Reilly's Woman (13 page)

"Where were we?" she asked.

"About thirty miles back and up." Reilly pointed toward a mountain peak that didn't seem very far away. "Do you see the small dip on the other side of that peak? That's where the plane crashed."

Sighing, she leaned back against the tree. "I imagine we've been given up for dead after all this time."

This was the eighth day. It seemed like such a short amount of time, yet conversely, it seemed like forever. "It will be another three or four days before you'll have the strength to try to walk out of here," he stated grimly.

"At least here we won't have to worry about a supply of water," Leah offered. "And let's hope we'll have food."

This morning Reilly had announced that the three remaining packets of dried food would be used only as a last resort. They would eat what they were able to forage. He had placed snares along the game trails leading to the watering hole. If that failed, he would hunt with his pistol and there was always the abundant supply of snakes to fall back on. Although Leah doubted she would be able to eat them with the same degree of pleasure as she had when she hadn't known beforehand.

"With the two of us, the food we have now would last only three days. It would last six days, if there was only one," he said quietly, slowly trailing the string through the water.

Something in his tone made her stiffen. "What's that supposed to mean?"

His impassive face turned to meet her challenging look. "That you stay here while I go for help."

"We've been over that before," she stated tautly.

"Circumstances are different. You aren't capable of traveling, not for several days." Reilly averted his attention back to the fishing line. "I noticed a dirt track about ten miles from here. It heads down the center of the valley floor. It will either lead to the highway or a ranch house."

"How far?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen any smoke to the south in the morning that might indicate the existence of a ranch house," he answered thoughtfully. "The second day we were here I walked over to the track. There wasn't any sign that it had been used for several weeks or longer. It might have been abandoned when the mine was. But it leads somewhere."

"I won't stay here alone, Reilly. I mean it." Her teeth were clenching in determination.

"The longer we stay out here, the more risk we'll be taking that something will happen. You'll be safe here by yourself."

"You said we were in this together," Leah reminded him. "I won't let you leave without me."

"You're too weak to go now."

"I am not!" she protested vigorously even though she knew what Reilly said was true. "I can walk just as far and just as long as you can! There's nothing wrong with me. My fever's gone and I'm as healthy as a horse!"
 

To prove her allegation, she rose swiftly to her feet and took a quick step toward him, but sudden movement instantly made her dizzy. She pressed a hand to her reeling head and swayed unsteadily.

With split second reaction, Reilly was on his feet, hands gripping her waist in support. She leaned heavily against him, fighting to regain her sense of balance. He lifted her in his arms and set her back against the slim trunk.

"Now will you admit I'm right?" His green eyes mocked the pallor of her face. "You are too weak."

"I moved too quickly, that's all," Leah defended, resting her head against the tree to gaze at the man kneeling beside her. "I swear that you're not leaving without me, Reilly. If you go, I'll follow." There was a tight lump in her throat as she spoke, but her voice was otherwise controlled.

Grim amusement was carved in his features. "I believe you mean that." Pivoting on his knee, he started to move away.

But Leah needed assurance that he had changed his mind and wouldn't leave her. She clutched at the material of his shirt to halt his departure.

"Reilly?" She leaned forward, earnestly searching his expression with questing hazel eyes.

Motionless, he held her look, revealing nothing of his thoughts or decision. A smoldering light of anger burned in his eyes and his hand slid slowly, almost unwillingly, along the back of her waist.

Her heart fluttered
uncertainly, excited and afraid. Then his mouth was savagely crushing hers in a punishing kiss. The pain lasted only brief seconds as Reilly switched the kiss to sensual demand. Response flamed through Leah's veins, melting her against the solid wall of his chest.

The weight of his body pressed her backward, pinning her on the carpet of grass while he continued to explore her mouth with a rousing thoroughness. Shudders of primitive rapture quivered within her. She had not guessed that his masterful kiss would be as glorious as this. Her senses were reeling under the assault of his desire.

The soft flesh of her body molded itself willingly to the male length of him. No part of her was immune to his fire. His caressing fingers explored her neck and shoulders, blazing a trail that his mouth followed. Quicksilver gasps of air were all she was allowed before a new shiver of experience stole her breath.

In a mindless haze, she knew she had lost control and was powerless to regain it as long as his lips kept returning to dominate hers. Unexpectedly, Reilly rolled on to his back, drawing her on top of him. There he cupped her face in his hands and held it away from him.

Her parted lips were swollen and trembling from his kisses. She knew her eyes had darkened from the desire he had aroused. Her lashes fell to veil the completeness of her response. Yet she couldn't deny the truth of what she felt.

"I've wanted you to do that." Her voice throbbed with the disturbed beat of her heart.

"Leah." His husky tone betrayed his inner passion too, yet his was controlled. "You've never known a man, have you?"

The gently spoken question frightened her as his embrace had not. The silken curtain of her hair had fallen forward. It shielded the flames that licked her cheeks as she drew away from his unresisting hands and scrambled shakily to her feet. She could feel his piercingly alert eyes watching her, but she was unable to meet them. Keeping her back to him, she stuffed her trembling hands deep in the pockets of her slacks and drew a quivering breath. "Have you?" repeated Reilly.

The question came from directly behind her, his animal silence bringing him to his feet unheard by her. In the next instant, his hands were resting lightly on each side of her waist. She breathed in sharply to keep from turning and seeking his embrace.

"I…I really don't see why I should answer that," she swallowed, closing her eyes and wishing she could close the rest of her senses to his nearness.

"I want to know," he replied simply.

"You could have found it out for yourself. I could scream my head off and there's no one for miles to hear me. What stopped you?" Leah challenged, but with a faintly hysterical note.

"Dammit, Leah!" He spun her around, exasperation snapping in his green eyes.

The pinched lines around her nose and mouth must have betrayed her inexperienced state because Reilly immediately loosened his steel grip on her waist, the fire in his gaze banking at the sight of the apprehension that clouded her eyes.

Reilly smiled gently. "You don't need to be afraid."

"Of who?" she blinked. His touch was curling her toes. "Of you? Or me?"

His muscular chest rose in a deep breath, his eyes narrowing into green slits. "You shouldn't say such things."

"Why?" Leah challenged. "I can't deny that a moment ago I wanted you to make love to me!"

"Well, try!" he snapped savagely, releasing her from his hold.

The anger that had flashed across his face for that split second was completely gone when Leah focused her gaze on him. The mask of unshakable composure covered his lean features.

Leah felt trapped in a labyrinth with no escape in sight. She was thoroughly confused and puzzled by his actions. Reilly had wanted her—she wasn't so inexperienced that she didn't know that. Yet when he had discovered she was a virgin, he had rejected her. Why? Because she wasn't sufficiently experienced for his tastes?

Hot tears filled her eyes. "I don't understand you, Reilly Smith!" she lashed out at him angrily.

A furrow of absent concentration darkened his brow as he glanced briefly in her direction. "It's simple," he replied harshly. "When I'm in the desert, I think too much like an Indian."

The cryptic answer made more sense than his actions. Leah rubbed the back of her neck in frustration and tried to check the welling tears. She held them back, but she couldn't keep her chin from trembling.

A sigh came from Reilly. Grass whispered beneath his feet as he rose and walked to her. His hands touched her shoulders and Leah drew away. He simply grasped them more firmly a second time.

"Please don't try to convince me that you're some saint," she declared caustically, tossing back her head to glare at him defiantly through her mist of tears.

"I'm not virtuous by any means," Reilly agreed with iron control, "although I don't intend to brag about the number of women I've known."

"That's a relief!" Her tongue tasted bitter with sarcasm.

"If a maiden is taken by a man before marriage, in the eyes of the Indian, she becomes unclean and is shunned." The faint cynicism in his tone seemed to be directed at himself. "That's a quaint custom to be observed in these promiscuous times, I'll admit. Nevertheless," he drew the words out slowly, "as far as you are concerned, I'm compelled to respect my grandfather's teachings. We have been through too much together these past days for me to be the one to take away your innocence."

A tremulous smile touched her mouth. His words chased the clouds away from her heart and let the radiant light of joy shine through.

"That's why you asked," she breathed.

"Yes." Reilly smiled without humor.

Slipping her arms around his middle, she sighed contentedly, nestling her head against his chest. His arms tightened to hold her close, a firm hand slowly caressing her shoulders and back as his mouth roughly moved against her hair. His fingers raked through her hair, drawing her head back. His mouth closed over hers in a hard lingering kiss. The melting of her bones began all over again.

When he released her, his eyes burned possessively over her face. "I think it's time you took charge of the fishing while I check the snares," Reilly said huskily.

"Let me go with you," Leah whispered.

His fingers covered her mouth as he shook his dark head. "I want to be sure you've had plenty of rest so you'll be able to cook dinner tonight." He pushed her to the ground near where his pole lay.

Leah didn't resist and sat quietly on the bank while he walked away. She knew she was falling in love with him, if she hadn't already. Was it because she couldn't have survived in this desert wilderness without him? She thought not. She admired his competency, resourcefulness and strength, but her feelings for him went beyond that. Nor was what she felt strictly physical.

So, eliminating all the other possibilities, she was in love with him. She tried to caution her heart that eight days was a very short time to fall in love with someone. Her heart answered that she and Reilly had been through more than some couples experience in a lifetime together.

The only uncertainty that remained was how Reilly felt about her. If for him, it was more than physical attraction, too? Leah sighed, knowing that no one would ever put words in his mouth nor elicit an answer he wasn't prepared, to make. But, for the moment, the knowledge of her love for him was enough.

One of the snares had trapped a rabbit. Reilly had cleaned it and shown Leah how to roast it on the spit. Again, their menu had contained a side dish of greens, an item that Leah had decided was going to become a staple part of their diet.

The exertion from doing their few dishes left her slightly weak. She set them near the fire to dry. Brushing a hand wearily through her gold-brown hair, she wished longingly for a hot bath and a shampoo.

"Tired?" Reilly asked gently.

"A little," Leah admitted. She sat down beside him in front of the fire, curling her legs beneath her. "Mostly I was thinking that I was a mess."

An arm circled her waist and drew her against his shoulder, locking his hands across her stomach as he kept her faced towards the fire. Leah stared into the flames, a feeling of intense bliss stealing over her.

"Aren't you going to say that I'm not a mess?" she teased with a soft sigh of contentment.

"I'm not going to state the obvious," Reilly chuckled.

"Now that's a tactful reply!" Her head moved briefly in mock exasperation, but there was amusement in her tone.

A coyote sang his lament to the winking eye of a crescent moon. On a faraway hill, another coyote joined in the chorus. Overhead, the stars blazed brightly in the velvet sky.

His chin brushed the top of her hair. "Did you want me to say that your hair is perfumed with sage and smoke? That its color reminds me of the dappled coat of a doe fawn in the morning sunlight?" The husky murmur of his voice quickened her heartbeat.

"Is that really what you think?" Leah held her breath.

Reilly smiled against her hair. "Your eyes are the color of the fawn's, round and trusting, fringed with sunbrowned lashes." A hand circled her wrist to make her arm join his as he drew her more tightly into the circle of his arms. "Your bones are deceivingly dainty as a fawn's."