Luck Be A Lady (Destiny Bay Romances-The Ranchers Book 5) (17 page)

She heard the sound of a car in the driveway.
Oh no
,
she thought, closing her eyes.
Don’t let it be Glenn.
Don’t let it be Glenn ever again
.

A car door slammed. She grabbed her robe and
threw it around her shoulders. The doorbell rang and
she called out, “Who is it?” ready to claim lateness or a headache or anything to keep Glenn out.

“It’s Cody.”

Her heart stopped, and when it started up again, it beat so loudly she had to cover it with her hand.
“Cody?” she said, unbelievingly.

“Yes, it’s me. Are you going to let me in?”

Her fingers were trembling as she undid the lock and
turned the doorknob, opening the door only a foot wide. “What are you doing here?” she asked, peering out, wide-eyed.

“Coming to see you.”

Cody stood on her porch looking dark and incredibly attractive, his black hair sweeping across his forehead, his black eyes deep and mysterious. He’d put on
a corduroy jacket and his hands were in the pockets.

“I thought you said you weren’t coming.”

“I had to take care of something,” he said. “I
didn’t know how long it would take, so I didn’t want
to make you wait for nothing in case I couldn’t get
back.”

“You’re too late,” Kelly said defiantly, still hold
ing the door only half open.

He stared at her for a moment, then reached out
with deliberate challenge and gave the door a solid
push. “Am I?” he said silkily as he stepped inside and
closed the door behind him.

“Yes.” She was still backing away, clutching the robe around her. “I’ve already invited someone else
over.”

Humor sparked in his eyes. He shrugged out of the jacket and draped it over the back of her chair, but his
gaze never left hers. “Like hell you have,” he said
softly.

Her breath was coming in short, irregular gasps, but she was desperate not to let him know how he was af
fecting her. “You really are sure of yourself, aren’t
you?” she said tensely.

“Damn right.” With one graceful movement he reached down, took hold of the hem of his shirt and slipped it up and off, leaving his dark, bare chest gleaming in the lamplight, the rippled musculature
breathtakingly hard and rounded.

Kelly backed away as he came toward her.

“Come on,” he said softly.

Resentment, excitement, outrage and joy swirled
through her in rapid succession. “What do you mean,
‘come on’? You can’t just come in here like this and
expect me to fall at your feet.”

He took two quick steps to each one of hers, then he’d caught her. “Why not?” he teased, slipping the robe off her shoulders and letting it drop to the floor.

Why not? She couldn’t seem to think of a good
reason right now. Her heart was thumping and all she could see was the creamy dark skin of his chest.

But there was some reason she was supposed to be
angry.

“What happened to Sugar?” she asked,
suddenly remembering.

Something flared in his eyes. “I took care of that,”
he said quietly. His hands had slipped beneath the
straps of her nightgown, cupping her shoulders. They
moved with slow, seductive power.

“Oh, really?” Kelly’s chin rose and she glared at
him with all the ferocity she could muster. “Is that your style?” she demanded, voice wavering with
emotion. “Can you really be so crass as to think I
would accept you right after you’ve been with her?”

He grinned, barely restraining himself from laugh
ing aloud. One hand left her shoulder and caught her
chin, forcing her to meet his sparkling eyes. “I’ve always considered myself one hell of a man, Kelly,” he admitted. “But this is ridiculous.” He shook his head.
“I didn’t go to Sugar for that.”

She felt relieved and resentful at the same time.
“Then why did you go to her?” she asked in a small
voice.

“She needed help.” Actually, the two men had told him Jasper had decided to make a determined assault on her affections tonight, that he was threatening her
with dismissal from the dinner show if she didn’t
cooperate. Monty was out of town so Sugar had sent the men out looking for Cody, her only resource. And
Cody had obliged, as he always did. “I had to rescue
her from a dragon.”

“Oh.” She believed him. Funny that she believed
everything he said.

His fingers tightened as he stared down at her,
searching her eyes, hungrily tracing the curved planes
of her face. Slowly, he lowered his head and kissed her
lips, a brush of a kiss, a kiss so soft, so warm and ten
der that it almost broke her heart.
 

“Do you want to know a secret?” he whispered, his lips still so close, she could feel his breath curl around her. “I haven’t been with another woman since I met you.”

It was something Kelly didn’t like to think about, his
being with other women, but now that he’d brought it
out in the open, she felt a surge of joy.

She gazed up at Cody, her eyes full of how she felt.
“Why not?” she whispered, greedy to hear him con
firm it.

He hesitated, and then the humor was back in his eyes. “I’ve been saving myself for you,” he told her.

A gurgle of laughter came halfway up her throat,
but then his mouth was on hers and his hands were on her shoulders again, sliding the straps down, down her arms, over her fingers, and as she reached up for him,
she felt the silky fabric of her nightgown flow down her body to lie in a puddle of pale blue on the floor.

“Silk and moonlight,” he murmured, watching his hand move across her translucent skin. Closing her
eyes, she let her head fall back, let him explore her. His
hand closed on her breast, then flattened and moved
down across the delicate mound of her stomach. “I’ve been saving it all for you, Kelly,” he breathed against the skin of her neck. “I want you more than anything
else.”

“Me, too,” she whispered, gasping at the feel of her
nakedness against his.

She was up in his arms, her cheek resting against the
hot hardness of his chest. He found her bedroom
without being told, and laid her on the dark blue bed
spread.

“Cody,” she whispered, reaching for him. She was moving as if in a dream. She heard a metallic sound and when she opened her eyes, she saw that he was pulling the belt from around his hips and dropping it on the floor. His jeans went next, and then the briefs, sliding down to reveal a dark, mysterious part of him that made her shudder with anticipation and longing.
“Oh Cody, please....”

She stretched out her arms as he came over her, pushing back her hands. “Just take it easy,” he told her, his voice husky with his desire. “Take it slow.”
His hands began to move on her body. “Just close
your eyes and let me love you,” he whispered.

She closed her eyes, shutting out the night, and all
she could feel, all she knew was his hands. They
stroked across her, back and forth, smooth and impudent, finding every hidden sensation, discovering
where she was warmest, where his fingers could conjure up delight that made her whimper for more. Then his lips followed suit, caressing, nipping, tugging, his
tongue stroking again and again against her nipples.
Kelly began to move like a wild thing, all need for him
and nothing more.

“Cody,” she demanded, her voice hoarse, her eyes
wide. “Now. Come to me.” Her fingers dug into his
flesh, forcing him down on top of her.

“Not yet,” he began, but she growled low in her throat and arched her hips beneath him, her hands
going behind his buttocks and grasping firmly.

“Now!” she insisted, and with a groan he un
leashed the male power he held and entered her. She
cried aloud with relief, but almost immediately the
need rose again, coming in waves that built upon each
other while her hips moved in a demanding rhythm.

His breath came in a series of gasps as he lost con
trol, surging inside her again and again. But she’d
caught the wave, and she was with him, crying out each time with a more desperately
aching joy.

They lay tangled together for a long time, until their breath was soft and even again. Kelly closed her eyes
and tried to make the moment last. Afraid he might
leave, she hoped he would fall asleep so that she could
keep him with her all night. She’d never felt this way before, she realized suddenly. Tim had hardly ever
waited for her the way Cody had. She’d never known
it could be so... She shuddered, unable to face the whole of what it had been.

“Cold?”

She turned to face him and smiled a slow, sleepy
smile. “Are you kidding?” she whispered. “I don’t think I’ll ever be cold again.”

His laugh was deep in his throat. One hand reached
out and covered her naked breast. “Let me know when
you’re ready,” he said softly.

She leaned on her elbow and propped up her head.
“For what?” she asked innocently.

He sighed. “To do it again.”

“What?”

He opened his eyes and looked at her. “Did you
think there was a rule that you could only do it once a
night?” he teased.

“No, but...”

“All night long,” he promised, reaching over to pull her onto his chest. “As often as we can. I’m not going to quit until I have to.” He kissed the top of her head,
burying his face in her scattered hair. “Or until you
beg for mercy.”

Kelly looked at him. She felt so close to him. Funny. She’d never felt close to Tim this way. She’d known all
about Tim, known his family and friends and what his childhood was like, but she’d never felt as though she
could connect with the real man her husband had
been. And here was Cody, a man she hardly knew at all, a man who lived a life completely alien to her ex
perience, and she felt as though she knew him through
and through.

That was an illusion, of course. She didn’t really
know him at all. All she knew was that he was a gambler with some pretty loose ideas of right and wrong.
And that he was kind to people less fortunate than
himself, that he liked girls, women loved him, he could
play baseball, and that he made her feel better than
anything or anyone ever had.

That wasn’t much. She looked at him specula
tively. Maybe it was time to ask a few judicious ques
tions.

“Is gambling the only thing you’ve ever done?” she
asked suddenly.

He raised his eyebrows, but smiled. “No. I used to
do other things.”

“Like what?”

He stretched back and chuckled. “I used to run an
ice cream parlor.”

“You what?” She’d expected surprises, but this was
going a little far. “I don’t believe you.”

“I really did. In Lake Tahoe. I was about nineteen
or twenty at the time. My sister was trying to get me interested in legitimate work, so she bought me a
franchise.”

Kelly laughed and reached out to trace designs on his chest with her finger. “I can’t imagine you doing that. Did you wear one of those little striped caps and
an apron?”

“Not often.” He grinned. “I had a hard time keeping my mind on the business. I just didn’t have the
knack for the work. I kept getting strawberry ripple on
the sleeves of my best suits. My ice cream days didn’t
last long.” He sighed, remembering. “But I sure did
love that Rocky Road.”

“What happened?”

He sobered. “I did something that wasn’t very nice.
I sold the franchise to stake myself on the poker cir
cuit. My sister was furious, but she understood in
time. I’ve paid her back every penny, with interest,”
he added.

“Oh, Cody.”

He looked into her eyes. “She tried hard to get me
to become respectable,” he said clearly, as though he
wanted to make sure she understood, “but gambling
is my life.”

Kelly had known that from the first. So why did it
always give her that little feeling of going over a bump
in a fast car and leaving her stomach behind when
ever he said something like that?
 

“I think I would like
your sister,” she said softly.

He nodded. “I’m sure you would. Claire’s a lot like
you.” He chucked her under the chin. “Bossy.”

She flashed him a look. “Does she live here in Ve
gas?”

“No. Claire ended up marrying a mountain man,
even though she hates the mountains. He’s a writer,
but he spends most of his time in the wilderness, and
she always swore that was the last thing in the world
she would ever do. She loves the city.”

Kelly felt a little chill. “Is she happy?”