Texas Tiger TH3 (36 page)

The room erupted in splattering fruit and cookies, flying lemonade, and thrown fists. Daniel caught a chair heaved in Peter's direction and flung it to the floor, but he couldn't drown out the curses and threats from the crowd. Peter grabbed the chair and used it as a shield against two young men who rushed in with fists upraised, but he couldn't shield himself on all sides. More fruit struck his turned back, and bright patches of red bled together with the green.

With a sigh of regret Daniel swung his boot and tripped the man running at Peter from behind. Shoving his younger brother through the shouting, cursing melee, capturing Georgina by the waist, he pushed his way out of the rioting crowd.

They were no longer the main attraction. Fights had erupted all across the floor as old grievances gave way to new, and flying objects sent tempers soaring. Abandoning Peter to fend off his latest attackers, Daniel grabbed Georgina, swung her up in his arms, and pushed and shoved his way to the door. Peter followed close on his heels, wielding a chair like a sword.

The brawl was already spilling out of the lighted hall and into the darkened alleys around it. With Georgina clinging to his neck, Daniel hurried to the safety of a lighted thoroughfare. The sounds of the melee fell behind them.

"Daniel, put me down." Georgina struggled to regain her feet, succeeding only as Peter reached them.

"There for a moment I almost imagined you were defending me." Peter said, wiping strawberry juice from his forehead.

"You brought it on your own damned fool self. I was protecting my wife. You'd better get the hell out of here before some of them come looking for you."

Georgina heard the odd note of defensiveness in her husband's voice. Daniel had every reason to despise Peter, yet he did nothing now to show his contempt. She had seen him divert the blows meant for Peter. Another man would have used the opportunity to beat his enemy to a pulp, but Daniel had protected Peter with his fists and strength. Uncertainty kept her from intervening.

"I wanted to talk with Georgina."

Whether that was an excuse for his appearance at the dance or a demand for her attention now couldn't easily be discerned. It didn't matter. Daniel kept Georgina protectively behind his back.

"Get lost, little brother. She's my wife now and none of your concern. And don't come back this way again if you know what's good for you. You're persona non grata in these environs."

"The cowboy speaks Latin. How fitting." Shoving his handkerchief back in his pocket, Peter turned his tailored back on them and strode away.

It was only then that Georgina realized Daniel had just driven off his brother for her sake. He had given up all hopes of coming to terms with the only family he had in favor of the one he hoped they would make together.

She wasn't certain if she was honored, terrified, or just plain dismayed at the thought.

Chapter 28

They were both silent as they climbed the stairs and by mutual agreement entered the bedroom rather than the office. Georgina was glad that Daniel stayed with her rather than going to his easy chair, but now that he was here, she was nervous of his presence. Somehow, tonight, he seemed to fill the room with his energy, and she was acutely aware of their physical differences. She didn't mistake him for an older brother or a platonic friend anymore.

She almost jumped when Daniel caught the back of her gown and began unfastening the hooks there. Her stomach knotted as she realized what this action must mean. She had to remember she was a lady and behave circumspectly so she wouldn't disgust him again, but what she wanted more than anything was to turn around and throw herself into his arms and beg for his kisses.

That was a rather dismaying notion, and Georgina stood silently for his ministrations. She wanted Daniel to care for her, but she hadn't the slightest idea of how to go about it. She was terrified she would drive him away as she had every other man in her life. She just wasn't the type of woman who attracted men. She knew that. It had never mattered until now, and she had given it little thought in the past. She was regretting her carelessness now.

"Well, Pecos Martin was never much of a ladies' man." Humor tugged at his drawl as Daniel unfastened the last hook and stepped away. "I guess I'd better find another hero to emulate if I'm going to try this courting business."

Georgina held her bodice in place as she turned around to look at him. His cowlick had fallen in his face again despite all his attempts to keep it slicked back. She wanted to brush it back from his forehead, but something in the glitter of his eyes kept her from reaching out. They stood in the light of only one lamp, and the shadows between them were too great.

"I've been courted before," she murmured uncertainly. "When I was twelve, I went to a garden party with a boy and fell out of a tree and broke my arm while racing him to the top. Last year, in London, I attended a perfectly extravagant ball with a viscount. We ended up arguing over my mode of dress, and when I threw champagne at him, he poured wine on me. When I looked around, we had an audience laying wagers on the outcome. I won't bore you with all the other disasters in between those two episodes."

Daniel chuckled and pulled a pin from her hair, sending a carefully arranged curl tumbling to her shoulder. "The Incorrigible Miss Merry. Maybe we're made for each other. Did Evie tell you I once blew up the main street of town?"

"Really?" Laughter came easily with Daniel, and Georgina felt a surge of warmth as he continued taking down her hair. She wasn't certain if it was for his understanding or his closeness, and she didn't care.

"When this is all over, I want to take you down south to meet some of my friends. They'll like you." Daniel dropped the handful of hairpins on the stacked crates she used as a dressing table.

Georgina didn't want to know what "this" referred to. She prayed he meant the fight with Mulloney's and not what was between them. She didn't want what was between them to ever end. Daringly, she placed a hand on his chest and fiddled with his shirt stud. "How can I make you like me?" she asked softly, staring at his chest. She felt his soft intake of breath, but didn't dare look up.

"I've liked you since the first day we met, Georgina. To tell the truth, I more than like you." Daniel caught his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back until she met his eyes.

Georgina tried not to gulp at what she saw glittering there behind the gentle gray. His brows were a sharp brown line that pulled together with the intensity of his emotion, and his lean jaw set with a determination she recognized too well. Perhaps she was beginning to see deeper than a person's surface after all. It certainly wasn't the genial journalist she was seeing now.

"I want you, Georgina," he murmured, lowering his head until his lips brushed against her ear. "I don't want to frighten you again, but I don't want to sleep in the chair, either."

She didn't know what she was supposed to do. Should she turn her back and begin obediently undressing so he could assert his husbandly rights? Should she slide her arms around his neck as she longed to do and show him that she wasn't in the least frightened? Should she just wait and let him do as he would?

Taking a breath, she dared to do as she wanted. Let him think her a loose woman. She had never spent much time trying to be something she wasn't; why start now? Georgina lifted her arms and slid them around Daniel's neck and stood on her toes to reach his lips with hers.

He grabbed her waist with both arms, lifted her from the floor, and eagerly accepted everything she gave him. Georgina's joy shot through them both as she returned his kiss with a ferocity that nearly had them tumbling into bed before they could undress.

Georgina's bodice had fallen down with her impulsive gesture, but she scarcely noticed until she felt the skirt tapes give way beneath Daniel's quick fingers. Her gown lay in a puddle on the floor as he lifted her out of it and carried her down to the bed.

She lay in corset and petticoat beneath him as he leaned over her, and she didn't feel in the least ashamed. Georgina drew her fingers over Daniel's lean jaw and smiled as he bent to ply her mouth with kisses again. She liked his kisses much too well.

Daniel pushed himself off her and stared down into her face as one hand went to unfasten the hooks of her corset. "How do you feel about children, Georgina?"

The sensation of his strong, long-fingered hand inserting itself between her corset and her breasts clashed with the cool control of his words, but the combination made some insane sense in her mind. Georgina reached to tangle with a man's shirt studs for the first time in her life.

"I always wanted brothers and sisters," she murmured irrelevantly as she dropped the first stud to the floor and brushed his warm flesh.

"They start out as babies, you know. Tyler told me we should have had this discussion before we married."

The corset came unfastened, and Daniel lifted Georgina's back and pulled it free to fling it to the floor. The exquisite freedom made her tingle even before his hand circled her chemise-clad breast. Delicious waves of warmth swept through her as Daniel's fingers located the aching tip through the thin material.

She wasn't even certain she was capable of speech, but valiantly, she tried to reply to the question he wasn't asking. "I'll give you babies, Daniel. I think I would like to have your baby very much."

"I've always wanted several, Georgina," he warned, even as his hands went to the fastenings of his trousers.

"Then we had better get started, hadn't we?" Just the idea of it surged through Georgina with a primeval need that sharpened every touch to an unbearable intensity. She wanted to make a baby, and she wanted this man to give it to her. She put her hands around Daniel's neck and pulled him closer so she could feel all of him against her.

That movement probably saved him from grievous injury. Glass spattered across the room at the same time the street echoed with the sound of a shotgun blast.

Diving down to the bed, Daniel grabbed Georgina's waist and rolled them both to the floor. More blasts followed. Glass shattered and spun crazily across the floor. He rolled them under the high bed and out of the hurricane of flying shards. Across the hall Max howled with rage.

"Stay here." Pulling the cover from the bed, Daniel rolled himself in it and raised up.

"Daniel!" Georgina tried to hold him back, but it was akin to holding back the wind. He was gone before she could do more than touch a hand to his arm.

Glass crunched as Daniel bent over and ran to the door. Georgina cried out as another blast sent more glass and pellets flying through the room, but Daniel made it to the door without any noticeable injury.

She knew where he was going, and her heart lodged in her throat as she waited. He kept his guns locked in a chest in the pressroom where the boys couldn't get at them. She knew he was cursing his caution right now, but she was thanking the good Lord. She wanted those villains gone before a shoot-out ensued.

It looked as though her prayers would be answered. The street grew quiet, and the few remaining panels of glass were left unshattered as Daniel returned with his rifle. Georgina stayed where she was as he stood against the wall and searched the street. She hadn't known how hard her heart was pounding until she saw Daniel standing there, looking murderous with a rifle cocked and ready in his hands. She held her fist to her mouth to keep from crying out while he scanned the street. He was fully capable of shooting anyone who emerged from the darkness.

He cursed and blew out the lamp and waited a while longer, but apparently none dared show their faces, not even the police. Georgina gingerly reached for her fallen corset and used it to sweep a path through the glass beside the bed.

Still cursing, Daniel set the rifle aside and came over to help her. When they'd cleared a safe place, she rolled out and he clasped her tightly in strong arms. She gave in to the urge to cling to his greater strength. Wrapping her arms around his waist, Georgina buried her head against his chest and let him soothe her shivers.

"Why would anyone do that?" she whispered against his shirt.

"I haven't exactly made myself welcome in these parts," Daniel reminded her. "I just hadn't thought they'd endanger you, too." He stroked her hair, smoothing it down her back.

"But everybody around here likes you," she protested. "It's just Mr. Mulloney and my father that you've made mad."