“I’m surprised Katie let you go long enough to take a stroll. Or is that why you were warm?” In the scant moonlight, it was hard to tell if Rachel was teasing or perhaps a bit . . . jealous.
“An annoying woman.”
“Really? Most men think she’s quite friendly.”
He’d had his fill of friendly women. His fiancée had been friendly, and he’d been stupid enough to believe that’s all she was. He never wanted to go through that hurt again. “I’m not most men.”
She acknowledged his answer with a slight tilt of her head, and the ghost of a smile. They strolled past a window, and the lamplight reflected the golden highlights in her brown hair. She’d done something special with it tonight, but all he wanted to do was take it down and run his fingers through the silky waves. Watch it spill over her bare shoulders. He discreetly shook his leg to adjust his trousers.
Other couples had decided to take the air. They passed several Rachel knew, and she stopped to introduce him. Much to his annoyance, a couple of the men gave her a more than friendly appraisal.
They returned to the dance hall just as a waltz struck up. Not wanting another man to claim her, he took her small hand in his and led her to the dance floor. She turned in his arms and settled her palm on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her close, the scent of something flowery drifting toward him. Her smile as she gazed up at him was his undoing. He quickly moved into the steps of the dance before he made a complete idiot of himself by hauling her against his chest and kissing the hell out of her.
The rest of the night passed with dodging Katie and trying to keep calm when several of the ranch cowboys asked Rachel to dance. Since she’d never attended any of these dances, the men were thrilled to see her enjoying herself. A little too thrilled, in some cases.
***
“Did you enjoy the dance?” Rusty asked as he pulled on the reins to stop the carriage in front of Rachel’s house.
“Yes, I did. I’m sorry I’ve missed them all these years.” A social life had never seemed important when she was so tired from cooking three meals a day for a bunch of hungry cowboys. Any energy left, she saved for her son.
She glanced at Rusty as he wrapped the leather straps around the dash rail. The scent of soap and clean linen from his starched shirt teased her nostrils. Heat from his body where his arm touched hers in the confined space alerted her senses. Her breasts began to tingle and her woman parts grew heavy and moist.
Not since she’d nursed Will all those years ago had her body responded to another person like this. His infant wails had set her nipples to leaking, much like her lower parts were softening now. Billy’s mere presence hadn’t given her the same reaction. Their loving had been pleasant, but nothing that she’d missed over the years.
Something deep inside told her intimacy with Rusty would be very different. She shivered at the image of his eyes piercing her as his strong, muscular body rested atop hers, joining them in pleasure. A burst of heat started in her tummy and raced to her cheeks, sweat breaking out on her brow, almost eliciting a moan.
“Are you cold?”
Cold? Lord, no. She was burning up with images she had no right to have about this man who was not her husband. “No.” Her dry mouth made it difficult to get the words out.
Rusty shifted and rested his arm on the back of the carriage seat. “It’s not that late. I could stand a snack. You have any pie at your place?”
“I do. But do we want to take a chance on waking the kids?”
“Absolutely not.” He leaned in close as if to tell her a great secret. “Here’s the plan. You sneak into your house, steal your own pie and hurry to my place where I’ll be making coffee.”
Mesmerized by his closeness, she whispered, “I’d rather have tea.”
He kissed the end of her nose. “Tea it is.”
He jumped down and helped her out of the carriage. Before she could take a single step, he pulled her into his arms and stared at her. “You know, in the moonlight you look different, ethereal, like a nighttime nymph.”
“I do?” Rusty was so close she could see the small stubble on his chin that he missed when he’d shaved. She fisted her hand to keep from reaching up to brush aside the hair that fell on his forehead. Her heart thumped so hard she was sure that alone would wake Will and Amelia. She had to get herself under control.
Before her thoughts cleared, he bent his head and brushed her lips lightly with his own. “Don’t be long.”
A slight shake of her head was all she managed before he released her and turned on his heel toward his house. She watched his familiar swagger for a moment, then taking a deep breath, she walked on shaky legs to her front door. A small lamp burned at the entrance, the only light in the house. She listened for a minute, but all was quiet.
After checking Amelia and Will, who were both fast asleep, she took the rest of the pie from the small icebox in the kitchen and headed to the door. Resting her hand on the doorknob, she hesitated. If she walked out this door into Rusty’s house, something would change tonight. She sensed it, her insides throbbing with feelings she’d never experienced before. The awareness between them had shifted.
Both fearful and excited at what the next step would be, she took a deep breath and twisted the doorknob.
Chapter Nine
Rusty waited for her in the doorway of his house. The scant light behind him illuminated his body, the dark outline mesmerizing. He lounged against the doorframe, arms crossed, his shoulder against the wood. The fluttering in Rachel’s stomach grew, waves of awareness washing over her as she moved toward him, her body like a piece of metal to his magnet.
He straightened and reached out for the pie. “I’ll put this in the kitchen.”