"Because I swore that if he did, I'd kill him."
An emotion zephyred between them. It was so strong it
knocked the breath out of her and made her chest ache. She
uttered an involuntary, wordless sound. Her fingers momentarily
relaxed in the cloth of his shirt, only to grip it tighter
and draw him nearer. Her back arched off the bed again, not
in an attempt to throw him off, but to get closer.
He sank his fingers into her hair, tilted his dark-blond head,
and pressed his open mouth against hers. Her lips were parted
and damp and receptive. He sent his tongue deep into her
mouth.
Frantically, she worked her arms out of her coat sleeves
and locked them around the back of his neck. He raised his
head suddenly and looked down at her. There were dark
shadows from weeping beneath her eyes, but the blue irises
were crystal clear as they steadily gazed back at him. She
knew exactly what she was doing. That's all he needed to
know.
He ran his thumb over her lips, which were moist and
swollen from his hard kiss. All he could think about was
kissing her again, harder, and he did.
Her throat was arched and vulnerable to his lips when they
left hers. He drew her skin lightly against his teeth, then
soothed it with whisks of his tongue. He nuzzled her ear and
the base of her neck, and when her clothing got in his way,
he pulled her to a sitting position and peeled her sweater over
her head.
As they lay back down, their breathing was loud and uneven,
the only sound in the room. He unclasped her bra and
pushed the cups aside.
His fingers skimmed over her flesh, which was warm and
flushed with arousal. He cupped one breast, pushed it up,
and took the center between his lips. He sucked it with enough
pressure to elicit a tingle in her womb, but with enough finesse
to tantalize. When the nipple drew taut, he nicked it roughly
with the tip of his tongue.
Alex cried his name in panic and joy. He buried his face
between her breasts and held her close while he rolled her
above him and fought his way out of his jacket at the same
time. She began tearing free the buttons of his shirt. He
unzipped and unbuttoned her skirt, then shoved it down over
her hips, taking her half-slip along with it. Alex ran her fingers
through the thick pelt of hair on his chest, dropped random
kisses on his supple muscles, and rubbed her cheek against
his distended nipple.
They reversed positions again. She managed to get off her
shoes and stockings before he stretched out on top of her.
He placed his hand low on her belly and slid it down into
her underpants.
His hand covered her mound completely and possessively.
With his thumb, he parted the lips of her sex and exposed
the tight, responsive kernel of flesh. His fingertips dipped
into her creaminess and anointed that tiny nub with the dew
of her own desire.
When she moaned her pleasure, he bent his head and kissed
her stomach. Removing her panties, he nuzzled the fiery dark
curls between her thighs and touched her with his open mouth.
Clumsily, he undid his fly and, taking her hand, pressed
it against his erection. He hissed a curse when her fist closed
tightly around him. Nudging her thighs apart, he settled himself
between them.
The smooth tip of his penis slipped between the folds of
her body. He covered her breasts with his hands and lightly
ground the raised centers with his palms. He gave a steady,
smooth thrust of his hips that should have planted him firmly
inside her.
It didn't.
He readjusted his hips slightly and tried again, encountering
the same resistance. Levering himself up, he stared at her
with disbelief. "You mean . . . ?"
Her breath was choppy, and her eyes fluttered in an effort
to stay focused on him. She was making small yearning noises
in her throat. Her hands moved restlessly, searchingly, over
his chest and neck and cheeks. Her fingertips glanced his
lips.
The utter sexiness of all that and the satiny heat that was
gloving him so tightly were his undoing. He applied more
pressure and sank into her completely. Her ragged sigh of
surprise and discovery was the most erotic sound he'd ever
heard. It inflamed him.
"Christ," he groaned. "Oh, Christ."
Mating instincts took over and he moved his hips against
hers with the ancient compulsion to possess and fill. Sandwiching
her head between his hands, he kissed her mouth
with rampant carnality. His climax was an avalanche of sensation.
It was soul-shuddering. It seemed to go on forever
. . . and it still wasn't long enough.
Several minutes elapsed before he roused himself enough
to disengage. He didn't want to, but when he gazed down at
her, any thoughts of prolonging their coupling fled.
She was lying with her head turned away, one cheek on
the pillow. She looked fragile and haunted. Looking down
at the faint pulse in her throat, seeing the bruise his kiss had
branded there, Reede felt like a rapist. Filled with regret and
self-loathing, he worked his fingers free of the snare of her
hair.
They both reacted violently to the knock on the door. Alex
quickly reached for the rumpled bedspread and pulled it over
herself. Reede's feet landed hard on the floor. He hiked his
jeans up over his hips.
"Reede, you in there?"
"Yeah," he called through the door.
"I, uh, I got Ms. Gaither's keys here. Remember, you
told me to--"
The deputy broke off when Reede opened the door. "I
remember." He extended his hand through the crack and the
deputy dropped the keys into them. "Thanks," he said
tersely, and closed the door.
He tossed the keys on the round table in front of the window.
The clatter they made when they landed on the wood
veneer was as loud as a cymbal's crash. Reede bent down to
retrieve his shirt and jacket, which he'd slung over the side
of the bed at some point that escaped his memory now. As
he pulled them on, he spoke to Alex over his shoulder.
"I know you're hating yourself right now, but it might
make you feel better to know that I wish it hadn't happened
either."
She turned her head and gave him a long, searching look.
She looked for compassion, tenderness, love. His features
remained impassive, his eyes those of a stranger. There was
no softness or feeling in his remote gaze. He seemed untouched
and untouchable.
Alex swallowed hard, burying her hurt. In retaliation for
his aloofness, she said, "Well, we're even now, Sheriff. You
saved my life before I was born." She paused, then added
huskily, "And I just gave you what you always wanted, but
never got, from my mother."
Reede curled his hands into fists, as though he wanted to
strike her. Then, with jerky, disjointed motions, he finished
dressing. At the open door, he turned back. "Whatever your
reason for doing it, thanks. For a virgin, you were a fairly
good fuck."
Thirty-six
Junior slid into the orange vinyl booth of the Westerner Motel's
coffee shop. His engaging smile collapsed the instant
he saw Alex's face. "Darling, are you sick?"
She smiled wanly. "No. Coffee?" she asked, signaling
the waitress.
' 'Please,'' he told her distractedly. When the waitress tried
to hand him a large, plastic menu, he waved it off. "Just
coffee."
After she had poured him a cup, he leaned across the table
and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I was real tickled to
hear from you this morning, but something is obviously very
wrong. You're as pale as a sheet."
"You ought to see me without the sunglasses.'' She bobbed
them up and down in an attempt at humor that fell flat.
"What's the matter?"
She leaned back against the bright vinyl and turned her
head to gaze through the tinted window. It was bright outside;
her sunglasses wouldn't appear out of place. That about exhausted
the merits of this day. "Reede told me about Celina's
attempted abortion."
At first, Junior said nothing. Then, he cursed expansively
beneath his breath. He sipped his coffee, started to say something
he thought better of, and finally, shook his head in
apparent disgust. "What the hell's wrong with him? Why'd
he tell you about that?"
"So, it's true?"
He lowered his head and stared into his coffee. "She was
only seventeen, Alex, and pregnant by a guy she didn't even
love, a guy on his way to Saigon. She was scared. She--"
"I know the pertinent facts, Junior," she interrupted impatiently.
"Why do you always defend her?"
"Habit, I guess."
Alex, ashamed of her outburst, took a moment to compose
herself. "I know why she did it. It's just incomprehensible
to me that she could."
"To us, too," he admitted reluctantly.
"Us?"
"To Reede and me. He gave her only two days to recover
before he and I flew her back to El Paso to take care of it."
He sipped his coffee. "We met out at the airstrip, right after
sunset."
Alex had asked Reede if he'd ever taken Celina flying at
night. "Once," he had told her. Celina had been scared, he'd
said. "He stole a plane?"
"Borrowed is what he called it. I think Moe knew what
Reede was up to, but he looked the other way. We landed
in El Paso, rented a car, and drove to the army base. Reede
bribed the guards into telling Al Gaither that he had relatives
waiting to see him. He was off duty, I guess. Anyway, he
came to the gate and we, uh, talked him into getting in the
car with us."
"What happened?"
He looked at her, shamefaced. ' 'We took him to a deserted
spot and beat the shit out of him. I was afraid Reede was
going to kill him. He probably would have, if Celina hadn't
been there. She was practically hysterical."
"You coerced him into marrying her?"
"That same night. We drove across the border into
Mexico." He shook his head wryly at the memory of it.
"Gaither was barely conscious enough to recite his vows.
Reede and I supported him between us through the ceremony,
then dumped him back at the gate of Fort Bliss."
"One thing puzzles me. Why did Reede insist on Celina
getting married?"
"He kept saying he wouldn't let her baby be born a bastard."
Alex looked at him intently from behind her shaded glasses.
"Then, why didn't he marry her himself?"
"He asked her."
"So, what was the problem?"
"Me. I asked her, too." Seeing her confusion, he blew
out his breath. "This all happened the morning following
the, uh--"
"I understand. Go on."
"Celina was still real shaken up and said she couldn't think
clearly. She begged us to stop badgering her. But Reede said
she had to get married in a hurry, or everybody would find
out what had happened."
"Everybody found out anyway," she said.
"He wanted to protect her from the gossip as long as
possible."
"I must be dense, but I still can't figure it. Celina has two
men who love her begging her to get married. Why didn't
she?"
"She refused to choose between us." A furrow of concentration
formed between his brows. "You know, Alex,
that's the first smart, adult decision Celina ever made. We
were seniors in high school. God knows Reede didn't have
any money. I did, but my folks would have gone ape shit if
I'd've gotten married before I even graduated, especially with
Celina carrying another man's baby.
"She had another reason, though, more important than
finances or parental approval. She knew that if she chose one
of us over the other, it would alter the friendship forever.
There would be an odd man out. When it came right down
to it, she wouldn't break up the triangle. Funny, isn't it? That
happened anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"It was never quite the same between the three of us after
we got back from El Paso. We were on guard all the time,
where before, we were always nakedly honest with each
other."
His voice turned sad. "Reede didn't see as much of her
as I did while she was pregnant, and that wasn't very often.
We were busy with school and she stayed close to home.
Oh, we went through the motions of still being best buddies,
but when we were together, we tried too hard to pretend that
everything was normal.
"That night she tried to abort you stood between us like
a solid wall. None of us could ever go up, over, around, or
through it. It was there. Conversations became an effort.
Laughter was forced."
"But, you didn't desert her."
"No. The day you were born, Reede and I rushed to the hospital. Besides your grandmother, we were the first people
you were introduced to."
"I'm glad of that," she said thickly.
"So am I."
"If I'd been Celina, I would have snagged one of you
when I had the chance."
His grin slowly faded. "Reede stopped asking."