To Tempt a Wilde (12 page)

“Nate,” she whispered, her eyes feathering closed.

Her breaths came out in panting breaths of air against his mouth, their tongues performing a sensual battle of their own as
their undulating bodies ground and writhed against each other in the ultimate dual.

Groaning low in his throat, Nate pulled her as tight as
he could against his body, massaging the rounded firm globes of her bottom, squeezing and molding them as she rode him.

“Yes, yes…oooh,” she moaned, her breathy little cries making him grit his teeth to hold back the orgasm that hovered.

Digging into her
at a new angle, one that allowed him to go deep, he couldn't get close enough. He felt nearly crazed with his need for her.

Placing his hand between their joined bodies, again he found the core of her and as he stroked inside her, he rubbed her stiffened bud until she broke.

She screamed into his mouth, her body bucking against his as her walls clamped tight on his shaft so hard he felt his
own release burning.

Releasing her clitoris, he tightened his hold on her small waist and pummeled into her, once, twice…rocking into her a final time before he too gave in, sending them both over the edge into bliss.

Their blended cries of release, one high, one deep, low, blended and merged into one mind blowing note of passion.

“I love you, Nate…God, I love you…”

 

Once her cries had died
down to sighs, Nate reluctantly pulled out of her sweet, warm, heat. He felt his own heart mimic the chaotic beat of hers as their bodies remained close.

Blowing out a long, steadying breath, he rested his forehead against hers, allowing his body to calm and his heartrate to return to a semblance of normalcy.

Kissing her forehead, moist from the shower and her own sweat, he opened the shower
door.

Stepping out of the shower he grabbed one of the oversize, plush white towels and wrapped it haphazardly around her before he lifted her high in his arms and carried her back to his bed.

Placing her in the center, he took a moment to look at her, her skin rosy from the shower and their lovemaking, her lids closed, her full, sexy lips partially opened.

A frown pulled his brows together,
echoes of her cries finally penetrating his brain.

Had she cried out her love for him? Or had it been something he'd conjured up, something he'd wanted to pull from her, wanted for her to say to him…

Her eyes, low, slumberous and satiated, lifted and she stared back at him.

Again he felt his cock stir, thicken.

It wasn't enough.

He dropped the towel he'd quickly wrapped around his waist and
joined her on the bed.

He covered her with his body, kissing the side of her neck, running his nose down the side, inhaling her unique smell into his senses. “Althea.” Her name came out in a coarse whisper as he licked the sensitive spot beneath her earlobe before pulling away and looking down at her.

She raised her hands, brought her palms on either side of his face and softly ran them down
his cheeks. He turned his face into her hands and kissed them before removing them, placing them high above her and securing them with one hand, the other going down to part her thighs.

He saw her eyes widen when he centered himself between her legs, his cock pressing against her moist heat.

He didn't know if he would ever have his fill of her, if he would ever have enough of her…

“Nate…”
she cried in a low, soft, utterly feminine voice.

Her back bowed high off the bed when he began to slowly enter her. He took his time, filling every inch of her with him…filling her up in a way that no other man could touch what was his.

Filling her until he didn't know where he started and she began.

Their lovemaking was slow and easy. He kept her body flush against his as he rocked inside
of her, his pace lazy, sensual, his thrust measured and steady.

He took his time with her, refamiliarizing himself with every inch of her body. His hands skimmed lightly over her dewy soft skin, her full, perfect breasts and over her hips, before grasping them in his hands, pulling her willing body even closer to his as he leisurely made love until before long the feel of her tightness clenching
down on him, skin to skin, no barriers between them, became too much.

Even as he lengthened his stride, his strokes became more demanding, demanding that she give him all of her, until there was no more to give.

Until she had nothing left for any other man.

Until she admitted she was his.

“I
love you, Nate…”

The words filtered into Althea's sleeping brain, forcing her eyes to open.

As soon as they did she squinted against the early-morning light peeking through the wide-slatted blinds in Nate's bedroom.

She sat straight up.

In Nate's bedroom.

She glanced down at herself. Her naked self…

She quickly shut her eyes and with a groan flopped back down on the bed,
the events of the night before coming to her mind.

She kept her eyes tightly closed as though that would erase the things she and Nate had done together throughout the long night before.

As though that would make the images go away.

Althea drew the sheet away from her body and
touched the slightly reddened skin on her thighs, wincing at the ache from her touch.

She blew out a breath and sat
up, leaning against the headboard.

God, could it be, had she told him she loved him? Had she admitted to him what she felt?

If there was any doubt in her mind about her feelings for Nate, last night he'd stormed through every one of her objections, his lovemaking so intense she had to tighten her legs against the memory of the feel of him inside her body.

Nate, like his brothers, didn't love
lightly. But when they did…if they did, it was real.

Althea pulled her legs up until her knees touched her breasts and wrapped her arms around them before resting her head on top of her knees.

But did he love her?

The sound of raised male voices pulled her away from her mental musings. She sat forward in the bed and crawled down until she was at the foot, straining to listen.

She was only
able to pick up bits and pieces of the conversation. She heard Nate's voice, quickly followed by Shilah and Holt, the three men in what sounded like a heated discussion.

She rose from the bed, and walked toward the door, curious as to what they were saying.

 

“How many are sick? Dr. Crandall on his way?” Nate asked, running a hand through his hair, eyeing each of his brothers. “Can't you two
handle this?” he asked. It was too early in the morning for this crap. Besides, his
thoughts were solely on Althea, wanting nothing more than to crawl back into bed with her, wake her up, and make love to her all over again.

Their lovemaking had been intense, raw and earthy. Beyond the lovemaking, she made him feel things he never thought he'd feel for a woman.

She was everything he wanted in
a woman. Although she'd only been on the ranch for a little while he knew what he felt for her was real. That his feelings for Angela had only been a pale imitation of what he felt for Althea.

His only concern now was if she loved him as much as she loved the ranch, as much as he loved her.

The realization of his feelings hit Nate swiftly, bringing him up short.

He loved her.

Loved everything
about her. From the stubborn look that would cross her face, to the impish light that entered her eyes when she was teasing him…to when her features softened and the stamp of satisfaction played upon her face after they made love long into the night.

Damn.

His love for her had been there, growing with every day he spent with her, every moment in her company, for longer than Nate admitted to
himself. It had snuck up on him and sucker punched him right in the gut. And he hadn't even seen it coming.

“Yeah, well I think you need to see this.”

His brother dragged him out of his musings, and he forced himself to listen as Shilah filled him in on the situation.

They'd been notified that after a random testing of
meat from the local packing plant. The test had revealed that the meat was
tainted, suggesting that the animals it had come from were sick.

Although the meat hadn't been identified as coming from Wyoming Wilde, the men had immediately had Dr. Crandall come out and perform a full testing on all the cattle, particularly their recent purchase of prize cows, to make sure they were all clean.

Dr. Crandall had assured them the animals were healthy, but had sent several blood
samples out overnight express, pulling several strings to get the results quickly, to rule out sicknesses that would only show in full blood work.

Nate felt his gut clench as he listened to his brothers, forcing all thoughts of Althea and his love for her, from his mind, temporarily. “The results?”

Shilah shook his head. “Clean. Didn't come from us,” he said, and Nate released a relieved breath.

“And why wasn't I told about this?”

Holt shrugged a shoulder. “Didn't want to get you worked up, at least unless there was something to worry about.” He looked at Shilah, including him in his comment. “We thought you've had a lot of other things on your mind, lately. No need to get you involved unless needed.”

Nate ignored the reference to what…or who…had taken up most of his thoughts over the
last few weeks. He was under no delusions that his brothers didn't know what was going on between he and Althea.

He was no longer trying to hide it from them. They'd know soon enough when they realized he was moving her in with him.

“So, what's the problem?”

“Wouldn't be a problem if we didn't have Rolling Hills on our ass,” Holt replied, both his expression and tone of voice grim. “Those
sons of bitches are just waiting for an opportunity…”

“An opportunity they'll be waiting for until hell freezes over,” Nate cut in, his voice equally grim.

The Rolling Hills Food Corporation had moved into the area, setting up their main plant in Landers, less than six months ago. In that time, they'd bought many of the surrounding ranches from family-owned operations, and had on several occasions
approached Nate and his brothers about selling.

Their latest offer, although lucrative, the men wouldn't consider, their love for the Wilde Ranch more than any monetary compensation could compare with. Sending the corporation a firm no, they'd thought that had been the end of it.

But it hadn't. Soon after their latest refusal, the men had begun to come across roadblocks they'd never encountered
before, red tape that hadn't been there before when selling their stock. Small instances, yet when added up they had begun to take a small toll on the ranch's finances. They were still doing well, expanding and buying more livestock, the ranch prospering and doing better than it ever had, yet the men were concerned.

And now this. The issue of bad meat was nothing anyone took lightly, and the
men had always been extremely careful in making sure their animals were healthy.

Before the recent issues with Rolling Hills, none of
this would have been a cause for alarm, particularly as Dr. Crandall had given them a clean bill of health. However, with the corporation after their ranch, they didn't put anything past the megacorporation and knew that any rumor started about bad beef, and even
a hint that it came from them, could be a death sentence for Wyoming Wilde.

“The cattle is cleared, but I think we need to check into this before any rumors start,” Shilah said, mirroring Nate's thoughts.

Nate agreed, realizing that as much as he wanted to spend the day in bed with Althea, making love to her, he also needed to accompany his brothers to protect their ranch.

 

“Look, baby, something's
come up. I have to go. I want to stay with you—”

“Go,” Althea cut in, rising from the bed to meet Nate as he entered the bedroom. “Don't worry. I'll be here when you get back.”

She met him halfway into the room, leaning into his embrace as he hugged her, running his head back and forth over the top of her hair.

She felt the tension in his body when his arms tightened around her, and heard the
thread of anger mixed with anxiety in his deep voice.

She leaned away from his embrace and glanced into his face, seeing his features tight with worry. She brought a hand up, easing the frown away from his wide forehead, smoothing her fingers over his knitted brows.

He captured her hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed her fingers, closing his eyes briefly.

“Promise?” he asked, his voice
husky.

She forced a smile onto her face, batting away the nagging thought in her mind, the thought that Reggie was somehow involved in what was going on with the animals, that he'd found her. That she was the cause of the trouble the men were facing.

He brought a finger beneath her chin to bring her face up to meet his eyes.

“You're incredible, you know that?” he asked, his eyes roaming over
her face. He shook his head. “You coming into my life has been the best thing to happen in a long time—I don't know how or why it happened, I'm just glad it did,” he said, cupping the back of her head and pulling her close, kissing her with swift yet sensual precision before letting her go.

Althea felt the sting of tears burn the back of her eyes. She smiled shakily and tried to look away from
him.

He forced her to turn back to him, the frown on his face returning, deepening.

“What's this for?” he asked, thumbing away a tear she hadn't known streaked down her cheek.

She smiled, shaking her head. “Nothing. Just overly emotional I guess. Must be that time…you know,” she finished weakly.

He stared down at her a fraction longer. Opening his mouth to speak, before he could say anything
they both heard his brothers' voices outside the door.

He brought her close and kissed her again. When he released her, he placed his hands on her shoulders,
forcing her away enough that he could really look at her.

“I've got to go,” he said, his tone reluctant. Althea nodded her head, swallowing down the emotion that threatened to overwhelm her.

“While I'm gone, go to the cottage and get your
things together,” he murmured, against the side of her forehead, kissing her.

Her eyes flew to his. The look of dismay and what she
thought
he meant must have shown in her eyes.

“God no, not that,” he said, laughing lightly and brushing a kiss over her opened mouth. “I want you here, with me. I want your face to be the last one I see at night, and the first one I see in the morning,” he murmured,
his eyes dark with an emotion she had to close her own against.

With a soft cry she pulled his head down to hers. The kiss was quick, but so hot she stumbled when he finally released her. He thumbed beneath her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Okay?”

Unable to speak, she simply nodded her head in agreement.

“But when I get back…when I get back, you and I are going to have to talk. Really
talk, Althea. It's time,” he said, his words and tone of voice sending a fresh wave of anxiety to pool in her gut.

She knew her reckoning day was coming. He wasn't going to allow her to evade him anymore. He would demand the truth from her. All of it. It was there in his eyes. He'd wring from her everything she had. He wouldn't settle for less.

“Yes,” she agreed, her voice a whisper. With a
final
kiss, she watched him as he turned and strode out of the door.

Watching him leave, an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach.