Stacey Kayne Read online

  She must have been tending his fever. No wonder she looked completely drained.

  “Come lie down, Rachell. You have bags under your eyes the size of Texas.”

  “You should eat something.” She scurried to the other side of the small hut.

  “All I need is for you to stop fluttering around this teepee like a damn hummingbird. You’re making me dizzy.”

  She ignored his comment, retrieving another bowl covered by a thin cloth. “You lost a lot of blood. You need to eat.”

  “Rachell, get your butt over here and lie down.”

  She knelt beside him and smiled at his fierce expression. “Not until you eat something.” She took a chunk of meat from the bowl and pushed it into his mouth. “I know it’s not warm, but it will help you get your strength back.”

  After the second bite, Jed grabbed her wrist. Her breath caught as he kissed her palm. “I’ve eaten,” he said. “Time to lie down before you fall asleep on your feet.”

  Rachell released a slow sigh as he let go of her wrist, exhaustion settling across her face. “Are you sure you’re not hungry?”

  “Lie down,” he ordered, lifting the edge of the blanket covering him.

  Rachell set the bowl down and started to move beside him, then paused, her eyes widening as though she’d just recalled something. Jed had a pretty good notion as to what that something was.

  He wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing.

  “But, you’re…”

  “You were lying beside me just a moment ago. Snuggled right up against me, in fact.”

  “Yes, and you were unconscious.”

  “I don’t see another bed,” he added, glancing around the teepee. He arched an eyebrow. “How do I know you haven’t been taking advantage of me?”

  Jed smiled as red blotches stained her cheeks. “I’ll keep to my side of the blanket,” he assured her as he reached for her hand and pulled her down beside him. He wasn’t sure how he’d manage it though.

  Rachell immediately turned away from him, lying on her side.

  “You did a fine job of sewing me up,” he said, tossing the blanket over her. He rolled onto his back and tried to focus on the sting in his side, not the feel of Rachell’s buckskin-clad backside touching his hip.

  “You must be one hell of a seamstress,” he continued, failing miserably in his efforts. “I’ve never seen such precise needlework in a man’s hide, and I’ve seen more than my share of ripped-up hides.”

  “And had more than your share,” she said. “I’ve never seen so many scars on one man.”

  “Like I said, I know fine stitching when I see it.”

  “How did you know I was the one who stitched your side?”

  “They obviously think you’re my wife. I don’t suppose they sent another woman in here to sew me up and tend to my fever?”

  “No. But Running Bear and his wife have been very helpful, bringing me fresh water and food. I was so scared when you didn’t wake, and then the fever… Oh, Jed, if you had seen how much blood you lost.”

  Feeling her shudder, Jed rolled onto his good side, stretching his arm across her tiny waist. She’d been truly worried about him. Why did that stun him? Perhaps because no woman had given a damn about him since his sister died, including Malika. Yet this little spitfire who’d known him only a week, detesting him most of that time, had raced into a raging river to help him, and toiled over his feverish body.

  “Thank you for caring for me, Rachell.”

  “It was the least I could do. You’ve been taking care of me for the past week. You wouldn’t be hurt at all if it weren’t for me.”

  He pressed his face into the side of her hair. “You smell good.”

  “You smell your soap,” she whispered in a trembling voice.

  “No, Imp. My soap has never smelled so sweet. I smell you.” His hand slid across her slender hip. Touching her seemed to ease all his pain. She shivered beneath his palm.

  “Are you cold?”

  “No,” she breathed, her soft voice barely audible.

  “You’re shivering,” he said, again smoothing his hand across the curve of her hip.

  “You’re touching me.”

  Jed propped himself up on his elbow as he pressed a hand against her shoulder, easing her onto her back so he could see her face. Her wide eyes glittered like emeralds in the low lamplight as she met his gaze. “You don’t need to be frightened of me, Rachell. You know I wouldn’t force myself on you.”

  Her lips twisted into a slight, trembling smile. “And I believe you know you wouldn’t have to.”

  Passion burst through Jed like a wildfire blowing across the yellow summer grasses of the Sierra Nevada foothills. Only then did he realize how much he had wanted to hear her say she felt an attraction toward him.

  His smile was slow, and carnal.

  “I barely have the energy to hold my eyes open,” he pointed out. And thank goodness. If he had the energy, he’d be hilt-deep in her sweet body after that revealing statement. But her passiveness surprised him. When he’d kissed her by the river he’d been shocked by her willingness to participate. Her expression afterward had told him she’d been just as stunned as he had by the passion ignited between them.

  His gaze fell to the lips that had set him ablaze.

  “Jed?” she said as he lowered his mouth to hers.

  “Just a kiss,” he whispered, lightly brushing his lips across the softness of her mouth. “Can I kiss you?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  Jed smiled. The pleading in her tone pleased him as much as her arms reaching for his neck. Her mouth was warm and yielding. Her kiss was all he remembered it to be; stronger than whisky, hotter than fire, and more threatening than a band of fifty hostile Indians.

  Ignoring his internal warning to pull away before he became lost in the taste of her, Jed took his time, memorizing all the sweet textures of her mouth and yielding to the timid strokes of her tongue which became bolder with every touch, driving him to the edge of his sanity.

  When he finally broke the kiss, his arm slid beneath her. He held her against his body as he carefully rolled onto his back. Tucking a hand behind her knee, he pulled her thigh up to his waist so that she lay partially on top of him.

  “You sure feel good,” he said as his palm caressed her slender back.

  Rachell had to agree. It felt more than good to be held like this, feeling a closeness to him that went beyond the proximity of their bodies. She closed her eyes, allowing her hand to move across the expanse of his bare chest, smiling as he made a deep purring sound and increased the pressure of his caress on her back.

  She had no idea the feel of a man’s chest would be so grand. But then, neither had she known such intimacy could be shared in just a kiss. She shifted slightly and felt his bandages under her bare thigh.

  Oh, heavens! How had her dress become bunched at her hips? She was frightfully aware that he was naked beneath her. She shouldn’t be lying with him in such a provocative manner.

  “Is something wrong?” Jed asked, obviously feeling the sudden tension in her body.

  “I’m not hurting your side, am I?” she asked, truly concerned.

  “Sugar, you’re killin’ me for sure, but you’re not hurting my side one bit.”

  He continued to caress her back in long sweeping strokes from her shoulders to her hips, draining her tension and relaxing her muscles. “Are you warm enough?” he asked.

  She smiled. He was so very considerate. “Yes.”

  She could have tolerated another blanket, but she didn’t want to disturb the tranquility that had settled over them. She didn’t want it to end.

  Rachell’s eyes fluttered open as she woke from a deep, peaceful sleep. She smiled into the warm gray eyes gazing down at her. Jed was propped up on his elbow beside her. She could feel his other hand spread across her hip and his warm, fully aroused body pressed against her side. Her breath stalled. He continued to silently gaze down at her.

  �
�What are you staring at?” she asked, becoming self-conscious.

  “You.” His slow smile electrified her blood.

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re worth starin’ at.”

  Her smile spread clear to her heart. She reached up and smoothed her hand across his jaw that was now shadowed by two days of growth.

  “Sugar, you keep smiling at me like that and I’m gonna start kissing you.”

  Her heart constricted with anticipation. “Really?”

  “Really.” The word was muffled by Jed’s lips meeting hers. His heart thundered in his chest when her lips parted invitingly beneath his. Jed seized the invitation, kissing her long and thoroughly, until his head was spinning. He broke away, heaving for breath, struggling for rational thought. He failed on both accounts as Rachell pulled him back to her lips.

  Loving her tenacity, he reached down and wrapped his hand around the back of her smooth thigh, caressing the resilient flesh.

  Rachell moaned. Her whole body flexed against him.

  Jed lifted his head and smiled into her dazed eyes. “Your body responds to me with so much passion. You don’t know what that does to me.”

  Rachell was fairly certain that she did, the hard proof pressed against her hip. His caressing hand moved up to her bottom, stroking the naked skin beneath her dress and making it near impossible for her to breathe.

  “Jed?” she gasped, conscious only of his caressing hand and his mouth nibbling gently at her neck. She shifted closer, drawing up her knees, inadvertently bringing him into the center of a whole new universe. One he wasn’t reluctant to explore. His hand slid across her leg to the vulnerable juncture between her thighs.

  Rachell tensed as Jed’s fingers tenderly brushed the sensitive folds. His body blocked her instinctive response to close her legs. Unprepared for the lightning rush of pleasure brought by his soft caresses, his name came out in a sharp gasp as she bucked against him.

  “Jed, I— I’ve—” her breath broke. His feathery strokes stole her thoughts, paralyzing her of all but the ability to feel the wonderfully new sensations coursing through her body. He seemed to know precisely where she was most sensitive, caressing her until her body arched in helpless abandon.

  Fear mingled with fascination as the fiery sensations continued to mount, closing over her, consuming her. Jed’s name exploded from her lips as a wave of sheer pleasure washed through her body in a violent tremor.

  “It’s all right,” Jed whispered. His lips touched hers.

  Dazed, Rachell sought his gaze. His smile was tender, yet darkly masculine. His touch became soothing. He kissed her and murmured against her lips. Just as she felt herself settling back into her mind, he took her mouth in a deep kiss and seared her body with a single touch that hurled her back toward the stars, stripping away the world. She clung to him, her fingers digging into his shoulders as her hips moved of their own accord in response to his caressing fingers.

  Rachell’s broken cries of pleasure as she strained toward his touch were burning Jed alive. Never had he needed so badly to be inside a woman. He wanted her until he couldn’t breathe.

  Unable to wait a second longer, Jed nudged her legs further apart with his knees, meeting no resistance as he settled between her thighs. He forced himself to stop just shy of entering her. His body shuddered as her sensual heat licked over him, threatening to snap his control. His muscles strained against his body’s urge to delve into her feminine core.

  He’d not yet probed those satin depths. She was so small, so delicate. He didn’t want to hurt her by taking her too fast, too hard.

  Slowly, he silently commanded.

  From beyond the roar of his blood, and his aching struggle for control, a deep voice penetrated his thoughts.

  “Imp?” the voice called again from outside the teepee. “Is my brother well?”

  Running Bear. Jed pulled his mouth away from Rachell’s, cursing under his breath as he set his jaw against the painful need of his body.

  With a deep groan of regret, he shifted his position and tugged Rachell’s dress down over her hips. He took her mouth once more, swallowing her gasp along with his groan as he pressed his aching flesh against the buckskin dress now blocking his passage to the paradise he knew awaited him inside her sleek body.

  He couldn’t bring himself to pull away. Rachell moaned, rocking her hips in response. Jed broke off the kiss, pulling in a few deep breaths before bracing himself up with his arms.

  “I’m well,” Jed called out to Running Bear. “Be out in a minute.”

  Rachell shoved against his chest, nearly knocking him over as she moved out from beneath him.

  “Oh…my…goodness,” she said in a pant. She backed away from him as though he’d attacked her. Her accusing eyes reminded him so much of Malika, it was like a blow to the gut.

  What the hell? She’d been just as eager as he had. But then…so had Malika.

  Suddenly, Jed felt completely drained of all his energy. He couldn’t go through this again. He refused to carry the guilt of another woman who couldn’t be honest about her passion.

  Rachell sat a few feet away, her head down, her arms wrapped around her raised knees, shivering from the desire he knew was strumming through her body. Damnation, but the woman had enough passion to set fire to a stone. How was he going to keep his hands off her? She sure as hell hadn’t been pushing him away. At least, not while he was touching her. But he didn’t want anything to do with a woman who didn’t know her own mind.

  “Rachell, this has to stop. We’re likely to be stuck together for another couple of weeks or so and your teasing is going to drive me mad.”

  “My what?” she shrieked, whipping her gaze toward him. “I have not—”

  “Don’t give me the innocent act. If it wasn’t for Running Bear, I’d be sheathed inside your hot little body right now, and we’d both be enjoying every damned second of it.”

  Her eyes opened as wide as saucers. The red tinge in her cheeks brightened, and Jed wondered again at how much experience she’d had with this sort of intimacy. He’d seen fear in her eyes just before she’d found her first release, followed by a look of pure wonder. Her late husband must have been a real cold fish in the sack. Or perhaps he’d trespassed onto the sense of propriety that had no doubt been drilled into her mind. He’d be doing her a favor letting her cling to those morals—for both their sakes.

  “Honey, I’m not against taking the pleasure of your body as a show of gratitude for helping you out, but I got a feelin’ you’re not the sort who tumbles with a man just for the hell of it. And just so we’re clear, I have no intentions of keeping a wife.”

  Her flushed face hardened with anger, assuring him he’d thoroughly insulted her.

  “Let’s keep it clear that we both want an annulment,” he added.

  “I most certainly do!”

  “Then maybe you should toss me that breechcloth.” He pushed away the fur blanket and stood.

  The full sight of Jed’s body sent a wave of heat through Rachell, bringing a tingling sensation to all the places he’d touched. She realized she was gaping at him, and a blush scorched her cheeks. She turned and grabbed the small bundle of leather Running Bear had brought in the day before, then blindly threw it at him.

  How had she suddenly become so brazenly wanton? She may have been slightly enamored with Jed, but she was not the sort who tumbles with a man just for the hell of it.

  The words boiled Rachell’s blood beneath her skin. She’d never tumbled with any man!

  “Did you have to pull these stitches so goddammed tight? I can barely move without them feeling like they’re gonna bust my skin.”

  “I hope they all fall out,” she spat, just as he disappeared though the door flap.

  Torn between rage and the tears burning at her eyes, Rachell sat heavily on the rumpled blankets. How dare he suggest she’d seduced him! She’d hardly been awake before his mouth was on her. And she’d…loved every moment of it. />
  She hadn’t been prepared for the intensity of his intimate caresses. Realizing how close she’d actually come to coupling with Jed had shocked the daylights out of her. She couldn’t help but think she was a very little woman for so much man. And yet he had appeared to be quite confident that their joining would be pleasant for both of them.

  Indignation burned low in her belly. Jed was right.

  She may have been caught up in his touch, but…she would have let him take her. Hell’s fire. She had been two seconds from begging.

  She was such a fool.

  Lord, she couldn’t help it. The man could be as gentle as he was hard. When he looked at her with smoldering gray eyes, her brain turned to mush. She trembled at the mere thought of the wonderfully sinful things he had been doing to her.

  As shameful as it was to admit, she couldn’t deny that she had greatly enjoyed the intimacy they’d shared. She marveled again at how very gentle such a strong man could be. He’d given her the most profound pleasure of her life, and then she’d shoved him away.

  She glanced toward the flap. She hadn’t meant to recoil from him. Could she have hurt his feelings?

  He must care for me, a little. She recalled his concern for her when he’d woken early this morning, the comfort she’d felt in his embrace.

  She certainly cared about him. Indeed, she was quite fond of Jed. She’d never met a man whose touch affected her as his did. Not just his intimate touch, but his casual touch as well. Even his voice affected her physically, washing through her like a warm summer rain. She had never been so physically aware of any man. She had wanted him.

  She wanted him still.

  Chapter Ten

  “You’re refusing to help me?”

  Jed stopped near the center of camp, stunned by Running Bear’s refusal to lend him horses and supplies.

  “You will not journey today,” Running Bear said, stopping to look back at Jed. “You need rest. Tomorrow, I give all you ask.”