Wyoming True - Diana Palmer Page 0,75
face when he did. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he couldn’t let himself get close. If he lost control, he’d do even more damage to her than her idiot ex-husband had.
Bailey hadn’t been in touch, but late one evening when Jake was in his office making business calls, Ida’s phone rang.
She answered it without thinking.
“Think you’re safe, don’t you, Mrs. McGuire?” Bailey’s angry voice chided in her ear. “I’ve got plans for you. Big plans. You’d better change your mind about that money. If you want to live, that is.”
He hung up. She was shivering with fear. Bailey had that effect on her. She wanted to run and tell Jake, but what good would it do? They already had protection all around the ranch. Jake was doing everything he could to keep her safe.
She kept her fears to herself and dressed for bed, in a pale yellow silk gown with lace appliqués and spaghetti straps. She looked fragile and beautiful in it. But of course, she reminded herself, nobody would see it but herself.
She slept. She was running again, from Bailey, sobbing and terrified. He was chasing her again, but this time with a gun. She ran toward safety, toward Jake, who was standing in the distance with his arms open, calling to her. She ran and ran, and then she heard the gunshot. But it wasn’t for her. It hit Jake. He doubled over and fell, and she screamed and screamed...
“Wake up!”
She felt herself held close to comforting strength as her eyes flew open. She looked up at Jake. He was wearing just pajama bottoms. His hair was mussed. He looked very sexy. She was coming out of the terror, her mind still almost in limbo.
“He shot you!” she choked, her eyes on his face. “He shot you! He was chasing me. It should have been me!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed close, clinging with all her might. “I thought he’d killed you! I’d have died, too. I’d have died if I lost you!”
His heart ran wild. She...cared. He hadn’t realized it before. His arms contracted hungrily and his mouth slid down to her soft throat. His big hands smoothed up and down her back against the warm silk. He could feel her breasts pressed hard against his chest, feel their hard tips as she strained even closer.
“Ida,” he choked, trying to pull away.
“Jake,” she whispered, shivering a little. “Jake...would you...touch me?”
His breath caught in his throat as she turned just a little and arched toward him, her eyes misty with hunger, her full lips parted.
“Where?” he asked huskily.
She caught his fingers and drew them very slowly to her breasts. It was like part of the nightmare but turning into the sweetest dream she’d ever had. Half-awake, she had no fear of him at all.
She arched as his hand slid under the strap of the gown, against soft, hot skin that felt like silk.
“Oh, God,” he whispered reverently, because he knew he didn’t want to stop. He did try. “Ida...” he began, trying to lift away.
“Please don’t go,” she whispered and reached up to kiss him.
As if he could, after that! He followed her down onto the bed. And despite the fact that it had been months since he’d been with a woman, he was slow and patient and tender.
He eased her out of the gown, his lips following its path down her trembling body. He kissed his way back up again, his hand making magic on her inner thighs as it suddenly found her in a way she’d never been touched.
She gasped, embarrassed, because all the lights were on.
He only smiled. “This is part of it,” he whispered. “I won’t hurt you.”
She shivered. “It feels...good,” she choked, surprised, lost in his silver eyes, the only things alive in that hard, set face.
“It’s supposed to feel good.” His mouth slid down to her bare breast and took one inside his mouth to tease the nipple with his tongue as he began to suckle her.
The reaction he got was surprising. She lifted right off the bed, arching up to his mouth, and the strangest little cry shot out of her throat.
“You like that,” he whispered and did it again.
She went from plateau to plateau, no longer worried about whether or not he’d hurt her, because she’d never dreamed that lovemaking could be so sweet. She ached for him, burned for him, followed his whispered commands hungrily and then, suddenly, felt him inside her body,