see the geyser,” Blair told the young man. He was pleasant enough, but his eyes made threats.
“Are you? I’m here with my brother and his wife. We’re camping for a few days. Well, have fun,” he said, with one last longing glance and smile at Niki as he left.
Blair’s hand rode up her side, to rest just under her breast. He could feel her heart pounding. Her breath was wispy and quick.
“Be careful,” he said in a strange, deep tone.
“Careful?” she asked, fighting the urge to lean back against him, to coax that big hand to move up just a little, just an inch, just a breath higher...
He felt her body arching helplessly. He felt her reacting to him. He was reacting to her, too, but he didn’t dare let her feel how much.
“The cars are moving again. We have to go.”
He let her go at once and guided her back to the car. He put her in, got in himself, and drove slowly behind the line of cars.
She was still trying to catch her breath. She was flushed and nervous.
“Sorry,” she said in a thick tone. “He made me nervous.”
“You’re beautiful,” he said through his teeth. “You can’t expect men not to notice.”
“I didn’t flirt with him!”
“That isn’t what I meant.” He took a deep breath. “This is why you stay at home all the time, isn’t it, Niki?” he added. “Men react to you. You don’t like it.”
She grimaced. “I feel...hunted.” By every man except the one she wanted, she could have added, but she didn’t dare.
It was an odd way to put it, but he understood. He glanced at her. She was fidgeting, uncomfortable.
“I wouldn’t have let him near you,” he said.
“I know that.” She swallowed. “Thanks.”
He was overly possessive of her. He’d wanted to punch the boy just for trying to flirt with her. She was years too young, but he wanted her. God, how he wanted her! “Hell,” he burst out.
Her head turned. His face was rigid. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing. Not a damned thing. There’s the turnoff, if we ever get to it,” he added, noting a sign in the distance that pointed to Old Faithful. “Now all we have to do is hope that we’re in time for the next eruption. They’re spaced hours apart. We won’t be able to wait for it.”
She knew that. It was a very long drive. As it was, it would be dark before they got back home to the ranch.
He pulled into the parking lot and drove around to find a spot near the enormous hotel and gift shop.
“I’d still be driving around half an hour from now looking for a parking spot,” she said with an attempt at humor. “You always hit a great spot.”
“Luck,” he said.
He got out, helped her out and locked the car. They walked to the spot where the geyser was located and read the sign. It gave approximate eruption times. The next one was in a half hour.
Niki looked up at him with a question in her soft eyes.
He got lost in them. His hand smoothed down her windblown hair. His face was impassive. “We can get coffee and look through the gift shop while we wait,” he said.
She smiled. “Sounds great. Thanks.”
“Why haven’t you ever been here before?” he asked on the way inside.
“I have, actually. I took a course in anthropology in college. Our class came here. But we didn’t get to see the eruption.”
“I minored in anthropology, back in the Dark Ages,” he said with cold humor.
She stopped just inside the gift shop and looked up at him. Niki’s slight figure was dwarfed by his height. The top of her head barely came to his nose. He was broad, like a wrestler. He moved with sensuous grace, and she remembered with some embarrassment how he looked without his shirt. She’d wanted so badly to touch him there, when he’d been sick and she’d nursed him.
He reached out and drew his thumb softly over her lips, parting them. Her reaction was arousing. He knew without asking that she was attracted to him. No woman could fake these signs, and they were blatant. His face hardened. He couldn’t afford to indulge her hunger. She was very young, just feeling her power as a woman, and she was innocent. He couldn’t take advantage of something she couldn’t even help. Worse, those years between them were like a stone wall.
He dropped his hand as if her mouth had burned it and turned away. “Let’s have coffee.”
He didn’t say another word until he was halfway through with his coffee.
“You’re brooding again,” she accused.
He looked up, both eyebrows arching.
She made a face. “We can go back now, if you want to. I don’t want to make you wait for the eruption of Old Faithful. I imagine you’ve got things to do.”
“I don’t mind waiting,” he replied. His narrowed eyes were on her face. “I’ve never seen it go off, either.”
Something in the hardness of his face made her curious. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you, Blair?” she asked softly.
His jaw hardened. “I spent my wedding night here.”
She caught her breath and looked guilty. “Oh, darn, I’m sorry!”
“You didn’t know.” He looked away. “It was my idea to come, anyway, not yours.”
That made it worse, somehow. He was reliving a failed marriage. Niki hadn’t known about the connection to Yellowstone. Impulsively, she slid her small hand over his.
“You’re always saying that I’ve let a bad experience lock me up in the past. Aren’t you doing that, too, Blair?” she asked quietly.
His eyes were troubled. He felt the coldness of her hand. He turned it, locking it with his own. “I had great expectations.”
“Did you?”
“She was beautiful, cultured, experienced,” he said, smiling wryly. “She said she loved me. I married her and brought her here—” he looked around them “—to let her prove it.”
She waited, just watching him, curious.
He laughed coldly. “She smiled. All the way through it. The whole time.”
Her lips turned up. “She enjoyed it. Why should that make you unhappy?”
He stared at her. Gaped at her. She had no clue what he was talking about. He swallowed, and averted his eyes. “Drink your coffee. We can look around the gift
