Twin Seduction

She drew back, looked into his eyes. And she would have agreed to anything he wanted. “Okay.”

He touched his mouth to hers, and though his impulse was to devour, he didn’t. Instead, he used his tongue to trace the outline of her lips. Then he toyed with them—nibbling at the corners, nipping on her bottom lip.

Slipping his hands into her hair, he held her in place as he kissed her, slowly, thoroughly. There were flavors here he’d never lingered over. First he feasted on the initial tartness, then that incredible sweetness. It reminded him of the homemade lemonade his mother had fixed for him when he was a child. Addictive. He’d never been able to stop drinking it until the glass had been drained.

When he felt her body go lax and her legs slipped away from his waist, a simmering heat shot straight to his center. But he banked it down as he took his mouth on a lazy journey over her face, reacquainting himself with every angle and curve. Her breath caught and released, caught and released. Each time it did, his own pulse quickened.

Using his tongue, he traced her ear and whispered, “So far, what do you think?”

“I can’t…I just…want…”

Cash drew back then and looked into her eyes. Confusion, need and arousal made an incredible aphrodisiac. But he didn’t want to end it yet. When her head dropped back, he cupped it in one hand and began to explore her neck and shoulders. Even beneath the sheen of water, he could smell her scent, an exotic fragrance he suspected wasn’t a perfume. It was subtle at her throat, stronger as he made his way to the valley between her breasts. She still wore the lacy bra, but through the sheer material he saw her nipple. When he closed his mouth over it and used teeth and tongue, she spoke his name in a strangled gasp.

There was so much heat, Jordan didn’t think she could absorb any more. Any minute, she was going to turn into steam and vanish. But as he lifted her and took his mouth on a journey down to her stomach, she discovered she could. Her vision hazed. The world around her became dark. And oh, she could feel him. There was nothing but his mouth, his lips and the vivid sensations he was bringing her.

The water was cool on his skin, but she was so hot that his legs had begun to weaken again. His arms, too, he thought as he lowered her into the water. Time was running out. He shifted her, wrapping her legs around him once more.

“Jordan.”

Her eyes opened and locked on his. They were still clouded with the pleasure he’d brought her.

“I’m going to take you now.”

Her voice was thick when she spoke. “Let’s take each other.”

That simple sentence very nearly had his knees buckling. Gripping her hips, he slipped inside her. His heart nearly stopped when he felt her heat slip over him, surround him.

For a moment as her legs locked tightly around him, he swayed, stunned by the need that shot through him. If it hadn’t been for the water, he would have raced hard to the finish. But he couldn’t. Neither could she, though he could see she was trying.

Hampered by the water, the rhythm they created was slow, steady. As he looked into her eyes, he knew she was his. He was hers. And all the time, the pleasure built and built. When it was about to peak, he gripped her close against him and staggered with her to the edge of the pool. Kneeling, he settled her beneath him in the shallows and took her mouth with his.

Finally, they could both move the way they wanted to, had to. Faster and faster. His mouth was still pressed to hers when she tightened impossibly around him and cried out his name. His, he thought. He joined her in a shattering release.

AN HOUR LATER, Cash rode side by side with Jordan through the winding canyon. It was closing in on seven o’clock and he figured they had a couple of hours of daylight left. Still time enough to see if they could locate Pete. They’d lingered near the pond longer than they should have, but he’d been reluctant to leave. She’d been so carefree while they’d been there.

After they’d shared the sandwiches he’d packed, they’d taken a swim and then made love once more. But when they’d mounted up, Jordan had grown silent again. She was regrouping. And unless he was mistaken, she was building up a little wall of protection around herself.From what little she’d said about her mother, he was coming to understand that Eva Ware had been totally focused on her work. He’d seen the same characteristic in Maddie. But Maddie had grown up with a father who’d spent a lot of time with her. A father who’d enjoyed spending time with his daughter.

He was guessing that Jordan hadn’t grown up with a parent like that. It had made her cautious. He figured with a little time, he could work his way around cautious. Problem was, all he had was a little time.

“Penny for your thoughts,” he said.

She glanced at him. “We’ll have to turn back soon, won’t we?”

That hadn’t been what she was thinking, but he let it pass. “I figure we can go another mile or so. If we don’t locate Pete tonight, I’ll send one of my men out tomorrow to make a thorough sweep of the canyon.”

She nodded and turned her head to search the canyon walls. “There seem to be more caves in this section.”

“Some of them are rumored to be old turquoise mines. That’s why Pete frequents the place. Navajos were mining turquoise in New Mexico long before the Spaniards and the white man settled here.”

When they turned the next corner of the canyon, they saw a horse, standing to one side.

Cash urged his own mount forward. “That’s Pete’s horse.”

As they approached, the horse whinnied and pawed the ground. Cash scanned the cliffs. Without any direct sunlight, the walls on either side were deeply shadowed. It was Jordan who finally spotted something.

“Up there.” She pointed a finger. “I see something red.”

“Pete always wears a red neckerchief. It’s his trademark.” Cash dismounted and anchored his reins with a few rocks. “Stay with the horses. I’ll climb up and see.”

It took him only a few minutes to reach the ledge of rock where Pete lay. The old man was white as a sheet. His breathing was thready and ragged, but there was a steady pulse at his throat. Cash glanced behind him and called down to Jordan, “He’s alive.”

Then he glanced above. There was a ledge about fifty feet above him. From the looks of it, the old man had taken a fall.

He considered his options. He didn’t know how badly Pete was hurt, and the cliff he’d just climbed up was tricky enough without carrying someone down on his shoulder.

He took out his cell. They were nearly at the point where the canyon passed onto Landry land. The satellite signal should be stronger here than it had been on the Farrell Ranch. He said a brief prayer and punched in a number.

It rang twice. On the third ring, Shay Alvarez picked up. Cash explained the situation. “I’m about a half mile from where the canyon empties onto Landry land. We don’t have much daylight left.”

“I’ll have someone there as soon as I can. If you can build some kind of signal fire, it will help.”

Turning, he yelled to Jordan. “Help is on the way.”

“There’s a blanket on the back of his horse,” she called. “I’ll bring it up.”

It was while he was waiting for Jordan to join him that he noticed how battered and bloody Pete’s hands were—as if someone had stomped on them. He glanced up at the face of the cliff above him. Not a fall, he thought.

When Jordan reached him, he showed her the damage to the old man’s hands.

“It wasn’t an accident,” she said.

“Doesn’t look like it.” He tucked the blanket around Pete, then said, “Why don’t you stay with him while I build a signal fire.”

Saying nothing, she knelt and gently covered one of the man’s battered hands with hers.

No panic. No questions. She was some woman, Cash thought as he climbed back down to the horses.

10

TWO HOURS LATER, Jordan paced in a waiting room. The medics had been fast and efficient, arriving on the scene in just over thirty minutes. Then she and Cash had had to ride the horses back to the ranch and drive into Santa Fe.

They were on the outskirts when her cell phone had rung. She’d thought it might be Maddie and wondered just how much she should tell her sister, but it had been Jase’s brother D.C. His plane had landed. She’d filled him in on where they were headed and why, and he’d agreed to meet them at the hospital.She wasn’t alone in the room. Nearby, a woman sat patiently knitting, and there were groups scattered throughout the area, some engaged in hushed conversation, others silently drinking coffee. Occasionally a man or a woman in scrubs would enter the room and approach one of the groups.

In a corner, a TV offering a continuous and muted loop of news hung from a bracket. She glanced out the open archway to a nurse’s station where she could see Cash attempting to charm information out of one of the aides.

Usually, pacing helped get her thoughts in order. But she was having trouble getting her mind around the series of events that had occurred since she’d first walked through the front door of her father’s ranch.

Was the attack on Pete Blackthorn related to the vandalism that had been happening at the ranch? To the attacks on her? Or was it merely a coincidence that someone had shoved him off that cliff and then made sure that he couldn’t climb up or down again?