Trail of Kisses (14 page)

Cade laughed. Lynne scowled.

“
You find that funny?” She planted
her fists on her hips.

“
I do.” He nodded. “I’m not giving
you a gun if you don’t know how to use one. Besides, I’ve come up
with something better.” He gestured to the wagon.

“
What’s this?”

“
It’s your sanctuary for the
evening, Miss Tremaine.” He smiled, smug as a sheep in the sun. “I
got the idea from your friends, John and Callie. They’ve been
sleeping under their wagon with a screen set up to keep out prying
eyes. I thought you might like to do the same.”

“
What, sleep
under
the
wagon?” She shook her head, trying to figure it out. “I’m already
sheltered sleeping inside of the wagon.”

“
True, but there’s only room for
one in there with all of the supplies stacked up and down the
sides.”

Lynne’s heart dropped to her stomach then
floated up to her throat on the wings of the butterflies that
filled her gut. “You can’t possibly be suggesting,” she began and
had to clear her throat when her voice came out as no more than a
wisp, “that we sleep under the wagon
together
.”

Cade leaned closer to her. “I am suggesting
that. That way you’ll be safe where I can keep my eye on
you.”

She narrowed her eyes and studied him. “Even
out in this wilderness, people will notice and deem it extremely
inappropriate.”

“
I don’t see why.” He shrugged.
“It’s dark, most people have already gone to bed, and those that
are awake are busy doing something else. Who’s even going to
know?”

Still, she hesitated.

“
Aren’t you brave enough to give
it a try?”

She held her breath, a wicked little voice
inside her asking the same question. Oh, she knew Cade had only
said that as a dare, to get her to do what he wanted her to, but
the challenge was too powerful to resist. She just hoped she could
resist the other sensations pooling in her core.

“
All right,” she said in as quiet
a voice as she could manage. “I’ll give it a try. Just tonight. If
I don’t feel any safer under the wagon than I do inside of it,
we’re going back to the old arrangement tomorrow.”

“
It’s a deal.” Cade seemed far too
satisfied with himself for Lynne’s liking.

Still, the prospect of having someone else
close, of knowing that anyone who might get it in their head to
come after her would be in for a surprise, unwound the coil that
had ravaged her gut since the moment she found her father’s picture
vandalized.

As Cade pulled off his boots and hung his hat
on a nail hammered into the side of the wagon, Lynne climbed into
the wagon bed to unlace her own shoes and put them aside. She had a
nightgown that she’d been sleeping in half of the time on the
trail, but it was still damp from washing and the night was hot.
She figured it wouldn’t hurt anything to strip down to her chemise
and drawers. Cade was smart enough to know how to build a bed that
would fit the rules of propriety.

Or so she thought.

When she climbed down from the wagon and
crawled into the pitch-black haven Cade had made underneath, all
she could find as she felt her way around was a single nest of
blankets and Cade’s warm body.

“
Where’s my pillow?” she
whispered. She was more loathe than ever to draw the attention of
anyone nearby who might still be awake.

“
Up here,” Cade answered in a
hushed voice.

Lynne swallowed and felt her way up the edge
of the blanket. Maybe just a chemise and drawers wasn’t such a good
idea after all. Her body heated and her skin prickled at the sound
of Cade’s soft breathing. When she felt across the blanket to get a
sense of where he was, her fingers brushed across bare skin. Her
mouth went dry and her breath caught in her throat as she spread
her hand across the hard plain of Cade’s side. He was all firmness
and strength covered by smooth skin. Her heart thundered against
her ribs.

“
Lynne?” his voice resonated in
the enclosed space, tempting, teasing. “What are you
doing?”

“
I’m trying to figure out where
you are,” she answered, a little too breathless for her
liking.

Cade’s low, slow laughter sent tendrils of
molten excitement straight through her gut to her core. This was a
terrible idea.

“
I think you found me,
honey.”

There he was, calling her that name again.
Only this time it didn’t sound so offensive. This time it matched
what it was: rich and sweet. She crawled a little closer to him,
hesitant to lie down beside him but aching to be closer. Her hand
slid up to find his chest. His heart beat fast and hard against her
palm.

“
You planning on getting any
actual rest tonight?” he asked, teasing.

“
I plan to sleep like a log,” she
answered. To prove it, she twisted and flopped to her
back.

It was the wrong move. In the dark, without
being completely oriented, the move settled her tightly against his
chest. He circled his arm around her and pulled her against him as
if it was second nature. In her effort to put a little distance
between them, she swung her arm back, only to have it land squarely
on his hip.

She knew she should move her hand, especially
when the temptation to spread her fingers across the span of his
thigh and inch her way to a particular part of him became too much.
At least he still had his pants on. Or maybe they were his drawers.
If she could just reach a little closer to his backside, she might
find out. She squeezed her eyes shut. She should stop, she should
stop, she should stop.

“
If you don’t relax, you’re never
going to fall asleep,” he murmured in her ear. He was so close that
she could feel the heat of his breath against her neck.

She let out a breath with the full intention
of forcing herself to relax. The quick up and down of her chest
caused his hand to slip from her side to her stomach. If he moved
only a few inches up, his fingers would brush her
breast.

“
Shh.” He nuzzled his face against
the hair at the back of her neck. “This is supposed to make you
feel safe and calm.”

“
I am calm,” she panted, anything
but.

He chuckled, his whole body shaking against
hers. Lynne writhed as if she might come out of her skin. Instead
of making her feel better, the motion caused him to suck in a
breath and hold her tighter.

“
I wouldn’t do that if I were
you,” he said.

She twisted to peek over her shoulder at him.
In the darkness, she could only barely make out the outline of his
jaw, the rise of his shoulder, the muscles of his arm. He adjusted
against her, his body as tense as she was. For a moment, she
thought he would pull away, that he would roll over and find a
better sleeping position. Her heart trembled in
disappointment.

A moment later, he surged closer to her,
spreading his hand across her stomach. Butterflies exploded at the
touch, fluttering lower and lower. She strained closer to him,
unsure whether she was brave or possessed. All she knew was that
she couldn’t stand the tension for another moment. She found his
lips in the dark and kissed him.

Cade’s response was slow at first. He took
control of the kiss, teasing her lips with his tongue. The
sensation was so wonderful that Lynne closed her eyes. She moved
her hand from his hip and rested it on top of his as it cradled her
stomach. His fingers inched lower as the power of his kiss
increased.

She didn’t resist any of it. When he parted
her lips to run the tip of his tongue along the inside of her
bottom lip, she welcomed him. He was warm and solid. The scent of
his skin was purer than the fresh prairie air. He shifted just
enough to lay her head against the pillow so that he could kiss her
more deeply. She let him. The intensity with which he explored her
mouth filled her with dazzling light in the deep of
night.

His hand slipped lower still. Every reasonable
part of her told her she should stop him. She should push him aside
and scold him and march out of the nest he’d made for them.
Instead, when he hesitated, she pushed his hand lower. His fingers
dipped below the waist of her drawers, brushing the thatch of curls
at the juncture of her thighs. That part of her ached for his
touch. The wanting drove her wild, pressed the air from her lungs
even as he continued to tease and invade her mouth.

He was so close to sliding his fingers into
her curls and deeper when he hesitated.

“
Don’t stop,” she whispered,
desperate for more.

He shifted to his side, stretching beside her
and laying her fully on her back. His face hovered inches above
hers, and yet she could still only see the glint of his eyes as
they searched for hers.

“
You don’t know what you’re
asking,” he said, rough and hoarse.

“
I do,” she replied. To prove it,
she felt along his side, sliding a hand over his chest and brushing
across the tightness of his nipple. “I know what I
want.”

She proved it by lifting her head to kiss him.
This time she took what she wanted. She was brave and bold, parting
his lips and following an age-old instinct that told her to love
him. As her mouth explored, her hand continued its journey, across
his arm and around his back and down to the tight muscle of his
backside.

He twitched and pressed closer to her in
response, trying and failing to swallow a groan. The hot hardness
of his manhood pressed against her thigh. It was a wonderful
fascination to her. She squeezed his backside, then trailed her
fingers over his hip to close her palm around his
length.

Cade tried to suppress a growl. He jerked,
pressing into her palm to rub himself against her hand, then
pulling away.

“
I can’t do this to you,” he said.
“I’m supposed to protect you.”

“
What if I want you this way?” she
asked. She did. She truly did.

“
You’ll hate me for
it.”

“
I will not,” she insisted. She
stroked his length to prove it. He was only wearing drawers after
all. She could tell by the suppleness of the cotton. “You must want
this too.”

Inch by inch, she could feel his resolve
crumble. He ground against her grip, capturing her mouth to savor
it for a moment. She rested against the pillow, drawing him closer.
When she shifted her hand up to the small of his back, he continued
grinding against her hips. She gasped at the giddy sensations the
contact sparked, even with two layers of fabric between
them.

She wanted more than just teasing. Without
letting herself think about the consequences of her boldness, she
reached between them to tug at the tie of his drawers. The knot
came loose and she pushed the thin fabric down over his hips and
thighs. His staff sprung free against her abdomen. She gasped at
the feel of it, slid both hands along it to learn him. In the dark
he seemed immense and hard. Her core ached to feel him inside of
her, to discover what women had known from the dawn of
time.

“
My brave vixen,” Cade murmured
above her. “You really do want this.”

“
Of course, I do,” she
whispered.

“
I won’t go any farther if you
don’t want me to,” he said, propping himself above her. “I swear
it. I won’t harm your virtue if you want to change your mind right
now.”

She shook her head, body alive with fire. “I
won’t change my mind. I want you.”

“
Then prove it.”

“
How?”

“
Take your clothes
off.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Every inch of
her skin tingled with excitement. Could she do it? Was she actually
that brazen?

She answered herself with a resounding yes.
Cade kept himself propped over her as she fumbled for the hem of
her chemise and tugged it up. She wriggled and squirmed to get it
off over her head in the tight space Cade allowed her. She felt him
suck in a breath as she tossed it aside. He lowered himself close
enough for the fine hair on his chest to tickle her bared and
sensitive nipples.

The sensation was heavenly. She reached her
arms around him and tried to tug him down on top of her. He
resisted, so she pressed her breasts against him, disappointed when
he didn’t immediately kiss her and touch her and give her what she
wanted.

“
All of your clothes,” he
growled.

A shiver swirled through her at the fierce
command. A fear that wasn’t fear at all prickled her skin. She
reached around his arms, readjusting so that she could untie her
drawers and push them down over her hips. He groaned as she
wriggled and kicked them off. When they were gone, the truth hit
her. She was lying naked under him and he was naked and aroused
above her. And every bit of her cried out for him.

“
I want you,” she
whispered.

She might not have known what she was doing,
but she knew enough to part her legs and open herself to him. She
even arched her hips up to find his and show him how brave she
was.