Lady Deception

by Bobbi Smith

  Luke could see all the questions in the depths of Cody's green eyes, and he muttered under his breath, "Just kiss me."

  "But..." she started to argue.

  "Please," he whispered, and his lips sought hers.

  His mouth moved over hers in a persuasive assault, and suddenly Cody wasn't thinking about fighting him anymore. She told herself it was because Juana was watching that she had to make the embrace look good. She told herself it was to convince the other woman that she was Luke's. She told herself to act like she was enjoying his kiss, but, in truth, there was no acting involved. Luke's kiss was the most magnificent one she'd ever had in her life.

  "Arizona Caress is a sensitive, fast-paced, satisfying love story. Chalk up another winner for Bobbi Smith!"

  "Sweet Silken Bondage is a double-barrel romance that captures your imagination and your heart!"

  Bayou Bride "Ms. Smith's wonderful characterization and sparkling dialogue are what make her such a fine storyteller!"

  BOBBI SMITH

  This book is dedicated to the wonderful Jim Gee, for his invaluable help with research, and to Constance O'Banyon, Leann Shoaf and Gina Stratman for their friendship. It's also for Dr. Kansteiner, Dr. O'Donnell, and Dr. Santos. Without their incredible talents, 1 wouldn't be seeing quite so well right now.

  I'd like to thank Bill Black and Alicia Condon of Leisure Books and Evan Marshall, my agent, for believing in my work.

  There are many wonderful booksellers out there, and Amy Templer of B.Dalton, Mid Rivers Mall, St. Peters, Missouri, is a perfect example. Not only is she a fantastic store manager and successful 90's business woman, but she's also a big fan of romance. She along with her terrific staff-Janet Ryan, Jason Elliott, Alecia Hoyt, Tanya Badgley, Christy Shultman, Shelly Hoffineister, Terry Sanders, Beth Smith, Jeanne Smith, Ann Toawaradom, and Lisa DeClue-have been truly supportive of my career (even hosting a champagne party for me when 1 changed publishers and came over to Leisure Books last year). I thank them all for their kindness and support.

  A special note of thanks to John Ferguson of the West Texas Collection of Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. His help with research was greatly appreciated.

  This title was previously published by Dorchester Publishing; this version has been reproduced from the Dorchester book archive files.

  El Cielo, Arizona Territory, 1877

  The raucous, slightly off-key strains of the piano player's tune set a boisterous mood in the crowded, smoke-filled Last Chance Saloon. Cowboys eager for a good time drank heavily and gambled freely. Several scantily clad saloon girls hovered near the big spenders, tempting them with occasional glimpses of shapely legs and burgeoning breasts.

  As Joe, the bartender, kept the liquor flowing, he glanced around, wondering where Delilah, the new girl, had gone. When he'd watched her coming down the stairs earlier, he'd been struck again by her beauty. Clad in a tight green gown, with her flame-colored hair pinned up high in a mass of curls, and wearing just enough rouge and lipstick to emphasize her perfect features, she'd been gorgeous. He'd done well when he'd hired her a few weeks before.

  For a minute, Joe considered that maybe some lucky cowboy might have taken the lovely Delilah upstairs, but he doubted it. Delilah was picky, and her good-natured elusiveness added to her attraction. The men swarmed around her, wanting what they couldn't have.

  Human nature...

  Well, wherever she'd disappeared to, Joe hoped she'd show up soon. It was payday for the cowboys, and the Last Chance's busiest night of the month.

  Delilah was closer than Joe suspected. She was sitting alone at a partially secluded table at the far back corner of the saloon. Her gaze was fixed on the saloon's main doors.

  "Delilah!" Candy, a buxom blonde, saw her and called out from across the room where she sat with two drunken cowboys, trying to keep them both happy. "Come join us, honey!"

  "Not right now," Delilah answered, her gaze never wavering from the entrance.

  "There's plenty to go around!" Candy urged as she playfully slapped away one of the cowboys' groping hands.

  "Yeah, sugar, c'mon...."

  "Can't tonight. I'm expecting someone."

  The cowboys with Candy looked a little disappointed at Delilah's refusal.

  Not wanting to lose their favor, Candy quickly promised, "Don't worry, fellas. I can show you both a good time." She boldly ran a hand down each of their chests and then let her fingers linger knowingly at their belt buckles.

  Immediately distracted, the two forgot all about Delilah's rejection and turned their full attention back to the hot-blooded woman who wanted them.

  Delilah breathed a sigh of relief at getting off so easily. She was in no mood to play with the boys tonight. If Joe found out what she was doing, he wouldn't be happy, but right now she didn't care. Word had it that this was the night. Tonight, at long last, he was going to show up at the Last Chance. Tonight he would be here.

  Delilah wasn't normally one for drinking. She liked to keep her wits about her while she worked, but this was different. She needed one. Lifting the tumbler of bourbon before her, she took a healthy sip. The liquor burned all the way down. Suppressing a shudder, she wondered why her father had always said bourbon was the best drink. She lifted her gaze to the swinging doors again and continued her vigil.

  If there is a God, she silently prayed, Hank Andrews will show up here soon.

  Her nerves stretched taut, Delilah started to take another drink, but she stopped herself. One drink would steady her hands and temper her excitement; two might relax her too much. If Andrews came, she had to be ready for him-in all ways.

  It was then that it happened. The saloon doors swung open, and the man she wanted, the man she'd been waiting for, strode into the room.

  Delilah would have recognized Andrews anywhere. He was tall, his shoulders broad and powerful. His hair was dark brown, and he wore a full, flowing mustache that gave him an almost sinister look. His gun rode low on his hip, and he moved with a confidence that bordered on a swagger. She watched, almost transfixed, as he shouldered his way through the crowd to the bar.

  A hunger rose within Delilah and, along with it, her excitement surged. It seemed she'd been waiting an eternity for this moment. Hank Andrews had come to the Last Chance just as she'd hoped he would! Now, finally, he would be hers!

  Delilah rose slowly, provocatively, from the table. Her prey was in sight. She straightened her shoulders and glanced down at the decolletage of her gown to make sure the neckline revealed just the right amount of cleavage. She wanted Andrews's full and undivided attention upon her. Whenever she went after a man, she got him.

  Picking up her drink, she walked toward Hank Andrews-the man of her dreams. Her movements were deliberately sensuous and designed to draw male attention. She knew what she wanted, what she was after, and she intended to get it.

  Her movements did not go unnoticed. Most of the men in the room found themselves distracted by her sensuous assault. Many stopped in midsentence to watch her progress.

  Andrews stood at the bar, unaware that he was being stalked. He ordered a beer from Joe, and when the drink was set before him, he casually tossed the man a coin. Lifting the mug, he took a deep, thirsty drink, then stopped suddenly after the first swallow. His expression turned ugly, and he slammed the mug back down on the bar, sloshing beer everywhere.

  "This is warm!" He glared at the bartender.

  "Most everything is this time of year," Joe countered, dismissing his complaint.

  "I like my beer cold!"

  "That's the coldest you're going to get in this town."

  "Maybe you didn't hear me right," he said threateningly.

  "I heard ya, but this ain't January, you know. I can't help ya, friend. So dri
nk it or leave. Makes no difference to me." Joe shrugged off his complaints. He heard too many of them in his line of work.

  Andrews didn't like being ignored. His hand was sliding toward his sidearm when a very feminine voice purred from behind him, "You may like your beer cold, mister, but how do you like your women? Cold..." There was a definite pause. "Or hot?"

  The last was said softly yet seductively, and at the sound of the invitation in the woman's voice, Andrews turned. He had always been partial to redheads, and the woman standing before him was without a doubt the most beautiful female he'd ever seen. From the challenging look in her knowing green eyes and the delicious sight of her breasts so alluringly displayed, he knew bedding this one would be a treat for any man.

  Andrews forgot his argument with the barkeep. A slow, leering smile spread across his face.

  "I like my women hot," he replied, and an answering heat settled in his loins as he imagined taking her upstairs.

  "I was hoping you'd say that." Delilah paused breathlessly as she met his gaze straight on and deliberately ran the tip of her tongue across her full bottom lip. "Because I am on fire."

  He gave a low chuckle. Snaking an arm about her slender waist, he drew her to him. "I think you might be just what I need tonight, darlin'."

  "I know I am," she breathed, moving suggestively against him.

  Andrews didn't know why fortune had chosen to smile on him, but he wasn't going to question his good luck. The best-looking girl in the place was his for the taking, and he was going to do just that. It had been a long time since he'd been able to relax and really enjoy a woman.

  "Let's go." He was ready.

  Delilah gave him a smile that hinted at much pleasure to come. "Don't you want to finish your beer before we go upstairs?"

  "The only thing hot I want tonight is you. What's your name, honey?"

  "Call me Delilah."

  "Name fits you. The first Delilah was a temptress who could make a man forget himself."

  "Am I making you forget yourself?" She leaned into his chest and looked up at him, almost innocently.

  "You'd better believe it." His voice was a husky growl as he ran his hands over her.

  Delilah allowed him that freedom for a moment, then coyly moved away just out of reach. "What's your name, mister?"

  "My name's Hank, and you and me are going to have one good time tonight." He grabbed her and pulled her back to him, kissing her hungrily. "Let's go have ourselves a private party." He started toward the steps, keeping his arm around her.

  "When I first saw you, I knew you were the man I'd been waiting for... the man I wanted."

  "You're damned right I am."

  Delilah led him upstairs and down the hall to her room at the far end. She tried to ignore the sounds coming from behind the other closed doors they passed on the way.

  "This is it," she said, opening the door and holding it wide for him to enter.

  Hank was so eager to have her that he paid little attention to anything as he stepped inside. The minute she closed and locked the door, he was there, taking her in his arms, kissing and caressing her.

  Delilah was thrilled. All of her plans had worked. Hank Andrews was here! With her! He would be hers.

  Kissing him back, she let him know how much she wanted him. Her fingers worked eagerly at the buttons of his shirt. She wanted him undressed and on that bed as quickly as she could get him there. She had been waiting a long time for this! Too long!

  "You are a hot little thing, aren't you?" Hank muttered as she helped him strip off his shirt.

  "I want you. It seems I've been waiting for you forever." She tossed his shirt aside and ran her hands over his bare chest. "You want me, don't you?"

  "You bet I do, darlin'. Come here...."

  He reached for her again, but Delilah backed away toward the bed.

  "No. Not yet," she said with a small smile. "You come here. This is right where I want you." She sat down and patted the mattress beside her in invitation.

  Hank was ready. He crossed the room, unbuckling his gunbelt and laying it on the bureau as he went. He then worked his belt buckle, fumbling in his haste to be rid of his pants.

  Delilah watched his efforts and smiled as he shucked them.

  He came toward her clad only in his underwear and pushed her down on the bed.

  "Yeah," he said, his need sounding in his voice.

  He was rough in his eagerness. His hands were upon her, squeezing, fondling. When he tried to unfasten her dress and push it from her shoulders, she managed to slip from beneath him and stand back up, covering herself.

  "What're you doing?" he demanded, annoyed. He didn't want to play any damned games. He had been a long time without a woman, and he wanted her beneath him now.

  "Nothing, honey," she said, still smiling. "I want to undress for you. I want you to watch me. I want to make this night special-for both of us...I want it to be something we'll both remember..."

  Hank's eyes lit up as she moved sensuously before him. She took off her shoes first, then paused at the end of the bed to lift her foot and brace it against the mattress. Slowly, provocatively, she slipped her stocking down her leg and tossed it aside before repeating the move on her other leg.

  Hank was about ready to come straight up off the bed. He wanted to run his hands up those shapely legs ...to explore all the heat he knew lay beneath the secrets of her skirts. He started to get up on one elbow, but she stopped him.

  "Oh, no, Hank... We're going to take this slow and easy."

  "But-"

  "Do you have somewhere else to go? Someone else you want more than you want me?" She sounded irritated, as if she might leave him.

  "No, darlin' "He immediately settled down. "I don't want nobody more than I want you."

  Delilah gave a soft, triumphant laugh. "I feel the same way."

  As she spoke, she reached behind herself to unfasten her dress. That done, she shrugged her shoulders and the dress fell away. When it caught at her hips, she wiggled a little and it dropped all the way to the floor. She stood before him clad only in a fancy corset.

  Hank's body, already aflame, burned even hotter at this teasing ploy. His gaze was hungry upon her, devouring the sight of her. Desire pounded through him. He started to come up off the bed again just to get to her.

  "No, no. Stay right where you are. I'm not done. yet...."

  "You're torturing me."

  She laughed again. "We haven't even begun." Delilah turned to the bureau and opened a drawer to take something out. She looked over her shoulder at Hank, a wicked gleam of dominance showing in her expression. "I thought it would be fun if we were tied up for a while. After all, you are all mine for the whole night."

  Hank stared in disbelief as she came toward him dangling two pairs of handcuffs from around one finger.

  "You are a wild one," he muttered.

  She laughed, low and soft. "You have no idea. By the time this night is over, you'll have had the ride of your life."

  The illicitness of her actions and her words excited him as no other whore ever had.

  Delilah climbed up on the bed and straddled him high, taking care not to touch that most intimate part of him. When he tried to pull her down to him and hurry things along, she stilled his hands.

  "Don't rush. I want to make this memorable for you," she said. She kissed him this time, murmuring, "The longer you wait, the greater your pleasure."

  "You're crazy," Hank growled between kisses as she took his left arm and pressed it up toward the metal bedstead.

  "Ah, but crazy can be exciting, don't you think? How will you feel when I have you at my mercy? When I can do anything I want to do to you and you can't resist me?"

  Her words were hypnotic. The heat and weight of her body upon him, along with the mental images she was creating-of her hands and mouth upon him, left him ready to explode with excitement. "I can't resist you now, darlin'. What other little surprises do you have for me?"

  "More tha
n you ever dreamed." She lifted one pair of the handcuffs and snapped one end around his wrist, then the other to the bedstead in a way that could not be freed.

  Hank tugged at the restraint. He did not like feeling restricted, but Delilah moved quickly to distract him. She kissed him, and after a moment, he forgot about everything but the thrilling, halfnaked woman in bed with him.

  Delilah lifted his other arm and put the second set of handcuffs on that wrist, then linked it to the bedstead on the other side, successfully spreadeagling him. He was hers, nearly naked, helpless, and she was free to do with him as she pleased. She smiled at what she'd accomplished.

  "I like your smile, woman," Hank said in a desire-slurred voice, awaiting the pleasure she'd promised. It was a different kind of arousal for him. He was caught up in her game. He wasn't worried. The worst she could do to him was rob him, and since they were in the saloon, he felt certain there was no danger of that. People were nearby, and all he had to do was call out if he needed help.

  Delilah moved from the bed, and Hank fully ex pected her to undress completely. When she went to the window and opened it, he frowned. "What are you doing now?"

  "I don't want it to get too hot in here." Her tone was sweet as she leaned slightly out and called in a hushed voice, "Stalking Ghost!"

  For the first time, it dawned on Hank that something strange was going on. He watched helplessly as she skirted around the bed, grabbed her dress, and slipped it back on.

  "Wait a minute! I came up here for a good time."

  "So did I," she agreed.

  "What are you doing, calling out the window like that? What the hell are you up to?" His passion of moments before faded. Tension was etched in every line of his body, and his expression was turning ugly. "Look, you little whore-"

  "I'm no whore, Mr. Andrews. I'm Cody Jameson."

  "Cody Jameson?" Hank's eyes widened with fear, and a chill went down his spine. He'd heard of the bounty hunter of that name, but he'd always thought Jameson was a man.

  "That's right, and you're going for a ride, all right, but not the one you expected. You're wanted for murder in Texas. I'm taking you in."