by Ginna Gray
"Hey, sweetheart, don't worry about it. Just because Matt and I aren't close doesn't mean that Zach and I won't be." Although, from what she'd told him about her brother, J.T. didn't hold out much hope of that happening. "But, look, if it doesn't work out, we'll just have to deal with it. Matt, Zach and I have led different lives. We can't change that."
Suddenly J.T. rolled over with Kate in his arms until her back was against the mattress. Lowering his head, he began a sensual assault on her neck.
"Mmm. I just wish I could—" he paused to nibble her earlobe "—do more for you. Like find the money and—" he traced the delicate swirls of her ear with the tip of his tongue and smiled when he felt her tremble "—clear both your names. Too bad you burned all of … Reverend Sweet's things." Slowly, while his hand skimmed up over the curves of her hip and ribcage to cup her breasts, J.T.'s mouth strung nibbling kisses along her collarbone, then downward, homing in on the silky skin between her breasts. "They may have contained … clues."
Eyes closed, Kate shifted restlessly. Her breathing was rapid, and she clutched J.T.'s head with both hands, her fingers moving frantically through the dark strands.
Then, in the midst of the swirling passion, she suddenly experienced a blinding flash of clarity, and her eyes popped open.
"Oh!" She stiffened. "Oh, my! I just remembered something!"
Taking J.T. by surprise, Kate shoved at his shoulders and rolled him off her.
"What the—" he began, but she had already popped up like a cork and scrambled off the bed. "Ah, hell. Katy, have a heart. Whatever it is can wait. Come back to bed."
"No, you don't understand." She hurried over to her closet and grabbed her blue velour robe and slipped into it. Her heart pounded with excitement. How could she have she forgotten? "I just remembered that I do have something of Bob's. After he died the prison warden sent me his personal affects."
"Great. We'll look at them later." J.T. raised up on his elbow and held out his other hand to her. "Right now, I have something else in mind."
"No, I have to look at them now." To think, all these months, the answer to where the money was hidden could have been sitting up in her musty attic. Kate tied the sash on the robe with shaking hands and sent him a pleading look. "C'mon, J.T. I won't be able to think about anything else until I look at the contents of that box."
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. We'll give 'em a look." He climbed from the bed and pulled on his navy jockey shorts and jeans. Stuffing his arms into the sleeves of his flannel shirt, he stepped into his athletic shoes and motioned for her to lead the way.
"There's not much. Just one small box," she informed him excitedly, hurrying down the back hall and up the servants' stairs to the attic. "I started to toss it in the garbage but when I peeked inside I saw his family Bible. Burning clothes is one thing, but I couldn't quite bring myself to destroy a bible. So I stuck the box in the attic and forgot about it."
On the third floor she led him along a narrow, dark hallway, past a dozen or so cubbyhole rooms that had once housed a staff of servants, to a door at the end that led into the open area of the attic.
As they stepped into the cavernous darkness Kate waved her hand over her head, snagged a light chain and gave it a yank. The bare bulb hanging from the ceiling cast a weak circle of light by the door, where a feather boa, a beaded 1890s style dress and an enormous hat with ostrich feathers hung from a leaning coatrack. At its base sat a pair of high button shoes, and nearby was a lady's fainting couch and a marble-topped Victorian table with a fringed lamp on top that looked as if it belonged in a bordello.
J.T. studied the items with a grin. "Lemme guess. This was your playroom. I'll bet as a kid you spent rainy days up here playing dress up, right?"
"Yes, I did," Kate replied, refusing to be flustered by the teasing light in his eyes. "These days, little Jennifer Womack plays up here. She's the granddaughter of the lady who helps me with the housekeeping during tourist season."
"I'll bet you were adorable in that hat."
"That's right. I was," she said with a pert lift of her chin. "Little girls love to play dress up, and an attic is like a wonderland. Now where did I put that box?" she said, poking through the maze of discards as they worked their way deeper into the shadows. "Look for one with a Colorado State Prison shipping label on it."
"Okay. About what size is it?" he asked, and walked straight into a cobweb that stretched from a rafter to the floor. "Holy—"
Sputtering and cursing, he flailed his arms and fought to free himself, while Kate giggled. When he finally scrubbed the sticky stuff from his face he shuddered. "Jeez, you could get eaten alive up here," he grumbled, but Kate laughed harder.
"You think that's funny?"
"Oh, J.T., it was just a little spider."
"Little, my eye! Did you see that thing go scuttling up to the rafters? It was big as a saucer."
Still slapping at his clothes, he glanced around. "Just look at this stuff. You could open an antique shop with what's up here. Or a haunted house."
Spread out over the shadowy reaches of the attic stood sheet-shrouded furniture, fringed lamps, an antique baby pram, a cracked cheval mirror, paintings and old tintypes in baroque frames, piles of leather trunks and boxes and a plethora of other items that were no more than hulking shapes in the gloom.
"Here it is!" Kate shouted, pointing to a box on the top of a waist-high stack. Hope and excitement expanded in her chest until she could barely breathe. Please, let there be something in there that would help them.
Her nerves stretched taut as J.T. hefted the box and carried it back to the table beneath the light. "Mmm, you were right, there's not much here."
He lifted out the Bible and began examining it while Kate watched, her heart pounding.
The leather binding on the Bible showed years of wear, but in the lower right-hand corner, in gold, were the initials, R.J.S. A wide, locked strap fastened the book, but the key dangled from a velvet ribbon looped around the strap. The key was large and ornate, like something from the Middle Ages, engraved on both sides with a bow, twining vines and flowers.
J.T. unlocked the fastening and flipped through the pages, examining the lining and the edges, but he found nothing unusual—no hiding places, no incriminating notations in the scriptures, no notes tucked inside, just the usual handwritten family tree at the back and a laminated bookmark of the "Lord's Prayer."
"Nothing here. What else is in there?"
"Not much. Bob's razor, a brush and comb, a watch, the diamond ring he had on when he was arrested, his wallet. It's empty except for his driver's license and an expired credit card."
"I suppose the authorities went through all this stuff before they shipped it to you."
J.T. picked up the watch and turned it over. He used his pocket knife to pop open the back, but there was nothing inside but the works. He unscrewed the crystal and lifted off the face, but found nothing there, either.
"Yes, I imagine so. I know after Bob was arrested a swarm of FBI men came here and searched the house from the attic to the basement."
J.T. and Kate examined every item but found nothing. Finally, thoroughly deflated, they dumped everything into the box and put it back where they'd found it.
"I guess this was a waste of time," Kate sighed as they descended the attic stairs to the second-floor hall. "I was so hoping—"
She gave a shriek as J.T. swooped her up.
"J.T., you idiot! What are you doing?"
He grinned into her startled face and strode down the hall with her in his arms. "Well, you see, I have this fantasy."
Depressed and disappointed, she was not at all in the mood for amorous games, and she opened her mouth to tell him so, but one look into those mischievous eyes and she felt a smile tug at her lips. Kate sighed. The man was irresistible.
Tipping her head back, she arched one eyebrow. "Oh, really?" She looped her arm around his shoulders and toyed with the short hairs at his nape, lightly scoring
his skin with her nails. "A fantasy, huh? And how long have you had this fantasy?"
"Since the day I arrived."
"Oh, really? That long? And it involves me?"
"Oh you know it, sugar. You're the star."
"Mmm. Well, in that case I feel I should tell you that you've just passed my room."
J.T. didn't so much as slow down. His grin merely widened as he strode to the other end of the hall and into his own room. He quickly crossed the rose-patterned rug to the enormous bed. Kate expected he would fall onto the bed with her in his arms, or give her one of those caveman tosses onto the mattress as he'd done earlier, but instead he sat down on the edge of the high bed and cradled her on his lap.
Smiling at her puzzled expression, he picked up the end of her untidy French braid, pulled off the elastic band and began to unwind the intricate plait. "I love your hair," he murmured. "The smell of it. The feel of it against my skin."
As though to demonstrate, when the thick braid was fully undone he dove his fingers into the shiny mass. He rubbed several strands between his thumb and fingers, buried his face in it and inhaled deeply, lifted it, watched with heated eyes as it twined and slithered through his spread fingers. "Beautiful," he whispered. "Absolutely beautiful. You have no idea how many times I've wanted to do that." He untied the sash and pushed her robe off her shoulders and arms, and grinned as he watched hot color rise from her chest all the way up her neck and face to her hairline. "You're adorable when you blush, you know that?"
"Well, you know what they say about what's good for the goose," she retorted sassily, stripping away his flannel shirt.
Chuckling, J.T. twisted around and placed Kate on the bed. Then he climbed onto his knees beside her and spread her long hair out across the pillow, arranging it just so. When he was done he sat back on his heels and drank in the sight. "Since the afternoon I arrived and you showed me into this room, I've fantasized about how you would look in this bed. How you would look with all that glorious hair spread out across the pillows."
Kate arched one eyebrow. "The first afternoon?"
"Mmm. By now I must have imagined how you would look lying there like that at least a hundred times."
"A hundred? Oh, J.T., you can't really expect me to believe that. You've been here just over two months."
"You're right. Make that two hundred."
She started to laugh, but the sound cut off when she saw his serious expression.
He climbed from the bed just long enough to shuck out of his jeans and jockey shorts and pull off his shoes, then he was back, stretching out beside her. "I gotta tell you, reality is every bit as good as I imagined. Better even."
Propping up on one elbow, J.T. cupped her breast and ran his thumb back and forth over the nipple, smiling as he watched it pucker. "I've wanted you from the moment I saw you. And I've loved you almost as long. I was just waiting—hoping really—that eventually you'd love me back."
"Oh, J.T." She stared at him, stunned, and so touched she could barely breathe. Emotions came gushing up inside her like a geyser, filling her heart to overflowing. "Oh, my darling, I love you, too," she declared and looped her arms around his neck, bringing him down to her for a long, heated kiss.
Their mouths rocked together hungrily as both sought to express feelings too strong and deep for words, but still it wasn't enough. Teeth nipped and scraped, lips rubbed and nibbled, tongues swirled and mated, and all the while their hands frantically roamed and clutched.
When they came up for air, J.T. dragged his open mouth across her shoulder, dewing her skin with his warm, moist breath, but when he started moving down her chest, she was having none of it.
"Oh, no, you don't." Taking him by surprise, she shoved at his shoulders and sent him tumbling onto his back.
Before he knew what happened, Kate flung herself on top of him. She sat up partway, astraddle his hips, the heels of her hands pressing his shoulders to the mattress, and smiled.
"You did the seducing last time," she said in a throaty voice. "Now it's my turn."
Surprise and bemusement flickered across J.T.'s face, followed quickly by a look so roguish she almost laughed out loud. They both knew that he could dislodge her in one quick movement, but he assumed a tragic look and sighed dramatically. "It appears I have no choice. You've overpowered me. I'm at your mercy."
Ignoring her hands pressing against his shoulders, he flung his arms wide in abject surrender. "Go ahead. Have your way with me. Just please … be gentle."
He managed a tragic little catch in his voice at the end, but despite his pathetic tone, the look in his eyes was so sensual, Kate felt fire lick through her belly.
"Uh-uh." Shaking her head, she put her forefinger across his mouth. "I make the rules here, not you. Remember that."
"Uh-oh. I think I'm about to be ravished."
"You got it, big boy," she said in her best Mae West voice. "Now lie still and you won't get hurt."
Sprawled naked atop him, Kate could not help but be aware of his body's response, and she experienced a thrill of power that was new to her. It was exciting—and scary, and for an instant she was shocked at her own boldness. Then she looked into that handsome, wickedly sensual face and saw the laughter and challenge in his eyes, luring her, daring her to follow through.
Kate tipped her head back at a haughty angle and narrowed her eyes. The gauntlet had been thrown, and the stubbornness that was so much a part of her nature would not let her quit now.
Smiling provocatively, she settled more completely on top of him, lowering her upper body until her soft breasts brushed against his chest. J.T.'s expression didn't change, but every muscle in his body tightened. Pleased with herself, Kate gazed at him from beneath half-closed eyelids and moved ever so slightly from side to side, dragging her nipples through the thatch of dark curls on his chest.
His eyes darkened and narrowed. "Oh, very good, sweetheart," he murmured in a strained voice. "Very good."
Kate's sense of power burgeoned like an inflating balloon, and with it so did her boldness. She wiggled and shifted, rubbing her body against his in a slow undulation. She heard his sharp intake of breath and smiled.
Trailing her pointed tongue through his chest hair, she drew an intricate, wet pattern on his skin, then scraped the tiny nub she found there with her teeth, all the while watching for his reaction.
J.T. remained with his arms outstretched, still and submissive. Only the shudder that rippled through him and the glitter in his eyes gave him away.
Seducing, Kate decided, was quite enjoyable and liberating. Emboldened by her success so far, she really let herself go. She nipped at his shoulders, his neck, his earlobes, his jaw. Exploring his face, she ran her thumbs over his eyebrows, feathered them over his lashes. She traced his lips with her forefinger, explored a tiny scar she discovered beneath his chin, investigated the swirling pattern in each ear.
She scooted down his body and traced a wet circle around his navel, blew on it, then jabbed her tongue inside the tiny cavity, and she smiled when she felt him jerk.
Sitting back on her heels between his legs, Kate traced the silky line of dark hair that shot downward from his navel to the thatch of dark curls at the base of his aroused sex. With her fingertips, she explored his hipbones, trailed a feathery line along the junctures where his legs met his torso, then down along the insides of his thighs, the backs of his knees.
For several tormenting moments, she touched him everywhere … except where his taut body silently begged her to touch. Then she wrapped her hand lovingly around him, and J.T. groaned. "Oh, yes, sweetheart! Yes!"
Kate smiled slowly. "You like that?"
"Yes. Sweet heaven, yes!"
"And this? Do you like this, too? Hmm?"
"Yes! Yes! Don't stop!"
Straddling him, Kate leaned forward. Her gray eyes were stormy with passion as they stared down into his, and J.T. groaned again as she lowered herself onto him.
"Ahhh, Katy. Kate!"
&nb
sp; * * *
Chapter 11
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The day before Zach was to arrive another blizzard struck. He telephoned from Albuquerque to let Kate know he would wait out the storm there and drive up as soon as the roads were cleared. However, the storm raged for five days without letup, dumping over seven feet of snow. All roads and highways in the San Juan Mountains were closed, all air traffic in and out of the area airports grounded.
When the storm finally blew itself out, it took J.T. and Kate a whole day to dig themselves a path to the garage and another to clear the road into town, and even then, the highway snowplows hadn't reached Gold Fever. No sooner had they finished digging out, than another storm hit.
After waiting in Albuquerque for a week, Zach telephoned to tell Kate that he couldn't lose any more time hanging around waiting for the weather to clear. He had to head for Texas and the Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo. As it was, he only had a few days to get there in time to enter the competition.
Kate was disappointed, but she understood. The Houston Rodeo was one of the biggest in the country, with some of the biggest purses, and Zach couldn't afford to pass it up.
While still on the phone, in an aside to J.T., she explained the problem and offered to let him talk to Zach and tell him about their kinship, but J.T. declined. He didn't want to break such stunning news over the telephone.
Left with no choice, Kate and J.T. decided they would fly to Houston as soon as weather permitted. She did not, however, mention the plan to her brother.
Though J.T. and Kate were anxious for him to be reunited with Zach, they were happy about having some time alone together, and they made the most of it. Trapped in their private aerie, high on mountainside, they reveled in their isolation.
Giving free rein to their passions, they made love frequently. When that spark leaped between them, they simply surrendered to it, wholly and with a wild abandon that Kate had not dreamed she was capable of exhibiting.
Her experience with physical intimacy was limited. Until J.T., she'd had no knowledge of the varied moods of love, but under his tutelage she explored them all—joyous, serious, intense, frantic, playful and everything in between.