Secrets Vol 2 Read online

  She was something to see, wringing her hands as she searched for whatever had sent her into a frenzy. Pale with fear, her eyes were large and dark as her gaze darted around. In truth, she looked frightened to death, and he cursed the sympathy he felt for her.

  She'd shed her jacket and was breathing hard. Her dirty blouse,

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  sweat-soaked and unbuttoned at the neck, clung to her, and revealed the swelling contours of her full breasts. The relief he'd felt at finding her was now mixed with a strange anger and excitement. He stifled a groan.

  A moment later, from the corner of his eyes, Miguel caught sight of a large diamondback rattler silently slithering its way toward Raine along the dry, dusty earth. With the agility of a mountain lion, he shot forward. Raising a hand like a striking snake, he grabbed the back of Raine's blouse and jerked her to him. With a strangled cry, she turned on her attacker and wildly flailed her fists at his face.

  Miguel grabbed her wrists and held them fast. "Stop, Raine," he said, keeping his eyes peeled on the snake. Any other time he'd have taken its life with his Colt, but right now he didn't want to risk drawing unwanted attention. He was relieved when the snake slithered off an in search of other prey.

  Raine's heart was beating so fast she thought it might never slow again. She had trouble catching her breath. This was the second time he'd come up behind her and snatched her to him without warning. She was going to kill him!

  "Do all revolutionaries make a habit of sneaking up on people?" she cried.

  Miguel's gaze swung back to her, and he shrugged his broad shoulders. "Sometimes there is just no way around it."

  Raine shot him a hate-filled glare.

  He smiled, "I didn't mean to frighten you, but that rattler was about to send you on the road to heaven." He cocked his head in the snake's direction, adding a great deal of credence to his statement.

  Raine's gaze followed the direction he indicated and almost fainted when she saw the huge reptile. With a startled sound she clutched the first thing she could, which was Miguel.

  "Do not worry, the snake is leaving," he said, holding Raine against his chest. "Are you all right?"

  Raine was dumbstruck. When she lifted her head and returned

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  her gaze to his, she could only nod. She remained against him motionless, her heart slamming hard against her chest.

  "You should not have run off," Miguel thundered as he grabbed her shoulders and gave her a good shake. "I ought to beat you!"

  Raine hadn't heard a word he said. She was so grateful he'd found her before the snake bit her, she flung her arms around his neck. "Oh, thank you for saving me! Please do not leave me, Miguel!" She clung to him as if for dear life. Surprisingly, he clung right back.

  "Not on your life," he said in a low voice.

  Raine sighed as an odd weakness uncurled her body. Some great escape, she thought. Miguel ran his hand over the back of her head, and pressed her even closer to him. She smiled at his attempts to comfort her while kidnapping her. Apparently, this revolutionary didn't do anything in a normal way.

  Suddenly, Miguel tensed. "If you ever endanger your life like this again—" He stopped when she raised her head and stared up at him with frightened eyes.

  Raine stiffened, filled with apprehension. She wanted to stay with him, and yet knew she would try to escape again. For her father's sake she must find a way. Beneath his smoldering gaze, she felt pure panic. She couldn't look at him any longer; if she did, he would see those emotions. Yet he must have sensed them because he brought one hand up to caress the back of her head as if he were trying to soothe her.

  Miguel shook his head. "I will never hurt you, but I cannot allow you to leave me either," he whispered. Then in the heat of the moment, with an unconscious need to tell her what his heart said, his lips moved along her throat.

  Raine sighed as his deep velvety voice washed over her like warm bath water on a cold night. Sensations shot through her that she'd never imagined existed. He tipped her face up so he could see her, but he didn't know her heart skipped a beat every time he looked at her like that.

  The glimpse of her breasts rising and falling beneath the folds of

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  fine lawn sent a jolt of heat through Miguel. Now, bathed in setting sunlight and with her skin shiny with a wet heat, he found her more desirable than ever. As his gaze moved over every inch of her, there was a shortness in her breath, but she didn't try to get away.

  She is just a woman, Miguel reminded himself, remembering the anger that crept up his spine when he'd seen her the first time and known she was Armand LeFleur's daughter.

  Are you so sure it was only anger? intruded his conscience.

  Trying to ignore it, and not think what could have happened had they met in another time, another place, he asked,' "Where is your jacket?'

  Raine looked around, then shrugged. "Somewhere between here and where I left you."

  "Wait here!" With a curse that made her wince, Miguel abruptly released her and backtracked. It didn't take long to find the jacket, torn beyond repair, probably by coyotes, and not thirty feet away.

  Knowing that the ripped garment could have just as easily been Raine's body put the finishing touches on his temper. He snatched what was left of the jacket from the ground and stalked back to her.

  "See this," he said. He shoved what could no longer be considered a jacket toward her.

  Raine nodded and took the shredded garment from him.

  Miguel pinned her with a heated gaze. "Now do you see why you frightened the devil out of me?"

  She blinked. "I frightened you?”

  Miguel saw her trembling, and it softened his anger. Stepping forward, he said in a low voice, "Yes, you did." He shook his head in exasperation, then continued, "Now, I want you to stop this foolishness. If you don't, you will get yourself killed."

  Raine nodded. The reality was that what he'd said was true. She had no other choice but to stay with him.

  Then she noted that she wasn't nearly as unhappy as she should have been. Dear God, she should regret her foolish actions on the stagecoach. Because of them, she might never see her father again.

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  Because of them... she was with Miguel, and not on her way to France to marry a man she did not love.

  When she took a shaky breath, Miguel slipped an arm around her and pulled her more fully against him.

  Raine closed her eyes against his warm breath fanning her neck, his mouth leaving a cool wetness in its trail. She gasped as the most delicious shivers ran down her spine. Her nails dug into his skin, causing him to moan and press his face harder against her neck. Desire swirled around her. She'd never felt passion before Miguel, never imagined a man could make her feel this way.

  She curled her fingers around his neck and held him. It was as if her body were making all the decisions on its own, as she touched swirls of chest hair, caught a whiff of his spicy scent. He felt so wonderful, she thought, with his stubbly chin rubbing up against her, his masculine arms tight around her. She snuggled closer.

  Miguel raised his head to stare into her dazed eyes. They were filled with astonishment and burned with a need as hot as his own. Her soft breasts heaved against him and his breathing became erratic. He was expecting her to come to her senses and push him away, but she didn't. Not able to help himself, he slid his hand under her knees and carried her behind a small group of Yucca. Under the trees, on a rare patch of soft green grass, he laid her down and undressed her. All the while he murmured endearments, stilling her fears and timid protests with soft caresses, seducing her with a gentleness Miguel had never imagined he possessed.

  Raine sighed. "I don't know what is happening to me, but I know I need to be with you. I want you inside me again."

  Heat flooded Miguel. Her simple passion beguiled him. His glance swept over Raine's naked form, as if he were memorizing her. He watched her for a long time, and
then, without thought, brought his face down to hers and tenderly tasted the softness of her lips.

  As if her breasts ached, Raine pressed them harder against him. He kissed her again, opening her mouth under the pressure of his lips. Then

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  he stroked and caressed her, slid his fingers over her bare thighs toward the very source of pleasure. She quivered and shuddered beneath his touch when he toyed with her moist folds. His kiss was hungry and invading. While his hands moved to the sides of her face and held it, he glided his tongue over her lips and then her cheeks and then returned to her lips again, to encircle them. She imitated his actions.

  Miguel groaned. He drew back from her for a moment and looked at the delicate buds that topped her milky-white breasts. He took her left nipple between finger and thumb and rolled it, until it was hard and the areola was dimpled. Raine moaned and grasped her unattended breast with her hand and held it up like an offering to him. He lowered his head and took the nipple in his mouth, grazing it with his teeth before clamping his lips around the hard roundness of her breast He sucked carefully to begin with but then increased his intensity.

  Raine whimpered. She thrashed beneath him in a way that told him she was unable to control the desires of her own body. His fingers moved to squeeze her nipple hard and she screamed aloud.

  "Did I hurt you?" Miguel whispered into her tangled hair.

  Raine's eyelids fluttered. Her lips parted. She shook her head as she clung to him, her arms laced around his shoulders. Then her hands moved over his broad back, across his buttocks and his hips. Miguel flinched and groaned as her fingers fondled his testicles. She stopped, and whispered, "I want to use my mouth on you, as you have done to me."

  Miguel's eyes shone with gut-deep pleasure and searing passion. He kissed her lips, and rolled off her and onto his back. "Are you certain?"

  Raine stared at the rigid length of his erection, standing proud, and her smile brought with it a sense of triumph. Her whole body was rocked with flood of white-hot sensations. A trickle of liquid escaped from between her thighs. Then she nodded and he moaned deep in his throat as she put her lips there. His body jerked as she slid her tongue up and down his swollen shaft. She sucked the tip

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  and let her tongue swirl along the slit at the top, learning him with her tongue, her teeth, her lips.

  He groaned, a suffocated sound of barely controlled restraint. His body grew tense and his chest heaved, his scrotum had become compact and wrinkled and had begun to ascend toward his body cavity. Her eyes already heavy-lidded with desire, Raine marveled at the hardness of him, so engorged with need that she wanted to suck him deep and hard—then all thought fled. Miguel's hands were on her waist, raising her, lifting her, positioning her on top of his hard shaft. She responded by sinking to her knees, supporting her weight evenly on both legs, clasping his hips and thighs with her calves. She used both hands for leverage, entwined over his chest, as she sought the hot organ already impressed on her hot, wet mouth of passion.

  Very gently and slowly he inserted his hard shaft into her, deeper, more utterly than ever before. In a flashing heartbeat, her breathing changed, intensified, she felt like he wasn't just filling her vagina but her entire body. On instinct, she began rotating her hips and gripped his hard flesh with her interior muscles. She moved up and down his length, then tried to ride him. But he thrust his splendid arousal to match her movements, and grasped her hips with his hands. It was he who began moving her body with his hands, his hips, back and forth, from side to side. With each thrust her swollen folds brushed against his dense, dark hair at the base of his shaft, bringing her closer and closer to paradise.

  Raine's eyes were half-closed, as riotous sensation flooded her mind. Those feelings intensified when he allowed her control over his hard rigid length and began stimulating her sex and her breasts with his fingers, goading her climax. When the first faint contractions of pleasure came, he moved faster, and keeping himself inside her, Miguel rolled on top of her. Enveloped in her warm throbbing flesh, with her arms wrapped around his back, her legs locked around his hips, he continued his slow rhythm. He caressed her tenderly, and her lips parted with the rapture she was experiencing. She met each of his forceful,

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  measured strokes. His breathing was harsh and rapid, his masculine scent touched her nostrils, his warm whispers brushed her neck, long tendrils of damp dark curls touched her cheeks and forehead. She returned his kisses, crushed her mouth to his, ran her hands over his magnificent, hard frame as it slammed against her tender flesh.

  She stiffened, keening a soft cry of rapture as she experienced ecstasy. With a loud groan he matched her new rhythm, following her, until at the peaking, he drove one final thrust, and held himself hard against her. With his mouth pressed his mouth against hers, he filled her with his warmth.

  At last he moved off her and lay beside her, propped up on one elbow. He ran a light finger down her belly. "God, you are so beautiful," he breathed.

  She sighed a small delicious sound and Miguel smiled against her mouth. Wordlessly he lay back sated and pulled an exhausted and dazed Raine against him, so that her cheek rested on his shoulder.

  Raine gazed at his face, drinking in every detail of his exquisite features. His glance of tenderness made her realize how much power he had over her, and it was a power that could destroy her. Because she knew, in that resplendent moment that this was what she had wanted from the first time she'd seen his strength, his wildness, his black gaze on hers. The thought stunned her. She knew she was falling helplessly in love with him.

  Raine turned her head to the side and looked away from him, not wanting him to see her tears. Tears of fear, and shame. She knew nothing about this man except that he was a revolutionary, an outlaw, and she had freely given herself to him. Worse, when she was with him, she forgot everything but her all-consuming desire. The shame surrounded her, seemed to encompass her soul.

  "You can let go of me now," she bit out. She felt his muscles tense under her fingers as he released her.

  "As you wish, mademoiselle,” he growled as if insulted, hurt, and moved away from her. He said nothing as he dropped her clothes

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  over her naked form.

  Immediately, Raine realized he'd mistaken her show of emotions. He assumed she'd come to her senses and wanted nothing more than to get away from him. And that is exactly what she'd allow him to believe. She had to. She turned away and dressed before he could see the pain in her expression.

  Miguel shot to his feet and shoved his shirt in his trousers. He needed to stay away from her! What kept pulling him back? Attraction? Definitely. Loneliness? Maybe. Need? Hell, he didn't know! He couldn't believe he'd let her get to him like that. Had he lost his mind? Apparently.

  He quickly increased the distance between them by five paces. Although he had his anger under control, for the moment, his restraint was not limited and Raine seemed to have a special gift for inciting abuse. He needed that distance when he looked at her. It was not that he did not want her anymore —he wanted her all right, more than he had ever wanted any woman. That was the damn problem!

  The realization shocked him. Miguel stared at her, his mind fogging over. He'd never thought such wanting of another human being was possible. What the devil was the matter with him? Never mind that Raine was a woman, and not remotely responsible for the death of his family. She was Armand LeFleur's daughter, and he was responsible for the murder of his family. He hated her for it. He hated himself at that moment, hated the humiliation he felt over wanting her.

  He eyed her, waiting for his temper to cool. She didn't say a word. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her against him hard. She gasped.

  "Try my patience like that again," he hissed, paused to raise an eyebrow, "and I will make you sorry you did."

  "Please, release me," Raine moaned, tears streaming down her face.

 
Miguel pushed her hand away. At that moment, he disliked himself. Disliked the things this woman made him feel and do. Dammit, he wasn't a cruel man, and what he'd just done was cruel. His con-

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  science burned with a great need for redemption. Christ, he had even thought he had a conscience any longer! Damned if he didn’t feel compelled to explain his hatred for the French, to tell her about his family. Pain burst like fire from his eyes as he said, "Your beloved French soldiers slaughtered my family."

  Raine gasped, scooted back. "S-such terrible things happen in a war.”

  He shook his head as he moved forward and made up for the slight distance she had put between them. "No. This was not a result of the war, my sweet. My family died only because your countrymen view murder as some sick form of entertainment.”

  Raine inhaled sharply. Was it possible? Then she knew it was. The truth was written all over his face. Now, she knew why he fought as a revolutionary.

  Shame came over her again, crushing her soul. No wonder he hated the French. He had every right. She couldn't comprehend it, couldn't accept it. Never. What kind of men would do such a thing?

  Though she knew it wouldn't help, she needed to acknowledge her feelings with words. Turning solemn eyes to him, she said, "I'm s-so sorry."

  Miguel had gotten used to the pain, as had others who'd lost loved ones in the war. He knew it would be more intense talking about it, but he wasn't prepared for it to be mirrored in someone else's eyes. He pretended the sympathy he saw there didn't exist.

  "I am too." His tone was pure acid. "Unfortunately, they are gone now and I cannot do a damned thing to bring them back. But I will have my revenge, I promise you that."

  Raine moved toward him. "I understand your anger, and I don't blame you for your hatred." She raised her hand to cup his face.