The Gunfighter and the Heiress (11 page)

 

The disturbing suspicion that Avery Marsh might have poisoned her mother tormented Natalie to no end. Preparing the campfire and the evening meal wasn't enough to take her mind off the infuriating thought. She'd told Crow that she didn't want him to investigate—because she didn't want him to know who she really was. However, she intended to find out if her suspicions were true. Avery Marsh was not getting away with murder! She'd like to poison
him
and see how he liked it.

Emotions roiled inside her as she ate her evening meal, then walked down to the river to clean the dishes. It was bad enough that she was upset over Marsh's possible cruelty. That, combined with the tormenting thought of bidding farewell to Crow the following day, tortured her beyond measure.

She glanced downstream where Crow bathed. The impulsive urge to join him and end the suspense of
wondering what it would be like to share his passion overwhelmed her.

Natalie turned away, but the tantalizing prospect of seeing Crow naked and touching him intimately leaped to mind once more. “Well, he
is
your husband,” she muttered at herself. “You are entitled to other benefits besides seeing his name on the marriage license.”

Her thoughts circled back to Marsh's betrayal and roiling anger assailed her again. Her mother had wasted away, thanks to Marsh's cruelty. Her father had died in an accident at the wharf at a young age. It seemed that living in the moment was the best policy because who knew what tomorrow held? And what
she
wanted at the moment was to be with Crow in ways she had never experienced.

She lurched around to make a beeline for the river. She lost her nerve momentarily when she saw Crow standing hip-deep in the river, staring directly at her. His raven hair dripped water and his bare chest sparkled with droplets that reflected the colorful rays of sunset. He reminded her of a mythical god, luring her ever closer to impossible temptation.

When she began unbuttoning her shirt, his hand—clamped around a bar of soap—stalled in midair. “What are you doing?”

“Undressing to bathe. I've reached a decision.”

“That's nice. Let's discuss it in camp in about fifteen minutes. Now go find your own place to bathe.”

She removed her cap and shook out her hair. With her shirt hanging open, she heel-and-toed out of her boots. Then she unfastened her breeches.

Crow thrust up his hand to forestall her. “This is not a good idea, sunshine.”

“Yes, it is,” she retorted. “I hired you to teach me to
survive in the wilds. Now I want to hire you to teach me about passion.”

Crow's striking silver-blue eyes bugged out and his clean-shaven jaw scraped his chest. She hadn't seen him that shocked since she breezed into the Road To Ruin Saloon to announce she was his fiancée.

Natalie was in no mood to be rejected again. It would be the crowning blow to a lousy evening. Already, her emotions were churning like a cyclone. Although she wasn't sure how to entice a man past his ability to resist, she intended to try because Crow was the only man she had ever desired.

“You better rethink this reckless decision,” he told her gruffly. “I'm—”

His voice halted when her breeches pooled around her feet. Her boyish shirt barely covered her upper thighs and she was pleased to note that he was all eyes.
Well, at least I have his undivided attention,
she thought.
That's a start.

“I might not be your first choice, but I have certain wifely rights, you know, Crow.”

“Wh—” He tried to speak but no words came out.

Natalie gathered her nerve and did something she had never done in front of a man. She peeled off her shirt and walked naked into the water. Although she felt extremely self-conscious and her face pulsed with heat, she vowed Crow wouldn't dismiss her easily.

She wanted him and she meant to have him—just this once before he rode out of her life for good.

And who knew? Her first and only night with Crow might turn out to be the greatest adventure of all. He was not going to distract her or talk her out of it, either. Anyway, this was no different from a man visiting a brothel to appease his needs. Why would Crow turn down free
sex with a wife he wouldn't have to bother with after tomorrow?

“You are absolutely certain this is what you want?” Crow chirped as she walked boldly toward him.

“I'm certain or I wouldn't be here,” she said, amazed that she could still speak.

She was pleased when his unique-colored gaze roamed hungrily over her. She decided he liked what he saw well enough. His rapt attention bolstered her confidence and she even managed to toss him a flirtatious smile.

“I suppose I should negotiate with you first. Just how much extra is this lesson in love going to cost?” she asked.

She nearly melted into a puddle of mush when Crow flashed a rakish grin that encompassed every bronzed feature of his face.

“A thousand is my going rate.”

“A thousand?” she smirked, delighting in the playful side of his nature—one he didn't expose very often. “How many women have hired you for lessons in passion?”

“Counting you?”

She nodded as she drew close enough to glide her hands over his broad shoulder and link her fingers behind his neck. “Yes, counting me.”

He hooked his arm around her waist and drew her intimately against him. She knew without a doubt that she had aroused him. The intimate knowledge filled her with even more self-confidence. It emboldened and empowered her.

“Just you, sunshine,” he growled huskily as his head came steadily toward hers. “Only you…”

His mouth came down on hers in a devouring kiss. Natalie gave herself up to the ravenous need sizzling through her body and whispering in her soul. She had made the right choice when she selected Donovan Crow
as her lawfully wedded husband. Furthermore, she wanted to go on kissing him until the end of time because he had the power to scatter every thought from her mind. That's what she wanted right now. Not to think at all. To explore the fierce sensations she'd discovered when she was with the one man who tempted her beyond bearing.

 

Van knew he shouldn't succumb to the mercy of his ravenous desire for Natalie. Unfortunately, she had stunned him to the bone and destroyed his thought processes when she undressed and walked naked into the water to join him.

His imagination hadn't done her justice because she was flawless perfection. He wanted to make a feast of her, but he wasn't sure how long he would be satisfied tasting the honeyed nectar of her dewy-soft lips and gliding his hands over the lush curves and swells of her body.

“So this is what desire feels like,” she rasped as he lifted his head to drag in much-needed air.

His restless hands continued to caress her. He only hoped he could arouse her to the same fervent degree that she had aroused him. “How far do you want this to go, sunshine?” he asked, his voice rough with unappeased need.

Curly lashes swept up and she smiled impishly at him. The intriguing sparkle in her eyes caused a chunk of his heart to break loose and tumble down his rib cage.

“How much passion will a thousand dollars buy me?”

He smiled roguishly. “All you want and then some.”

He scooped her into his arms so that her body bobbed on the water's surface, glowing like gold in the shimmering light of sunset.

“And then some is what I want with you, Crow.”

Her smile faded as she stared intently at him. Her hand
lifted to trace the line of his jaw, and then his lips. Van felt a jolt of pleasure rivet his body. He brought his head to hers for a tender kiss. He wanted to make this experience with Natalie a moment to remember because he knew it would be his first and last. She would be gone tomorrow. He would have served his purpose for her and she would no longer need him for whatever her secretive venture required.

He also knew the suspicion of losing her mother to deliberate poisoning had upset her and had sent her running to him for comfort and compassion. He shouldn't take advantage of her vulnerability, but when he touched her his noble intentions went up in smoke.

“I'll ask once more. Are you sure this is what you want?” he repeated huskily, knowing he'd burn into a pile of molten coals if she changed her mind.

“It's exactly what I desire.” She traced the bridge of his nose and his high cheekbones. “And keep in mind that I do nothing halfway or halfheartedly, Crow.”

He grinned. He adored that about her, especially right now. She had made up her mind she wanted him and he couldn't talk her out of it, even if he wanted to, which he didn't.

For his part, Van wanted her in a way that he'd never realized it was possible to want anyone or anything in his life. She mattered to him. He desired her past the point of his resistance. Come hell or high water—or both—he was going to discover what paradise on Earth felt like. And she was it.

If Natalie asked for the moon and a few stars, he'd find a way to fetch them for her. He was that far gone. He was at the complete mercy of his throbbing desire to claim her as his own for this one magical night before she followed her dreams and schemes and walked out of his life forever.

Van vowed to make their passionate tryst an adventure unto itself. No matter how much it cost him in self-restraint, he would find a way to pleasure and satisfy her.

To that dedicated end, Van skimmed his lips over the tips of her breasts while she floated in his arms. Her soft moan of pleasure encouraged him to draw more satisfied sounds from her lips. He devoted several languid moments to flicking his tongue against her pebbled nipples, then cupped one full breast in his hand. When he suckled her gently, she arched toward him. Another breathless sigh tumbled from her lips—with his name attached to it.

He adored the raspy sound of her voice. He delighted in knowing he aroused her. He smiled against her nipple when she squirmed restlessly against him. Her hand drifted across his chest but he grabbed her fingertips and redirected them to her breast. Then he nibbled at them before he suckled her again.

“Don't distract me. I've been harboring this fantasy of discovering the taste and feel of every inch of your gorgeous body since the night I put you in my bed after you passed out. That evening didn't turn out the way I wanted.”

Her thick lashes fluttered up and she stared straight at him. “You find me desirable?”

He chuckled at the absurd question. “One look in the mirror should answer the question about how lovely you are.”

“But there have been times when I've wondered if I appeal to men or if…”

Her voice trailed off and he wondered if she was about to mention instances with other men. The image of her with anyone but him tormented him, though he kept telling himself he had no right to be possessive or jealous of her past affairs. After all, he had been intimate with other
women. Of course, no one had intrigued him as she had, but still…

“You have no idea how much it has cost me in self-control to sleep beside you every night and restrain myself,” he admitted. “Which is why I couldn't turn you down tonight. I have no willpower left when it comes to you.”

“None whatsoever?” She grinned so provocatively that another corner of his heart caved in. “Are you just saying that because I'm paying you?”

“Sure, sunshine. I want you to get your money's worth,” he whispered as his hand drifted down her ribs to encircle her navel.

Her playful amusement turned to a quiet moan when his hand drifted lower to trace the curve of her inner thigh. Fire blazed through Van's bloodstream when he skimmed his hand over the tender flesh between her legs and felt the heat of her desire burning for him.

He bent his head to glide his tongue between her lips at the same moment that he dipped his finger into her heated core. A tidal wave of need crashed over him as he stroked her gently—and simultaneously aroused himself to aching extremes. He vowed to leave Natalie as hot and hungry for him as he was for her…but at what cost to his ravenous body!

Van had never dedicated so much time to pleasuring a woman. He'd never wanted to because the women who came and went from his bed in the past only satisfied a physical craving. But this mystical moment with Natalie, while the blazing sunset turned the world to flames, was nothing like his previous encounters. He couldn't take his pleasure with her unless she wanted him beyond bearing.

The thought challenged him to be more creative, to be gentler and more patient in his seduction than he'd ever
been. He was rewarded with the sound of her breathless moans drifting across the rippling water.

“Come here,” she panted while he stroked her with thumb and fingertip.

“I told you not to rush me,” he murmured against the swell of her breast. “I'm living a fantasy.”

“You're driving me crazy is what you're doing,” she whimpered as her body involuntarily arched toward his gliding fingertips and lips.

“Really? Then let's see how you react to this….” He lifted her hips to him, flicked at her with his tongue, then kissed her intimately.

She came apart in his arms, trembled beneath his lips and fingertips. She cried out his name as her body shuddered around his hands and mouth. Gasping for breath, she twisted to hook her legs around his hips.

Van was smiling at her in supreme satisfaction, for he knew he had pleasured her immensely. But when she curled her hand around his aroused flesh and guided him to her, he forgot to breathe—and couldn't remember why he needed to.

He arched instinctively toward her as his hands settled on her hips. He drove into her without restraint and watched her eyes fly wide open. He stilled when he breached the fragile barrier that assured him that he was her first experiment with intimate passion. For certain, Natalie was his first time with a woman's first time.