She lifted her face, and without avoiding his eyes, said, "I thought you must want him back and didn't want to see me."
That it took grit to get the words out was obvious. That it took guts to reveal so much of her hurt didn't surprise him, however, because she had more innate courage than any other person he'd ever met.
"I wanted to see you," he said. "I just didn't dare until I cleared some things up. Things that had been hanging on too long."
"It hurt," she said.
"Come," he said. "Let me take you to Tsotses's place."
She hung back. "Will they be there?"
"No. They moved away a long time ago. Everybody uses it as a guest house now."
She chuckled. "This is all pretty alien to me, you know."
"The mountains were alien to you, but you learned quickly."
She allowed him to lead her to the shiny new Chevy Avalanche, her arm around his waist, her other hand clinging to the blanket surrounding both of them. By the time they made it to the pickup, he was sure that everyone at the sing, the cacique included, had managed to slap him on the back or pat Leeza's shoulder. Babies reached out for her gold hair and dogs buffeted their legs.
Alma's mother pressed a sack filled with food into his hands and kissed him soundly. "Shegoneh, James," she said, formally bidding him farewell. "And you I will see again," she said to Leeza.
Daggert assisted Leeza into the passenger's seat and took the keys from her. "Do you trust me?" he asked, meaning to drive.
"With my life," she said solemnly. But a wicked light danced in her lovely eyes.
* * *
Leeza thought the Tsotses's house was identical in style to the TwoFeathers's home except it was painted a strident candy-apple green and more flowers had survived the early cold and were blooming haphazardly in the beds closest to the front door.
She waited as Daggert opened the door without a key and flicked on the lights. A single, overhead bulb lit the same floor plan as the TwoFeathers's home, and like Alma's, the furniture was arranged with every chair's back against a wall. And while the television was considerably smaller, the room seemed dominated by it.
Sancho raced ahead of them, great tail wagging, bounding from room to room with delighted discovery. In each new room, which proved to be two beyond the living room and kitchen combination, he barked at Leeza as if asking her to check it out for herself.
She smiled as Daggert held a bowl over the kitchen sink, filled it with water and set it down for the dog before turning back to her. He paused and she was reminded of the day he'd groomed Belle so thoroughly and she had imagined those gentle hands roaming her own body.
She shivered beneath the blanket she still wore, not from cold, but from sheer anticipation.
He crossed the room as slowly and deliberately as he'd forded the river.
Her knees felt weak. Her breath came and went in short, light gasps. She felt dizzy and languorous.
He took her in his arms in a contemplative, deliberate embrace, but even as she tilted her head up for his kiss, he paused. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Denzhoné. It was the last thing I wanted to do."
Her heart beat painfully in her chest. "Jack said it took time to wind up a four-year search."
Daggert smiled crookedly. "Jack said that? He was right."
"And are you finished?"
"Vengeance doesn't live in my house anymore," he said.
Daggert thought of the freshly painted walls, the stacks of papers and maps he'd turned over to the investigators researching the Thompkins case. And the new bed in his bedroom.
"And your heart, Daggert?" she asked—wistfully, he thought.
"Ah, my heart. That doesn't belong to me," he said.
She stilled in his arms. "No?"
"No. It belongs to you, Denzhoné."
He felt the relief sweep through her, and knew just how deeply he had hurt her. "Well, that seems only fair," she said, taking on a businesslike, considering expression.
"How's that?" he asked, smiling. He couldn't help it, just holding her made him want to laugh out loud and shout her name to the stars. His brothers.
"You found mine. Before you, I didn't know for sure I even had one. So you found mine, then stole it. And I get yours."
He kissed her then, unable to resist her alluring lips, her smart, beautiful mouth. And felt he was dying from the hunger she roused in him. And made to live again in her heated response.
He felt her shake free of the blanket around her shoulders, and caught the brightly patterned wool before it hit the floor. "Come," he said, leading her to the larger of the two bedrooms.
He didn't bother finding the light, he merely left the door ajar, allowing the light from the living room to spill into the semidark bedroom. He drew open the curtains and let the moonlight cascade over the bed.
He dropped the blanket to the bed and gently pushed her down upon it. Without saying a word, he slowly unlaced her tennis shoes and pulled them from her arched feet. He slowly tugged her socks free and tossed them aside.
She smiled a little as his fingers unfastened the button at her waist and pulled the zipper down. He spread the flaps wide and ran his hands over her satin flesh, slipping beneath her blouse to caress her smooth skin.
She lifted her buttocks to help him slip the jeans from her long legs, and he heard her gasp as he pressed his lips to the sensitive skin just beside her knee.
He felt desperate to feel the warmth inside her, to lose himself in her, but he wanted this night to be the most special of all nights and wanted her to never forget just how much she claimed of him, his whole heart. His whole body. And his soul.
Running his hands down the length of her legs, he hooked his forefingers in the elastic of her silken underwear and slowly pulled the wispy material down her legs, sending it flying somewhere, and making him groan at the lovely sight opening to him.
He unfastened his shirt buttons, unable to take his eyes from her stunning body. And smiled as her trembling fingers worked at the buttons of her blouse. He trembled himself as her eyes drank in the sight of his bared chest.
He tossed his shirt aside and unfastened his jeans.
Leeza started to sit up and he stopped her, holding her upright only long enough to push her blouse from her shoulders and unfasten her lacy bra. He gently deposited her back on the bed, watching the fire in her eyes, the desire coloring her smile.
He pulled his boots off and dropped them. From the kitchen, Sancho barked, and Leeza chuckled. It was a sound rich with humor, bubbling with desire.
Daggert pushed down his jeans and stepped out of them.
"In a minute, I'm going to stuff a ten dollar bill in your shorts," Leeza said, her voice choked with feeling.
He laughed and pushed down his shorts, kicking them aside. Out in the mountains, she'd made him feel like a god. With her cobalt eyes roaming his body, stroking him with her gaze, he felt more than that—he felt all-powerful, pure male strength.
And he'd found his perfect counterpart, pure female warmth.
He stepped to the bed and gently spread her legs and felt his breath catch at the sheer beauty beneath him. He ran his hands up her inner thighs and brushed the blond crown of hair at her apex. She moaned as he slowly kissed her there, finding that perfect nub of pleasure and teasing her with his tongue.
He stroked her soft, firm thighs, then lifted her legs to straddle his shoulders, and kissed her more deeply, tasting her, tormenting her. She writhed beneath him, making him shake with need for her. Kneading her rounded bottom, he slipped a finger into her molten core and groaned aloud as her inner muscles grasped him, pulling him deeper.
"Daggert," she cried. "Please…"
He didn't stop.
"Wait…I want you inside me, please," she begged, and her voice held such a raw note of longing that he was helpless to resist her siren call or the lure of her silken calves gliding down his back.
He ran a hand over his mouth and crawled up the bed between her gl
orious legs. He stopped to taste a hardened nipple and flick his tongue across her puckered aureole. And being a fair man, he couldn't let the other breast go without equal attention.
He scooped her golden-hued globes together and grazed his teeth over the nipples just inches apart.
"You're driving me crazy," she growled, arching up to grant even greater access.
He shifted higher and, poised over her, met her eyes for a long, heart-stopping minute. She raised a hand to his lips and traced them with a light fingertip. He kissed it. She trailed it down his throat and over his chest, continuing lower, until it met his full arousal. Touching the very tip, she tapped lightly, making him bounce against her.
"Ahh," he groaned. "You're playing with fire."
"Oh, but I like the heat," she purred.
He grabbed her hand away and moved it high above her head, pinning her wrist to the bed, and when she would have taken him with her other hand, did the same to her other wrist. He held them loosely trapped beneath his palm, and smiled when he felt her fingers curl around the heel of his hand.
"I've got you now," he said.
"As long as you like," she murmured, arching up to kiss him deeply.
He groaned into the kiss, his body aching for her, needing to meld with hers, his heart desperate to beat against hers.
"How about forever?" he asked, pulling back only to slide into her.
"Forever's good," she gasped, wrapping her legs around him and drawing him deeply into her.
"This is good," he said, rocking faster.
"This is definitely good," she agreed, pressing her breasts to his chest.
She was right, he thought. It was definitely good, but it was even more than that. "It's perfect," he murmured against her lips. "Because I love you, Denzhoné."
She ground against him, her body thrashing beneath his, and she cried out as a storm raged through her. "And I…love…you!" And she convulsed beneath him as the storm broke.
Her admission shattered his control. He drove into her with almost desperate hunger and exploded upon contact.
He continued rocking into her, loving her, the hunger in him sated, but the desire for her a continuous thrum in his very soul. And felt her contracting around him, holding him, taking every last drop of him.
Later, holding her against his chest, lulled nearly asleep by the intensity of their mutual passion, Daggert lightly, gently stroked her back. She raised her head a little and said his name.
"What did the cacique chant tonight? In that song about us?"
"Oh that," he said. He drew her back down to his chest and pressed his lips to her forehead. "It was a blessing."
"A blessing?"
He thought of the honest way she'd told him he'd hurt her. The honesty when she admitted she'd never climaxed with anyone before. The sincerity in her admission of love for him.
"It was a ceremony of marriage."
"A what?"
"Haven't you ever heard about the dangers of sitting under a blanket with someone?"
She gave a brief chuckle. "Not in relation to marriage, no."
"Well, now you know what they are."
"You're kidding me, right?"
"It's not legal in the white man's world."
He felt her go perfectly still. And held his breath, waiting for her response.
Finally, she said, "That's why you told him the name you gave me?"
"Yes."
"You wanted to marry me?"
"Yes."
"And in the other world?"
"There, too."
He felt her release a sigh and nestle closer to him. Was that an answer? He found himself holding his breath, hoping against hope.
"Are you asking me?"
"Yes."
"And will you promise to love me forever?"
"Yes."
"I thought you didn't believe in promises."
"I didn't," he said, smiling. "But I do now."
"Because you can't get me any other way."
"Because I can't live without you, Denzhoné."
"I have to be back at the ranch before two o'clock tomorrow."
"That's possible," he said. "But why?"
"Because of a promise I made to Enrique."
"And you always keep your promises," he said, turning her in his arms and meeting her beautiful, beautiful eyes.
"I do," she said.
"And so will I," he said solemnly, willing her to believe him, to trust him. To know that he would always be there for her. With her.
"You know I'm rich," she said.
"I'm a tracker. I'm not stupid."
She chuckled.
"We'd probably have to live at Rancho Milagro."
"We could live on the moon for all I care," he said.
"It's a good place to raise children."
"It is that," he agreed, feeling a momentary pang of sorrow that she'd never known Donny, never would. "Why did you tell the cacique to call me Man Who Laughs?"
"Because you will always, always take my breath away."
Daggert kissed her and felt arousal kindle anew. She took him with sweet languor, riding him, claiming him as her own. Believing in him with every fiber of her being. He felt it. And he knew he touched the most vulnerable part of her when she called out his name as she climaxed, and sobbed her love for him in the shuddering aftermath.
She held him this time, cradling his head against her full breasts. She lightly brushed her fingers through his hair. She sighed.
"Tell me," he said.
"I was thinking that it's just as well we already got this wedding ceremony stuff out of the way."
He chuckled and nuzzled a breast. "Why is that, Denzhoné?"
She took his hand and placed it on her flat belly. "Because I'm old-fashioned enough to believe that children need two parents, preferably married."
He jerked up to his elbow and stared down at her, his hand still on her, over the life she carried inside.
"You're sure?" he asked.
"Yes. Do you mind?"
He grabbed her in his arms and rolled her over on top of him, kissing her all the while. "Mind?" he asked, when he could bring himself to release her. "Mind? It's everything I ever could have hoped for."
She smiled tremulously at him.
"I have a confession," he said.
She blinked. "Another one? You've already gotten me pregnant, tricked me into marriage…what else is there?"
"I have a pretty hefty stock portfolio of my own."
She laughed out loud and he joined her.
"I love you, Denzhoné Bidáá…my lovely Leeza."
"And I you, Man Who Laughs."
And he did.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8096-4
A WARRIOR'S VOW
Copyright © 2003 by Tracy Lecocq
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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*Almost, Texas
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Table of Conte
nts
MARILYN TRACY
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
A Warrior's Vow Page 18