The Enemy's Daughter

by Linda Turner

  For an answer, he stepped past her and walked around the pool, searching the entire area for any type of danger. When he found none, he didn’t return to camp, as Lise had expected. Instead, he walked to a nearby boulder, turned his back to the pool and sat down.

  Stunned, Lise was sure her jaw must have hit the ground. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I won’t look,” he assured her, staring straight ahead. “Go ahead and take your bath.”

  “Dammit, Steve—”

  “I’m not leaving you alone here naked,” he said flatly. “I can either sit here while you bathe or join you, but either way, I’m not leaving.”

  Lise took one look at the stubborn set of his jaw and knew he meant every word. Nothing short of a bull-dozer—or a single encouraging word from her, which he wasn’t going to get!—was going to budge him off that damn rock.

  So what was she going to do? Strip naked with him sitting only a few feet away? Breathless at the thought, she told herself she couldn’t possibly do such a thing. She’d never… What if he saw… He would think she wanted…

  Unable to finish a thought, she hesitated. Could she trust him? She wanted to, but if he betrayed that trust… Something that felt an awful lot like hurt squeezed her heart. She didn’t think she’d be able to stand it.

  Her hand moving to the top button of her shirt, she stared at his back for the longest time before she finally said huskily, “I don’t trust easily, Steve. Don’t make me regret this.”

  “I won’t look, Lise,” he promised her quietly. “I give you my word.”

  She wanted to believe him, but still she hesitated, recounting to herself all the reasons she shouldn’t do this. He was practically a stranger to her, and what she did know about him hardly inspired trust. He was a flirt, a man well experienced with women, a cowboy who never stayed anywhere long before the call of the wind tempted him to pack up and move on. For all she knew, he’d left a string of broken hearts behind him and betrayed every woman stupid enough to drop her guard with him. She wasn’t stupid and never had been.

  But recognizing who and what he was didn’t seem to change anything. Deep down inside, where it counted the most, she trusted him. She hoped she didn’t live to regret that.

  With fingers that weren’t quite steady, she continued to unbutton her shirt. And all the while, she stared unblinkingly at his back. She knew he had to hear the rustle of her clothes as she slipped them off, but true to his word, he never looked. Instead, he slumped comfortably on his rocky perch and watched the sun sink toward the horizon in the west.

  Lise sighed—and released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “I’ll hurry,” she told him quietly, and eased into the water.

  At the first sound of the water rippling against her naked body, sweat popped out on Steve’s brow. Clamping his jaw on an oath, he sternly ordered himself to concentrate on the sunset, the low moan of the wind, the hardness of the rock he sat on—anything but Lise and what she was doing in the water. He was, however, fighting a losing battle. He glared at the western sky, but it was Lise he saw. Lise, undressing, easing her clothes down her body, revealing her soft flesh inch by inch, torturing him until he very nearly groaned with need.

  Without a word, she tempted him. He’d never known another woman who could do that, and it was driving him crazy. One peek, he taunted himself. That was all he needed to put his fantasies behind him. But he’d given his word, and he stood by that. He had to. That was the kind of man he was. And nobody regretted that more than he did right at that moment.

  His body tight with need, he couldn’t have said later how long he sat there. Time, the desert, his mission ceased to exist. There was just Lise and the sound of the water as she bathed herself.

  “I’m finished. Just let me get dressed and we can go.”

  Her husky words brushed over him like a caress, setting his nerve endings tingling and heating blood that was already red hot. A muscle ticking in his jaw, he swallowed a groan and said hoarsely, “Take your time.”

  Sleek and clean, her long wet hair streaming down her naked body, Lise stepped from the water and quickly dried herself with the towel she’d laid on a nearby rock. True to his word, Steve kept his back to her, but she still felt exposed. Hurriedly reaching for her panties, she stepped into them and grabbed her bra.

  It was then that she saw the snake.

  Chapter 6

  She never meant to scream. She had a healthy respect for snakes, but she wasn’t terrified of them. Normally, she would have seen in a heartbeat that this one wasn’t poisonous, but she was distracted by Steve’s presence and her own nakedness. And the small, strangled cry escaped her throat before she could stop it. That was all it took. In the time it took to blink, Steve whirled.

  Wearing nothing but her panties and her bra, which she hadn’t hooked yet, she felt the touch of his eyes on her bare skin and was sure she turned as red as a beet. Then he saw the snake. Swearing, he reached her side in three long strides, placing himself between her and the snake, and leaned down to snatch up a rock. With one quick, hard throw, he sent the snake slithering away from the spring and into the rocks.

  “Are you all right?”

  It happened so fast, she didn’t even have time to react. When she stood there with a dazed look in her eye, he frowned and said sharply, “Lise? What’s wrong? Are you okay? You didn’t get bit, did you?”

  “What?” His words abruptly registering, she blinked…and blushed to the roots of her hair. Dear God, what was she doing? She was practically naked and she wasn’t even trying to cover herself! She had to be losing her mind.

  Lightning quick, she snatched up the clean clothes she’d brought from camp, looking anywhere but at Steve as she tried to hook her bra and shield herself with her clothes at the same time. “I’m fine.” She choked the words out. “It wasn’t poisonous. It just startled me.”

  When she tried and failed to hook her bra for the third time and nearly dropped her clothes in the process, Steve had to suppress a smile. “Can I help you?”

  “No!” Muttering a curse, she whirled, presenting him her back. “Just leave me alone. I can get it.”

  He didn’t doubt that under most circumstances, she could easily handle dressing herself, but her fingers were suddenly all thumbs. If he didn’t help her, they were going to be there a while, and it was starting to get dark.

  That wasn’t, however, why he stepped closer and reached for the ends of her bra to hook them together. Try as he might, he couldn’t ignore her nakedness a second longer. Lord, she was magnificent! He’d seen her in her work clothes, in her nightclothes, and pictured her like this in his dreams a thousand times. And his imagination hadn’t done her justice. She was beautiful. And there was only so much temptation a man could stand.

  Gently pushing her hands out of the way, he felt her go still at the first touch of his fingers against her back and knew exactly what his touch did to her. Because her nearness did the same thing to him. Her skin was like satin under his hands, and with every breath he took, he inhaled the clean, enticing scent of her. It was enough to drive him out of his head with need.

  Too late, he realized he should have found a way to draw out the clasping of her bra, but his brain didn’t seem to be working any better than hers. Still, he couldn’t step back, couldn’t stop touching her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently turned her to face him.

  “Steve…”

  Her husky protest slid over his skin like a caress, and for just a second, his fingers tightened on her shoulders. If circumstances had been different, he would have pulled her to the ground with him and made love to her right then and there. But as much as he ached for that, he knew it would have been a mistake. Not only could they be discovered at any moment by one of the other men, but she had him so tied in knots, he didn’t know if he was coming or going.

  And making love would only complicate those feelings. He might be skirting his orders, but until he had his head on
straight and his emotions under control, he wasn’t doing anything more than kissing and caressing her for the job. If she didn’t trust him enough after that to tell him more about her father, making love wouldn’t help the situation. Which meant, for now, at least, that he had to do the last thing he wanted to do. He had to help her finish getting dressed.

  “Shh,” he murmured. “It’s all right.” And sliding his hands down her bare arms, he covered her fingers, which clutched her blouse like a lifeline.

  “I can do it.”

  “I know,” he said with a crooked smile. “I just want to help you.”

  She shouldn’t have. He was too close, and she was far too susceptible where he was concerned. Her blood was already humming, her senses reeling, just from the touch of his hands. If she let him help her dress, she didn’t think she could be responsible for her actions.

  But even as she opened her mouth to tell him she could do it herself, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words that would make him step back from her. Not when she looked into his gray eyes and saw a need there that matched her own. Helpless to stop herself, she let her hands fall away from her blouse.

  “Good girl,” he said huskily, and gently guided her left hand through the armhole of her white cotton blouse.

  What followed was the most sensuous thing Lise had ever experienced. With painstaking slowness, he eased her blouse up her arms to her shoulders, trailing his fingers across her skin in a whisper-soft caress that seemed to melt the bones in her body one by one. Shuddering, she drew in a steadying breath…and the faint, seductive scent of his cologne. He hardly touched her, yet she felt his touch to her very soul when he pulled her blouse across her breasts and slowly began to button it. With every brush of his knuckles against her breast, with the closure of every button, the fire inside her burned hotter and hotter.

  It was torture. Sheer, unadulterated, wonderful torture. Watching Lise’s blue eyes turn dark as midnight, Steve would have liked nothing better than to drag out the pleasure of the moment until they both groaned with need, but there was no time. The shadows were lengthening even as he buttoned her last button, and they’d been gone too long as it was. Obviously, no one at camp had heard her scream, but if the two of them didn’t return soon, someone would come looking for them to make sure there wasn’t a problem. And a fist knotted in his gut at the idea of anyone but him seeing her with her long, beautiful legs bare beneath the shirttail of her blouse and her cheeks flushed slightly with desire.

  “It’s getting dark,” he rasped, and handed her her khakis. “We need to get back to camp.”

  He didn’t help her with her pants—he didn’t dare—but he still couldn’t bring himself to step away from her. Standing close enough to touch, he watched her draw the slacks over her thighs and slender hips and swallowed a groan. Did she have a clue what she did to him? How sensuous she was? He’d been involved with his share of women, but none of them had ever driven him crazy the way Lise did by putting on her clothes.

  His hands curled into fists to keep from reaching for her, he stood it as long as he could. But the second she had her khakis zipped and buttoned, he reached for her.

  “Steve!”

  “Don’t ask me not to kiss you,” he said, his voice husky, pulling her into his arms. “I’m not made of stone.”

  Her heart thumping crazily, Lise couldn’t have denied him if her life had depended on it. She hadn’t realized it, but ever since he’d kissed her the night of her birthday, she’d secretly been longing for him to do it again. Maybe then, she reasoned, she’d see it wasn’t as magical as she remembered and she could let go of this foolish crush she had on the man.

  But as his mouth came down on hers, she realized she wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all herself. The minute he touched her, her heart thundered. The second his mouth covered hers, whatever defenses she had against him crumbled. With a quiet moan of need, she slipped her arms around his neck and melted against him, not caring that they were standing out in the open and one or all of her men could come across them at any moment. This was what she wanted, what she ached for.

  Lost in the magic of his kiss and the heady sensations he stirred in her so effortlessly, Lise wanted the kiss to go on forever. She kissed him back with a hunger that matched his and was delighted when he groaned and held her tighter, as if he would never let her go.

  The wonder of the moment, however, didn’t last. The sun was quickly sinking toward the horizon, and once it went down, darkness fell quickly. Although she knew it was for the best, Lise was flooded with disappointment when Steve ended the kiss abruptly.

  “C’mon,” he said hoarsely. “We’ve got to get back to camp.”

  Dazed, her head spinning and her legs boneless, Lise took the dirty clothes and towel he stuffed into her arms without a word of complaint and followed him to camp. Later, she realized she must have looked thoroughly kissed, but she needn’t have worried that the other men noticed. Those who weren’t still eating were impatiently waiting for their chance for a bath. As soon as she and Steve came within sight of camp, they grabbed their towels and soap and made a beeline for the springs.

  Her heart still beating like a drum, Lise couldn’t have cared less about food, but she couldn’t do her work tomorrow on an empty stomach, so she served herself a baked potato and one of the steaks Cookie had grilled for dinner and sat in front of her tent to eat. When Steve followed suit and sank onto a camp stool in front of his tent five feet away, she sternly ordered herself to ignore him. She might as well have told the wind not to blow. All her senses attuned to him, she was aware of every bite he took.

  That’s when she knew she was in over her head.

  The camp settled down soon after Cookie did the dishes and shut down the chuck wagon for the night. He would be up first in the morning, so it wasn’t surprising that he was the first to go to bed. Steve half expected the others to stay up for a couple of rounds of poker, just as they did every night at the bunkhouse, but everyone turned in early. One by one, the battery-powered lights in the tents went out, and by ten o’clock, the last cowboy had retreated to his cot and the camp was dead quiet but for the symphony of snores that echoed from the circle of tents.

  At any other time, Steve would have been amused. But as he sat in his tent in the all-consuming darkness, the snores of his co-workers hardly penetrated his consciousness. The only tent he was aware of was the one to the right of his. Lise’s. Was she asleep yet? he wondered. Or still awake, her body humming like his just at the memory of those hot, sensuous moments they’d shared at the springs?

  He could still taste her on his tongue.

  Groaning silently at the thought, he told himself to get a grip or he was going to make a first-class fool of himself. But as much as he tried to focus on his mission, Lise was all he could think of. Even though he’d returned to the springs after dinner for his bath, he could still smell her on his skin with every breath he took.

  And he didn’t have trouble admitting that worried the hell out of him. As much as he’d enjoyed women in the past and making love to them, he’d never let one get in the way of practicalities. With his job, he couldn’t afford to—his life depended on it. So why was he letting Lise drive him crazy this way when she was so closely connected to Simon? She was his enemy’s daughter, someone he didn’t dare let down his guard with. And all he could think of was how much he wanted to make love to her—which was why he couldn’t. He’d obviously lost his mind.

  Remember why you’re here, he told himself silently. All you have to do is remember that and the horrible crimes Simon’s committed, and you’ll be fine.

  Usually it took nothing more than that to straighten out his priorities and stiffen his resolve, but not tonight. Not when Lise was sleeping so close that he could practically reach through the walls of his tent and hers to touch her. Just thinking about it made him hot.

  Suddenly realizing what he was doing, he swore silently under his breath. He needed to accomplish his m
ission and get the hell out of there. Now. But he couldn’t, dammit! Not when Simon was still on the loose and could show up at the station at any time. Like it or not, he was stuck here for the moment, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

  Trapped and not liking it one little bit, he sat impatiently on his cot and watched the illuminated hands of his watch slowly move. He had to check in with Belinda and let her know what was going on, but with the way sounds carried in the quiet of the bush, he didn’t dare make a call until he was positive everyone was asleep.

  So he sat in the darkness for another hour, his ears attuned to the night noises of the camp. Tent ropes flapped in the wind, and in the portable corral that had been constructed for the horses, one of the mares snorted softly. Occasionally, one of the men would mumble something unintelligible in his sleep, but other than that, the camp was quiet as a tomb.

  Satisfied that he was the only one awake, Steve eased out of his tent, only to pause, listening. All around him, cowboys snored peacefully. That should have reassured him, but he couldn’t help wishing he’d brought a gun with him. The agency had advised against it, however, and he knew they’d probably been wise to do so. Simon wasn’t a trusting man. Steve didn’t doubt for a second that the bastard had ordered his bags searched by someone in his employ the second he’d entered the country. Otherwise, he never would have been allowed to get anywhere near the station.

  All his senses on alert, he headed for the springs, taking care to make sure he didn’t trip over any tent guide wires in the dark. In the process, his foot landed wrong on a small rock and sent it skipping across the camp. In the quiet of the night, it sounded like a herd of buffalo running through the tents.