“Jade says that Cal was only trying to protect me. In a fatherly way, of course.”
“Is that so?” He gave her a dangerous smile. “What else did Jade say?”
“That your intentions are not at all fatherly.”
His smile faded. He went very still, and she had the impression of a predator watching his prey.
“Damn it, Adam, say something.” Without thinking, she grabbed his arm and jabbed a finger to his chest. “Is Jade right? Am I the reason you and Cal were fighting?”
He struggled to ignore her touch. “Is that the reason you brought me here? To satisfy some feminine need for compliments?”
She was outraged. “Is that what you think? That I’m just looking for some words of praise?”
“Well, aren’t you?”
“Damn you.”
She started to turn away, but he caught her by the shoulder and hauled her back.
Before she could react he caught hold of her other shoulder as well, nearly lifting her off her feet as he pinned her against the length of him.
“Would you care to tell me what else Jade said about last night’s fight?”
“Only that...” Startled, and a little afraid, she ran the tip of her tongue over lips that had suddenly gone dry. The fact that he watched the movement through narrowed eyes only enhanced her fear. “That you wanted to establish your... territory.”
His eyes darkened with a dangerous glint. His grasp tightened perceptibly on her shoulders as he drew her closer. He swore, softly and fiercely. “Jade was right.” His voice was low and rough with feeling.
Diamond’s heart began a wild flutter in her chest until she thought it would surely burst. This wasn’t at all what she’d expected. She’d anticipated angry denial. Or a calm but heated explanation. But now she felt even more confused. And strangely elated.
With his mouth almost on hers, he paused, as though considering the consequences.
In that moment, she had a desperate need to taste his lips. More than anything in the world, she wanted his kiss. She raised herself on tiptoe, to claim what she desired.
A sigh seemed to well up from deep inside him. And with it, he gave up the fight. His mouth covered hers in a savage kiss.
A razor’s edge of excitement sliced through her. She could feel his thighs pressed to hers, and his sudden, shocking arousal. She could feel the strength in the arms that held her. He could break her with no effort. And yet she sensed that he was holding back, as though aware of that very strength. It was comforting. And deeply erotic.
Roughly, almost savagely, he took the kiss deeper. Caught up in a blaze of passion, he forgot to be gentle. His kisses became more urgent, more demanding. Diamond found herself caught up in something more than she’d expected. This was no ordinary kiss, like the ones they’d shared before. This time, they were rushing headlong into something neither of them could control.
“Oh, God, Diamond,” he breathed against her mouth. His fingers moved up her back and she felt splinters of fire and ice along her spine. “I’ve tried to deny it. Tried to tell myself that this was all wrong.” He drew her even closer, until she could feel the thundering of his heartbeat inside her own chest. It matched the wild rhythm of her own.
He nibbled her lips until, on a sigh, they parted. His tongue explored her mouth, then withdrew, inviting hers to do the same. She was hesitant at first, then grew bolder as she reveled in the dark, mysterious taste of him.
His kisses were by turn fierce, then gentle. His mouth was bruising, then soft. His hands, too, gripped her fiercely one moment, then gentled, as he pulled himself back again and again from the brink.
He gave her no time to think as he took her on a wild, breathless ride, to the top of a mountain peak, then sent her plunging headlong into a bottomless canyon. With a wild rush of sensations, she followed where he led, clinging to him as her whole world seemed to tilt dangerously.
Lost in the wonder of their kisses, they dropped to their knees in the hay.
“I’ve been lying to myself. And to you. I want you, Diamond.” His voice was thick with desire. He nibbled at the corner of her mouth, then trailed openmouthed kisses along the sensitive column of her throat. “I want you as I’ve never wanted anyone.”
Thrilling to his words, Diamond moved in his arms, loving the feel of his lips on her flesh. She arched her neck, giving him easier access. He ran his tongue along the line of her collarbone until, with soft sighs and breathless whispers, her hand fisted in his hair.
“I never knew,” she admitted. “I never even dreamed...”
He chuckled at her confusion. “Do you know long I’ve been fighting these feelings?”
She shook her head.
“Since the first time I saw you.”
She shivered as his fingers fumbled impatiently with the buttons of her shirt. He shoved it roughly aside and bent his lips to the soft swell of her breast, covered by a pale chemise. Heedless of the delicate fabric, he began nibbling, suckling, until her nipples hardened and she moaned softly.
He drew her down in the hay and lay beside her. “The thought of you is driving me mad,” he muttered as his hands followed the path of his lips and he untied the ribbons of her chemise to tear aside the last barrier.
The feel of his callused hands against her soft flesh was more wonderful than anything she’d ever known. No man had ever touched her like this. Kissed her like this. And, she knew, no other man ever would.
“Do you know what I do when I can’t sleep?” he murmured against her throat. “I lie awake and think about a hundred different ways I’m going to make love with you.” He plunged his hands into the tangles of her hair and plundered her mouth with savage kisses.
She’d faced snowstorms, avalanches and a thundering herd of cattle. But never before had she been caught up in something so wild, so primitive, she could no longer think. All she could do now was feel. “Adam...” she murmured.
“Shh.”He silenced her protest with a deep, lingering kiss that had her heart racing, her head swimming.
He reached a hand to the fasteners at her waist. Through a haze of throbbing needs he whispered, “Tell me you want this, Diamond.”
Her head was spinning, her pulse hammering. A part of her was begging him to go on holding her, kissing her, stroking her. Another part of her was terrified.
“I’m afraid,” she managed to whisper over the fear that clogged her throat.
He lifted his head. “Afraid? Of me?”
How could she make him understand her fears? Of losing control. Of being taken over by needs so demanding, they left her stunned and reeling.
“Of me. Of this.” She turned her head, ashamed to have him see this weakness. “It’s all happened so fast. I don’t know...what’s right anymore. I don’t know what to do. Oh, I wish... I wish... Help me, Adam.”
For long moments he studied her. How could he have forgotten how sheltered her life had been? It was true that she was a woman. But she was still clinging to yesterday, and the girl she had been when her father had been alive to shield her and make her decisions.
He felt her tremble and drew her into his arms with great tenderness. He held her against his chest, rocking her like a child. Suppressing his own needs, he stroked her hair, her back, until the trembling subsided.
“Come on, Diamond.” He helped her to her feet and gently tied the ribbons of her chemise, then buttoned her shirt.
With each touch of her, the need was still there, raw and desperate, demanding release. But he managed to hold it at bay as he said, “You’d better go inside now. It’s time you got to know Ruby.”
“Come with me, Adam. It’ll be easier with you there. You can talk to her, and I can just sit back and listen.”
He shook his head. “It’s time for me to head back to my place. There’s work to be done. Besides, this is your business. You have to see to it.”
He took a step back, and then another, feeling a sense of loss and pain as he peeled himself away.
br />
“When will I see you again?”
He caught the reins of his stallion and pulled himself into the saddle. “Don’t worry. I’ll be around.”
He rode away without looking back. It was the only way he could leave. If he chanced even one look, he’d never find the strength to ride out of here. Because the truth was, he still wanted her. Wanted her with a desperation he’d never known before. And there would be no relief for the raw, churning needs that clawed at him, fighting to be free.
So much for unfinished business, he thought. It was just one more thing that lay between them like a gaping chasm. Daring them to cross. Threatening to devour them if they did. Threatening to destroy them if they didn’t.
Chapter Fifteen
“Your home is lovely, chérie, ” Ruby said as she sank into a chair by the fire.
Diamond had to drag her thoughts away from Adam. All afternoon she had been subdued, while the others laughed and chatted. But though she’d been distracted, she had managed to digest bits and pieces of their conversation.
Ruby’s life had proved to be as intriguing as the others’. Her mother had apparently been an earthy, passionate Creole, who was not above certain... indiscretions, such as stealing, lying or cheating to survive. Then she had met the charismatic Onyx Jewel. And her life had been forever changed. He had bought her a fashionable home, and had seen to it that she and Ruby lived a comfortable life. Still, Diamond sensed, there was a great deal of her mother in Ruby. She was a strong, capable woman who would do whatever was necessary to survive.
“Pa and I didn’t care much about the house. Our only concern was the operation of the ranch.”
“You speak of the ranch as one would speak of a lover.” Ruby’s gaze sought the distant mountain peaks, already cloaked in twilight.
Diamond struggled to ignore the trickle of ice along her spine. “I wouldn’t know much about that. Tell me about... your life with Pa.”
“He was so handsome and charming, all other men paled by comparison,” Ruby said matter-of-factly
“That’s true,” Pearl said with sudden animation. “I doubt there will ever be another man who can hold a candle to Daddy. I remember the time he took me to the circus.”
She described, in vivid detail, her adventure with her father.
Almost at once, Jade jumped in with a story about her days in San Francisco with her father.
And then it was Ruby’s turn again.
Diamond settled back, seeing her father through the eyes of these strangers. And then she was suddenly reminded of what Adam had said to her. Hadn’t he told her that she could learn much about her father from these women?
Late into the night she allowed their stories to flow over her, seeing her father in a way she never had before. He had been much more than a Texas cattleman. He had been a world adventurer. A man of many moods. And many passions.
And when the fire had burned low, and they made their way to bed, Diamond realized that their stories had soothed some of the pain, and eased a little of her burden. But that was Pa.
What was she going to do about Adam?
“Another tour of the ranch, Di?” Cal gulped down his coffee and picked up his hat. “There can’t be much left to see.”
The foreman was worried about Diamond. It wasn’t enough to lose her father. But he could see that the intrusion of all these females, and the attacks by a mysterious gunman, were beginning to take their toll. There were dark circles under her eyes. And her temper was on a short fuse. Even shorter than usual.
In the past few days, from dawn to dark, she had driven herself to the limit. She filled the hours with tours of the ranch, forcing Pearl, Jade and Ruby to endure far more discomfort than they would have wanted. With over a dozen wranglers to accompany them, they’d ridden over miles of rugged hills and rocky valleys. They’d viewed vast herds of cattle, and had visited a line camp. They had even spent one afternoon on the east range, eating from Cookie’s chuckwagon with the cowboys.
Several times Diamond had spotted Adam in the distance. Each time, her heart had leaped to her throat, leaving her feeling as though she’d just run a race with a mustang. But each time he’d spotted her and her party, he’d turned his mount in the opposite direction, as though determined to avoid her.
The first time it happened, she thought it might be a coincidence. But after the second and third times, she knew it was deliberate.
If being forced to view Adam from afar was painful, rejection was pure torture. It seemed that her heart was always either soaring or breaking. The strain was becoming too much to bear. She knew when she refused his advances that she might drive him away. But somehow, in the deepest recesses of her heart, she’d hoped he would give her time. Instead, he’d given up on her.
In an effort to erase his image from her mind and heart, she decided to stay as busy as possible. Hard, physical work had always been the solution to her problems. And so she plunged herself into ranch chores with a vengeance, hauling food and water, even mucking stalls alongside the wranglers, to keep from dwelling on Adam.
The days were tolerable, since she left herself little time to think. But the nights offered her no relief. Instead of sleep, she’d been plagued with images of Adam touching her, stroking her, kissing her, until she thought she’d go mad with the need for him.
Still, she had to keep running. She was afraid of what might happen if she stopped.
“There’s so much the others haven’t seen,” Diamond protested.
“It would take months to see everything,” Cal countered. “And then you’d probably miss half of it.”
“That’s just the point. No matter how much I show them, there’s so much more they’ll never see.”
“I had no idea Father’s holdings were so complicated,” Jade said softly, interrupting their latest argument. “It is simply not possible to comprehend anything this big, until it is seen with the eye.”
The others nodded their heads in agreement.
“When I was living in Boston and Daddy spoke about his ranch in Texas, I had no idea what he meant,” Pearl mused aloud.
“Nor I, cherie.” Ruby laughed softly. “I think the entire city of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou country could be swallowed up in these Texas hills.”
“It’s settled, then?” Diamond asked as she glanced from one to the other. “You’re not tired of seeing the ranch?”
“I, for one,” Pearl said sincerely, “would never tire of such breathtaking scenery.”
With a sigh of resignation, Cal headed for the door. “I’ll see which wranglers I can spare.”
“Cal.” Following him out the door, Diamond kept her voice low, so the others wouldn’t hear. “It’s been days now, and there hasn’t been a single incident. Maybe the gunman has left.”
“And maybe he hasn’t,” Cal said grimly.
“But I feel so guilty taking men away from necessary chores. I know you can’t spare them. Why don’t you just send one or two wranglers along with us?”
“Because,” he said as patiently as if he were dealing with a child, “I’d rather send too many than too few. Look, Di,” he said, catching her arm when she started to turn away in disgust, “the men aren’t being wasted. I figure the reason there hasn’t been another attack is because the gunman sees that the odds are against him. He might be willing to attack a couple of females, but he isn’t going to plow into an army of men. Now, as long as you want to give your—” He caught himself in time, before he’d spoken the dreaded word sisters, and amended “—ladies another tour of the ranch, we can spare as many cowboys as you need.”
Diamond smiled and touched a hand to Cal’s cheek. Though he was younger than her father by a good ten years, there were times when she could swear he spoke with Onyx’s voice. “Thanks, Cal. I appreciate it. And I won’t forget this.”
Stunned by her unexpected gesture, and more than a little pleased at the softening of her nature, he turned and watched as she returned to the house.
Could it be that the ways of all these feminine creatures around her were rubbing off on her? If so, he hoped they’d stay a while longer. They were definitely good for Diamond.
He jammed his hat on his head and went in search of his best marksmen. Adam Winter would never again be able to accuse him of being careless about Diamond’s safety.
It galled him to know that, even though Adam Winter wasn’t here, his words had had a direct bearing on the decisions being made on this ranch. Cal hoped Adam’s absence these past few days meant that Diamond had finally come to her senses and ordered him to stay off her land for good.
Adam knelt and studied what was left of the carcass of a bull. He’d pinned his hopes on this carefully bred stud, hoping to build a prize herd. The animal had set him back a small fortune. Had he lived, he’d have been worth every dollar.
It was unusual for wolves to attack such a ferocious creature, even when desperate. True, the weather had turned colder, with snow in the hills. Still, wolf packs usually searched out a more vulnerable cow, rather than risk being gored by a bull’s horns.
The nighttime visit by nature’s scavengers had left a bloodied mess. Mangled hide. Missing bones. The prints of wolf, coyote, fox, even vultures, mingled in the snow.
With a sigh of disgust, Adam started to rise. Just then he caught a glimpse of something shiny in the nearby brush. Sweeping aside a few branches, he stooped and picked up a spent bullet. He studied it for long minutes, then dropped it into his pocket.
Man was the only predator in these parts that fired a gun. Now all Adam needed to do was to figure out which man had fired this one. And why.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Pearl said over supper.
Diamond had pushed herself and the others all day, deliberately leading them toward the boundary between her land and Adam’s in the hope of seeing him, even if from a distance. But the little cabin had shown no sign of life. She realized miserably that Zeb and Adam were probably with their herd on the banks of Poison Creek.