Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] (13 page)

"I couldn't agree more." Though she supported his feelings, he doubted she would support the means by which he had sought his ultimate justice. He might get sympathy, but it was empathy he was after. His own for Lori was great. Much of what he'd unconsciously absorbed, the unguarded whole of her life, was coming back to him.

He'd been granted a rare privilege, and he honored it with a respectful silence. The whole of his life he kept silent as well, respecting the choices he had made while he longed for the day he could divulge them to Lori.

This was not the day.

"What happened after that?" she pressed, her voice a mixture of compassion and curiosity.

Carefully, he answered, "Attu and I took up residence in Skagway. Though it was dangerous, I did return to Juneau a few times, but always at night and incognito."

"So that's why you were so concerned with your whereabouts at first." At his nod, she frowned, puzzled. "Okay, now I understand what you meant about me keeping your secrets safe and it explains you having two identities. But what I don't get is why you'd risk coming back to Juneau when you had enemies here."

"It's really quite simple, my dear." He leaned close. "Pride. Not to return would have been an admission of defeat. And of cowardice. I am no more a coward than I am a quitter. Or a fool. Hence, the precaution of disguise and the gun I'd learned to shoot rather well, a better protection than law books could provide.

"So there you have it, Lori," Noble concluded. "And now that I am done telling my tale, I will exact my price for it." He watched as she nervously wet her lips, which whetted his appetite to consume them with a fury.

Noble swept aside their cups and gripped the lapel of her robe. A small jerk and he traced her lips with his tongue.

"My kiss, Lori. I would have that kiss from you now."

"O-okay," she stammered. "But just a kiss. That's all."

Noble laughed softly. "Could it be you might actually have as much to learn from me as I have to learn from you?"

"No doubt," she answered, her breath coming shallow and fast. "But what does that have to do with a kiss?"

"Only everything, my dear." He nipped her bottom lip. "I've yet to well and truly kiss you. Though I daresay, once I do, you'll realize any real kiss from me will never be 'just a kiss.'"

Chapter 10

Lori glanced at the clock: 2:00 a.m. She tossed and turned another half hour before slinging aside the covers. While she paced she worried her still-swollen lips.

Damn Noble. Damn him anyway. By no stretch of the imagination was that a kiss he'd given her. Kisses stayed on the lips and even involved one tongue getting turned on by another. But a kiss did not include a man's slow and deliberate roving over a woman's neck, ears, and the cleavage he exposed with his teeth to the bodice of her nightgown.

Lori wiped her forehead. Sweating, she was still sweating. But surely any woman would be sweating for days after a kiss that gave new meaning to extended foreplay—only, if Noble considered
that
a kiss, what in heaven's name did he consider foreplay?

Lori felt her knees go weak, her inner thighs quiver just wondering. And remembering. Remembering how he'd pressed her down on the table, her protests a sequence of moans as she'd pulled him on top of her. And there she'd writhed among peanut butter and crunched the crackers with her back, not even realizing what she was doing until Noble drew away.

He'd left her there on the table, speechless, as she watched him pick up the mess on the floor. That done, he had gone to the refrigerator, taken out a variety of vegetables and a package of chicken.

And then in the most polite tone he had informed her, "in exchange for your hospitality, I'll assume a variety of tasks. Actually, I'm a fairly decent cook—a matter of survival, since I never took a wife." When she simply stared at him, he came to her and pulled her robe together. "No need for you to linger, I can find my way about without assistance. Once dinner is prepared, I'll call you to join me," he said with a gracious smile.

She left, still searching for words that wouldn't come.

By the time he rang a bell—a leftover from Christmas she'd never gotten around to storing with her mishmash of ornaments—her tongue still refused to function. His own, however, appeared to be in fine shape. Over a candlelight dinner, her best china set out on the tablecloth she used for special occasions, he had glibly related several stories about the misadventures of his youth, interrupted only by his questions of concern.

"You don't care for the salad? Ah, I see, the salad is fine but you prefer 'Diet Ranch' over vinegar and oil... Is there something wrong with the dinner? Too many onions, too little gravy... Neither, is it? Then why don't you eat what I prepared? Not hungry, you say? We'll see about that. Voila! I saved the best for last. Behold, dessert."

She had stared at the bowl he set before her, two big scoops of vanilla ice cream with swirls of chocolate running down the sides, crushed nuts sprinkled over the top. She watched while he dug into his dessert, barely touching her own.

While he busied himself cleaning the kitchen she had stalked to her bedroom. And now here it was, over six hours later, and she was still stewing, wanting more than anything to ravage Noble's mouth with a vengeance. The thought of waking him up was mighty appealing. After all, if she couldn't sleep, why should he—

Suddenly Lori heard a familiar sound. Distant, but unmistakably there. Fighting a grin, she managed a scowl and marched to the living room.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled.

Continuing to slide the vacuum with one hand while he cupped his ear with the other, Noble shouted back, "Pardon me? I can't hear what you're saying."

Lori jerked out the plug. "What I'm saying is that you woke me up."

"My apologies. I couldn't sleep, you see, and while busying myself about the house, I happened upon this sucking broom. I was so taken with it—"

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Misery liking company, she could only hope Noble's reasons were similar to her own.

He shrugged. "I fear once I do, I might slumber for another century before waking up."

"Not likely. After all, you're safe and sound in a house, not camping out on a glacier."

"What you say is true, very true. But still, the apprehension lingers."

Lori sympathized more than she wanted to. She told herself to send Noble to bed and go to her own—
alone
—once she did. But that's not what came out of her mouth as she tugged at his arm and said, "c'mon, let's go to sleep."

"I would if I could. But I can't. For several hours I tried. Now off to bed with you. I'll cease my noisy sweeping and leave you in peace. Oh, have you a feather duster about?"

Lori groaned. "A neat freak. If you're a neat freak, I can tell you right now that we're not going to get along," she informed him, her hands on her hips.

"A neat freak?" he repeated.

"Yeah, one of those people who can't get a life beyond their obsession with flicking the dust from a white glove that's glued to their hand."

Noble looked at his hands. "No white gloves here. And a bit of dust never bothered me. I was only seeking to distract myself from a troubling perplexity."

"And just what's troubling you?"

"You."

"Me?"

"But of course. I made dinner for you in the hope that I might gain your appreciation for more than my ability to kiss. And what did my efforts get me? Silence. Silence from you, other than a few cursory responses. And you didn't even grant me the courtesy of a single word after I kissed you."

"Did it maybe, just maybe, occur to you that I didn't know what to say after—after... I still don't know what to call it. You called it a kiss. That was no kiss, Noble."

"It most certainly was. Though admittedly, I did not relegate my exploration to your mouth."

"That's putting it mildly," she huffed. "And as for me not saying anything, what about you? Puttering around the kitchen, acting as if nothing had happened, while I tried to pick myself up off the table. Do you know how that made me feel? Used. Discarded. You hurt me, Noble."

"Oh, no." He blew out a heavy sigh and laid his palms on her shoulders. "I would never deliberately subject you to such feelings as those—please, you must believe me. It's just... I thought you might wish for some distance while you put yourself back together, so to speak. And perhaps I thought this because it was my own need." Searching her eyes, he explained, "Lori, I've never been so deeply affected by a woman before. When I let you go, I wasn't sure what to do with myself—with the state of my emotions. And the obvious other." He slid his hands down her arms, cupped her hips.

His groin flush with hers, he said, "the obvious other, Lori. Had I not left you to collect some self-control, I very well may have committed a dishonorable act. You deserve better from me, good and decent woman that you are. And no decent man would bed such a lady until he had taken her to wife. I regret my show of respect caused you distress, when it was my way of relaying my feelings for you. Deep feelings, Lori. They are not common or shallow." He rubbed slightly against her. "Neither is my body's response to you."

Her own body's response was immediate and intense, quickening and moistening with the rigid feel of him pressed to where she was soft and aching. But it was more than his body doing this to her. It was Noble himself, an extraordinary man with a code of honor outside her experience. And of any other contemporary woman, she was sure. They'd be after him in droves once he was on his own. Maybe before.

Already she resented her faceless competition. Already she could feel her heart break as she imagined the moment when they parted. As they would. It was inevitable.

And it was that inevitability that caused her to hug him tight, press her cheek to his chest so he wouldn't see the keen passion, the distress in her eyes.

"You're a wonderful cook, Noble," she said quietly. "Almost as good a cook as you are a kisser."

He crooked a finger beneath her chin, urged her face up.

"It takes two to truly kiss. I admit to having my share of experience at it, but never have I felt so thoroughly kissed back by a woman as I did by you."

How much longer would she have him to kiss? she wondered. She didn't want to think about it. She couldn't stand to think about it. All she wanted to think about was that for now Noble was hers and she wouldn't waste a minute of this specialness they shared for as long as she could have it.

"Will you sleep with me again tonight?" she whispered. "Hold me like you did before? You don't have to stay, just as long as it takes me to nod off and maybe dream." Oh, the dreams she'd had last night. No nightmares of Mick bathed in blood for the first time since he'd died. She'd dreamed of Noble, the two of them finding an easy peace together as they made love. Wild and uninhibited lovemaking and more.

"Would you grant me another kiss if I agree?"

"If I agree to that, I'll never go to sleep. But since I'm really, really tired... make you a deal. Lend me your chest to sleep on, and once I wake up you can have a kiss—after I brush my teeth."

Noble's low, seductive laughter sent tingles from the roots of her hair to the soles of her feet.

"I propose a fairer bargain," he said with a shrewd smile. "I'll share your bed and your covers, but it is my turn to have you for a pillow." His gaze dropped to her breasts. "A much softer pillow than I could ever provide for you."

"Sounds fair to me," Lori replied. Better than fair, it sounded wonderful. In all the world there was nothing quite like holding and being held by a man resting his head against a woman's beating heart.

Lori took Noble's hand and led the way to her bedroom. Only, somehow, he was soon leading her. Once there, Noble took off her robe, pulled back the covers, then motioned her in. He didn't immediately join her.

Standing by the side of the bed, he held her motionless with a steady gaze while he undid the buttons of his shirt.

"I'll leave it on as well as the breeches," he said, pulling the tails from his pants.

"If you want to take off your shirt, I've got no problem with that."
Please, take it off.