, Alice, I’ll be right up.”

“What are you doing?”

Tristan muffled a laugh.

“Nothing, I’m…ah…just getting some potatoes.”

Tristan’s laughter exploded.

“Tristan?”

When he recovered, he answered, “Yes, Alice.”

“What are
you
doing down there?”

“I’m helping Dinah.”

Stifling a laugh of her own, Dinah swatted him.

When they were certain she was gone, they checked each other to make sure nothing was amiss, then left the cellar. As they strolled into the kitchen, Alice gave them a strange look.

“What’s wrong?” Tristan demanded.

“I thought you were down there getting potatoes.”

Dinah gasped and covered her mouth, hiding her embarrassment and her smile.

Tristan simply gave Alice a good-natured pat on the shoulder. Before he returned to the cellar to retrieve the vegetables, he announced, “We’d better get the guest room ready. I picked up a wire at the telegraph office earlier. David will be here sometime tomorrow.”

The following morning, Dinah accompanied Tristan to the outskirts of his property to search for a stray calf. They rode double on his mount, but once the ranch was no longer in sight, Tristan instructed her to turn and face him. Her thighs lay over his and she crossed her ankles behind him, resting her arms on his shoulders.

With one hand, he tugged her closer, nesting his groin to hers.

“I’ve never ridden double with someone in trousers,” he murmured, dropping a kiss on her mouth.

A surge of weakening desire washed over her and she snuggled closer, her breasts flattening against his chest. She felt a bite of ownership, suddenly understanding his need to possess that which he loved. “Have you ridden double with someone in a dress?”

His hand roamed her rump. “Do you want the truth?”

“Absolutely.” With bold fingers, she reached between them and cupped him. “Just remember that I hold your life in my hands.”

He made a sound of pleasure, and Dinah felt him swell behind his fly. “I haven’t cared about anyone else enough to let them ride Rogue.”

That he would admit she was special made her love for him that much stronger. She continued stroking him, her hunger rising. “That’s his name? Rogue? All these weeks and I’ve never heard it.”

“We haven’t exactly had normal conversations, if you recall.”

She smiled into his shoulder, remembering their peppery exchanges. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Do you like riding with a woman in trousers?”

“It’s interesting,” he answered, continuing to move his hand over her curves.

She pinched his side, eliciting from him a
youch
of pain. “Only interesting?”

“To be perfectly honest, I kind of like a long skirt, petticoats, and slitted drawers for a position like this.” His fingers came to the juncture of her thighs, and he touched her. “Much easier to make a woman horny if everything on the surface appears normal. With skirts and petticoats hiding things, our activity could be more…engaging, if you know what I mean.”

She drew a shuddering breath. “Any more engaging and we’d tumble from the horse.”

Rogue stopped and Tristan turned Dinah sideways, lowering her to the ground. He dismounted, looped the reins around the low branches of a juniper and took Dinah’s hand.

“Come on. I want to show you something.”

She came willingly, but asked, “What about the calf?”

“What calf?”

“The one we came to find.”

They jogged through the trees, up a slope, then down to a trickling creek. “Oh, that. They’re all present and accounted for.”

She jerked on his arm. “You mean this was a ploy to get me out here?”

He turned, gracing her with a boyish grin that set her soul afire. “Dirty trick, huh?”

She couldn’t resist an answering smile. “Very dirty trick. I think you need to be punished.”

He stopped beside a rock formation that arched over the creek and gave her another heart-stopping grin. “Surprise me.”

Standing on tiptoes, she removed his hat and threaded her fingers through his hair. How she loved it when his eyes twinkled with warmth. “I’m only a beginner. It’s up to you to teach me the ways you like being disciplined.”

He nodded toward the creek. “We can start here.”

She peered around the rock at the water. “A mite cold, don’t you think? How does one get in there without getting wet?”

His grin widened. “One doesn’t. And it’s not cold. There’s a hot spring in there.”

Her slow, sly smile told him she understood. “You mean you want me to take off my clothes? Right out here in broad daylight?”

He pulled his shirt from his buckskins and started unbuttoning it. “I plan to take mine off. It’s far more fun if we’re both naked.”

She was mesmerized by his body. “I remember the first time I saw you.” She ran her palms over his chest, across his sculpted shoulders, down to the black hair that swirled around his navel.

He stood, allowing her hands to roam. “What was your first thought?”

She couldn’t stop her smile. “My first thought was that you were a barbarian.”

His hands covered hers, and he drew them to his fly. “What did I do?”

“You told me no one ever strikes your dogs.” She rubbed her palm over his fly, shuddering at the thickness of his shaft. “I thought, how can any man care more for dogs than he cares about people?”

He began unbuttoning her shirt, then bent to kiss her. “I’m sorry I was such a ogre. What else?”

She uttered a groan of pleasure. “Your skin was so brown. I’d become accustomed to asylum pallor. I thought you were the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, even though you were rude. I thought to myself, He doesn’t want me here. What will he do when he discovers I’m not even the woman he hired?”

He chuckled, the sound warm and thick as syrup. “From the day you arrived and I caught you in my tree, I was certain David had played a gigantic trick on me. I’d asked him for an obedient, sweet-tempered, pleasant- looking companion for Emily. Someone I could marry and forget about. And look what I got.”

“Were you disappointed?” She leaned into him and pressed a kiss on one dark nipple.

“Of all the emotions I’ve had since the moment I first saw you, disappointment has not been among them.”

He bent and kissed her forehead while she fondled his nipples. “You know, that works much better if I do it to you.”

“Although I’d like that,” she admitted, “I feel funny undressing out here in the open.”

He pulled her shirt from her trousers. “There’s not a soul around for miles. Think of it as an adventure.”

By the time he’d removed her shirt, the adventure was well under way. She allowed her breasts to touch his chest, then dragged her nipples over his skin.

At his sharp intake of breath, she asked, “Why do you like that?”

He cupped her rump. “Because it makes me horny.”

“Besides that.” She nuzzled closer, wanting to take him between her thighs.

“I guess it does for me what this,” he said, pushing her pelvis tightly to his, “does for you.”

Desire tumbled through her. “Oh,” she answered with a sigh. “I see.”

He lifted her, hoisting her legs around his waist, then bent to kiss her breasts. She leaned away, allowing him access until she felt him shake. Then she slid her legs down his hips.

“Now your trousers,” he whispered against her ear.

“Yours first,” she ordered boldly. Anxiously.

He stepped away, his gaze on her while he unbuttoned his fly. He sprang free, long and thick and hard. As he removed his boots, then his buckskins, his shaft bobbed, as if it were greeting her.

“Oh, I do love the way you look. I had no idea all of that could be hidden behind a pair of trousers.”

He stood naked. She touched the base of his shaft, then ran her fingers to the tip. Liquid oozed from it, wetting her fingertips. She brought them to her lips, tasting it with her tongue, remembering how he’d kissed her, asking her to taste herself.

“You taste different from me.”

He made a strangled sound in his throat and brought her palm to his mouth and licked it. “If I let you continue your education, I’ll be required to take you right here, right now.”

The idea of making love outside seemed as naughty and exciting as touching herself. She swallowed hard. “I’m beginning to think it’s not such a bad idea.”

His gaze was hot. “Take off your trousers, Dinah. I want to see for myself how wet you are.”

She sagged to a rock, desire making her dizzy. She yanked off her boots, then stood and began removing her trousers.

“Wait.” With two fingers inside her waistband, he drew her close, then dipped his fingers lower. “I love this part.” He found her. “Ah, you’re wet, honey. Wet and swollen.”

He teased her with his touch, then helped her remove her trousers. He was on his knees before her, then he drew her hand to her mound. “Touch it. Feel how wet you are.”

She did, experiencing mounting hunger.

Suddenly his mouth was there, and her knees buckled.

“Tristan,” she scolded, her breath coming fast as she gripped his hair. “Dear heavens, I’m ready to fly apart.”

He stood and pulled her toward the water. “Then by all means, let’s get to your lesson.”

Initially the water was cold, but as they waded farther under the rocky bridge, Dinah felt the warmth swirling around her.

It was intoxicating, this sensation of warm water on her aroused body.

“Do you swim?”

“Oh, no. Dear me, no.” She brought her hand to her chest, feigning alarm.

He drew her to him, wrapping one arm around her waist, then started swimming on his back.

“It’s like floating.” Finding his rhythm, she kicked her feet and they glided through the water.

“I could teach you to swim, if you’d like,” he offered, appearing not the least bit winded by her weight.

“That would be fun. Teach me now.”

“What? Now?”

She wriggled from his arms. “Yes. Please, Tristan, teach me to swim, now.”

Frowning, he uttered a gruff sigh. She could tell he wasn’t the least bit excited about the prospect. She hid her smile.

“All right. I’m going to hold you, but first I want to show you the movements. Your arms should move through the water like this,” he instructed, making swimming motions. “And when you learn that, I’ll teach you how to kick. Now, lie on my hands.”

She swallowed a sigh of pleasure as she sank onto his hands, one of which was low on her belly and the other just below her breasts. “Now, what do I do?”

He cleared his throat. “It’s damned hard for me to think with your sweet ass in my face.”

She hid her face and grinned. “Come on, Tristan, tell me what to do next.”

“Er…ah…move your arms the way I showed you.”

She attempted a graceless movement.

“That’s not too bad, I guess. Keep trying.”

She thrashed at the water, artless as a beginner. “Oh, dear.” She took a breath and gasped, gulping in a mouthful of water. She sputtered and coughed, flailing her arms. “Don’t you dare drop me, Tristan Fletcher, don’t you dare!”

“I won’t drop you. Now, get your rhythm going again, Dinah. Come on, that’s a girl,” he encouraged.

“Oh! Oh! I think I’ve got it. Let me go, Tristan, let me try it.”

He gave her a condescending laugh. “I hardly think you’ve learned to swim in two minutes.”

“I’m going to try. Catch me if I sink, all right?” Before she heard his answer, she swam away, taking long, graceful strokes. “Why, this is easy.” She arched her back and dove to the bottom of the pool, touching the rocks, bringing up a smooth stone. She broke through the surface and gave him a triumphant grin.

Though his expression was sardonic, he gave her an answering smile. “You swim like a fish. You’re a witch, do you know that?”

She’d enjoyed the charade. “It was fun getting the lesson.”

His expression became a mock threat. “I’ll show you Fun.” He lunged for her and she bolted away, eluding him in the warm depths. He grabbed her ankle, but she wiggled out of his grasp. Each time he seized her, she found a way to escape.

Finally, he got a firm hold around her waist, then drew her close. His eyes twinkled. His teeth gleamed against his brown skin. His smile was exciting. Intoxicating.

“Marriage to you is going to be full of inventive surprises,” he predicted.

“I want to try everything with you.” She straddled him, sucking in a shaky gasp when he went deep. His thumbs caressed her nipples; she felt more tensing low in her abdomen.

He was motionless inside her. “Tease.”

Discovering the muscles that circled him, she squeezed, drawing from him a throaty groan. “Brute.”

He placed his hands on her waist and lunged. “Hooligan.”

She fastened her legs around him, pressing close to get the most out of what she was feeling. Her head lolled as the sensation intensified. “Love—” She swallowed as the waves of desire began. “Love me.”

His breath was ragged as his mouth covered hers. They rocked in the water, Dinah clamping her thighs around her husband’s waist as he thrust inside her and finally spent.

Afterward, they bobbed and attempted to catch their breath.

Tristan lifted her and kissed her breasts. “You know I already do.”

Afraid her heart would spring free, she threw her arms around him and hugged him, salty tears of joy mingling with the fresh mountain water.

They floated in the water, satisfied.

“Tristan?”

“Yes, love.”

She kissed his forehead. “Tell me how you came to be here.”

“You mean here with you?”

“No, you know what I mean.”

“I imagine you’ve heard some of it.”

“Yes, from Emily. Tell me everything.” She continued to straddle him.

“All right.” He kissed her.

“One day two years ago this spring, a man on horseback arrived at the ranch. Although he was dressed differently, he looked like me. Even had the same kind of mount.”

“Your brother, Wolfgang Amadeus.”

He nodded. “He told me how he’d searched for the woman who had given us birth. He hadn’t known at the time that he was a twin, yet something inside him told him there was more to the story than just finding her.”

“He found her?”

Tristan nodded. “He’d tracked her to a ranch. She was a wealthy widow with a son. Our half brother.”

“Was she surprised to see him?”

“Devastated is more the word. She’d thought she was rid of him. Of us. She had ordered her mother to destroy us as infants. Apparently she’d been raped when her family passed through Indian country on their way to California.”

Dinah’s heart gave a twist. “How terrible.”

“Don’t pity her, Dinah. She has a wicked streak that makes her quite unsympathetic. From what Wolf says, she probably hadn’t been raped at all, even though that’s what she continued to profess. She and her son plotted to destroy Wolf.”

Dinah gasped. “His own mother?”

“As I said, she doesn’t deserve your pity or your sympathy.”

Dinah took Tristan’s face between her hands and kissed him. “The Fletchers took you. What about Wolf?”

He was buried—”

“Buried? Alive? Oh, Tristan.”