Spirit's Song (21 page)

I have felt love
, she thought,
felt it surround me. I have tasted its sweetness, felt it moving within me, its breath upon my face…Jesse…

A moment later, she was filled with a rush of warmth and Jesse buried his face against her neck, his body trembling, and she hugged him to her, filled with a sense of tenderness, a sense of completeness that she had never known before. It filled her heart with a strange kind of pain, spilled from her eyes in a wash of tears.

Jesse drew back as he felt the warmth of her tears on his neck. “Kay? Did I hurt you?”

“No. Oh, no.” She hurt, she thought, but not in the way he meant. Her heart was so full, so full. The memory of his touch, his taste, the sound of his voice moving through the air, dancing in her heart, his breath moving lightly over her skin, his love covering her, warm and soft.

He caught one of her tears on his fingertip, felt a sinking feeling in his heart. She was regretting it already.

“I’m sorry,” he said gruffly, but when he started to pull away, she held him to her.

“Don’t go.”

“I knew this would be a mistake.”

“No!” She covered his mouth with her hand. “These are happy tears.”

“Happy tears?”

“Oh, Jesse, I never knew it could be like this.” She looked up at him, her eyes wide with wonder. “I’ve never… I mean…”

He stared at her in disbelief. “Never?”

She shook her head, her cheeks flaming. “Alan said making love to me was like making love to a block of ice. He said there was no passion in me, that I was a…a failure as a woman.”

Jesse laughed then, laughed with the sheer joy of being alive and having her in his arms.

“Believe me, honey, you’ve got enough passion for a hundred women,” he murmured as he kissed the tip of her nose, and couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride that he had been the one to awaken it.

She snuggled against him, her head pillowed on his shoulder, one arm draped across his chest. He held her close, felt her sigh, then relax as sleep claimed her.

Jesse stared into the darkness, one hand idly stroking Kaylynn’s hair.

He brushed a kiss across the top of her head, wondering what madness had possessed him. Making love to her had been a mistake. He had known it would be, yet he had been powerless to resist the sweet temptation of her touch. She had kissed him, and he had been lost. Damn. How was he going to let her go?

He took a deep breath, and her scent filled his nostrils, warm and womanly, musky with the scent of their lovemaking. Her husband had accused her of lacking passion. The man must have been deaf, dumb and blind if he couldn’t find it. Not that he was complaining, Jesse thought with a wry grin. He was inordinately pleased that he had been the one to introduce her to the pleasure between a man and a woman. There was so much more he wanted to teach her. He wanted to spend hours making love to her, now slow and soft, now quick and urgent. He wanted to tease and caress and pleasure her, watch her eyes grow slumberous with desire, hear her voice cry his name…

Damn, but he wanted her again.

Knowing he had to put some distance between them before desire overcame reason, he started to ease away from her, only to feel her arm tighten around him.

“Where are you going?” she asked sleepily.

“We should be getting back.”

“Do we have to?”

She was just tired, he thought. She didn’t mean what he was thinking.

But then he felt her lips against his neck, the heat of her tongue against his skin.

“Kay?”

“Hmm?”

“Kay, do you know what you’re doing?”

“I think so,” she murmured, and her voice was no longer sleepy, but low and husky. “Am I doing it wrong?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

He swallowed hard as her fingertips drifted down over his bare chest. “No, don’t stop.”

“Do you like it when I touch you?”

He nodded, afraid to frighten her away. She had never been the aggressor. It pleased him that she felt comfortable with him, that she wanted to explore, to test her newfound sexuality.

Kaylynn took a deep breath. It was wrong for her to be here, with him, wrong to make love to him, to let him make love to her. But she had been unhappy for so long and she might never have this chance again.

For tonight, she would forget right or wrong. Tonight, she would reach for happiness with both hands. She would worry about guilt tomorrow.

“Touch me, Kay.”

Emboldened by his words, she ran her hands over his arms and chest, down his belly. She played with the dark, curly hair on his chest, the wiry hair on his legs. She kissed the scar on his cheek. She pushed him until he rolled over, and then she ran her hands down the long length of his back. He had a beautiful back, well-muscled and smooth. He had small, firm buttocks, long legs.

She kissed his neck and he rolled onto his back, drawing her down on top of him, and she thought what a wondrous feeling it was, the touch of his skin brushing against hers. She reveled in the strength of his arms around her, the gentleness of his lips when he kissed her, the aching need in his voice when he said he wanted her, needed her.

She surrendered completely, her heart and soul soaring, flying, reaching. And he was there beside her to catch her when she fell, tumbling through rainbow clouds into ecstasy.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

She was embarrassed when she woke in his arms in the morning. Embarrassed but not ashamed. He had given her a gift beyond price, and she would never regret it.

Jesse seemed to know what she was feeling. He turned his back while she dressed, then she stood staring across the prairie while he pulled on his pants and shirt.

When he was dressed, he moved up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. “Kay?”

“What?”

“Are you all right?”

She nodded.

Slowly, he turned her to face him. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He hugged her tight, and then kissed her gently. Tenderly. “We’d better go see how Ravenhawk’s doing.”

“Ravenhawk!” She had forgotten all about him. She pressed her hands to cheeks suddenly hot. How could she face him? He would know what she had done. Mazza would know.

“Hey.” Jesse put a forefinger under her chin and tilted her face up. “It doesn’t show,” he said with a wry grin.

“But he’ll know. They’ll both know.”

“And they’ll think I’m the luckiest man on Earth.”

“But what will they think of me?”

“Do you care?”

She looked into his eyes and knew she didn’t care what anyone else thought. She had followed her heart and she would never be sorry. She had shared a beautiful night with a beautiful man, and she wouldn’t let anyone spoil it, or turn it into something shameful or sordid.

“Kay?”

“No.” She smiled at him. “I don’t care.”

“Good.” He kissed her again. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

Ravenhawk looked up at the sound of footsteps. It took but one look at Kaylynn’s face to know how she had spent the night. There was a glow about her, a look in her eyes that said she had been well and truly pleasured. He glanced at Yellow Thunder and knew a swift rush of jealousy.

Jesse slipped his arm around Kaylynn’s waist as he met Ravenhawk’s gaze. It was a gesture that was not only possessive but a blatant warning as well.

“Everything all right here?” Jesse asked.

Ravenhawk shrugged. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“No reason.” Jesse nodded at Victor Mazza, who was sitting a few feet away, his arms bound behind his back. “He give you any trouble?”

“No.”

“They have anything to eat?”

Ravenhawk shook his head. “Not much. Couple cans of beans and some hardtack.”

“Any coffee?”

“There’s a little in the pot.”

Jesse walked over to the fire and poured a cup of coffee. It was as black and bitter as an old whore’s heart, but it was hot. He drank half, then offered the cup to Kaylynn, who shook her head.

She glanced around, then looked at Ravenhawk, wondering what he had done with the bodies of the outlaws.

“Victor wrapped ’em up good and tight so we could haul ’em back to town,” Ravenhawk remarked, answering her unspoken question. “Gave him something to do while we were waiting for you two.”

Kaylynn nodded, her cheeks heating beneath Ravenhawk’s knowing gaze. “Oh.”

Mazza muttered something foul under his breath, his expression feral.

Jesse emptied the dregs from the coffeepot into the fire pit. “Let’s pack up and get the hell out of here.” He looked at Ravenhawk. “I guess you’ll be riding on.”

“I was thinking there’s probably a good-sized reward out for old Victor and the rest, and that half of it rightly belongs to me.”

“Is that what you were thinking?”

Ravenhawk nodded. “You got a problem with that?”

“No, I guess you earned your share.”

“Damn right. You wanna help me saddle the horses?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll clean up here,” Kaylynn said.

Jesse looked at her and smiled. “Stay away from Mazza,” he warned, then followed Ravenhawk toward the picket line.

Kaylynn rolled the bedding and put out the fire while Jesse and Ravenhawk tied the bodies of the outlaws to the backs of the horses. Victor Mazza’s malevolent gaze followed her every move. An hour later, they were headed toward town.

They made quite a sight, Kaylynn mused. Jesse rode on one side of her, leading four corpse-laden horses. Ravenhawk rode on her other side, leading Mazza’s horse.

It was, she mused, a grisly parade.

* * * * *

Kaylynn sat in a chair beside the window, looking down at the street below. Jesse had left her and Ravenhawk at the hotel, then gone to the jail to drop off Victor Mazza and fill out whatever forms were necessary to claim the rewards on Victor Mazza and the four dead outlaws.

Jesse had warned Ravenhawk to stay in his room. He was, after all, supposed to be Jesse’s prisoner.

The trip back to town had been strained. She had been acutely aware of the tension between Jesse and Ravenhawk, and just as aware that she was the cause of it. Victor Mazza had cursed long and loud, vowing to kill them all for what they had done to his brother, until Ravenhawk threatened to geld him if he didn’t shut up. Apparently the outlaw took the threat to heart, because he didn’t say another word, though if looks could kill, they would all have been dead long since.

A knock at the door drew her attention from the window. Rising, she crossed the room and opened the door.

Ravenhawk shrugged at her look of disappointment. “I guess you were expecting Yellow Thunder.”

“Yes, I was. Did you want something?”

He shook his head, thinking he wanted quite a lot from her, but he couldn’t tell her that. “No. I was going crazy in my room, so I thought I’d come by and make sure you were all right.”

“I’m fine.”

“Mind if I come in?”

She bit down on the inside of her lower lip. She knew it was improper for a woman to entertain a man in her room, but after all she had been through in the last few weeks, such a strict moral code seemed foolish somehow.

She stepped back. “Come in.”

Ravenhawk crossed the threshold and she closed the door behind him.

“I wonder what’s keeping Jesse,” Kaylynn mused.

Ravenhawk shrugged. “Probably still doing paperwork and answering questions.”

“Do you think there was a problem?”

“I doubt it. Maybe he stopped to have a drink at the saloon.” He smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry about him. I’m sure he’ll be along soon.”

“I guess so.” She stood in the middle of the floor, ill at ease without knowing why.

“Kaylynn, where are you going from here?”

“Home, to my parents. You know that.”

“I just wondered if maybe you’d changed your mind.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I thought maybe you’d decided to stay here, with Yellow Thunder.”

“No.” He hadn’t asked, she thought, and didn’t know what her answer would be if he had. She wanted to go home. Had to go home.

“Is there any chance I could talk you into staying with me?”

“With you?” she exclaimed.

He shrugged. “I’d do my best to make you a good husband.”

“I’m already married.”

“What! To who?”

“A man in San Francisco.” Suddenly agitated, she began to pace the floor. “I thought you knew.”

“No.” He frowned at her. “So, your husband lives in Frisco,” he mused aloud, “and you’re on your way, alone, to New York. You wouldn’t be running away from him, would you?”

“I don’t see as how that’s any of your business.”

“No, I reckon not. Does Yellow Thunder know?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

She felt a rush of heat suffuse her, knew he was remembering the night she had spent with Jesse, knew he was thinking she was no better than a harlot.

Stiffening her spine, she met his gaze. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” Reaching out, he grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Calm down, Kaylynn.”

“I am calm.”

He grinned at her. It was a devilishly handsome grin.

“Let me go.”

“Shh.” Slowly, deliberately, he drew her up against him.

She stared up at him, her heart pounding, as he lowered his head and claimed her lips with his. In all her life, she had only been kissed by two men, Alan and Jesse. Well, three men if she counted her second cousin who had kissed her in the gazebo at her thirteenth birthday party.

She struggled against Ravenhawk for a minute and then, overcome with curiosity, she closed her eyes and surrendered to his kiss. It was warm and pleasant, yet she felt none of the excitement that had coursed through her when Jesse kissed her.

“What the hell is going on?”

Guilt heated Kaylynn’s cheeks as she tried to twist out of Ravenhawk’s arm. “Jesse!”

He looked at her, his expression unreadable. “I knocked. Guess you didn’t hear me.”

She shook her head. “No.”

Jesse’s gaze rested on Ravenhawk. “What are you doing here?”

Ravenhawk shrugged. “I just came by to make sure she was all right.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“You jealous, bounty hunter?”

Jesse took a step forward, his hands curled into tight fists. “Get your filthy hands off her.”

“Calm down,” Ravenhawk said. Releasing Kaylynn, he put her away from him. “It was just a kiss. No need to…”

“Like hell!” Face flushed with anger, Jesse lunged forward.

Kaylynn screamed, “No!” as Jesse plowed into Ravenhawk.

Ravenhawk reeled backward, crashing into the window behind him, shattering the glass. In an effort to catch himself, Ravenhawk clutched Jesse’s shirt, but to no avail. Driven by the bounty hunter’s momentum, they fell over the sill, tumbled down the sloping roof, and plummeted to the street below.

Kaylynn hurried to the window and leaned out over the sill in time to see Ravenhawk gain his feet. Thank God the fall wasn’t as far as she’d feared.

She shook her head in disbelief as Ravenhawk staggered over to where Jesse lay facedown in the street. He looked down at the bounty hunter a moment and then drew back his foot and kicked Jesse in the ribs.

It was a vicious blow. With a grunt of pain, Jesse rolled onto his back.

Kaylynn gasped as Ravenhawk drew back his foot to kick Jesse again, but Jesse was ready for him. With a grimace, Jesse grabbed Ravenhawk by the ankle, then rolled to the side, bringing Ravenhawk crashing to the ground once more.

Both men were breathing hard when they gained their feet. Jesse clutched his side, his eyes narrowed as Ravenhawk lunged at him. In spite of the pain of his bruised ribs, Jesse was ready. Driven by a cold fury, he lashed out at the other man, his fist catching Ravenhawk with a hard right cross. With a grunt, Ravenhawk stumbled backward and Jesse rushed him.

Before the Lakota could regain his balance, Jesse drove into him, driving him backward, until Ravenhawk came up short against the horse trough. As Ravenhawk lurched to a halt, Jesse drew back his arm and slammed his fist into the Lakota’s face.

Blood spurted from Ravenhawk’s nose as he tumbled backward, landing with a loud splash in the trough.

Ravenhawk came up cussing mightily. As soon as he broke the surface, Jesse grabbed him by the shirt collar and dunked him again and yet again before he hauled him to the surface.

Gasping for breath, Ravenhawk glared at him.

“I’m not gonna say this again,” Jesse growled. “Keep your hands off what’s mine.”

“I reckon her husband would tell you the same thing, bounty hunter,” Ravenhawk said with a sneer. “Maybe you should take your own advice.”

“Damn you,” Jesse hissed. “I ought to drown your sorry hide here and now.”

Suddenly aware that a crowd had gathered, Jesse shoved Ravenhawk underwater one last time before pulling him from the trough.

Jesse took a step back and drew his gun. “Just stand easy,” he warned. He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps and saw Hank Frey striding toward him.

He swore softly when he saw Kaylynn standing on the porch of the hotel. She started toward him, and he shook his head. She threw him a puzzled look, but stayed where she was.

“Say now, what the hell’s going on here?” Frey demanded. “I don’t allow no gunplay in my town. Say, isn’t this one of the men from the robbery? The one you were taking to Colorado?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said. “He got away from me. We’ll be leaving as soon as I collect the money due me.”

Frey nodded. “Maybe I should keep him over to the jail until you’re ready to leave?”

“Good idea,” Jesse said, suppressing a grin as Frey pulled a set of handcuffs out of his back pocket. “Thanks.”

A look of dismay settled over Ravenhawk’s face as Frey snapped the cuffs in place.

“No problem,” Frey said. “I finished up the paperwork on those bounties you turned in. Should be ready by noon tomorrow.”