CHRISTMAS AT THUNDER HORSE RANCH (3 page)

Emma spooned chili into bowls and handed one to him. “Who would shoot you out of the sky?” She cradled her bowl in both hands, blowing the steam off the top.

“I have no idea.”

“As a border patrol agent, have you pissed off anyone lately?”

He shook his head. “Not anyone who would have the firepower that man had. He used a Soviet-made RPG from what I could tell. How the hell he got ahold of one of those, I don’t know.”

“How’d he know you’d be here?”

“I was responding to a call from my base that a man had crossed the U.S.-Canadian border on a snowmobile in this area. I can only assume it was him.”

“Could be someone with a gripe against the border patrol.”

“Yeah. I wish I could get word to my supervisor. They’ll be freaking out right about now. A missing helicopter and pilot is a big deal.”

“Would they send out a rescue team?”

“In this weather, I don’t see how.”

“Hopefully, it’ll be gone in the morning.” She stirred her chili. “If they don’t come looking for you, we’ll do our best to drive out and find a farmer with a landline so that you can call back.”

He nodded. “A lot of people will be worried. That’s an expensive piece of equipment to lose.”

“Seems to me that a skilled pilot is harder to replace.” Emma took a bite of her chili and chewed slowly.

Dante shrugged. Everything would have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime... “It’s getting colder outside.”

“I have plenty of blankets for one bed.” She stared at her empty bowl and a shiver shook her body. “Without the generator, we’ll have to share the warmth.” Her gaze clashed with his, hers appearing reserved, wary.

His lips thinning, Dante raised his hands. “I’m sorry about the kiss. I promise to keep my hands to myself.”

Before he finished talking, Emma was shaking her head. “It’s going to get really cold. The only way to stay warm is to stay close and share body warmth.”

Dante swallowed hard, his body warming at the thought.

He set his empty chili bowl in the sink and took hers from her, laying it on top. “We’re adults. This doesn’t have to be awkward or a big deal,” he said while his body was telling him,
Oh, yes it does!

Chapter Three

Emma stared at the bed, her heart thumping against her ribs, her mouth going bone-dry. If it wasn’t so darned cold in the trailer, she’d sit up all night on the camp stool.

No, she wasn’t afraid of Dante. Frankly, she was afraid of her body’s reaction to being so close to the tall, dark Native American.

Too awkward around the opposite sex in high school, she’d focused instead on excelling in her studies. While girls her age were kissing beneath the bleachers, she was playing the French horn in band and counting the minutes until she could go back home to her books.

College had been little better. At least her freshman roommate in the dorm had seen some potential in her and shown her how to dress and do her hair and makeup. She’d even set her up on a blind date, which had ended woefully short when she had yanked her hand out of his when he’d tried to hold it.

For all her schooling, she was remarkably unschooled in the ways of love.

The wind moaned outside, sending a frigid chill raking across her body. Her hands shaking, she pushed the snow pants down over her hips and sat on the side of the bed to pull off her boots, slipping the pants off with them. Then she slid beneath the covers in her thermal underwear, sweater and turtleneck shirt and scooted all the way to the other side of the small mattress.

What man could lust after a woman covered from neck to feet? Not that she wanted him to lust after her. What would she do? Heaven help her if he should find out she was a virgin at the ripe old age of twenty-six.

Emma lay on her back, the blankets pulled up to her chin and her eyes wide in the dim glow of the stove’s fire. “You’ll need to turn off the flame before we go to sleep.” Perhaps in the dark she’d felt less conspicuous and self-conscious.

Dante reached for the knob on the little stove and switched it off. The flame disappeared, throwing them into complete darkness.

The blanket tugged against her death grip, and the mattress sank beneath the big man’s weight. “Don’t worry. I promise not to touch you.”

Damn,
Emma thought. With a man as gorgeous as Dante Thunder Horse lying next to her, what if she wanted him to touch her? Then again, one close encounter with her bumbling, shy inexperienced self and he’d disappear, just like he had the last time she’d gotten up the courage to go out for coffee with him.

He stretched out alongside her, his shoulder and thigh bumping against her.

A ripple of anticipation fluttered through her belly, followed by a bone-rattling shiver as the cold seeped through the three blankets, her sweater and thermal underwear.

“This is foolish. We won’t last the night in the frigid cold without heat.” He turned on his side and reached around her.

“W-what are you doing?” she squeaked as his hand brushed across her breast.

“We’re both fully clothed, which, by the way, isn’t helping matters. We’re both adults and we’re freezing. The best way to warm up is to share heat.”

“That’s what we were doing.”

“Not like this.” He rolled her onto her side, pulled her against him and spooned her backside with his front, his arm draped around her middle. “Better?”

Her pulse pounded so loud she could barely hear him, but she nodded and whispered, “Better.” Far too much better.

As she lay in the dark, cocooned in blankets and a handsome man’s arms, part of her was freaking out, the other part was shouting inside,
Hallelujah!

“Let’s go to sleep and hopefully the storm will have passed by morning.”

Sleep? Was he kidding? Every cell in her body was firing up, while her core was in meltdown stages. Little shivers of excitement ignited beneath her skin with his every movement. His warm breath stirred the tendrils of hair lying against the side of her throat and all she could think of was how close his lips were to her neck. How likely was he to repeat the kiss that happened just a few moments ago?

If she turned over and faced him, would he feel compelled to repeat the performance? Did she dare?

“You smell nice. Like roses.” His chest rumbled against her back, his arm tightening around her middle.

“Must be my shampoo. It was a gift from a friend.” As soon as she said it, she could have kicked herself. Why couldn’t she just say
thank you
like any other woman paid a compliment?

“Am I making you nervous?” he asked.

“I’m not used to having a man...spoon me.”

“Seriously?” His thighs pressed against the backs of her legs and one slid across hers. “They were missing out. You’re very spoonable.”

She bit her bottom lip, afraid to admit she was a failure at relationships and scared off the men who’d ever made an attempt to get to know her. “I’m not good at this.”

“It’s as natural as breathing,” he said, his big hand spanning her belly. “Speaking of which, just breathe,” he whispered against her ear.

His words had the opposite effect, causing her breath to lodge in her throat, her heart to stop for a full second and then race to catch up.

Her arm lay over his and she wasn’t sure what to do with her hand. When she let it relax, it fell across his big, warm one.

“Your fingers are so cold,” he said.

She jerked her hand back. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Let me have them.” He felt along her arm until he located her hand and enveloped it in his. “Tuck it beneath your shirt, like this.” He slipped his hand with hers under the hems of her sweater and thermal shirt, placing them against the heat of her skin. “You’re as stiff as a board. Are you still cold?” He moved his body closer.

“Yes,” she lied. Inside she was on fire, her nerve synapses firing off each time he bumped against her.

His fingers curled around hers, his knuckles brushing against her belly. “You really haven’t ever snuggled with a man?”

Not trusting her voice, she shook her head.

“Then you haven’t found the right one.” Dante’s lips brushed the curl of her ear.

She lay for a while basking in the closeness, letting her senses get used to the idea of him being so near, so intimate.

Without the heat from the stove top, the trailer’s interior became steadily colder and Dante’s hand holding hers inched upward beneath her shirt. “Just tell me if you want me to stop.”

Oh, heck no.
If anything, she wanted him to move faster and cup her breasts with that big, warm hand. A shiver of excitement shook her.

“Still cold?”

“Yes.” So it was a half truth. The parts of her body against his were warm, the others were cold and getting colder.

“Sharing body heat works better when you’re skin to skin.” His knuckles nudged the swells of her breasts.

Her breath caught in her throat when she said, “I know.” Emma bit her bottom lip, wondering if Dante would take her words as an invitation to initiate the next move.

“I don’t know about you, but it’s getting pretty damn cold in here. If we want to keep warm all night, we’d better do what it takes.” He removed his hand from her belly and rolled onto his back.

The cold enveloped her immediately and she scooted over to lie on her back as well, tugging the blanket up to her nose.

Dante sat up next to her, tugging the blanket aside, letting even colder air beneath.

“What are you doing?” she said through chattering teeth.

“Getting naked.” His movements indicated he was removing his thermal shirt and stuffing it beneath the covers down near his feet. He slid his long underwear over his hips, his hands bumping into her thigh as he pushed them all the way down to his feet.

“Now your turn.” He reached for the hem of her sweater and dragged it over her head.

“Are you crazy? It’s f-freezing in here.” She tried to keep her turtleneck shirt on, but he was as determined to remove that as he’d been with the sweater.

“Again, we’re adults. If it helps, just think of me as a big electric blanket to wrap around you.” He stuffed her shirt and sweater into the space around her feet and went to work on the long thermal underwear, dragging them down over her legs.

By the time he had her stripped to her bra and panties, she was shaking uncontrollably. “I was w-warmer b-before you s-started,” she said through chattering teeth.

“You’ll be warm again. Come here.” He dragged the blanket over them and pulled her close, crushing her breasts against his chest, his big arms wrapping around her back, tucking the blanket in as close as he could get it.

Their breath mingled, the heat of their skin, touching everywhere but her bra and panties, helped to chase away the chills. But Emma still couldn’t stop shaking. She’d never lain nearly naked with a man. She had trouble breathing and couldn’t figure out where her hands were supposed to be. Planting them against his chest was putting too much space between them and allowing cold air to keep her front chilled. She tried moving them down to her side, but her fingers were cold and she wanted them warm. When she slipped them around to her belly, they bumped against a hot, stiff shaft.

As soon as she touched it, she realized it was his member and before she could think, her hands wrapped around it.

“Baby, only go there if you mean it,” he warned her. “As close and naked as we are, it wouldn’t take much to set me off.”

“I thought you were just an electric blanket,” she whispered, reveling in a surge of power rolling through her. She had caused him to be this way. Her body against his was making him desire her in a way she’d only dreamed about.

For a moment, all her awkward insecurities disappeared. Her fingers tightened around him and slid downward to the base of his shaft.

His arms squeezed around her and his hips rocked, pressing himself into her grip.

Blood hummed through her veins. For that moment, she forgot the chill in the air and the fact they could freeze to death. Her focus centered on what she had in her hands and, in connection, what it could lead to.

Dante moaned. “Do you know what you’re doing to me?”

“I think so,” she responded. Her hand glided up his shaft to the velvety tip, her core heating, liquid fire swirling at her center, readying her to take him.

“I didn’t get us naked in order to take advantage of you.”

Her hands froze. “Am I taking advantage of
you?
”

“Oh, hell no.”

Her finger swirled across the tip, memorizing him by touch. “Just say so and I’ll stop,” she repeated his words.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He ran his hands over her back and down to smooth over her bottom.

She laughed, emboldened by the complete darkness. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” Something about the anonymity of the dark gave her the confidence to continue. Then she hesitated. “Unless you don’t want to. You’re the injured party.”

“I’ve wanted this since I stole that kiss.” He hooked the elastic of her panties and slid them down her legs.

She kicked them off, loving the way his member pressed into her curly mound. Just a little lower and he’d be there.

“I don’t have protection,” he said.

“I’m clean of STDs if that’s what you’re saying.” How could she not be when she’d never made love to a man?

“So am I.” He nuzzled her neck, his lips pressing against her pounding pulse. “But we shouldn’t do this without protection.”

“Can’t you withdraw at the last minute?”

“Withdrawal isn’t one-hundred percent safe.”

“You can’t stop now.” Surely she couldn’t get pregnant on her first time. Her first time. Wow. With a man as gorgeous and gentle as Dante, maybe she’d finally overcome her awkward shyness. She trembled, her body shaking like an engine when it first starts.

“Are we going to do it?” she asked, her hand tugging on him, guiding him to her center.

He chuckled softly. “Say the word.”

She inhaled and let out the single word on a breath of air, “Please.”

Dante hesitated for less than a second, and then he rolled on top of her, nudged her legs apart with his knees and settled between her thighs, his member pressing to her opening.

But he didn’t enter, not immediately. He started with a kiss. One similar to the one he’d stolen at the stove. This time, Emma kissed him back, finding his tongue and sliding hers along the length of his. She curled her fingers around the back of his neck and dragged him closer, loving the feel of his smooth chest against her fingers. She reached behind her and unclasped her bra, wanting her naked breasts to feel what her fingers had the pleasure of.

Dante tore it away and slid it beneath her pillow, then he pulled the blanket over their heads and moved down her body. Inch by inch, he tasted her with his tongue, nipping her with his teeth, settling first on one breast, sucking the tip into his mouth and rolling the tight bud around. He moved to the other and gave it equal attention before he inched lower, skimming across her ribs and down past her belly button to the tuft of hair at the apex of her thighs.

Emma held her breath, wondering what he would do next. His mouth so close to home, she couldn’t move, frozen to the sheets, waiting.

With his big, rough fingers, he parted her folds and stroked that sensitive strip of skin.

“Oh, my!” she exclaimed, her heels digging into the mattress, raising her hips for more.

He swirled, tapped and flicked, setting her world on fire. When she thought she couldn’t take any more, he moved up her body, and pressed into her.

At the barrier of her virginity, he paused.

Emma wrapped her legs around his waist and dug her heels into his buttocks, urging him deeper. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded.

“But...”

“Just do it. Please.” She tightened her legs.

He thrust deeper, tearing through.

She must have gasped, because he pulled back a little.

“Are you all right?” Dante asked.

She laughed shakily. “I’d be better if you didn’t stop.”

After hesitating a moment longer, he slid slowly into her and began a steady, easy glide in and out.

The initial pain lasted but a moment, and soon Emma forgot it in the joy of the connection between them. So this was what all the fuss was about. Now she understood and dropped her feet to the mattress to better meet him thrust for thrust.