Twin of Ice Read online

  She might have made it perfectly well except that it began to rain. Cold, cold sheets of water came from the sky, then, as the water collected on the overhead rocks, it flooded down on top of her, making visibility impossible. She tried to keep her head down and her eyes on the nearly invisible trail in front of her at the same time.

  Flashes of lightning began to make the horse shy and dance about on the skinny little path. After quite a while of fighting both the rain and the horse, she dismounted and led the animal as she gave most of her attention to searching through the deluge for the way.

  At one point, the trail ran along a little ledge, sheer rock above and below her. Houston took one step and soothed the frightened horse, took another step and calmed the horse. “If you weren’t carrying the food, I’d let you go,” she said in disgust.

  At the edge of the cliff ledge, the lightning flashed and she saw the cabin. For a moment, she stood perfectly still and looked through the rain dripping off her nose. She had begun to doubt the cabin’s existence. And now what did she do? March up to the door, knock and, when Kane answered it, tell him she thought she’d drop by and leave her calling card?

  She had half a mind to turn around and leave, when all hell broke loose. The idiot horse she’d had to practically drag up the mountain called out, was answered by another horse, and so proceeded to run toward the cabin. Never mind that Houston was standing in the animal’s way. She screamed as she fell into the mud and began rolling down the side of the mountain, but the blast of a shotgun aimed in her direction covered her voice. “Get the hell out of here if you wanta keep your skin,” Kane bellowed over the rain.

  Houston was hanging over the edge of the drop-off, clutching the roots of a little piñion tree and trying to find a place to stick her dangling feet. Surely he wasn’t so angry that he’d shoot her?

  Now was not the time to ask questions. She was either going to slide to her death or take a chance on Kane’s temper.

  “Kane!” she screamed and felt her arms giving way.

  Almost immediately, his face appeared over the side. “My God,” he said in disbelief as he stretched out his hand to grab her wrist.

  Quite easily, he hauled her to the top, stood her on the ground and stepped back from her. He didn’t seem to believe she was there.

  “I came to see you,” Houston said with a wet, crooked smile, as she began to weave about on her feet.

  “Nice to have you,” he said, grinning. “I don’t get much company up here.”

  “Maybe it’s your welcome,” she answered, nodding toward the shotgun in his hand.

  “You wanta come in? I gotta fire inside.” His voice was highly amused—and, Houston hoped, pleased.

  “I’d like that very much,” she said, then squealed and jumped toward him as above her a tree limb gave a loud crack.

  She was standing quite near him and, as he looked down at her, his eyes were questioning. It was now or never, Houston thought, and there was no sense in being shy or coy. “You said you’d be there for the wedding if I’d show up for the wedding night. You fulfilled your part of the bargain, so I’m here for mine.”

  With breath held, she watched him.

  Kane’s face went through several emotions before he threw back his head and laughed loud enough to be heard over the rain and the thunder. The next moment, he swept her into his arms and carried her toward the cabin. At the doorway, he stopped and kissed her. Houston clung to him and knew the arduous climb had been worth it.

  Inside the little one-room cabin was a stone fireplace that filled one whole wall, and a warm, cheerful fire blazed within it.

  Kane held up a blanket. “I ain’t got any dry clothes up here so this’ll have to do. You get out of them things while I find your horse and pen it up.”

  “There’s food in the bags,” she called as he left.

  Alone, Houston began to undress, peeling the soaking garments from her cold, clammy skin. She couldn’t help glancing at the door every few minutes. “Coward!” she said to herself. “You’ve propositioned the man and now you have to live up to your boasts.”

  By the time Kane returned, Houston was wrapped in the scratchy wool blanket with only her face sticking out. After a quick, smiling look of understanding, Kane put the food on the floor.

  The only furniture in the room was a big bed made of pine, covered with an odd assortment of blankets that didn’t look overly clean. Against one wall was a mountain of stacked canned goods, mostly peaches like she’d found in the kitchen of his house.

  “I’m glad you brought food,” he said. “I guess I left in too much of a hurry to get any. I don’t guess Edan’d believe it, but even I get tired of peaches after a few cans.”

  “Edan packed the food, and your cousin, Jean, had him put in some wedding cake.”

  Kane straightened. “Ah, yes, the wedding. I guess I ruined the day for you, and women like weddings so much.” He began to unbutton his shirt.

  “Many women have weddings like the one I planned, but few have a day such as this one turned out to be.”

  As he pulled his wet shirt out of his pants, he smiled at her. “Your sister did all that at the weddin’, didn’t she? You didn’t have nothin’ to do with it, did you? I realized that after I got all the way up here.”

  “No, I didn’t,” she answered. “But Blair didn’t mean any harm. She loves me and she thought I wanted Leander, so she tried to give him to me.” As Kane began to remove his pants, Houston looked back at the fire. This was her wedding night, she thought, and her body warmed considerably.

  “Thought?” Kane asked, and when she didn’t answer, he persisted. “You said she thought you wanted Westfield. She doesn’t think so anymore?”

  “Not after what I said to her,” Houston murmured, looking into the fire. Behind her, she could hear him rubbing himself with a towel, and she was greatly tempted to look around. Was he really as well built as the strongman she’d hired for The Sisterhood meeting?

  With a swift movement, Kane knelt before her.

  He was wearing only the towel about his hips, looking for all the world like a Greek god of old. The smooth, big muscles under deeply bronzed skin were indeed better than those of the man she’d hired.

  Whatever Kane’d been about to say was forgotten as he looked at her. His breath caught in his throat. “You looked at me like this once before,” he whispered. “That time you hit me with a water pitcher when I touched you. You plannin’ somethin’ like that this time?”

  Houston just looked at him and let the blanket slide from her head, then down her neck, off her shoulder to hang just above her breasts. “No,” was all she could think to say.

  The heat of the fire was warm on her skin but nothing compared to the feel of Kane’s hand on the side of her face. His fingers tangled themselves in the wet hair that flowed down her back. His thumb ran across her lower lip as he watched her.

  “I’ve seen you dressed up a lot, but you’ve never been prettier than you are right now. I’m glad you came up here. A place like this is where people should make love.”

  Houston kept her eyes on his as his hand travelled down her neck and onto her shoulder. When he started to move the blanket away from her breasts, she held her breath, and realized that she was praying that she’d please him.

  Very gently, as if she were a child, he put one arm around her shoulders and lowered her to the cabin floor. She tensed as she thought, this is it.

  Kane parted the blanket so that her nude body was entirely exposed to him.

  Houston waited for the verdict.

  “Damn,” he said under his breath. “No wonder Westfield made a fool of himself over a body like that. I’ve found that them curvy dresses you ladies wear are usually stuffed with cotton.”

  Houston had to laugh. “I please you?”

  “Please me?” he said, as he held out his hand. “Just look at that. It’s shakin’ so bad I can’t hold it still.” He put his hand on the soft skin of her stomach. “It