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She turned away abruptly, feeling almost guilty for noticing the hard planes of his body, the skin a deep mahogany colour. She was in love with Kenny, and the attraction of his cynical cousin didn't matter to her!
And yet her gaze was drawn again and again to him, sleep eluding her. It sounded as if it were snowing again outside, and her heart sank at this further obstacle to them getting away from here, a closed-in feeling enveloping her until she began to move about restlessly.
‘Can't you sleep?'
She turned sharply at the sound of that soft rasp, blinking as she saw Kyle Whitney was now turned on his side as he leaned on his elbow looking across at her. She moistened her lips nervously. ‘I'm sorry if I woke you,’ her own voice came out in a whisper too.
‘You didn't,’ he dismissed. ‘Does your head ache?'
‘My head…?'
‘Where you fell and knocked it earlier,’ he explained patiently.
‘Oh. No,’ she shook her head. ‘I—It feels fine.'
‘Then why aren't you asleep?'
How could she tell him it was because the sight of his nakedness had disturbed her! God, she must be going insane, or snow-crazy! She disliked Kyle Whitney, and he despised her, so how could she possibly be physically disturbed by him?
‘Shelby?'
She shivered as she turned to find narrowed grey eyes on her. ‘I—It was the storm outside,’ she invented.
‘Was it?’ He clearly wasn't convinced.
She gave him a startled look. Surely he hadn't been able to guess the intimacy of her thoughts a few minutes ago? ‘I don't know what you mean?’ she frowned.
Kyle sat up completely, wrapping a blanket around his waist as he moved to throw more logs on the fire, his expression harsh as he stared down into the leaping flames.
‘Kyle?’ she prompted at his prolonged silence.
The eyes he turned on her were flinty with contempt. ‘Are you finding it lonely already?’ he rasped.
All colour left her face as he once again verbally attacked her. ‘I told you,’ she was breathing erratically, ‘I'm used to sleeping alone.'
‘But you aren't alone, are you,’ he pointed out as he crossed the room towards her.
She blinked as his meaning became crystal clear, realising how dangerous he could be in this frame of mind. ‘We don't even like each other—–'
‘Does that matter?’ he scorned.
‘To me, yes!’ she answered indignantly.
‘Why?’ He sat on the edge of her bed, so near Shelby could feel his body warmth. ‘I can assure you I'm much more experienced than Kenny is,’ he added derisively.
Shelby moistened suddenly dry lips. This was one way in which she had never thought of Kyle Whitney as being a threat, secure in the knowledge that he didn't like her. ‘Are you sure you aren't the one who's lonely, Kyle?’ she taunted to hide her fear. ‘For Mrs Judd?’ she added insultingly, the only occasions Kyle had left the ranch during the last two weeks having been on the evenings he visited the other woman.
His face darkened. ‘Sylvia happens to be the widow of my closest friend,’ he told her coldly. ‘I keep a protective eye on her, that's all.'
‘I'm sure you do!'
‘Chase would have done the same for me,’ he ground out.
‘In the same way?’ she derided. ‘Then it must indeed have been a “close” friendship the two of you had!'
She knew she had gone too far even as he reached for her, expecting to be shaken until her teeth rattled, instead finding herself pulled up against his hair-roughened chest, the quilt falling down so that her bared breasts were crushed against him, the nipples over-sensitive where she hadn't been touched so intimately in such a long time.
The colour flooded her cheeks as Kyle leant back to view her instantaneous reaction, his eyes darkening to black pools of desire. ‘Kyle, please—–'
‘You have beautiful breasts,’ he murmured as if she hadn't protested, bending his head to suck one of the pert tips into his mouth, his dark lashes fanned out against his cheeks as he became intent on arousing her with the sharp nip of his teeth and the moist caresses of his tongue.
Shelby's hands came up to push him away, but as the quick-fire excitement surged through her body her fingers curled into him in spasmodic pleasure. Always a sensitive part of her body, her nipples ached for the caress of that moist mouth, her breath catching in her throat as Kyle gave the other breast his full attention.
‘Like ivory velvet,’ he muttered against her skin, trailing a path of warm kisses down to her navel as he lay her back on the bed, his tongue, tasting her, exciting her. ‘But you're warm,’ he said softly as he moved even lower. ‘So very warm.’ His hand moved slowly from her knee to her thighs, gently parting them. His mouth traced circles on her skin.
It was madness, utter madness to let him continue, and yet this seemed to be a time out of time, almost a dream. And she didn't want to wake up, had never known such a wealth of sensual delight. Gavin had been a very gentle and considerate lover, he would never have dreamt of silencing her reluctance in such a blatantly physical way.
Gavin. God, if not for herself she had to stop this for him, out of respect for his memory, and the warm and loving relationship they had always had. By acting like a wanton she was not only being unfaithful to that memory she was also convincing Kyle that he had been right about her all along, that any man would do to share her bed in an emergency.
But even so it took some seconds for her to formulate enough strength of will to stop him, her body moving and reacting to his slightest command, opening to him as it had never done before, burning with a need to reach fulfilment.
But Shelby couldn't let herself reach that fulfilment, no matter how much she needed or wanted it, her fingers rough in his hair as she pulled him up to her. ‘I meant please stop,’ she lied, her pride already in shreds. ‘Please stop kissing me, Kyle.'
For a moment he looked dazed, then cold reality returned to the bleakness of his eyes, his mouth twisting as he looked down at her flushed nakedness. ‘But I didn't kiss you, Shelby,’ he pointed out softly. ‘Not here, at least,’ he touched her lips with a hand that smelt of her body.
Confusion washed over her as she realised he only spoke the truth. He hadn't kissed her mouth, not once had he acknowledged her with that intimacy. She had been a female body for him to arouse and caress, she as a person hadn't mattered to him, he couldn't have shown her that any more clearly.
He looked down at her with coldly merciless eyes. ‘Should I apologise for showing you I was right about you?’ he derided with contempt.
She swallowed hard. ‘No…!'
‘Don't look so stricken, Shelby,’ he moved back to his own bed, his expression mocking as she instantly pulled the quilt up over her nakedness. ‘I was merely saving you the trouble of trying your wiles on me now that Kenny has put himself out of the running.'
‘I—–'
‘You see I'm not interested in more than slightly used goods,’ he added sneeringly. ‘And certainly not a woman on the make like you are.'
Shelby was very pale, from the shock of her own actions as much as from his insults. She was about to marry his cousin, she deserved every insult he hurled at her about her morals! ‘You're so wrong about me,’ she began pleadingly.
‘Am I?’ His eyes looked her over coldly, making Shelby conscious of her tousled hair, languorous green eyes, and passion swollen lips. ‘Then what would you call what happened between us just now?’ he scorned. ‘An impulse?'
‘I don't know what happened just now!’ she blushed, knowing exactly what had almost happened. It had been so long for her, so very long, since a man had looked at her the way he had, since she had ached to be touched. But it shouldn't have happened with this man, should never have happened at all. ‘It doesn't mean that I want or expect anything from you—–'
He gave a harshly humourless laugh. ‘What could you possibly expect from me?'
‘I just told you, nothing—–'
‘Too damn right I owe you nothing!’ he rasped grimly. ‘I think I should warn you now that I don't react well to blackmail, no matter how charmingly it's presented.'
Shelby gasped. ‘I didn't—–'
‘It sounded suspiciously like it to me.’ He looked at her coldly. ‘I made love to you just now for one reason and one reason only, to prove to you that no matter what opinion you may have of what you're doing I know that any man will do for you. But I don't intend being Kenny's replacement, not in bed or in a monetary way. I realise this set-back with Kenny must have upset your plans somewhat, but it would take more than a little seduction on your part to make me offer you marriage.'
‘I didn't seduce you,’ she protested. ‘You were the one who came to my bed!'
‘After I found your gaze on me like a caress,’ he scorned. ‘You were begging for me to make love to you.'
‘No!'
‘Yes,’ he hissed. ‘But little mercenaries like you don't interest me in more than a fleeting capacity.’ His gaze flickered over her contemptuously. ‘I hope I make myself clear?'
‘You think of me as a one-night stand,’ she said disgustedly.
‘How aptly put,’ he derided with distaste. ‘I knew exactly what you were and what you were after before we even met,’ he added with disgust.
‘And that is?’ she prompted stiffly.
‘Surely it's obvious?'
‘I'd like to hear, nonetheless.'
He shrugged. ‘After the life you've lived Kenny must have seemed like a heaven-sent opportunity,’ he scorned. ‘He was young and alone, and far from home, an easy conquest for the lonely little widow,’ his mouth twisted, ‘Thank God he came to his senses in time!'
‘The life I've lived?’ she prompted an explanation, not understanding what he meant. As far as she knew her life had been nothing out of the ordinary. This man obviously didn't agree with her.
‘You're very young to have been left a widow to fend for yourself. I'm sure that when you married your husband you envisaged a long and happy life with him, maybe even contemplated having children,’ he added as if he doubted it.
‘Is that so unusual?’ she frowned.
‘No,’ Kyle shook his head. ‘But he had the inconvenience to go and die on you.'
‘That's a foul thing to say!’ she choked on her anger. ‘I loved my husband very much.'
‘The same way you love Kenny?’ he dismissed. ‘That sort of love isn't worth having.'
‘And what would you know about any sort of love?’ she accused insultingly.
His mouth tightened. ‘I know that a year after your husband's death, this man you're supposed to have loved, you were tired of trying to make it alone, of working in a hairdressing salon to support yourself—–'
‘I don't just work in the salon, I own it,’ she told him forcefully.
‘And I'm sure the profit you make just about covers the cost of your rent and costs!'
‘You don't know what you're talking about!'
‘I know that you saw Kenny for a fool, a fool who could give you back the life of relative ease you no doubt enjoyed with your husband. But don't take me for the same kind of fool, Shelby, because I can assure you I'm far from being that. Far from it!’ he repeated with feeling.
She knew that, what she didn't know was where he could have gained such an impression of her. Oh he had all the basic facts right, he just had the conclusions all wrong. And she didn't understand why. ‘Where did you get your information from?’ she asked slowly.
‘Some of it from Kenny,’ he shrugged. ‘The rest I pieced together myself.'
She wondered which parts were which, but was reluctant to ask him in the circumstances. ‘Then we both know where we stand, don't we?’ she said softly.
‘Yes!’ he grated.
‘Then we may as well go back to sleep,’ she yawned as if to add to her impression of tiredness, whereas in reality she had too much on her mind to fall asleep. ‘And hope we can get out of here tomorrow,’ she added hopefully, needing desperately to talk to Kenny, knowing that only he could supply the answers she needed.
‘I wouldn't count on it,’ Kyle muttered roughly.
‘Oh but I am,’ she said with heartfelt feeling as she turned on her side towards the wall, remaining that way, determined not to even look at him to see if he had fallen back to sleep.
Her thoughts were racing, dark unhappy thoughts as she remembered the conversation she had had with Kenny yesterday, a conversation that on reflection seemed to have turned her life about once again. She had thought Kenny understood at the time, that it hadn't mattered to him, but now she wasn't so sure. The facts that his family seemed to have about her, facts only he could have told them, seemed to conflict with reality, making her wonder why he had lied to them.
Worst of all, she was no longer sure her wandering off in the blizzard had been an accident!
CHAPTER THREE
SHE hadn't deliberately set out to deceive anyone, had always intended Kenny to know the truth about her, she just hadn't thought it important enough to mention to him before now. Everything had happened so fast since her arrival in Montana, Kenny's proposal only two days later, and then the frantic wedding preparations, that they had barely had a moment to themselves to talk about anything, let alone something so private.
But yesterday they had stolen a couple of hours to themselves, and Shelby had chosen that time to tell Kenny about Gavin and her marriage to him. He had listened without a flicker of emotion to all that she had to say, had seemed to treat her the same as he usually did for the rest of the day.
But he had gone to see Wendy when he had known she was lost, possibly in danger, which didn't speak of a man in love. She didn't even consider the fact that Kyle could have lied to her about that, Kyle Whitney was basically a truthful man, he wouldn't lie to achieve his objective of getting her out of Kenny's life. She seemed to have done that effectively herself! How could she have even guessed that Kenny would react the way that he seemed to have done to what she had told him? Not that it hadn't been important, she knew that it was, but she hadn't thought it would matter to a man like Kenny. Obviously it did.
Her love for him refused to die completely, wouldn't do that until she had heard the truth from him herself. But it was her pride that hurt her the most right now. She had been reluctant to become involved with Kenny in the first place, had been persuaded into going out with him by his boyish charm. It hurt to now think that boyish charm had all been a pose, that she hadn't been his main interest at all. Because she knew now exactly what had been.
Did Kyle realise what sort of man his cousin was? Somehow she doubted it, the two men seeming the best of friends. And if she could be fooled by Kenny, after having been suspicious of all entanglements since Gavin's death, then what chance did Kyle have?
God, she felt so humiliated! She had placed her whole life and happiness in Kenny's hands and he had thrown them back at her as if she meant nothing to her. What sort of man was he, how could he—–
‘Still can't sleep?'
She stiffened as Kyle asked her that question for a second time tonight, but she made no reply, feigning sleep, letting the tears fall silently for the pain and humiliation she had suffered at Kenny's selfish hands.
‘Shelby?’ Kyle prompted in a whisper, not convinced by her act at all.
Again she ignored him, not wanting to speak to him now, needing the protection of silence against his rapier tongue, knowing that with his suspicious mind he was sure to misunderstand the reason for her tears. He had ridiculed her enough for one night, and he obviously didn't know the full truth about her, the real reason Kenny had changed his mind about marrying her, and until she had spoken to Kenny she didn't care to discuss it with him.
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