“Nice fit,” he said of the clothes that she’d taken from his dresser. After another slow, considering look, he added, “I liked the dress better.”
She held up the remains of tattered red silk. “Then you should have left it in one piece.”
“Ah,” he said. “You were pretty cute in nothing at all, too.”
“I can’t go out of here in the altogether,” she reminded him tartly. “Not without causing an even worse scandal than the one I probably set off by coming in.”
“Was there some place in particular you were in a hurry to get to?”
“Breakfast for starters. I seem to have worked up quite an appetite.”
“And after that?”
“I guess that’s up to you.”
“You’ll stay here, if I say so?” he asked skeptically.
“No,” she said, defeated. “I’ll go back home if you won’t take me along.”
It was what she’d decided during the night. She had played her trump card. She had shown him how spectacularly well suited they were—not just in bed, but in the desert the day before. If she couldn’t win with that, then there was no point in beating this particular subject to death.
He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “You’re an awfully headstrong woman, Abby.”
“I know.”
“Do you think you could manage to listen to what I tell you? Do you think you could take orders without questioning every last thing?”
Her breath caught as she realized he was actually considering giving in and taking her with him. “I would respect your experience,” she promised.
“Would you really? I wonder.” He sighed.
“Riley, I will be the best, most loyal partner you’ve ever had. I swear you won’t regret taking me along.”
“Those are pretty promises, Abby. Are you aware that your life could depend on your keeping them?”
There was a serious note in his voice she hadn’t heard before. She realized then that he was genuinely terrified of anything happening to her. More, she realized the depth of his feelings for her, feelings he hadn’t dared to admit and, if she knew him, probably wouldn’t, not in so many words, anyway.
“I will keep them,” she vowed, then added solemnly, “Cross my heart.”
He grinned at that. “Then how can I possibly say no,” he said.
Abby wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly. “You’re saying I can come?”
“You can come,” he acknowledged.
She jumped onto the bed, landing on top of him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said, peppering kisses over his face.
His arm settled around her waist. One hand closed around the back of her neck and kept her mouth slanted across his own. From that moment on there was little time to think about her triumph. She was lost in yet another quest for those insatiable flames of passion.
* * *
Abby had never been so exhausted in her entire life. Her muscles ached. Her hair was filthy. Her clothes were tattered. She would have given up, but Riley refused to allow it. They had reached his claim two weeks before, and the work since had been hot, hard, sweaty and endless.
“We’re so close,” he said as they dug deeper into the mine. “I’m convinced of it.”
“Maybe the gold is always going to be just out of our reach. Did you ever consider that?” she responded wearily, wondering why she’d been so determined to get into this business with him. Only in the middle of the night, when he held her in his arms, did she remember what had drawn her to this man and this task. She’d finally realized that as much as the adventure of searching for gold, she had yearned for Riley and his love.
“Is that any way for a true adventurer to talk?” he chided. “Come on, Abby, don’t give up now. Just a little farther.”
“You go on. I need a break.”
“I could find the gold and never tell you,” he taunted.
She smiled. “You wouldn’t do that. You made a promise to me.”
“Why are you so convinced I’m so trustworthy? We’ve only known each other a few weeks, Abby. I could be planning to steal every ounce of gold we find.”
She regarded him serenely. “You won’t.”
He regarded her in obvious frustration. “Damn, Abby, don’t you know you shouldn’t be so trusting?”
“It’s not just anyone I’m trusting, Riley. It’s you.”
“I’m the worst of the lot.”
She shook her head. “No, you’re not.”
He sighed. “Abby,” he protested.
She stood on tiptoe to press a kiss against his cheek. “Find the gold, Riley. I’ll be waiting for you.”
She could feel his gaze on her as she worked her way back to the entrance of the mine. She wondered at a man who showed such bravery and such honor, but who had no faith that others would see those qualities in him. Perhaps if she trusted in him enough, he would learn to trust in himself.
Outside in the fresh air, she walked to the stream and splashed water on her face. It wasn’t nearly cooling enough. Satisfied that Riley would be occupied for some time to come, she stripped out of her clothes and walked into the water, sighing with pleasure at its cool embrace.
She was still there, with sunlight streaming like golden ribbons from a sky of purest blue, when Riley emerged from deep inside the mine. He held a chunk of gold aloft in hand, his expression jubilant.
“We found it!” he shouted to her.
Seemingly oblivious to her state of undress or the fact that she was in the middle of the creek, he strode toward her. On him the water came barely chest high, while it reached her neck. He scooped the dripping wet Abby up in his arms and twirled her around. “We did it!”
Not I, but we, she noted with an excitement that came more from the sense of union than from the discovery of gold. Abby threw her arms around his neck, suddenly at peace, certain at last that she had found the man she could love through all time. Even more certain that he was
