Oh, his eyes. They welcomed the moonlight like a lover. Pale they were, though she couldn’t make out the color. They stripped Cat naked and left her utterly defenseless.
“Señorita,” he said, touching the brim of his hat. “How may I assist you?”
Cat grabbed Kelpie’s stirrup and pulled herself to her feet, half afraid she might fall without the gelding to support her. The stranger spoke only the simplest of phrases, and yet his faintly accented voice raised goosebumps on her skin.
“It’s nothing,” she said thickly. “My horse…he stepped in a prairie dog hole. I’m taking him back to the ranch.”
“Indeed. Would that be the Blue Moon, señorita?”
His tone was mild and courteous, but the steadiness of his gaze unnerved her. She tried to calculate how much farther she and Kelpie had to go…how far she was from any help at all. She’d never thought to bring her pepper spray. She’d fight, of course, but he was all whipcord muscle and supple strength. She wouldn’t last long….
What in hell’s wrong with you? He’d offered no threat whatsoever. He wasn’t armed. He didn’t even have a horse that she could see.
“The Blue Moon, yes,” she said. “They’ll be waiting up for me.”
He smiled as if he fully recognized the false bravado in her words. “I have no doubt,” he said. He reached for Kelpie’s head. The gelding stood very still. Cat held her breath.
“So, querido.” The man stroked Kelpie’s muzzle, but his gaze remained on Cat. “Shall we see what ails you?” He knelt to examine the gelding’s leg, murmuring in Spanish all the while. “It is not so bad, mi amigo. A poultice, a few weeks’ rest…” He rose slowly. Cat felt as though he were running his hands over her body. “I will guide you back to the ranch, señorita,” he said.
“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary.”
“But you are traveling in the wrong direction,” he said. “Those who wait for you will surely worry.”
Was he mocking her? She drew up, all her anger against men spilling into her chest. “I’ll be all right.”
“Will you?” He moved closer. “It is not wise to travel alone, even in a place like this.”
He smelled, she thought, of sagebrush and horses and a unique, completely masculine scent that threatened to overwhelm her senses.
He was dangerous, but not in the way she’d feared.
“If you’ll point me in the right direction,” she said, “I’m sure I can make it the rest of the way.”
His dark brows lifted and his nostrils flared. Cat began to feel hot…hot in the face, in her belly, in between her legs. She could almost feel the pressure of those sensuous lips on hers, the thrust of his tongue, his hands slipping beneath her shirt to caress her nipples….
She swallowed hard. “Thank you, but no. I prefer to travel alone.”
For a moment his pale eyes flashed with something that might have been anger. Then he touched the brim of his hat again and gave a slight, ironic bow.
“As you wish.” He leaned toward Kelpie’s ear and whispered words Cat couldn’t hear. Kelpie nickered and nibbled at the stranger’s sleeve as he withdrew.
“Adiós,” he said, fading into the night the same way he had come. “We shall meet again, señorita.”
The silence was absolute. Even the wind had stilled. Cat pressed her hand to her chest, trying to quiet her racing heart. Remembering the man’s advice, she turned Kelpie around and started in the opposite direction. Two hours later she saw the lights of the ranch house. Turk ran out to meet her.
“Miss Cat! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. It’s Kelpie who’s hurt.”
Immediately Turk lifted the gelding’s leg. “Don’t look too bad.” He glanced up at Cat. “I’ll take care of Kelpie. You’d better get yourself into the house. Pilar’s worried sick over you.”
Cat gladly obeyed. Her mouth was dry as a desert, and she felt more than a little weak at the knees. The housekeeper greeted her with relief and good-natured scolding, which Cat accepted as her just due. She drank the cocoa Pilar set down in front of her and meekly retreated to the guest room.
No bed, no matter how luxurious, had ever looked so welcome. Cat stripped out of her dusty clothes, threw them across a chair, and climbed naked between the sheets. The plain cotton felt incredibly soft against her skin. Every movement awakened strong sensations, as if her nerves had been lit on fire. Her imagination conjured up vivid images of the stranger, spawning pictures of sleek muscle and a strong, angular face.
A face that looked at her out of the darkness, eyes burning with unreserved lust.
Cat tried to close her eyes, fighting the images and the reaction of her body. Finally exhaustion claimed her, and she slid gratefully into sleep.
She had never seen men like these before.
They came boldly into the village, sitting on great beasts with long necks and sweeping tails, the metal on their heads and chests gleaming in the sun. They smiled as they leaped from the backs of their mounts, speaking a tongue she had never heard.
The village headman welcomed them with courtesy and care, for he, too, had no knowledge of this tribe of pale-skinned warriors with their sharp-edged weapons. It was best to be safe until more was known about them.
For her, it was enough to know that a new excitement had come to the village. She watched the men with fascination as they removed the leather chairs from the great beasts’ backs and brushed the creatures’ coats until they gleamed. She stared in fascination as they shed their heavy clothing to reveal skin that surely had never been touched by the sun. She spied on the elders as they spoke with the strangers, and always her gaze was drawn to one among the foreign warriors.
He was tall compared to the villagers, though his hair was as black as that of the people. The shape of his face was different, but she found it handsome in its own way. His eyes drew her most, for they were the color of the first light of dawn.
One day he caught her watching him, though she had done her best not to let him see. He spoke to her in his stranger’s tongue, gently and with admiration in those pale eyes. Sometimes his companions seemed crude and loud, but he was not. She began to teach him the peoples’ language. He was a swift learner, and at last he began to speak the words she had longed to hear.
Too soon it was time for him and his companions to leave the village, to rejoin their tribe. She could not wait for him to return and for the marriage to take place. When he asked her to come with him into the forest, she went eagerly, knowing that what they were about to do would change her life forever….
Cat woke to the glory of an orgasm.
At first she wasn’t sure exactly what she was feeling. She’d almost forgotten what it was like; Neal hadn’t bothered to satisfy her in years. But she felt between her thighs and her fingers came away wet.
Panic sent her heart into overdrive. She sprang up and stood in the center of the room, searching every corner.
He wasn’t there. How could he be? He had been a dream, in a time and place that had seemed alien and yet utterly familiar.
A dream who had walked out of the shadows and into reality.
Cat sank into the chair and began to laugh. There was no reason for the levity except that she felt more than a little loco, and laughter seemed the best medicine for her ailment.
“Señora?”
Pilar was knocking on the door, undoubtedly alarmed by the racket. Cat put on her thick chenille robe and opened the door.
“I’m sorry to have disturbed you,” she said. “I’m all right. I just had a crazy dream.”