The Marshal's Hostage - By Delores Fossen Page 0,56

of willpower and forced himself to step back and shut the door between them. The last thing he saw was the disappointment, and the heat, flash through Joelle’s eyes.

Cursing himself, cursing her, and cursing anything and everything he could think of, he went to his room, stripped down to his boxers and got ready for bed.

Alone.

Unlike it was for Joelle, the rain soothed him, and he might have been able to fall asleep if it weren’t for the blasted thoughts that just wouldn’t leave him alone. He tossed, turned and groaned when a bolt of lightning jagged through the sky and flashed through his room. The thunder followed, more than a few rumblings this time, and the rain came down harder.

No way was Joelle sleeping through this.

That only caused the ache to return, but he reminded himself that she was a grown woman, not the teenager who’d been terrified of storms. It didn’t help with the thoughts or the ache, but thankfully the next jolt of lightning was farther away. Ditto for the thunder.

Dallas watched the minutes tick off on the clock next to his bed. And soon, there was no more lightning. No more thunder. Just the gentle rain that was barely making a sound.

Now Joelle would sleep.

And he hoped the same for him.

He forced his eyes shut but had to reopen them immediately when he heard a sound. Footsteps. Since he knew from the phone calls he’d made that none of his brothers was home, he thought maybe it was Kirby’s nurse.

Or worse, Kirby.

He threw back the covers just as someone threw open his door.

Definitely not Kirby.

Joelle.

Since there were night-lights on in the hall, he had no trouble spotting her. She was wearing a barely there red nightshirt that didn’t cover much.

“Don’t say a word,” she ordered in a whisper.

She didn’t have to worry about him speaking. His mouth had gone bone dry, and that got much worse when she closed the door, locked it and pulled off the nightshirt over her head. She dropped it on the floor.

Instantly she was naked, and he got an instant erection.

“And please don’t think about turning me down,” Joelle added.

Dallas had plenty of thoughts, but that wasn’t one of them. And even if he had, turning her down would have pretty much been impossible when she slid like a siren into his bed. He didn’t even let her head hit the pillow. He hauled her closer and put his mouth to hers.

And she kissed him right back.

It didn’t start off gentle, and Dallas figured he stood zero chance of trying to slow things down. Maybe because they’d been all these years without each other. That caused an uneasy feeling inside him. A fleeting one because Joelle moved her body against him, lining up her sex with his, and the feeling of raw need overtook any uneasiness.

She didn’t just stop there, either. She started with touching. Her hand on his chest, and then it made her way to his stomach.

And, no doubt, she would then head lower.

Just the thought of it had him seeing stars and had his erection urging him to take her at breakneck speed. Breakneck was fine sometimes, but he wanted this to last a little longer than Joelle apparently had in mind.

That’s when Dallas made some adjustments of his own. He shifted, dragging her beneath him and pinned her hands to the bed. He kissed her. First her mouth. And then her neck. Because he knew every inch of her body, he also knew what would make her burn. A long, slow kiss at the base of her throat.

So that’s what he gave her.

Joelle made a sharp moan but then clamped her teeth over her bottom lip to muffle the sound. But she darn sure didn’t muffle her movements. She lifted her hips, the heels of her feet sinking into the mattress, and all that hot, wet heat between her legs brushed against him.

Oh, yeah. He saw stars, all right.

And Joelle started with the touching and kissing again. Dallas held her back. Well, as much as he could, and he kissed her neck. Her breasts and her stomach. He would have done more sampling, but she caught his hair and yanked him back up.

“We’ll do that later,” she promised.

Hell. The woman knew how to make him crazy and keep him that way.

Since it was obvious that he couldn’t keep the pace slow, Dallas fumbled in the nightstand drawer, located a condom and put it on. Joelle helped, and