by Nina Bruhns
“Hey, you brought it up.”
So she had. What else could she talk about instead? She plucked at her T-shirt. “Are you hot?”
“Some women think so,” he said mildly.
She rolled her eyes heavenward, and caught sight of the canvas roof. “Say, can you take the top off?” she asked, brightening. When he didn’t respond, she looked over at him.
He blinked and opened his mouth to answer, but the lascivious expression gave his thoughts away.
She held up one hand and shook her head. “Don’t say it, O’Donnaugh,” she groaned. “I can’t believe I walked right into that one.”
“That you did,” he agreed. With a wink, he reached up, unhooked the soft part of the roof and lowered it without making a single comment or offer to do the same service for her.
He didn’t have to. Her breasts were already tingling at the memory of his hands on them. She could only imagine what it would feel like with her top off.
No, no, no.
“We really have to stop this, you know,” she said firmly. Well, she’d meant to say it firmly, but for some reason her voice came out breathy and tentative. “It’s going to drive us crazy if we don’t.”
“Or…” he said over the sough of the wind through the open Jeep, “we could do something about it.”
“Not a good idea,” she repeated for the third time aloud and about the millionth to herself.
He reached over and took her hand from the steering wheel, putting it to his lips. He kissed the top of it, then placed it back where it had been. “So you keep saying,” he said.
“And you disagree?”
His lip quirked and he relaxed back in his seat, giving her a long look. “I say it doesn’t really matter whether it’s a good idea or not. We’re going to end up in bed together, anyway, naked—with you under me.”
It was a damn good thing she had a solid grip on the steering wheel and it was an arrow-straight section of highway, because for a moment Luce was so stunned she couldn’t move or even think.
The impact of Philip’s low-spoken words hit her like a sucker punch. It’s not like she hadn’t had the exact same thought once or twice, but hearing it aloud made it sound almost…inevitable.
She swallowed heavily. “You’re awfully sure of yourself, O’Donnaugh.”
“Not at all,” he said, giving her the same look she gave jumpers who were trying to talk her into letting them go because they were innocent of all charges. “What I am sure of is this incredible chemistry we have going on between us.”
“Having chemistry doesn’t mean having to act on it. We’re adults.”
“It would be a shame to waste what we’re feeling for each other.”
“It would be an even bigger shame for one of us to get hurt. Or both.”
“Sex isn’t supposed to hurt, Luce.”
“But love does.”
She fastened her gaze determinedly on the solid yellow lines running alongside the Jeep. She hadn’t meant to say that. In fact, she wasn’t exactly sure where the words had come from. She’d never really had an unhappy love affair. She’d never given herself the chance. She’d been too busy for love. First with school, then her job. Her endless traveling and relentless dedication to work had precluded any kind of emotional attachment—except for her parents, Arthur and the other guys at the jump shop.
“The trick is…” Philip said, yanking her out of her thoughts. “The trick is not to fall in love.”
She swung her gaze to him, taking in his strong, square jaw and intelligent eyes, his sculpted lips and thick black hair. That would be a trick, all right, she thought with a sinking heart. To sleep with this man and not fall in love with him seemed like an impossibility.
“I never fall in love,” she managed to say with a fair amount of conviction.
“Then there’s no problem.” He didn’t smile, didn’t wink, didn’t reach out and touch her. Simply said, “I want you, Luce. I want to be inside you. And I know you want me, too.”
Chaos ran rampant through her body, but she was spared having to tame it and comment one way or the other, because suddenly they were in Santa Fe. Philip directed her to the school and she drove into the parking lot. It was only after she’d pulled into a spot that she realized her hands were shaking.
She stuck them under her armpits and leaned her forehead on the steering wheel, then took a deep breath to steady her nerves while Philip got out and came around to her side.
He opened the door and unclipped her seat belt. “Is the thought of sleeping with me that bad?” he asked when she didn’t move.
She looked up and tried to smile. “No, of course not.”
“Come here.” He opened his arms and, even though she knew very well it would just make things worse and not better, she slid out and into them, letting him enfold her in his secure embrace. “I hope you know,” he said, “I would never do anything you didn’t want me to.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“I just think it’s better to get things out in the open and talk about them. I’ve had too many surprises in my life. I don’t like hidden agendas.”
“Okay.”
He tilted up her chin and kissed her. His lips were soft and warm as the breeze rustling the Jacaranda trees. It wasn’t a demanding kiss, or even a claiming one. It was just…really nice. And that’s when she knew with dead certainty she was in even bigger trouble than she’d ever thought possible.
The man was smart, handsome, sexy and sensitive, too.
In short, he was simply irresistible.
Just then a group of older teenagers walked by, noticed them kissing and started hooting and cheering. “Hey, Mr. Policeman, that’s sexual harassment!” one of them shouted, to the others’ great amusement.
“Hell, I don’t care if she harasses me!” he called back, to their even greater amusement.
She laughed and he put his arm around her shoulder. His smile-crinkled eyes met hers, and she drank in the warmth and affection and innate goodness she saw in their depths.
“Anytime, sweetheart,” he whispered, and kissed her temple. “Anytime.”
Philip found it difficult to concentrate on what the principal was telling him she’d dug up about the two Apache children who had run away from school so long ago. He had more immediate matters on his mind.
Like how he was going to get through the day without kissing Luce again. That little taste he’d gotten in the parking lot was not nearly enough. But he’d promised not to do anything she didn’t want. And he meant to keep that promise. Next time, she’d have to ask him.
He wanted to groan out loud. She’d never ask him.
“Here are the records I was able to find,” the principal was saying as she handed him a thin, fragile-looking yellowed file. “It’s not much, I’m afraid. But it might give you a general direction to look in.”
“Could we have copies?” he asked politely.
“I’ve already had a set made,” she said, and gave him a small sheaf of photocopies held together with a paper clip. “Good luck with your investigation.”
Back in the Jeep, it took about two minutes for him and Luce to read through them.
“She was right,” Luce said. “Not much to go on.”
“Let’s try the library,” he suggested, and turned the Jeep toward Washington Street, taking the wheel again.
“The library?”
“That’s where the newspaper archives are kept. There must have been articles written about this. Maybe there’ll be pictures of the canyon.”
Two hours later, Philip’s eyes hurt from squinting at microfiches and his stomach was grumbling from hunger. They’d found three articles and one indistinct photo of the general vicinity of where the canyon was located, but looking for the actual place would be like trying to find a golden needle in a haystack.
“Let’s get some lunch,” he said, “then take a drive out to Abiquiu and have a look.”
“All right,” Luce said, and g
athered her things.
She’d been quiet since his bold declaration of desire, which worried Philip a little. He’d rather have her angry and sassy than quiet and thinking too much.
Why was she putting so much importance on this decision of whether to sleep together or not? Hell, it was just sex.
For some women that might be a problem, but with Luce’s lifestyle and self-proclaimed aversion to commitment, he didn’t think it was the sex per se she objected to. She hadn’t acted like an offended virgin. It was sex with him she objected to. Which was weird, because she really seemed to like him. Lord knew, she definitely liked to kiss him.
Surely she wasn’t actually worried about developing feelings for him?
Inwardly, he scoffed. Doubtful.
If anyone should worry about feelings growing where they shouldn’t, it was him. He had a bad history of that sort of thing. The last woman he’d fallen for had really put him through the ringer. Though she’d told him all along he was rushing matters, he hadn’t listened. More’s the pity.
You always heard about men having commitment phobias. But in his experience, women were even worse. Maybe it was his age, and all the ones interested in marriage already were, and those who weren’t, weren’t interested. He was the first to admit that little catch-22 had served him well these past few years while commitment had been the last thing on his mind. But back when he’d been hurt, he’d been looking for someone he could spend his life with. And deep down, he knew he still was.
But not with Luce Montgomery. No way. She was too much like that other woman. He knew the signs all too well. She had a gypsy soul and would never settle down. That much was obvious.
But damn, could she kiss.
And he wanted her. With every fiber of his being, he wanted her.
The area down around Abiquiu was one of Philip’s very favorite parts of New Mexico. True, Piñon Lake up in the Enchanted Circle was beautiful with its pristine forests and commanding views of the desert below, and he liked the cooler summer climate and the big drifts of snow in the winter. That’s why he’d settled up there.
But the desert drive along Highway 84 between Española and Chama was incredible. The two-lane macadam road was bordered on either side by a rolling band of red-brown earth dappled with sage, cedar and stubby grass, miles wide on the southwestern side where the Rio Chama with its blue waters and green cottonwood bosques wended its way down to the Rio Grande. To the north and east were the primitive red and yellow striated cliffs of El Monte Rojo and its compadres, to the south the purple shadows of the Pedernal; in the distant west the San Pedro Mountains stretched out like a lazy freight train along the horizon.
Certainly, it wasn’t as spectacular as the Grand Canyon nor as wondrous as Bryce or Zion, but it had a stark, wild beauty that Philip had always admired greatly.
He turned to Luce to see her reaction and was pleased by the smile of appreciation on her face.
“Boy, this is something,” she said.
“God’s country,” he concurred. “Georgia O’Keefe lived just up the road, you know.”
“Really?” She glanced down at the bad copy of the even worse newspaper photo in her hand. “Too bad she didn’t paint this picture. I’ll bet our canyon would have been much easier to locate. How on earth are we ever going to find this place in—” Luce gestured with a sweeping motion “—all that?”
He sighed. “With a lot of shoe leather and a lot more luck.”
As it turned out, they had no luck at all. And Luce’s city sneakers didn’t fare much better. They might be fine for chasing bad guys, but were definitely not designed with the rugged New Mexico terrain in mind. Before the afternoon was out, they were dirty and shredded. Philip felt sorry for her having to walk in them.
“We better pick you up some boots tonight,” he remarked as they sat on a large sandstone slab and sipped from water bottles, watching the shadows of evening creep over the vast desert splayed at their feet. The Jeep was sitting just a few dozen yards away so they didn’t have to worry about getting lost after dark, and they definitely could use the rest. They’d been hiking up and down arroyos and foothills on and off for five hours, and were looking at a two-hour drive back to Piñon Lake.
“Those sneaks have had it.”
“They don’t know what hit ’em,” Luce said with a chuckle, flopping her feet up and down. One of the soles had come unglued, so it flapped in the breeze. “Got any duct tape?”
“At home,” he said with a sidelong glance, bottle to his lips.
She cut him a look. “Damn, you’re persistent.”
“Get used to it.”
She fiddled with her water bottle and gazed out over the landscape. He relaxed back with an elbow on the warm, gritty slab and watched her instead of the dramatic sunset. At least she wasn’t telling him to go jump in the lake.
“I guess I shouldn’t be discouraged we didn’t find the canyon today,” she said with a sigh, “but I am.”
“Me, too,” he admitted. “But we’ll find it tomorrow.”
“Think so?”
He shrugged. “Hope so. We covered less than half the territory today.”
She propped back onto both elbows, gazing at the last sliver of sun disappear. “At least we didn’t meet up with any wild animals.”
He smiled. “You stomped loud enough to scare off anything for miles around. No wonder your shoes are in pieces.”
“Your idea, lawman.”
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?”
She looked over at him, amusement twinkling in the fading light. “Thank goodness.”
“For such a tough girl, you sure are a wuss, bounty hunter.”
“Yeah, but I have you to protect me.”
He knew she was just teasing, but for some reason hearing her say that gave him a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to reach for her and pull her into his arms and tell her he would always protect her from whatever harm came her way.
Ridiculous, really. She could take care of herself, anyone could see that. But still, it felt good. And it got him thinking about holding her in his arms.
As if reading his thoughts, she rolled onto her side and mirrored his head-on-hand pose.
“Philip?”
“Yeah?”
“Regarding what we were talking about earlier.”
“Mmm-hmm?”
“I’m honestly not trying to be difficult or old-fashioned or anything.”
“Okay.”
“I just think, under the circumstances, starting…anything…would be—”
“A bad idea.”
She puffed out a laugh. “Do I sound like a broken record?”
“A bit.”
It was dark now, but they were lying so close he could still see her features, illuminated by the brightening canopy of starlight. It was hard not to reach out and run his hand along the curve of her hip, or his finger along the edge of her cheek, but somehow he managed to still the impulse.
“On the other hand…” She sighed. “I’d really like to kiss you right now.”
His body suspended for a second in surprise. Then leaped in anticipation. “Okay.”
“Here’s the thing…”
He struggled to keep his expectations under control. “Mmm?”
“Just a kiss. It can’t be more than that.”
Knowing very well he’d take whatever he could get, he pretended to consider. After an appropriate pause he said, “Okay.”
“No getting naked. No going to your place. No sex.”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
“Take it or leave it. But I wouldn’t blame you if you said no.”
The woman was obviously not too knowledgeable about men if she thought a few rules would stop him. “I’ll take it,” he said. Duh.
He smiled and waited.
She waited, too. After a moment she said, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Aren’t you going to kiss me?”
&nbs
p; “You said you wanted to kiss me.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess I did.” She licked her lips and scooted her body a little closer. They were still not quite touching.
It was torture, but he didn’t jump her. He let her take her time with him. Enjoying the tightening sensations in his body caused by the anticipation, he didn’t budge an inch to help.
“You’re not making this very easy on me,” she murmured.
He lifted a brow and smiled. “What’s this? Don’t tell me the lady’s scared to kiss a man?”
“Of course not,” she scoffed, and edged a tad closer, so their thighs skimmed up against each other. He felt himself grow hard, even at that delicate contact. “It’s just…”
With supreme effort he didn’t move, not even when she took a deep breath and her breasts brushed softly against his chest.
“Just what?”
“I’m usually the one trying to keep my distance.”
“I noticed.”
She puffed out a nervous laugh. “You’re not like other men.”
“Trust me, I am.”
“No. Other men would be all over me.”
“Give me about thirty seconds if this keeps up.”
He could feel the smile on her lips when they met his. It was a sweet, tentative kiss, and all too short.
“Mmm,” he said. “That was nice. But I happen to know you can do better.”
She moved her body right up against his. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said in his best dare-you voice.
This time when she put her lips to his she didn’t pull back. She put her arm around his neck and drew him closer. He opened his mouth to let out a moan of bliss, and she slid her tongue between his lips.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he sighed, and gave himself up to the taste and sensation of her hot tongue gliding over his, probing, teasing, driving him mad with want. He put his arm around her bottom, pulling her body tight to his, center to center as she kissed him.
Her other arm went around his neck, bringing him down off his elbow to cant over her. His knee landed between her legs, his chest pressing into her breasts.
“This is a dangerous position,” he whispered into her mouth.