Faith gazed with contempt and pity at the woman holding onto her, then grasped the woman’s wrists and pushed them away.
The women turned their attention to Faith, waiting for the explosion, but Faith Collins surprised them. She turned with great dignity and walked away from the crowd and into the bedroom. They tensed, waiting for the slam of the door, but again she surprised by quietly closing it behind her.
“Out!” Reese’s shout echoed through the stillness. “All of you—out! Except you.” Suspending the hotel manager’s retreat with a dark, angry stare, Reese uttered a soft promise. “I’ll deal with on a personal level later. David, will you show Mr. Clegg to his office and keep him there?” Reese issued his orders, then followed Faith’s path to the bedroom door, his long legs rapidly closing the distance.
Chapter Five
Reese tapped at the door. Silence answered him. Turning the doorknob, he opened the door and stepped inside. The sight of Faith Collins standing beside the bed stopped him in his tracks.
She was wearing only a threadbare, cotton chemise and pantalets as she struggled with the long laces of her corset. His brown velvet robe lay in a puddle around her bare feet. She turned as he entered.
Reese’s heart thumped hard in his chest. He drew in a breath. She was crying. She didn’t utter a sound, but huge tears fell from her gray eyes and rolled down her cheeks. The pain and the humiliation in those tears was so evident, Reese could almost smell the salt and taste the bitterness.
Faith looked away in embarrassment and resumed her fumbling efforts with her corset strings. Reese moved behind her and took the laces from her hands. She sucked in her breath as he approached her and shivered when he grazed the sensitive flesh of her inner arm with his fingers as he gathered the stray laces. Pulling her corset closed, he began to tie the strings.
He lingered at her back after he finished tying her undergarment. The scent of French-milled soap, the kind supplied by the hotel, and the tangy salt of tears assailed his nostrils. Moving his hands from the laces at her back, Reese caressed her upper arms. Long strands of ebony hair escaped from her hastily arranged bun and clung to the nape of her neck. He experienced an unexpected, unwanted urge to nuzzle the strands of hair aside and plant his lips in their place.
Bowing her head to look down at the floor, Faith exposed the slim column of her neck. Her movement was almost Reese’s undoing. He reacted instinctively, bending his head to press his lips against her neck. But her voice, husky and thick with tears, stopped him.
“I’m terribly sorry for the scandal I’ve caused.”
Reese turned her around to face him, but kept his hands on her bare shoulders. “You haven’t caused a scandal—yet.” He smiled down into her solemn eyes.
“I fell asleep in your carriage,” Faith protested.
“Falling asleep in my vehicle isn’t a crime, nor did it cause a scandal.”
“How can I explain this situation?” Faith wanted to know. “You heard those women out there. They think that I—”
“Who gives a damn what they think?” Reese demanded. “You know what happened and what didn’t happen. We both do.”
“But you can’t possibly hire someone with a damaged reputation.”
So, that was the problem, Reese thought. She was worried about losing the job. “Do you want this job?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Enough to forget about those women out there and others like them?” Reese needed to know before he made his choice because he wasn’t about to cosset her all the way to Wyoming.
“But the scandal…” Faith began.
“Honey,” Reese said bluntly, “if you take this job, you’re going to cause a hell of a scandal, and you won’t be able to do a thing about it.” He watched her intently as she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue before she opened her mouth to speak. “If you agree to my terms of employment, there’s going to be plenty of talk, whether we like it or not, and there will be a scandal, too. Are you woman enough to face it, Faith Collins, or will you run away, back to Richmond? Because, whether I like it or not, you seem to be the best woman for this job.” He bent his head and captured her lips.
It began as an angry kiss, something Reese couldn’t prevent, but it turned into something more. Fire erupted throughout Reese’s body as he took her lips and felt her sway against him. He pulled her closer as he deepened his kiss, tangling his hands in her hair before running them up and down the curve of her spine. The stiff boning of her corset frustrated him, but he continued his avid exploration of her back until he reached the end of her cotton cage. Cupping his hands around the curve of her derriere, Reese pulled her up against his groin and groaned in sublime agony.
Faith was overwhelmed by her response to his kiss. She placed her arms around his neck and parted her lips to allow his silken tongue to slip through and sample the warm recesses of her mouth. She was surrounded by his arms, his mouth, his hard, masculine body and the taste and touch and smell of him. She melted against him, enjoying the coffee-flavored taste of his kiss and the hot, tangy scent that permeated the air around them. She breathed in that scent and nuzzled closer to its source. Reese groaned again. Faith pulled her mouth away from his, gasping for breath. Her senses swam, her knees threatened to give way at any moment. She tilted her head back as Reese brushed his lips against her closed eyelids before trailing them down her neck to place, hot, wet kisses against the tattered lace covering the swells of her breasts. He dipped his tongue into the crevice between the soft mounds and tasted the tart droplets beading her flesh. Faith gasped in reaction, tightening her grip around his neck when her legs abruptly refused to support her weight.
The sound of her sigh and the slamming of a door somewhere outside the bedroom brought Reese to his senses. He opened his eyes and found himself confronted by the loveliness framed by her tight corset. He raised his head and grinding his teeth against the agony in loins, he forced his arms to relax their hold on her.
“Faith.”
Faith smiled up at him, the deep gray of her eyes, soft a
nd luminous. “Hmm?”
“We’re about to cause that scandal,” Reese said.
His words sobered her instantly. She practically bolted out of his arms and across the room. “I’m sorry.”