Heart Of Texas (Historical Romance) (20 page)

"Why not?"

"Because just don't do it."

She was suddenly armed with the knowledge a
woman gleaned from a man's reactions to her: he
felt the same emptiness and need she felt. "How
can I be in any danger when I have you looking
out for me?"

He stood and raised her up beside him, then
released her hand immediately. Her lighthearted
flirtation made him swell with desire. Casey didn't
know she was playing with fire. If she but knew it,
she was in far more danger from him, at the moment, than from anyone else.

"We need to get back to the house. Everyone is
looking for you, and the sun is going down."

She slid her hand around his waist and stared into his eyes. "Can't we stay here awhile longer?"

He moved her hands away from him, resisting
the urge to take her down on the boulder, tear
her gown off, and touch every part of her, to appease the ache inside him. "No. We have to go
now."

"Why can't we just-"

He turned his back and took a step off the boulder, offering her his hand. "Let's go."

She retrieved her book and put her hand in his,
allowing him to assist her down to the riverbank.

The sun hung like a huge red ball on the western horizon, and it painted the countryside with
a soft vermilion glow.

Casey knew Gabe was trying to avoid touching
her when he dropped her hand and moved away.
She decided it was time to make her feelings
known to him and to let him know that he wasn't
alone in the world. She wanted him to know he
had a family. There wasn't a doubt in her mind
that he loved her; he just hadn't yet admitted it
to himself.

Gabe was taken off guard when Casey propelled
herself into his arms, crushing her mouth against
his and sending them both backward. He couldn't
concentrate on keeping his balance, because his
mind was more on the lips that felt like silk on
his, and the soft body that was pressed against
him.

A deep groan took him to his knees, and she
was carried with him. He let his mouth plunder hers, flicking her lips open with his tongue and
driving deep inside her sweet mouth. She was his;
all he had to do was take what she so willingly
offered. He was like a drowning man going under
for the third time. He felt her hand at his shirt,
unbuttoning it and softly touching his skin.

He tore his mouth away from hers. "No. Don't.
You don't know what you're doing."

Her eyes shimmered softly, and she smiled
slightly.

"You're wrong. I do know what I'm doing. I've
thought about it for a long time."

Her hand moved across his taut chest, and he
swelled painfully, tightly against his trousers. He
took her wrists and pulled her hand away from
his chest.

His voice was harsh, his eyes hard. "Don't tempt
me. I'm on the brink now, and if you touch me
again, I may not be able to stop."

The pain in Gabe's eyes was so deep and disturbing that Casey wanted to comfort him. She
reached up and touched his cheek, allowing her
fingers to drift down to his mouth. "I don't want
you to stop."

"Casey," he warned, catching her hand. "You're
so dammed innocent you don't know what you're
doing. Dammit, stop!"

He was trying to put that barrier up between
them again, only this time she wasn't about to let
him. "I don't know much about the intimacy between a man and a woman, but I do know that I was born to be with you. Don't you feel that way,
too, Gabe?"

She felt his whole body tremble when she
pressed a kiss on his cheek. She drew back and
looked into his sliver eyes and saw the battle he
was waging to resist her. She knew the very moment Gabe lost that battle, because his expression
softened, and his eyes came alive with fire in
them.

He jerked her into his arms. "I don't have the
right to tell you this, but I want your smile reserved for me alone. I want only my hands to
touch you." He leaned in closer, his breath touching her mouth. "I want your lips on mine and no
one else's. Do you understand that?"

"I do understand. Because it's the same way I
feel about you."

His gaze was burning into her eyes with the intensity of his desire. "Don't do this, Casey."

She unbuttoned another button on his shirt.
"Don't do what?" she asked, pressing her lips to
the pulse beating in his throat.

His will was broken; his restraint snapped. His
gaze swept to the laces at the neck of her gown.
Slowly, as if he were fighting against the urge to
tear the gown off her, he undid the first tie. His
hand was trembling so badly he could hardly unlace the next one, so she reached up and did it
for him.

He swallowed painfully as she pushed the gown
off her shoulders. "I know you need me, Gabe."

He groaned, gently shoving her gown lower.
Since they were kneeling, it bunched at her waist
and only her thin petticoat remained.

"Casey!" There was so much feeling in the way
he said her name.

He reached up and undid the ribbon in her
hair, and a mass of red-gold curls fell down her
back. "How is the wound on your shoulder?" he
asked, trying to clear the fog from his mind.
"Does it still cause you pain?"

She shook her head. "The only pain I feel is
the need to be with the man who was created for
me. You know we are meant to be together,
Gabe."

He yanked at the last bit of material that covered her, and - her breasts were exposed to his
hungry gaze. He shook and trembled inside as he
touched their softness, traced a nipple with his
finger, then dropped his head to take it into his
mouth.

Casey threw back her head, feeling the warmth
of his mouth stir an earthquake inside her. This
was something she could give him, something he
could take away with him when he left her. She
could give him something to drive away the heavy
sadness he carried inside him-her body was her
gift to him.

Gabe raised his head and stared at Casey. "Until
you came along, I never knew a woman's smile
could carry me through a whole day, or that a
night could be so cold and empty because you
weren't with me."

His words touched her heart, and she pressed
her cheek to his, loving him so much it hurt. She
spoke past the lump in her throat. "I have been
yours from the beginning. How could you not
know that?"

He whispered her name, lifting her up so he
could remove her gown and undergarments. It
amazed him that Casey felt no shyness with him,
although he knew she had never allowed another
man to go this far with her.

Casey was tenacious in her belief that they belonged together. But he knew her feelings for
him would turn to disgust when she discovered
the truth about him.

It was almost dark, and the countryside was
awash in silvery moonlight. Gabe's hot gaze
moved over the most perfect body he'd ever seen.
She was soft, her waist small, her hips rounded.
Her breasts seemed to beg for his touch, and he
did touch them reverently. He didn't deserve her;
he should walk away right now before he went too
far, but he couldn't.

Gathering her close to him, he kissed her
mouth until she was breathless. His hands moved
over her hips, and he felt a stinging in his eyes
from the raw emotions that tore at him.

"I can't wait any longer," he murmured, rushing to remove his own clothing. He tossed them
aside, and somehow got out of his boots.

Casey had to admit she had fantasized about
what Gabe would look like without his clothing,
but nothing she had imagined could have prepared her for the beauty of his lean, hard body.
He was strongly muscled, his wide shoulders tapering down to a tight stomach. Her knees almost
gave way when she saw the huge swell of him, and
she tried to imagine how they would-

He took her hand and drew her to him.. "Sweetheart, don't you know you shouldn't look at a
man like that?" His breath fanned her cheek, and
he closed his eyes. "You are tearing me apart inside. I want to be patient, to take it slow, but I
need to be inside you."

A sob escaped her lips, and she planted kisses
across his mouth. "Gabe, I want to be right for you. Does it matter that I don't know what I'm
supposed to do?"

His heart skipped a beat; then it skipped two
beats. Gently he lifted her in his arms and laid
her down on his shirt. "You'll know what to do. I
will teach you." He closed his eyes. He wanted to
drive into her, to reach as deeply as he could to
put his brand on her, but he gentled his urge and
lay down beside her.

Casey opened her mouth to his kiss, and she
quivered when his hand swept across her breasts
and then downward. She jerked upward when he
spread her legs, his finger circling, then easing
inside her.

She bit her lip as a flood of passion tore
through her, and she pressed to get closer to the
skillful hand that was doing such wonderful things
to her.

His lips slid across hers, his hand edging ever
deeper inside her, then withdrawing and easing
forward once more.

"Gabe, I never knew-" A sob tore from deep
inside her. "I never thought it would be like this."

He withdrew his finger from her and frowned.
"Are you crying because I've hurt you?"

She shook her head and moved to touch his
face. "You have not hurt me. It's just that..." She
shook her head in frustration, trying to tell him
how she felt. "I feel like I am a part of you. I never
knew that was possible."

He closed his eyes and felt tears moisten them.

He couldn't remember a time when he had cried,
not even when Nora had died, not even when he
had stood beside his mother's grave.

"Casey... sweetheart!"

He could not say anything more because her
hand had crept down and brushed against the
swell of him. He gritted his teeth, and his body
shook. Easing forward, he parted her legs. His
head came down to her mouth, and he inched
some of his length into her.

She was becoming frantic, pulling at him,
grinding her mouth against his, trying to get
closer to him, to take him farther into her body.

Her velvet tightness closed around him, and he
almost lost it then and there. He felt the ground
roll beneath them, and he hardened even more.
Caught by her sweetness, he pushed deeper into
her, past the barrier with half his length.

"Gabe," she whispered against his mouth. She
arched her hips, and he went deeper, making a
slow withdrawal, then easing in again.

He felt her body tremble, and he felt her
warmth spill around him. He thrust deeper, pushing his full length, and she spilled her warmth
again, calling his name as she was carried away by
ecstasy.

Powerful tremors shook his body, shook his
world to its foundation, and he gripped her to
him until they both stopped trembling.

He kissed her tear-dampened cheek and
brushed her hair away from her face so he could nuzzle her neck. "Sweetheart, what have you done
to me?"

She closed her eyes, her hand sweeping up his
back to slide into his midnight hair. "I have given
myself into your keeping. I will always belong to
you.

He ached to tell her how he felt about her, but
he didn't have the words. He had never spoken
words of love to any woman, and he couldn't say
them now, when he wanted to the most. But he
did make an attempt: "To think if I had never met
you," he said, touching his mouth to hers, "I
would never have felt this way."

"If I had known you could make me feel this
way," she said, softly touching her lips to his shoulder, "I would have stripped my clothing off that
first night you came to the house."

He laughed with warmth. "As I recall, you were
not wearing much."

"No, I wasn't. And at first I was frightened of
you." She traced her finger down his nose. "But I
knew that night that something had happened between us. Did you feel it, too?"

"The feelings I had that night took me by surprise. And I even thought you had a husband at
the time."

She nestled against him. "Let's just stay here for
the rest of our lives and make love."

He touched his lips to an inviting nipple and
then pulled away to ponder her words. "Life won't let us, Casey. It will soon intrude and carry us back
to the real world."

Brazenly she dipped her head and kissed the
pulse that beat at his throat, drawing a groan from
his lips. She glanced up at him with a devilish
grin. "What else can I do to torture you?"

His hands slid up her hips to her inner thigh,
and he positioned her to receive him. "What
would torture me is if I could never touch you
like this again. You have given my life a... purpose. That's the only way I can explain it."

"Do you think you can trust me enough to tell
me about your past?"

He held her hips while he eased into her softness. "I have no past-there is only now."

Omous topped the hill and quickly waved his son
back.

"What is wrong, Father?" Flint asked, reining in
his prancing mount.