Page 34 of The Promise of Jenny Jones

Contrary to expectations, the Mexicans did not break camp and move on.

When Jenny checked through Ty’s spyglass, the two men appeared to be arguing.

Judging by their gestures, it appeared one wanted to leave the campsite while the other remained indecisive.

There was still no sign of the missing men. Graciela, thank God, seemed unharmed.

Because it worried Jenny and Ty that the missing two men had not returned by sunset, they decided to wait until dawn to make their move.

The delay would provide the absent cousins the greatest opportunity to reappear, and would give Jenny and Ty the greatest assurance that the missing men would not suddenly arrive in the midst of their attack.

The night passed slowly, with little conversation. Finally, to Jenny’s relief, the time arrived to shake the drowsiness from their heads, mount, and ride across the dark desert.

A hundred yards from the Mexican’s camp, they tethered their horses, then Jenny moved stealthily to the left and Ty silently circled the camp from the right. They came together again near a stunted cactus not far from where they had left their horses.

“There’s no outlying guard,” Jenny reported in a whisper, her lips nearly touching Ty’s ear.

His muscles were taut, communicating his readiness for the fight to come.

She shared his edginess. She, too, resonated with the need to release the tension of having spent so many feverishly speculative hours alone with him.

The pressure of unrequited hankering jangled her nerves and unsettled her thoughts.

The way she figured it, a righteous fight would do them both good and clear the air.

Ty cupped her chin in his palm and turned her head to position his mouth near her earlobe. A flow of warm breath and whispered words made her thighs tense.

“I think the missing men are dead. Looks like two fresh graves about twenty yards from the fire.”

Now it was again her turn. When she moved her head to whisper a reply, her lips grazed his chin and her breasts pressed lightly against his upper arm. “If they’re dead, then our odds just improved.”

Pulling back, he glared into her eyes. “What are you doing? You’re going to get our butts killed.”

Frowning, she peered through the darkness. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You know damned well what I’m talking about. These.”

His hand moved up between them and he cupped one breast, lifting the rounded weight in his palm. His unexpected touch exploded through her body like an invisible beam that instantly dissolved her bones.

The strength shot out of her legs, and Jenny dropped hard to her knees, which placed her at eye level with his thighs.

She stared straight at his crotch. It was a damned fine crotch in her opinion, impressive, really, but right now she was too amazed to devote much thought to a crotch that had occupied her mind for most of the day.

At this moment, the impact of Ty’s warm hand cupping her breast rocked her mind like a small earthquake.

She flat would not have believed that a man’s casual caress could drop her to her knees.

Of course, no man had actually caressed her before.

Based on her experience, men grabbed, mauled, pummeled, and kneaded.

They didn’t gently cup, stroke, or caress.

“Je-zus,” she whispered, as he knelt down beside her.

“What’s wrong? Is it your arm? Something with your legs?”

“Don’t touch my breast again, or I’ll kick you in the groin,” she whispered angrily. Gripping his hand, she pulled herself to her feet, then shook off his fingers as if his touch were lethal.

“Then don’t go rubbing up against me like you did,” he snapped, speaking an inch from her lips.

“Not when we’re about to start a fight. You have lousy timing.

” He spread his hands and released an exasperated sound between his teeth.

“All the damned day and all night, I’ve been waiting and hoping you’d show some interest. And when do you do it?

Two minutes before we’re going to go in and risk getting ourselves killed—goddammit, Jenny. ”

A rush of heat flushed her face. “I wasn’t rubbing on you! I was only leaning close to whisper in your fricking ear.” Defensive, she instantly forgot the thrill of pressing against him. “Are we going to do this, or are we going to stand here arguing until the sun comes up?”

They stood boot tip to boot tip, hat brim to hat brim, scowling at each other in the darkness of predawn, fighting a powerful backwash of hankering.

“One of the men is sitting up, asleep in front of the fire,” Ty whispered, frowning down at her mouth. “The other one is wrapped in a bedroll, sleeping on this side.”

“Graciela’s in the middle,” Jenny added.

His gaze was narrow and cool, but his body radiated enough heat to scorch a woman’s hide.

She was positive that his hard eyes burned an imprint on her lips.

Swallowing, she thought about stepping backward, but her legs wouldn’t move away from him.

“We have to figure the kid is going to get in the way, that she’s going to try to protect her fricking cousins. ”

“How’s your arm?” A light touch brushed her shoulder. “Are you going to be able to use it?”

“It’s sore, but it won’t be a problem.” At least this time she didn’t humiliate herself by falling to her knees when he touched her. “I’ll take the cousin in the bedroll, and I’ll grab the kid. You take the cousin dozing by the fire. He’s the one most likely to give us trouble.”

They stared into each other’s eyes. “I’d like to kiss you for luck,” Ty said finally.

“Oh God, don’t do it.” She placed both palms on his chest and gave him a push.

“You saw what a touch did to me. So don’t go trying for a kiss.

Turn your butt around, and let’s get this fight over with.

” Even the thought of kissing him made her stomach lurch into a long hot roll.

Her legs had that boneless feeling again.

“Damn it, Sanders. You’ve been tormenting me for hours with teasing remarks,” she whispered fiercely, getting angry.

“I’m telling you for the last time… stop it. ”

“What about you? For the first time in my life, I’m going into a fight with an erection! That kind of distraction can get a man killed.”

“See how you are?” she demanded, leaning into him, her eyes flashing. “There you go with more suggestive remarks.”

He swore softly, staring at the front of her poncho like he could see through it, then he pulled out his gun. “You’ve got me so worked up I can hardly think straight. Christ! Wait for my signal. We’ll strike at the same time.”

She couldn’t help it. She strained through the darkness, trying to see if he really did have an erection. When he noticed where she was looking, he groaned and shook his head. Another rush of color heated her cheeks.

“Well, you could have been lying,” she snapped.

But she was pleased to notice that he was not.

In fact, she felt wildly flattered and slightly astounded that he was in the same agitated state of arousal as she was.

Flipping open her pistol, she ran her thumb over the chamber, double-checking the load of bullets.

“Forget hankering and start thinking about that cousin dozing by the fire. Let’s go. ”

“Concentrate. Focus,” he hissed before he ran a hot finger down her throat. An instant later he had faded into the shadows.

She tried to concentrate on the matter at hand, but her thoughts kept flipping around erections and kisses and touches and feverish speculation about a hard-eyed cowboy’s body and intentions. She would have sworn that her throat burned along the line he’d drawn with his fingertip.

“Well crud on a crust.” After giving her head a vigorous shake, she dropped into a crouch and moved up toward the embers glowing in the cousins’ fire pit, darting from one clump of low cover to the next.

She promised firmly that she would not jeopardize this action by getting stuck on distracting memories of his hand curving around her breast.

Before she managed completely to thrust the recollection out of her mind, she found herself inside the campsite, practically on top of the sleeping cousin. Glancing up, she saw Ty rise behind the cousin dozing before the fire. His hand clapped over the man’s mouth and he dragged him backward.

The noise of the scuffle between Ty and the first cousin was slight but enough that when she gazed down at the man in the bedroll, his eyes flicked open, instantly alert.

An explosion ripped through his blankets.

If she hadn’t dived to the side when she saw his eyes, the son of a bitch would have plugged her.

Rolling up on her knees, she fanned the hammer of her pistol and fired.

To make sure she’d hit her mark, she jerked back his blanket, tossed his gun into the darkness, then slapped a hand on his throat and checked for a pulse.

“Good riddance.”

The force of a small body flying out of the darkness knocked her on her back in the dirt. Swearing, teeth bared, she freed her arm and jammed the barrel of her pistol into… Graciela’s ribs. “Kid! Damn it, I almost shot you.”

Struggling to sit up, she tried to shove Graciela aside, but Graciela wouldn’t budge.

A full minute elapsed before she understood the kid was not fighting her.

Graciela had wrapped her arms around Jenny’s neck, and she clung like paint on a fence, sobbing and babbling hysterically.

After a hasty check to reassure herself that Graciela was unharmed, Jenny felt like babbling herself.

Getting the kid back in one piece made her almost feel like weeping.

Ty loomed out of the darkness, grimly satisfied, shoving his gun into his holster. Jenny met his glance, returned his hard-eyed nod, then turned her attention to the kid.

“Kid! Kid, slow down. I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”