Deborah Camp (31 page)

“I’ll never forget what you did,” Little Nugget whispered. “I won’t go back to that life. From now on I’m going to make you proud of me.”

Adele swallowed a sob and pushed the damp, curling tendrils of Little Nugget’s hair off her forehead. “Darling girl, you don’t have to prove anything to me. I want you to leave this saloon work for your own peace of mind and your own pride. You deserve the best in life, not the worst. We all do, and that’s why
we must all reach for the moon and not be satisfied with less.”

“I wish I’d met you sooner.”

“Me, too,” Doris McDonald said, her eyes brimming.

“As much as I would like to accept all the credit, I can’t. Reno deserves your gratitude more than I do. He’s the one who hired you, Mrs. McDonald, and he’s the one who made Terrapin stop whipping you, Little Nugget.”

“Did you hear about Buck Wilhite?”

“No, what about him?” Adele asked.

“The doctor said Buck told him he was leaving Whistle Stop.”

Mrs. McDonald cackled and slapped herself on the thigh. “Ain’t that something? We were just hoping for that.”

“He’s going to work on some ranch.”

“A ranch?” Adele exchanged a dubious glance with Mrs. McDonald. “I can’t imagine him being a cowpoke.”

“He’s supposed to keep squatters and cattle thieves from stealing some rancher blind. They call that being a ‘Regulator.’” Little Nugget sighed and closed her eyes. “Things won’t be as bad once he’s gone.” She moaned and tears ran from the corners of her eyes. “I’m so tired of this. I wish somebody would put a bullet into Taylor’s head.”

“Hush, honey,” Mrs. McDonald whispered. “You rest easy.”

“Let’s be thankful you’re safe and will be well again,” Adele added. “Did you notice that Mrs.
McDonald is all dressed up tonight? She hopes to lure a nice man onto the dance floor.”

“Oh yeah?” Little Nugget blinked away tears and mustered a grin. “And what’s your excuse?”

Adele felt a blush bloom in her cheeks. “Me? Oh, I wanted to look nice for my husband.”

“You go on and have your … talk,” Mrs. McDonald said with a grin. She pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down. “I’ll stay a few more minutes with Little Nugget before I take my chances downstairs.”

“Okay.” Adele waved to Little Nugget. “I’ll check in on you tomorrow.”

Leaving the room, Adele closed the door softly behind her. Sprightly music floated up to her, marked by bursts of laughter and the tinkle of glasses. A shadow moved in the hall and she jerked, startled, before she saw that it was Reno. Adele smelled the spicy aroma of his toilet water and the flash of white teeth when he smiled.

“She’s better than I thought she’d be,” Adele said, glancing at the closed door. “But she’ll be scarred, poor thing.”

He cupped her elbow in one hand. “She’s young and pretty and she’ll be fine. Let’s go in here and get away from the noise.” He indicated another door, then reached out with his free hand and opened it. “After you. It’s not fancy, but it’s private.”

Her nerves all aflutter, Adele entered and stood near the door while he lit a lamp and turned up the wick. The room was sparsely furnished but clean and neat. A lovely patchwork quilt draped a man-sized bed. A wash stand stood against one wall along with
a large hammered-metal tub. She smelled his toilet water and saw a bottle of it sitting on top of the bureau. So this was where he’d been sleeping, she thought, noticing his clothes hanging on a line stretched across one corner.

“Wine?”

“What?” She tore her gaze away from the bed and saw that he held a decanter in his hand.

“Do you want some wine?” he repeated.

She started to agree, then shook her head. “No. I don’t need it.”

“God, Dellie. You’re beautiful.”

He set down the cut-glass decanter and gathered her into his arms. The heat of his kiss fired her desire, and she clung to him, opened her lips to him, moaned into his mouth. Tension broke in her like a storm raging through her and freeing her. She raked her fingers through his hair and breathed in his aroma, slanting her mouth under his.

“Reno, Reno,” she whispered between kisses. “I’m so proud of you I could burst. When you appeared today like some knight in shining armor, oh, I wanted to throw my arms around you and kiss you until you pleaded for me to stop.”

A smile twitched the corners of his mouth. His lips warmed her and his hands skimmed down her back and over her hips. He pulled her closer, his body intimate with hers.

“You’re the bravest man I’ve ever met,” she told him, closing her eyes and tipping her head to one side so that his mouth could dance along her neck.

“And you’re the bravest woman I know. I brought
you in here to seduce you, not for your undying gratitude.”

“Seduce me?” She ran her hands down his arms, feeling the muscles beneath his sleeves. “Did you really think you’d have to? I’m your wife, remember?”

He straightened away from her and his stormy blue eyes bored into her. “Oh yes, and I remember you asked me to pack up and leave.”

“No, I didn’t.” She quelled the urge to argue hotly, but she wanted to get a few things straight. “I tore up Sally’s contract. You were right about her. She is so determined to have money again, not to have to work for a living, that she refuses to see that Terrapin is a demon. And you’re right about other things, too.”

He arched a brow. “Go on.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Immensely,” he assured her, moving away to pour himself a glass of wine.

“Maybe I’ve lost faith since Kansas,” she allowed. “But I have regained my faith in you.” She waited for him to say something, but he merely sipped the wine. She stamped one foot in irritation. “Tell me you forgive me, you pig-headed fool! Don’t you want to bury the hatchet?”

He laughed and finished the wine. “I forgive you, Dellie. But do you forgive me?”

“For what?”

“For this saloon, of course. What do you think of it?”

She stalled for time by cruising around the room and trailing her fingertips along the bed’s counterpane. “It’s not what I expected. It seems … respectable.”

“Uh-huh. Just like me.”

Smiling at his teasing tone, she sat on the bed, testing its give. “You are the most cocky man I’ve ever known. You take self-confidence to new heights.”

“Have a drink, Dellie, and loosen up.” He handed her a half-filled glass.

“You think I need this?” she asked, taking the wine from him and sniffing its heady bouquet. She tasted it, then set it aside when she noticed that her hands were trembling.

“I wanted to open this saloon mainly to help this town and you.”

“Me?” Adele asked, confused. “How could the Lucky Strike help me?”

“By breaking Terrapin’s reign of terror and making Whistle Stop a safe place for you to live.”

“You should have talked to me about it before you agreed to run this place.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re married.” She stared at him stubbornly. “As much as I don’t want to fight anymore, I will
not
surrender on this point, Reno.”

He grinned. “You don’t want to fight, huh?”

“No, I don’t.”

“What
do
you want to do?”

She sighed, a knot of nerves shifting in her stomach. He looked so handsome in his suit of blue and his vest of gold, his eyes darkly intense, his lips full and smiling. And she felt no shame for wanting him, body and soul. She wanted his hands on her, his mouth on hers, his heart hammering in time with hers.

“Oh, Reno,” she whispered, lust making her voice
husky. “There is hope for us, isn’t there? Don’t you want to make love to me right this moment?”

A shudder coursed down his body and the glass fell from his hand to shatter. He stared at the jagged pieces at his feet, clearly surprised, then he withdrew a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and absently wiped his hands.

Sweet, sinful pleasure gripped Adele. His actions told her what she needed to know.

“You
do
still want to be my husband,” she murmured.

His eyes met hers, and passion leapt like flames in them, hot and sky high. He tossed aside the damp handkerchief. Impatience balled his hands into fists.

“Only as much as I want to breathe,” he assured her, and then he was across the room, pulling her up from the bed and into his arms.

L
ust was in his kiss. Adele responded to it like a starving woman to a three-course meal. Sliding her hands down his chest, she latched onto his lapels and slipped the jacket off his shoulders, eager to have him.

He laughed against her mouth, his breath mingling with hers, his fingers freeing buttons, unlacing ties, dividing fabric. She caught the end of his tie in her teeth and gave a tug. It fell to ruin. Upon unbuttoning his shirt, she pressed a hot kiss against the center of his chest. He released a shuddering breath.

“Darlin’, you’re going to be the death of me if I don’t get you naked and under me in about two seconds.”

She laughed and kissed his shoulder as she peeled off his white shirt. “I’m still dizzy from this afternoon when you made Terrapin dance in the street. I’ve thought of nothing else but you—you and me, together again.”

Catching her by the shoulders, Reno spun around and fell back onto the bed, taking her with him. He
pushed the top of her dress down, exposing the creamy whiteness of her breasts to his lambent gaze. His lips sandwiched one of her nipples, and she groaned, her eyes closing, her mind shutting down for a few tumultuous moments. He rolled with her, his body pressing on top of hers.

“You’re beautiful, Dellie,” he murmured against the curve of her breast. “When you walked into the saloon tonight, you took my breath away.”

“Let me give it back,” she whispered, holding his head between her hands and pulling his mouth down to hers.

The surroundings were strange to her, but not the man. He was the epitome of her dreams, made all the more beautiful because he was flesh and blood, bone and sinew. Adele welcomed the slick stroke of his tongue on hers and the kneading of his fingers on her breasts. She needed no experience with other men to know that he was the one she lived for.

Her tongue courted his, ebbing and flowing, stroking and retreating, until he latched his mouth to hers and sent his tongue deep. Her heels climbed the back of his legs, and she realized she’d kicked off her shoes at some point. He ground his pelvis against her, and she felt him, thick and hard. That she could bring him to such readiness thrilled her, spurred her on to their ultimate completion.

He sat up and eased her dress off her body. Her underthings soon followed until she wore nothing except a passion-induced blush.

“My God, you are a vision,” he muttered. He unbuckled his belt and unfastened his trousers.

Adele watched, the simple act of his undressing in
front of her unbelievably arousing. His body was long and lean, dusted with ebony hair, sculpted by muscle. When he came back to her, his skin was almost hot to the touch, and she could feel the thrum of his pulse.

“You sure you don’t want to fight?” he murmured in her ear, his teeth catching her lobe, nipping gently.

“Fight? Why would you want to fight now?”

“Oh, I think a little tussle might be fun. You know, just to see who comes out on top.”

“You devil,” she said, laughing under her breath and knowing there would be no losers in this game. “You’re on.”

His mouth sealed against hers. His tongue was hot and wet. Adele’s breath came in short gasps as his hands gently massaged the softness of her breasts. He rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers until they became pink pearls, then he took one into his mouth and laved it with his tongue. She moaned and trailed her short nails down his back.

Giving the other rosy crest his attention, he sucked and wet her skin thoroughly. Her hands clamped onto his buttocks and pulled him to her. She parted her thighs and rocked her pelvis against him. One of her hands surrounded his straining organ and guided him into her. He gasped, flinging back his head in sweet, sweet agony.

She was everything beautiful and winsome and wild. In her, he was whole, and he grew still for a full minute to experience the intensity of his pleasure. She stared up into his eyes, hers as green as emeralds. Her dark hair fanned the white pillow, some strands still secured by pins. He leaned forward, the musky perfume of her hair enveloping him as he sought the
stubborn rebels with his teeth, located each, and pulled it free. She smiled, and her inner muscles tightened around him.

“Ahhh, Dellie. Where did you learn to do that?”

“I had a splendid teacher.”

“I didn’t teach you that. I believe you stumbled upon that all by yourself.” His voice broke on the last word as those magic muscles gloved him. He kissed her fully, his tongue dancing with hers, his body imitating that dance.

He thrust against her hard, driving her head into the soft pillow. She closed her eyes and mouthed his name, her hands still clutching his hips and her heels hooked behind his knees. Withdrawing slowly, he enjoyed the sensations bursting in his blood and firing his nerve endings. He joined with her again, and a shudder ran the length of her body. She arched against him and pushed at his shoulders. He realized she wanted him on his back.

Obliging, he hooked an arm around her waist and flipped over, bringing her with him so that she straddled him. Her long legs, bent at the knees, clamped against his sides, making him a prisoner of her desire.

Looking up at her, he felt like a favored god staring at a goddess of unequaled beauty. Her high breasts and hard, rosy nipples sent a new surge of blood to his extremities. Inside her, he bucked and hardened to near agony. She leaned forward and kissed him, laving his lips with her tongue and biting his lower lip playfully. Her fingers tweaked his flat nipples, bringing them to tingling awareness.

She caressed his chest, her hands pressing and smoothing and delving. Bending forward, she let her
hair sweep over his chest and neck and face. He trembled with the exertion of holding onto the last thread of self-control. A thin veneer of perspiration covered his skin and hers.