He sprang from his hiding place, sprinted across the space between them, and grabbed her hand a second before it struck the weather-beaten door. A smothered scream left her throat as he quickly covered her mouth with his.
It was all he could think of to do.
Not that he hadn’t wanted to kiss her. Tasting her had been on his mind from the second he’d met her in her daddy’s study.
Larissa was warm and pliable in his arms. He could feel her heart beating wildly through the layers of clothing. Her lavender scent ignited his senses, driving all sane thought from his brain.
What was meant only as a way to effectively silence her became something deeper, some fiery passion that threatened to burn him alive. Johnny settled his lips firmly on hers and poured his heart and soul into the kiss.
His tongue swept through her parted lips exploring the wild honey sweetness of her.
He now knew how a wild steer on locoweed felt.
He knew that one taste of her would never be enough.
And he knew how deeply this woman was in his blood.
With eyes closed, Johnny prayed the moment would never end.
Once the initial shock passed, Larissa recovered her senses and fought the sudden assault for all she was worth. She’d known the danger when she’d ventured from the hotel. But she’d been anxious to find the house behind the saloon that the woman who’d brought up her bath had told her about. If only she’d been content to wait for Johnny.
“Wait just a cotton pickin’ minute,” the stranger urged.
Marshaling every last bit of energy, she finally broke the man’s hold. “Let me go, you brute.”
“Larissa, it’s me.” The husky voice came as a shock.
“Diamond?” She gazed up at the rugged moonlit features of the outlaw. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to keep you from—”
Just then the door to the adobe dwelling burst open.
Larissa found herself again yanked into Johnny’s arms as he swung her around. She realized he’d positioned himself between her and danger. His protectiveness touched her.
Then his full lips again swept over hers and a mass of tingles cavorted up her spine and spread out to each nerve ending. A golden glow enveloped her.
Her knees buckled and all logical thought fled.
Lifting her arms, she slipped them around Johnny’s neck and leaned into the hard wall of muscle of his chest. The softness of his hair brushed the backs of her hands. He smelled of wild Texas sage and saddle leather. And his dark whisker growth only enhanced the dangerous attractiveness that stole her breath.
“What’s going on here?” came a surly voice from the doorway of the adobe house.
Johnny glanced up. She felt the rumbling growl low in his throat. “Do you mind? This is a private party. I have no intentions of sharing my woman with you. Get your own.”
“If you don’t want a bullet between your eyes, gringo, take your little party somewhere away from here. Comprende?” A Mexican in a serape closed the door halfway and light from behind showed him glaring through the space.
Larissa jumped when Johnny swatted her bottom.
Her face heated.
“Come on, darlin’, appears we’re not wanted here.” He put an arm around her waist and drew her close, leading her toward the front of The Texas Spur.
Out of earshot of the house, she jerked away from him. “Honestly! You got a little carried away back there. I’ve never been so manhandled in my life.”
They now stood in light streaming from the hotel. The tic in his jaw revealed his vexation. “I suppose you’d rather I let you be shot? What was the meaning of you traipsing about dark alleyways? Don’t you have better sense?”
“I came here to find my sister, not sit in a hotel room.” She jerked her head, lifted her heavy skirts, and stomped up the steps. The nerve of him! All she was trying to do was help and this was the thanks she got. As she swept through the hotel door, he grabbed her arm.
“Not so fast. I want answers. Why were you of all things about to knock on the door of that adobe house?”
Aware they were drawing stares, she turned to Johnny and purred, “Darlin’, this simply isn’t the place to air our dirty laundry. Can’t you wait until we’re in private?”
“Of course, sweetheart.” He put an arm around her waist and directed her back out into the street, then hustled her into the little eating establishment next door. “We might as well eat. I’m starving. How about you?”
Eating was the furthest thing from her mind after the searing kiss that had curled her toes, but she needed to find out what Johnny had discovered.
Once they were seated, he demanded in a low voice, “What were you thinking when you sashayed that cute little behind of yours up to that door?”
Larissa gasped at his suggestive language that betrayed the fact he’d been looking at her attributes.
“The woman who brought me bathwater this afternoon told me that two gringos and a Mexican were staying at that place and that she’d heard the sound of female cries coming from it.” She glanced at her reflection in the window where they sat. Her cheeks glowed with high color. Nettling anger, coupled with strange heady feelings, swarmed inside her head like a bunch of bees. And with small wonder, seeing all that had just taken place. “I couldn’t very well wait for you to come back. Who knows when you might’ve remembered that I was sitting in the hotel twiddling my thumbs.”
A waiter approached their table and took their order. Fried chicken and coffee for Johnny and roast beef for her.
At least Johnny waited until the man was out of earshot before he spewed, “And pray tell what were you going to say when they came to the door?”
“I was going to pretend I’d gotten the wrong house. Or ask for directions to the nearest stage lines . . . or . . . I don’t know.” She threw up her hands. “I was hoping a plan would come to me. Where have you been?”
Larissa glanced at him, seated across from her. She couldn’t stay mad at someone whose touch, whose clear gaze, turned her bones to jelly. She’d been kissed before out behind the barn on the ranch but this was different. Much different. This was the first time she’d been kissed by a man who knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to take it.
The depths in his blue stare did things to her no other man had done. And right now they were promising to take her to heaven and beyond.
A crooked grin curled one side of his mouth. “I like your dress. Looks real nice.” His husky voice unleashed warm shivers. How could she hope to get her relationship with him back on even footing with him doing that?
Everything tilted at a crazy angle. She felt as though she stood on a floor that was higher on one side than the other.
Nervous, she smoothed the full skirt of the sprigged cotton dress she’d bought at the mercantile. They hadn’t had much of a selection but she rather liked this pretty shade of daffodil. The only thing wrong was the neckline. It was a tad low for her comfort.
But that was probably what appealed to Diamond, being all male. Her face flamed. She clutched the neckline and gave it a yank. What she wouldn’t give for a wrap of some sort, although in this stifling heat it would’ve smothered her.
Laughter erupted, crinkling the corners of his eyes.
Larissa was mortified. The best thing to do was get the attention off her. And fast. “I see you bought some new clothes, too. But you didn’t answer my question. Where have you been since you left me at the hotel?”
Larissa tried to keep her thoughts on what Johnny was saying and away from the sound of that deep voice of his, which aroused every nerve ending. She sternly gave herself a talking to. She needed to focus.
But all she could think about was the way she’d thrown herself into his arms and the feel of his generous mouth on hers.
The reality that he’d kissed her only to keep those men from finding out who they were and why they were there lodged in her mind like a patch of thorny thistle.
; It hadn’t meant anything.
Yet she couldn’t help wonder what it would be like if Johnny Diamond kissed her simply because he wanted to.
Chapter 8
“I got a glimpse of your sister back there.” The second Johnny blurted it out he wished he could take it back. That wasn’t the way to tell her. What an inconsiderate fool.
“That’s wonderful!” Excitement flashed in her rich, earthy gaze. “Let’s go get her.”
Now she’d want to know how Beth looked and he wasn’t prepared to share that the girl had a rope around her neck that was looped over a beam in the ceiling. He couldn’t tell her that the kidnappers had shortened that rope so that Beth’s tiptoes barely touched the floor. He’d seen that method of torture. When the victim got tired and let her feet lower, the rope would tighten and strangle her. Beth was also wearing a blindfold and was gagged.
No, he couldn’t share any of that with Larissa.
But having her in his arms, her body against his had muddied his clear head. It was going to be a sleepless night in more ways than one.
“Just because I know where your sister is doesn’t mean I can waltz in there, get her, and waltz right back out. I have to think of a solid plan.” Planning was half of getting a job done. He didn’t want any of them to end up on a cold slab. Unless it was the monsters who held Beth. Those he wouldn’t mind.
Bands of fear encircled his throat. He had the lives of two people in his hands and he didn’t know what the outcome would be for any of them.
“What did Beth look like? Have they hurt her?”
Her quiet questions slammed into him like a thick fist. He had no choice but to lie. Otherwise Larissa would probably take matters into her own hands, as headstrong as she was. He could see her marching up to that house, beating the door down, and demanding they release her sister.
And getting killed.
Johnny’s mouth went dry. “I only had a split second. I didn’t see a whole lot.”
“Well, we’ll know soon enough, I suppose. I know you’ll come up with a solution. You have to.”
“I appreciate your vote of confidence. Right now I’m fresh out of ideas. I know the house has only a door and windows in the front. It’s the only way inside.”
“What if we drive them outside some way?” she asked.
An idea niggled in his brain. Setting fire to the roof could do the trick. And he could be waiting. But was that best for Beth’s safety? If he chose to do that, he’d have to use the cover of darkness. That meant tonight.
“That has possibilities, but just so we’re clear, it’ll be me, not you, who handles this.” The waiter brought Johnny’s coffee. He blew on it and took a sip. “I have some crow to eat, though. You were right. You’ve been a huge help. If I’d left you behind, I wouldn’t have seen inside that adobe shack and wouldn’t have known for sure where your sister is.”
Larissa’s wide smile lit up her face. “I told you so.”
“Then you forgive me for being so . . . forward back there?”
A flash of tears glittered in her eyes. How swiftly her mood had changed. In a matter of moments she had gone from beaming to downright gloomy. “There’s nothing to forgive. You were simply doing what you had to. Just forget it ever happened.” She raised her chin a notch. “I already have.”
Johnny could see he’d hurt her feelings. She’d taken his apology as a rejection. The kisses had clearly meant something to her. And they sure did to him too. Sam Hill! To try to explain that he was still sorting out his feelings would only muddle things worse. Better to drop the subject.
The waiter brought their food. Johnny breathed easier when she abandoned the conversation.
A little before midnight, Johnny awakened Larissa. While she gathered her things from the hotel room, he got the horses from the livery and tied them not far from the adobe structure behind The Texas Spur. He’d stuffed what supplies he could in the saddlebags, tied canteens that were full of water onto the horses, and traded the rest of their provisions for a saddle. Couldn’t be helped. Beth Patrick needed a horse.
It didn’t take Larissa long to meet him.
Careful to make no sound, he rolled a barrel to the side of the dwelling and climbed up to the thatched roof. Taking handfuls of dry tinder from a bag he carried, he arranged it in a pile and struck a match to it. It caught instantly.
Saying a prayer that the desperadoes wouldn’t leave Beth inside to die, he sprang to the ground. He returned the barrel to its shadowy place beside the back hotel door and took up a position behind it.
Larissa crouched beside him, shaking like a scared rabbit. He’d have admitted to a case of nerves too if she’d have asked him. So many things could go wrong. He took her hand and squeezed it.
“It’ll be all right. We’ll get your sister,” he whispered in her ear. “You just have the horses ready. I’ll do the rest.”
About that time there was a whooshing sound and the whole roof went up in flames. He slid his Colt from the holster and readied himself.
Men’s yells filled the air. Within seconds, the front door opened and three figures ran out.
Johnny froze.
Beth wasn’t with them.
Just before he dashed into the burning dwelling he saw her through the thick smoke that billowed from the door. The man with bushy hair had slung Beth over his shoulder.
In all the commotion, Bushy Hair didn’t see Johnny until he stuck his Colt into the man’s side. “Give me the girl,” he ordered.
Both the short man who wore the Mexican serape and his sidekick raised their hands above their heads.
Bushy Hair lowered Beth until her feet touched the ground. Keeping his Colt trained on Bushy’s heart, Johnny swept the girl to his side. Beth clung desperately to him, sobbing.
“Now, give me your weapon,” Johnny barked.
“Ain’t got one. It’s in there.” Bushy pointed to the inferno.
“You’d better hope so. How about the rest of you?”
The two men sullenly shook their heads.
I want them stopped and stopped for good. That was Dunston Patrick’s last words.
But considering they were unarmed and Johnny had a real problem with shooting someone in cold blood, he warned, “Follow us and you’ll die. I promise that.”
“You better kill us while you have the chance, mister,” said Bushy.
“I don’t shoot unarmed men. You come and I’ll have a bullet waiting with your name on it.” Johnny backed toward the horses that Larissa had already untied and headed in the right direction. She made a great partner in crime.
“Beth, I’m so glad to see you.” Larissa gave her sister a big hug.
“We’ll have time for a proper reunion later,” Johnny promised, putting Beth on the packhorse. “Right now, we can’t waste time.”
Larissa didn’t argue. She pulled herself into the saddle and readied to ride.
When daylight broke over the desert landscape, they’d put a fair distance between them and Del Rio. And now that they could see where they were going, they’d be able to ride faster. He was glad Larissa and Beth were accomplished horsewomen. No matter how fast he rode, they easily kept up the pace.
At Devils River they stopped to rest the horses.
Larissa jumped from her horse almost before it halted and ran to her sister. Her heart stopped when she saw the dark bruises and the dried blood around one corner of Beth’s mouth. Also visible was an angry red welt around her sister’s neck. Larissa wrapped her arms around her younger sibling. She couldn’t stop the sudden tears. How would they ever repay Johnny for bringing them back together?
“I was so worried about you. Are you okay?” Larissa asked.
Beth rubbed her forehead. “I’m okay now. I didn’t think anyone would ever come for me. It seemed a long time.”
“Let me introduce you to the man who set you free.” Taking Beth’s arm, Larissa led her to where Johnny stood by his horse watching them. “Beth, this is Johnny Diamond.
He never gave up on finding you.”
“Thank you for saving me,” the girl said shyly.
A muscle twitched in Johnny’s jaw and his eyes narrowed when he saw the bruises in the bright sunlight. He offered a smile and stuck out his hand. “It was my pleasure. Nice to finally meet you, Beth.”
Larissa gently massaged Beth’s thin shoulders. “Come, let me wash your face. Would you like that? This is the only water for a while, so we have to take advantage of it.”
Beth nodded.
Larissa tore a piece of cloth from the blouse she’d worn with the split skirt. Then taking Beth’s hand, they walked to the riverbank. A lump formed in Larissa’s throat, hindering her ability to swallow, as she tenderly washed away some of the traces of cruelty.
“Beth, did those men make you remove your clothes?” She hated asking, but she needed to know for her own sanity.
“No. They only beat me when I was too slow to follow their orders. And they tied a rope around my neck like I was an animal. Why? What did I do?” Beth’s voice cracked.
Larissa’s heart broke. “I don’t know why, sweetheart. But you didn’t do anything. Put that out of your mind.”
She drew Beth close and held her. One way or another she meant to have justice for her sister. Johnny could make them pay, but if he refused, she’d find someone else to help her.
From the corner of her eye, Larissa noticed that Johnny was gathering material to make a fire. Her outlaw needed some coffee or she’d miss her guess. After leaving Beth at the water’s edge, she located the beat-up pot and the ground coffee and got it ready for him.
After getting the fire started, Johnny stared intently into the distance.
She caught him scanning the trail behind them. He didn’t have to tell her that trouble was coming. She felt it in her bones. The kidnappers wouldn’t give up without a fight. They’d be out for blood this time.
Only this time they’d not take hostages.
Those men would kill them all.
Give Me A Texas Outlaw Bundle with Give Me A Cowboy Page 13