An awkward silence stretched between them, filled up with all the things that he wanted to say but found himself too tongue-tied and distracted to express without mucking it up.
Lilly sighed, the movement brushing her small shoulder blades over his chest, making Colt wince. “But I’ll still be a demon and you’ll still be a Hunter,” she said softly as she deflated against him. Colt shifted his hold on the reins to one hand and wrapped the other tightly around her middle, splaying his hand over the soft curve of her hip.
“Do you really think that matters to me at this point?” he said near her ear, his voice rough. He caressed the soft shell of her ear with his mouth and inhaled the unique feminine scent that was all Lilly. Damn, even there she was softer than silk and sweet-smelling.
“It has.”
“Hmm,” he said as he moved his lips lower, tasting the tender hollow just beneath her ear. “Things change.”
Her head tilted slightly, giving him better access. The pulsing rush under his skin increased. “Colt?”
“Mmm,” he responded between slow, soft kisses against her nape.
“If I were just a human girl, would you still find me alluring?” She wriggled in his lap and he kept himself as still as he could, which on a moving mechanical horse was nearly impossible. He blew out a slow, steady breath.
“Definitely.”
He left it at that. There was no point telling her that somewhere between entering the dynamic machine inside the cave and trekking soaking wet out of the gulch, Colt had discovered one critical thing his pa had never mentioned.
Sometimes the rules just didn’t apply.
There were times black faded and white became spoiled. Times when you had to listen to your gut, your heart, and not your head. Times when science and reason didn’t hold the answers and intuition did. And right now his gut was a huge throbbing ache, and the only thing that seemed to make it any better was the same thing that made it worse: the woman he held in his arms.
Demon or not, she’d wormed her way into his heart in a way no other female had ever done before. And it wasn’t just the chemistry between them burning like a lucifer to kerosene. It was her keen mind, the sweet curve of her cheek, the way she looked at him that made him feel like he was more than just a man. He was somebody.
He’d spent so long hiding in the shadows, blending, he’d become as dismissible as imagination and as fleeting as time. His brothers, his horse, and Marley were about as normal and stable as his life got, and that wasn’t saying much.
Hell, to put it simply, he craved more. More of whatever it was that Lilly offered him.
The day wore on. Hot stretches of desert floor dotted with cactus, scrub, and jonco scented with the smells of hot rock and creosote turned into hills. Hills gave way to steep, rocky trails ending in cooler brown flat-topped mesas bristling with little junipers and pines. The sky stayed a vivid cloudless blue. No matter how many times the words were on the tip of his tongue, Colt couldn’t seem to master them enough to verbalize. What could he possibly say? He had nothing to offer her. No future. She couldn’t even live among normal folks for long without her demon powers beginning to infect the relationships around her. Sooner or later the men wouldn’t be able to resist her and the womenfolk would be hateful. He wanted to protect her from that. He wanted to give her the normal peaceful life that had been snatched away from her as a little girl.
They leaned forward as Tempus took a zigzag dirt road up the mountains and Colt gripped the reins tighter.
“What do you want from life, Lilly?”
She shook her head, her curls rippling across his cheek, teasing him in the slight breeze. “I want to matter to someone.”
Her words were simple, but they hit him like a punch in the gut. She was just as lost, just as battered as he was. She mattered, dammit. She mattered to him.
“You
do
.”
Her laugh was hollow, brittle and fragile, revealing the depth of her emptiness inside and making his heart contract. “I want to matter not just for what I can offer or do for another person, but just because ... well, just because I’m me.”
“You matter to me.”
“For the moment. But there’s no future in it, for either of us. You know that.”
He stiffened, rejecting the idea. “What I know is that there’s no predicting the future, prophecy or no prophecy. We’re going to go into this together, side by side, and by the end of it you’ll be free. Trust me.”
She turned, gazing up at him, her green eyes bright with yearning, and placed a dainty hand against his cheek and said two words that stripped him down to his bones. “I do.”
Colt kissed her hard and fast, letting all the things he couldn’t say flow into that one kiss that slanted his mouth across her soft willing one. He slipped his arm beneath her legs, lifting her from her position on his lap and settling her across it instead. She was warm and soft beneath his hands.
“You’re tired and so am I. We deserve a rest.”
“But what about getting the Book to Bodie?”
“There’s only so many miles we can travel in a day, sweetheart. One night’s rest isn’t going to end the world.”
“You’re certain?” she hedged, gazing at the sickle of moon already visible in the growing twilight that changed the high desert mountains from shades of red and brown to hues of purple.
“New moon ain’t until a few days from now.” He splayed his hand over the curve of her hip, and her stomach quivered. “Besides, we deserve a chance to celebrate finding our part of the Book.”
Lilly looked up into his rugged face. Colt wasn’t just handsome, he was devilishly so. His dark hair was clean and slicked back, making his strong cheekbones and the hard line of his nose more pronounced. The blue of his eyes sparkled with wicked intentions. Her heart bucked.
“What exactly did you have in mind?”
His gaze shifted to the cluster of buildings on the ridge above them. They were getting closer to Prescott. “A special little dinner for two.”
As Lilly gazed at the enormous crystal and gas jet chandelier sparkling overhead in the coffered silver lobby ceiling of the Silver Swan Hotel, she briefly wondered exactly what the desk clerk at the long walnut counter had thought when Colt had checked them in without any luggage. She’d never worried about seeming inappropriate before. What was it about being around Colt that made her conscious of her every movement and emotion?
She kept trying to reason out her strange reactions to him as they climbed the wide, sweeping staircase to the second floor.
Situated at the end of the hallway, the little engraved brass plaque on the door of the room they’d been given read
HONEYMOON SUITE
. Lilly put her hand on his bicep, which flexed beneath her fingers.
“Are you going to carry me over the threshold?” she teased.
Colt pushed the door open, gave her a devastating smile, then swung her up into his arms like she weighed the same as a feather pillow. Lilly gave a little squeak of protest. She hadn’t thought he’d seriously take her up on her jest.
But somehow, having his arms around her felt absolutely right. For the first time Lilly felt cherished. And that was an altogether different sensation than being protected. Someone could protect you and still not touch your heart. This reached down into the deepest parts of her and stirred the remnants of her soul. She’d never felt more human than she did right now. Or more loved.
Colt had spared no expense. Gleaming brass gas lamps topped by elegantly frosted glass shades and dripping with long cut crystals at the base lent a soft yellow glow to pale green watered silk and gilt crown moldings along the walls. A small settee with deep-buttoned cushions of forest green brocade and an elaborately carved edge, and two matching wingback chairs accented with black tassels sat around an elegant little tea table of cherrywood topped with white marble before the large white marble fireplace. A polished silver tea set and a cut crystal vase of fresh flowers both flickered with reflected firelight. The small sitting room had one door leading to the bedroom. Clearly the suite was the nicest the hotel had to offer.
He set her down gently on the thick carpet and closed the door behind them with a soft click. Lilly rubbed her arms at the unexpected chill that invaded her body once she was no longer in his arms.
“How did you get them to give you this suite?” Lilly asked.
“I told them we were newly wed. They couldn’t very well refuse the honeymoon suite then, now could they?” His heart-stopping smile warmed her all the way to her toes. His appreciative gaze lingered, creating a trail of heat almost like a physical caress. Her skin suddenly felt a size smaller. She turned away, for the first time as a succubus not certain how to respond. A honeymoon was something she had no right to. Something she’d never anticipated she’d have.
Lilly chided herself for her foolishness. After all, she was a succubus, not some milk-water miss fresh out of the nursery with not a clue to what a man wanted from a woman.
Lilly ran her fingers over the pale green moiré silk on the walls as she slowly walked around the sitting room. The problem was, she’d never had her soul at stake, and certainly not her heart. With Colt she feared it would be both.
If she let herself truly indulge all the desire he stirred in her, he might be able to get her soul back from Rathe, but Colt would never return her heart. ’Course if she hadn’t been trying to con herself, she’d have admitted the truth; he’d had her heart in his back pocket all along. From the moment she’d laid eyes on him within the circle he’d conjured in the dark desert night, she’d been helpless to resist the yearning that smoldered inside her.
Lilly glanced through the open door into the adjoining bedroom. The elegant curves of the brass headboard and footboard made the wide mattress, covered in dark green velvet and heaped with colorful pillows sporting an impressive array of tassels and lace, look even bigger. She jumped a little as his hand came to rest, warm and heavy, on her shoulder.
“You hungry?” His voice rumbled all the way through her, making the coiling sensation curl into an even tighter spring.
“Absolutely famished.” She didn’t tell him her hunger had nothing to do with food.
“I thought you might be.”
“We could go downstairs and eat,” she offered halfheartedly.
There was a knock at the door. Colt winked at her. “I hope you don’t mind, but I already ordered dinner for us.” He opened the door and ushered in a man in spotless dark green bellhop uniform who pushed in a cart covered with shiny domed silver trays.
Lilly considered for a moment that it might be quite possible that Colt could read minds. The scent of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables drifted up from the cart, making her stomach grumble. Beside the trays was a bottle of champagne tucked into a bucket of ice and a small silver bowl of ripe red strawberries. The height of extravagance, yet she couldn’t help but smile. If she’d learned anything about Colt, it was he never did anything in half measure.
“Would sir like me to serve?” the bellhop asked. Colt shook his head, slipped the young man a quarter dollar, and efficiently herded him to the door. He shut it and put his back to the door, his gaze heavy and intense.
“It seems you’ve thought of everything,” Lilly murmured.
“Thought, perhaps,” he said with a slight sly smile, “but rarely indulged in.”
A small laugh welled up in her throat. “I find that very difficult to believe, you being a Hunter.”
“So what do you want to try first?”
Colt’s blue eyes glittered, revealing that it wasn’t the repast on the table he was interested in sampling. He popped the cork of the champagne and poured a glass for each of them, handing her one. “To unlikely allies.”
“To the Chosen,” she replied. They both took a sip, his gaze never leaving hers. The tart liquid bubbled and fizzed on her tongue, but not nearly as much as the fizzing, bubbling sensation that was building in her blood.
He plucked a strawberry out of the bowl, dipped it in champagne, and traced a slow, cool path across her full bottom lip.
Lilly closed her lips around the berry and took a bite. Colt’s pulse thrummed harder, a roar in his ears. Damn. There was only so much a man, any man, even a Hunter could endure. Hell, he was only human.
Her lashes dipped down halfway, a sultry smile curving her mouth. “Colt, you’re looking at me like you want to eat me,” she said, her tone low and seductive.
He swallowed hard. It wasn’t too far from the truth. Try as he might, he couldn’t resist the allure of her. He tossed the berry down on the table and pulled her toward him, bringing her soft body up tight against his. “I told myself I’d free you and walk away. But I’m not sure I can.”
“Free me?”
“Walk away.” He took her lips like a starving man. They were warm and lush, and tasted of strawberry and dry champagne, but also of something more. She tasted of trust, of freedom, of a thousand cravings he’d had since he’d become a Hunter that he denied himself.