3 Brides for 3 Bad Boys (26 page)

It was far enough away from the rest of his employees and their operation to afford some privacy, but it wasn't so far that Fayre couldn't make the trip easily walking.

Not that she would have balked at climbing a mountain or anything. The woman had no concept of what it meant to be in a
delicate
condition. As feminine and sweet as she was, she did not see herself as delicate in any way.
Incredible.

She had this amazing belief she could handle anything.

Which had resulted in her driving all the way to rural Mexico from Vegas by herself. He got chills every time he let himself think of everything that could have happened to her on that drive. He could only thank God none of it had.

They climbed the steps to the porch and walked inside the cool interior of the house; all the while their silence remained unbroken. Fayre hadn't said much on the boat ride over either. She'd pretty much sat there, looking out over the water, her expression pensive, her posture tense.

Not that he could blame her for being tense. He'd kidnapped her, for heaven's sake.

What had he been thinking?

That he didn't want her driving to Puerto Vallarta and filing for a divorce, that's what.

So, he'd committed the most irrational act of his life and kidnapped a woman.

He stopped in the doorway to one of the guest bedrooms his brothers used when they came to confer with him over findings. "You can sleep in here."

"Is this your room?" For such a sweet woman, she sure could sound mean.

"No." He gestured down the hall with his head. "I'm down there. Second door on your right."

"If your sister-in-law never lived here, how did this house get built?"

So he'd told her about the island belonging to Phoebe? He wondered what else he'd told Fayre. It had been enough for her to believe she knew him sufficiently well to marry him. It had been enough to make her trust him.

She sure as hell did not trust him now, and it was his own damn fault.

He'd walked out on her the morning after, and even if he hadn't remembered their marriage, he'd known they'd gone to bed together.

"Colton?"

He realized he'd never answered her question, but stood there like a simpleton in the doorway of her temporary room. "Phoebe's great uncle liked to vacation here. He had the house built a couple of decades ago. It doesn't have air-conditioning, but the high ceilings and fans in every room keep things pretty cool."

"It's surrounded by trees. Do any of the rooms get direct sunlight?"

"No." It had taken some getting used to at first, but he'd come to appreciate that idiosyncrasy in architecture pretty quickly as the temperatures rose.

She sidled past him into the room and stopped to look around. "It's like the inside of a California mission."

He looked at the simple furniture, the whitewashed adobe walls, and had to agree. "Will you be all right in here?"

Her gaze shifted to the doorway to her private bathroom, and she nodded. "I'll be fine."

"Are you still mad?"

The words had just slipped out. Stupid question. Of course she was still angry.

Twentieth-century women did not take to being kidnapped.

She shrugged, her movement almost defensive when she had nothing to be defensive about. He was the one who'd done the reprehensible. Even knowing that, he'd do it again rather than let her climb into her little green car and drive out of his life.

"I was being irrational." She sighed, sounding tired. "We do need to talk. I'm not saying I appreciate the strong-arm tactics, but I'm not going to hold a grudge."

He reached out and brushed her cheek. Her skin was so soft. "You're an amazing woman."

She went completely still, her attention fixed wholly on him.

He let his hand slide down to cup her shoulder. It was getting harder and harder not to touch her in a much more intimate way. He wanted to kiss her, to ravish her senses and relive the dreams that tormented his sleeping hours.

"Do you want to take a nap or anything before dinner?"

She blinked and then looked away. "I'd like to take a shower."

"Okay." He dropped his hand from her shoulder and went to put her stuff on the wooden chest at the end of the bed. "The water in the taps has gone through a distillery, so it's safe to drink or brush your teeth."

"That's good to know."

"Are you feeling all right?" Reluctant to leave, he looked for any excuse to stay.

"I'm not queasy anymore. Maybe the jog earlier calmed my stomach."

"It was more like a dash." He still had not recovered from the sight of his pregnant wife sprinting away from him. "I didn't mean to make you run."

"It wasn't your fault." Biting her lip, she looked at him with an appeal he did not know how to answer. "I overreacted to the reminder that I'd been a sober fool while you'd just been a drunk one."

So, that was what had upset her so much.

"I don't think you were a fool. I think you showed a lot of courage, then and now."

When she started shaking her head, he planted his hands on both of her shoulders and pulled her to him. "Shh. You took a chance on me, on what I promised you, and then you took a chance on coming down here. I'm not great on taking chances like that. I'll go into hostile territory to mine, but emotional commitment scares the hell out of me." Her emerald green eyes widened.

"Fayre, I don't understand what's happening between us, but I know I can't let you go. I dream about you every night. We make love over and over again in my imagination. I couldn't see your face, and that drove me insane. I would have come looking when I got a break down here."

She shook her head again, her mouth opening, but no sound coming out.

"I don't expect you to believe me right off, but I do expect to convince you."

He tipped her hat off her head, remembering how the bill had jabbed his face when he'd kissed her earlier. She hadn't noticed, but he'd been forced to change his angle, and he didn't want anything in the way this time.

"Are you going to kiss me again?"

"Will it make you mad if I do?"

"I'll probably end up in bed with you, and then I'll feel stupid all over again."

She hadn't said she'd be angry with him, so he started to lower his head. "You don't need to feel stupid. I won't seduce you right now."

She licked her lips, and his heartbeat started pounding against his rib cage.

"Promise?"

He'd promise her anything if she would just let him kiss her. "Yes."

"Then kiss me, Colton. Please."

He let his head lower the remaining inches until their mouths met, but he didn't take her lips hostage like a marauding Viking this time.

He wanted to savor her taste, the feel of her soft lips, her scent that was so different from his own.

Her lips parted on a gentle sigh, and he sent his tongue into her mouth on a slow, lazy glide.

She moaned softly, her hands coming up to grip his shirt in two tight fists. He cuddled her into his body, wrapping her up against him like the treasure she was.

He'd never enjoyed kissing a woman as much as he liked kissing Fayre. Except in his dreams, and now he knew they were about her, too.

Her soft breasts pressed against him, their nipples hardened into tight points that challenged his self-control.

"You're so sweet." He said the words into her mouth and then slanted his over hers again, preventing her from replying.

He kissed her for as long as he could without stripping her naked and taking her up against the wall.

He broke his mouth away and forced himself to step backward. "You'd better take your shower, angel."

She might not believe it, but she was the only angel he wanted.

She swayed when he let go of her, so he grabbed her shoulders again and led her to the bathroom. When she did nothing but stand there and continue to stare at him with that glazed look in her eyes, he smiled.

He affected her and he liked it.

"Do you need some help getting undressed?"

"Maybe."

Shock sent his heart into overdrive, but he wasn't giving her a chance to change her mind. Tugging her T-shirt off over her head, he sucked in air when her breasts held in by only a silky white bra came into view.

She was beautifully made, his showgirl wife.

He didn't immediately remove her bra, but unbuttoned her crop pants and pushed them down her thighs. Bending down, he slipped her sandals off, leaving her in a white satin G-string and matching bra. Because he was there and her body was so close, he leaned forward and inhaled the scent that made her all woman. "Colton?"

He pressed his lips against the small white triangle of silk and kissed her there with something that felt like reverence. This woman was
his.

Standing up, he gave himself the pleasure of simply staring at the view before him. Her hard nipples were visible behind the almost transparent satin of her bra, and the G-string left the long line of her sexy legs unbroken but for a tiny tantalizing ribbon. She shifted her feet, her thighs parting just a little, and he got a glimpse of chestnut curls, a shade darker than the hair on her head.

His heart about stopped and then tried to pound out of his chest. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

Her soft green eyes shimmered with now familiar vulnerability. "Not as beautiful as Candy."

He was getting damn tired of her throwing the other woman in his face. "Way more beautiful than Candy."

"How would you know?"

"I remember her, and she has nothing on you. Angel, you just don't get it, but seeing you almost naked is like getting a sucker punch to the gut. I watched Candy dance all night and didn't even get a full boner."

C h a p t e r S e v e n

"
T
hat's not true. You were…" Incredibly, she blushed. "You were fully erect when you came backstage and saw me."

"When I saw you."
Did she get the emphasis? "I saw you for what, five seconds, and went hard like a cannon ready to shoot." A lot like he felt right now. Only today, the fuse was lit, and the cannon was loaded.

Preventing it from going off was going to take a lot of self-discipline he wasn't positive he had.

"How do you know? You don't remember."

"Because that's exactly how I responded to you walking into the bar today. I figure drunk or sober, my reaction is going to be pretty much the same."

Her mouth opened and then snapped shut.

He nodded. "That's right.
You
are the woman I want."

He reached around her and turned on the water in the shower, deliberately letting his body rub against her almost naked one. She made a soft sound, but did not try to push him away. In fact, she swayed toward him infinitesimally, almost as if it had been an involuntary reaction. He took a lot longer than necessary adjusting the temperature of the water.

When he leaned back, her glazed look had returned.

He smiled again and slowly undid the clasp on the front of her bra. He could feel the wild beat of her heart against the back of his hand. Keeping her gaze locked with his, he peeled the fabric back millimeter by millimeter. Her lips parted, and her breath panted out in short gasps as the backs of his fingers brushed the now exposed flesh of her breasts. Her beaded nipples had turned dark pink with engorged blood.

He put a palm against each one and rotated his hands until she was swaying again. "Do you like that?"

"Mmmm… "

He squeezed each creamy mound, and she arched against his hands, silently begging for more. Giving it to her was at the top of his list of priorities. He fondled her breasts until her head fell back, her eyes closed and her mouth opened on a silent, continuous moan.

Sliding one hand around her back and down to her buttocks, he lowered his mouth to claim hers again.

A man could get drunk on such sweetness.

He slipped his finger between her cheeks and then lower until he could feel the humid silkiness of her arousal.

He let his fingertip dip inside, and she went wild, arching into his body, thrusting her tongue into his mouth and locking her nails into his shoulders.

She taunted his tongue into sparring with hers in a mating dance that had him shaking with need in no time at all. He broke away from her and started stripping off his clothes.

When he was naked, she looked at him with an indecipherable expression in her eyes. "You are the sexiest man I have ever seen."

She said it with such seriousness that he didn't even try to shrug it off.

"Thank you."

He pushed her G-string down her legs and off. "Ready for your shower?"

"Yes."

He propelled her into the cubicle, and then he followed, not even trying to keep their bodies separated in the small space. He'd promised not to seduce her, but he hadn't promised not to give her pleasure.

He planned to give her lots of pleasure.

He started by washing her hair, massaging her scalp with rhythmic motions that made her groan. "That feels so good."

"Does it?"

"You're pretty talented with stuff like this for a man who doesn't date much."

Had he told her that? He supposed he had. It seems he'd told her all his secrets when he was drunk, and that was bothering him less and less.

"With you, honey, it's pretty much instinct."

She laughed and dropped her head back against his chest. "Right."

How could he explain? He wanted to make her feel good; he would do anything to give her pleasure. It didn't have anything to do with what he'd done to other women in the past. "What we have is unique."

It was the best he could do. He didn't want her arguing with him, or questioning something he himself did not understand, so he turned her around and rinsed all the suds from her long hair. He liked this position. It put her breasts right up against him, but it was also too damn dangerous if he wanted to keep his promise.