«Try opening the journal.»
«What?»
«The journal,» he said dryly. «It’s hard to read through the cover.»
When Eve started to move off his lap, Reno held her in place with offhanded ease.
«I said I wouldn’t force you,» he reminded her in a calm voice. «And I said I wasn’t going to keep my hands off you. I’m a man of my word. What about you? Do you keep your word like a woman or a saloon girl?»
«I keep my word, period,» Eve said through her teeth.
«Prove it. Start reading. The light’s good enough now, isn’t it?»
She muttered agreement, took a secret breath, and opened the journal to the first page. The words wouldn’t come into focus. All she could think of was the feel of Reno’s body against her back, her hips, her thighs.
Long arms reached around Eve as Reno took the journal from her hands and opened it.
«Read aloud,» he said.
His voice was as casual as though he spent every night with a girl in his lap reading books.
Maybe he does, Eve thought.
«I should point out,» Reno drawled, «that if what I hear doesn’t interest me, I can always find something else to do that does interest me.»
The sensual threat in his voice was unmistakable.
«In the twenty-first day of the year fifteen…’» Eve said quickly, hoping Reno didn’t hear the unevenness of her voice. «It’s blotched there. I can’t tell if the year is…is…»
Her voice fragmented as she felt the collar of her jacket tugged down in back. The warmth of Reno’s breath on her neck made her shiver.
«What are you doing?» she asked.
«Keep reading.»
«It just says who authorized…»
The brush of his mustache against Eve’s nape took her breath away.
«Read.»
«I can’t. You’re distracting me.»
«You’ll get used to it. Read.»
«…who authorized the expedition, and how many men and what arms and…»
Eve’s words stopped as Reno’s teeth tested the softness of her skin with ravishing delicacy.
«Go on,» he whispered.
«…and what the purpose was.»
The tip of his tongue circled her nape. He felt the tremor that went through her and wondered whether it was fear or anticipation.
«What was the purpose?» he asked.
Eve reminded herself that a bargain was a bargain. She had agreed to let Reno try seducing her.
She hadn’t agreed to his success.
«Gold, of course,» she said curtly. «Isn’t that what the Spanish always wanted?»
«I don’t know. You’ve got the journal. Read to me.»
«That wasn’t part of our bargain.»
The heat of Reno’s mouth on Eve’s nape made her heart turn over. The hot suction and fine edges of his teeth sent wildfire through her nerves.
Reno felt the shudder that went through Eve, and wondered once more whether fear or sensuality moved her, for he had seen both in her topaz eyes as she watched him through the long days on the trail.
There was no doubt whether fear or sensuality ruled Reno. The taste of Eve’s naked skin and the feel of her hips snug between his thighs was a pleasure hot enough to burn. He shifted slightly, increasing the sweet pressure against his rapidly hardening flesh.
«They — the Spanish were supposed to baptize Indians, too,» Eve said hurriedly.
She tried squirming off Reno’s lap. Each movement she made only served to increase the intimate contact.
She became very still.
«Were they?» he asked in a lazy voice.
«Yes. It says so right here.»
«Show me.»
Eve tried to find the page, but her fingers were clumsy, and Reno was holding the journal in such a way that she couldn’t turn more than one or two pages.
«Your thumb is in the way,» she said.
Reno made a throaty, questioning sound that ruffled her nerves almost as much as a physical touch.
«I can’t turn the pages,» she explained.
The rest of Eve’s words were lost in a stifled gasp as Reno’s mustache moved like a silk brush along her hairline. Goose bumps coursed up and down her arms.
«Then you hold the journal,» he said in a deep voice. «But if you try climbing off my lap again, I’ll lay you out on the ground, instead.»
Eve took the journal from Reno’s hands and began turning pages as though her life depended on finding out what the rest of the royal instructions to the Cristbbal Leon expedition had been.
Reno’s long, deft fingers began unbuttoning her jacket.
«Saving souls,» she said quickly. «They were trying to save souls.»
«I believe you mentioned that already.»
The jacket began to open, allowing the cool night air to wash Eve’s throat. She dosed her eyes and tried to breathe past her heart, which was lodged halfway up her throat.
«Somewhere he…he writes about seeking an overland route to the Spanish missions in California,» she said.
«Exploration,» Reno said deeply. «Man after my own heart. Go on, gata, read to me about undiscovered territory and treasures hidden within darkness.»
«They started up from New Spain and…»
Eve gasped softly as the last button on her jacket gave way beneath Reno’s gentle urging. The worn white gambler’s shirt that had once been Don Lyon’s glowed in the firelight as though made of satin.
«Don’t panic,» Reno said. «I’m not doing anything that we didn’t do before.»
«That’s supposed to make me feel better?»
«The Spanish started from New Spain,» was all Reno said. «And then what?»
«Then they came at the Rockies from the east…»
Her breath rushed out when long fingers stroked her throat lightly, caressing the frantic race of her pulse.
«…or maybe the west. I don’t know. I can’t…»
Reno released the first burton of her shirt.
«…can’t remember which direction they… they…»
Another button gave way. Then another.
«What did they find?» Reno asked softly as he pulled her blouse apart. «Gold?»
Eve dropped the book and grabbed the edges of her blouse. It was too late. Reno’s hands were already stroking bare skin, luring her body with promises of pleasure.
«Not right away. They found…they found…»
Eve’s voice frayed into a soft, ragged cry as her breasts changed in a rush, answering the caress of Reno’s hands.
«Stop,» Eve said.
But even she couldn’t have said if she meant the word for Reno or for herself. The sensual pressure of her hardened nipples was nudging against his palms.
«Pleasure, not fear,» he breathed against her neck. «We’ll burn down the mountains, gata. And then we’ll burn down the night.»
