She stood beside Alejandro, her hand tightly clasped in his, while Jack Calder read the words that changed her name from Shaye Elizabeth Montgomery to Mrs. Alejandro Valverde. It took only minutes, but the instant she said, “I do”, she knew, deep in her heart, that her whole life had been irrevocably changed.
Calder smiled at them expansively, then winked at Alejandro. “You can kiss the bride now.”
“My pleasure,” Alejandro murmured, and drawing Shaye into his arms, he kissed her, long and deep, the kiss more binding than any of the words that had been said.
She was breathless when he took his mouth from hers.
“That’ll be ten bucks,” Calder said, punching Alejandro on the shoulder.
“Best money I ever spent.” Alejandro slapped a couple of greenbacks in Calder’s hand. “Now, get the hell out of here.”
“Not ‘til I’ve kissed the bride,” Calder said. Placing his hands on Shaye’s shoulders, he kissed her soundly on both cheeks. Then, whistling softly, he left the cabin.
Shaye grinned up at Alejandro. “Alone at last, Mr. Valverde.”
He grinned back at her. “And what would you like to do, now that we’re alone, Mrs. Valverde?”
“Gee, I don’t know.”
“Maybe I could help you think of something.”
“Like what?”
“Well, darlin’,” he drawled, “if I kissed you here…” He kissed her forehead. “Maybe you’d ask me to kiss you here…” He kissed the tip of her nose. “And if you liked that, maybe you’d ask me to kiss you here…” He kissed her cheeks, first one, then the other. “And if you liked that…”
“I’d ask you to kiss me here.” Shaye cupped his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his. Honey and fire flowed through her veins, warming her, engulfing her as he wrapped her in his arms and deepened the kiss until they were both breathless.
“Oh, darlin’,” he murmured, “do you know what you do to me?”
She slid her hands under his shirt, wanting to feel the heat of his skin. “Show me.”
“My pleasure, Mrs. Valverde.”
His clever hands quickly removed her clothing and shoes, his lips brushing across her shoulders, her breasts, her belly. She giggled when he kissed her knees. Grinning, he began to tickle her, until she fell back on the bed. He sank down on top of her, but she pushed him away.
“Oh, no,” she said, “you’re way overdressed.” And so saying, she removed his coat and began to unbutton his shirt.
Alejandro fell back, his gaze hot as he watched her. She tossed his shirt aside, tugged off his boots, yanked off his socks. He lifted his hips so she could pull off his trousers, wriggled out of his drawers.
And then there was nothing between them but heated flesh and a urgent desire that could not be ignored.
Alejandro wrapped her in his arms and she clung to him with a wild desperation born of a yearning too long denied and the knowledge that what they had found could be lost in a heartbeat.
He caressed her with hands that trembled, kissed her fervently, hotly. They writhed on the bed, time and place melting away, until nothing mattered but the two of them and the love they had one for another.
She ran her hands over his back, his shoulders, his chest, down his thighs until he rose over her, his eyes smoldering with passion. She was ready for him, more than ready. She moaned softly, an utterly feminine sound of pleasure as he sank into her, filling her, filling the hollows of her heart as his body merged with hers, uniting them, completing them.
Her hands moved over his back, her nails lightly raking his skin, as he moved deep within her, deeper, harder, faster, until the explosion came, a white heat that shimmered through her, engulfing her, pleasuring her, until she thought she might die of the joy that filled her heart and soul. And when his release came and he convulsed deep within her, she knew a sense of satisfaction and completion she had dreamed of but never believed truly existed.
With a kiss and a sigh, Alejandro rolled onto his side, carrying Shaye with him, his body still part of hers, his arms holding her tight. He had made love to women before but it had never been like this. Damn, she had satisfied him like no other, filled an aching emptiness in his heart and soul he had never known was there until he felt her warmth seep into him, chasing away the dark. His woman. His bride. His wife.
He still couldn’t believe she had accepted his proposal. They had known each other such a short time, yet it seemed as if he had been waiting for her all his life, as if his soul had always been searching for hers. And suddenly, it didn’t seem so farfetched to believe that his ghost had traveled down the long misty corridors of time and seen her standing outside a lonely jail cell.
* * * * *
Shaye woke slowly, aware of a weight across her stomach, a warmth against her back. It was still dark outside, but she was suddenly wide awake. Smiling, she rolled over, her finger tracing the stubbled outline of her husband’s jaw. Husband. What a beautiful word!
She ran her fingertips over his lips, remembering how he had kissed her only hours before, his mouth hot and hungry on hers.
Her hand moved over his chest, slid down his stomach, which was hard and flat and ridged with muscle. He was in remarkably good shape for a man who earned his living playing poker, she mused. If she didn’t know better, she would swear he spent his days pumping iron at the gym.
Her hand slid lower, lower, delighting in the warmth of his skin, taking pure feminine pleasure in his nearness, in touching him, while he slept.
She shrieked as she suddenly found herself flat on her back, looking up at him, though she couldn’t see his face. “Didn’t your mother ever warn you about awakening sleeping tigers?” he growled.
She shook her head, her eyes filled with laughter. “Are you going to eat me now, Mr. Tiger?”
“Most definitely,” he said. “From the top to bottom, and back up again.”
And that was exactly what he did.
Twice.
* * * * *
In the morning, she woke wrapped in his arms, a smile on her face.
“Mornin’, darlin’,” he drawled. “About time you woke up.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“You were smiling so pretty, I didn’t want to disturb you, in case you were dreaming about me.”
“Oh, I was.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
“No.”
“No?”
She smiled seductively. “I’d rather show you.”
It was much later when they left the cabin and went to the saloon in search of food.
Calder grinned at them as they approached the bar. “Well, well, looks like I won the bet.”
“What bet?” Alejandro asked.
“We had us a bet going about how long it would be afore you two come up for air. I said not before two o’clock, and I was right.”
“I’m happy for you,” Alejandro said drily. “You got anything to eat?”
“I reckon I can rustle up something, if you ain’t too fussy.” He grinned at Shaye. “I don’t reckon your missus will want to cook, seein’ as how it’s your honeymoon and all.”
“You got any coffee?” Alejandro asked.
“Sure. You want a cup, Mrs. Valverde?”
Shaye smiled. Mrs. Valverde. She loved the sound of it. “Yes, thank you.”
Calder grunted softly. “Coming right up.”
Shaye and Alejandro took a seat at a corner table. She couldn’t stop looking at him. Her husband. Last night had been the most incredible night of her life. Now she knew why so many songs were written about love, why poets extolled it, why Juliet couldn’t live without Romeo, why the Prince had been able to awaken Sleeping Beauty with just a kiss… Her gaze moved to Alejandro’s mouth, remembering how his kisses had aroused her…
Alejandro lifted one brow. “You keep looking at me like that, darlin’, and I’m gonna take you right here, on the table.”
“Promise?”
Alejand
ro threw back his head and laughed. He was still laughing when Calder arrived with their coffee. “Ham and eggs okay for you two?”
“Sure,” Alejandro said. “And plenty of it.” He winked at Shaye. “I’ve got to keep my strength up.”
Calder laughed out loud as he lumbered into the kitchen.
“When are we leaving here?” Shaye asked.
“You in a hurry?”
“Well, I was thinking how nice it would be to check into a ritzy hotel in San Francisco. We could get a suite and lock ourselves in.”
“Go on.”
“And we wouldn’t have to go out for days and days.”
“Not even to eat?”
Shaye leaned forward, trailing kisses down the line of his cheek to his chin. “Haven’t you ever heard of room service?”
Alejandro grinned at her. “Sure, but I’ve never tried it.”
“You’ll love it, I promise.”
“I’d love a cave, if you were in it,” he said, “but that fancy hotel sounds expensive. I think I’d better see if I can’t win a few dollars before we settle down to a life of decadence.”
They spent the rest of the day in their cabin, making love, sleeping, talking, and making love again.
At dusk, they went back to the saloon for dinner. There were cheers and catcalls as they sat down at one of the tables. Shaye couldn’t help it, she blushed from the soles of her feet to the roots of her hair, disconcerted by the knowledge that every man in the room knew what she’d been doing for the last two days. Alejandro, she noted, was grinning from ear to ear.
After dinner, she went into the kitchen to ask Calder if she could borrow a large pan so she could wash their clothes. Calder told her to help herself to whatever she needed. Thanking him, she left the kitchen. Tonight, before going to bed, she would wash Alejandro’s shirt and socks, her blouse and her underwear. His trousers and her skirt would have to wait, she decided, since she wasn’t sure the heavy material would dry overnight.
Returning to the main room, she found Alejandro playing poker with three other men.
He drew her down onto his lap, one arm slipping around her waist.
“Are you winning?” she asked.
He looked offended. “What do you think, darlin’?”
“You gonna sweet talk your woman, or deal the cards?”
“Hello, Dawson,” Shaye said with a grin.
“You’re not gonna sit in again, are you?” he asked irritably.
“Afraid I’ll bring you bad luck?”
“Damn right.”
“Don’t pay any attention to him, darlin’,” Alejandro said.
“Why don’t you sit this hand out?” she asked, “and dance with me, instead.”
“Deal me out, Saunders,” Alejandro said. He grinned at Shaye as the piano player hit a sour note. “He plays the way I dance.”
“Baloney,” she said, standing. “You dance divinely.”
“Divinely?” Alejandro said. “Well, well.”
Taking her hand, he led her to a small, clear area on the far side of the bar. The doves, Shaye noted, were also dancing. Several men were lined up at the end of the bar, waiting their turn. Seeing the two heavily painted girls brought Daisy to mind. She wished she could have done something to prevent Daisy’s death. What a horrible life she’d had, and then to have it end so young, and so horribly. It was such a waste.
They had been dancing for several minutes when one of the men tried to cut in on Alejandro.
“The lady’s with me,” he said.
“Hell, man, it won’t hurt you to share. All’s I want is just one dance. Just one little dance with this pretty lady.”
“Forget it. You’re drunk.” Alejandro looked at Shaye and smiled. “And this lady is my wife.”
“Drunk? Who? Me?” He waved his hands in the air. “Nah, I ain’t drunk. I just feel like dancin’.”
“Dance with someone else.”
“Lousy ‘breed.”
The man muttered the words under his breath, but not so low that Alejandro didn’t hear them. Shaye felt the sudden tension flow through his arm.
“What did you say?” He bit off each word, his tone low and deadly.
The atmosphere in the room grew still, like the quiet before a storm.
The man looked at Alejandro and blinked like someone just waking and realizing he was in danger. “I…I didn’t mean anything by it,” he mumbled.
Shaye tugged on Alejandro’s arm. “Rio, let’s go.”
He looked down at her, his eyes dark and dangerous.
“Please, let’s go.”
Slowly, the tension drained out of him. Taking her hand firmly in his, they left the building.
They kept to themselves for the next few days, only leaving the cabin for their meals. Shaye told Alejandro of her childhood, and how she had always wished she had brothers and sisters, how she had always envied her friend, Leslie, who came from a large family. She told him how she had always loved to read, and had devoured the Black Stallion books, and Lad, a Dog, and Nancy Drew, how she had secretly wished to be an actress, but was too shy to try out for the drama club.
In return, Alejandro told her how he had dreamed of being a warrior, and how disappointed he had been when he went back to his mother’s people, only to find that those he knew were gone, and that, as much as he wished it, he no longer had a place there.
She admitted she was afraid of the dark.
He told her he had always been afraid of dying alone.
She confessed that she was a chocoholic and an incurable romantic.
He admitted there were two things he couldn’t live without. “A cup of black coffee, first thing in the morning,” he said. “And you.” He tapped the end of her nose with his forefinger.
“Little ole me?” she asked, immensely pleased.
“You,” he repeated. “You made me believe in love, darlin’.”
“Ah, Mr. Valverde,” she said, deeply touched, “you do say the sweetest things.”
“My pleasure, Mrs. Valverde,” he replied, and then burst out laughing as her stomach growled. “Sounds like it’s time for dinner.”
Shaye felt her cheeks grow warm and then she laughed, too, as his stomach made a loud rumbling sound. “I think you’re right.”
After dinner, they played a few hands of poker with Calder and a couple of the other men. Thankfully, Dawson was engrossed in conversation with another man at a back table. She caught both of them glancing their way more than once. The other man was whipcord lean, with long brown hair and hard brown eyes. She didn’t know what they were discussing, but she would have bet every dollar on the table that they were up to no good.
It was late when they left the saloon. Overhead, a bright yellow moon played hide and seek with a few wispy clouds.
They walked in silence for a while. Shaye wrapped her arms around her body, shivering a little, not so much from the cold, but from a sudden sense of foreboding.
As soon as they were out of sight of the saloon, the night wrapped itself around them, engulfing them in a darkness that seemed ominous, somehow. She heard the distant hoot of an owl and, further off, the faint wail of a coyote.
“Rio…”
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.” She reached for his hand, overcome by a sense of impending doom. And even as the thought crossed her mind, Alejandro was pushing her to the ground.
There was a bright flash, a popping noise. It took her a moment to realize someone was shooting at them.
There was another gunshot.
She felt the spray of something warm against her cheek, and realized in that instant that Alejandro had been shot.
Chapter Twenty-Five
He swam through layers of darkness, the pain in his flesh as nothing compared to the ache in his heart. “Shaye. Shaye?”
“I’m here.”
He groaned softly as he opened his eyes. Shaye was kneeling beside him, her brow lined with w
orry, her eyes filled with anxiety. Dawson and another man were staring down at him.
Alejandro tried to sit up, only then realizing that his hands and feet were bound. A sharp pain stabbed through his left side when he tried to move. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Norland, here, rode in from Aurora last night. He overheard me mention your name, and told me there’s a nice reward out for you. Fifteen hundred dollars.” Dawson looked at Shaye and grinned. “And another hundred for the woman. We aim to turn the two of you in and split the take.”
Alejandro glanced at Shaye. This was all his fault. He remembered seeing Norland in the saloon, playing cards with Dawson.
“I’m gonna turn in,” Norland said. “Wake me in a couple hours, and I’ll relieve you.”
Dawson nodded.
Norland tossed Dawson a length of rope. “Best tie up the woman. Keep her from getting any ideas.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Alejandro glanced around. “Where are we?”
“Couple miles south of the hideout. We’ll be leaving for Bodie first thing in the morning. Norland put some supplies together while I dug the bullet out of your hide. Better get some sleep. Gonna be a long day tomorrow.”
Anger boiled up inside Alejandro as Dawson grabbed Shaye’s hands and lashed them behind her back.
“That oughta hold you ‘til morning,” Dawson muttered, and turning away, he walked over to the fire and poured himself a cup of coffee.
Alejandro’s gaze moved over Shaye. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. How do you feel?”
Guilt ate at his soul. He had kept her with him when he knew he should let her go, and look what it had gotten her. He was a man on the run, and now, because of him, because she loved him, there was a price on her head, as well.
They would hang him, and all his troubles would be over, while hers would just be beginning. They’d lock her up, who knew for how long. The thought of Shaye behind bars was like a knife, sharp and deep. She would probably curse the day she had met him for the rest of her life. Dammit, he had to get her out of this mess, one way or another.
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