by Nan Ryan
Kane stirred behind her. His arms tightened around her, a dark hand straying up to fondle a bare breast gently. In a sleep-hoarse voice he murmured close to her ear, "I feel sorry for them."
"Who, Kane?"
"For all the people who are not in love."
"Darling," she exclaimed happily, at once forgetting her worry. She turned in his arms and looked into his sleepy blue eyes. "You… You… ?"
His lips closed over hers in a slow, lazy good-morning kiss. She pulled away, heart racing, eyes questioning. "I love you, Natalie Vallance," drawled Kane. "There! I've said it. Satisfied, sweetheart?"
She fell upon him, scattering happy kisses over his dark unshaven face, "Yes. Yes, yes, yes," she exclaimed in a high-pitched, excited voice. "No!" She lifted her face. "Say it again. I want to hear it over and over."
"I love you. I love you. I love you."
"Oh, Kane," she breathed, "I love you too. So much."
Kane grinned and turned her to face away again, pulling her once more into the curve of his frame. They lay cuddled together, his body around hers, her slender, silky-skinned back and naked bottom pressing his hair-covered chest and belly, both reluctant to let this lovely moment go.
Longing to please this complex man who lay whispering that he loved her, Natalie at last interrupted teasingly, "I must rise and make coffee for my dark master." Radiantly happy, she plucked away Kane's restraining arms and got to her knees.
Kane's quick blue gaze took in a temptingly beautiful sight. She twisted her torso to smile at him over her shoulder and he was rewarded with a fleeting glimpse of a bare, bouncing breast, tipped with dusky rose. Wild, sleep-tumbled red hair spilled down her ivory back. Her waist was astoundingly small, her shapely thighs pale, and her firm bottom as white as the snows covering the mountains.
"No," Kane commanded, and his hand went to the back of her knee.
Kneeling on the mattress, Natalie trembled. Kane's warm fingers moved up the length of her inner thigh, to gently stroke and caress that most feminine part of her. Her breathing quickened, her eyelids slid low, and a moist heat soon revealed her arousal to Kane.
A whoosh of ear exploded from her lungs when Kane gripped her hips and pulled her onto her side, returning her once more to her former position against him. His dark, strong hands reached in front of her, moved over her flat, quivering belly and the red-gold triangle of hair to touch and tease the tiny bud of her passion.
Natalie squirmed and moaned and felt Kane's powerful erection throb against her bottom. "Kane…" she breathed raggedly, opening her legs and arching her back that he might enter. Then again, "Oh, Kane…" as she felt the hard, heavy flesh move between her legs and push into her.
"Am I hurting you, sweet?" Kane's breath was hot on the back of her neck. "No," she told him, "but I'm not… I don't think I know how to…"
Open lips pressing a heated kiss to her ivory, bullet-pierced right shoulder, Kane's voice was little more than a husky whisper. "You're doing fine, just fine." He thrust farther into her. "I'll help you, baby, I'll show you."
Kane's masterful hands guided her movements. He pressed her hips back to him, even as he thrust forward into her, pushing warily, slowly, until his full, throbbing length was deep inside her.
"Okay, angel?" he softly inquired.
Natalie could only gasp and nod violently, her disheveled hair tossing in his passion-hardened face.
One of Kane's dark hands stayed between her legs, the other moved up to fondle and caress her swelling, aching breasts. Those talented hands increased Natalie's ecstasy, and his own. The fused pair moved together in erotic splendor there on the sunlit bed, and when the first blinding waves of release began, both knew it was going to be an almost painful climax, so deep and grinding were the beginning tremors.
But neither was quiet prepared for the intense pleasure that gripped and buffeted them. The spasms were acute, pro-longed, extreme. And wonderful. Not of this earth, never to be forgotten, wonderful. And when they passed, two limp, awed lovers lay still joined, silent in their bliss, more deeply in love than ever.
When Kane finally slid out of Natalie and gently turned her to face him, he kissed her brow and said teasingly, "Judge, may I say I find being 'in your chamber' more than pleasurable."
Natalie gave him a playful punch in the stomach and lifted her head. "Counselor, having, as you so crudely put it, been 'in my chamber,' are you fully aware that you must now pay your debt to society and to me?"
"Oh?" His blue eyes narrowed in mock fear. "Am I not allowed a trial?"
Natalie, green eyes twinkling, put on her grave, judicial face. "Covington, you shall be awarded a bench trial, as this case could best be described as civil." Her somber face screwed itself into lines of laughter and she added naughtily, "Although I'm not sure I would call what you just did to me 'civil' or 'civilized.'"
Kane smiled and pulled a shapely ivory leg up over his hip. Hand slipping around to cup her firm buttocks, he kidded, "May it please the court, I must point out that my esteemed colleague, Her Honor, Judge Vallance, did in fact and in kind behave in a manner at once as primitive as the accused."
"Counselor is out of order! The court is not on trial here. Any further outbursts and you will be asked to leave my..."
"Beg pardon, Your Honor." Kane leaned forward and kissed her nose. "If defendant is found guilty, will bench please pass down the sentence and bring these proceedings to a close."
Natalie raised herself onto an elbow. "Kane W. Covington, you have been found guilty of the heinous crime of making a helpless, unsuspecting female fall victim to your dangerous charms and animal lusts and did cause said victim to submit to wild passions of the flesh and in so doing fall everlastingly in love with you! Forthwith you—"
"Come on, Judge," Kane disrespectfully cut in, "tell the poor trapped guy what you're going to do with him."
Natalie placed her hand in Kane's thick, dark curls and spoke in a firm voice. "Under the authority vested in me by the sovereign Territory of Colorado, I sentence the defendant, Kane W. Covington, to take the oath of matrimony. And to remain loyal and true to your oath until—"
"You sure you want to marry me, honey?" Kane's dark face turned somber and he abruptly ended their game.
"More than I've ever wanted anything in my life," Natalie said, and kissed him. "Marry me, Kane," she murmured softly. "Marry me." She snuggled down onto his chest.
He held her close. "Sweetheart, sweetheart," he said hoarsely. Then abruptly he loosened his long arms and said, "Get up, baby. I have to take care of—"
"No!" Natalie's arm tightened over his chest. "You can't go to the Cliff Palace, I won't let you! I've told you, it isn't safe. I'll lose you if you—"
"I'll tell you what isn't safe. The two of us lying here."
Natalie tensed. "You're right, Kane. Let's ride up to Tahomah's lodge. I know the way, I'll take you." She raised up and looked at him hopefully. He touched her cheek. "Good idea. We'll bathe, have coffee, then I want you to go to Tahomah."
"But… you're coming with me?"
"No, sweetheart, I'm not." Kane gently eased her arms from around him and swung his long legs over the edge of the bed and sat up.
Natalie was up at once, on her knees behind him, arms wrapped around his wide shoulders. "Please, Kane, don't try to… darling, I'm afraid. Ashlin is a dangerous and terrible man."
"I can handle Blackmore."
Her arms tightened and she leaned around to lay her cheek against his. "Kane, don't do it. Don't go after them; they'll kill you. Let's ride into Cloudcastle and alert the sheriff. He and his deputies can pick them all up and…"
Kane gently tore her arms away and rose. He turned and, looking down at her, took the panther's claw from the night table and lifted the leather necklace over his dark head. He put out a hand and pulled her to her feet. Naked, they stood in the morning sunshine looking at each other. Kane's dark, lean fingers toyed with the shiny gold disc resting in the valley of Natalie's cleavag
e.
"Sweetheart, it's thawing outside. Blackmore will be coming; we both know it. Unless I intercept him, he'll show up at Cloud West for you. After all, the man still thinks you're engaged."
"But, Kane, I—"
"No, Natalie." Kane's dark face had taken on that set, chiseled look. "I'm going after him. Now make some coffee while I heat water for our baths. I'll take you to Tahomah, or down to your girlfriend Carol Thompson's, but I'm going after Blackmore."
"Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?" Natalie said sadly. "No, my love. Nothing."
Chapter Thirty-Eight
A woman deeply in love, Natalie sat in Kane's deep tub and racked her brain, trying to come up with a scheme to keep him occupied until noontime. Idly she passed a soapy sponge over her slick throat and watched Kane shave.
Towel wrapped around his slim hips, he stood before the mirror shaving his face covered with creamy white lather.
The ribbon-white scars on his deeply cleft back pulled and lifted with his movements. Natalie felt a quiver deep in her bare, wet belly as she remembered the first time she'd seen them. She had watched him wash up that hot evening at Spanish Widow, eyes drawn in fearful fascination to the pull and play of the satin scars. And she had assumed he was a desperate outlaw, that he had gotten them in some life-threatening, violent struggle.
Natalie bit heir bottom lip. Those terrible scars had been delivered by a Federal's deadly, slashing sword. This man deftly shaving his handsome face was a Rebel, the brand of Southerner she had hated with a fierceness bordering on obsession. Not a day had passed when she had not vowed never to forgive or forget what had happened in the war.
Now it seemed so long ago. So unreal. So far unremoved from all that was most important in her life. She no longer cared which side Kane had fought on, or even how many Federals he might have killed. She only cared that this tall, scarred man who had taken her in his powerful arms and awakened her from a ten-year sleep, was in danger. Dear God, she might lose the treasured love of her life just when she'd found him.
Natalie rose from the tub. She patted at her body with a white towel. "Kane, do you suppose we could go by Cloud West so I can pick up a few things?" Razor poised over a high, dark cheekbone, Kane looked at her in the mirror. "There's no time."
Unruffled, Natalie pulled the bathtowel about her slender body, tucked in the edge over her breasts, and crossed the room. "Kane," she said, stepping up behind him, "it wouldn't take long."
Kane lowered the razor. "Sweetheart, you'll only be at Tahomah's for a day or so. I'll come for you soon."
Natalie slipped her arms around his trim middle. Leaning close, she pressed a kiss to his scarred flesh. "Darling, I'm afraid men don't always understand." She laughed softly, and added mysteriously, "There are things a woman needs that are found only in her own home."
It worked.
"Uh… I… went, no longer than fifteen minutes. You hear me?"
Hiding her triumphant smile against his warm back, Natalie kissed his shoulder blade and murmured, "I hear."
Outdoors, Kane shook his dark head and remarked on the puzzling warmth of the sun-brightened morning. Hand in hand the pair climbed the gentle incline toward the stables, Kane's blue eyes squinting disbelievingly. Instead of the familiar crunchy hard-frozen icepack beneath their boots, there was wet and watery snow with patches of dark green showing through some of the sunnier spots.
"This is the damnedest thing I've ever seen," Kane said in amazement.
"I know," Natalie agreed. "I told you; it's the chinook winds. Almost like the spring melt-off."
Kane Bashed Natalie a bright grin. "Well, ma'am, I can't say how you Yankees feel about this weather, but this Gulf Coast southerner finds it to his linking." He released her and shrugged out of his coat. "Rebel," teased Natalie, "you're soft."
Matched bays carrying them over the slippery mountain slope to Cloud West, the two lovers rode knee to knee, the bright sunlight beating down on them, their horses' sharp hooves leaving deep prints in the slick, melting snows.
They crossed a narrow brook. A deep, clear stream—almost always frozen solid from early autumn until late spring —was flowing, rushing loudly; its frigid water, filled with broken, jagged ice blocks, hurtled over boulders, loosening great ridges of ice from its banks.
Again Kane smiled at her as Satan pranced proudly through the noisy spring. "Want to go wading?" His eyes twinkled devilishly and he gave a great shout of laughter.
Natalie smiled, shook her head, and carefully kept a new fear to herself Waiting until Kane had again turned to the path before them, Natalie lifted worried eyes to the high peaks towering above. Turning her head a little to the side, she listened for any strange or unusual sounds thrumming through the soaring San Juans.
She heard only the deep, rumbling laughter of her lover, and with one last, hasty glance about, she turned her attention fully back to him.
At Cloud West, Kane kneed Satan into the big, roomy barn after Natalie, then swung down out of the saddle and reached for her. On another day she might have reminded him she was perfectly capable of dismounting without his help. It so happened that, with little time to set her well-laid plans in motion, this solicitous offer of assistance played right into her hands. And she was quick to take advantage of the opportunity.
Smiling winningly down at him, Natalie agilely brought her long, trousered leg over the horse's back, put her hands on Kane's wide shoulders, and slid from the saddle, making certain her body brushed his on her descent. When her toes touched wood, she did not release his shoulders. She stepped closer, blatantly pressed her pelvis to his, and said softly, "Kiss me, Kane."
A flicker of interest mixing with irritation in his expressive eyes, Kane grabbed her by the belt, bent his head, and gave her a quick peck. Then he turned her about, released his hold, and gave her shapely bottom a little spank.
"Ouch," she protested, rubbing the seat of her trousers. "You'll pay for that."
"Fine," said Kane, "but not today." He took her arm, guided her out into the glaring sunshine and toward the big ranch house. Inside all was silent, only the slow, rhythmic clanking of Kane's spurs on the hardwood floor of the corridor.
"Want to lay a fire, Kane?" Natalie looked up over her shoulder at him while he freed her arms from the heavy coat and tossed it across the polished stairway banister.
"Do you need it for… ah… whatever you might want?"
Natalie turned to face him. "I've a feeling I won't be needing a fire." She gave him an enigmatic smile and lifted her hand to his chest. With a dexterity that startled him, she opened the top two buttons of his shirt before he realized what was happening. She slipped a warm hand inside and spread her fingers in the thick, crisp hair.
"Damn it, Natalie, this is no time for games." Kane captured her brazen hand and withdrew it. "I've told you, we have to hurry."
"Mmm," she murmured apologetically, but grinned slyly and nuzzled her nose in the open V of the shirt before whirling about and stepping onto the stair. "I'll be good," she promised, walking away from him, hips swaying beguilingly.
Natalie timed him. She would give him five minutes. No more. If he had not followed her up the stairs in five minutes, she would bring out the big guns. She was going to keep him with her until the stroke of noon, no matter how she had to go about it.
In the bedroom, Natalie opened the shimmering white silk drapes. Blinding bright sunshine flooded the big white room.
Her huge, silk-hung bed with its snowy counterpane shimmered in the fierce light. The deep-pile white carpet, the white brocade couch and wing chairs, the white marble fire-place, shone a dazzling silver-white in the winter sun.
Kane's five minutes passed.
Natalie frowned. She undressed with the speed of one possessed, discarding her boots, pants, shirt, belt, and underwear in her dressing room. From the top drawer of the tall armoire, she drew a shimmering white satin nightgown. Pulling it over her head, she felt the fabric slink down her b
elly and thighs as though it were warm honey being poured from a pitcher.
It fell to the white carpet over her bare feet and Natalie, matching at the pins restraining her long hair, looked down at herself and smiled wickedly. A daring, enticing bit of fluff she had never before worn, the white satin gown covered little and tended to accentuate the female curves beneath its clinging softness.
If this didn't entice the preoccupied man downstairs, nothing would. Natalie hurried to the bed, drew back the ivory silks spread, the downy comforter, and the silky top sheet. She punched up the many fat, white lace-trimmed pillows and stepped back, pleased.
Natalie crossed the big room, enjoying the feel of sunwarmed satin sensuously hugging her naked curves and the deep pile carpet beneath her bare feet. Easing open the bedroom door, she ventured out into the hall, paused at the top of the stairs, and anxiously looked down.
Kane was where she had left him.
He lounged there at ease against the wall, unaware of her presence. His black Stetson was pushed back, the two top buttons of his shirt were still open. A cigarette protruded from his sculpted lips and a thumb was hooked in the gunbelt that slanted across his slim hips.
Natalie's heart began to pound beneath the straining satin as her eyes fondly beheld this extraordinary man. She said nothing, but Kane's head slowly turned and he looked up.
"Kane," she said softly, and descended a couple of steps.
Kane's blue eyes narrowed with surprised interest and he felt a sharp lurch in his chest. She stood above him wearing nothing but a daringly provocative nightgown of some shiny white material. Her flaming hair was brushed out, a thick, loose lock curling appealingly about her ivory throat. The bodice of the gown slashed low, exposing the milky skin of bare shoulders and slim arms. The shimmery fabric clung to her full, jutting breasts, flat belly, and flaring hips. Though it was not transparent in the true sense of the word, Kane could see through the gleaming white satin the distinct outline of large, rose-hued nipples as well as the shadowed loveliness between her thighs.