The Bride Tamer (11 page)

“And if I'm in a good mood, whose fault is that?” he demanded silkily.

“Not mine! You're drunk!”

“Maybe a warm shower would make you feel better?”

With you out here drinking tequila? Not in a million years.

“I could ask Huicho if there's a phone in the village,” Cash said in a reasonable, helpful tone that maddened her all the more.

“There is, but with our rotten luck, it's out.”

“I'll check and see anyway.”

“Great!”

“Anything to get rid of me?” He smiled.

She glared.

“Take a shower while I'm gone. And don't use up all the hot water.”

“What makes you so sure there is any?”

“Ah…the delights of sharing authentic Mexico with you. This could be fun you know—if you'd loosen up.”

Too much fun.
She clasped her arms around herself. “Go.”

“If you're too chicken to shower, why don't you just get into bed?”

“Bed?” Her mouse voice was back. Nevertheless, the word
bed
hung heavily between them.

“And what will you do? Strip for me? Like you did before? And then hop in too? Nothing would surprise me from you.”

He scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Nothing is what I'll do. Understand? I won't do a damn thing. I like
you and respect you. I don't want to hurt Isabela any more than you do. I'm not some oversexed maniac, you know.”

“I can't forget how you ripped off that sheet.”

“I was being gallant. I won't force you—ever.” Furious, he dove through the open doorway. Boots sloshing in the deep water, he vanished into the roaring storm.

Good! She was glad he was mad.

But no sooner was he gone than a gust of wind blew the candle out and she was all alone in the dark. Instantly she wished him back.

For a while she sat in the dark and listened to the storm, but that only increased her agitation. She didn't remember where the matches were or if there were any, and without him to distract her she became aware of the buzzing of mosquitoes and the incessant pouring of the rain on the tiles outside.

In the courtyard she heard racing footsteps. Then a girl laughed shyly, and a boy said something tender—young lovers taking shelter under an eave. Vivian felt a strange twinge in the area near her heart…and longed for Cash.

The couple's gentle voices were followed by increasingly torrid kisses and then by more animalistic pantings and ardent caresses. A shutter began to bang in the rhythm of lovemaking. Vivian thought of Cash and began to ache.

Hardly knowing what she did, her hand ran down her throat over her breast. With a shivery sigh she closed her eyes and imagined Cash touching her. Then her hand traced lower, to her stomach and then still lower, to her hip, and finally between her legs. The shutter banged harder. Only when she moaned did she come to her senses and jerk her hand away. She bit her knuckles and tried not to listen to the lovers, tried not to want a man who could never be hers.

Finally she remembered she did have matches—in her purse. Stumbling across the room, she dug them out. Still shaking, she relit the candle and leaned against the wall.

When Cash still didn't return, she took the fresh clothes and towels and the burning candle into the bathroom and
stripped. To her surprise, the water from the nozzle felt warm and delicious against her naked skin. Lathering her hair, she reveled in the soft suds running down over her body. She was covered in soap when her phone rang again.

Then the ringing stopped abruptly. She started when she heard a low, male voice say, “Isabela.” When she strained closer to the curtain to hear what else he said, something wet and slimy skittered across her bare toe.

She looked down into huge, liquid, equally-terrified, black eyes—reptilian eyes. Jumping, she screamed and screamed.

“Cash! It's going to bite me! It's—”

The thing hopped as frantically as she, bouncing into her leg. She grabbed the shower curtain and ripped it off. The next thing she knew she was out of the shower and Cash was in the bathroom, his arms wrapped around her sudsy body. She was naked, wet and slippery, and soon his jeans and white shirt were soaked. She climbed him anyway, wrapping her legs around his waist and hanging on for dear life.

“What the hell.” Then he looked down and grinned at the tiny monster. “Shh. It's just a little toad. Nothing to be afraid of, darling,” he said gently.

Darling.
The word registered even though she wished it hadn't.

“Get him out of here!” Vivian shrieked, wrapping her legs around him even more tightly. “Get me out of here!”

Carrying her, Cash stomped out of the shower dripping puddles all over the tile floor. Finally, she let go of him and ran naked to the bed, leaving Cash to return and deal with the odious reptile.

She wrapped herself in the sarape that had been thrown over the bed. “Did you kill it yet?”

“I can't get him,” he said when he came out of the bathroom. “You scared him too badly. He's hiding under a wooden slat and won't come out. And I don't blame him.”

“Don't you dare take his side. What will I do? I can't go back in there if he's there.”

Cash was clipping the shower curtain back onto the rod. “Then stay put!”

“But I've got soap all over me.”

“He won't hurt you, you know. He's cute.”

“Cute?”

“Come look at him.”

She tiptoed closer. “I'm not so good with reptiles.”

He laughed. “A toad is an amphibian—not a reptile.”

Who cared what the monster was? Clutching the serape tighter, she raced past him back to the bathroom. Yanking the curtain shut, she summoned her courage and searched for the toad. He was curled into a little ball and almost completely hidden under the wooden slat. He was a tiny, big-eyed little thing. He did look terrified of her.

Not that she was about to sympathize with a reptile or an amphibian, or whatever the horrible thing was.

She stuck the tip of her toe onto the first wooden slat. When he didn't jump her, she edged more deeply into the cubicle and turned on the shower. With a sigh, she finished rinsing her hair and her body in the warm downpour before the hot water ran out. After drying herself off, she ventured out of the bathroom swaddled in towels.

“Hey—did you leave me a towel?”

“One.”

“You were right about the phone,” he said. “The lines are down. Mind if I shower?”

Even though she did, she shook her head. “But you were right about the hot water. I used it all.”

He gave her a look that softened the expression on his dark face even though his eyes grew brilliant. “Maybe you did us both a favor.”

When Cash took his icy shower, yelping most dramatically at the water's temperature, she got into bed. Even though he was behind the curtain, she could see the dark silhouette of his big body. Again her hand drifted over her body, and it
was too easy to imagine him touching her. She yanked her hand above the sheets and stared miserably.

She shouldn't have taken the candle in there, she realized. She shouldn't watch him now…but she couldn't stop herself.

The water was turned off and he emerged, his narrow hips wrapped in the diminutive white towel she'd left him. Shivering, she pulled the sheets up to her throat. His bronzed, muscular, goose-bump-covered body raised gooseflesh on her and left her slightly breathless.

The wind rose and beat against the roof. Anticipation made her tremble and then go taut. When he stopped and stared down at her body outlined by the sheets, her pulse beat in her throat.

Dios.
Soon he would get into bed. And then—

But he didn't approach the bed. Instead, he pivoted and went back into the bathroom, where he blew out the candle. She gripped the sheets breathlessly above her breasts until he emerged. He moved about. Fabric rustled. What was he doing?

Closing her eyes, she lay there waiting, wondering, and feeling so hot she was afraid she'd burn up.

To her surprise, she heard a sound at the door.

“I'll be back later,” he whispered softly.

She sat up, not caring that the sheets fell from her body. “Where are you going?”

“You don't want me here. That much is clear. Go to sleep.”

“But…but you're wrong,” she said.

Not that he heard her. He was already out the door, sloshing noisily through the deep water again and quickly disappearing in the darkness. When all sounds of him vanished, she'd never felt so alone. She wanted him back.

She wanted him.

Wind and rain slashed the trees. Even so, there were jungle sounds—shouts, shrieks, screeches, howls, hoots. She imagined reptiles—huge snakes, their thick coils luridly colored.

For what seemed like hours, she lay in the bed awake, tossing and turning, listening for his footsteps outside.

The phone rang once, only to die before she could get to it. “Oh, Cash.” Her heart pounded in fright as she imagined his fatal encounter with a big cat, or maybe a snake or a crocodile that tore him to pieces.

An animal screamed, and her stomach knotted. She sat up, brushing hot wetness from her cheeks. She'd been so mean to him. Why had she said such awful things?

If only…

Finally, she became so exhausted she sank into a nightmarish sleep, full of large reptiles, from which she didn't awaken until dawn. When she blinked, glorious streamers of pink light streaked the whitewashed walls. The rain had stopped, and the jungle was mercifully silent.

The early-morning air held a chill but she felt warm and safe, so safe and so warm, and at peace as she hadn't in years. She stirred lazily, and when she did, her fingers brushed hot, solid, male muscle. Idly she traced the shape of a steely limb, savoring every sensation, before realizing it was a man's arm draped proprietorially across her waist.

Her eyes flew open. She saw a wall of bronze—broad shoulders and a dark, furred chest. She smelled his clean man scent.

“Cash…”

“Good morning,” he said, his dark eyes alight and tender.

“You're alive.” Her smile was brilliant. “You came back. The big reptiles—I mean amphibians—didn't eat you.”

“Will miracles never cease? You're glad to see me.”

Vivian felt alive and very pleased he was there. “Don't tease. I was terrible to you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.”

“It's okay.”

“How long have you been back?”

“A while. I couldn't find Eusebio, so I tried to sleep in the
Suburban. When the rain died down a little, I decided to check on you. You were having a nightmare.”

Her voice caught. “I nearly went out of my mind.”

“Me too. I wanted to be here with you.”

She swallowed.

“Better now?” he drawled as his hand slid down her back.

“Oh, Cash,” she breathed, throwing her arms around him. Suddenly she was too aware of her naked body snugged against his, of her nipples against his chest.

“This is where I've wanted you since I first saw you, Aphrodite.”

She opened her eyes again and saw that his face was flushed and his eyes dark with desire. She knew that look, and she reveled in it. Her fear for him last night had taught her how much she desired him.

He started to get up, but she ran her hands through his long, black hair, smiling when he shuddered with delight. Time seemed to stop. She closed her eyes and pressed her body into his.

He went still, and for a long time she was afraid nothing would happen. Then she slid her body against his, and his breathing grew even raspier.

“You're sure about this?”

She nodded. Her body was wrapped by his. What guilt she felt was overpowered by her desire and the rightness she felt of belonging to him. Cash was special. She didn't know why. He just was. She had to have him. If she didn't, she'd regret it the rest of her life.

His fingers touched her mouth and then brushed her cheek. She caught his hand and kissed his fingertips, one by one, tasting them, tasting him.

“I'm just so glad you're alive,” she said.

“The danger was all in your imagination,” he said.

Rolling on top of him, she straddled his lean, taut body. It was strange that she felt no shyness, that she felt so natural with him. Lowering her head, she started kissing him, letting
her tongue lave his throat, his washboard middle, his hard arms.

What if he were in the belly of a snake at this very moment? She was just so thrilled he was alive, so sure of her feelings for him that all doubt vanished.

“I—I can't wait much longer,” he muttered, stopping a moment to fumble with a plastic wrapper. He was putting on a condom to protect her, she realized. When he was done, she sighed as his hands closed around her buttocks. Lifting her and positioning her, he thrust upward, causing her to gasp a little when she felt him inside of her. He was hard, hot and male. He made her feel complete.

She ran her hands over his arms. Her nipples brushed against his chest. His warm mouth nuzzled her ear.

Then he began to move his body against hers, and she clutched his long black hair and whispered, “Don't stop. Don't ever ever stop.”

“You're heaven,” he murmured. “I never thought I could feel like this again.”

“It's the same for me.”

For a long moment he stared into her eyes. She felt so safe, so incredibly safe with him. Then he began to move faster and faster, and it seemed to her they'd always been lovers and would always be lovers. Her feelings mounted, and her world spun crazily out of control. She was on fire, exploding, and still he kept moving inside her, causing the explosions to go on and on until she felt like she was fainting and dying, and yet, letting go of needs and hungers that always before had terrified her.

Not with him. She wasn't afraid with him. He was different—kind, responsible, wonderful.