Under the Cowboy's Control (18 page)

Jesus Christ. Travis panted. Her words seduced him. She was a beautiful witch, her sorcery surrounding him, her beauty possessing him completely. He closed his eyes and felt waves of pleasure so intense he knew he was going to explode.

He gripped her head again as his body shook and another surge of blood rushed to his groin as his climax took hold of him. He let out a deep groan and pushed against her mouth, spilling himself inside her.

Selena felt the moment the orgasm gripped him. She held him tightly and gave him all she could. In the moments after his release, she was inundated by the feelings she had for him. Love surged through her, and she consumed the proof of his emotions for her.

Travis came back to reality and pulled her up onto his lap until she was wrapped around him, her arms and legs holding him tightly. Her body aligned with his, and she rested her head against his shoulder, relaxing completely.

Travis felt her soft little body curving into him, remembered the release of a few moments past, and emotion rocked him. His arms tightened around her, and a pleasure and peace that he had only known with her engulfed him. His hands ran up and down her spine. "Selena, don't ever leave me." He meant the words as a plea, they came out sounding like an order.

The deep words infiltrated her brain. She raised her head and wrapped her hands around his face, watching him, letting him see inside of her. "Why would I ever leave you?" Her eyes held his.

The time was right.

"I love you, Travis."

Travis felt her words slam into him. Relief washed through him. His heart beat in acknowledgement. But as his hands gripped her hips, a black feeling began invading his senses.
She thought she loved him, but what damn choice had he
given her?

His fingers bit into her. He wasn't about to start giving her a choice, now. His manhood swelled again with the primal emotions running through him.

He lifted her up, like a doll in his arms, and pushed himself all the way into her.

Selena gasped at the rapid movement, at the feeling of being stretched and impaled completely. She hung in his grasp and tried to adjust.

His hand moved to her neck and restrained her. "You said whenever I wanted." His hips pushed into her. "I want it now."

Selena began to pant and felt liquid heat come from her and ease his way. She raised her hands to his shoulders and adjusted her seat on him.

Raising herself off him, anticipation licking her womb, she slid back down and they groaned in unison.

She began moving on him, up and down, and felt him hitting her womb. Her eyes glazed over as arousal pierced her body. She lifted up and down, her movements unconsciously sensual.

Within seconds, the storm hit them and they moved together, their bodied clenching in pulsing need. Selena felt it coming, and started taking longer and deeper strokes. She pushed at him, her internal muscles milking him, as waves and waves of pulsating release hit her.

Her scream rent the air and pushed Travis over the top. He gripped her hips, enclosing her in an unrelenting grasp as he spurted inside of her.

She collapsed against him, and they both took gasping inhalations of air.

Travis hissed in a deep, sustaining breath, and before the intensity between them came down, he tightened his hold on her and seized her in an uncompromising grip. He growled the words at her, "Remember, Selena."

He lifted her face so she could read his eyes. "You're mine."

Selena closed her eyes and laid her head back down on him in all consuming bliss.

****

Travis came into the house from the barn, covered in sweat and grime. Selena turned from the oven, and as always, her radiant smile beamed at him.

Tonight, it hit him low in the gut. He cleared his throat. "I'm filthy. I'm going to go have a shower."

Selena watched him leave the room, apprehension curling through her. He had been acting differently for days. Something was wrong. She knew it deep in her heart.

When he came back in the room, he sat at the table and picked at his food. Selena sat down with him and picked up her fork. She tried to go slow, but she was starving. Every evening at about this time, a fierce hunger took hold of her and she couldn't control it. Her body was asking for food, and so she ate.

She studied him silently while they ate, her eyes darting between him and the plate in front of her. It dismayed her that he continued to make love to her every day, with no thought at all to her missed period.

After they were finished, Travis didn't say anything, but he came around the table and picked up her hand and led her into the living room.

He couldn't put this off any longer. If he put it off any more, his conscious would start screaming at him even more. He couldn't hide this from her, especially not for his own selfish reasons.

He indicated that she sit on the couch, and he dropped down and sat on the large, wooden coffee table directly in front of her.

"Selena, I have something to tell you."

Chapter Ten

Selena registered the grim cast to his features and braced herself for something bad. He paused and she nodded her head in understanding and an acknowledgement that he should continue.

"I found your paternal grandmother, here in Texas." He took a deep breath, all the way from his diaphragm and held it, waiting for her reaction.

Confusion sliced through her. This was the one thing she hadn't told Travis in the weeks of intimacy that had followed their marriage. He had asked about her family in Mexico, and she had shared with him the horror and trauma of losing them, one by one, and what she had gone through, being left on her own.

How she had fled for her very life.

But she had never shared the almost silly idea of finding her grandparents, lost to her through a generation, another country, and so many years.

A tenuous joy replaced the confusion. Her eyes welled with tears. "My grandmother? Really? She's a-alive?"

Travis held her hands with his and felt the fine tremor gripping her. "Yes, Angel.

She's alive. And she's fairly young and healthy. But your grandfather, isn't, baby.

He's dead, Selena." He broke the news as gently as he could.

Selena felt a pang at that, but no deep pain, because she hadn't known him, and the shock of knowing she had a grandmother alive was still infiltrating her system.

A small seed of happiness was blossoming inside of her.

"How--how did you--" She could barely speak.

"Let me tell you what I know, and how it happened." He paused, and prayed his world wasn't about to come crashing down around him. "I saw the history of your searches on the internet, soon after you got here. I'm sorry I invaded your privacy, but I did. I thought I would try to help you search for them, so I got all the information from your papers, and I called a friend in Houston. A friend with connections." His words came to a halt to see if she was following him completely.

She spoke softly. "G-go on, please."

"He called me a few days ago, and told me what he had found out. I got her contact information from him." He waited.

Her eyes searched his. A few days ago was when he had started acting strangely.

The two events had to be related. "Wow," she breathed out the American slang softly.

"There's more, Selena."

Selena's world eased into slow motion. She absorbed the subtle nuances of his speech. He called her
Selena
when he was serious, he called her
Angel
when he was being gentle, and he called her
baby
when he was being cajoling.

"You have to understand that I couldn't take the chance of someone hurting you."

His fingers played with hers. "I had to make sure this woman wouldn't deny you, or hurt you in any way at all. I've spoken to her on the phone."

Selena's heart stopped and she clutched his hands in hers and waited.

"Angel, she's a really sweet old lady, and she wants to meet you something fierce.

She loves you already." His words came to a halt.

"Oh my God, Travis." She came into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her lips firmly on his, in an act of thanksgiving.

"When can I meet her?"

Travis steeled himself. It was happening already.

****

That night, when he held Selena in bed, he admitted that he had already told her grandmother about the death of her family. He neglected to think of that aspect when he had phoned her, and after telling the woman about his new wife from Mexico, her next question had been about her son, his wife, and her grandson. The questions had thrown Travis for a loop and when he had hesitated she lambasted him.
Young man, please have pity on me and just tell me. I would rather know now
while I am celebrating the knowledge of my
granddaughter
.

And so he had.

Selena snuggled deeper into his arms. "Thank you, Travis, for taking care of that burden for me."

His conscious sent him a vicious kick. She was pure sweetness, and she had no idea what a selfish, rapacious, self-serving bastard he was.

****

Travis and Selena sat in his big, black truck and waited for the electronic gates to open. The house on the hill was huge, made of stone, with an endless landscaped lawn and an explosion of colorful flowers around it.

Selena stared in amazement and excitement. The drive had taken three and a half hours, and she was chomping at the bit.

Travis looked at it with trepidation and a sense of exclusion.

Travis studied the house. Either this old woman had more money than he did, or she just didn't mind spending as much of it. Travis calculated how much it would cost to build Selena a house like this if she wanted one. His mind ran through the numbers.
Not a problem
. He would call an architect next week.

Travis picked the place for it in his imagination. The little terrace above the live spring that fed his pond. He saw swing sets and slides in the yard, and a tree house in the big old oak tree. Fuzzy images of children running around the yard, pulling at Selena as she danced and played around them.

Jesus Christ, he wanted that with her. Man, he had it bad for her.

Travis pulled up into the circular drive, parked the truck, and turned to Selena.

"You ready for this, Angel?"

"Yes, Travis. I want to meet my grandmother." She waited with her hand on the door handle.

He tried to hide his feelings and attempted a smile for her. "Okay. Let's go."

He came around to her side of the truck, and helped her out, just as she was stepping down. The front door opened before they could knock, and a small, slender, elegant woman stepped out of the house.

Her eyes fell on Selena, and Selena looked back, with curiosity and a bit of apprehension.

The older woman smiled and immediately opened her arms.

Selena hesitated only momentarily, then walked right into the embrace.

Travis watched them hug, and stood to the side in amazement as he looked at the older woman. She was an older, mature, blonde version of Selena. She was about the same height, maybe an inch taller, and although her hips had widened somewhat through a combination of age and childbirth, he could tell she had been exactly Selena's size at one time. She almost still was. Her face held a beauty that was only slightly faded from time. He had never seen so close a resemblance between three generations.

These Taylor woman aged well. It was just one more thing that made Selena perfect.

The blonde woman now held Selena's face between her palms, and studied her, her eyes brimming with a happiness that was unmistakable. Travis was happy for his wife, but he felt a far off feeling of loneliness, of not belonging, until both women turned to him at the same time and smiled.

Selena's grandmother dropped one hand from Selena's face, and held out her arm toward Travis.

Travis stepped closer and picked up her hand. "Mrs. Taylor. It's nice to meet you."

His voice was deep and polite.

She pulled him into the embrace and at the same time said in her soft Texas drawl,

"I don't want to hear
Mrs. Taylor
from you again, sweetie, I'm
your grandmother,
too.
"

Travis bent to hug the two small women, and he felt peace settle over him.

Travis and Selena spent the weekend with
their grandmother
, and they both enjoyed every minute of it.

And that's the way it was.

She belonged to them both, because they were married, and they both belonged to her. She may have shown a certain gentleness toward Selena because she was young and female, but she didn't differentiate between them in any other way.

She treated them both like long lost family. Close relatives. Grandchildren. She was curious about every aspect of their lives, and during the long weekend, they got to know each other. She was curious about Travis and his youth, just as she was about Selena. She praised Selena for escaping from Mexico and learning English so quickly. She praised Travis for escaping from his horrible father and succeeding in life.

She praised both of them for finding each other and sharing a deep, abiding love.

When she referred to them in plural, it was
you babies
, and in singular as
baby
or
sweetie
.

She never offered Selena a home as he had feared. The closest she came was when she showed them to the room they would share and said,
This bedroom is
for the two of you. Ya'll come use it whenever you want, you don't ever need an
invitation.

It was the beginning of a relationship that would last the rest of the older woman's life. They made plans for
Grandmother
to come and see them, and Travis had been the one to instigate the idea. It had come somewhere toward the end of the second day when she had told them in a chipper little voice,
I'm not going to bother
you babies all the time, but I think after waiting this long, I should get a five minute
phone call a week, how does that sound, sweeties?