Rainsinger (20 page)

It was a futile hope. “Winona,” he said from the bed. “What are you doing?”

Clutching the woefully inadequate shirt to her, Winona turned. At the sight of him, her heart slammed to a stop, and she forgot that she wasn’t covered, that her body and all its largeness was brazenly naked.

But impossible to think of it when he, too, was uncovered, his hair tousled and streaming over his dark torso. And the look in his eyes was blatantly hungry. He knelt, coming for her, and the quilt fell away from him, and his body, too, was totally revealed in the bright, morning light—fully aroused and perfectly made, his hair his only adornment. He took her arm and plucked the clothes from her.

“Come back to bed,” he said, tossing the clothes on the floor, tugging her hand.

“It’s late,” she whispered. “The girls…”

He laughed, and the sound was delicious to her ears. It was rare enough that he did it.

“Come here, Pooh. Now.”

“Daniel, what if—”

He tugged one more time, and Winona couldn’t help herself. She fell into the bed with him, and laughed when he planted kisses on her neck, laughed in deep, uninhibited delight when he playfully licked her breasts.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said.

Faintly from the kitchen came the sound of voices. Daniel went still, listening. “Uh-oh,” he said. “We have company.”

The voices came closer, down the hall, passing the door to Daniel’s room. “What are we going to do?” Winona asked urgently, and the girls knocked at Daniel’s door.

“Just a minute!” he said, and moved quickly. He jumped out of bed, threw on a robe that hung from a hook on the wall and motioned for Winona to stand behind the door. She shoved her arms into one of his shirts and took her place.

He winked and opened the door. “Hi, girls,” he said, rubbing his face as if he’d only just awakened. “What’s up?”

“You know where Winona is?” Joleen asked.

“Nope. Did you check the orchard?”

“No. We just thought—”

“Haven’t seen her.”

Joleen mumbled something about checking the orchard, and mercifully, they wandered off. Daniel stood by the door, listening until the screen door slammed. Then he turned to her. “Where were we?” he said, unbelting his robe and coming toward her.

Winona shivered, her gaze skittering over the long, delectable slice of naked male revealed by the gaping terry cloth. “They’ll be back very soon,” she protested, “and I need to be someplace—”

He stopped in front of her and reached for the shirt, which was only clasped, not buttoned, around her. With an intent expression, he parted the fabric to reveal her breasts and touched the tips with his fingers. “I don’t think you’re ready to go just yet,” he said. He took her hand and put it on his hardness. “And I’m sure not ready for you to go.”

Winona swallowed as heat rippled through her, igniting in little flames. His mouth covered one flame when he bent and suckled her nipple, long and hard and with flickering blazes of his tongue. She whimpered, stroking the satiny flesh of the weight in her hand, pleased when his groan echoed her own. He pushed her against the wall and kissed her with a bruising strength.

“You’re so sexy you’re driving me crazy,” he said in a breathless voice.

She gasped and lifted her head, taking all his hair into her hands and pulling it over his shoulders, then letting it go to spill over her face and neck, taking some and smoothing it over her breasts. “So are you.”

His nostrils flared at the pagan gesture and he leaned forward to nip her lower lip lightly. “I’ve never thought of so many ways to have a woman in my life,” he said, and his hand moved to slide between her thighs, his stroking movements making her knees weak. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about.”

Winona swallowed as his fingers coaxed delicious sensations from her body. “Me, too,” she murmured.

He swore softly, and there was no calm or talk or ease left. He pushed her against the wall and positioned her, and entered her right there, while she stood braced against the wall.

The single, sure movement sent her spiraling into the lost madness of seemingly endless pleasure, pleasure so intense it was almost unbearable, pleasure that rose and rose with each steady, fierce thrust of his hips.

She heard her moan, heard it gathering strength, heard his voice of wordless hunger blend with hers. He kissed her, hard, his mouth almost bruising in its furious possession, his hands clasped tight around her buttocks, his manhood buried deep within her.

She felt the line between herself and Daniel blur, dull, until it was no line, until there was no end to her or beginning to him, only the two of them together, torn from their corporeal forms to merge in some vivid, searing ceremony she barely understood. She was his arms where they touched her, she was his mouth, and his guttural cry. And he was her. He was her breasts where he kissed them, and the cavern of her welcoming body, and the soft, panting heat of breath in her mouth.

It was quick and violent and Winona had to bury her face in his shoulder to keep from screaming when she exploded against his furious thrusts. He clutched her bottom with his hands and held her pinned against the wall as his seed spilled into her.

Breathing hard, bodies coated with sweat, they kissed. Winona felt as if every cell in her body had been given a vitamin shot. She laughed helplessly, falling forward to press her face into his chest.

Panting, he put his mouth on her ear, moving exotically against her. “You fit me perfectly,” he said. “I love how much there is of you. I love the sounds you make. I love the way you feel.”

He brushed his mouth over her, everywhere he could reach without leaving her. “I wish I could keep you here all day.”

“I wish I could stay.”

“But you can’t.” With a sigh, he let his grip on her body ease, and released her, pulling the shirt over her nakedness, and cupped the fabric-covered softness with his palms. “Better get to the shower before they get back here.”

She nodded, feeling oddly bereft. She gathered her clothes and clasped them in a bundle to her chest, aware of Daniel tying his robe. He sank down on the bed to watch her.

“I’m not going to forget about this, Winona,” he said. “I’m not going to pretend nothing happened.”

She halted. “I wouldn’t want you to.”

He smiled, his eyes twinkling. “Good.” He winked. “Get outta here now, Pooh, before we corrupt the morals of two young girls.”

She dashed over, kissed his mouth one more time, reassuring herself it was all real, then dashed out and safely into the bathroom across the hall.

There she paused for one tiny instant. “Oh, thank you!” she whispered to the heavens. Not even one tiny prick of guilt marred the dazzling sensations in her limbs, and she knew what she’d done was right. “Thank you!”

W
inona managed to shower and dress and get to the kitchen before Joleen and Giselle returned. She was making a pot of coffee when the girls came in. “Where were you?” Joleen asked. “We’ve been looking all over.”

Keeping her head down as she lied, Winona measured water into the pot. “I took a walk.”

“Oh.” Obviously Joleen didn’t care. “Well, will you take me to get my hair cut today?”

Surprised, Winona said, “What?” She looked up. And for one instant, it took everything she had not to let her face register the change in Joleen. The girl was no longer hidden behind hat and glasses and baggy baseball shirt. This morning she wore an old halter-top, a pair of tight cutoffs and more makeup than the entire cast of
A Chorus Line.
She looked like an eighteen-year-old streetwalker.

Winona slid a quick glance at Giselle, who seemed to notice nothing amiss. But of course she wouldn’t. To the ten-year-old, it was dress-up.

To give herself time to find the best possible way to handle the situation, Winona turned back to the coffeemaker. With a calm she didn’t feel, she said, “Where did you get the makeup?”

“Where do you think? It’s yours.”

Winona turned, narrowing her eyes. Joleen was spoiling for a fight—that much was plain. She didn’t say anything for a moment, wondering how her mother might have handled this situation. Winona had never had a crush on a man so much older than herself, but she had been achingly in love with their next-door neighbor, a college sophomore, when she was fourteen. She’d sunbathed every single day in her bikini, hoping he’d notice her and come over to talk.

He never had. And Winona had received a lecture on the appropriate ways to attract the attention of young men.

“I don’t recall giving permission to use makeup at all, much less my makeup.”

Cocking one hip, Joleen shrugged, her pale, beautiful eyes filled with the loathing only a teenager can mete out to an adult. “You aren’t my mother and I’m tired of you acting like you are.”

“Joleen, I’m not interested in having an argument about this. You will not use my makeup without asking, but if you think you’re ready to wear your own, we’ll shop for more appropriate colors and I’ll give you some lessons on how to put it on so it looks natural.”

“I like it like this.”

Winona half grinned. “It’s about right for the theater, so I understand why you think it’s right. But for daytime, you need a bit less.”

Joleen rolled her eyes. “Will you take me to get my hair cut or not?”

With enormous effort, Winona kept her anger tamped down. “I’d be happy to take you this afternoon. Right now, I want you to go wash off that makeup and find something to wear that fits.”

“You’re just jealous that I’m little and you’re so big.”

“Joleen!” Winona said sharply. “That’s enough. You can go to your room until you can behave.”

Joleen folded her arms and raised her chin defiantly. “No,” she said distinctly.

Winona took a step forward, and just then Daniel came in, with the usual brilliant timing of the male sex.

“What’s going on?”

Winona was focused on Joleen, her mind racing with the dilemma of how to handle this sudden, unexpected defiance. But when Daniel appeared, an expression crossed Joleen’s face, half aching yearning, half fury.

“Good morning!” she said brightly.

Winona felt a quick rush of sympathy for her little sister. Why was it necessary to make an utter fool of yourself at thirteen? Feeling protective, she turned to give Daniel an urgent, pleading glance, hoping he would understand the situation immediately.

In an even voice, he said, “Good morning, girls.” But his gaze was on Winona, hot and deep and blazing. He stepped close to her and bent to plant a kiss on her neck, leaving his hand on her shoulder. “Good morning to you, too, beautiful.”

For one small moment, Winona was enveloped in her emotions. His quick caress, his hand on her skin, his rich voice in her ear, all brought back memories of the sensual night they’d shared. Rockets of arousal shot through the vaguely tender, hidden places of her body, and she couldn’t believe it, but she wanted him again, right then.

And she saw in his eyes, and sensed in the quick tightening of his fingers on her shoulder, that he felt the same way. He smiled.

“I know where you were this morning,” Joleen said. “You were in his room, weren’t you?”

“Joleen!” Giselle said before Daniel or Winona could speak. “That’s really private stuff. You’re not supposed to ask people about it.”

“I don’t have to ask,” she said, her eyes narrowed. “I’m not stupid.”

Guilt flooded Winona. “Joleen—”

“No!” Joleen backed up, and bumped into the wall, holding out her hand as if to keep everyone away. Her mouth opened, and she looked from Winona to Daniel, and she clamped her mouth shut, then turned and ran down the stairs.

Winona moved, but Giselle was already at the door. “I know how to handle this,” she said with a grin. “It’s okay.”

Daniel chuckled.

“I really think I should go talk to her,” Winona said.

Daniel caught her arm at the same instant Giselle tossed her long ribbons of hair over one shoulder, her mischievous face suddenly looking mature and knowing. “Trust me, okay?”

Winona hesitated, but relented as Giselle waited calmly for permission. “Okay,” she said finally. “I guess it can’t hurt.”

“It’ll be okay,” she said again, then abruptly, she flew across the room, kissed Daniel on the cheek, and darted back to the stairs, gone in an instant.

Winona looked at him, nonplussed.

He grinned. “What a kid, huh?”

“She’s a doll. I understand exactly why you miss her so much.”

The strangest light flickered in his eyes just then, a broken, uncertain wavering. He lowered his head to hide it, and Winona felt oddly left out. “Yeah,” he said.

Winona reminded herself that he had not promised undying love. In fact, he’d gone to great lengths to tell her there would be no commitment from him. She wondered suddenly if her instincts last night had been true. They had told her Daniel was shut away in some dark, lonely place inside himself, afraid to reach out for the things most people took for granted—a spouse, children, love.

Now she wondered if the truth was infinitely simpler than that. Maybe he still loved Jessie and wouldn’t ever get over her. Stranger things had happened. With a deep, painful prick in her stomach, she remembered how he had jerked away from her when Luke and Jessie had first driven up at the ranch.

He moved away, reached for a cup and poured some coffee into it. “I’m sorry about Joleen, Pooh.”

“It isn’t your fault. It’s mine.” She sighed. “I should have realized sooner that she needed me to be her mother, not her friend.”

“It’ll work out. I’m just sorry that she guessed you were in my room.”

Winona pressed her lips together. Was he sorry they’d been in there, or just ashamed to be caught?

A glitter touched his eyes as he looked steadily back at her, and he suddenly stepped forward to kiss her. His mouth tasted of coffee and a faint hint of toothpaste and the peculiar nectar that was his alone.

“You’re really something, Winona,” he said, and swallowed, smoothing her hair with one big hand.

Dapplings of reflected light danced on his angled face, so close to her own, and an aching welled up in her chest. She’d gone and done it—fallen head over heels in love. The knowledge stung a little, but looking back, she could see it was inevitable. From the first moment she’d laid eyes on him, she’d known it.