Victoria wanted to protest again, but the heat at her breast had sent a part of its fire lower, deeper into her body, and the hot clamoring inside her became a hollow, bittersweet need. “Falcon …you shouldn’t… I can't …”
He lifted his head slowly, his darkened eyes intent on her flushed face. She looked thoroughly kissed, heart- breakingly beautiful in her innocent awareness. Her lips were red and swollen, her eyes sleepy with desire and dimly shocked. He slid his hand back up over her belly, cupping her breast gently and briefly before easing the silk upward until she was decently covered again. Then he surrounded her flushed face softly in one large hand and kissed her, vaguely surprised at the surge of tenderness he felt.
He brought them both upright, drawing the cloak back over her shoulders as she slowly lowered her arms, and fastening it again. And when she was sitting demurely, gazing at him with huge eyes, he leaned back into his own corner and sighed softly. “No one at the party will doubt that I want you,” he murmured. “A man can never hide what a woman does to him.”
Her eyes flicked downward to the straining evidence of his arousal, and then skittered hastily back to his face in confusion. Between the plantation of her childhood and Morgan’s thriving ranch, she could hardly have avoided learning of the physical evidence of male sexuality, but his soft, bold reference to his body’s response to her was both shocking and –in some part of herself she didn’t want to acknowledge –exciting.
He chuckled softly. “Making love in a carriage is an awkward business,” he offered. “If there had been a bed nearby, sweet, a loaded gun wouldn’t have stopped me.”
The Delaneys, The Untamed Years: WILD SILVER
by Iris Johansen
Mikhail, Nicholas’s servant and friend, threw open the door to the cabin and strode into the stateroom. Nicholas rose easily to his feet, his gaze on the bundle over the giant’s shoulder. “Good Lord, Mikhail, did you have to use two blankets? She must be smothering.”
“I should have used ten,” Mikhail muttered as he strode across the room and dropped his burden on the bed. “And I should have let you come with me. I should have let an army come with me.” He unwrapped the blankets with two quick jerks and Silver tumbled free, rolling over to the opposite side of the bed. Her wrists were tied behind her back and a handkerchief gagged her mouth, but her eyes blazed up at them as she continued to struggle to free herself. Mikhail tossed the blankets on the floor and reached over to pull the gag from Silver’s mouth, quickly jerking his hand away as her strong, white teeth snapped at him. “She is a wild animal.” There was a curious note of pride in his voice as he gazed down at Silver’s face. “If I had not taken her by surprise, I do not think I would have been able to overpower her. She is a fine, strong warrior.” He carefully brushed a strand of hair from Silver’s eyes, his expression gentle. “It is all right now. No one is going to hurt you.”
“But Iwill hurt you.” Silver glared up at him fiercely, still struggling desperately against her bonds. “You can’t do this!”
“It appears that he can, because he has.” Nicholas strode forward to stand over her. Her long hair was lying in wild, silken disarray against the peach-colored velvet of the spread, and he felt a sudden thrust of desire tighten his groin. He had been sitting there, imagining how she would look lying on his bed, and the reality was even more erotic than his vision. “Though not without some effort.”
“You!” Her light eyes glittered with rage as she began to curse him with venom and amazing proficiency.
He lifted a brow. “My, my, she’s quite talented, isn’t she, Mikhail? The last time I heard a vocabulary so explicit was from my groom at the estate on Crystal Island. Should we release her, do you think?”
“Only if you wish to relieve yourself of a few fistfuls of excess hair,” Mikhail said dryly, gingerly touching his own tousled red mop. “Before I got her hands tied I was sure she would strip me bald. Best wait until you have talked reason to her.”
“Reason?” Silver struggled into a sitting position. “There is no reason connected with this outrage. It’s madness, as I’ll soon show you.”
“I’m sure you’ll try.” Nicholas smiled. “And it will be fascinating to watch your attempts. I may even be sorry to see you depart after you tell me where your uncle has disappeared to.”
“You’ll be sorrier to see me stay,” Silver hissed.
A flicker of anger crossed Nicholas’s handsome face. “I believe you’re beginning to annoy me. So far you’ve cursed me, threatened me, and insulted me.”
“Let me loose and I’ll do more than that to you. I’ll stick my knife in you, as I did your friend.”
Nicholas stiffened. “Knife?” His gaze flew to Mikhail. “She stabbedyou?” His attention had been so absorbed with the girl he had scarcely glanced at Mikhail. Now he saw that the Cossack’s tunic was torn, and a rivulet of blood stained the whiteness of the left sleeve.
“A pinprick.” Mikhail bent down, pulled a small dagger out of his boot, and tossed it to Nicholas. “Yet it might be wise to remember she is not without fangs.”
“Like all vipers.” Nicholas looked down at the dagger, his beautifully molded features hard as the marble of a tombstone. “She could have killed you. I should have gone myself, my friend.”
A touch of anxiety clouded Mikhail’s features. “A pinprick,” he repeated. “She was only defending herself. The wound will be gone by tomorrow.”
Bewilderment pierced Silver's seething fury. It was clear the big Russian was defending her from Nicholas Savron’s anger. Why would he help the prince abduct her and then rush to her defense?
“Do you need a doctor?”Nicholas asked gently. “I’ll have Robert dock again and send someone for help.”
“The woman –”
“The woman is not worth one drop of your blood.” Nicholas gave Silver a glance as cold as winter sleet. “I will deal with her later.”
Mikhail shook his head. “I have no need for a doctor. She did not hurt me.”
“Only because you –” Silver broke off as Mikhail shook his head warningly at her. “I willspeak. Do you think I'm afraid of either of you?”
“You obviously have no need to fear Mikhail. It seems he’s been foolish enough to take a liking to you,” Nicholas said softly. “But you’d do well to be afraid of me. I value Mikhail, and I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so angry with anyone in my entire life.”
“Liking? He abductedme.”
“On my orders. And he insisted on going alone, because he felt it would be safer for you.”
“Or because you were too cowardly to go with him,” Silver said contemptuously.
Mikhail inhaled sharply and took an impulsive step forward, as if to place himself between Silver and Nicholas. “Nicholas, she is only a woman. She did not –”
“Only a woman,” Silver repeated indignantly. “A woman can do anything a man can do! She can do more! Why do –”
“Shut up!”Nicholas shouted, enunciating with great precision.
“I should not have taken the gag off her.” Mikhail sighed morosely. “I should have known her tongue would be as sharp as her dagger.”
“Go take care of your wound.”Nicholas’s gaze was narrowed on Silver’s face. “I have a fancy to prove myself to the lady.”
Mikhail gazed at him helplessly. Nicholas was dangerously infuriated, and it was evident that Silver Delaney was not about to try to placate him. “You gave your word.”
Nicholas glanced at him incredulously. “Good Lord –she stabbed you and you’re still defending her?”
Mikhail’s jaw squared stubbornly. “You promised me.”
Nicholas muttered something fierce and obscene beneath his breath. “And I’ll keep my word, dammit.”
Mikhail turned toward the door, and then glanced over his shoulder at Silver, a gentle smile lighting his craggy features. “I will be back soon. Do not be afraid.”
Silver gazed at him. “I’m not afraid and I need no protectio
n.”
Mikhail slowly shook his head and shut the door quietly behind him.
Silver immediately turned to Nicholas and opened her mouth to speak.
Nicholas raised his hand. “Not one word, or I’ll put the gag back on you.”
She hesitated, and then pressed her lips together.
“Very wise. I’m holding on to my temper by a very precarious thread, Silver.”
He sat down on the bed beside her, not touching her, but close enough so that she could feel the heat emanating from his body. The faint scent of musk, brandy, and tobacco drifted to her nostrils.
“I’m about to give you the rules that will govern your stay while you’re on the Rose.Are you listening?”
She gazed up at him mutinously.
“I see you are.” He smiled faintly. “First, let’s discuss why you're here.”
“You want Dominic.”
“Exactly. I suppose I should give you the option of telling me where he is.”
“Would you let me go if I did?”
“I’m afraid I’d be forced to do so. Do you wish to oblige?”
Silver drew a deep breath. Lord, she hated lies. Still, if it would give Dominic a little more time …“He and Elspeth went back to Killara, in the Arizona Territory.”
Nicholas's expression hardened. “I see you’re as prone to falsehood as the rest of your sex. Randall’s investigators ascertained that your uncle was most definitely not at Killara. It’s obvious that asking you for the truth will accomplish nothing, and I admit I’m a trifle disappointed. I thought you more honest than most.”
A flush stung Silver’s cheeks. “I’m honest with those I respect. You deserve only lies from me. I’ll tell you nothing about Dominic.”
“But when he finds you’re gone from Mrs. Alford's nunnery, I'd say there’s an excellent chance of him coming after you,” he said softly. “I posted a letter to your former headmistress, telling her you’d decided to accompany me on a little pleasure cruise. If he’s as loyal to you as you are to him, he should be waiting at the levee when we return to St. Louis.”
“He won’t even hear that I’m gone. There wouldn’t be –” She stopped. “You’ll be disappointed if you think you can use me to draw Dominic to you.”
His gaze centered on her face. “You seem very certain.” He shrugged. “No matter. Then you’ll remain on the Roseuntil you tell me where he is.”
“You can’t keep me here.”
“Oh, but I can. Shall I tell you how?” Nicholas’s long, shapely hand reached out and smoothed her hair back from one temple, his touch as delicate as the brush of the wings of a butterfly. “There is no one to help you here. This boat belongs to me, and you’ll find no one interested in any plea for aid. Mikhail and my friend Valentin are completely loyal to me. And the crew would lose very lucrative positions if they displeased me.”
So she would be alone in her struggle. For a moment she felt a tiny frissonof apprehension. She dismissed it impatiently. Her struggles had always been faced alone, except when Rising Star had been there to support her. This was no different. “I don’t need help. I’ll still get away from you.”
A flicker of admiration crossed his face. “No tears? No pleas? I can almost see why Mikhail has developed a fondness for you.”
“I never cry.” She met his gaze. “And you will never hear me plead.”
“Oh, but I will.”Passion flared in the darkness of his eyes. “And it will be my very great pleasure to grant those pleas.”
From the Author
I didn’t grow up wanting to be a writer. In fact if someone had told me that I would be writing some day for one of the leading romance lines, I would have told them to go lie down until they felt better – a lot better!
My writing career was truly a serendipitous happening. I started out planning my life one way and it turned a corner and went another way.
I began writing what turned out to be my first published book,Satin and Steele, as a way to pass the time while recuperating from major surgery. It wasn't until eight years later that I found myself with some more time on my hands, and at a friend’s suggestion I unearthed the forty-odd pages I had written years before, polished it up and sent it off. The rest, as they say, is history – delightful, wonderful, utterly surprising history.
Since then, I’ve had the honor and the pleasure of being part of the very successful LOVESWEPT launch, the joy of being able to continue writing what I love, and the delight of hearing from so many loyal readers of romance. Their response to my books has overwhelmed me.
Shy, quiet and “hopelessly romantic” are a few terms that describe me. At age thirteen, I read Gone with the Wind for the first and last time, and was so upset with the way the book ended that I spent days daydreaming a new, happier ending, where Rhett Butler goes back to Scarlett O’Hara.
To this day, I refuse to see a movie or read a book that doesn’t have a happy ending. That’s why I love writing romances so much. I knowfor sure that all of my characters will live happily ever after.
COPPER FIRE
A Bantam Book / May
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1988 by Fayrene Preston.
Cover art copyright© 1988 by Pino Daeni No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.
ISBN 0-553-21897-2
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Table of Contents
Copper Fire
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
THE DELANEY DYNASTY
The Delaneys of Killaroo: Adelaide, The Enchantress
The Delaneys of Killaroo: Matilda, The Adventuress
The Delaneys of Killaroo: Sydney, The Temptress
THIS FIERCE SPLENDOR
The Delaneys, The Untamed Years: GOLDEN FLAMES
The Delaneys, The Untamed Years: WILD SILVER
From the Author
Copper Fire Page 22