“He has his own place, just north of Len Ross’s spread. He and Belinda have lived there for over five years.” Five years! Once again, Tory was reminded of the time when she was free to love Trask with all her heart. But that was before her world was destroyed by the horse swapping scam, Jason’s murder and the trial.
She stood up and tugged on Trask’s arm, hoping to break the intimacy that memories of the past had inspired. “Come on, mister, let me help you up the stairs.” As he stood, she eyed him speculatively. “If you give me your clothes, I’ll throw them in the wash so that you have something clean in the morning.”
“Gladly,” he agreed as they mounted the stairs.
“Just leave them in the hall outside your door.”
“Whatever you say,” he whispered seductively and a shiver of desire raced down her spine.
“What I say is that we both need some time to think about what happened today. Maybe then we can make some sense of it.”
Trask’s smile slid off his face. “None of this makes any sense,” he admitted, grimacing against a sudden stab of pain.
A few minutes later Trask was in the guest room, his clothes were in the washer and Tory was lying on her bed wondering if she would ever get to sleep, knowing that Trask was only two doors down the hall.
CHAPTER NINE
PALE LIGHT HAD just begun to stream into the bedroom when Tory heard the door whisper open. She rolled over to face the sound and focused her eyes on Trask as he approached the bed. He was wearing only a towel draped over his hips. A dark bruise discolored the otherwise hard muscles of his chest and the cut on his chin was partially hidden by his dark growth of beard. As he walked the towel gaped to display the firm muscles of his thighs moving fluidly with his silent strides.
“What’re you doing?” she whispered, lifting her head off the pillow and rubbing her eyes.
“Guess.”
The sight of him in the predawn light, a mischievous twinkle dancing in his blue eyes, his brown hair disheveled from recent slumber, made Tory’s blood begin to race with anticipation.
But the purple bruise on his abdomen put everything into stark perspective. Someone didn’t want Trask digging into the past and that person was willing to resort to brutal violence to stop Trask’s investigation.
“What time is it?” she asked, pushing the disturbing thought aside.
“Five.” He stopped near the bed and looked down at her, his gaze caressing the flush in her cheeks then meeting her questioning eyes. “I couldn’t sleep very well,” he admitted, his fingers working the knot on his towel. “Knowing you were in the same house with me has been driving me crazy.”
“You’re absolutely indefatigable…or is it insufferable? It’s too early to decide which,” she murmured, gazing up at him affectionately. “Last night someone tried to beat the living daylights out of you. There’s a good chance you could have been killed and here you are—”
“Intent on seducing the woman I’m supposed to protect.” He let the towel slide to the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. Bending slightly, he pushed the tousled auburn hair from her eyes and gently kissed her forehead. “Any complaints?”
“None, senator,” she replied as he threw back the covers and settled into the bed, his naked body pressing urgently against the softer contours of hers.
“I could get used to a job like this,” he said as he held her face in his hands and gazed into her slumberous eyes.
Happiness wrapped around Tory’s heart. A cool morning breeze carrying the faint scent of new-mown hay ruffled the curtains as it passed through the open window. Morning birds had begun to chirp and from far in the distance came the familiar sound of lowing cattle. Lying with Trask in her bed as the first silvery rays of dawn seeped into the room seemed the most natural thing in the world. There was a peaceful solitude about dawn and Tory loved sharing that feeling with the only man she had ever loved.
His arms wrapped around her, pulling her close to him. The warmth and strength of his body was welcome protection. It felt good to lean on him again, she thought. Maybe there was a chance they could forget the pain of the past and live for the future. Looking into his eyes, Tory felt that there was nothing in the world that could possibly go wrong as long as he was beside her.
“God, I love you,” he whispered as he lowered his head and kissed her almost brutally.
Through the sheer nylon nightgown, she felt his hands caress her skin. Deft fingers outlined each rib as they moved upward to mold around her breasts and Tory gasped at the raw desire laboring within her.
Her breast ached with the want of him, straining to be caressed by his gentle fingers. As he found one nipple and teased it to ripe anticipation, Tory moaned. The exquisite torment deep within her became white-hot as he lifted the nightgown over her head and slowly lowered himself alongside of her. His hands pressed against the small of her back as he took first one hard nipple into his mouth and after suckling hungrily for a time, he turned his attention to the other ripe bud and feasted again.
Tory’s blood was pulsing through her veins, throbbing at her temples in an erratic cadence. Sweat moistened her body where Trask’s flesh molded to hers. She could feel the muscles of Trask’s solid thighs straining against hers and the soft hair on his legs rubbed her calves erotically, promising more of the impassioned bittersweet torment.
“I love you,” she cried, all of her doubts erased by the pleasure of his body straining against hers. Painful emotions were easily forgotten with the want of him. Her fist clenched with forced restraint and her throat ached to shout his name as he slid lower and kissed the
soft flesh of her abdomen, leaving a dewy trail from her breasts to her navel.
“I’m never going to let you go again,” Trask vowed, his breath fanning her abdomen, his hands kneading the soft muscles of her back and buttocks as she lifted upward, offering herself to him. “Don’t ever leave me, Tory.”
“Never,” she cried, the fires within her all-consuming in the need to be fulfilled, to become one, to surrender to her rampant desire for this one, proud man.