by Lyn Horner
He shook his head. “No, I am not hungry. Perhaps later. Right now I only want to clean up and sleep.” Hanging his jacket and hat on a hook by the door, he watched her cross to the stove, pour a cup of coffee and bring it to him.
“All right, but you sound like you need this.”
“Thank you, I do.” Warming his cold hands around the cup, he sipped the hot coffee. She’d made it strong just the way he liked.
“You’ll find clean clothes in your room,” she said.
“Ah. Paola must have collected my dirty things.”
“Actually, it was me. We did the washing together. I should go help her cook something more for the men” Turning, she went to the door.
He stared at her in surprise. “It is good of you to help her.”
“I like Paola. She’s very kind. And keeping busy takes my mind off … things.” With that she marched out.
He scowled at the closed door. “Sí, Paola is very kind. Unlike me.”
*
The sun beamed bright when Gabriel awoke, dressed and walked out to the main room. He’d expected it to be nighttime. His stomach growled, letting him know he hadn’t eaten in many hours. How long had he slept, he wondered, scrounging up a few leftovers arepas in the kitchen and devouring them.
Not finding Josie in the house, he stepped outside but still didn’t see her. He supposed she must be with Paola. Spotting Javier and Felipe sitting on the bunkhouse porch, he ambled over there. Both men rose to greet him.
“So, you have decided to show yourself at last,” Javier said with a grin.
Gabriel frowned. “How long have I been out?”
“Almost a full day, but do not concern yourself. I have only been up for a short while myself, and some of the men are still snoring.”
“Humph. Time to get them up. I noticed the corral needs repair. As soon as the men have eaten, put them to work replacing the loose stones and brush.”
“Sí, Jefe, I will see to it.”
“And make sure Manuel does his share. He did nothing to help with our raid on the smugglers. He is not to laze around on his fat behind while the others work.”
Felipe laughed and Javier grinned. “I will keep him busy, I promise.”
Gabriel gave a brisk nod, shifted his feet and looked around. “Uh, do you know where Josie is?”
“Of course. She is out back with Paola. They are washing our filthy clothes.” Chuckling, Javier slapped him on the shoulder. “I am sure she would welcome an interruption, especially from you.” He winked devilishly.
“Very funny.” Frowning, Gabriel strode around the building. He found Josie scrubbing clothes on a washboard, while Paola wrung them out and hung them to dry. He paused, thinking perhaps he should let them finish their task before approaching his gringa.
No, he had decided to question her. There was no point in putting off the odious task, much as he might like to. How he was going to make her confess her true motive for seeking him out, he still did not know. Seducing her into telling the truth had seemed like a good plan, but after that night when he’d held her quaking body, absorbing her tears and tasting her sweet mouth, the idea had soured. However, the prospect of using force to make her talk revolted him. He prayed it would not come to that.
“Josie,” he called, walking over to her.
She whirled to face him, a smile spreading across her lovely features. “You’re finally up. I was beginning to wonder if –”
“I must speak with you,” he interrupted. “Come with me.”
Her smile fell away. She gulped, obviously suspecting what lay in store for her, but she didn’t argue. Laying aside the bar of soap she’d been using, she wiped her hands on a rag. He nodded silently to Paola, who had stopped hanging clothes to watch him with worry in her eyes, and led Josie away, crossing the dusty canyon to a small stand of stunted trees at the closed end. Holding a twisted branch aside, he motioned her through the green barrier. She stepped past him and he followed her into a small hidden clearing where water trickled from a crack in the rock face, into a shallow pool.
“This is where we get fresh water,” he informed her.
“I know. Paola brought me here to fill our buckets. It’s a pretty spot.”
“Sí, and the spring produces enough water to meet our needs.” Why he’d chosen to question her here in this, his favorite secluded place, he didn’t know.
Not wearing a jacket or shawl – she hadn’t needed one while washing clothes, he realized – she briskly rubbed her arms and eyed him. “I understand your raid on the smugglers went well.”
“Paola told you about that?” He cocked one eyebrow, only mildly surprised.
She nodded and smiled. “Yes, with Berto adding a few details.”
“Humph. He should learn to keep silent.” Frowning, he crossed his arms and paced off a few steps, seeking words that would convince her to tell the truth about why she’d come looking for him.
“So, is this where you plan to torture me into saying what you want to hear?” she challenged, bringing him around on his heel to scowl at her. “Funny, I expected you to do it in front of all your men so they could cheer you on.” She lifted her chin, brown eyes snapping. “Either way, it won’t work. I’m Navajo and U.S. Army. No matter what you do to me, I’ll never break.”
“Is that right?” he barked, irritated by her stubborn defiance. “How long will you hold out, do you think, if I sink you in water over your head?”
She sucked in her breath and stumbled back a step, going pale beneath her copper-gold coloring. “You would do that? You’d use my worst fear against me?”
Self-disgust swamped him. Closing his eyes, he rubbed his neck and shook his head. “No, I should not have made such a threat. I will not carry it out, I swear, but neither can I simply release you. You know the way here. I can’t risk you revealing this place to others.”
A heavy sigh drifted from her lips. She held out her hands pleadingly. “I wish you would just believe me. I swear I’ve told you the God’s truth. How can I prove it to you?”
“I do not know, chiquita. Strange as it seems, I also wish I could believe you, but … .”
“But you can’t.” She sounded so defeated that he wanted to hold her and comfort her, as dangerous an urge as allowing her to leave would be.
“This does no good. I must think. Let us go.” They walked back to camp the same way they’d come, in silence. While Josie hurried back behind the bunkhouse to resume her task with Paola, Gabriel trudged into the house they shared. He had never felt so adrift on a sea of indecision. If something didn’t change, he had no idea how to solve the dilemma the feisty little gringa presented.
At least now he knew she was Navajo. From American history classes his mother had made him take, he also knew the Navajo lived mainly in the Four Corners area of the United States, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah met. And Josie had said Michaela Peterson was staying with her father. If, and it was a very big if, she was telling the truth, her father probably lived somewhere on the Navajo lands. Presumably, that’s where Josie wanted to take him. He would not mind seeing her desert homeland.
Carumba! Was he actually starting to believe her implausible story?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sundown came early like always in the mountains. Josie shut herself in her borrowed bedroom after sitting through a miserable meal with Gabriel. So consumed was she by his terrifying threat that she didn’t know what she’d eaten. He’d said he wouldn’t carry through with it, but what if he changed his mind? She never should have revealed her fear of water to him; she’d handed him the perfect weapon to use against her if he chose.
Once, she’d caught him watching her across the dinner table and read regret in his eyes. Regret over bringing her to his hideout or over threatening her with water torture? He’d swiftly glanced away as if ashamed to let her see his troubled thoughts. Lying wide awake, with no hope of sleep, she remembered kissing him the night before he left on his mysterious mi
ssion, and his fervent response.
Apparently Gabriel couldn’t sleep either. Listening to the floor creak as he paced the front room, she wondered if he still debated her fate or if perhaps he also thought of their heated kiss. Driven to end the terrible tension of not knowing, she came to a decision of her own, a dangerous one.
Rising, she stepped quietly from her room. She’d kept her clothes on, something she had taken to doing while here alone, but had removed her boots, enabling her to pad softly up the hall. The light of a battery operated lantern revealed Gabriel standing in the open doorway, one arm leaning on the jam while he stared out into the night. He wore only his familiar camo pants. A bandage no longer encased his lower torso, she noticed in relief, assuming his wound was healed. She paused to admire his superbly muscled back, narrow waist and flanks; then she walked closer. Hearing her approach, he turned to face her.
“What are you doing up?” he asked with a frown.
“Like you, I couldn’t sleep,” she replied, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. Without conscious thought, her gaze went to his chest, again admiring the view. A gold chain circled his neck, she noticed, from which hung a plain cross and tiny key. She wondered what the key opened but didn’t ask.
He nodded and crossed is arms. “When one’s mind refuses to be quiet, sleep does not come easily.”
“True.” She cleared her throat, working up her courage.
“If you wish warm milk to help you relax, I cannot oblige you. We have no chickens or cows,” he joked with a crooked grin.
She laughed softly. “No, I’m not after warm milk but … but I was thinking of something else warm.”
After a heartbeat of silence, he asked, “And what is that?”
Knowing she might be risking her life, she said, “I’d like to try out the hot spring. Will you walk me into the mine and get in the water with me like you offered before? Maybe it will relax us both.”
His eyes widened, dark brows arching halfway to his hairline. “Are you serious? What about your fear of deep water? And have you thought of what might happen?”
Her heart leaped with dread and excitement. She swallowed hard, not sure if he meant getting naked together might lead to sex or to him carrying out his threat to make her admit – falsely – that she was a Hellhound. Stiffening her spine, she nodded.
“I’m very serious and, yes, I’ve thought about all of that.”
*
Gabriel lighted their way into the mine with the lantern he’d brought from the house. Since it provided more light than a flashlight, he hoped it would help reassure Josie. Glancing at her as they neared the pool, he noted how she chewed her bottom lip and pressed a hand to her mid section, as if to calm her stomach. She was obviously frightened, yet she insisted on doing this, and it had nothing to do with relaxation. No, she meant to test him, to find out if he would honor his vow not to use her fear of water against her. She was also testing her own courage, he realized with admiration.
But did something else drive her, he wondered as he set the lantern down a few feet from the pool. She’d adamantly refused to go skinny-dipping – he loved that Americanism – with him before. Now she seemed ready to forget modesty. Was it because of their hungry, too brief kiss? Had she thought of him the way he’d constantly thought of her during his absence? Was she longing to make love? There was only one way to find out.
“I will turn my back while you undress if you wish,” he said.
She gave a little shrug. “What’s the point? You’ll see everything I’ve got in a minute anyway.”
He smiled. “So I will, and vise versa.”
She blushed and set to work unbuttoning her shirt. He watched, fascinated as she peeled away the garment, revealing slim, supple arms and smooth, light copper skin that begged to be caressed. Her bra was a lacy pink wisp cupping her breasts. She glanced up, about to unsnap her jeans, and went still, waiting for him to unfasten his own pants.
Smiling and never taking his eyes from her, he took his time about it, letting her step out of hers before he dropped his. Since he wore no underwear, he now stood naked for her perusal. When Josie looked up, her gaze locked on his erect penis and her mouth opened, expelling a soft gasp. Of approval, he hoped. He definitely approved of her loveliness. She was petite but perfectly proportioned with high, not overly full breasts, a tiny waist and flaring hips above graceful legs.
“Not fair. You are still hiding the best parts,” he teased, gazing at the shadowy vee visible through her pink bikini pants at the apex of her legs.
Josie blushed all over again at Gabriel’s provocative comment. Trying not to stare at his jutting erection, proof of how much he wanted her, she unclasped her bra and let it fall to the ground then quickly stepped out of her panties. Long hair draped over her shoulders but concealed nothing from his gaze. Feeling more vulnerable than she’d ever felt flying a helo over Taliban fighters wielding rocket launchers, she dared a glance at his face and caught her breath. A flush of desire stained his cheeks and fire blazed in his green eyes. Looking like a bronze god, he held out his hand to her.
“Come here,” he said thickly.
Shaking with a combination of sexual tension and fear of the water, she slowly stepped close and took his hand. “I’m terrified,” she admitted in a tiny voice.
He brushed his fingers lightly across her cheek. “Do not be. All you need do is hold on to me. I will do the rest. I will get in first. You sit on the edge with your legs in the water. When I am ready you will simply lower yourself into my arms. All right?”
She gulped and nodded. “All right.”
“Good girl.” He kissed the tip of her nose, released her hand and jumped into the pool feet first, shooting up a geyser of water and dropping like a stone straight down. His head went under, wrenching a gasp from Josie, but he bobbed up like a cork. Scraping back his dripping hair and wiping his eyes, he grinned. “The water is wonderful.” He swam close to where she stood and patted the rocky edge. “Okay, sit your beautiful self down.”
His compliment barely registered. Her mouth was bone dry, her heart in her throat. Why had she suggested this? She’d lost her mind. She should run! But she didn’t. Shaking like a leaf, she hesitantly sat where he indicated and swung her legs into the pool.
“That’s right. Now slide in.” He held out his arms. “Do not fear, I will catch you.”
Panic set in, choking her with terror. She shook her head. “I-I can’t!”
He laid his hands on her legs just above her knees. “Yes you can, Josie. Do not be a coward. Show me your fighting spirit, my little tigresa.”
“Don’t call me little!” she automatically snapped. Goaded by his challenge, she squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath and pushed off the ledge into the pool with a little splash. As promised, his arms caught and encircled her, pressing her against him. Her eyes flew open. Abruptly aware of her breasts pillowed against his chest, his penis poking at her mound and his lips inches from hers, she forgot to be afraid. The water felt warm and silky; he felt overwhelmingly male, all hard muscles next to her softness.
“There, you see, that was not so difficult, was it?” he murmured, eyelids lowered to half-mast over his mossy green eyes.
“N-no.” She stared hungrily at his tempting lips, feeling the warm water lap at her body where it wasn’t plastered to his.
“Do you suppose you could loosen your hold on me?”
Only then did she notice her arms were locked like a vice around his neck. “You won’t dunk me, will you?”
He laughed, the sound vibrating through his chest, next to her. “No, I swore I would not, and I won’t.”
She relaxed her arms and set her hands on his broad shoulders. Feeling him kick gently at the water, she trusted him to keep them from slipping under. She had no choice.
“Ah, much better. Stay exactly that way and I will take you for a little swim.”
“What? No!” she screeched as he leaned back and spread his arms
wide to float just below the surface with her on top. She made a grab for his neck again.
“Do not!” he barked. “You will make us both go under. Just relax. You are perfectly safe. Think of my body as a raft for you to lie upon.”
Breathing fast, she struggled to do as he said. It wasn’t easy at first, but as he began to paddle gently through the water, she discovered all she needed to do was grip his shoulders to stay with him. Her long, wet hair trailed behind her as he propelled them slowly around the little pool with water rippling along her skin and lifting her almost off him, making her feel weightless. She smiled dreamily.
“This is nice. I never knew it could be so … so pleasant.”
“Sí, it is very pleasant. I am glad you are no longer afraid.”
“Only while hanging on to you. I’d still be scared stiff to be in this pool alone.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “I am curious. What made you so afraid? And why did you never learn to swim?”
She laughed wryly. “I grew up in the Navajo Nation. It’s mostly desert land without lakes and rivers. However, there is a small river call Chinle Wash that runs through Canyon de Chelly, near my family’s home place. Sometimes it’s only a muddy trickle but at other times it runs high and fast.”
She took a shaky breath, remembering. “When I was six or seven my older cousin Henry dared me to jump in when the river was pretty high. It wasn’t at flash flood stage, thank God, or I wouldn’t be here. Anyway, I was a dumb little kid. I accepted his dare and nearly drowned. Would have if Henry hadn’t saved me. Ever since then, I’ve been terrified of deep water.”
“I see. We will have to work on that, but for now, as delightful as our present situation is, I prefer the way we were before.” With that, he somehow raised them upright, making her squeal and tighten her grip for a moment but not really frightening her. When their bodies pressed close again, she agreed, this position was infinitely preferable. His curly, wet chest hair brushed her breasts, hardening the nipples and quickening her pulse as she gazed into his desire laden eyes.