accompanied her up the path and waited while she unlocked the tall timber front door, all the while trying to rein in the heightened awareness tugging at his senses … the anticipation of gathering her close and claiming her mouth with his. Rocking back on his heels, he inhaled the perfume of fall wildflowers and told himself to be patient. Good things came to those who waited.
“Why don’t I cut you a slice of cake,” she said, setting her keys on the hall stand, “and we can take a tour.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
She walked a couple of feet ahead, showing him the way down a long, high-ceilinged hall decorated in timber panels and the occasional painting depicting the area, glorifying the cowboy legend with lassos and dust flying. Daniel imagined the smell of cattle and dogwood blossoms, the magic of a Texas sunset and stories of cattle rustling told over campfires.
In the kitchen, Elizabeth extracted a cream-topped pie from a monster refrigerator and Daniel’s taste buds tingled. He wished he’d left more room.
“Are you joining me?” he asked.
“If I consumed all the desserts Nita has prepared over the years, I’d be the size of our barn.” Crossing back from a cupboard, plates in hand, she winked. “But tonight’s special.”
Daniel wet his lips. Yes, it is.
When the pie was cut and waiting in individual bowls, Elizabeth slapped a spoon in his palm and, with a lift of her chin, indicated he should follow. Side by side, sampling their first creamy taste of pie, they traversed that hall again, this time ducking into a massive double-story ceilinged room, housing studded maroon leather chairs and walls of books. With the lingering aroma of pipe smoke hiding behind heavy baroque curtains, Daniel surveyed the sea of polished timber floor, numerous ornate architraves and a padded window seat, which looked out over green patches of lawn. He crossed to a section of old spines and eased out one musty book.
“Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.” Impressed, he set down his bowl and carefully opened the hardback cover. “Your father enjoyed a little light reading.”
“That book belonged to my mother. Dad was more a Billy the Kid fan.”
He shot her a look. “Your mother read this?”
“Sure. When I was old enough she passed it on to me.” Her eyes lit. “Have you read Nietzsche?”
Heavy-duty philosophy?
“My reading material comprises titles like Architectural Digest.” Sauntering close again, he sent her an intrigued grin. “Just how many layers do you have?”
“You mean in general,” she said as she dropped a look down over her red silk dress, “or just tonight?” She slid a spoonful of pie into her mouth and sashayed out the room.
After loosening his tie, Daniel collected his bowl and followed.
“This is the nine-ball room,” she said, a few moments later.
Daniel examined the full-size table, the timber-and-steel-studded bar and, most impressive, a ceiling fresco portraying a stampede of wild horses. Nice.
Next she introduced him to the sitting room, the media room, an amazing A-framed undercover outdoor area … in all he guessed around 20,000 square feet of luxury. Every room boasted stylish symmetry that would be bathed in natural light during the day, some with crossbeam ceilings and murals. Numerous wood-burning fireplaces, granite floors in wet areas … Daniel had a better idea of why Mr. Milton wanted to keep it in the family.
But on a professional note, nothing jumped out and said, with regard to the Cattleman’s Club, Hey, run with this!
They’d climbed an elegant staircase to the second story, where the majority of bedrooms where located, he presumed, thumbing a smear of cream from his lower lip into his mouth. As if reading his mind, she crossed through an opened double doorway, clicked on some muted down-lights and moved into a room decorated completely in snow-white and the exact green of her eyes.
“Now this is my suite. Here’s the fireplace,” Elizabeth said, gliding with catlike grace over the spongy carpet. “My private retreat.” She indicated a silk-covered chaise, facing a window that overlooked the lit waters of an Olympic-size swimming pool. “That way to the attached bath,” she said, and gestured to the left, “and this is where I like to do the majority of my sleeping.”
In a sensual, fluid move, she lowered herself onto the edge of a king-size bed, which was covered with a plump white duvet.
His pulse booming, he started forward as she slipped off her sexy red heels. When he joined her, she was reaching behind, removing the heavy ruby necklace that graced the slim column of her throat. An heirloom, perhaps.
“And that concludes the tour,” she told him, setting the necklace on the duvet and curling her legs up to one side. Her gaze meshed with his, she languidly rolled back and sank into airy white. “I think you’ve seen enough tonight.”
His gaze devoured her lips. “Not nearly enough.”
He slid off his tie and released his belt, all the while drinking in the alluring sight splayed out before him. When she stretched out, telling him without words to hurry and join her, he finished unbuttoning his shirt but then dropped to his knees. Collecting her foot, he brushed his lips up and down the bare instep. Her toenails were painted to match her dress. Was her lingerie the same shade? A rich, sexy red.
His palms slid up her smooth shins, knees, before he dropped a slow, moist kiss on her thigh. Her head rolling to one side, she sighed as his fingers filed up beneath her dress and twined around thin silk bands sitting high on each hip. When she arched, helping, he peeled the scrap of fabric down and off her legs. He wound out of his shirt then began a mouth-to-skin glide up the inside of one leg until he reached the point where he was gripping red satin and dragging it higher.
The tip of his tongue slid up between her thighs, delaying long enough to circle and tease her swollen nub, which made the cradle of her hips twist, dip and lift. After a gentle nip, he moved to capture her hem and ease the dress up over her waist, her breasts. When she lay naked on the bed beneath him, her hair fanned out and eyes heavy with want, he shifted back to remove his trousers.
Daniel had seen Elizabeth without clothes this morning, but as he gazed on in the soft light now her curves sent his erection into a near spasm. Controlling the urge to drive her thighs apart and take her quickly, he flipped back the duvet and joined her as she wiggled up then under the cover.
Lying front to front, the tips of her breasts teasing his chest, she coiled an arm around his neck and asked, “Do you have anywhere to be tomorrow?”
He nipped her lower lip and groaned as a spike of pleasure speared through him. “Only here with you.”
Humming against his lips, she murmured, “Mr. Warren, you read my mind.”
He made love with an agonizing lack of speed, firstly tasting the line of her collarbone while lightly pinching and rolling the tips of each breast until she begged him to take her into his mouth. As he lowered and captured one rosy tip, Daniel recalled this morning—forbidden, fun and over way too fast. Tonight’s union would be about exploring places Elizabeth had never been before, had never known existed. He planned to take them both to heights filled only with bone-melting sensation and incandescent
