Page 22 of The Bastard Heir (The Gilded West #2)

Last night she’d stayed up late, conflicted about their plan.

She’d been on the balcony outside her room when she’d seen him ride out.

She might’ve even questioned that it was him, except she’d acquainted herself with the sight of his broad shoulders.

He’d gone out to search of Derringer. She was certain of it.

And this morning he’d come into the dining room with an abrasion on his cheekbone, just below his eye.

No one had mentioned it, but Caroline was almost certain he’d obtained it last night doing whatever it was he’d been doing.

It only made her feel guiltier for keeping him from his mission.

She couldn’t stop thinking of what awful thing had happened to him last night to put that abrasion there.

How much danger had he truly faced? Had he come close to dying?

She shouldn’t care more than she’d care about anyone else who was in danger.

But this was Castillo, and instead of simple, understandable concern, she felt a deep and lingering fear.

It was absurd to feel frightened for him, because she barely knew him.

It was absurd to allow this affection for him to become anything more than it already had, but she couldn’t seem to stop it.

After her talk with Aunt Prudie, Caroline had tried to rejoin the activities planned for the day, but she’d been too worried to enjoy herself.

She needed to talk to Castillo privately and end this ridiculous charade.

Then this whole thing would be behind her, and the weight of this awful guilt would leave her.

She’d be able to avoid him for the rest of the week and pretend that he didn’t make her feel anything.

Retiring to bed soon after dinner, she allowed Mary to help her change into her night rail and wrapper.

But instead of going to bed she waited for Castillo to go to his room.

After an hour had passed, she walked out to the balcony and thought she saw a light flicker from the room she’d deduced was his. There was no light coming through his window when she got to it, but the door was open to allow in the cool night air. The pale curtains fluttered in the gentle breeze.

For some inexplicable reason, her heart was pounding.

Maybe it was from fear of getting caught in his room.

The more likely answer was that her body remembered that kiss from last night.

He hadn’t mentioned it all day and had been a little reserved, which led her to think he regretted it.

She didn’t plan on mentioning it, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t replayed itself over and over in her mind while she waited for him.

“Castillo?” She kept her voice low as she pushed the door open a little farther. A thin beam of moonlight spilled across his empty bed. The sheets were rumpled, and the blanket was folded back to the foot of the bed, as if someone had just been lying in it.

“Carolina?”

The sound of his voice was so close that she gasped when she turned and saw him standing behind the door.

His gun was in one hand and the sheet from his bed was in the other, pressed against his male parts, but that was the only bit of him that was covered.

His chest, stomach and most of his legs were nude.

“Castillo?” It was the only thing she could think to say as her verbal skills had deserted her.

Neither of them moved.

Stop looking! Stop looking! Stop looking!

Her stubborn gaze refused to obey her brain’s command and wouldn’t leave the sight of his hand fisting the sheet to shield his nakedness.

The part of the sheet that wasn’t wadded against his…

his manhood, trailed down to fall limply in a puddle between his feet.

His muscular thighs were quite naked on either side of it.

Her gaze caught the narrow trail of dark hair visible above the sheet and followed it upward over his ridged abdomen to the broad expanse of his lightly furred chest. His entire body was wrapped in lean muscle.

Castillo found the will to move first. Setting his gun on a low table beside a chair, he rushed forward and pushed the balcony door closed behind her.

She watched this happening as if she had no ability to move, except to turn and follow him with her gaze, only to get a good look at his naked buttocks.

They were pleasantly rounded and the muscles shifted and flexed as he walked.

The sight was enough to shock her system back into some semblance of functional, because she turned away from him and pressed her cool fingers to her hot face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d be nude. ”

There was some shuffling that sounded as though he was arranging the sheet around him. “What are you doing here?” He kept his voice low, but the way he bit out the words told her he was upset.

She peeked back at him to see that he’d wrapped the sheet around his waist and held it closed at his hip.

His strong calves were still visible as were his bare feet.

He cleared his throat, regaining her attention, but her gaze lingered on his powerfully built chest. His pectoral muscles were clearly defined even in the dim light, and there were small indentation lines where his deltoids met them.

He was a magnificent specimen of a man. She wanted to believe scientific curiosity was the only reason she stared, but it wasn’t.

Her breasts became taut and her breaths became shorter, while her lower body tightened in a way that was new to her.

But she recognized it as arousal and tried to mentally shake herself out of it.

“I’m sorry,” she said again when she met his gaze, because clearly she needed to apologize for herself. She’d invaded his privacy and here she was leering at him like some depraved lecher. After this trip out West, with all of the lying and gawking she’d done, she planned to reevaluate herself.

His gaze narrowed at her words and his jaw clenched, making his eyes go intense and angry.

She should’ve been frightened of that anger, but the fluttering in her belly wasn’t fear.

Neither was it fear that caused her blood to feel heavy and warm, the same way it did after drinking a glass of wine.

Something about his anger excited her almost as much as that kiss had. “Really, very sorry.”

“Have you come here to get yourself compromised?”

She was so shocked that she couldn’t speak. When he started walking toward her, she moved backward with his every step. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re here to break your word and make sure someone finds us,” he clarified.

His words flipped some switch inside her that turned her growing excitement into anger. “That’s preposterous. Why would I do such a thing?”

“You tell me. Why else would you be in my bedroom in the middle of the night?” His eyes widened as if coming to some realization. “This explains that kiss from last night.”

She came up against the wall and realized she’d been retreating like a coward. “Do I have to remind you that you kissed me?”

“You asked me to, and then your father came around the corner. Did you set that up, too?” He moved in closer but didn’t touch her.

This confrontation was a little more like that first night in her bedroom.

She missed the gentle man she’d come to know, but couldn’t deny that she was excited by this version of him in a completely different way.

“Of course not, you ass. I just wanted to kiss you, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why.” She brushed past him on her way to the balcony door, but voices could be heard from outside followed by the sounds of muffled laughter. It sounded like Mrs. Bonham’s laughter.

Castillo’s hand covered Caroline’s mouth as he grabbed her and pulled her back, retreating further into the bedroom, away from the balcony doors.

Instinctively, she struggled to get away and managed to put some distance between them, before he dropped down to the bed, holding her down with his hard body on top of hers.

She pushed at his shoulders, but he stretched out over her and somehow wrangled her so that her arms were flattened above her head with his forearm holding them down.

His other hand kept covering her mouth though she was doing her best to give him an earful even through the barrier.

“Shh.” His breath brushed past her cheek as he lowered his head. “I won’t have them find you in here.”

She wanted to buck him off and tell him to go to hell, but she thought of the reason she’d originally come to his bedroom.

Then she thought of how disappointed Aunt Prudie and her father would be if they did find her here.

They’d be heartbroken if she was compromised.

It was for them that she kept herself still and quiet, certainly not for the large man on top of her.

Her heart pounded in her ears as the pair came to a stop just outside the door, possibly at the railing to take in the view of the stars.

Their voices were so low and muffled it was impossible to hear what they were saying, but Mr. Bonham chuckled, leading her to believe that they were simply out for a late-night stroll.

As the time ticked by, Caroline became acutely aware of the weight on top of her, and not in any way that was unpleasant.

Since she’d stopped struggling, he’d positioned his lower body off to the side so he wasn’t too heavy, but his torso pressed against hers from shoulder to hip.

His scent settled over her, that subtle blend of citrus and leather mixed with clean male sweat.

It wasn’t the scent of one of the expensive colognes the men wore in Boston, but it was his own smell and infinitely more appealing because of it.