Anger rippled through Eve, driving out the odd sensations that had bothered her since she had seen the delicate pearls held so gently in Reno’s hand. With the surge of anger came a diminishing of her caution. Once more her hand eased toward the shotgun that lay just beyond her blankets.
“Actually,” Eve said in a clipped voice, “the ring was taken at gunpoint from a dying man.”
Reno gave her a disgusted look and went back to rummaging in the saddlebag.
“If you don’t believe me—” she began.
“Oh, I believe you, all right,” he interrupted. “I just didn’t think you’d be so proud of outright robbery.”
“I wasn’t the one holding the gun!”
“Had a partner, did you?”
“Damn you, why won’t you listen to me?” Eve demanded, furious that Reno thought her a thief.
“I’m listening. I’m just not hearing anything worth believing.”
“Try shutting up. You might be amazed at the things you learn with your mouth closed.”
The corner of Reno’s mouth lifted slightly, but it was the only sign he gave that he had heard Eve. Almost absently he groped in the saddlebag, searching for the ring. The cool, unmistakable feel of a gold coin brought his full attention back to his search.
“Didn’t think you had time to spend anything,” Reno said with satisfaction. “Old Jericho didn’t let any grass grow under his feet before he—”
The words ended abruptly as Reno tossed aside the saddlebag and uncoiled in a swift lunge that ended with the shotgun being yanked from Eve’s fingers.
The next thing Eve knew, she had been jerked from beneath the covers and was dangling from Reno’s powerful hands like a sack of flour. Fear shot through her. Without thinking, she brought her knee up fast and hard between Reno’s legs as Donna had taught her to do.
Reno blocked the blow before it could do any damage. When Eve went for his eyes, he buried his face against her throat and took her down to the ground.
Before Eve knew what had happened, she was stretched out flat on her back, unable to fight, unable to defend herself, unable to move at all except to take tiny, shallow breaths. Reno’s big body covered every bit of hers, driving the air from her lungs and the fight from her body. The bedroll’s thickness did little to cushion her from the hard ground beneath her.
“Let me go,” she gasped.
“Do I look like a fool?” he asked dryly. “God only knows what other nasty little tricks your mama taught you.”
“My mama died before I ever knew her face.”
“Uh-huh,” Reno said, obviously unmoved. “I suppose you’re a poor little orphan child with no one to look after you.”
Eve gritted her teeth and tried to get a grip on her temper. “As a matter of fact, I am.”
“Poor little gata,” Reno said coolly. “Stop telling me sad stories or I’ll cloud up and cry all over you.”
“I’d settle for you getting off of me.”
“Why?”
“You’re crushing me. I can’t even breathe.”
“Really?”
Reno looked at the flushed, beautiful, furious face that was only inches from his own.
“Odd,” he said deeply, “you’re not having a bit of trouble talking at thirty to the dozen.”
“Listen, you overgrown, overbearing gunfighter,” Eve said icily. Then she corrected herself. “No, you’re not a gunfighter. You’re a thief who makes his living robbing people who are too weak to—mmph!”
Eve’s words had been effectively cut off by Reno’s mouth closing over hers.
For an instant she was too shocked to do anything but lie rigid beneath his warm, overwhelming weight. Then she felt the sure thrust of his tongue between her teeth and panicked. Twisting, kicking, trying to throw him off, she fought with every bit of strength in her body.
Reno laughed without releasing Eve’s mouth and deliberately let himself sink down over her, pinning her to the ground with his much greater weight, absorbing her struggles without in the least stopping the sensual probing of his tongue within her mouth.
Eve’s wild, futile fighting did nothing but wear her out and make her desperate for air. Yet when she tried to breathe, she couldn’t, for Reno’s weight was too great to shift from her chest even the bare inch she needed.
The world began to go gray, then black, receding from her in a rush, spinning away.
The small, frightened sound Eve made as she felt herself fainting did what none of her struggles had accomplished. Reno lifted his head and body just enough to allow her to breathe.
“That’s your second lesson,” Reno said calmly when Eve’s dazed gold eyes focused on him once more.
“What—what do—you mean?” she gasped.
“I’m faster than you are. That was your first lesson. I’m stronger than you are. That was your second lesson. And the third lesson…”
“W-What?”
Reno smiled oddly, looked at Eve’s trembling lips, and said huskily, “The third lesson was mine to learn.”
He saw her wide, confused eyes and smiled again.
This time Eve understood why the smile seemed odd to her. It was much too gentle to belong to a man like Reno Moran.
“I learned that you taste hotter than whiskey and sweeter than wine,” he said simply.
Before Eve could say anything, Reno lowered his head once more.
“This time give it back to me, gata. I like it hot and deep.”
“What?” Eve asked, wondering if she had lost her mind.
“Your tongue,” he said against her open mouth. “Take that quick little tongue and rub it over mine.”
For an instant Eve thought she had heard wrong.
Reno took her sudden stillness for agreement. He lowered his head and made a husky sound of pleasure as he tasted her once more.
The sound Eve made was pure surprise at the gliding caress. For the space of a heartbeat she felt like a pearl being delicately held by a powerful hand. Then she remembered where she was and who Reno was and all the warnings Donna had given her about the nature of men and what they wanted from women.
Eve jerked her head aside, but not before she had felt the hot, textured surface of his tongue rubbing over her own.
“No,” Eve said urgently, frightened again.
But this time it was herself she feared, for a curious weakness had shot through her at the caressing touch of Reno’s tongue.
Donna Lyon had warned her bond servant about what men wanted from women, but she had never warned Eve that women might want the same thing from men.
“Why not?” Reno asked calmly. “You liked kissing me.”
“No.”
“Like hell, gata. I could feel it.”
“You’re—you’re a gunfighter and a thief.”
“You’re half-right. I’ve fought with my gun. But as for being a thief, I’m only taking what is rightfully mine—the pearls, the ring, the journal, and the girl with the golden eyes.”
“It wasn’t a fair poker game,” Eve said desperately as Reno bent down to her once more.
“Not my fault. I wasn’t the one dealing.”
Reno brushed his mouth lazily over Eve’s and listened to the surprised rush of air between her lips.
“But—” she began.
“Hush,” Reno said, cutting off Eve’s protest by biting her lower lip gently. “I won you and I’m going to have you.”
“No. Please, don’t.”
“Don’t worry.” Slowly Reno released Eve’s lip. “You’ll like it. I’ll see to it.”
“Let me go,” Eve said urgently.
“Not a chance. You’re mine until I say otherwise.”
He smiled and kissed the frantic pulse in her throat.
“If you’re real nice,” he said in a low voice, “I’ll let you go after a few nights.”
“Mr. Moran, please, I didn’t mean to lose the bet. It’s just that Mr. Slater was watching too closely.”
“So was
I.”
Reno lifted his head and lookéd down at Eve curiously.
“You dealt every card of mine off the bottom of the deck,” he said. “Why?”
Eve spoke quickly, trying to keep Reno’s attention on anything but the sultry, sexual heat that made his eyes burn like gems.
“I knew Raleigh King and Jericho Slater,” she said. “I didn’t know you.”
“So you set me up to be killed while you ran off with the pot.”
Eve couldn’t help the guilty flush that crept up her cheeks.
“I didn’t mean it to turn out that way,” she said.
“But it almost did, and you didn’t do a damn thing to stop it.”
“I shot at Steamboat when he was drawing down on you!”
“With what?” Reno scoffed. “Did you throw a gold coin at him?”
“My derringer. I keep it in my skirt pocket.”
“Handy. Do you have to shoot your way out of many card games?” Reno asked.
“No.”
“Pretty good cheater, huh?”
“I don’t cheat! Not usually, anyway. I just…”
Her voice died.
Amused and skeptical at Eve’s difficulty in finding the right words to explain how she was innocent when both of them knew she wasn’t, Reno lifted one black eyebrow and waited for her to continue.
“I didn’t know until too late that Slater knew I was cheating,” Eve admitted unhappily. “I knew he was cheating, but I couldn’t catch him at it. So I lost to you when I should have stayed in and called Slater.”
“The emerald ring,” Reno said, nodding. “With the cards you threw in, you should have hung around for at least one draw. But you didn’t. So I won that hand, because Slater hadn’t had time to deal himself the rest of his full house.”
Eve blinked, surprised by Reno’s quickness. “Are you a gambler?”
He shook his head.
“Then how did you know what Slater was doing?” she persisted.
“Simple. When he dealt, he won. Then you started dropping out too soon, and I started winning hands I shouldn’t have.”
“Your mama didn’t raise any stupid children, did she?” muttered Eve.
“Oh, I’m one of the slow ones,” Reno said in a lazy drawl. “You should see my older brothers, especially Rafe.”
Eve blinked as she tried to imagine anyone faster than Reno. She couldn’t.
“All through explaining?” Reno asked politely.
“What?”
“This.”
Reno bent just enough to cover Eve’s mouth with his own. When he felt her tighten beneath him as though to fight again, he settled more heavily on her, reminding her of the lesson she had already learned: When it came to a contest of strength, she didn’t have a chance against Reno Moran.
Tentatively Eve relaxed, wondering if Reno would release her if she didn’t fight him.
Immediately the overwhelming pressure of his body lifted until it was little more than a warm, disturbingly sensual contact from her shoulders to her feet.
“Now kiss me back,” Reno whispered.
“Then you’ll let me go?”
“Then we’ll negotiate some more.”
“And if I don’t kiss you?”
“Then I’ll take what is already mine, and to hell with what you want.”
“You wouldn’t,” she whispered weakly.
“Care to bet?”
Eve looked into the cool green eyes so close to her own and realized that she never should have allowed Reno Moran to sit down at her poker table.
She was very good at reading most people, but not this man. Right now she couldn’t tell if he was bluffing or telling her the simple truth.
Don Lyon’s sage advice rang in Eve’s mind: When you can’t tell if a man is running a bluff, and you can’t afford the ante if you lose, then fold your cards and wait for a better deal.
3
W ITH trembling lips, Eve lifted her head to give Reno the kiss he had demanded. After a quick pressure of her mouth against his, she retreated, her heart beating wildly.
“You call that a kiss?” Reno asked.
She nodded, because she was too nervous to speak.
“I should have guessed you’d cheat with your body the same way you cheat with cards,” he said, disgusted.
“I kissed you!”
“The way a frightened virgin kisses her first boy. Well, you’re no virgin, and I’m no wide-eyed country boy.”
“But I—I am,” she stammered.
Reno said something beneath his breath, then added in a cutting voice, “Save the wide-eyed act for a pup that’s still wet behind the ears. Men my age know everything worth knowing about women’s tricks, and everything we know, we learned the hard way.”
“Then you didn’t learn enough. I’m not what you think I am.”
“Neither am I,” he retorted dryly. “I haven’t been taken in by that look of wide-eyed innocence since I was innocent myself. That was a long time ago.”
Eve opened her mouth to further argue her innocence, but a single look at Reno’s face convinced her that he had already made up his mind on the subject. There was nothing of comfort in his ice green eyes or in the flat line of his mouth beneath his mustache. He believed she was a saloon girl and a cheat, pure and simple.
Even worse, she couldn’t wholly blame him. She had cheated him. Although she hadn’t started out to use Reno in her deadly game with Slater and Raleigh, in the end she had risked Reno’s life without so much as warning him of what was at stake.
To add insult to injury, she had run off with the very pot she had cheated to give to Reno. The fact that he had survived at all was due to his own unusual skill with a gun. She hadn’t even known who he was, so she could hardly say that she was certain he would be able to fight free of the trap he had walked into.
A kiss seemed a simple enough apology to a man whose death she had nearly caused.
Lifting up again, Eve put her lips over Reno’s. This time she didn’t retreat instantly. Instead, she increased the pressure of the kiss gradually, learning the smooth resilience of his lips in a silence that was bounded by the frantic beating of her heart.
When Reno made no move to deepen or to end the kiss, Eve hesitated, wondering what she should do next. Though Reno didn’t believe it, she had told the truth about her innocence. The few times she hadn’t been fast enough to dodge a kiss from a cowboy, there had been nothing gentle or pleasant about the embrace. They had grabbed, she had fought free, and that had been the end of it. If there had been any sensual enjoyment in the experience, it hadn’t been hers.
But Reno wasn’t grabbing, and Eve had agreed to this kiss. She just didn’t know how to go about it. The realization perplexed her almost as much as the discovery that kissing Reno affected her in an entirely unexpected way.
She liked it.
“Reno?”
“Keep going. I’ll get an honest kiss out of you yet.”
Tentatively Eve’s hands crept around Reno’s neck, for she was becoming tired of holding herself in a half-upright position. At first she was reluctant to trust her weight to his strength, but the temptation was too great to resist for long. Gradually the pressure of her arms around his neck increased as she allowed him to support more and more of her weight.
“Better,” Reno said in a deep voice.
His lips were very close to Eve’s. The warmth of his breath sent a glittering wash of sensation over her. For an instant her own breath hesitated, then came back quickened. She arched her body to close the remaining distance between her mouth and Reno’s.
The first touch of his lips was already familiar, as was the frisson of pleasure that went over Eve when their mouths met. The silken brush of his mustache over the edge of her upper lip was also a pleasure she had known before. Yet each time she felt it, the intensity of the sensation grew greater, shortening her breath even more.
“I wouldn’t have guessed,” Eve whispered.
; She was so close that each word was a separate brush over Reno’s mouth. It was the same when he spoke to her, each word a caress.
“What wouldn’t you have guessed?” he asked.
“That your mustache would feel like a silk brush.”
Eve wondered at the ripple that went through Reno, but had no time to think about it, for his arms were sliding around her. She stiffened, expecting to be grabbed and held down once more.
But Reno made no further move to force her. He simply held her so that she didn’t have to make any effort at all to stay close to him. Slowly she relaxed, letting his arms support her.
“I’m still waiting for my kiss,” Reno said.
“I think I’ve kissed you more than once.”
“And I think you haven’t kissed me at all.”
“What was I just doing?”
“Teasing,” he said bluntly. “Nice enough, but not what I had in mind, and you know it as well as I do.”
“No, I don’t. I’m not a mind reader,” she retorted, irritated that he hadn’t been half so unsettled by the slow, gliding kiss as she had.
“I know what you are. You’re a saloon girl with fast hands who promised me the one thing she can’t deliver—an honest kiss.”
Eve opened her mouth to ask Reno what he thought an honest kiss should be. Then she remembered what he had said about kissing.
I like it hot and deep. Take that quick little tongue and rub it over mine.
Before Eve could lose her nerve, she brought her lips against Reno’s open mouth and touched his tongue with her own. The nubby, velvety texture she felt intrigued her. Tentatively she ran the tip of her own tongue over him once more, tracing the shape of his mouth. In the course of her explorations she discovered how smooth and silky the underside of his tongue was.
She didn’t notice the gradual tightening of Reno’s arms or the quickening of his breathing. She didn’t notice that she was being lured more deeply into the kiss with every speeding heartbeat. All she knew was that Reno’s taste and warmth were more intoxicating than the French brandy Don and Donna had so loved.
Eve didn’t question the growing urgency that claimed her. She simply tightened her arms around Reno’s neck, trying to get even closer to him, seeking a more complete merging of their mouths.