Cherokee Baby. Sheri WhiteFeather

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СКАЧАТЬ and man. He ran his fingers up and down her spine, caressing her bare back.

      They could have been making love, she thought. Making love to music. She felt the flex of muscle, the hard, solid wall of his body swaying to accommodate hers.

      He toyed with the ends of her hair. “Gi-ga-ge-i,” he whispered in a guttural tongue. “So red. So powerful.”

      She wanted to respond but she couldn’t. Her entire body was melting. All over him.

      When the song ended, they stood in the center of the dance floor, just holding each other. Until Bobby dropped his hands and stepped back.

      “Wa-do,” he said. “Thank you for the dance.”

      “You’re welcome.” Still a little dazed, she smiled. “Is that the Cherokee language?”

      He nodded. “I don’t speak it fluently. But my grandparents did.”

      “It’s beautiful.”

      “Wa-do,” he said again. “Thank you.”

      The band started another song, but Bobby didn’t reach for her. And she didn’t reach for him. They separated, walked in opposite directions, and then turned back at the same moment to look at each other from across the room.

      Giving her a connection she hadn’t expected to feel. A fleeting embrace from heart to lonely heart.

      On Thursday afternoon Bobby saddled his horse. He wasn’t going to let last night’s dance affect him. He wasn’t going to obsess about the luxury of holding Julianne McKenzie, of swaying to a slow, silky song, of being immersed in the airy fragrance of her perfume.

      He stole a glance at Julianne. She waited beside Caballero, with her hair blowing gently in the breeze.

      Oh, hell. Who was he trying to kid? He was already obsessing about her. About the slim, sleek texture of her naked back and the erotic impression her nipples had made against her dress.

      He’d gone to bed aroused and had awakened the same damned way.

      He finished saddling his horse and went to Julianne. “Do you need a leg up?” he asked.

      She gave Caballero a serious study. The sorrel gelding, at 15.2 hands, possessed a generous chest, a wide girth and a strongly muscled back. He made Julianne, with her petite frame and translucent skin, look like a pixie.

      “I think I can make it on my own,” she said.

      Good girl, Bobby thought. He knew she was more than capable of climbing into the saddle.

      She put her left foot in the stirrup and heaved herself up, grabbing the horn for support. The leather creaked beneath her rear.

      Bobby mounted his horse on the “wrong” side, on the right rather than the left. Julianne gave him a confused look.

      “I’m favoring an old injury,” he said, telling her what he told anyone who was astute enough to notice. “And since it’s easier for me to mount on the right, I train my horses to accommodate me.” Which also included hand signals and the dispersal of his weight rather than the pressure of his legs.

      Julianne merely nodded, apparently too polite to prod him for details.

      Sometimes people questioned him further, and sometimes they didn’t. When they did, he chalked up his “old injury” to an “accident” and nothing more.

      On occasion, the truth leaked out. His staff, along with plenty of folks in town, knew that he was a below-the-knee amputee.

      But so far, no one had told Julianne. Of that much, he was certain.

      He glanced back at her. “Are you ready to hit the hills?”

      She sat up a little straighter. “Yes, sir.”

      For nearly two hours they traveled a path Bobby reserved for inexperienced riders. The trails were wide and scenic, the trees tall and shady, the terrain smooth yet lush with foliage.

      When they reached a grassy plain near the river, he stopped. Julianne had booked a half-day tour, which included a picnic. Most folks preferred to do this tour with a group, but Bobby knew why Julianne had chosen a private session.

      She wanted to be alone with him, to relax, to talk. And he didn’t mind obliging her. He enjoyed her company. And in spite of that romantic dance, he was professional enough to keep his hormones in check. At least in front of her. His private fantasies, his late-night and early-morning arousals, were his own business.

      Besides, she was leaving in three days, right after her party.

      Speaking of which. “I ran into your cousins this morning,” he said as he dismounted. “And they talked to me about your birthday.”

      Julianne slid from her horse. “Oh, goodness. What did they say?”

      “They asked for my advice. And I told them I wasn’t too keen on the over-the-hill theme. I suggested that a classy dinner at the lodge and a night on the town might be more appropriate.”

      She gave him a pleased smile. “You did?”

      He nodded. “There’s a local honky-tonk I think you’d enjoy. It’s perfect for a fortieth birthday.”

      “You mean I can get drunk there and forget how old I am?”

      He laughed. “Yes, ma’am, you can.”

      “Will you come to my party, Bobby?”

      He adjusted his hat to look at her, to count the freckles sprinkled across her nose, to admire the fire in her hair. “Your cousins already invited me.”

      “Does that mean you’ll be there?”

      He moved his gaze lower, taking in the column of her neck, the curve of her waist, the flare of her hip. “Yes. That’s means I’ll be there.”

      “Thank you.”

      “Sure.” Before things got awkward, he tended the horses and gave her the task of spreading the blanket and unpacking the food.

      When he joined her, she was in the process of filling their plates.

      “Your chef is amazing.” She handed him his lunch, a grilled chicken and pita sandwich, accompanied by several gourmet salads. “Do you eat like this all the time?”

      “Except when I cook for myself.” He tasted the wild rice medley, then went onto the mango and jicama concoction. “I can throw a meal together, but nothing this fancy.”

      “Me, neither.” She eyed the dessert, a colorful array of freshly baked tarts. “I’d get fat if I lived here.”

      “I’ve learned to curb my appetite for sweets.” And those sweets included women, he thought as he swallowed the food in his mouth.

      She looked around, and he followed her gaze to the lull of the river and the flowers sprayed across the bank.

      “It’s СКАЧАТЬ