No Risk Refused

Without speaking, she got off the bed, as well, and they worked together to take off his clothes. Not too fast this time. The shirt came first, and when her hand encountered that firm warm flesh, she absorbed the first shock of heat. It took them longer to discard the jeans and shoes. But there was more pleasure as she watched the denim move down narrow hips and strong thighs.

When he was naked, he surprised her by lifting her off of her feet and then lowering them both to the bed. “My turn,” he murmured. “I want to look and touch.”

And he delivered on the words, tracing her face with his fingers, rubbing her lower lip with his thumb, then trailing it lower to her throat where her pulse beat so fast.

“Your skin is so delicate looking in the candlelight. Like one of the porcelain dolls my mother used to keep locked away in a cabinet. She wouldn’t allow my brothers and me to touch them for fear they’d break.”

“I won’t break.”

“I know.” He brushed his thumb over her collarbone, then moved his hand down the silk camisole to where it skimmed the tops of her thighs. “I think it’s always been the contrasts in you that fascinate me. I thought of touching you like this the day of the wedding. Here.” He trailed his fingers down her thigh, then up again and beneath the lacy hem of the nightie.

“Here.” He began to trace a lazy pattern over her panties. Layer after layer of pleasure radiated through her from the clever movement of his fingers.

She arched up, trying to get him to the right spot, then went totally limp when he pushed the lace aside and slipped two fingers into her.

Only then did he lower his mouth to hers. As he slowly took the kiss deeper, matching the movements of his lips and tongue to the rhythm of his fingers, Adair felt everything else slip away.

There was only Cam. There was only this incredible pleasure he alone could give her.

As he guided her slowly higher and higher, he felt the surrender. Savored it, wanted to prolong it. But the first thread of his control slipped.

She was his. Knowing that, treasuring that, he had no thought but to give her more. And to take more.

As greed built, as the need to possess grew, his kiss became more demanding. Linking her arms around his neck, she moved with him, demanding more, taking more and more. His pulse pounded in faster and wilder rhythms as she fisted around his fingers. He knew the moment the pleasure grew unbearably tight inside of her, felt her shudder beneath him when it broke free.

Her arms were still around him holding him tight when he raised his head. “Look at me, Adair.”

Her eyes, still filled with the pleasure he’d given her, met his.

“My turn again,” he said. Then he let control snap.

The soft, dreamy pleasure he’d trapped her in vanished the instant he drove into her. The shock of his fast powerful thrusts, the glory of it had her crying out, wanting more. And he gave her more. Gave them both more.

Aroused. Thrilled. She met the demand, matching his unreasonable speed beat for beat. Her orgasm was fast too, ripping through her, then lingering in little aftershocks, until it erupted again when he reached his own release.

Afterward, when he could think again, Cam found that she was still beneath him, holding him tight. When he shifted to the side so that he wasn’t crushing her, she snuggled into him.

“Don’t go.”

The words were barely a whisper, but they triggered a warmth that spread through him like a slow-moving river. He’d had no intention of leaving her to go back to his own bed, he realized, as he tugged up the covers.

That was a first for him, too. Though he couldn’t explain it, watching her fall asleep on his shoulder in the flickering candlelight felt quite simply right. He lay there absorbing the feeling, relishing it, until her breathing had steadied and he was sure she slept. Slipping quietly from the bed, he retrieved his cell phone, then moved out onto the balcony of her room as he punched in his brother Duncan’s number.

Duncan picked up after the first ring. “Trouble or a favor?”

Cam laughed softly. “We always call each other for the same reasons, don’t we?”

“What are brothers for? Which is it?”

“A favor,” Cam said. “If you’re still in Montana?”

“Until tomorrow. I’m still fishing, but if you need—”

“The favor I need you for is in Montana.” He gave Duncan the short version of the situation at the castle, the wedding problem, and then explained what he had in mind. “Can you do it?”

“It’s an extraction operation, right?” Duncan asked. “You want me to go to the Carlson Horse Ranch and bring this Dr. Barry Carlson to Castle MacPherson. Doesn’t the CIA usually send in a team to do this kind of thing?”

“It’s not a CIA operation. And it has nothing to do with the sapphire earring or the other problems here at the castle. It’s personal.”

“How soon do you need him?”

“In the morning would be nice. Afternoon would do it. How soon can you get him here?”

Duncan snorted. “If I were Commander of the Starship Enterprise, I could beam him to you in a matter of moments.”

Cam didn’t reply because he could almost hear the wheels in his brother’s head beginning to whir. Although it was the research angle that had drawn his brother to the FBI profiling unit, Duncan was very effective in the field.

“What are you planning?” Cam finally asked.

“I’ve got the location of the farm. It’s about an hour from Billings, hour and a half from where I am. I’ll have a couple of scenarios in mind by the time I get there.”

“I just bet you will.”

“Luckily I still have our team’s private jet at my disposal, but you are going to owe me big-time for this.”

“Keep me posted,” Cam said.

“Ditto.”

After disconnecting, Cam quietly slipped back into bed with Adair.

* * *

ADAIR HUMMED A little tune in her head as she stepped out of her room into the hallway. It was the first time in her life that she’d ever started the day with lovemaking, the first time she’d ever showered with a man. The first time she’d ever been in love.

That last little item on her mental list had her stumbling down the last step onto the landing above the foyer.

In love? When she felt that little flutter again right under her heart, she pressed a hand hard against her chest. The gesture did nothing to stop the sprint of panic. She was not in love with Cam Sutherland. He was her fantasy fling.

And she could not think about this right now. It didn’t help that her gaze was fixed on the foyer where she and Cam had rolled on the floor that first night.

Which was barely a day and a half ago.

Don’t think about it.

With her free hand she dragged a list out of her pocket. At nine o’clock Sheriff Skinner was supposed to arrive for an update. By eleven the caterers would arrive. And by one in the afternoon Bunny and Rexie Maitland and the wedding party would be here for photos.

But the first thing she needed was coffee. Taking a sharp right, she hurried down the hallway to the kitchen, then stopped short in the doorway.

Daryl Garnett and her Aunt Vi were locked in an embrace.

Before she could recover enough to make a quick retreat, Daryl drew away. “Adair is here.”

Vi turned and beamed a smile at her.

Daryl signaled Alba, who was stretched out near the terrace doors. “I’ll take the dog out for a run.”

Even after Daryl had shut the sliders behind him, Adair still couldn’t think of what to say. And she almost always could.

“I’ve shocked you,” Vi said, a blush rising in her cheeks.

“No.” Adair went to her then and took her hands. “You really like him, don’t you?”

“Yes. Don’t you?”

“Yes.” Adair realized that it was true. She’d liked Daryl from the moment he’d walked down that incline and greeted Cam with a hug. “Cam thinks the world of him.”

“When I first saw him, he reminded me a bit of Clint Eastwood—the Dirty Harry movies—dangerous, competent. He knew just what to do with Alba, finding the bump on her head, checking her eyes.”

She turned then to look through the glass doors as Daryl threw a stick. Alba raced off to fetch it. “She loves him now.”

It certainly seemed so, Adair thought as the dog raced back to drop the stick at Daryl’s feet. He crouched down, and she licked his face lavishly.

“I love him, too,” Vi said.

Adair stared at her aunt, uneasiness and happiness making a queasy mix in her stomach. “You’re serious.”

“Yes.” Vi met her eyes and smiled. “It was love at first sight. I thought that only happened in books or movies or for Angus One and Eleanor. But I think I fell in love with Daryl from the moment he took my hand and told Cam that we’d go find Alba.”

She drew Adair with her to the table so they could both sit down. “It makes my knees weak to think about it. And I know exactly what you’re going to say.”