Ride The Wind (Vincente 3) (18 page)

She threw her head back, her lower body grav itating toward his. She wanted to be closer to
him, to feel all of him.

Reese knew he should stop, but he couldn't.
He quickly removed his coat and laid it on the
snow, taking her down on top of it.

She moaned with pleasure when his weight
pressed her to the ground, and he pinned her
with his powerful thighs.

He bent his head and took possession of her
lips, but this time less frantically and more leisurely. He nudged her mouth open with his
tongue and slid inside. She seemed startled for
a moment, so he slowly introduced her to the
new sensation. Gently his tongue swept across
hers, and he felt hers curl.

Saber was aware that a swirling fog had settled around them, and she could hardly see the
horses. The world became enchanted, the fog
only adding to her pleasure. She felt Reese's
hand at the waist of her trousers, and she arched
toward him, wanting him to free her of everything that was between him and his bare flesh.

His voice was deep and resounded through
her consciousness. "I have wanted this for so
long." He untied the rope that held her trousers
up and pushed them over her hips. "I want to
feel all of you."

Her flesh quivered when his hand spread
across her stomach and moved downward. She felt hot all over and wanted to throw all her
clothing off. When he gently spread her legs, she
groaned with pleasure that was painful and glorious at the same time.

Her words came out in a breathless sigh. "Oh,
Reese, I didn't think you even liked me."

His eyes were crystalline, and she could see
her reflection mirrored there. "Like you?" he
said softly, touching his lips to the shell of her
ear, his hand moving between her legs. "I can't
take a breath without thinking of you." He trembled, wanting her, and he realized that what he
was doing was wrong. "I know what it feels like
to stand at the door of Eden knowing you can't
enter."

Desire lingered and played along her nerve
endings, and she ached from the touch of his
hand. "If I am Eden, I will take you in, Reese."

He suddenly stiffened. What was he doing? He
moved away from her so quickly, she slid off the
coat onto the snow.

He grasped her arms and surged upward, taking her with him, pulling her shirt together and
lifting her trousers. "Saber," he said in a voice
devoid of emotion, "you will have to forgive me.
I lost my head for a moment. That's no excuse,
and it won't happen again."

"Reese, I-"

"You are very desirable, and you made me for get your bridegroom is my best friend."

The implication of his words and the coldness
in his tone cut her deeply, and her lashes swept
over her eyes to hide what she was feeling. "If
you think that I set out to seduce you, you are
wrong, Reese. I have never allowed anyone to
touch me as you just have."

He walked away from her so she could not see
the dampness in his eyes. He shoved his boot in
the stirrup and swung onto the saddle. "Mount
up. I'll take you back to the house."

Saber quickly buttoned her shirt and straightened her trousers about her waist. She picked
up Reese's coat and handed it to him without
meeting his gaze. She was hurting so badly, she
thought she would die from the pain of it. How
could Reese make such an unflattering assessment of her character?

She mounted her mare and nudged the animal forward at an all-out run. Suddenly she felt
cold and dead inside. She had offered herself to
him, and he had rejected her in a humiliating
way. She couldn't get away from him soon
enough to suit her.

Her mare never slowed its rapid gait, causing
a spray of snow to fly out behind her. Tears were
wet against her skin, and she brushed them angrily away. She never wanted to speak to him
again as long as she lived!

The sun was going down when they reached the
house. Saber rode the mare directly into the
barn and dismounted. She knew Reese had followed her, but she refused to look in his direction as she unsaddled the mare and put it in a
stall. With her head held at a proud angle, she
moved purposefully toward the house.

Once inside the front door, she allowed the
tears to fall. She had most certainly acted in an
unladylike manner. Why had she allowed him to
take such liberties? How he must despise her!
He would never have touched her if she hadn't
encouraged him. And he would never believe
that she hadn't set out to entice him.

Moments later Reese entered, and their eyes
met. He noticed the forlorn expression on her
face and knew he was responsible for hurting
her again. She didn't know that by hurting her,
he'd wounded himself to the very core of his being. At the time he had used the only means he'd
had to fight against taking her there in the snow.
He had forced himself to say those hateful
things to drive her away from him, because if
she had touched him one more time, he would
not have been able to stop until he was inside
her.

He came up to her and removed her coat,
draping it over his arm while he led her to the
fire. "You are cold as ice. I don't want you sick."

She shook her head, and her stomach tightened in a knot. She could hardly draw a breath,
her heart was pounding so hard. "How can I ask
you to forgive me for what I've done? I feel so
miserable, and I most humbly ask for your forgiveness."

His voice was deep and strained, his eyes intense. "It wasn't your fault. Don't you know
that?" he asked gravely.

"You said that-"

"Forget what I said. You are an innocent. You
only reacted to what I was doing to you. I'm the
one who should ask your pardon." He moved to
the coatrack and hung the coat there, keeping his back to her. "Will you forgive me, Saber?"

She frowned and walked over to him, forcing
him to look at her. "Tell me what you want from
me."

"I think you know."

His eyes were like hot silver, and she could no
longer look into them. "How can I know unless
you tell me?"

Reese drew in an impatient breath. "Nothing.
I don't want anything from you." He turned
away from her, but not before she saw the muscles in his neck cord and his teeth clench.

Saber had thought that she was beginning to
know him so well. But there was a part of him
that he kept hidden from her.

"You certainly have nothing to blame yourself
for," she said.

"Yes, I do. I knew what I was doing you
didn't." Frustration was reflected in his eyes.
"Believe me in this, if you never believe anything
else I say, Saber: I was manipulating you, so
don't take the guilt that belongs to me alone."

She moved closer to the fire and held her
hands to the warmth. "You are a gentleman, so
therefore you are attempting to free me of my
part in what happened." She glanced back at
him. "It won't work." She licked her lips, deciding to tell him exactly what she had felt. "I liked
what you did to me, Reese. I didn't want you to stop. You were the strong one not me. It was
you who stopped it before it went too far."

He took a step toward her, trying to ignore the
desire to throw honor to the wind. He had made
her desire him because he wanted her to. He
knew just what a woman liked, and she had responded to his prowess.

Her eyes were wide and innocent, and he saw
the hurt she tried to conceal. It had been his duty
to protect her, and he had very nearly stepped
over the line and become the one she needed to
be protected from.

"We could talk about this all night and still
come to the same conclusion. I instigated what
happened, and that's the end of it."

She was silent for a long time, not knowing
what to answer. There was no warmth coming
from him, and no sign of the man who had held
her in his arms and kissed her that afternoon.
"Then I will say good night."

His voice stopped her as she moved to the bedroom. "Saber, I will be gone when you get up in
the morning, and I don't want you to be in the
house alone. I will leave instructions for Jake to
sleep here by the fire. I trust him with my life,
and you will be safe with him. Have you any objections to him staying in the house with you?"

She paused in the doorway and turned back
to him, frowning. "Do you expect trouble?"

"Not really. But I will not take a chance on
your safety." He forced a smile. "Matthew would
never forgive me." His eyes suddenly took on a
serious expression. "And Saber, I don't want you
to go out riding alone. If neither Gabe or Jake
can go with you, then stay near the house."

She nodded. "I understand." She gazed past
him, unable to look into his eyes. "How long will
you be gone?"

"I don't know. Several days, a week, maybe
more. It's hard to say."

She turned away, feeling that any time spent
without him would seem like a lifetime. "Good
night, Reese. Have a safe journey."

"Good night, Saber." When the door closed
behind her, Reese stood for a long time staring
at nothing. He closed his eyes and lowered his
head. The hardest thing he'd ever had to do was
walk away from her today, and the second hardest would be to leave her tomorrow.

Saber had tried to keep busy cleaning house and
reading, but the day stretched on endlessly. She
made the evening meal for Jake and Gabe because it gave her something to do, and they were
always so grateful.

When Jake came in with an armload of wood,
she was reading by the dim lamplight.

The young boy smiled shyly as he placed the wood in the bin. He stacked two logs on the fire
before he spoke. "Miss Vincente, Reese said he
wanted me to sleep in the house tonight, that I
was to make my pallet by the fire."

"Yes, he told me, too."

She laid her book aside and smiled at him,
trying to put him at ease. "Did you find anymore
frozen cattle today?"

He nodded grimly. "Five head. We haven't
checked by the mesa yet. I'm hoping some of the
cattle took shelter there. It's enclosed on three
sides, so they might have survived there."

She shook her head. "It is such a tragedy."

He eased his tall frame down beside the fire
and folded his arms. "I'm sorry it had to happen
to Reese. He's fought so long and hard to hold
this place together. He's a good man and deserves better."

"Nature knows no friend when she's on the
rampage, Jake."

"No, she don't," he agreed, bracing his back
against the wall.

"Have you lived here long, Jake?"

"I'll be fifteen next month, and Reese found
me when I was thirteen and brought me here to
live." He looked pensive. "That would be two
years come this April."

"You say he found you?"

"Yes, ma'am-that's exactly what he did. I don't know what would have happened to me if
he hadn't taken me in and given me a home. My
ma and pa were dead, killed by a fever along
with my brother and two sisters. I'd fallen in
with a rough bunch who were bound for trouble.
I had me a gun, and I wanted to prove that I was
as mean as anyone."

She leaned forward, enthralled by his story.
"How did you meet Reese?"

"He was fresh out of the war; in fact, he still
wore his tattered gray uniform. Me and my three
friends got drunk and rode into San Antonio,
shooting out windows and yelling and whooping
it up, thinking we was big men. I don't know
how we kept from killing someone with a stray
bullet, but I'm glad we didn't. As it was, a bullet
hit Reese in the upper arm while he was mounting his horse. I saw right away that I was in trouble because it was my bullet that struck him. The
sight of his blood was enough to make me think
twice about what I was doing."

"What happened?"

"Well, Reese ignored my friends and came
right for me with a look of murder in his eyes.
You know how powerful his eyes can be when
he's mad. Well, he was mad at me. He yanked
me off my horse, drug me over to the horse
trough, and doused my head. He held me under
till I almost drowned, and then he pulled me up again, and then dunked me again. By the time
the sheriff got there, I was nigh onto sobering
up. Reese refused to have the doctor take the
bullet out of his arm until he talked to the law
about me. When he learned I had no family, he
wouldn't let them lock me up, and he brought
me here. I ain't never had no one care if I lived
or died since my family was buried. I guess
Reese is about the best man I ever met. I'd do
anything for him even die for him, if I had to."
He grinned, feeling he was being too serious. "I
guess the day I shot Reese was about the luckiest
day of my life."

"That is extraordinary. Why do you suppose
he cared what happened to you?"

"I asked him that very thing myself. He said I
reminded him of himself as a boy. His ma ran
off with his pa's most trusted friend, and Reese
kinda raised himself and took care of his pa until
he died. Reese was only fourteen at the time,
but he kept this ranch. I can only imagine how
hard he must have worked. He's been on his own
since then."