To Find You Again (15 page)

"You're right," Emma said honestly. "But I think you
can
learn. It's going to take time and patience to find the right way to do it."

"And someone who understands to teach me," he stated bluntly.

Emma drew lines in the dirt with the piece of bark. "I understand that you see things differently, but I'm not sure how to make sense of what you see."

Ridge locked his hands together. "The number. The way you did that helped me to read it right. Maybe we can try it with words, too."

Emma gazed at him, her expression unrevealing of her thoughts. "For short sentences, maybe, but things like newspapers or books, it would take too much time and you'd lose both interest and patience. You said you can recognize some words?"

He nodded. "Ma used to read things to me over and over again, and after so long I just knew what some of the words looked like."

"So you memorized them." She thought about that a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. "I'd like to try some things this afternoon. That way maybe we can both come up with ideas on what might work."

Although doubts continued to plague Ridge, he suspected that if anybody could come up with a way to help him, it would be Emma. She was determined and intelligent, and too pretty for his peace of mind. Being stranded in the small cabin with her was sweet torture. He was no saint and temptation seemed awfully close in these four walls. He hoped her lessons would steer his thoughts in other directions, even if his body's compass kept swinging back to Emma.

Ridge stood and clasped her hand, tugging her to her feet. He miscalculated his strength and she flew upward, with a little cry of surprise, and into his arms. Her breasts flattened against his chest and his body reacted with all the subtlety of a tomcat in the springtime.

Startled, Ridge looked down into Emma's uptilted face expecting to find shock and disapproval. Instead, he was stunned to see the reflection of his own desire and he instinctively drew her flush against him. His open hands splayed across her lower back, over the rise of her soft buttocks. His masculine pride preened when she moaned ever-so-softly and a flush spread across her cheeks.

Emma was so close he could feel her heart thumping wildly and smell the first tendrils of her passion. Pleasure swirled through his brain, obliterating everything but his need, which had only risen in the hours spent alone with her.

"I want you, Emma," Ridge whispered.

Emma's legs wobbled but Ridge's corded arms kept her upright. She knew intimately what he wanted, as her own body begged for the same, but once they gave in to lust, it would be impossible to undo. The second time would be easier, then a third and fourth even easier. Two lonely people in the middle of nowhere. So easy...

But they would both regret it once they returned to civilization. Ridge because of his sense of honor, and Emma, heaven help her, because she would only want him more.

She felt his hardness against her belly and her breath caught in her throat. Long-denied desire surged through her blood, swamping her senses. Ridge's hands caressed her buttocks, cupping and squeezing gently.

Would it be so bad, just this one time, to feel like a woman again? To touch a man's body, to skim her fingers along silky heat and flexing muscles? To smell the heady scent of Ridge's arousal and feel his breath upon her face and breasts?

The choice was hers and her mind knew what she should do, but her heart and body railed against rationality and caution. Ridge wasn't like the others; he never treated her with anything less than respect, despite him knowing she was a "white squaw." And he wanted her.

Just as she wanted him.

It was as simple as that.

Tomorrow she would have to live with her decision, but today she would surrender to the dictates of her heart and body.

She lifted her gaze and shivered at the naked passion that darkened Ridge's eyes. She cupped his cheek and his whiskers rasped against her palm, making her shiver with longing. Drawing closer, she gazed at his lips—lips that had spoken kind, soothing words to her; lips that had defended her; lips she'd fantasized about as she lay in her bed late at night.

He lowered his head, tilting it so their mouths matched perfectly. She'd always imagined his lips would be firm like the rest of him, but they softened beneath hers. Their breaths mingled as the kiss grew deeper. Ridge's tongue swept across her lips and she opened to allow him entry, tasting him for the first time. He caressed her palette and played across her teeth and the inside of her cheeks. He was devouring her as she pressed closer, allowing him everything he wanted.

Ridge drew away and rested his forehead against hers, his breathing swift and shallow. "If you don't want this, Emma, say so now. I can't promise I can stop later."

Emma considered his words for only a second and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't want you to stop. Not now, not later," she whispered.

With one fluid motion, Ridge scooped her into his arms and carried her the short distance to the bed. He laid her down and straightened, gazing at her with hot, lust-filled eyes. He slipped his hands under his suspenders and drew them off his well-shaped shoulders. "I wanted you the first time I saw you walking down the road, your shoulders so straight and proud." Passion roughened his voice.

Emma's heart tripped and words abandoned her. Kneeling on the bed, she helped him remove his shirt, leaving him in a wool undershirt. She tugged it out of his waistband and glided her hands beneath the material, losing herself in the sensation of his smooth warm skin. Her mouth grew dry as he lifted the shirt over his head, baring a sleek, well-muscled chest.

Running her hands up his planed torso, Emma felt his nipples pucker beneath her palms. With a little smile, she leaned forward and latched onto one, sucking it to pebble hardness.

Ridge moaned and his hands cupped the back of her head, his fingers wrapping themselves in her silky hair. "Emma."

She kissed a line across his chest and teased the other crest with her tongue and lips. Growing bolder, Emma stroked his back and sides, and felt the goose bumps that arose on his fevered flesh.

Suddenly her shoulders were grasped and she raised her head. Ridge crushed his lips down upon hers, and she met him without flinching, matching his passion with her liberated desire. Clumsy fingers opened her blouse and a work-roughened hand slid under her camisole. He cupped her breast with a tenderness that belied the primal urgency of their bodies. He rolled her nipple between his fingertips and she broke away from his savage kiss, panting heavily as arousal pulsed through her body in unending waves.

With unspoken agreement, they quickly shed the remainder of their clothing. Emma tossed hers onto the floor, uncaring as to where it landed, only wanting to have Ridge's nakedness against her own.

She lay back on the bed and drank in Ridge's virile beauty. He stood at the foot of the bed, solid and self-assured, with his hands on his hips as he stared down at her, his hot gaze caressing every inch of her body. Curious, she brazenly inspected his impressive masculinity, hard and curved against his belly. There was a glimmer of moisture at the tip, and it tantalized her.

She shifted over on the bed and patted the mattress in clear invitation. Ridge immediately settled beside her, his arms coming around her waist as he drew her flush against him. They kissed for lingering moments, then Ridge began to nuzzle her jaw and neck, and lower. He worshiped her body with his hands and mouth, and Emma's breasts tingled beneath his devotion. Her womb felt swollen and damp, and the pressure within rose with each caress.

Ridge cupped the source of her heat and eased a finger into her wetness. He teased the nub, sending a bolt of lightning through Emma's loins. Gasping, she reached down between their bodies to encircle his erection. He throbbed within her fist and she brushed her fingertip across the drop of moisture.

Ridge's muscles bunched and he inhaled sharply. "Emma."

Her heart kicked against her ribs and she tried to calm her stumbling breath. She released him and clutched his rock-solid arms. "Yes. Now Ridge." She hardly recognized the needy voice as her own.

Ridge paused to gaze down at her, as if gauging her readiness. A moment later, he guided himself to her opening and teased her sensitive folds.

Emma pumped her hips upward, straining toward him as her fingers dug into his arms. "Now. Please."

Ridge planted his hands on the mattress on either side of her and raised himself up so they touched only where they were joined. He continued pressing inward at a snail's pace, moving forward with agonizing deliberation.

Emma tensed only for a moment, having forgotten how it felt to be filled by a man. But her body had no trouble welcoming him and opened fully to his breadth. Tears gathered in her eyes and she tried to blink them away.

Ridge froze and a tender finger brushed away one tear that escaped her. "Emma?" he asked with so much concern, she wanted to sob.

She wound her arms and legs around Ridge, drawing him so close not even air could get between them. "I'm fine. It's just so good. Been so long," she whispered.

After a moment's startled hesitation, he began to move. He inched out, then eased back into her moist heat. He had to fight his body's insistence to take her fast and hard, to release the tension gathering in his groin like thunderheads before a storm. But she felt so tight, so hot, and he wanted to bury himself in her, never to come out.

Emma grasped his buttocks, urging him deeper. He could feel her pulsing around him and he groaned.

Capturing her lips with his, he thrust with more force and speed. His urgency boiled hotter and hotter.

He focused on Emma's face—her closed eyes, her arched brow, and her swollen lips. She was so beautiful, so courageous, so giving.

Suddenly, she opened passion-filled eyes and they widened when they met his. She tipped her head back and her body arched upward as a low keen spilled from her parted lips.

Her flesh tightened around him and he thrust into her one final time, spilling his seed deep within her. His heart thundered and he gasped for air as he held his weight on trembling limbs.

Emma peered up at him, her face flushed and damp from her climax. There were no regrets, nor condemnation in her eyes, only warmth and gratitude. She reached up to brush a strand of hair behind his ear. The gesture was so artless, Ridge's throat threatened to close.

He eased out of her and shifted to her side to lie down. Emma immediately curled against him, her arm draped across his waist. Unwilling to surrender their intimacy too quickly, Ridge embraced her. Her breasts flattened against him, tempting him with their plump softness. His groin twitched, but that was all he could manage after his shattering release.

He caressed her thick braid, the motion cozy and soothing. The fire crackled in the stove and the wind rattled icy snow against the windows. Ridge couldn't think of a single place he'd rather be.

"Enapay was my husband," Emma broke the silence some minutes later.

Ridge's fingers stilled. Of course he'd known she wasn't a virgin when he'd entered her, but he hadn't expected her confession. "'Was'?"

"He died during a raid over two years ago," she replied quietly.

The whispers about her back in Sunset weren't far from the truth, and Ridge wondered why he wasn't outraged that she'd slept with an Indian. "Was he good to you?"

He felt her nod. "We were married when I was seventeen. He was twenty-one."

Ridge continued to stroke her hair as he digested her words. "Do your parents know?"

"No. You're the first person I've told." She turned onto her side and rested her cheek in her propped-up hand as she gazed down at him. "I thought you would understand."

Her trust in him humbled and touched him. "If he's dead, why do you need to find his people?"

She looked down and stroked his chest with featherlight fingertips. Despite himself, his nipples hardened and renewed desire arrowed to his groin.

"I want to see his family one last time to make sure they're safe and well." She lifted her gaze and sadness shadowed her brown eyes, and Ridge sensed something more in her hesitation. "He was a good man, Ridge."

Jealousy sucker punched him and he forced himself to breathe slowly and evenly. He didn't own Emma and he sure as hell shouldn't care that she'd been married to an Indian. "I reckon that's a good enough reason."

"Thank you." She leaned down and brushed a kiss across his lips.

Lightning arced through Ridge's veins and he rolled Emma on top of him, so he could feel her bare skin from chest to toe. Emma smiled impishly and wriggled against his growing hardness. All thoughts of her past lover disappeared as Ridge growled and, with one smooth motion, had her lying beneath him.

Emma laughed brightly and Ridge suddenly wanted her with a need that bordered on obsession.

Chapter 10

Emma awoke with a shiver, alone in the bed, and with a driving need that she had to
do
something. But no matter how hard she focused, she couldn't determine what that something was.

She blinked in the dwindling light of the afternoon and spotted Ridge wearing his trousers and untucked undershirt by the stove. He was adding another chunk of wood.

She lay unmoving, not knowing what he expected. After their second joining, both she and Ridge had collapsed from exhaustion and fallen asleep. Her body twinged pleasantly in places she hadn't felt since her husband died. But there was still an unappeased hunger biding within her, a hunger to lie again and again with Ridge. Although Enapay had been a considerate lover, she had always kept a part of herself separate from their lovemaking. But with Ridge, she didn't want to hide any part of her from him, and that frightened her.

Her prediction had been too true. Now that she and Ridge had made love twice, it would be so easy to succumb again. Watching him, his face reflecting the fire and his motions as graceful as a cat's, Emma wasn't certain how she would close her Pandora's box now that it had been unlocked.