Tell Me Your Secrets...

This is what I’d been craving—the fury, the fire, the freedom. I yanked at his shirt, pulling it free of his jeans and ran my hands up his back, exploring the steely strength of those muscles.

Roughly, he bit my bottom lip and more flames shot to life inside of me. I could feel everything—the hard ground beneath my back, the sharp press of pebbles through the thin silk of my blouse. With each breath, I drew in the scent of wildflowers, horses and Sloan. I saw the play of light and shadow over my closed eyelids.

And his taste—I couldn’t seem to get enough of the endless flavors that I found each time he kissed me. There was always something new, some elusive nuance that I hadn’t sampled before. This time I tasted anger, but there was also desire—hot, dark, restless. And addicting.

My whole world narrowed to this moment, to him, to us and what we could bring each other.

He rolled over suddenly so that I was straddling him and he began work on my clothes, pulling the buttons loose. I heard the erotic sound of silk tearing as I struggled with his belt. Once I yanked his shirt up, he rose to help me pull it off. We discarded clothes, hands grasping, groping, fumbling, growing more and more desperate.

Free at last, he rolled me beneath him again and took his hands on another lethal journey. I thought he’d shown me everything before, but he unveiled more secrets as he began to use his mouth on me.

Each one of my muscles melted, my bones liquefied, and one shudder after another racked my body as Sloan took his lips and teeth on a journey down my torso, my stomach and inner thigh and finally up again. He was taking things from me, things I’d never get back, and I only wanted to give him more.

My fingers were digging into his shoulders, my voice crying out his name when he finally put his mouth to my center. The climax slammed into me, a hard, bare-fisted punch that sent me flying higher and higher into a spiral that it seemed I might never come out of. I was still shuddering when he rose over me to sheathe himself in the condom.

I should have been sated, but I wanted more.

He positioned himself between my legs, then framed my face with his hands. “I want you.”

“Take me,” I said.

He thrust into me, quick and hard, and then we began to move piston quick. With each second, with each thrust, there was more and more pleasure, seemingly endless until we shot headlong over that final airless peak—and shattered.

AFTERWARD, WE LAY TOGETHER on the ground. Somehow, I’d ended up sprawled across his chest with no clear memory of how I’d gotten there. My head rested on his shoulder, my hand on his chest. I could feel his heart beat fast and steady beneath my hand, hear the sound of his breathing in my ear. Above that came the sound of the stream, the rustle of leaves. Inexplicably, I felt at home.

And I shouldn’t. I couldn’t. Still, I let myself drift, savoring the feeling. When I finally stirred, I felt his arms tighten around me for a second before he let me raise my head and meet his eyes.

“Who won?” I asked.

Sloan’s lips curved in one of those rare smiles as he pulled some twigs out of my hair. “The fight? I did.”

My eyes narrowed. “In your dreams. Want to go another round?”

He laughed and I felt my heart do that little flutter thing again. It was happening more frequently, and I was going to have to think about it. Just not now.

“I’m not sure I’m up to it,” he said as he sat up and settled me more comfortably on his lap. Then his expression sobered and something like regret slid into his eyes. Lifting a hand, he tucked my hair behind my ears. “What am I going to do with you, Brooke Ashby?”

He was talking about more than settling our argument, but I pretended that was what he’d meant. “How about a compromise? You want me to stay in my room, and I need to keep investigating what happened to Cameron. I’ve already made people uncomfortable.”

The sound he made was close to a snort. “You’ve done more than that. Someone shot our plane down. And the minute I turn my back, the Lintons and Austin have spirited you away. I want to call off your whole masquerade.”

I drew in a deep breath and summoned up all of my debate skills. “Just give me until tomorrow night. As long as everyone thinks I’m Cameron, we have a better chance of learning something.”

“And you have a better chance of getting hurt.”

I turned and met his eyes steadily. “If it turns out that I’m James’s biological daughter, I might be in just as much danger as Cameron was.”

For a moment, Sloan’s arms tightened around me. Then they relaxed. “I wish to hell that I didn’t agree with you.”

Pushing my advantage, I said, “How about we work together until we figure it out? I won’t spend another minute out of your sight.”

He considered that for a minute. “I took you up in the plane and nearly got us both killed.”

“We weren’t killed thanks to you.”

He was on the brink of agreeing with me, so I summoned up all my debate skills. “Even if you lock me in my room, I’ll find a way to get out. I’m only on the second floor. I’ve had experience tying bedsheets together and rappelling down walls.”

He studied me. “For a woman who’s afraid of heights, you’ve picked up some interesting skills.”

I nearly had him. “You were right earlier. I am stubborn. I’m not going to give up on this, and two heads are better then one.” I gave him a quick kiss. “It means that we’d spend more time together, and I’d owe you big-time.”

The corners of his mouth curved. “Are we talking about sexual favors?”

I smiled at him. “I certainly hope so.”

Sloan framed my face with his hands and ran his thumbs gently over my cheekbones. “Okay, but I want your word that you won’t go off on your own again.”

“You’ve got it. And I want yours that we share all information. Like what you were doing in your office with Gus while I was riding out here with the Lintons and Austin.”

“I told Gus and he’ll tell Elena who you really are, and I brought Gus up to speed on what we now believe about Cameron’s disappearance.” He pressed his fingers to my lips. “I told you before that I trust Gus, and we can trust Elena, too. They’ll watch our backs.”

“Okay. I guess we could use that.”

“Gus is checking into who might have used that SUV this morning, and he’ll keep tabs on comings and goings. Elena can be our eyes and ears in the house. What did you learn from the Lintons and Austin?”

“Not much. They’re either totally innocent or they’re accomplished liars.”

I filled him in on the update Pepper had given me on the alibis, as well as what I’d discovered during the ride. “Austin sounds like he really wants a chance to prove that he’s not his father’s son. And Hal—I hate to say it—but he’s got me almost believing that he really fell for Cameron.”

“That might explain why she was kissing him in the garden,” he said. “But both Austin and Hal have every reason in the world to lie to you. And Hal doesn’t have an alibi for the day Cameron disappeared. They could be working together.”

I smiled ruefully. “There’s that, of course.”

“You have a soft heart, Brooke Ashby.”

“Did Cameron?” I asked, suddenly hungry to know more about my twin.

Sloan thought for a moment. “She had a tougher outer shell than you. And she wasn’t above running a few cons herself. She had a lot of James in her.”

As we talked about Cameron in the past tense again, I felt my throat tightening. “In spite of everything we’ve learned today, I can’t think of Cameron as being dead. I’ve had this feeling all along that she’s in trouble, and that I had to do something about it—fast. But I never had the feeling that she was dead.”

Sloan tipped my chin up so that our eyes met. “We’ll find out.”

The words and his simple faith in them cheered me. “And isn’t it convenient that we have all the prime suspects gathered together in one house—just like in an Agatha Christie novel?” Another thought struck me. “And we owe that to James. The wily old fox.”

“What do you mean?” Sloan asked.

“Scheduling the wedding for tomorrow was a perfect excuse to keep everyone here. If he hadn’t done that, Marcie and Hal and Austin would have gone right back to Saratoga Springs. The races and the parties have another week to run.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve been wondering just what James’s role is in all of this.”

“You’re not thinking he was involved in Cameron’s disappearance?”

“No. But it’s just like him to find a way to keep everyone here and try to stir something up. You’re like him in that way.”

That surprised me. “I am?”

His brows shot up. “You came here masquerading as your sister with a story of memory loss. I’d call that a surefire recipe for stirring things up. And you’ve succeeded.”

With that he shifted me to the ground, rose to his feet and held out a hand.

I found myself reluctant to take it. Once we were back at the hacienda, I’d have to start thinking again and planning. Who should I talk to? What kinds of questions should I ask? And I’d have to think about Sloan. What we had was temporary, I wasn’t going to lie to myself about that. And I could feel the minutes I had with him ticking away.