The Texan's Diamond Bride (11 page)

She grabbed on to his shoulders in an effort to stay upright.

This could not go on. She wouldn’t be able to stand it.

Sensation shot through her, wave after wave of it, the touch simply too much to bear. Not that it stopped him. He kept right on going, with her begging him, telling him he just had to stop.

But he didn’t.

He kept going until she groaned, then gasped, nearly screamed.

“Now that might actually make someone come inside, if anyone was close enough to hear.”

He was laughing as he pulled her onto his lap and wrapped her up in the afghan from the back of the sofa.

She would have yelled at him, but she still couldn’t talk, still had waves of pure pleasure shooting through her body. She let her head fall to his shoulder, and with her legs splayed wide this way, she could feel him, throbbing hard against the slick opening of her body, and she rocked against him ever so slightly, because she just couldn’t help herself.

Oh, it felt so good.

He felt so good.

“If someone comes in here, I’m going to kill you,” she told him.

“You’re covered up, and even if they do come inside, they won’t stay long.”

“Travis!”

He laughed again. “If they were close enough to hear you, they’d have been here by now to make sure everything was okay. So you’re safe, Red. And you’re not going anywhere.”

She arched against him and rocked, using him to please herself now and hoping that would make him a fraction as crazy as he’d made her.

He groaned, a sound she took as encouragement, and then he had his hands palming her hips, finding a rhythm he liked.

She nipped on his ear, teased at it a bit, remembering what he’d done to her belly button, then rubbed against him some more, whispering, “Feel what you did to me. It felt so good. You feel so good.”

He growled deep in his throat and pushed her away. She sat back on his lap, puzzled until she realized he had a condom and was putting it on, then pulling her back to him.

She started out high on her legs, fitting her body to his and then let him slowly ease her down around him, letting him slowly open up her body and fill it with him. He was big and hot and throbbing, and she felt her body grip him, squeeze him tight, as if she’d never let him go.

It was too much, too sweet, too hot, too much to control, so she just hung on to him and let him do it, let him set the rhythm with his hands on her bottom, that sexy voice of his urging her on, take him, take more, take him deeper.

She whimpered, protested, buried her face in his hair, and he finally flipped her over onto her back on the sofa and came down hard on top of her, rocking into her in a maddening rhythm, so steady, only so deep, only so hard.

He was trying to kill her, she decided.

Kill her with pleasure.

“What?” she cried. “You want me to beg you to finish it? Is that it?”

“Yes,” he said, wicked man. “I think I would like that.”

But he didn’t make her, he laughed deep in his throat and finally let go of all efforts to control this thing between them or to prolong it.

And then it didn’t take anything at all.

She’d been hanging on that edge for what seemed like forever, and he finally pushed her over it. She buried her face in his shoulder, to muffle the sounds she made and felt him surging into her, her body milking every bit of pleasure out of his.

It was amazing. It was beautiful, and it was so much more than she’d ever felt before.

He was a magic man, she decided.

Beautiful, sexy, strong, with a control streak a mile long, but she didn’t care. She just gave herself over to the sheer pleasure of finally having him in every way that mattered.

Paige knew that at some point, he rolled heavily off of her, wrapped her in that afghan and carried her to his bed, sliding her between the cool, soft sheets and then covering her up.

She grumbled about the cold.

He laughed. “Give me a minute, Red. I’ll be happy to warm you up all over again.”

“No,” she said. “I need a week, maybe two, to recover from that.”

She wasn’t sure she could move her own legs or her arms, her whole body was so heavy and so relaxed, it was limp with pleasure.

“A week?”

He was back, standing naked by the bed, condoms in hand.

She looked at him, giving him a slow once-over as he’d given her, except here in his room it was darker.

Still, she could see enough to appreciate the sight.

He pulled back the covers and got in, put on another condom and rolled onto her.

“Travis,” she protested, wanting him all over again, just too sated to do anything about it.

“We’ll go easy this time, Red. If anything can ever be easy with us,” he whispered as he slipped inside her still-aroused body.

Just like that.

Easy as could be.

A million sensations came thundering back, making her whimper and open herself up to him even more.

It was pointless to protest.

She’d give him anything he wanted right now, she realized.

Anything.

Paige woke up to find him looking at her again.

She was in his bed, and it was morning, or nearly morning, judging by the faint light coming in the window.

He was lying stretched out beside her, propped up on his side. He’d pulled the sheet down to the top of her thighs and was stroking her slowly. His hand
skimmed just above the surface of her skin, a touch more implied than anything else, and it was as if her body was rising up to meet his hand, begging him in its own way to touch her.

“You are a wicked man,” she said, her hand on his cheek, wanting him to kiss her. “And you need to shave. Your skin is rough.”

“All the better to rough you up, my dear.”

She laughed as he did just that, rubbing his chin against her belly, her breasts, her cheek, taking her back, just like that, to that heated pool of desire between them.

How did he do that?

It was like it was always there, simmering, just ready to boil over.

He kissed her once, then again, then studied her face, touching her cheek, tracing a path around her mouth. “I’m afraid I roughed you up a little bit last night, honey. Your skin is reddish. Is it sore?”

“A little,” she admitted.

“What me to shave?”

She shook her head, pulling his mouth down to hers. “I don’t want to wait.”

“You’re gonna be sore in other places, if we’re not careful,” he said.

“Maybe, but I don’t care.”

The next time she rolled over, she must have been dreaming. Because something that looked for all the world like morning sunlight was shining in through the bedroom window.

Paige blinked once, then again.

It had been days since she’d seen anything resembling sunlight.

It was like waking up to a completely different world.

So was finding herself naked in Travis Foley’s bed.

Paige took a breath, pulling the air in as deep as she could and very, very slowly letting it out.

She’d become his lover, and she wasn’t sorry.

She was glad, very, very satisfied and a little bit sore.

The man was insatiable. Wonderfully so. She’d never had a lover so sure of what he wanted and the fact that he was going to get it. It was maddening, and, though she hated admitting it even to herself, really turned on. As if he planned to turn her into his personal love slave, and she’d do it, because he made her feel so good.

She was contemplating actually getting up, maybe soaking in that fancy horse trough of his to get some of the soreness out, when he walked in, dressed this time.

Paige glanced at the clock. It was after nine. He was never home at this hour.

“Back for more?” she asked, thinking this whole love slave thing had gone to his head, too.

He grinned, shook his head and held out the phone she hadn’t noticed him carrying to her. “It’s your brother.”

She gaped at him as he clamped a hand over the earpiece. “No!”

“Afraid so, Red. Sounds like he keeps close tabs on you, didn’t like it when he hadn’t heard back from you first thing this morning.”

Horrified, she looked at the phone like it might jump up and bite her. “You didn’t…He doesn’t…”

“No. Of course not. And he can’t see through the
phone, so he has no way of knowing you’re naked in my bed, so try not to look so worried. Or sound so worried. He sounds like he already believes I’d throw you to the wolves if I had the chance.”

She took a breath, sat up to lean back against the leather headboard and lost track of the sheet in the progress, having to scramble to cover her breasts once more.

“This is impossible!” she complained.

And then he shoved the phone at her, and she had no choice but to say, “Hello? Blake?”

“What has that man done to you?” her brother practically roared.

Paige fought down a near-hysterical chuckle and motioned for Travis to come back into the room, when he started leaving. She didn’t have anything to hide anymore, except bare breasts, at least for the length of this phone call, if she could manage it.

“Travis Foley hasn’t done anything,” she said, a bold-faced lie, cheeks flaming. “Blake, I’m fine. I promise you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me.”

“You’re sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. It even stopped raining this morning. Finally!”

“What about the mine? Did you talk him into letting you back into the mine yet?”

“Actually,” she said, looking at Travis, wanting to know it was okay with him, “we’ve come to an agreement.”

Travis nodded. They were still in agreement.

“Really?” Blake sounded astonished. “How did you do that?”

She kept looking at Travis. “He said I was a brilliant
negotiator and that every argument I made, made perfect sense.”

Laughter rumbled out of Travis, and he reached out and ticked the side of her breast.

She nearly slapped him away.

Blake fell into a thoroughly insulting silence.

“It’s true,” she told her brother.

“What did you have to give him?”

“I didn’t give him anything.” Okay, that was another bold-faced lie, but she thought she made the claim rather well. “What he really wants is for the McCords to leave him alone. I told him if I had a week or so to look for the diamond, and I couldn’t find it, that’s it. We’re done. We won’t bother him again. You have to promise me that, Blake. If I can’t find it, we drop this.”

“I don’t get it. What’s in it for him?”

“He genuinely loves it here,” Paige said. “He likes the peace, the quiet, the privacy. I think you’d have to be a rancher to understand, but that means a lot to him. He hates having fortune hunters invading his space. Now, do we have a deal?”

Paige held the phone out between her and Travis. Her brother’s voice came through loud and clear. “Yeah. You tell me the diamond’s not there, we’re done with the mine.”

“With any of the old mines. With searching this ranch.”

“Okay. Deal.”

“Good. I’ll call you as soon as the water goes down and we can get inside the mine.”

“You be careful. If that man hurts you—”

She clicked the phone off and handed it back to Travis.

He gave her a long, studying look. “You think I don’t trust you, Red? That I needed to hear him say it?”

“I wanted you to hear him say it. I wanted you to know you’re doing the right thing by trusting me. I don’t want you to have any doubts about that.”

She watched him mull that over.

Maybe he had doubts and was fighting them.

Maybe he didn’t.

She couldn’t be sure, despite the thoroughly satisfying night she’d spent in his arms.

T
ravis had been kept home by a conference call with his bankers, but he’d left her a present in the library before he headed out to work on his ranch.

Paige couldn’t imagine what that might be.

She got up, wondering if Marta was already there. Normally at this time, she would be. Had Travis told her not to go to work in his room? Or maybe she’d gone into Paige’s room and found a bed that hadn’t been slept in.

Oh, well. Too late to worry about that now.

She put on the robe Travis left for her at the foot of the bed and padded across the hall through the family room and to the wing that held the other bedrooms. In her own room, she showered and dressed quickly, then headed for the library.

What could he have possibly given her?

On the desk in the library, she found a box. A big, old cardboard box.

“How romantic,” she muttered to herself.

But inside…inside was an absolute treasure chest of information. All kinds of historical documents about the ranch, diaries of his ancestors and hers, maps, drawings, photos, everything.

She was so happy, she was practically bouncing with joy, couldn’t wait to dig into it all.

Best of all, he had what looked like a complete record of the archaeologists’ work in the mines with the petroglyphs last year!

She had their published report, but he had…everything!

She was so excited. This was…everything. Everything she needed. If anything could pinpoint the exact location of the diamond, it was the petroglyphs, and the archaeologists had mapped and photographed them all!

She was going to do it! She was going to find that diamond, and Blake would do what it took to save the family diamond empire, and then…

Paige thought of Travis.

And then what?

She pushed the thought out of her mind and settled into a chair with the archaeologists’ material to start reading.

Travis caught hell from the ranch hands that day for not only starting the day obscenely late—and no explanations of conference calls with bankers were believed in the least—but also for being ridiculously happy.

Apparently, he’d been a bear to deal with for days.

He found he didn’t care.

What he did care about was that there was a gorgeous redhead waiting back at the ranch for him, and he couldn’t wait to get back to her, even if it was the first day in forever that it wasn’t raining like crazy and there were a million things to be done around the ranch.

But he did his duty, as he always had, and got his work done, despite the temptations of
her.
Then he hurried with almost indecent speed back to the house once the work was done.

Cal offered to take care of Murph for him, and Travis actually agreed, which won him a long, hard look from Cal and a muttered,
Damn, she must be something,
under Cal’s breath as Travis walked out of the barn.

For once, he wished a day’s work didn’t involve him coming home a mess, this time wet and muddy through and through.

He had just gotten his boots off in the mudroom and stood up to take off his shirt when she ran into the room, a beautiful smile on her face and launched herself into his arms, giving him no choice but to catch her.

“I’m filthy,” he told her.

“I don’t care,” she claimed, as she laughed and kissed him.

“Okay, but what happened?” He’d never seen her this happy.

“You! My present! All those old records and the archaeologists’ report!”

It was his turn to laugh. She was thrilled with a box of old records about the ranch?

“They’re not exactly diamonds,” he reminded her.

“No, they’re better!” She kissed him again.

He gave her a skeptical look. Better than diamonds?

“You’re talking to a geologist, remember? Trust me. They’re better.”

“Well, in that case…” He’d already gotten her filthy, wrapped around him the way she was, so now they both needed to get cleaned up. “Just how grateful are you, Red?”

She grinned. “You need someone to clean you up?”

He nodded.

“Allow me. Please.”

“Only if I get to return the favor, Red.”

She nodded. “Done.”

They were lying in his bed, much later that night, Travis on his back, Paige curled against his side, him stroking that glorious red hair of hers, when he remembered the conversation he’d had with his father yesterday, about Charlie and Eleanor McCord.

Travis sighed, hating to bring their families into this room, this moment, but he knew she was worried about Charlie meeting the Foleys, and he didn’t want to be keeping things from her.

He kept stroking her hair, his touch easy and soothing, he hoped, and said, “I meant to tell you, I talked to my father the other night, and I thought you’d like to know. He met Charlie.”

She went to pull away from him, and he let her, only as far as to roll onto her back in the bed beside him, and he followed, up on his side, taking her face in his hand to turn it back toward him.

Because he was determined that they could talk about this and still be two people thoroughly enjoying each other in bed.

“When?” she whispered.

“I’m not sure. Just in the last few days.”

She studied his face, obviously worried. “And?”

“And…they met. Listening to my father, it sounds like everybody’s feelings are pretty much the same. All mixed up. Charlie is my father’s son, except he’s not, or he never has been. He doesn’t know any of us, and none of us really knows what we feel yet. You should know, my father wanted to meet him all along, but decided to wait until Charlie was ready. Sounded like the whole thing was awkward, but civil. I’m sure they’ll see each other again. My father said it’s bound to take some time to get over the awkwardness and figure out where they go from here, but…He’s a good man, Paige. A good father. And it meant something to him. It meant a lot. I could—”

He broke off.

“What?” she demanded. “Tell me.”

“I think he actually started to cry while he was telling me about it,” Travis admitted. “I don’t remember my father ever shedding a tear over anything. He’s a rock. He raised me and my two brothers all by himself after our mother died. The man’s a force to be reckoned with, and this brought him to tears, just telling me about it. He’d never be cruel or even unkind to a child of his. You have to believe me about that.”

“Okay. I do,” she said. “And I’m glad that it meant so much to your father, and that you told me.”

“I also told him I’d like to meet Charlie, whenever
Charlie’s ready,” Travis added. “That maybe he’d like to come to the ranch. Around here we put a man on a horse to see what he’s made of.”

That won him a smile.

“Red, tell me the kid can at least ride a horse respectably.”

“He was born and raised in Texas. Of course, he can handle a horse.”

“Good. I don’t want to be embarrassed by the kid,” he teased, leaning over and kissing her softly, then thinking,
damn,
he had to tell her the rest of it.

“What?” She seemed to have radar when it came to him holding back family news. “It’s something bad. I knew it. You told me the good news. Now tell me the bad.”

He groaned, closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know if it’s bad, exactly—”

“If your reaction is any indication, it’s bad. Travis, tell me—”

“My father said…he and your mother are…seeing each other.”

She frowned. “Seeing…Like my mother is helping him to get to know Charlie?”

Travis shook his head. “No…seeing each other.”

Paige looked incredulous. “Seeing as in…dating?”

“Worse,” he admitted.

“They’re sleeping together?” she cried, looking horrified.

“No! I mean…I don’t know. I don’t want to know. I didn’t ask, and he didn’t volunteer any information about that. He just…he said…he really cared about her all those years ago and that…he never stopped.”

Paige scrambled to sit up in bed and keep the sheet covering her. Her mouth fell open, and she looked so shocked she couldn’t even say anything.

“I know,” he said. “I felt the same way when he told me. I just…That’s what he said. That they’ve been apart all these years, and that they’re seeing each other and they don’t care what anyone in the family thinks about it anymore.”

He waited, and she just sat there, looking like a million different questions were rushing through her head every moment, and he wished…He wished everything didn’t have to be so damned complicated, with so many ways in which his family was entangled in hers.

“I meant to tell you last night, and we got…Well, you know what we did. But I don’t want you to think I’m keeping secrets from you, either, and if you ask me what I think about this, I have no idea what to say. It’s just…”

“Unreal,” she said.

“Yes, it seems like it can’t possibly be happening. But that’s what he said. I take it this is not common knowledge in your family or mine, or we’d have heard about it by now from one of our siblings.”

“Oh, I’d have heard about it. Blake, this morning, if he had any idea, would have told me all about it.” She made a face, like a woman who dreaded what was to come.

“So I shouldn’t have told you?” he asked.

She groaned. “I don’t know. I don’t think I want to know about the two of them. And I certainly don’t want them to know about us. I just want to be here with you, without any of the family stuff between us. I know that’s impossible, but…that’s what I want.”

“Well, how about…no more talk about the family while we’re in bed?” he proposed, easing back down in the bed and tugging her down after him.

“Oh,” she said, letting him pull her to him, those long legs of hers wrapping around his, her pretty breasts once more pressed against his chest. “That sounds like a great idea.”

“Okay. Forget I said anything.”

“I can do that,” she promised. “Kiss me, and I’ll forget right now.”

He happily complied.

The days that followed, waiting for the floodwaters to recede, were idyllic, among the most joyous of her life, Paige decided.

She studied the historical records from the ranch by day and gave up her nights to Travis, gave herself, her body to him completely, while trying to tamp down any questions about risky emotional attachments, the future or messy family entanglements.

This was like a little present to herself, this time with him, and she meant to enjoy it to the fullest and try not to think about what happened later, once it was time for her to leave the ranch.

Except that she wanted Travis to always have the ranch.

The place had come alive to her after reading the old diaries of the women who’d lived and died here, the record of the struggles they faced, the men they’d loved, and all this life on the ranch had meant to them.

Travis loved it in that same way, and it should be his, she decided.

She wanted to be the one who made sure it was always his.

If she found the diamond, she thought she’d have the leverage to do that. She’d simply tell her family if they wanted her to give them the diamond, he got the ranch, period.

It was, as she’d told him, nothing more than stubborn pride and wanting to best the Foleys that would make anyone in her family hang on to the ranch anyway, and she was sick of the whole feud.

So that would be her parting gift to Travis.

His ranch.

And if, when this was over, he just let her go…she supposed she’d have to find the strength and the pride to go.

She wasn’t going to think about it now.

She had a diamond to find.

And his records were going to help her. So far, she hadn’t found any reference to the diamond at all, except for the same old speculation that it might be there. No one had put together the clue on the back of the old deed with the petroglyphs. No one said anything about ever searching in that way for the diamond.

So she thought it might still be here, even after all this time.

And with the archaeological records, she had the location of all the petroglyphs. The published report showed eight, but it turned out those were only the most clear, intact images the archaeologists had found. The complete records Travis had showed five more partial eagle images and their locations. With that, Paige had
mapped out her own plan to search the mine, once the water went down.

Travis checked the mine every day and said it wouldn’t be long now.

Which made her think, it was getting late. He’d be home soon.

She thought about what she might do that she hadn’t already done with him, something he would enjoy coming home to….

Having her naked worked for him in a big way. So just waiting for him in his bed was always an option. Or walking into the shower with him, as he got cleaned up after a long day’s work. That had proven to be very, very satisfying a few nights ago.

Maybe tonight, she really should wait until after dinner, because the man worked hard and he needed to keep up his strength. She could see that he was fed and then maybe take him into the library and take off her clothes and lie down on the rug in front of the fire.

Paige knew he’d like that. He’d wanted her there that first night, in the light of the fire, and she’d been too shy with him at first to really get into letting him watch while she slowly peeled off her clothes.

But she could do it now.

For him, she would.

She’d do anything for him.

He had that kind of sensual power over her.

It was scary and completely thrilling at the same time.

She’d never met a man like him, one who was so very much a man. A strong, kind, patient, gentle, outrageously sexy man who loved this land, this life with a
kind of certainty she found so compelling. It made him seem so much more solid and trustworthy than any man she’d ever known.

Paige had met so many men who seemed to be just playing at life, moving along from this to that with no sense of commitment to anything.

Travis knew what he wanted. He worked hard every day to build the life he wanted, even knowing he might one day lose it to her family. He worked for it anyway.

And he seemed very happy to be sharing it with her. Whether that was simply sexual attraction or convenience…