Free Ride The Wild Wind (Time Travel Historical Romance) by Kimberly Ivey Page B

“Still, even you cannot deny that she is beautiful. I hope there
will be no trouble. ” The tone of her voice held a question.
    Elena had no
intention of letting this die. He needed a diversion and fast. Reaching for a
long-handled brush, then lifted his foot from the water. “Wash my feet.”
    Elena snatched the
brush. He propped a foot on the side of the tub. She frowned, then momentarily
commenced scrubbing his toenails with vigor.
    “I want the truth,
Antonio.”
    “You have the
truth.”
    Pressure on the
brush increased as she worked furiously. Thick, stiff bristles jabbed into his
skin . Ouch! Was the confounded woman going to scrub all the hide from
his feet? He cried out in pain and she flashed him a warning look. No, she
wasn’t going to give up. And her anger was growing fiercer by the moment.
    He jerked his foot
back into the water as a matter of self-protection. “Damn it, El, you would
flog a dead horse.”
    She flung the
brush to the floor, then stood and planted her hands firmly on her hips. “But I
am correct. There is trouble with this woman? Something you have not told me.”
    “There should be
no trouble.”
    “I do not need the
authorities nosing around! You know something, more than you are telling me! I
can see it in your eyes.”
    Elena was working
herself into a panic. “I know as much as you do.” But he didknow
something he hadn’t shared. The girl was different. She spoke words he had
never heard, and was privy to information no woman could possibly know. There
was something else. Sonnytold him that the woman who had come to lead
The Peopleto freedom was not of this world. Perhaps not even from this
time. The Star Woman, his cousin named her.
    He shook the idea
from his mind when Elena laid a distracting, yet comforting hand on his
shoulder.
    “Do you think she
is a fugitive, querido ?”
    She was back to
being sweet again? Actually, it wasn’t impossible to believe the woman had fled
authorities. Perhaps that was why she refused to tell him her name. “You are
imagining things, Elena I am the only fugitive in this house.”
    She arched a thin,
dark brow. “Or perhaps you are keeping secrets from me?”
    “I have told you
everything. I am tired and have no time for talk.” At his words, Elena’s lips
pursed into a pout. A good time to change the subject. He gestured to an
unwrapped cake of lavender soap out of his reach. “Fetch that for me.”
    With much ceremony
Elena leaned across and snatched the soap, then stood and dragged the stool
around the head of the tub.
    “The soap?” He
held his palm upward, reminding her. She muttered a curse in Spanish and he
turned in time to catch her working the milled bar into a thick, fragrant
lather. Oh, no…she was not going to bathe him.
    “I will do that,
Elena.”
    She leaned forward
and began soaping his neck and shoulders from behind, working her gentle hands
over him quickly. “But is it not more enjoyable when I bathe you?” She purred
at his ear.
    The seductress .
    Antonio closed his
eyes, savoring the touch of Elena’s soapy hands on his skin. He had not come to
her tonight for comfort, yet he had to admit it was good to have a woman’s
gentle attention. He leaned back and closed his eyes while her fingers moved
over his body expertly. She knew what he liked, what he needed. She always had.
Her warm breath tickled his ear as her palms slid sensuously down his shoulders
and upper arms, then circled back around. Her fingertips playfully grazed his
nipples and he jerked, biting back a groan.
    “I am sorry I did
not believe you. I know you would tell me everything,” she whispered at his
ear.
    Liar . She
was telling him what she wanted him to believe as she seduced him by degrees.
Or thought so. Her palm smoothed downward to his navel and lingered. He swallowed
hard, his pulse pounding in out a deafening tempo in his ears, his cock
twitching in anticipation of her touch. He wanted it, yet he didn’t. But she
was torturing