Wildfire (14 page)

❧

"Hello, Tanner."

Rae had found him in the stables, forking fresh hay into one of the stalls. A dark horse tossed its head at Rae's approach, the dangerous gleam in its eyes matching that of his master.

"What are you doing here?" said Tanner. "We didn't set up another lesson."

"I'm not here for a lesson." She bit her lip, unsure of how to begin. Drawing in a deep breath, she said, "I wanted to talk to you about what you told me last night." ,

"What about it?" He made a short sound of contempt. "I can see your heart's bleeding all over the place. Do I look like I need pity?" He turned away from her, his back stiff. "I don't want to talk about it. And if I ever decide I do want to talk about it, I'll choose the time and place and confidant."

She nodded. "That's fair." The words were calm, but anger was slowly, surely, spreading through her. "But you see, I've gotten used to being your punching bag. I figure if you dump on me, it'll spare some poor innocent the grief."

"Leave it alone, Rae."

"Did you leave me alone?" She moved around to face him, her voice growing louder, more vehement. "In the two years I've been here, have you ever given me a break? You poke at me, you snipe at me, you pry into my thoughts and feelings. Why should I be more considerate than you've been?"

He reached out and grasped her arm, forcibly walking her toward the stable door. "Out," he rasped, the word stiff with control. "Get out."

Jerking her arm free, she backed away from the door. "I won't. Not until you tell me the rest. Not until you tell me about your mother."

His dark eyes blazed with anger. "Rae, dammit—

"I'm not moving," she said through tight lips.

Swinging around, he kicked the wall behind him with such force, a row of riding tackle fell clanging to the packed-earth floor. "You want to know about my mother? Fine, I'll tell you. I never disappoint a lady. And you are a lady. You couldn't in your wildest dreams imagine a woman like my mother. You think it was coming home and finding her in bed with a different man every night that bothered me? Hell, no. Kids adjust. They learn to accept."

He was pacing back and forth now, his features hard with anger. "But what I couldn't handle, what I never learned to accept, was leaving things behind."

He shot a glance at her. "You don't know what I'm talking about, do you? How could you? You lived in the same house all your life, you had your Johnny next door. You couldn't know what it was like coming home time after time to find her packing, knowing that we were going to leave everything behind again." He shook his head. "Sometimes it was the bill collectors, or maybe someone caught her dipping in the till at whatever joint she was working at. Sometimes she just got bored and decided to look for what she needed—whatever the hell that was—in the next town. Most of the time she didn't even give me enough warning to pack. Not that I had much. But what I had, I valued. And those poor miserable kids I claimed as friends, kids no one else would play with, I valued them too."

He gave a harsh laugh. "That changed. I learned better. I learned not to value anything, friends, possessions, nothing. Because sooner or later it got left behind."

She moved toward him, her heart twisting inside her chest. "Tanner—"

He held out a hand, backing away. "I'm not finished. I haven't got to the best part yet. We moved to Dicton when I was twelve. And this time something was different. We stayed. I didn't know why, but I didn't ask questions. She got herself a steady boyfriend, Tom Lyell, a man who was almost decent. He treated her right. Hell, he even treated me right."

Tilting his head back, he drew in an unsteady breath. "That kind of thing is a trap. You start hoping—"

He broke off and shook his head," as though trying to rid himself of the memory. "When we had been here almost six months, I started to hope that this time we would have a real home. Hope. Judas priest, how stupid can you get? You would think after what my father did, I would have learned better. But I was still young. That's the only excuse I have. I was too young to know what hope really is. Hope's just another way to lie to yourself, and don't let anybody tell you different."

He turned away from her, away from whatever he saw in her face. "In December, a week before Christmas vacation, school let out early, a gas leak in the lunchroom or something. I walked home die way I always did, and I was a block away when I spotted the strange car in the driveway. I don't know why, but as soon as I saw it, I started shaking. I was so scared, I couldn't catch my breath. I dropped my books and ran. When I got in the house, I didn't make a sound. As soon as I saw all the boxes in the hall, I went straight to her bedroom. I could hear them before I opened the door, and I knew what I'd find, but that didn't stop me."

A groan caught in his throat, and he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her close as he covered her lips in a savage kiss.

"You don't know what you're doing," he whispered against her bruised lips a moment later. "It takes me over." Grasping her buttocks, he pulled her hard against him, telling her without words what was going to happen next. "I warned you to get out of the way. Now it's too late. Too late."

His hands still on her buttocks, he lifted her, fitting her against his hard groin. With a breathless moan she wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing her lips to his as he moved toward the stall behind them.

"I'm going to do what I've been wanting to do since I first laid eyes on you," he whispered as he pressed her down to the hay and brought his hands to her aching breasts. "I want this," he told her. "And this." She felt his fevered touch on the inside of her thighs. "And this," he rasped out as he pushed an impatient hand beneath the waistband of the silk panties. "Sweet heaven, I want it all."

One finger was moving against the slick moisture between her thighs, sliding inside, and he gave a rough, triumphant laugh when her hips pushed against his hand in an involuntary movement.

Out of her mind with wanting him, she could only whisper, "Yes," over and over again, the word becoming frantic as she tore at his clothes, at her own. His devils were loose in her as well, making her writhe against his hard, naked body, making her cry out in desperate need.

"Let it go, Rae," he whispered, his voice hoarse with urgency as he moved his finger inside her. "Don't hold anything back. Let me inside. Let the wildfire take over, wrap it around me, and let it burn me up."

The next few minutes were a blur of surging, grasping intensity. He touched every inch of her, exploring all her secret places. He was inside her with his fingers, with his tongue, with his soul. He held nothing back and demanded the same of her.

No touch unthinkable, no act forbidden. Whatever felt good was right.

And when he entered her at last with one hard, urgent thrust, the world exploded in glorious, untamed pleasure, like nothing she had ever felt before.

❧

As the shadows of evening began creeping into the stable, Tanner's strong, naked body lay close to hers. He leaned on one elbow, looking down at her as he ran a slow hand across her body. For a moment his fingers rested on the triangle of hair between her thighs.

"Ultima Thule," he whispered. "I can't get over this color."

Bending down, he kissed her there, then moved his head back and forth, letting the soft hair brush across his lips. When Rae caught her breath with stirring desire, he gave a soft laugh and raised his head to meet her eyes.

"You have hay in your hair," she said, her voice still husky.

"So do you. Miss Prim and Proper. Do you realize Loco was watching the whole time?"

When she shot a wary glance toward the horse, Tanner laughed again and rose to his feet, pulling her along with him..

"It's nature, remember? Loco doesn't care any more than the sky does."

She glanced around. "Where are my clothes?"

"I hid them. You don't need clothes out here. There's no one to see you . .. except me." He ran his gaze over her naked body. "And I definitely like what I see."

The look in his eyes made the tips of her breasts grow hard and brought a little throbbing pulse to her center. She glanced back at the hay.

"Uh-uh," he murmured, pulling her into his arms. "Hay might be natural, but any marks on this body"—he ran his hands over her hips—"I want to put there myself. We'll try the bed this time."

Rae pulled out of his arms and was halfway to the house before he caught up with her.

❧

"What happened when you got out of the detention center?"

Hours had passed. They had tried the bed and the shower—the most incredible experience of her life—and even the armchair. Now they were back in his bed, side by side, her head resting on his shoulder.

Her question made him groan. "You don't let go, do you? I stayed in for a little over a year. That's where I learned to fight."

"Isn't that a long time for one windshield?"

"I guess, but my mother had left no forwarding address, and they couldn't just turn me loose. They ended up placing me in a foster home." He grinned. "I stayed there for almost two weeks, then I came back to Dicton. I was sleeping in a barn at Ashkelon when Joe found me. He fixed it with the authorities to let me stay, and I earned my keep working around the ranch."

He stared up at the ceiling. "He didn't have to do it. I was a stray that no one wanted. He didn't get anything out of it. But he let me stay."

"And that's why you continue to stay? That's why you don't go after your dream?"

He nodded. "As long as Joe needs me, I'll stay." After a moment he glanced down at her. "Are we through talking now?"

Before he finished the question, he ran a hand down her body and clasped her between the legs, tightening his fingers, then loosening them, then tightening them again.

Instantly Rae's heart began to pound with desire. Would she ever be able to get enough of him?

Raising her head, she sucked at his lower lip, then whispered, "We're through talking."

❧

When Rae woke up, she was alone in the bed. Stretching her arms lazily, she glanced around the room. Her clothes were in a neat stack at the foot of the bed, and the smell of coffee was in the air.

Tanner stood at the window, his back to her, his forehead resting against the glass.

"Tanner?"

When he raised his head and turned it toward her, she knew instantly that something was wrong. The early morning light streaming through the window made his face look angular and hard.

"What is it?" she asked, sitting up. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? There's nothing wrong." Even his voice had changed. The bored, cynical note was back. "In fact, I'd say you're coming along just fine. I never thought you'd make such a good student."

Her pulse was racing now as fear spread through her body. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"To tell you the truth," he said, as though she hadn't spoken, "I didn't expect the lessons to go this far. Not that I'm complaining. It's always good to get double duty out of something."

Wrapping her arms around her waist, she fought against the shivers that started the moment he turned to face her. "Double ..."

"Teaching you how to be a woman so you can have a better shot at Drew and getting a little of the action myself," he explained, his voice impersonal.

She moistened her lips. "Are you trying to make me believe that what just happened was part of the lessons?"

Fierce anger surged through her bloodstream, then just as quickly it subsided. He was trying to make her mad. He was trying to make her hate him.

Studying his face, she said, "Why are you doing this?"

"Maybe a better question is, why did you?" He took a step toward her, lines of anger carved deep in his face. "Were you looking for a little walk on the wild side? Or maybe it was a pity hump? Well, I don't need it. I don't need you."

She was out of the bed now, standing in front of him, matching his fury with her own. "You think I did it because I felt sorry for you? Where were you? Which bed were you in? Not this one, that's for damn sure. There is no way anyone could interpret what happened in this bed as pity. It was magic, Tanner. It was right. I have never, not in my whole life, felt anything like—"

He broke in with a short sound of contempt. "Judas priest, there's nothing more dismal than rehashing sex. This"—he waved a hand at the bed—"was Lone Dees madness, two years overdue. If you weren't so freakin' civilized, and we could have gotten, at each other that night, we would have. Well, now we've played it out. We did it. It was fun. Now it's over."

He shook his head and sent her a pitying look. "You think this was something special? God, how women love to delude themselves. I can get that kind of fun anywhere, any day of the week."

He stared at her for a moment, studying whatever he saw in her eyes, then he swung away, turning his back on her again.

"Lynda got back in town yesterday," he said, his voice flat. "I probably should have told you before, but then I wouldn't have been able to add the good lady lawyer to my list. Lynda is back, and she's receptive as hell. She wants me. No games, no hang-ups, just straightforward sex. I'm seeing her tonight. .. so there won't be any more lessons."

Somehow Rae got into her clothes and out the door. As she was stumbling down the steps, she heard him speak, and the words weren't much more than a rough whisper of sound.

"See you, Rae."