Outlaw Marriage

by Laurie Paige

  She turned off the CD player and retrieved her briefcase. They worked until midnight, then she told him it was time to quit. She escorted him to the door.

  She realized his intention just before he leaned over and brushed his lips across hers, so quickly a protest would have seemed like overreaction.

  “Goodnight,” she said firmly, and closed the door as quickly as possible. She wiped the back of her hand over her lips, then rubbed it on her skirt.

  In bed, she tried to sleep, but couldn’t. She kept remembering how other lips had felt against hers. She hadn’t imagined the fire between her and Collin. She’d felt none of it with Kurt.

  Why?

  Her heart contracted into a painful ball of undeniable truth. Because she had fallen in love with Collin Kincaid.

  He had set her body on fire and her world aglow. It was unreasonable. It was foolish. But it was true. She loved him…loved him….

  The words echoed with each beat of her heart. How could she have been so stupid?

  She sighed unhappily. How could she have stopped it? That was the real question.

  Collin laughed at the story Summer had just finished telling him about giving a shot to an infant who was determined not to take it.

  His cousin, the daughter of Jeremiah Kincaid’s youngest sister, was working on her residency in immunology at Whitehorn Memorial Hospital and running a clinic on the reservation in her spare time. He had only recently met her.

  Summer had the dark hair and eyes of her Native American father, a man she had never known. She wore her hair pulled severely back from her face, and her eyes were mostly hidden behind glasses. She was a dedicated medical researcher who had studied herbs and alternate medicine with an aim to join the two for the benefit of her patients.

  Jeremiah’s other two sisters had raised her when her mom had died shortly after giving birth, she’d explained, but they had also exposed her to her Native heritage and let her spend summers at the res where she’d studied with elders who knew the old cures.

  Collin had met Summer through Serena Dovesong, who was married to his half brother, Blake Remmington, Trent’s twin. Blake and Serena had a son, born six years before Blake returned to Whitehorn to discover his old lover and the son he hadn’t known he had.

  Lucky Blake. He was now settled in his pediatrics practice with the love of his life and a great kid to come home to.

  “What?” he said, realizing Summer was looking at him expectantly.

  “Has any news come up about the other grandson?”

  “Oh. No. Gina hasn’t mentioned anything recently. I don’t think.” He wasn’t always attentive to the dinner conversation at the ranch.

  “Forgive my interest. I just find everything about our family fascinating. It’s like discovering a civilization just over the mountain when you thought you were nearly the only human left. Of course I know Wayne and Clint and Jenny, but I rarely get to see them. We’re all so busy.”

  “I know what you mean. I’ve been amazed at how easy it is to avoid someone in a town the size of Whitehorn.”

  Her smile was quick and filled with interest. “Are you the avoider or the avoidee? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” she added.

  “She’s avoiding me.” The dark pit that had formed inside him stirred at the thought of Hope.

  “Ah,” Summer said, inviting discussion but not prying.

  Collin shrugged. Hell, everybody on the ranch knew about his love life, why shouldn’t Summer? “Hope Baxter is the attorney for her father in the lawsuit. She and I had a few meetings, trying to come to a solution, but no good came of it.”

  “Except you fell in love with her,” Summer said softly, sympathetically. “And she with you.”

  “What makes you think that?” he asked cynically.

  “I see it in your eyes. Love quickly withers if it isn’t returned, but yours was.”

  “She never said she cared anything about me,” he explained truthfully. “She’s seeing someone else. Another attorney in her father’s corporation.”

  “Hmm, that makes it tough, but don’t give up. A person shouldn’t give up on the one he or she loves.”

  “Are you in love?” he asked, glad to turn the tables and get off the subject of himself. His grandfather was forever prodding him to go see Hope. What he’d seen—her with another man—hadn’t set well with him.

  She laughed. “I have too much to do. I don’t have the energy for dates by the time my day is over.”

  “Some stupid men are letting a good chance go by.”

  “Thanks for being so gallant, but I’m not in any hurry. With the work at the clinic and trying to finish my residency, I’m booked up for the next couple of years. Right now, I have other things to think about.”

  “Gavin Nighthawk?” Collin suggested.

  Summer had asked Garrett to see if Elizabeth Gardener would take Nighthawk’s case. Garrett had talked to the young doctor and believed his story. Elizabeth, at Garrett’s request, had also talked to Gavin and agreed to take the case.

  “Yes. The evidence against him is circumstantial, but it looks bad. A one-night stand with Christina and the fact that he delivered the baby and took it to the reservation for safekeeping, leaving Christina alone in the woods. But Christina was dead when he returned for her. Gavin would never kill anyone.”

  “A man will do desperate things when pushed too far.”

  “Gavin is innocent,” she said firmly. Her gaze was open, earnest. “I’ve known him since we were kids from the summers I spent on the res. He’s a healer, not a killer. I’d stake my life on it. But he’s also proud. He would never have asked for help.” She gazed off into the distance. “It’s terrible not to be trusted. Some of the people saying the worst things about him are those who sang his praises when he saved their lives.”

  “Yeah,” Collin agreed, “it hurts not to be trusted.”

  “Is that the problem between you and Hope?”

  He smiled ruefully. “It’s the classic case of the Montagues versus the Capulets. Except Juliet is not siding with Romeo in this version.”

  “Then she’s being a very foolish woman.”

  “Thanks, cuz. May I quote you on that the next time I see her? If ever,” he added grimly.

  “Be my guest. Uh-oh, I’ve got to run. I’ve discovered a wonderful new mold that might be the next best thing to penicillin. Thanks for lunch and the conversation.”

  “It was a pleasure.” That was true. He liked this newly discovered cousin. She was smart and dedicated and loyal to her friends.

  They parted outside the Hip Hop. Collin headed for his truck, then sidetracked to the little town park down the street. It was empty now that school had started back for the year. He liked its loneliness. It matched the way he felt.

  Right, feel sorry for yourself, he scoffed. That solves a lot of problems.

  Propping one foot on a concrete bench, he gazed at the mountains south of town. The Beartooth peaks were dusted with new snow that had fallen yesterday. Whitehorn had gotten some hail out of the storm. Winter was in a hurry to get started this year.

  He felt its chill in his heart. He shook his head, wondering how he could have been so stupid as to go and fall for a woman so obviously wrong for him. As if the thought conjured up the image, Hope appeared before his eyes.

  He blinked.

  She was still there. She stopped beside her car and returned his gaze, her expression as surprised as his.

  Without thinking, he crossed the lawn to the sidewalk along the curb. “Hello,” he said, his voice husky with passion he couldn’t deny.

  “Hi.” She tossed her packages into the back seat of her car and slammed the door. “Well, I have to go.”

  The absurdity of her statement struck them both at the same time. Their eyes met and they laughed.

  When they stopped, he didn’t want to look away from her smoky eyes. All the hot, impatient hunger that had disturbed his dreams surged through him. He saw the an
swering flame ignite in her eyes.

  “This is crazy,” he muttered. “Let’s go.”

  “Where?” she asked in confusion.

  “Anywhere. I’ll follow you home.”

  “No,” she blurted, then in a calmer tone, “No, that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  “To my place then.”

  “The ranch?”

  He frowned. “Most of the grandsons and their families are in for the weekend. Come for a drive.”

  Hope couldn’t resist the need to be with him, to talk to him once more, just the two of them. When he took her hand, she didn’t protest. Without a word she went with him to his pickup and let him lift her inside.

  He quickly slid in and drove off, heading out the road toward the ranch. He passed the ranch turnoff, though, and went to the next road. Minutes flew like seconds as he navigated the old logging track. At last he stopped under the shade of an oak. Nearby was a tiny log cabin, the kind cowboys used while out on the trail.

  The afternoon sun warmed the inside of the truck. Hope felt drowsy and content. For once, she didn’t want to ask questions, but only to bask in the quiet surprise of being with him and not fighting. Next month in court would be time enough for that.

  “The court date is set for October,” she murmured, reminding him of the confrontation.

  “I know. It doesn’t matter.”

  He laid one arm on the steering wheel and twisted sideways to face her, one leg drawn up on the leather bench seat. She felt the warmth of his knee near her thigh. Her flesh immediately felt feverish there.

  “We’re in the middle of roundup at both the ranches,” he said. “I come in and fall in bed too tired to think most nights. But then I dream.”

  “Of what?”

  “Of this.”

  When he leaned over to her, she was ready. Their lips met in a burst of consuming heat. There were no words, she realized. None.

  The conflagration burned through the icy poise that had been her only defense against the terrible pain of being without him and thinking of him with another woman.

  She turned her face from the kiss.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You were with someone else.” She stopped, not sure what to say, what the protocol was.

  He frowned, then his brow cleared. “My cousin, Summer. Dr. Kincaid. She has a clinic on the reservation. Don’t you know there can be no one else?” he demanded softly, yanking gently on her hair until she turned back to him.

  His lips were rapacious on hers. She was just as hungry, just as needy, for the feel of him. She wound her arms around his shoulders. He shifted and she was across his lap, with him scooting to her side of the seat.

  Collin pulled her shirt from her slacks, then his hands were on her, sliding over her smooth back, finding the strap of her bra and disposing of it in one quick twist. He heard her nearly silent moan as she moved against him, demanding more. He wanted to give her everything he was capable of.

  “I want us so sated with pleasure we won’t be able to think,” he told her fiercely. He slid his hands around until he could cup both her breasts. “Until we’re both so dizzy we can’t stand.”

  “Yes,” she agreed.

  He liked the fact that she was breathless, that she wanted him the same way he wanted her—totally, until there was nothing left but the place where they came together and passion so explosive it blew the world apart.

  Shudders ran over him when he felt her fingers on his shirt, then air as she opened one button after another. He did the same to her. Together they pushed the material off each other. He gathered both shirts and tossed them on the dash. Her bra followed immediately.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said.

  “So are you.”

  They smiled. He felt the world slow. In town and on the road, he had raced against time and a reality that might intrude at any moment. Now there was just them.

  “I’ve missed you,” she said. “Terribly.”

  “You only had to call. You have my cell phone number.”

  “I couldn’t.”

  He understood her pride and the loyalty that warred with the need inside her. He understood her doubts and the passion that refused to die in the face of uncertainty. He felt each and every one of those things.

  Hope felt every inch of her skin ignite as he caressed her over and over. When he dipped his head and tenderly nuzzled her breasts until the nipples stood up hard and erect, she whimpered in delight and urged him closer with her hand in his hair.

  She stroked his shoulders, the smooth flesh of his back and the rough, wiry hair of his chest. She found the snap on his jeans and pulled. It parted with a muted pop, muffled by the pressure of their bodies against each other.

  Sliding her hand inside, she explored him thoroughly, his hot masculine desire palpable against her fingers.

  “I want you,” she whispered, “more than I ever thought possible, more than air…”

  “More than anything I’ve ever known,” he told her. “I’m shaking…and hurting. That’s what you do to me.”

  When he opened her slacks, she pushed herself off him. He stripped her clothing down in one smooth motion of controlled impatience. Lifting himself, he did the same with his jeans and briefs. He quickly fitted a condom in place.

  “Face me,” he ordered, his hands at her waist to help.

  She turned and straddled his lean, muscular hips, then instinctively rubbed against him. She was moist and ready, but he didn’t allow her to settle on him. Instead he encouraged her to move however she wished while he stroked her intimately.

  “Collin, I’m going to explode,” she warned at one point, dropping her head back and closing her eyes tightly while she panted and sought control.

  He chuckled and planted kisses along her throat and down to each breast. “Raise up.”

  She did. He let her settle on him, their bodies merging slowly while they watched.

  “Mating,” he whispered. “The miracle of birth and renewal. It’s as old as time, as new as a sunrise.”

  Her heart trembled at his words. He was gentle and romantic and all the things she needed him to be.

  “Oh, darling,” she said as the climax roared closer. “Hold me. Hold me, Collin. Forever.”

  She knew he replied, but the words were lost in the cataclysm of sensation that pounded through her. Everything disappeared in that moment.

  Then she was floating, draped against him, languid and exhausted and elated. His arms held her tightly until she came back to earth. It was a long time.

  “Will you stay?” he said when she raised her head and gazed at him. “We can spend the weekend in the cabin. There’s food and bedding, a pump for water.”

  “I can’t.”

  She saw anger darken his eyes, but he nodded. When she started to move away, he held her. “Not yet. If this is all, then I want it to last as long as possible.”

  “Not long. I’m having dinner with Meg and my father tonight.”

  He gave her an inquiring look.

  “They’re involved. I worry about her, that he’ll hurt her. Women haven’t lasted long in his life.”

  “She’s an adult.” He traced decreasing circles over her breasts until he spiraled in on her nipples, which immediately contracted. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled in satisfaction. “So are you. All grown up. All woman. All mine,” he whispered as he kissed her again.

  She was surprised that he was ready again so soon. Then she was surprised to discover she was, too.

  “When will I see you again?” Collin asked, wary now that they were back in town.

  Hope had been quiet on the return trip. He could feel her withdrawing, assuming her business persona again. He sighed and wondered if his life was to be a series of stolen moments. Lovesick. He understood the term now.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t close me out.”

  “I’m not. I don’t mean to, but…”

  “But?”

>   “I can’t embarrass my father by seeing you. When the trial is over, then maybe…maybe things will be different.”

  He laughed briefly, scornfully. “If by ‘different’ you think he’ll suddenly be friends with the Kincaids, think again.”

  She nodded, her eyes troubled. “But until then, I can’t see you. It would be a betrayal. He’d think of it that way.”

  Collin leaned in the window of her car where she sat in the driver’s seat. “You don’t want to hurt him. What about me?”

  Her eyes were dark and hopeless. “I don’t want to hurt you, either. The passion between us…I don’t understand it, where it came from, why it’s so strong, so demanding. I need you until I can’t think for it.”

  He laid his thumb on her bottom lip and brushed back and forth. “It’s more than passion. You know it. Don’t you?” he demanded, needing that one confession from her.

  She hesitated a long time before she nodded, but her eyes remained unhappy.

  “I want to take you to Elk Springs. There’s a whole new world waiting there. It’ll be just the two of us, no other family members in the way. Just us and the great big Montana sky and ten thousand acres to explore.”

  “It may be impossible,” she warned him. “I’m still a Baxter. You’re still a Kincaid.”

  He pressed her lips closed. “I don’t want to hear about the impossibilities. After the trail—one month and one week away from Monday—then I come for you. Wherever you are. In a meeting with a whole roomful of lawyers. At your father’s house. Wherever you are.”

  She didn’t answer, but turned the key in the ignition. He saw her eyes widen in alarm. Following her line of sight, he spotted Kurt Peters, the other attorney who was working with Hope on the lawsuit. Collin knew the man would report him and Hope being together to her father.

  “If there’s trouble, call me,” he told her. “Better yet, come to me. Promise.”

  He stepped aside when she nodded. She eased away from the curb and headed south out of town. He climbed into his truck and headed north, then northwest when he turned onto the highway. From town to the ranch seemed a vast distance, the miles too far to span with only his love for Hope as the building tool.