by Kim Harrison
“I’m sorry, boy,” she murmured. “I should have taken Turk’s advice.” She paused to let Kelpie rest. “It isn’t his fault that I’ve had my fill of the male sex.”
Kelpie lifted his head, ears pricked as if he’d heard a sound that had escaped Cat’s ears.
“You’ll tell me I was stupid to trust him, that I should have seen it coming. All the signs were there.” She clenched her fists. “He used me, and then when he got what he wanted…”
Kelpie stretched his neck and nickered. Cat cocked her head, listening. The earth vibrated under her feet. A low rumble beat the air. A blast of wind, warmed by the heat of a dozen bodies, swept over Cat an instant before the horses leapt out of the darkness.
They were every color men had named: buckskin and Appaloosa, chestnut and bay, pinto and sorrel, white and gray. Their eyes glittered with starlight; their hooves flashed like dark jewels. Cat’s heart surged into her throat. She clung to Kelpie’s reins and closed her eyes. The herd rushed on, implacable, parting at the last moment to flow around woman and horse in a swift and savage tide.
An incredible feeling claimed Cat’s body. Her breath came in sharp bursts. She flung back her head, surrendering to sensation. Her legs buckled and she dropped to her knees, dizzy and stunned.
“Are you well, señorita?”
The voice was soft, but it carried through the darkness like a roll of thunder. Cat tried to stand, but her legs refused to obey her commands.
“Hello?” she said, using her courtroom voice. “Who’s there?”
The man seemed to appear little by little, as if the shadows gave him up with only the greatest reluctance. Cat’s first impression was of dark hair and broad shoulders, a lithe and muscular figure that moved with the grace of the horses that had preceded him. He wore the typical uniform of a working cowboy: battered leather boots, scuffed jeans, long-sleeved shirt, sweat-stained Stetson. The jeans fit him like a glove, molding strong thighs and an imposing package.
Cat shivered and looked up. He wasn’t particularly tall. His face was a little too angular to be handsome, but no one could have denied that it was striking. The long, thick hair that trailed from beneath his Stetson was jet-black. His lips were sensuous and slightly curved, his nose a little arched, his eyes…
Oh, his eyes. They welcomed the moonlight like a lover. Pale they were, though she couldn’t make out the color. They stripped Cat naked and left her utterly defenseless.
“Señorita,” he said, touching the brim of his hat. “How may I assist you?”
Cat grabbed Kelpie’s stirrup and pulled herself to her feet, half afraid she might fall without the gelding to support her. The stranger spoke only the simplest of phrases, and yet his faintly accented voice raised goosebumps on her skin.
“It’s nothing,” she said thickly. “My horse…he stepped in a prairie dog hole. I’m taking him back to the ranch.”
“Indeed. Would that be the Blue Moon, señorita?”
His tone was mild and courteous, but the steadiness of his gaze unnerved her. She tried to calculate how much farther she and Kelpie had to go…how far she was from any help at all. She’d never thought to bring her pepper spray. She’d fight, of course, but he was all whipcord muscle and supple strength. She wouldn’t last long….
What in hell’s wrong with you? He’d offered no threat whatsoever. He wasn’t armed. He didn’t even have a horse that she could see.
“The Blue Moon, yes,” she said. “They’ll be waiting up for me.”
He smiled as if he fully recognized the false bravado in her words. “I have no doubt,” he said. He reached for Kelpie’s head. The gelding stood very still. Cat held her breath.
“So, querido.” The man stroked Kelpie’s muzzle, but his gaze remained on Cat. “Shall we see what ails you?” He knelt to examine the gelding’s leg, murmuring in Spanish all the while. “It is not so bad, mi amigo. A poultice, a few weeks’ rest…” He rose slowly. Cat felt as though he were running his hands over her body. “I will guide you back to the ranch, señorita,” he said.
“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary.”
“But you are traveling in the wrong direction,” he said. “Those who wait for you will surely worry.”
Was he mocking her? She drew up, all her anger against men spilling into her chest. “I’ll be all right.”
“Will you?” He moved closer. “It is not wise to travel alone, even in a place like this.”
He smelled, she thought, of sagebrush and horses and a unique, completely masculine scent that threatened to overwhelm her senses.
He was dangerous, but not in the way she’d feared.
“If you’ll point me in the right direction,” she said, “I’m sure I can make it the rest of the way.”
His dark brows lifted and his nostrils flared. Cat began to feel hot…hot in the face, in her belly, in between her legs. She could almost feel the pressure of those sensuous lips on hers, the thrust of his tongue, his hands slipping beneath her shirt to caress her nipples….
She swallowed hard. “Thank you, but no. I prefer to travel alone.”
For a moment his pale eyes flashed with something that might have been anger. Then he touched the brim of his hat again and gave a slight, ironic bow.
“As you wish.” He leaned toward Kelpie’s ear and whispered words Cat couldn’t hear. Kelpie nickered and nibbled at the stranger’s sleeve as he withdrew.
“Adiós,” he said, fading into the night the same way he had come. “We shall meet again, señorita.”
The silence was absolute. Even the wind had stilled. Cat pressed her hand to her chest, trying to quiet her racing heart. Remembering the man’s advice, she turned Kelpie around and started in the opposite direction. Two hours later she saw the lights of the ranch house. Turk ran out to meet her.
“Miss Cat! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. It’s Kelpie who’s hurt.”
Immediately Turk lifted the gelding’s leg. “Don’t look too bad.” He glanced up at Cat. “I’ll take care of Kelpie. You’d better get yourself into the house. Pilar’s worried sick over you.”
Cat gladly obeyed. Her mouth was dry as a desert, and she felt more than a little weak at the knees. The housekeeper greeted her with relief and good-natured scolding, which Cat accepted as her just due. She drank the cocoa Pilar set down in front of her and meekly retreated to the guest room.
No bed, no matter how luxurious, had ever looked so welcome. Cat stripped out of her dusty clothes, threw them across a chair, and climbed naked between the sheets. The plain cotton felt incredibly soft against her skin. Every movement awakened strong sensations, as if her nerves had been lit on fire. Her imagination conjured up vivid images of the stranger, spawning pictures of sleek muscle and a strong, angular face.
A face that looked at her out of the darkness, eyes burning with unreserved lust.
Cat tried to close her eyes, fighting the images and the reaction of her body. Finally exhaustion claimed her, and she slid gratefully into sleep.
She had never seen men like these before.
They came boldly into the village, sitting on great beasts with long necks and sweeping tails, the metal on their heads and chests gleaming in the sun. They smiled as they leaped from the backs of their mounts, speaking a tongue she had never heard.
The village headman welcomed them with courtesy and care, for he, too, had no knowledge of this tribe of pale-skinned warriors with their sharp-edged weapons. It was best to be safe until more was known about them.
For her, it was enough to know that a new excitement had come to the village. She watched the men with fascination as they removed the leather chairs from the great beasts’ backs and brushed the creatures’ coats until they gleamed. She stared in fascination as they shed their heavy clothing to reveal skin that surely had never been touched by the sun. She spied on the elders as they spoke with the strangers, and always her gaze was drawn to one among the foreign warriors.
He was tall compared to t
he villagers, though his hair was as black as that of the people. The shape of his face was different, but she found it handsome in its own way. His eyes drew her most, for they were the color of the first light of dawn.
One day he caught her watching him, though she had done her best not to let him see. He spoke to her in his stranger’s tongue, gently and with admiration in those pale eyes. Sometimes his companions seemed crude and loud, but he was not. She began to teach him the peoples’ language. He was a swift learner, and at last he began to speak the words she had longed to hear.
Too soon it was time for him and his companions to leave the village, to rejoin their tribe. She could not wait for him to return and for the marriage to take place. When he asked her to come with him into the forest, she went eagerly, knowing that what they were about to do would change her life forever….
Cat woke to the glory of an orgasm.
At first she wasn’t sure exactly what she was feeling. She’d almost forgotten what it was like; Neal hadn’t bothered to satisfy her in years. But she felt between her thighs and her fingers came away wet.
Panic sent her heart into overdrive. She sprang up and stood in the center of the room, searching every corner.
He wasn’t there. How could he be? He had been a dream, in a time and place that had seemed alien and yet utterly familiar.
A dream who had walked out of the shadows and into reality.
Cat sank into the chair and began to laugh. There was no reason for the levity except that she felt more than a little loco, and laughter seemed the best medicine for her ailment.
“Señora?”
Pilar was knocking on the door, undoubtedly alarmed by the racket. Cat put on her thick chenille robe and opened the door.
“I’m sorry to have disturbed you,” she said. “I’m all right. I just had a crazy dream.”
The older woman’s brown eyes were skeptical. “You should rest today, Señora Catalina. I will make you a good breakfast…”
“I’m not very hungry. I’ll take a little fruit, if you have any.”
“Si.” Pilar continued to regard Cat in a way that made her feel like a naughty little girl. “You say nothing happened to you last night?”
“Nothing.” Nothing that really mattered, anyway. “I think I’ll go for another ride this morning.”
Pilar sighed and walked back toward the kitchen. Cat showered, dressed in jeans and denim shirt, and grabbed a slice of melon and an apple on her way out the door. Turk wasn’t in the stables. Cat leaned on the corral fence, wondering if she ought to try saddling one of the horses herself. She’d done it a few times when she’d gone to riding camp as a teenager, but that had been a lifetime ago.
As she kicked at the dirt and debated her course of action, she looked up and saw the black horse.
He…and she had no doubt that it was indeed a “he”…stood outside the fence on the opposite side of the corral, unburdened by either saddle or bridle. His coat was a true black, not burned brown like so many dark horses. His mane was a luxurious ebon wave that fell almost to the bottom of his neck, and his tail was held high as a flag. A white star in the shape of a cross blazed his face.
Cat shivered, remembering how a horse exactly like this one had haunted her childhood dreams. He had been so far away then, impossible to catch. Now he stood no more than twenty yards distant, and his eyes—his strangely pale eyes—gazed at her with uncanny intensity.
She never knew why she did what she did then. Without a moment’s thought, she circled the corral and approached the horse, walking slowly and carefully. She still had the apple in her jacket pocket. Her fingers closed around the smooth, polished surface and pulled it out.
The stallion watched her come with elegant ears swiveled forward and nostrils flared. He arched his neck and shifted from foot to foot as if to display his strength and elegance. Cat felt no fear at all. She offered the apple in her extended hand.
He took it with remarkable gentleness, his lips sliding across her fingertips.
“You’re a beautiful boy,” she said, patting his silky neck. “Where did you come from?”
The stallion finished the apple, watching her all the while. He made a low, coaxing sound deep in his throat.
“You must be valuable,” she said. “Maybe I should go ask Turk who—”
The stallion reared, ears flat. Cat stepped back, suddenly aware of his sharp hooves and sheer size. It was almost as if he’d understood her.
“Okay,” she murmured. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The stallion danced, tossing his head and eying Cat with suspicion. After a moment he approached her again, stretching his neck and nibbling her shoulder.
“I sure wish I knew what was going on in that head of yours,” she said. “Are you hungry? I can bring some oats…”
He snorted with contemptuous eloquence. His blue eyes seemed virtually human, the pupil more round than oblong. Cat was eerily convinced that he really did understand every word she said.
“What do you want?” she asked softly. “How can I help you?”
Drawing back his head, the stallion dropped to his knees. There was nothing in the least humble in his posture. He nickered an invitation.
Surely his odd behavior couldn’t mean what it seemed to mean. Cat moved to his side and laid her hand on his back. He rumbled approvingly.
“You want me to ride you?”
He nodded. There was no other word for his reaction. Cautiously Cat leaned across him, enchanted by the muscular curve of his withers and hindquarters. He remained quiet. Cat swung her leg over his back, looking toward the house to make sure no one was watching.
The instant she was settled, the stallion surged to his feet. Cat grabbed for his mane as he wheeled about and began to run.
The horse was kidnapping her. And she had absolutely no way to stop him.
For several minutes all she could do was hang on. The air was crip and cool. The sun was just beginning to peek above the mountains to the east. The stallion galloped straight north, his tail streaming behind him.
Cat caught her breath. The stallion’s gait was so smooth that she felt in not the slightest danger of falling off, even though she had no reins, stirrups, or handy saddle horn. Her initial concern had passed. In fact, she felt an undeniable exhilaration at the feel of her mount’s muscles flexing between her thighs, the snap of her hair, the sense of flying over the earth.
This was true freedom. This was what she’d been seeking ever since those dreams fifteen years ago. She flung back her head and laughed aloud. The stallion twitched his ears to listen and stretched his legs in an even faster pace.
Miles passed in a blur. Cat hardly noticed when the stallion slowed. His coat gleamed with sweat, but his neck was still arched and his sheer magnificence claimed obeisance from every creature that shared his world.
A small grove of cottonwoods crouched over an unexpected green jewel nestled in the brown setting of the plain. Cat thought gratefully of water, even if it wasn’t sterilized and out of a tap.
Another dozen yards revealed a tiny pool and the bubbling of a spring. A pair of pronghorn antelope sprang away from the bank, white rumps flashing. The stallion ignored them and paced to the water’s edge. He twisted his head back to look at Cat.
His message was clear enough. Cat slid from his back, staggered a little as she got her land legs again, and sat down under the shade of a cottonwood. The stallion dipped his muzzle into the pool and drank.
“I can’t just keep calling you ‘the stallion,’ you know,” Cat said. “You’re black as a storm cloud. Let me see if I can remember…” She snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it. What about trueno? That’s ‘thunder.’ Nice and succinct.”
Trueno bobbed his head. Cat chuckled and stretched out on the green grass. It was well into mid-morning and not by any means hot, but Cat keenly felt the confinement of her clothing. She removed her jacket and scarf, undid the top several buttons of her shirt and kicked off her boots.<
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She should have been thinking about where she was and how she’d get back to the ranch. She should have asked herself a few more questions about why the stallion had behaved as he had, why she’d climbed onto his back with a complete lack of the most basic common sense.
But she didn’t. She closed her eyes, blissfully relaxed, and dozed while Trueno grazed nearby. Once or twice she woke, noted vaguely that the sun had moved again, and sank back into sleep.
The forest closed in around them, a perfect bower for secret lovers. Firm lips pressed against hers, demanding entrance. She opened her mouth in a cry of surprise and a warm, insistent tongue thrust into her mouth, hungry and caressing. She felt calloused fingers inside her blouse, circling her nipples. She gloried in the heat of a hard, lean body stretched out beside her. Wetness pooled between her legs.
“Sí, my beautiful one,” he said, running his tongue over her lips. With long, lean fingers he pushed her blouse above her breasts. “Muy linda,” he murmured.
She gasped as he bent and took her nipple in his mouth. Dark, unruly hair brushed against her face and shoulders. She whimpered while he suckled her, licking and kissing and grazing her breasts with his teeth.
She was so close, so close to something wonderful. Somehow she knew that if she opened her eyes, the pleasure would stop. If she dared to question, even for a moment, it would all go away….
Cat opened her eyes. The sky was dark and studded with stars. The branches of the cottonwood shivered overhead. And she remembered.
The man didn’t resist as she pushed him away. In one fluid motion he detached himself and settled into a crouch, pale eyes catching moonlight.
Oh, God. She’d seen him before. He was the cowboy she’d met last night. And he had been…doing things to her. While she slept. And in her dreams.
With trembling fingers she buttoned her shirt. Her nipples were wet from his kisses. Her mouth throbbed. She nearly groaned with the intensity of her arousal. She stared at the stranger’s lips and slowly raised her eyes to his.
“Señorita,” he said, his voice husky and low.