Diamond

  At the door Diamond turned and watched as Adam quickly rolled a cigarette. He bent and retrieved a flaming stick from the fire, holding it to the tip before filling his lungs.

  In that instant, she noticed that his hand was trembling. A surge of raw power streaked through her. She saw clearly now what she had to do.

  Feeling steadier now, Adam turned. And was surprised to find her advancing toward him, with a gleam in her eye and a mysterious, woman’s smile on her lips.

  “You say you don’t find me irresistible, but I think you’re lying, Adam.” She brought her hand to the buttons of her shirt and began to unfasten them.

  His eyes widened in alarm. “What are you doing,?”

  “Proving that you’re a terrible liar.”

  She slipped the shirt from her shoulders.

  With an oath he tossed the cigarette into the fire and gripped her by the shoulders. “Stop this, Diamond.” But it was already too late. The touch of her had him burning for more. The challenge in her eyes had needs pounding through his blood.

  “Make me stop, Adam. If you can.” Her voice was a low purr that wrapped itself around him like a caress. She touched a hand to his lips and he felt a blow to the midsection. Her fingers traced the outline of his lower lip until, on a groan, his mouth opened. “Wouldn’t you like to kiss me, Adam, before you send me away? Wouldn’t you like to taste my lips?”

  He couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. With every struggle for breath, he felt as though he were being crushed beneath a herd of stampeding cattle. Everything he’d ever wanted was here in his arms.

  Without thinking be fisted a hand in her hair and drew her head back. “Is this what you want?” he demanded as he brought his mouth down on hers in a savage, punishing kiss.

  If he’d thought to frighten her, it didn’t work. Instead of backing away, she clutched at him and offered him more.

  “Yes,” she murmured against his lips. “Yes, Adam. This. And more.”

  “You don’t know what you’re doing.” He dragged her close. His hands at her shoulders were rough and bruising as he kissed her with a hunger that matched her own.

  “No. But you do. I’m sure you’ll show me what to do.” She reached for the ribbons of her chemise, but he stopped her.

  Lifting her hands to his lips, he kissed them with a rare kind of tenderness, all the while staring deeply into her eyes. “Understand, Diamond. Once we do this,” he murmured, against her palms, “there’s no going back.”

  “I’m never going back,” she whispered. Her eyes were a deep, fathomless sea of green. And he was already drowning in them.

  “Then God forgive us,” he murmured. “For you have no idea what you’ve unleashed.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I don’t know if I can be gentle,” he muttered. “I’ve wanted you for such a long time. And now that you’re here, and willing –”

  “Shh. I don’t need you to be gentle. I just need you.” She touched a finger to his mouth, then offered her lips.

  He tasted, drawing the wild, sweet flavor of her into himself. He framed her face with his hands. With a sigh he brushed his lips over her forehead, across her closed eyelids, down her cheeks. He pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose, then nibbled the corner of her mouth until her lips parted. His tongue tangled with hers and she sighed from the pure pleasure of it.

  “Diamond. Diamond.”

  He whispered her name like a caress. In his eyes she felt beautiful, desirable. For someone who had lived her life with no thought of such things, it was an intoxicating feeling.

  With his tongue he traced the curve of her ear, nipping at her lobe with his teeth before darting his tongue inside.

  She chuckled at the delicious tingles that raced along her spine. But a moment later her laughter turned into a moan as he trailed hot, wet kisses along her throat.

  Even as she arched her neck for him, she clutched at his shoulders, afraid that her trembling legs might buckle at any moment.

  As if reading her mind he lowered her to the floor. They took no notice of the coarse rug as, with soft sighs and tender words, they lost themselves in each other.

  “I won’t hold you if you change your mind,” he whispered against her throat. It was a lie, he knew. He would bar the door, he would beg or even crawl, to hold her here with him. But he had to offer her one last chance to escape.

  “I’m not leaving, Adam. This was my choice.” Mine, she thought fiercely. All mine. She tangled her fingers in his hair and dragged his mouth to hers.

  The cabin was quiet. So quiet that she thought he could surely hear the sound of her heart thundering.

  The only light came from the fire. Flames hissed as they licked along the logs in the fireplace. An occasional draft of wind sent sparks flying, like a shower of stars.

  Adam studied the woman in his arms. By the light of the fire, she seemed some ethereal creature, her hair more brilliant than the dancing flames, her eyes soft and seductive, pulling him in to her very soul.

  He struggled against a raging passion that fought to be free. There was so little he could give her. But this much he could do. He would take care to see that this, her first time, was all she had hoped for. And more.

  She felt the coiled tension in him as he struggled for control. It aroused her, excited her as nothing else could. And she responded with wild abandon.

  Their kisses grew more heated as his hands began exploring her. He tugged impatiently at the ribbons of her chemise, then bent his lips to the soft swell of her breast.

  She gave a gasp of surprise at the feelings that rippled through her. Feelings that quickly had her spiraling out of control.

  He heard the alarm in her voice, saw the panic in her eyes. At once his movements gentled, until she relaxed in his arms.

  His kisses, too, gentled, making no demands on her.

  Steeped in pleasure, she lay in a dreamlike state, caught up in a silken web of feelings. She responded to his patient ministrations as he led her, with soft kisses and murmured words of endearment, to a new level of trust.

  Trust. He sensed the change in her and thrilled to it. It wasn’t surrender. With a fiery creature like Diamond, he would never want mere surrender. What he wanted was all the passion, all the promise, that he had sensed when first he’d seen her. Passion that had been slumbering, smoldering, until this first spark had ignited it into flame.

  Now, as he undressed her, he felt the heat. She was no longer placid or cool. Now she was all fire and force and fury. And his, he thought possessively. His.

  He studied her in the flickering firelight. The glimpse of body he’d seen in the revealing gown was nothing compared with this work of art. She was even more beautiful than he’d dared to imagine, with skin like alabaster, hair like fire, and a warm, sensuous smile that wrapped itself around his soul until he knew he was lost.

  His heart was thundering as she reached for the fasteners at his waist. When her fingers fumbled, he helped her.

  At last they knelt, facing each other. Heat rose up between them, their bodies already slick with sheen.

  The exotic fragrance of her perfume filled his lungs until all he could smell, all he could taste, was her. He was mad to have her.

  His hands tangled in her hair and he drew her head back while his lips covered hers in a savage, possessive kiss.

  For a moment she held back, startled by this abrupt change in him. Then, as her own passions ignited, she leaned into him, eager for more. As she brought her arms around his waist, she felt his muscles contract violently. Then on a moan, he took the kiss deeper.

  This wasn’t what she’d expected. This darkness, this undercurrent of mystery laced with passion. It was a side he had kept carefully hidden. And no wonder. With a single touch he could make her shudder. With a single kiss he could make her moan. And as the touches became more intimate, and the kisses more savage, she found an even darker side to desire.

  With her body a mass of nerve endings, there wasn??
?t anything she wouldn’t do for release.

  “Please, Adam,” she whispered, but he was beyond hearing.

  With teeth and lips and tongue he drove her. With his fingertips he took her higher. He found her, warm and wet, and drove her to the first peak.

  She clutched at him, touching him as he touched her. She was amazed at his quivering response. Exulting in her power, she grew bolder. She brought her lips across his shoulder and down his chest, then lower, to explore him as he’d explored her.

  His body hummed with need. Desire clawed at him, demanding release. He had wanted to go slowly, to allow her to set the pace. But now, with her own passion unleashed, he was finally free. Free to do all the things he’d dreamed of since the first time he’d seen her.

  It was no longer enough to want to please her, to make this first time satisfying. He wanted to give her so much more. Not just a moment of pleasure. He wanted to give her a lifetime. Not just a glimpse of paradise. He wanted to give her an eternity of love.

  With exquisite care he laid her down and feasted on her like a starving man, his lips moving from one breast to the other until she writhed and moaned beneath him and clutched at the rug that cushioned her body. She sighed and whispered his name, and still he held back, learning all the new, intimate places of her body.

  The heat from the fire mingled with the heat of their bodies, until it rose up between them, clogging their lungs, making each breath a struggle. And still they gloried in the wonders of their newly discovered passion, keeping release just out of reach.

  For Diamond, the world had narrowed to this room, this man. She had slipped into a world of dark, forbidden desire. The touch of his rough, callused hands against her flesh was more seductive than the silk gown she’d worn this evening. He tasted of brandy and tobacco, and faintly of horses and leather. Dark, musky scents that she had known since childhood. But now they were no longer familiar, but new. No longer ordinary, but intoxicating.

  She shuddered and strained against him as he moved over her, his flesh hot and damp and seductive. And still he gave her no release.

  He had thought he was leading her, taking her to new places. But at the first touch of her, he realized he was the one being led. The student had become the teacher. The innocent had become the seducer. And he reveled in her mastery .

  He struggled to hold back needs that were fighting, struggling, clawing to be free. He felt her stiffen as he brought his lips down her body.

  This was a dark, sweet place she’d never been before. A place of exquisite pleasure that bordered on pain. She gasped as she rode the wave of pleasure to another crest. But he gave her no time to recover as he quickly drove her even higher.

  Her eyes opened, and he saw himself reflected in those deep green pools as he entered her.

  She didn’t think it was possible to want more, but she did. Her deeper arousal startled both of them. She wrapped herself around him, wanting to hold him like this forever. Wanting to hold on to the moment, the feeling, the pleasure. Wanting it all.

  And then she was moving with him, matching his strength, his rhythm, with her own. Such incredible strength. Climbing. Higher and higher, until they reached the highest mountain peak, and soared beyond, into a midnight sky lit by scores of stars.

  A sound was wrenched from his lips that was both animal and human. And then he cried out her name as they felt themselves shattering, splintering into a million pieces. They touched a light more radiant than the sun. And drifted slowly to earth.

  They lay, still joined, neither one willing to move. Their bodies were slick, their breathing ragged.

  Slowly, gradually, their heartbeats began to return to normal.

  “My God, Diamond.” Adam rested his forehead on hers, then pressed his lips to her closed lids. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

  “You didn’t. Much,” she said with a soft chuckle.

  But he was beyond hearing. “How could I be so selfish?” he berated himself. “You were sweet, untouched. A virgin. And I took you on the floor like some drunken cowboy.”

  “Oh, Adam.” She touched a hand to his cheek. At once he stopped his protests and went still. “It was...”

  He waited, feeling his heart stop.

  “It was the most wonderful feeling. Is it always like that?”

  His heart resumed beating. He felt a wave of triumph. His lifeblood surged through him, and he knew, at this moment, he could stop a stampede single-handed.

  “Not always.” He kissed the tip of her nose, then rolled to one side and drew her into his arms. “But when two people feel the way we do, it’s always wonderful.”

  “How do you feel, Adam?”

  “Like the luckiest man in the world. Do you know how long I’ve wanted you?”

  “Since you first saw me.”

  He grinned and pressed his lips to a tangle of hair at her temple. “And how would you know that?”

  “You told me so. That day in the barn.”

  His smile turned to a frown at the thought of that day. Walking away from her had cost him dearly.

  “But how could you have loved me then?” she went on. “You were in jail for Pa’s murder. And I came looking for revenge.”

  “Call me a fool,” he said against her hair. “There’s just something about a woman in a man’s clothes, toting a gun in her boot, that makes my blood run hot.”

  She was laughing now. It was a sound that warmed his heart. She’d had so few reasons to laugh lately.

  He drew her even closer, and pressed his lips to hers. If only he could always hear the sound of her laughter.

  She pushed slightly away, so that she could look into his eyes. “I did intend to shoot you, you know.” She closed her eyes against the knowledge. “I’m so glad you stopped me.”

  He grinned. “Not half as glad as I am.”

  She gave him a wicked, knowing smile. “Without you, I never would have learned all these new and wonderful things you just taught me.”

  “Oh, I’m sure there would have been some cowboy willing to take my place.” But though his words were warm with laughter, he felt the twinge of pain at the thought of another man holding her like this, loving her.

  She shook her head in denial. “I never would have let another man get this close, Adam. Pa used to say that some things were just meant to be. That’s the way I feel about you and me. There was no sense fighting it. You’re my destiny. And I’m yours.”

  “You mean—” he brushed his lips over hers and felt the curl of pleasure “—I’m stuck with you?”

  “I’m afraid so.” She nuzzled his lips and heard his low growl of pleasure. Growing bolder, she sat up. Her hair spilled across one shoulder, tickling his chest.

  She idly traced the mat of hair on his chest and saw the way his eyes suddenly darkened with desire. It gave her a heady feeling to know that she held such power over him. This strong man, who would willingly face down a dozen gunmen, trembled at her mere touch.

  Drunk with power, she moved her hands over him, then traced a path with her lips, determined to make him lose control.

  Through lowered lids he watched her. Her body was young and lithe and perfect, with high, firm breasts and a waist so small his hands could easily span it. Her pale skin was dotted with freckles, and he had a sudden desire to kiss every one of them. Her fiery hair begged to be touched.

  “Witch,” he muttered. “Do you know what you’re doing to me?”

  She gave him a mysterious smile. “I hope I’m doing what I set out to do when I left home.”

  “What was that?”

  “Seduce you.”

  His arms came around her, flattening her to his chest. His lips found hers. Against her mouth he murmured, “Then you’ve succeeded.”

  He rolled her over and they came together in a storm of passion more violent than the first.

  He had seen both hell and heaven in one day, Adam thought as he brought his mouth, hot and demanding, on hers. But this... this was pure heaven.


  And then all thought fled as he lost himself in the pleasures of loving her.

  Darkness still hung like a curtain over the sky. But the first faint threads of dawn were weaving their way along the horizon.

  Sometime during the night Adam had carried Diamond to his bed. But there had been little time for sleep. Their hunger for each other was insatiable. At times they had loved with a passion that was almost bruising in its intensity. At other times they had come together with a tenderness, an exquisite gentleness that soothed their hearts and healed their wounds.

  Diamond lay with her back to Adam, snuggled to his chest. His arms were around her, holding her firmly against the length of him. He had thrown one leg possessively over hers. His face was buried against her neck, his breathing slow and rhythmic.

  She lay in that strange limbo between wakefulness and sleep, feeling a sense of rare peace. She wanted nothing more than to remain like this, safe in Adam’s arms, close to his heart. She sighed and snuggled closer.

  At the slight movement, Adam came fully awake. His hands tightened perceptibly, drawing her closer still. His palm encountered the swell of her breast and he kept it there, loving the feel of her soft flesh against his rough skin.

  At his simple touch her nipple hardened, straining against his fingers. He continued to stroke with one hand, while the other began a lazy exploration of her hip and the inside of her thigh. And all the while his lips nuzzled her neck.

  She sighed with the pure pleasure of it, but her sighs soon turned to moans as the pressure of his touch increased and her need for him grew. She tried to turn toward him, but his leg pinned her, holding her still.

  She was aware that he was fully aroused, yet he moved with deliberate slowness, drawing out the moment until her excitement matched his own.

  “Adam.”

  “Shh.” He ran nibbling kisses across her shoulder, then down her spine, and all the while his hands continued weaving their magic until her body was on fire.