Eve’s wild, futile fighting did nothing but wear her out and make her desperate for air. Yet when she tried to breathe, she couldn’t, for Reno’s weight was too great to shift from her chest even the bare inch she needed.
The world began to go gray, then black, receding from her in a rush, spinning away.
The small, frightened sound Eve made as she felt herself fainting did what none of her struggles had accomplished. Reno lifted his head and body just enough to allow her to breathe.
«That’s your second lesson,» Reno said calmly when Eve’s dazed gold eyes focused on him once more.
«What — what do — you mean?» she gasped.
«I’m faster than you are. That was your first lesson. I’m stronger than you are. That was your second lesson. And the third lesson…»
«W-What?»
Reno smiled oddly, looked at Eve’s trembling lips, and said huskily, «The third lesson was mine to learn.»
He saw her wide, confused eyes and smiled again.
This time Eve understood why the smile seemed odd to her. It was much too gentle to belong to a man like Reno Moran.
«I learned that you taste hotter than whiskey and sweeter than wine,» he said simply.
Before Eve could say anything, Reno lowered his head once more.
«This time give it back to me, gata. I like it hot and deep.»
«What?» Eve asked, wondering if she had lost her mind.
«Your tongue,» he said against her open mouth. «Take that quick little tongue and rub it over mine.»
For an instant Eve thought she had heard wrong.
Reno took her sudden stillness for agreement. He lowered his head and made a husky sound of pleasure as he tasted her once more.
The sound Eve made was pure surprise at the gliding caress. For the space of a heartbeat she felt like a pearl being delicately held by a powerful hand. Then she remembered where she was and who Reno was and all the warnings Donna had given her about the nature of men and what they wanted from women.
Eve jerked her head aside, but not before she had felt the hot, textured surface of his tongue rubbing over her own.
«No,» Eve said urgently, frightened again.
But this time it was herself she feared, for a curious weakness had shot through her at the caressing touch of Reno’s tongue.
Donna Lyon had warned her bond servant about what men wanted from women, but she had never warned Eve that women might want the same thing from men.
«Why not?» Reno asked calmly. «You liked kissing me.»
«No.»
«Like hell, gata. I could feel it.»
«You’re — you’re a gunfighter and a thief.»
«You’re half-right. I’ve fought with my gun. But as for being a thief, I’m only taking what is rightfully mine — the pearls, the ring, the journal, and the girl with the golden eyes.»
«It wasn’t a fair poker game,» Eve said desperately as Reno bent down to her once more.
«Not my fault. I wasn’t the one dealing.»
Reno brushed his mouth lazily over Eve’s and listened to the surprised rush of air between her lips.
«But —» she began.
«Hush,» Reno said, cutting off Eve’s protest by biting her lower lip gently. «I won you and I’m going to have you.»
«No. Please, don’t.»
«Don’t worry.» Slowly Reno released Eve’s lip. «You’ll like it. I’ll see to it.»
«Let me go,» Eve said urgently.
«Not a chance. You’re mine until I say otherwise.»
He smiled and kissed the frantic pulse in her throat.
«If you’re real nice,» he said in a low voice, «I’ll let you go after a few nights.»
«Mr. Moran, please, I didn’t mean to lose the bet. It’s just that Mr. Slater was watching too closely.»
«So was I.»
Reno lifted his head and looked down at Eve curiously.
«You dealt every card of mine off the bottom of the deck,» he said. «Why?»
Eve spoke quickly, trying to keep Reno’s attention on anything but the sultry, sexual heat that made his eyes burn like gems.
«I knew Raleigh King and Jericho Slater,» she said. «I didn’t know you.»
«So you set me up to be killed while you ran off with the pot.»
Eve couldn’t help the guilty flush that crept up her cheeks.
«I didn’t mean it to turn out that way,» she said.
«But it almost did, and you didn’t do a damn thing to stop it.»
«I shot at Steamboat when he was drawing down on you!»
«With what?» Reno scoffed. «Did you throw a gold coin at him?»
«My derringer. I keep it in my skirt pocket.»
«Handy. Do you have to shoot your way out of many card games?» Reno asked.
«No.»
«Pretty good cheater, huh?»
«I don’t cheat! Not usually, anyway. I just…»
Her voice died.
Amused and skeptical at Eve’s difficulty in finding the right words to explain how she was innocent when both of them knew she wasn’t, Reno lifted one black eyebrow and waited for her to continue.
«I didn’t know until too late that Slater knew I was cheating,» Eve admitted unhappily. «I knew he was cheating, but I couldn’t catch him at it. So I lost to you when I should have stayed in and called Slater.»
«The emerald ring,» Reno said, nodding. «With the cards you threw in, you should have hung around for at least one draw. But you didn’t. So I won that hand, because Slater hadn’t had time to deal himself the rest of his full house.»
Eve blinked, surprised by Reno’s quickness. «Are you a gambler?»
He shook his head.
«Then how did you know what Slater was doing?» she persisted.
«Simple. When he dealt, he won. Then you started dropping out too soon, and I started winning hands I shouldn’t have.»
«Your mama didn’t raise any stupid children, did she?» muttered Eve.
«Oh, I’m one of the slow ones,» Reno said in a lazy drawl. «You should see my older brothers, especially Rafe.»
Eve blinked as she tried to imagine anyone faster than Reno. She couldn’t.
«All through explaining?» Reno asked politely.
«What?»
«This.»
Reno bent just enough to cover Eve’s mouth with his own. When he felt her tighten beneath him as though to fight again, he settled more heavily on her, reminding her of the lesson she had already learned: When it came to a contest of strength, she didn’t have a chance against Reno Moran.
Tentatively Eve relaxed, wondering if Reno would release her if she didn’t fight him.
Immediately the overwhelming pressure of his body lifted until it was little more than a warm, disturbingly sensual contact from her shoulders to her feet.
«Now kiss me back,» Reno whispered.
«Then you’ll let me go?»
«Then we’ll negotiate some more.»
«And if I don’t kiss you?»
«Then I’ll take what is already mine, and to hell with what you want.»
«You wouldn’t,» she whispered weakly.
«Care to bet?»
Eve looked into the cool green eyes so close to her own and realized that she never should have allowed Reno Moran to sit down at her poker table.
She was very good at reading most people, but not this man. Right now she couldn’t tell if he was bluffing or telling her the simple truth.
Don Lyon’s sage advice rang in Eve’s mind: When you can’t tell if a man is running a bluff, and you can’t afford the ante if you lose, then fold your cards and wait for a better deal.
3
With trembling lips, Eve lifted her head to give Reno the kiss he had demanded. After a quick pressure of her mouth against his, she retreated, her heart beating wildly.