She wasn’t as dumb as her mama had been. She wouldn’t convince herself she loved him or, God forbid, that he loved her. She would not wait around for Rico to return once he left. She would not waste away dreaming of the day he’d marry her. She would not put a noose around her neck because of Rico Salvatore, or any man.
Without warning, Rico burst inside. “Carrie?”
Lily took in his tired face, his haunted eyes. She’d seen hundreds of sad eyes. Why did Rico’s make her want to do something, anything, to make him smile?
“You didn’t find her.”
Rico’s black hair was gray with dust; he had dirt across his nose, something Lily found both endearing and appealing.
“Are you lost again, senorita?” He tossed his hat onto the bed and began to remove his knives.
“I was waiting for you.”
“Most ladies would not wait in a man’s room.”
“I’m not most ladies. I’m worried about the child.”
“Not worried about me?”
She eyed the cache of knives he’d set on the nightstand. “You can take care of yourself.”
“Obviously you cannot. If you don’t want me to touch you, stay out of my room. If you don’t want me to want you, keep away from me altogether.”
“You have that big of a problem with women?” She studied him. “I forgot. You have a problem the size of Texas.”
He didn’t laugh, and that concerned her. From what she’d seen so far, Rico found little that wasn’t funny in this world. For a woman without enough laughter in her life, that trait did not annoy Lily as it seemed to annoy others. It made her want to be with him all the more.
“Right now my only problem is Carrie.” He opened the door. “Go away, Lily.”
Instead of leaving, she shut the door. “I wanted to apologize for what I did to you that first day. I was rude.”
“Crude,” he corrected.
“I got my message across.”
“Clearly.” He sat on the bed, and his shoulders drooped.
She stood in front of him, put her hands on his shoulders, pressed down, then smoothed out. His head came up, his nose level with her belly. She could feel his breath through her clothes, burning hot against her skin. His muscles tensed beneath her fingers.
“Relax,” she murmured. “Let me help you.”
He frowned but didn’t pull away. As she rubbed his shoulders and his neck, bit-by-bit his head tilted forward until he laid his temple along her stomach. The position was both innocent and arousing.
No one had ever put themselves in harm’s way for her before. No one had ever faced down a friend in her defense. No man had ever looked past her face, her body. Maybe that was all Rico saw, too. But if she wanted the same thing, what was the harm?
She’d been thinking about this for days, and the thinking had put her so on edge, she could barely stand to touch him and not take him. Once, just once, she wanted a man in her bed who could give her nothing but pleasure, who wanted nothing from her but the same. The more she saw of Rico, the more she learned of him, the more she believed he was the man for the job.
She wanted very much to put her hands on his smooth, warm flesh. She’d been dreaming of that for several nights—strange, erotic dreams such as she’d never imagined possible for a woman like her.
Lily tried to slip her hands beneath the collar of Rico’s shirt, but it was too tight.
“What are you doing?”
“I could do a better job without your shirt in my way.”
His lips brushed her stomach. The caress burned through every layer of material—intimate, exhilarating. Her indrawn breath, loud in the silence between them, and the sudden absence of warmth across her belly made her want to pull his head back where it had been and cradle him against her.
“All you had to do was ask.”
His cocky self-assurance had returned. Why she liked that so much, Lily couldn’t say, but she was happy to hear a lilt in his voice and see a sparkle in his eyes where before there had been only sadness.
Rico opened a few buttons and drew the garment over his head. His flesh was bronzed, supple, magnificent. As he tossed the shirt aside, muscles rippled. When he leaned back, his stomach flexed, exposing dips and hollows she wanted to touch with her tongue. Not a trace of hair marred the perfection.
“What are you up to, Lily?”
“Up to?”
“Not more than a few days past you kicked me in my ego, as you say, for kissing you.”
“Not for the kiss, per se, but the offer it entailed.”
“Excusa.” He dipped his head. “Now you are in my room, touching me, asking me to take off my shirt...”
“And you don’t like it?”
“I didn’t say that. I just don’t understand.”
“I’m not sure I do, either.”
She sat on the bed and put her hand on his chest. A sharp intake of breath was his only reaction—until his heart began to beat faster and harder against her palm. So hot, so smooth, so alive—she wanted to place her mouth where her hand rested.
“Can’t a woman change her mind?”
He kissed her, a convincing kiss if she’d needed more convincing. She shivered as he licked the seam of her lips, delved within, then shuddered as he tasted every inch of her mouth.
She ran her fingers down to his belly, thumbs across his nipples, knuckles along the ridge of his ribs; then she clasped his shoulders, hanging on as the world tilted and tipped when he pushed her back onto the bed and rose above her.
“No,” she rasped, and he stilled then started to withdraw.
She clutched at him. “Wait—”
“I understand what no means.”
Impressed, Lily studied Rico’s face, still so tired and drawn. At this point, most men would have ignored her words, but Rico stopped the instant she said no.
“I meant, let me touch you.” She pushed on his shoulders, and he reclined on the bed. “I want to—” She broke off, and her cheeks flooded with heat. She didn’t think she could articulate what she had only just begun to want.
“Hey.” He tugged on her hair, which had come loose beneath his roving hands. “Touch me. However you want.”
Her embarrassment and uncertainty fled. He had that way about him, no doubt because he’d known countless women and had learned what to say. But wasn’t that one of the reasons she wanted him? A man like Rico would have no illusions beyond the moment, just as she had no illusions past today.
Instead of touching, she tasted. His indrawn breath tightened his stomach, defined the ridges that fascinated her. She ran her tongue along one, walked her lips to another, then opened her mouth and suckled.
His hips shifted restlessly, but he didn’t touch her—either to urge or deny. Her mouth curved against him. She licked all the way up his chest then focused on the flat brown discs of his nipples, teasing them until they were hard.
His fist tangled in her hair and pulled her mouth to his. No more gentleness, only desperate hunger. Her heart pounded, her dress became far too tight, her skirt tangled about her legs, annoying her.
Without warning, he tossed her onto her back. A cool draft of air hit her legs seconds before his scalding palm touched the bare skin above her stockings; then his fingers trailed higher. With his teeth he tugged her dress lower, allowed the swell of her breasts to spill from the neckline, dipped his tongue between them, then swept it beneath the material and across an already hardened nipple.
She tangled her fingers in his hair, and held on. His busy mouth closed over her breast, suckling her through the gown, the rasp of his tongue against the cloth, against her, a more arousing sensation than when he’d tasted her flesh to flesh.
His fingers just as busy, he stroked her thigh, swept a thumb over her aching center, made her arch, begging silently for ... She wasn’t sure what.
Needing to feel his mouth against hers, she tugged on his hair, none too gently. But when he lifted his head, his eyes went from daz
ed to sharp as he listened to something in the distance.
Lily heard it, too—the cadence of a little girl’s laughter.
Rico was off the bed and out the door before she could say a word. Lily straightened her skirt and her bodice, shoved her hair from her face, and followed.
Just in time to see Rico kick in the door of Johnny’s room.
“No, Rico, no!” cried the voice that had so recently been laughing.
Lily stepped back and snatched up one of Rico’s discarded knives before she raced after him.
Carrie sat on the bed. A jumble of cards at the center revealed an interrupted game. Rico held Johnny by the shirt, half on the bed and half off.
“How long has she been here?” He shook the boy. “Why have you kept her from me?”
“Put him down,” Lily ordered.
He didn’t even look at her. “Not until he answers me. I have been dragging all over this godforsaken country, looking for a little girl amid that great big nothing. And every day my gut bubbles and boils because I’m scared she’s dead, and it is all my fault.”
“But Rico—”
He ignored Carrie, staring into Johnny’s face. “So I ride and I ride until I am asleep on that horse, but at night I can’t sleep at all because I see mi chica and I have failed her. Then, when the darkest night comes, I see the ghosts of all those I have failed, and I see...” His voice trailed off, and his fingers tightened on Johnny’s shirt. “And all the while you had her here!”
Lily poked Rico in the back with her fingernail. Even though her body still hummed and her mind swirled with possibilities and he was shaking Johnny like a dog with a bone, Lily didn’t want to hurt him. But she kept the knife ready just in case she had to.
“He couldn’t answer if he wanted to. Let him go before I put a hole in your pretty hide with one of the knives you leave so carelessly about.”
Faster than a water snake on the bayou, Rico dropped Johnny and disarmed her.
“Do not play knife games with me, senorita. You will lose.” He turned.
Terror flashed in Johnny’s eyes as the knife glinted in front of his face. Sudden and ungovernable fury spurted, and Lily kicked Rico in the back of the knee, then stepped between him and Johnny. “If you go near him with a knife again, I’ll make sure you’re wearing it.”
“Madre gallina, I believe you would.” Rico placed the knife in his back pocket. “Perhaps you can discover what is going on here and why mi chica is in his room when I have been looking all over the earth for her.”
“Maybe you ought to ask mi chica that.”
Carrie inched toward the door.
“Do not move another step,” Rico snapped. “You will explain yourself.”
Carrie threw a withering glance at Lily, who resisted the urge to laugh. She’d been glared at by better glarers than this child—namely, half of New Orleans society and all of Baton Rouge’s. Little girls didn’t scare her. Not much did.
“I... uh... well, ya see—”
“I do not see. I have been looking for you everywhere. You scared me half to death. I had Timmons bury your grandpapa yesterday. We could wait no longer for you to be there.”
“I didn’t want to be there. Funerals are sad.”
“They’re supposed to be. Have you been here all along?”
She nodded, unafraid. “And you didn’t know, did ya? I sneaked real good, Rico.” Her face eager, she obviously longed for his approval more than anything else. “Just like you taught me.”
“You taught her that?” Lily asked. “Nice job.”
Rico and Carrie turned nearly identical scowls her way. “Stay out of this, Lily.”
“Yeah, stay out of this, cherie.”
The child had taken quite a dislike to her. Lily let her gaze wander over Rico’s exquisite, naked back, and Lily knew why.
Poor Rico, the object of every woman’s desire.
A glance at Johnny had Lily taking his hand. He was trembling. “What’s the matter?”
Johnny glanced at Rico.
“You’re afraid of him?”
The boy lifted one shoulder and ducked his head. Even without his shirt, Rico looked dangerous, and the way he’d disarmed her, then turned the knife on Johnny... No wonder the boy was frightened.
“I don’t think he’d hurt you, sugar, even if I’d let him.”
Lily brushed Johnny’s overly long hair from his face. Why did his fear make her want to fight every dragon in his path? Just as he seemed to want to fight every ogre in hers.
“Carrie Brown,” Rico said sternly. “You are in big trouble. We will go and see Sullivan right now.”
“I didn’t do nothin’ wrong!” She darted for the door.
Rico caught her, scooped her up, and tossed her over his shoulder. She started to kick and scream and curse.
“Did you teach her that, too?” Lily asked.
“Not me. Her grandpapa. Stop that, Carrie, or I will paddle your behind.”
Johnny rushed forward and yanked Carrie from Rico’s arms. The element of surprise was on his side, and he was able to shove her behind him before Rico recovered.
“Get out of my way, piano boy.”
Johnny stood his ground. Lily joined him. “He thinks you’re going to hurt her.”
The shock on Rico’s face proved his innocence of such an intention as nothing else would. “Hurt her? I-I couldn’t. Why would he think that?”
“Maybe the knife you held on him? Or perhaps the spanking you threatened her with.”
Understanding dawned in his eyes. “I talk big. But I wouldn’t hurt a child—not Carrie or Johnny.”
Johnny put up his chin, pointed at his chest, and shook his head. Carrie slipped her hand into his. “Johnny’s almost a grown-up, Rico. He’s been taking care of me.”
“When did you two become so close?”
Something passed between Carrie and Johnny that made Lily frown. What secret had they shared that made them best friends even though they’d just met?
“Since I hid in his room and he caught me,” Carrie answered.
“That wasn’t very sneaky or very smart.”
“Can’t be perfect. Ended up I did the right thing. Johnny helped me.”
“Johnny might think he’s old enough to care of you, but boys his age are not responsible. They think of other things and forget what they’re supposed to be doing. They can’t be trusted.”
“Johnny isn’t like that.”
“They’re all like that.” The exhaustion that had lined Rico’s face for days deepened. He went down on one knee, and Carrie went to him. “Why didn’t you come to me, chica? I thought we were pals forevermore.”
“We are.” She lifted her tiny hands to his cheeks and put her nose right up to his. “I love you, Rico. I want to be with you every damn day.”
“Do not swear.”
Carrie gave an impatient huff.
“It is kind of hard to be together, mi chica, when you hide yourself away.”
“But now that you found me, you won’t ever let me go. You were so worried you won’t ever send me away. I can live with you always. Right?”
Rico’s rubbed his nose against hers, and Carrie giggled. The two of them were so cute Lily ought to be gagging. Instead, she gave in to the smile. Johnny, however, appeared a little green.
“Right?” Carrie prodded, hope in her voice, heart in her eyes.
He rubbed his hand over her hair, winked, then opened his mouth, no doubt to agree, but the word that spun about the room was: “Wrong.”
Everyone turned to stare at the man who filled the open doorway.
Chapter 8
“What are you doing here?” Rico demanded.
“When all the banging and screaming started someone sent for the sheriff,” Sullivan said. “I see the lost girl has turned up, and amazingly, she’s with you.”
“I didn’t have her.”
Sullivan didn’t look convinced. “She can’t stay with you.”
�
��She has no living relatives.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you take care of a child. You can barely take care of yourself.”
“I don’t need Rico to take care of me. I’ll take care of him.”
“That’s for sure,” Sullivan muttered.
Carrie gazed at Rico with complete confidence and adoration. In her eyes, he was all-powerful. In her eyes, he would save her from all that was frightening in the world. But to Sullivan, Rico wasn’t up to the task.
“Carrie, why don’t you go downstairs and help Kate and Laurel with the curtains?” he suggested.
“Nope. Stayin’ with you.”
Rico glanced at Lily, but it was the boy who took Carrie’s hand. She followed him out of the room without argument. Lily remained at Rico’s side, and he felt the better for it.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, amigo.”
For a minute, Sullivan appeared guilty, but it didn’t last. “Kid this is a saloon. You think the Reverend Clancy will allow a nine-year-old girl to live here?”
“You’re the sheriff. If you say she stays, that blow-hard Clancy will mumble, but he won’t shout.”
“Reese won’t like it, either.”
“He’s not the boss of me, or you.”
“Funny, but he seems to think he is.”
“He knows how I feel about Carrie.”
“I’m not debating that you care about her, more than I’ve ever seen you care about anyone. I’m not debating that she loves you. I’m debating what’s best for her, and living in a saloon with an unemployed”—he threw up his hands—“whatever you are, isn’t it.”
Rico had just found Carrie, and now Sullivan was going to drag her away. He’d spent the past several days in a panic, promising God and every angel that he would take care of her if only she was returned safely. Now his promise would be broken because he was irresponsible and worthless. Same as the last time.
“He isn’t unemployed,” Lily said. “He works for me.”
Rico raised his eyebrows but kept his mouth shut.
“As what?” Sullivan asked, his tone revealing he didn’t believe a word of it.
Rico (The Rock Creek Six Book 3) Page 8