A Lasting Love (18 page)

"Por
Dios,
woman. You're driving me crazy."

"Good," she murmured as she kissed the cords in
his
neck. "I've been crazy since you entered my
life."

"We must belong together then." He paused
before her,
his eyes drinking in the sight of her nude
form.

"We do," she agreed, permitting him careful
scrutiny of
her silken figure. His dark eyes devoured
her, creating a
savage yearning in her
loins.

With deliberate slowness, he molded his
masculine con
tours to her feminine counterparts,
pressing hairy thighs
to her smooth ones, his
muscular, flat belly to her softer
flesh, his
unyielding chest crushing her pliable breasts. Within moments they
were stretched across the big bed
together.

His hand traveled familiar paths, gently
teasing the
most sensitive parts of her body. Loren
gasped with de
light as he stroked her stomach and
inner thighs.

"Don't stop—"

"Now, come to me . . ." He pulled her over
him,
continuing his sensuous persuasion.

Eagerly, responsively, Loren pulled him deeply
inside
her. She arched to meet his abundant
masculinity, utiliz
ing the skills he had taught her
for both their ultimate pleasure. Together they reached a frenetic,
wild zenith, each grasping for more of the other. They were as one,
belonging and cherishing, their wild hunger at last being
satisfied.

Finally Loren sank down into the bed, relaxed and
satisfied. Occasionally she nibbled the side of his neck near her
face. The descent from the heights was a slow, wonderful journey,
interspersed by an occasional warm kiss or murmur of love.

"Loren,
mi amor,
you're amazing." Reid's voice was muffled against her
temple.

"Your love is wonderful." She smiled contentedly and
kissed his still throbbing neck.

"I can never get enough of you, Loren," he sighed,
rolling her into the cradle of his arm.

"Never?" A teasing finger traced his hipline. "What
about now . . . again?"

"Okay, maybe later, my sexy
senorita!"
He laughed from deep within his chest.
"First, the Jacuzzi . . . together. Next, dinner. Your man's
hungry. Then ..." He smiled wickedly. "Then,
mi preciosa,
whatever you want."

"Just you." She tweaked his dark hair. “Only
you.”

"Promise."

Chapter Nine

Loren's eyelids fluttered with the sudden intrusion
of light across her face.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," a low masculine voice
muttered. "Do you think you're going to sleep all day? We have
things to do, horses to mount, mountains to climb."

"Hmmm . . . what mountains?"

"You do want to climb the
Catalinas,
don't you? Why, we
might even find gold in them thar hills. There are rumors of
such."

"Who cares?" She turned over and covered her head
with the pillow.

"Come on,
mi amor.
Lupe
has a mountaineer's breakfast on the
table, and lunch packed in the saddlebags. We need to get an early
start before the heat of the day and the monsoons roll in." He
swatted her firmly on the rump and opened the shutters to admit the
sun.

"Why didn't you remind me last night that we'd be
getting up with the sun?" she groaned.

"Oh, no!" he chuckled. "My thoughts were elsewhere
last night. Breakfast is waiting. You don't want to miss this
opportunity to ride into the mountains searching for gold, do you?
Think of all the exciting tales you can take back to your dull
friends in Washington." He closed the door, leaving her to dress
alone.

When Loren finally stumbled into the
kitchen,
Lupe
greeted her with a wide smile.
"Buenos
días, señorita!
Coffee?"

"Oh, yes."

"
Señor
Reid wants to have breakfast on the
veranda."

"Thank you,
Lupe."

At Reid's urging, Loren ate more than usual for
break
fast. Maybe it was the cool, fresh Arizona air
that in
creased her appetite. Or maybe it was the
marvelous
variety of fresh fruit and delicious breads
prepared by
Lupe.
At any rate, she was only too glad to follow Reid's lead and
wolf down their feast. Within the hour they were
loaded with lunch, plenty of water, and high spirits
for
riding into the
Catalinas.

"We'll see you sometime this afternoon,
Lupe,"
Reid
advised. Then, placing a reassuring hand on her
shoulder,
he added, "I talked with the doctor this
morning. Dad had
a restful night and seems to be
improving. So don't worry
about him."

"Si,
Señor
Reid."
Lupe
nodded
obediently. "Be careful.
Don't forget,
Señorita
Loren is new to this."

"I know," he chuckled. "We'll be back before
the mon
soons have a chance to blow in."

"Watch the sky.
"
Lupe
motioned overhead at the usually solid
blue sky. "We already have
clouds."

"Don't worry,
Lupe."
He helped Loren mount her
horse.

A misty haze rose over the
Catalinas
as they rode up the
rocky path into the cactus-covered heights. They climbed
rapidly above the hacienda and stopped long enough to
view the stretch of
Oro
Valley and the far Tucson
Moun
tains with their pinkish glow.

"This is just beautiful, Reid. Now, what
monsoon were you and
Lupe
discussing?" Loren encouraged her
horse
beside Reid's so they could talk.

"Oh, for several months in the summer we have
what
everyone calls the monsoon season.
Rain, sometimes thunder storms
with enough rain to flood the washes,
more aptly
de
scribes it. It's our rainy season."

"Rain? Out here? Looks like you haven't had
rain in
months."

"Well, it doesn't rain in the same spot every
day. Some
times the clouds sail right over us. Now, for
the last couple
of days, you could see the rain
falling in the Sonoran
Desert. But when it does rain,
watch out. It comes hard
and fast, creating flash
floods and bringing intense lightning
."

"Oh." Loren nodded, not really understanding
the full
impact of what he was saying. To her, rain
was rain. It fell
frequently in Washington, and it was
no big deal.

"As we go farther into the mountains, keep your
eyes
and ears open for wild critters."

"I thought they were all in the Rockies
or
Alaska."

"We have cougar and foxes and coyote. Sometimes
black bear.
Our chance of sighting them will increase
at
higher elevations. But they usually keep their
distance."

Loren noticed that the seemingly barren,
lifeless desert
was alive with activity. Their horses
startled numerous cottontail and jackrabbits while an occasional
brazen
chipmunk would scurry across their
path.

By noon they had traveled to another ecological
zone.
Plant growth consisted not only of numerous
types of cacti, but of various medium-size trees that
provided
shade. Reid even found a small trickle of a
stream, allow
ing a brief cool respite from the
increasing heat of the Arizona sun. Loren again ate as if it were
her last meal, savoring the spicy meat on her sandwich. Maybe she
was acquiring a taste for the snappy Mexican food, because she
thought it was delicious.

She stretched her legs and walked around the small,
shaded harbor. "What kind of tree is this, Reid? Its trunk is green
and leaves look like tiny lace."

"Palo Verde," he answered. "That's chlorophyll in
their bark. Gets them through the dry seasons."

"And those fuzzy-looking cacti?"

"Oh, they aren't fuzzy. They're vicious." he
chuckled. "That's
a
cholla,
pronounced
cho-ya.
It's also called a jumping cactus because
if you brush against it, little chunks of it break off and cling to
you."

"There are so many different kinds of cacti out here,
Reid. I always thought they were all alike."

"No, not at all. You know, there are some plants that
grow here and nowhere else on earth. Those giant saguaro, for
instance."

She glanced curiously at the tall, spiny plants.
"They look like a cowboy being held up with a gun in his back," she
mused. "See, his arms are up."

"It takes a hundred years for it to grow one branch,
or arm, as you call it."

"A hundred years?" she asked incredulously. "Then
most of these were around when the Indians roamed this land."

He nodded with a grin. "The Spaniards, the Indians,
the miners—all of them."

"The miners? Did you say earlier there's gold up
here?"

"Oh, sure. Somewhere."

"These aren't the famous Superstition Mountains, are
they?"

"Oh, no. The Superstitions are farther to the
north. But
the
Catalinas
have their own tales of gold too.
Many a prospector
spent his life—and lost it—searching
for gold up here."

Loren's eyes narrowed as she tried to imagine
such a
life. "It's amazing."

"They say there's still a mine, hidden by time
and rocks,
that the Jesuit priests used in the
seventeenth century.
Supposedly they locked it up with
an iron door so no one
could get to the
gold
.
"

"Oh, Reid,
how exciting. Wouldn't it be an experience
to
search for it?" Her face was alight with the prospect.

"No. Don’t get any ideas, Loren. People have
been searching for that thing for years and nobody's found more
than a few trickles of placer gold. I doubt that there's even a
lode up
here."

"Oh, Reid, where's your sense of adventure?"
She took
his hand and squeezed it.

He kissed her nose. "My sense of adventure
wants to
guide us to a special field of wild flowers
where we might
spot a coyote, then back down off this
treach
erous mountain before these clouds build up any
higher."

"Spoilsport." Loren fussed as she mounted her
horse
and followed Reid up the ever-narrowing trail
that led
through a dry wash.

They found the field of flowers, but not the
coyotes or cougars. Reid
was clearly disappointed, but
Loren was far more interest
ed in the possibility of
gold. She began to look at every granite boulder and pile of
sandstone rock with renewed
interest.

However, Reid was intent on the growing dark
clouds
that blocked the burning sun. Shadows spotted
the terrain,
and instead of stopping by the stream on
their return, they
shared a drink from Reid's canteen
and kept moving.
Suddenly the air was cool and a moist
breeze buffeted
them from the south. The sky darkened
and the temperature dropped noticeably. Reid urged Loren to hurry.
As he had suspected, the rains came before they made it home. After
trying to continue for a short distance in the cold rain, he
finally decided they should take refuge somewhere.

The desert storm became violent quickly, with loud
cracking of thunder and brilliant streaks of lightning stretching
from black, menacing sky to brown, drenched earth. It was
spectacular, but there was no time to enjoy the beauty. Loren
wrestled to control her horse, but lost her seat when he bolted
wildly.

Reid lunged at the bridle, but the animal reared
frantically and broke away down the obscure mountain trail. He
turned his attention to Loren, who was slumped in a muddy heap.
Dismounting, he quickly tied his horse to a sturdy scrub oak and
gathered her in his arms.

"Hey, baby, are you all right?"

"Depends on what you call all right." she snapped.
"I'm cold, wet, muddy, and humiliated. Otherwise I'm fine."

"No broken bones? Then come on." Roughly he pulled
her to her feet, and they scrambled across a stretch of sodden
sandstone until they reached a ledge of limestone. "Under here," he
commanded.

The limestone ledge provided limited protection from
the rain, although tiny rivulets crept inward to where Reid and
Loren huddled. The sudden drop in temperature left its chilling
effect.