The Texan's Diamond Bride (4 page)

“That’s just what a man does.”

Paige didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or charmed.

Both, probably.

“I don’t know what to say,” she admitted.

“You don’t have to say anything. I was just letting you know you had options.”

“Oh, well. Options. Okay.”

“But really, why don’t you just stay here with me, lean down against me.” He eased her down against his chest. “There you go. And let your head go right here.” Against that warm, inviting curve of his shoulder and his neck. “That’s it. Close your eyes.”

He spread the blanket over her and him. She could feel him breathing deeply and easily, feel the heat of his body, his heartbeat beneath one of her palms.

He put one of his hands over her ear, and with the other ear buried against his chest, it blocked out a lot of the sound, making a little cocoon of safety for her.

It was nice.

Really nice.

“Go to sleep,” he whispered. “You’ll be fine.”

She tried.

She really did.

But the storm kept going. She’d be nearly asleep, then find herself jerked out of that half sleep by lightning, feel his arms tighten around her to let her know she wasn’t alone, feel the glorious heat of his big, hard body, and then find herself thinking of what he’d offered.

It was just a night.

Just a little comfort in the dark on a big, scary night.

She knew lightning wasn’t going to come snaking inside the rock overhang and get her. It wasn’t chasing after her.

But an irrational fear was just that—an irrational fear.

And she’d been battling this one since she was a little girl and had gotten caught in her tree house during a big storm. No one had known she was there, and she’d stayed well hidden inside of it, huddled into a little ball, shaking and crying like she never had in her life. Her mother’s face had gone absolutely white when she realized her daughter had been in a tree during a lightning storm. To Paige, it had seemed like it had gone on forever, like no one would ever come and save her, that the lightning would surely reach out and get her at any moment.

“I was playing outside when I was five or six, and a storm came, and I took shelter at the closest spot, which turned out to be my tree house,” she finally admitted.

“Oooh,” her cowboy sympathized.

“Yeah, not the best place to be during a storm. It was awful, and it seemed like forever before anyone found me.”

He held her tight as she lay draped over him, bracing for the next boom of thunder. His hands moved gently over her shoulders, trying to soothe and work out some of the tension there. She snuggled closer, her face pressed as far into the curve of his neck as she could get it, the reassuring rise and fall of his chest beneath her, the beat of his heart, steady as could be, thumping against one of her ears.

“I could tell you a story,” he whispered.

And she grinned despite her fears. “Thank you, but I’m not five years old anymore. Besides, I never got bedtime stories. I got songs. My mother used to sing us to sleep.”

“Okay, I’m definitely not singing. You don’t want me to sing.”

“Then…I guess there’s not much else you could do,” she said, thinking it came out sounding like an invitation more than anything else.

Oops.

She didn’t mean it that way.

Honestly, she didn’t.

So what if he was here? She was here. The storm was here. And it was going to be a long night.

He took her face in his hand, eased back away from her, just enough that he could look her in the eye and said, “Let’s just try one kiss, Red. Okay? One. And we’ll see how it goes from there.”

Well, if he thought she was going to fight him off….

No, he knew she wasn’t going to do that.

Just let go
, she told herself.
It’s just one night, just one kiss.

He let his mouth settle over hers, firm and sure, in
sistent and yet moving like a man who had all the time in the world. She opened herself up to the kiss, to him. To the heat and the pleasure, falling into it.

Some men just knew how to touch a woman, when to linger, when to blaze forward, when to tease and when to take.

He knew.

He devoured her, and she let him, helped him as best she could, with long, hungry kisses and hands that roamed restlessly across his chest, his shoulders, his back, into his hair, trying to get even closer.

She wasn’t altogether sure how she got there, but she ended up straddling his lap, her hips in his hands, her breasts crushed against his chest, wishing she didn’t have a stitch on.

And it all happened as fast as a fire roaring out of control.

“Damn, Red,” he said, lifting his mouth from hers long enough to catch a ragged breath.

“I know.”

Maybe she’d just been alone too long, gotten too caught up with her work and her family and all of its craziness. Had forgotten to make time for Paige, the woman, with all a woman’s needs.

Because this felt very much like need.

He kissed her again, used his hands on her hips to draw her into a rhythm against him that was both arousing and maddening through their clothes.

If he’d laid her down on the hard ground right then and started stripping her clothes off, she didn’t think she could have stopped him. She was so aroused already he
might not even have to take her clothes off her. If he just kept doing what he was doing, which now included a hand slipping beneath her sweater and her shirt and that little nothing camisole of a bra to her breast, his mouth on her neck…

Her whole body gave a shudder.

The things he was doing to her neck….

He laid her back against that hard ground, settled himself heavily, but still fully clothed, on top of her, pushed up her clothes and took her nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.

“Trust me, Red,” he muttered. “Just trust me. Everything will be fine.”

P
aige slept like a baby.

Blissfully, heavily, completely unaware of anything, until she woke to the same sound of pounding rain and howling wind of the night before. If anything, it might just be worse.

And she was alone.

She sat up, wiped her hair from her face. It was flying around everywhere this morning, escaping from her braid. Her shirt and her camisole were bunched up under her sweater, and she straightened those, her cheeks filling with heat at just how that had all happened. And her jeans were unbuttoned, unzipped.

And she couldn’t say she was sorry at all.

They hadn’t actually had sex.

Not quite.

But he certainly had taken care of her.

She’d felt like the whole world exploded quite happily inside of her, with nothing but his mouth and his hands, and felt bad that he hadn’t let her do the same for him.

But he’d said he wanted her in a nice, soft, warm bed, in a nice, warm bedroom with all the time in the world to do this right. He didn’t want to be rushed. He didn’t want to be worried about the storm or a flood, and he kind of liked the idea of her owing him.

So there it was.

She owed him.

And planned on happily making good.

Lord, what a man!

Then she remembered the money thing. Paige’s family had serious money. And clout. And history.

Men could get weird about it.

She hoped her cute cowboy didn’t get too weird about it. Ranch hands lived simply, most of them on very little, and usually had a healthy disdain for the world in which Paige’s family lived.

She just wanted to know the man, enjoy the man, think for a while at least that any and all good things were possible with the man.

How long had it been since she’d felt like that?

She was practically singing as she got to her feet and went to look for him.

It was still very early, not quite five her watch told her, the world still filled with a ghostly white gloom, the rain not retreating in the least. Neither was the wind.

She went from one end of the overhang to the other. It was like searching through thick fog, but he wasn’t there.

A moment later he came in out of the rain, a ghostly
image, except she could tell he was dripping wet. He stopped when he spotted her and then through the gloom, she could swear she saw his mouth spread into a big smile.

“Sleep well, Red?”

“Yes, I did,” she said. “You?”

“I had really nice dreams and a woman draped all over me. Yeah, I slept just fine.”

So that’s how she’d slept? Draped all over him?

It must be true, because she’d slept on rock-hard ground before, and the body made its protests known the next day. Hers felt just fine this morning.

“Sorry about that,” she said.

“I’m not complaining,” he reassured her.

“No, just…You got to sleep on the ground. I definitely got the better end of the deal.”

“Well, you can owe me for that, too, Red.”

And then she laughed like she hadn’t in years.

Yeah, she owed him.

And it felt good to owe him, to think of paying back the favors of last night, leisurely, happily, in a nice warm bed.

“So, where is this nice, warm bed of yours, and how are we going to get to it?”

“My bed is about five miles, as the crow flies. So we’re going to have to make do with the hunting cabin I was telling you about. All we have to do is make it through the rain. I’m glad you’ve got your boots on. And your coveralls are waterproof?”

She nodded.

“Good. You’ll be just fine.”

“And you’ll be soaked,” she said, looking at the shirt
plastered to him, his dark hair drenched and slicked back, lying against his head.

“I’ve been wet before. I’ll survive, and we’ll get a nice fire going once we get to the cabin and we can dry each other off. Sound like a plan?”

“Yes, it does,” she agreed.

A glorious plan.

They gathered up their things. She had her small pack, and he took her larger one. She got into her coveralls and then stared out into the storm.

At least the lightning had stopped.

Still, what a mess.

“The wind’s not any worse than it was last night,” she said. “Like…the storm’s stalled?”

“Right on top of us, I’d say.”

Which was not good.

A fast-moving hurricane could drop a lot of rain quickly, but at least it was gone fast, carried along by the forward movement of the storm.

But sometimes a hurricane came ashore and then ran into another front coming the other way, and it was like a standoff in the sky. The two storm systems just sat there, dumping torrential rain carried by the leftovers of the hurricane on the same spot.

The flooding could be devastating, particularly in a place as flat and normally dry as Texas.

“If I thought this was going to get any easier, I’d say we wait it out. But I really don’t think this storm is moving, Red. We need to just trudge through it. We’ll stick to the side of the ridge, so we’ll have high ground. And it probably won’t look like a path, but trust me, it’s there and I know it. I grew up on this ranch. Cabin’s
maybe a mile and a half from here. Stick close to me, and if you need help, yell. Okay?”

“Okay,” she nodded, trusting him implicitly.

They set off in the cold, soaking rain, so heavy she could barely see him in front of her. He was right about the path. She didn’t see one, but he seemed to know exactly where he was going.

At times, off to the left, she could see what she thought was a raging river, where a peaceful stream had been the day before.

The one she’d watched him wash off in, when she’d had all those wonderful fantasies about him.

He lived up to them and more, she decided, and as soon as they got in out of the rain, she was going to peel those wet clothes off of him, dry him off and then heat him up.

It could rain for a week, for all she cared.

They trudged on through the storm. The ground was wet and had the consistency of watery oatmeal under her feet. Even with her work boots, she was sliding all over the place.

Rain dripped off her cowboy hat, blew in at times and rolled down her face, her neck and inside the opening of her coveralls, no matter how tightly she clutched them to her. It soaked through her sweater, her shirt, even her socks.

Yuck!

The sky lightened only marginally as they walked and, presumably, the sun came up somewhere above all the clouds and the rain.

She didn’t want to think of what might have happened if he hadn’t caught her in the mine. If she’d been inside
the mine shaft alone when the storm hit, not knowing for sure what was going on, it would have been a long journey out of there alone. And an even longer night, either huddled alone against the rocks, scared half to death of the lightning or she might have even headed for the Jeep, might not have found it in the gloom, and then what would have happened to her?

Anything.

They trudged on, miserable, cold, wet.

She wondered if the cabin might have a primitive shower or even an old washtub. A bath was highly unlikely, she knew, but a woman could dream, couldn’t she?

A bath and then a nice warm bed with him.

That was a fantasy!

In the end, it took more than three hours. Three thoroughly miserable hours, but they made it. Paige didn’t see how he found his way, because the world seemed like a wet, foggy, miserable mess to her, but he led them right to a small cabin.

“Come on,” he said, opening the door for her.

She wanted nothing more than to get inside, but dug in her pack for her satellite phone instead. It was nearly six, and her brother had to be going crazy.

She huddled under the narrow overhang of the roof, pressed up against the side of the cabin and held up the phone. “I have to try to make a call before my brother shows up with the National Guard or something like that.”

He nodded. “I’ll start a fire. If you get through, I need to call the ranch, let ’em know I’m okay and to get us when they can.”

“Fire!” That was what she heard. “Yes, please. A fire.”

He went inside, and she turned on the phone and dialed. There was a ton of static on the line, a couple of seconds when she thought she heard Blake, frantic and calling her name, and then nothing.

Finally, on the fourth try, she could hear him.

“Hey, sorry about that. I got caught in the storm, but I’m fine,” she yelled into the phone.

“What?”

“I’m fine!”

“Paige—”

“Out of the mine, taking shelter in a cabin. I’m fine.”

“Cabin?”

“Yes. I’m in a cabin. We’ll wait out the storm here. I’ll call as soon as I can. Don’t worry. And don’t do anything stupid, like send someone to get me. You’ll give our whole plan away. Blake? Blake—”

But he was gone. There was nothing but static now.

Oh, well.
He got the important parts,
she thought. She was safe, out of the mine, out of the storm, and he didn’t need to do anything.

Which would be incredibly hard for her big brother, but Paige had to hope that he’d sit tight.

She clicked off the phone and opened the door to the cabin to find no real light, just what she had from her own helmet lamp. Slowly panning the room, she saw a roughly made wooden bed in one corner, a giant fireplace, two chairs, shelves with dry stores of food, a sink and what she really, really hoped was a bathroom behind a door in a corner.

She was still standing on the threshold, literally
dripping wet, when the door opened and out came her cowboy, already out of his wet clothes and into a pair of dry jeans, pulling on a dry flannel shirt.

“I’m afraid there’s no electricity, and I was making too much of a mess to do the fire first,” he said. “Stay where you are. I’ll bring dry clothes to you. Believe me, it’s going to be easier this way.”

She didn’t argue, feeling like a drowned rat and looking away, not wanting anyone, especially him, to see her looking this bad and grateful that there wasn’t much light in the cabin yet.

He came back a moment later with a pair of sweatpants and another flannel shirt, even a pair of men’s boxers.

“Best I have to offer,” he said. “Now, my advice to you would be to get naked right here at the door and drop your clothes where they are. Because there’s only one dry towel left, and I imagine you’d rather have it for yourself and not bring all the water and mud into the cabin.”

“Did you strip at the door?” she asked.

“No, I just wish I had.”

Paige laughed and motioned for him to turn around so she could start stripping. She’d do anything right then to be warm and dry.

He turned to the side and held up the towel between them. She didn’t think she’d ever taken her clothes off that quickly. Not that it was easy, since everything was heavy with water and her fingers were practically numb.

But she got them off, leaving them in a sopping pile on the floor in the doorway, then took the towel and wrapped it around herself.

He just grinned and handed her the dry clothes.

“Is that a real bathroom over there?” she asked.

“There’s no hot water, if that’s what you’re asking. But there is running water. Rainwater collection system on the roof, so there’s no shortage of water now. Some semblance of a shower, if you could stand the cold. But there is a toilet that flushes and everything.”

“That’s it. I’m in love with this place,” she said, heading across the room for the bathroom. “If there were dry socks somewhere, I’d be in heaven.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised.

“And a fire? Dry socks and a fire? You are my hero!”

“Simple girl, are you? Easy to please?”

“Today I am,” she promised, shutting herself into the tiny bathroom.

He’d found a candle in the bathroom and left it burning. The room was tiny, primitive, but clean. She rubbed herself down briskly, dismissed completely the idea of a cold shower right now. Maybe once he got a big fire going, she’d try it. For the moment, she hurried into the boxers, the sweatpants and the flannel shirt.

They felt fabulous. Better than any designer gown she’d ever tried on.

Then she went to work trying to squeeze what water she could out of her hair.

Finally, she wrapped it in the towel and went into the main room.

He had a fire just starting to burn in the giant stone fireplace and she knew they’d soon be warm, given how small the cabin was, once the fire really got going.

She sat down on the raised stone hearth, and her hero presented her with luxuriously thick, warm socks.

“Ahhh!” She moaned in pure ecstasy, then exclaimed, “That’s it. It’s official. I would do absolutely anything for you!”

“Red, I haven’t even made you a cup of hot coffee yet, but I’m about to. What is that gonna get me?”

“I don’t know. What do you want?”

“Well, if that fire was going and this place was even halfway warm, I’d have dried you off myself and not given you any clothes to wear. I’d have taken you straight to bed. But I was planning on being gentlemanly about it and warming the place up first, maybe getting some food in you, and then getting you naked. That was my plan.”

“That sounds like an absolutely glorious plan.”

Okay, just like that.

They had a plan.

A highly satisfying plan.

Travis figured there was only one other thing he absolutely had to do before hauling her off to bed, and that was to try to get hold of someone at the ranch house, just so they’d know he was okay and not waste time trying to find him.

He was sure they had better things to do right now, to make sure everything else on the ranch was okay. He could wait. He might be very happy waiting here with her, letting someone else take care of things for a change.

After all, how many times did he find himself stranded with a gorgeous, willing woman?

It was definitely a first for him. Years of good clean living and hard work were being rewarded right here, he decided. He deserved it and he intended to enjoy it. She would, too. He’d make sure of it.

But first, he took her satellite phone and dialed the ranch. Nothing but static greeted him, despite repeated attempts.