Reckless Territory (6 page)

“Spread your legs,” he repeated, holding her gaze. “Wide. I’ll make it worth your while. You have my word on it.”

She was sprawled on a riverbank, unclothed in a bed of soft grass, with a naked man looming over her and touching her intimately. Having come this far, though the idea was embarrassing, she might as well comply.

I’ll make it worth your while
…

Cole had a way of being straightforward. Jace called it “shooting from the hip”, and she had interpreted that as meaning he didn’t lie. Victoria took in a breath and opened her thighs. At first a little, and then emboldened by the swift change in his breathing as he stared at her now exposed sex, wider.

He shifted in a panther-like movement, his tall body settling between her open legs, lowering his dark head to tease her inner thigh with his mouth, lightly nipping the flesh.

She might not know a lot about the sexual act, but it seemed to her he was in entirely the wrong position. “What are you doing?” She gasped as his tongue actually brushed her pubic hair.

“I’m going to lick you, sweetheart.” He glanced up from his prone position with a wicked grin. “And you’re going to love it.”

He was going to do
what
? Was he seriously considering…

He was.

Large hands cradled her hips, holding her in place as true to his word, he began to softly move his mouth against her sex, parting the folds with wicked skill, tonguing a spot that made a jolt of pleasure sweep through her.

She should protest. No lady would ever let a man do something so wicked, so…

But oh, the sensation. Delicious spikes of rapture made her tremble, and she moaned, her hands skittering for purchase and clenching fistfuls of grass. The soft sound of the flowing river, the creak of the insects in the trees, the smell of earth and vegetation, all of it faded away and her only world was the feel of Cole’s tongue licking, swirling, even invading her female opening in long, daring strokes before sweeping back up to that singular spot.

Something foreign built, swelled, took hold with a relentless grip. It carried her upward, her spine arching, her muscles quivering. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything more than make small, inarticulate sounds of enjoyment.

Then it happened, a flashing pinnacle of rapture so powerful the white-hot impact of it was a searing revelation so intense she felt it in every nerve ending.

In a haze of disbelief, she lay there in sprawled abandon in the aftermath, only barely aware Cole rose, bracing a brawny arm on either side of her shoulders. He laughed on a low exhale. “You look surprised. Just wait. Hold on.”

She did, literally, grasping his biceps as the prod of his erection pressed her slit and the thick head entered her. Victoria opened her eyes, not precisely in distress over the stretching sensation but all too aware of his size, not just the height and weight of his body dwarfing hers but the hard length about to take possession of her.

“Relax,” Cole whispered, his breath hot in her ear, “don’t tense up on me, sweetheart.” He nuzzled her neck and pushed in deep, the hot steely feel of his penetration accompanied by a stinging pain. “There we go. Hard part’s over. I’ll make this a good ride, or die trying.”

“I trust you.” Victoria’s voice was unsteady, but the words were true. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have offered herself, offered
this
. He was now fully embedded, his lean hips against her inner thighs, the intimacy of their joining stunning.

He froze, the fierce expression on his face intense, his gaze holding hers. Midnight dark eyes stared at her and he still didn’t move, though a drop of sweat ran down the lean line of his jaw. “Most folks would say you shouldn’t trust me at all,” he finally murmured, and kissed her softly, the tenderness of it at odds with the primal setting of a wild river bank.

“What do
you
say?” Victoria murmured against his mouth.

“I’d die to protect you.”

It was a startling sentiment, said in a matter-of-fact tone, but before she could respond, he began to move. First a slick glide backwards that caused her breath to catch, and then a stroke back in, his breathing harsh. Victoria closed her eyes, the muscles of his wide shoulders so tense under her hands they were rock hard, his skin carrying a sheen of perspiration. It took a few moments before she realized her hips undulated naturally as they settled into an erotic rhythm of thrust and acceptance, and while he still seemed enormous, the discomfort was mitigated by a growing sense of pleasure.

She gave another one of those unladylike moans at his next thrust, her nails digging in a little before she knew what she was doing. Cole hissed between his teeth. “That’s it, sweetheart, fuck me back. This is so damn good.”

Gentlemen didn’t swear in front of ladies. It just wasn’t done, but she could care less about the crudity, she found. Cole was himself, he didn’t apologize for it, and she was discovering the measure of a man wasn’t in the fashionable cut of his coat, or the lineage of his exalted family, or even his fortune. It was more in the way he cooked a simple dinner efficiently over an open fire, cared for his horse, never complained about the cold, the heat, or even handled deadly situations with calm, cool courage and a clear head.

It was in the way he took care to introduce lovemaking to an innocent lady by assuring her pleasure first.

His hand slid between their moving bodies, and his fingers put pressure on that certain spot that caused her to gasp and clutch at him frantically. On his next inward push he did it again and the world began to spin. He said something on a low groan but she was already too far gone to catch it. Her inner muscles tightened, ecstasy flooded through every pore, and dimly she heard herself give a low keening scream as she shuddered beneath him. In turn, Cole stiffened, and his cock pulsed deep, a rush of hot liquid flooding her. They hung there, suspended for what seemed like an eternity, but it was probably only a few moments, his face buried in her outspread hair, broad chest heaving against her breasts.

Finally he rose up, and the slow smile that curved his mouth was self-satisfied male mixed with a little of the renegade outlaw. “Welcome to America, my lady.”

Chapter Six

Jace stood on the riverbank, rifle in hand, not quite sure how to feel. Cole and Victoria had been gone so long he and Robert had become concerned, and when they heard a faint cry, they both agreed one of them should check. Robert had ended up staying behind with their horses and supplies at the camp, and Jace had soft-footed it through the trees along the river.

Under no other circumstance could he sneak up on Cole. The man had the instincts of a wolf, but not now, not when he was between the pale legs of the most beautiful woman any of them had ever seen. They were an interesting contrast; brawny, bronzed male, all sinew and bulging muscle, and slender fair woman, her hair spread in the grass, her full ivory breasts quivering as she caught her breath.

It surprised him he wasn’t jealous. Well, hell yes, he was envious he wasn’t the one inside her at the moment, but it was damned arousing to watch them.

She’d liked it too. No secret there from the way her hand ran down Cole’s back in a lingering exploration, tracing the line of his spine. Jace saw him raise his head and whisper something in her ear, and she laughed, the light sound mingling with the music of the river.

Yeah, she’d liked it, all right.

This could be a problem. No getting around it, they all wanted her. Even back in Texas, where he’d grown up, Jace had never met a woman like her. He had the uncomfortable feeling he was more than half in love with her already, and he didn’t think he was alone.

Turning around, he skirted several sapling cottonwoods and ducked into the cover of the brush. When he walked back into the circle of the small clearing they’d selected for their camp, Robert was kneeling by the fire, setting on a pot of coffee. His friend looked up sharply in question. “I didn’t hear shots.”

“Nope.” Jace laid down his rifle.

“No trouble then?”

“Plenty of trouble, I’m going to guess, but Cole and Victoria are safe enough. I even reckon I can say they are feelin’ pretty damn good right now.”

“Yeah, that so? Can’t say as I’m surprised.” Robert pushed his hat back a little, his smile rueful. “Cole looked pretty hungry when he followed her.”

“Well then,” Jace said with wry humor, “he’s just had one hell of a meal.”

“I’d say I hope he was gentle with her, but Cole’s not one to mistreat a woman.”

“She didn’t seem to be complaining none.” Jace ran his hand through his hair, listening to the breeze rustling the leaves in the trees. A hawk went by, silent and graceful, the shadow cast by the sinking sun as the bird flitted past them. “This isn’t going to be simple now, is it?”

Robert didn’t misunderstand. “Could be complicated, but I don’t think so. I haven’t noticed she prefers one of us to another. She’s refined lady, but she is very much a woman and also intelligent enough to know how each one of us is beginning to feel about her.”

“Think so?”

“It’s going to be up to her.”

“Of course.”

“As long as we agree on that. As I see it,” Robert said with a keen-eyed glance, “when we agreed to share the ranch, we all started over, and in that, we started a life together. We’re partners. Victoria being a part of that is like a gift. She needs us, and speaking for myself, I think she’s like an angel falling from the heavens.”

“There aren’t many women out West, and none like her,” Jace agreed. Her refined beauty was unique in his experience. She fascinated him—not just sexually, but in every way.

“I agree. But don’t underestimate her. This isn’t Mayfair but she can hold her own.”

Robert was the most insightful person he’d ever met, and though he may be young, in Jace’s drifter’s life he’d met a lot of men. It was true, she treated all of them in a slightly different way, but he hadn’t seen a preference either. With him she was slightly flirtatious, with Robert friendly and warm, and with Cole there was always a certain tension—which they had apparently resolved.

“We might be partners, but she doesn’t have to see it in that light.”

“I’m saying,”—Robert adjusted the pot on the fire—“I think she’s thought all of it over. Look, Jace, she’d be the last person to want us at each other’s throats because of her. In nature, males are territorial and humans are no different, but as you said, this is the West. Women are scarce.”

It was true, Jace thought as he got up to get some dried beef from the pack, their supplies at low ebb this close to home. For such a lady, the earl’s daughter had surprising steel under that refined exterior.

What happened next would be damned interesting.

Her thighs were sticky with semen, her hair had bits of grass in it from lying on the riverbank, and her skin held a light film of perspiration.

And Victoria felt…glorious. Physically and emotionally. She had wanted Cole and he’d wanted her, and their coming together had been both elemental and yet at the same time, tender and giving. He’d withdrawn from her body and rolled to his back, his rangy body imposingly nude, his cock lax now between his brawny thighs.

Lying with him was the single most unconventional act in her life so far, and she doubted it would stop there.

“Did I hurt you?” A long finger traced through a runnel of his iridescent discharge on her inner thigh. “There’s a little blood.”

Victoria found it hard to believe she could lie there next to him so unselfconsciously nude, but the open admiration in his dark eyes and his own lack of concern over his nudity, combined with the wild setting, made it all seem perfectly natural. She said, “Even sheltered English ladies know that you bleed a little when you lose your maidenhead. There was some discomfort for a short while, but I somehow managed to forget about it. Maybe you noticed.” Her smile was arch.

“I notice everything about you.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that almost curt declaration.

“I probably should have left you alone. But I have to say, sweetheart, of all the things I’ve done I shouldn’t have, and that’s pretty long list, I regret this one the least.”

“Why should you regret it? You didn’t force me…I think maybe it was the other way around. I tempted you.”

“You sure as hell did,” he murmured, the fringe of his thick lashes lowered slightly over his eyes. “I didn’t exactly fight it, though, did I? I’ve been imagining this since the day we found you. And none of us would ever force you. I’d stake my life on it.”

Had
she
imagined it too? She wasn’t sure. Certainly from that moment when she opened her eyes and saw Cole looming over her, she’d been very aware of him as a man. The problem was, of course, she was just as aware of Jace, with his quicksilver smile and edge of wildness, and Robert, with his intelligence and thoughtful good manners.

It was confusing, considering she’d been raised within the strictures of a society preoccupied with conventionality and rules.

As if he could read her mind, Cole leaned up on one elbow, the muscles in his lean torso rippling impressively. His sleek, dark hair brushed his powerful shoulders, and the look he gave her could only be described as penetrating. “You made a choice today. What you need to remember, Lady Victoria, is you get to continue to make choices. None of us will ever push you into a situation you don’t want.”

That didn’t exactly clarify her indecision on how to interpret her actions, but when he scooped her up suddenly and stood, wading back into the river, she decided to dismiss her unsettled emotions and instead revel in the cool rush of the water over her heated body, in the strength of his embrace and the soaring cobalt sky darkening above them.

The spectacular sunset left them with starlight vistas against velvet black, the air like fine wine, though Cole had to admit he barely recalled the vintages his father used to serve back in Boston. Now he drank whatever rotgut whiskey was available like everyone else, when he drank at all. Staying alive wasn’t all that easy to begin with when a man was alert and on guard. Compromising that seemed damned foolish.