Dorothy Garlock - [Wyoming Frontier] by Nightrose Page B

breath, followed by deeper ones, as she waited for him to return and leave. She heard him coming and moved aside so that he could go out the doorway. He walked purposefully up behind her and stopped.
    “You have magnificent hair, Nightrose. I can’t wait to see it loose and hanging down your back . . . again.”
    She turned to look at him. She could see his eyes were full of laughter and her thoughts whirled.
    “Don’t be giving me any more of that gibberish about knowing me in another life. I’m not a complete fool even if I did let myself get stranded here.” She moved farther back from the door. “Good night,” she said pointedly.
    He reached for her hand. “Come out on the porch. I want to show you something.”
    “What?” she said, even as she let him draw her through the doorway and into the darkness.
    “It’s a hurdle we have to cross.” He turned her toward him.
    “A hurdle? I don’t—”
    He settled his lips against her mouth and breathed. “This hurdle.” She was pressed against his long length. His fingers slid into the hair at the back of her head to hold her mouth to his. The lips that touched hers were warm and gentle as they tingled across her mouth with fleeting kisses. The arms holding her gradually tightened as his feet moved apart to widen his stance. She felt herself being drawn against, then between, hard, muscular thighs that held hers.
    Katy came to her senses and struggled against him, but he refused to loosen his hold. His strength won and she ceased her efforts to escape. Soon she was incapable of movement or thinking and surrendered herself to the delicious floating feeling as his kiss became more possessive and deepened. Her lips parted, his tongue flirted with the inside of her lower lip, and his hand left her head to stroke gently down the curve of her back. She was breathless when he pulled his mouth from hers and raised his head only a fraction.
    “You see how it is, Nightrose?” His whisper was deep and husky. “The face of the earth may change, but that is all. You and I are together again in this place. We will love here, grow old here, die here. In time we’ll come back to another part of this earth and meet again. You are my mate, my love—”
    “You . . . are crazy—”
    “Put your arms around my neck and try not to resent me for springing this on you so suddenly. I’ve been looking for you a long, long time.”
    “No! Let me go.” She was breathless.
    He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Don’t fight it, sweetheart.” His hand moved up and down her back in a soothing motion. “Be still for just a little while and you’ll see how right it is.” The last words were spoken on her lips before his moved away to nuzzle into the hair at her temple.
    Gradually the stiffness went out of her body and she found herself leaning against him. She was tired. It had been so long since there had been anyone to lean on. How wonderful it would be to have a strong man to take over the burden of taking care of her and Mary and Theresa. She closed her eyes, telling herself that she didn’t have a chance against his strength, that she would rest for a moment.
    Katy could feel the strong thud of his heartbeat, smell the tangy smoke on his soft cotton shirt, feel his breath on her forehead. His hands stroked her from the nape of her neck down her spinal column to the curve of her hips. Strong fingers massaged every vertebra on the way. It was comforting, she admitted begrudgingly, to be sheltered in this man’s arms here in the darkness.
    Oh! For Christ’s sake! What was the matter with her. She didn’t behave this way . . . like a loose, fallen woman. She scarcely knew this man who was pressing her so intimately against him. She stiffened. Rowe sensed it immediately and loosened his hold, but not enough so that she could step away from him.
    “You’re worn out, Katy. There’ll be no more chopping wood for you, or carrying water to the cow. I’ll see that these