Page 26 of The Bastard Heir
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.
Slowly and irrevocably her body became aware of his where it touched her. The hard yet satiny feel of his muscled chest above her. The heat from his body as it seeped into her pores. The gentle scratch of his jaw against her temple. She became aware of him as a man. The same man who’d kissed her. The same man who’d treated her so gently back on the train. She turned her head slightly toward him, taking in his shadowed form. Self-preservation demanded that she harden herself against him and forget this dangerous fascination, but she could not make her body or her heart understand.
She knew the exact moment he became aware that something had changed. His body tensed and, though he didn’t remove his hand from her mouth, he eased back just enough to look downat her. Only a faint light came in through the pale curtains, but she could see his eyes and they weren’t angry anymore, and his breaths came faster than before. The change was so subtle she probably wouldn’t have noticed had they not been so close to each other. His chest moved with each breath and it brushed past her temple on the way out. Her blood went heavy in her veins, moving slowly like warm honey to settle deep in her core.
The Bonhams moved on. Their voices receded as they continued their walk around the veranda. Cautiously, he removed his hand from her mouth, but he stayed on top of her.
He took a deep breath, the movement pressing her down into his bed. “Why are you here?” he whispered.
She knew she should shout at him, or at the very least tell him exactly what he could do with his questions, but she tried and failed to conjure her previous anger. “I came to release you from our deal.” She kept her voice low, just in case someone happened by in the hallway or balcony.
He didn’t move, and she knew she must have shocked him. He really had thought she’d come to get herself compromised. The knowledge hurt because, while she wouldn’t have gone so far as to call them friends, she really did think they respected each other. He’d defended her with Mr. Bonham, held her hand when she’d confronted her father, and then there was that kiss.
“Why would you do that?” He still hadn’t released her arms, so she gave them a tug. He relented, and she pulled them down, but he didn’t move to get off her.
“When I made that deal with you, I didn’t realize what was at stake for you. I didn’t really understand what had happened with your grandfather and why it was so important for you to find the man responsible for his death. It occurred to me today that instead of being here, pretending to court me, you could’ve been out there looking for Derringer. I was selfish. I’m sorry.” She took a breath and tried to read his expression. She could see hiseyes but not clearly enough in the dim light to know what he was thinking.
It was only when he let out his breath that she realized he’d been holding it. The arm that had been pressing her arms above her head curled down so that the pad of his thumb brushed gently across her forehead. It was such a gentle stroke that she barely felt it, but it sent a shiver through her. “You’ll do this for me? You’ll keep quiet about what you saw on the train without asking for anything in return?”
