Ride The Wild Wind (Time Travel Historical Romance) (26 page)

She swallowed hard. “I do.”

His hands were warm and seeking beneath the thick, woven cloth, but
welcome. She closed her eyes a moment, allowing him to freely caress and
explore her body, relishing the feel of his rough palms as they slid lower to
test her readiness for him.

She sucked in a breath at the contact and he pressed his cheek to hers. “Don’t
hate me,” he whispered on a ragged breath as he shoved the dress aside with the
other hand.

Hate him? She could never. She smothered his tear-streaked cheeks in
kisses as if doing so would heal his pain, but his mouth slammed across hers
again in a deep, seeking kiss. His knuckles brushed her skin as he reached
between them to free himself. He sprang forth, hot and rigid against her belly
and she pressed against his hardness, hungering for this primal intimacy with
him and the pleasure only he could give.

She shifted her legs further apart to accommodate his seeking hand and
felt her own silken wetness on his fingertips as he stroked her intimately.

He pulled back and stared into her eyes. “One Ear cannot have you,” he
whispered roughly. “No other man can. You are my woman, Halle.
All
mine.”

Then he lifted her into his arms.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

With an impending sense of urgency, Antonio carried her down a narrow
trail toward a sparse cottonwood grove. Warm afternoon sunlight filtered
through gold and copper leaves that had begun to turn over the past week,
dappling the ground with buttery sunlight. Far from the Navajo encampment and
concealed in the trees, he set her on her feet and whisked the blanket dress
over her head. A skitter of goosebumps danced over her bared flesh as his hot
smoldering eyes perused her.  After spreading her dress on the ground, he
knelt at her feet and removed her moccasins, followed by the buckskin leggings,
then cast them into a pile.

Hurriedly, he shrugged out of his own clothes, adding them to the
ever-growing heap.  His sex was thick and dark and erect, filling the
empty space between their bodies.

He pulled her into his arms, kissed her fiercely, silencing the
possibility of any further questions. His tongue plundered her mouth, enticing
hers into a sensual dance that had her buckling at the knees. He left nothing
to the imagination about what he wanted, for the kiss was purely carnal, fueled
by animalistic desire. The ache in her womb grew as the frenzied kiss continued.
 

 It had been too long since she’d tasted him…smelled his outdoorsy
scent…or touched the sleekness of his silky hair. Wanting to experience him in
every way, she broke the kiss and urged him to his knees.

“Lie back,” she commanded.

Questioning eyes held hers, but he complied. Without shame, her hands
explored the curves and angles of his sleekly bronzed, sculpted body. She
marveled at the smooth texture of sun-darkened skin covering every hard inch of
muscle beneath. Deftly, she touched the bruise on his side and he grasped her
hand, grimacing as if in pain.

“What happened?”

“It’s nothing.”

Nothing my foot.

She continued her exploration. He was magnificently aroused, his sex
thick and rigid and springing from a dense nest of crisp, dark curls.  Beautiful
and perfect were words that came to mind as she bent to kiss his chest and
inhale the musky, masculine scent of his flesh. She licked one chocolate nipple
which tasted slightly salty. He jerked. Pleased by his response, she did it
again, this time drawing the tiny, dark bead into her mouth and suckling it
gently the way he had hers.

He moaned softly and his fingers threaded into her hair. “Halle, what
are you doing?”

I’m loving you.
She lifted her face to look at him. Tears which
had streaked his face were dry, yet the expression in his eyes still held a
wealth of pain. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No.”

She bent again and swirled the tip of her tongue around the other
nipple, then eased lower to kiss the flesh of his taut stomach, tasting his
skin, loving each buck of his body, each deep moan she elicited. Dipping her
fingertip into his innie navel, she traced the dark whorl of hair around it,
then playfully
drew her finger down the furry line that disappeared into
thick, dark pubic hair.

He sucked in a breath, his body going rigid when she took him in hand.
Awed at the steeliness of his engorged sex, she eyed the swollen tip with its
glistening bead of dew and the velvety soft dark skin encasing him.

His attention never left her as she stroked him up and down. She he
wondered what he would do if she kissed him on the tip of his penis.  So
she did, not once, but twice.

With a growl, he rolled her beneath him, settling his hips between her
thighs. He ground his erection against her and gazed down into her eyes, a
puzzled expression on his face.

“Why did you do that?”

She blinked. She didn’t actually know, except she’d wanted to. “I
thought you might like it.”

“I did.” He began to move slowly, rocking softly against her thigh,
intimating what was to come with each punctuated thrust against her body.

 Halle clung to his biceps, gasping softly as he coaxed her body to
accept his a bit. So this was it—the moment of truth. She swallowed hard, her eyes
fixed on his handsome face. In that moment she knew with certainty she loved
him. No matter she didn’t want to or that she’d tried to hate him these past
few weeks.

 She clutched his arms tight and closed her eyes and felt his body
tremble as he pressed deeper. After that she didn’t think anymore, but could
only feel, reveling in the sensation of having his body join hers. She skimmed
her palms over the damp flesh of his muscular shoulders and upper back, loving
the feel of his heated skin beneath her palms. As if of their own accord, her
legs snaked around the back of his upper thighs and she locked her ankles
behind them, tilting her pelvis to draw him deeper into her body if that was at
all possible.

“From this moment on, you belong to me, Halle, and only me.”

She didn’t fully comprehend the meaning of his words until he surged
into her. Scalding pain ripped through her. The breath left her lungs. Halle
shoved at his chest and tried to twist her body in an effort to free herself
but, he pinned her hips with his and stilled.

“Shhh” He dropped a kiss on her lips, moved achingly slow within her as
if he were afraid he might hurt her again. “I’m sorry there is pain, but only
this once. Then there is pleasure.”

Soon the discomfort became a memory. And he’d been right about the
pleasure part. Delicious curls of desire swirled throughout her body as he
began to thrust slow and steady. Curious to see how they fit together, she
lifted her head slightly and looked down at where they were joined. Darker skin
met lighter. Hard body filled soft. He moved achingly slow yet deep inside, the
wonder of what they were doing taking her breath away.

Intense pleasure eventually overtook her senses. Closing her eyes, she
gave into instinct as her body began to move in perfect rhythm to match his. A
wave, building from her core broke and crashed and he urged her on. When she
was utterly spent, she lay still beneath him, completely sated, but still
clinging to his arms and holding him fast.

Just when she thought it was over, another wave of intense warm light
filled her. She struggled higher and higher to rise above. She crashed in a
dizzying kaleidoscope of sensations, opening her eyes in time to watch his face
contort and feel his body shudder violently.

Antonio’s eyes opened, and his breath came in deep, choking gasps as
warmth spilled within her. She locked her ankles behind his knees, keeping him
close, loving the intermittent spasms of his body and the feeling of
completion. Of possession. She never wanted to let him go, never wanted this
moment to end.

He gave a silly, sensual grin that made her heart turn over. Wisps of
his tousled hair drifted across her face. She inhaled the sunshine scent of
him, loving the softness, the wild feel of untamed man.

When the spasms subsided and she could breathe normally again, Halle
smacked him playfully on the arm. “Okay. You’re in big trouble now, mister. Why
didn’t you tell me that having sex felt this good?”

He closed his eyes and drew in a deep, ragged breath before chuckling softly.
“I never knew it could.” Easing from her body, he collapsed onto his back
beside her.

She rolled onto her side and propped herself on one elbow.

“Well, before this day is over we are
definitely
going to do this
again, mister.Maybe two or three times. You can bet on it.”

* * * * *

Antonio laid an arm over across his eyes to shield them from the sun. “I
need a while to recover.” Although he had taken her once, he already felt the
stirrings of new arousal. He prayed she would not be the death of him this
afternoon.

He scarcely heard the breeze in the sycamores over the savage pounding
of his heart. Recalling her question, he lifted a weary hand and waved it. “I
assume you enjoyed yourself?”

She stretched out her legs and arms long like a happy cat. One long
perusal of her soft, feminine curves once again stroked the fire in his loins.
He studied her slender hips, her small, but firm breasts and the flat planes of
her stomach. She was the most perfectly proportioned woman he’d ever seen,
other than her curiously large feet which he actually found rather enticing.

 “So Antonio tell me something,” she began, a devilish gleam in her
eyes.” Would you say you’re a large man or an average sized man?”

At first, he did comprehend her question. Then she wiggled a brow and he
understood. His face warmed at her candor. “I have never pondered such.”

She grinned. “You
felt large.”

He laughed, oddly embarrassed by her bold statement. “You felt small,”
he countered.

She moved in close, so close he could feel her breath on his face.
“Maybe that’s why I feel
grrreat
. How about you? Do you feel
grrrreat,
too?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I feel
grrreat,
too.”

“Well if I’d known if sex was this much fun, I would have let you seduce
me weeks ago.”

Seduced?
He stared into her eyes, the startling realization
crashing over him. Is that what she thought? He’d seduced her?  But wasn’t
that exactly what he had done?

True, he was been furious to discover she had left with Tani and the
children without asking permission, a foolish decision that might have cost one
or all their lives. Then she’d taunted him with One Ear’s marriage proposal.
Had he taken her body today in anger? Or had lust been driving him these past
few weeks?

The enormity of his actions hit him with the force of a rock slide.
Halle was too inexperienced to fight his seduction, and he had been too caught
up in the intensity of his own desire to claim her. Yet this had felt right
.

“Antonio?”  Her soft voice drew him back into the moment. “Is
everything okay? You look sick. Are you going to puke or something?”

He sat up and shook his head, but it had nothing to do with her
question. His eyes raked over her nude body again. So innocent and young. Easy
prey for an experienced man such as himself. He grimaced at the smear of blood
on her inner thighs, evidence of her lost innocence. A pang of regret stabbed
at his heart. He had not only taken her virginity, but had taken her on the
ground like an animal!

Why had he lost control? She made it clear weeks ago she would not marry
him and that she did not want children. Had he branded her because he feared
One Ear might claim her first?

“Antonio, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

A wisp of some unnamed emotion shadowed her face. She reached for her
clothing and drew it to cover herself.
Shame
.

He blew out an exasperated breath. “You already regret it?”

“No.”  She slipped the blanket dress over her head but did not tie
the sash. “What happened was, you know...
nice
.”

He stared.
Nice?
What they had shared had been a hell of a lot
more than ‘nice’ and she damned well knew it.

She slipped on one moccasin. “Okay. There was pain at first but after
that it wasn’t so bad.”

He regretted such and feared in his ardor he might have hurt her. “May I
examine you?”

“Not necessary.”

“If you will recall, I am
a physician.”

She cut her eyes at him, a half-smile tilting the corners of her mouth.
She looked positively impish. “Use that as your classic pick up line often,
Doc?”

He blinked. What was a ‘pick up’ line?

The smile faded and her eyes filled with tears. “You know, I think I’d
like to be alone for a while.”

He stroked her arm. “Do not be ashamed.”

She flicked tears away with her fingertips. “I’m not ashamed. Really.”

“Are you certain you’re not in pain?”

She averted her eyes. “No.”

He regretted she had covered herself so soon, for he would have liked to
touch her again, to hold her in his arms a while. “I have not changed my mind
about one thing, Halle.” She perked up, only to wilt at his words: “I still
want to marry you.”

“You don’t have to marry me because we had sex.”

Antonio realized this talk was due to her inexperience. For all he knew
he might have put a put a child in her womb today. Leaning forward, he brushed
his knuckles against her silken cheek. “Is that all you think it was today
between us today—sex?”

“Antonio, I need to tell you something but I’m afraid.”

“Never be afraid to tell me what is on your mind.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Too late.”

“Okay. Then you’ll think I’m
crazier.
”

“Must we talk at this exact moment?” Amid her slight protest, he lifted
the dress over her head and laid it aside, then skimmed his knuckles down the side
of her throat and over her shoulder. She shuddered, her nipples puckering into
tight beads as he lazily stroked her arm up and down.

“You know, Antonio, it’s really hard to make a confession when
you’re…um...”

He bent and circled one nipple with his tongue.

“T-t-touching me like this,” she finished with a shudder.

He pressed her to the ground, suckled hard at one breast, eliciting a
moan of pleasure from deep in her throat. “Damn, but I want you again.”

“I want you, too.”

“But I fear I will hurt you if I take your body again so soon.” He drew
himself up to a squatting position. “Perhaps it is a better time for a
surprise.”

She reached for her clothes. “Surprise? Now?” she asked, disappointment
edging her voice. “But I thought we were going to um...”

 He nodded. “We are. Only this time, I have a special place in
mind.”

* * * * *

The hogan where
Antonio took her was located at the edge of camp. Clean inside with a
hard-packed red dirt floor, it was fragrant of newly hewn cedar logs, earth,
and animal hides. The ceiling was absent of soot and the fire pit in the center
of the structure appeared as though no one had ever used it. Even the thick bed
made of furs looked fluffy and new.