Hostage to Thunder Horse. Elle James

Permission to let go.

      “Sex between a man and a woman takes two to decide.”

      He was right. Playing with Maddox Thunder Horse could be like playing with fire. But she wanted the heat he could provide, both outside and in.

      Since her mother’s death when she was only sixteen, she had been the perfect daughter to her father, playing hostess to foreign diplomats, always doing and saying the right things, never stepping outside the bounds of etiquette. “For once in my life I want to make a decision for myself. For me alone. Not for my father. Not for the people around me.” She twisted her fingers around to lace them with his. “I know what I want.” Then another thought sobered her. “Do you not find me attractive?”

      He sucked in a breath and guided her hand to that part of him standing at stiff attention. “You tell me.” His grip tightened on her. “If this is a tease, forget it.”

      Her hand closed around him. “I am stuck in a cave with a man I find very attractive and who obviously finds me not completely hideous. It is quite dark. We are cold and I am not teasing.” She stroked her hand down his length, loving the contrast of velvet and steel. “Make love to me.”

      For a long moment Maddox hesitated. “This has to be wrong.” His hand closed over hers, tightening her grip around him. Then he let go to slide upward to cup a full, rounded breast.

      Katya’s back arched, pressing her breast into his hand, hungry for his touch, for the feel of his lips against her skin.

      Trailing his fingers over her breast to cup her chin, he drew her to him, bringing their lips within a hair’s width of each other.

      The warmth of his breath brushed across her lips and her mouth parted, a sharp draw of longing tugging at her core.

      “I might regret this later, but for now…” His lips captured hers, grinding against her teeth, the force of his claim branding her with a desire so intense it stole her breath away. He moved against her, his sex rigid, pressing into her belly.

      She shimmied out of her panties, while he unhooked the clasp on her bra. When she lay as naked as Maddox, Katya’s legs fell open, letting him slide between her thighs. He eased her onto her back, settling down over her. Then he thrust into her long and hard, filling her, stretching her deliciously.

      Their bodies melded into one, the heat they generated making their skin slick with sweat.

      And she wanted more.

      She raised her knees, her hands gripping his buttocks, driving him faster, harder, and deeper into her, until she lost all sense of time and place. They came together as two separate people, but now they were as one in body and spirit, riding a wave of sensation so intense Katya almost forgot how to breathe. As she plunged over the edge of reason, she let go of her worries, and clung to the present and his body.

      Eventually, sleep claimed her, wrapping her in warmth and security. She was assured of her safety, if only as long as she remained in his arms.

      Minutes, hours, days could have passed before she returned to earth, the floor hard against her back, an icy draft cooling her damp skin.

      In a half-sleep state, she listened for sounds of the storm outside. Silence filled the dark interior. No wailing screamed in through the cave’s rocky entrance.

      With consciousness, reason and memories returned. A few hours ago she had woken up with a stranger, sharing his body’s warmth, both of them practically naked.

      Katya moved, her knee sliding down Maddox’s leg, her bare thigh rubbing against his leg. She sucked in a gasp and her naked breasts pressed into his equally naked chest.

      She had responsibilities. Her country needed her. Her people expected so much of her. And she’d just thrown it all to the wind to make love to a stranger.

      What had she done? Would he understand when she had to leave? For leave she must, just as soon as she could contact her government for help. Katya chewed on her lip, her brow furrowing. Having ditched her car, and lost her identification and credit cards back on the snowmobile somewhere along the river, getting help would definitely be a challenge.

      Chapter Three

      Maddox lay beside the woman, guilt gnawing at him. He’d made love to a stranger not quite two years since the death of his fiancée. Susan, who’d grown up in the Badlands, who knew the dangers of living on the prairie, who loved the land and wild horses as much as he did. His perfect match in every way. And in every way so different from the woman lying in his arms.

      Susan’s sun-kissed tawny hair reminded him of wheat and late-summer prairie grasses, wispy and straight, always blowing in the wind. Her eyes as gray as a storm-filled sky. Her long, lanky body strong and adept at riding the range alongside him.

      Kat was nothing like Susan. Her hair lay in a mass of long, loose, black curls, emphasizing her pale skin and eyes as light as his were dark. Her diminutive body, though small, had curves that fit perfectly in his palm, a fact that brought on yet more twinges of guilt. How could he compare them? Susan had been his life, his soul mate, the woman he’d planned to spend the rest of his life with. Only her life had ended and he’d resigned himself to continuing on alone.

      Yet this dark-haired beauty, with hands so soft they couldn’t have worked a hard day’s labor her entire life, lay naked against him. The smell of her skin, the softness of her body, still made him hard as a rock.

      Maddox stiffened, his hands dropping to his sides, his fingers burning as though on fire from touching her. He jerked the sleeping bag’s zipper down, a frigid blast of arctic air biting at his naked flesh. He reached for the flashlight and switched it on.

      Kat blinked, her eyes widening as the cool air hit her skin and pebbled the tips of her breasts. “What’s the matter?”

      “Nothing.” Before he changed his mind and claimed her, Maddox climbed out of the bag, reaching back inside for his clothing lodged at the bottom.

      In the freezing interior of the cave, he dressed quickly, fully aware of Kat’s gaze watching him, and thankful for the effect of the frigid temps on his libido.

      Kat pulled the bag up to her nose, her dark eyes rounded, each breath a puff of steam. “Did I do something to make you mad?” She laughed. “I apologize. I have never been this forward with a man. I’m not usually left alone with one long enough.” Her eyes widened and she clamped her lips shut.

      Maddox slipped into his insulated trousers, buttoning the fly. “Dress inside the bag. We leave as soon as it’s daylight.”

      “Leave?” She shrank deeper into the bag, a tremor shaking her cocoon.

      “Yes, leave.” Her big eyes reminded him of a scared colt, and he almost softened. Instead, he turned on his heels and edged through the crevice out into the bitter-cold wind.

      The sun hovered below the horizon, giving the landscape a steely, washed-out, gray-blue glow. Clouds clogged the sky in a blanket of charcoal-smeared waves of dirty white, churned by the ever-present wind.

      Maddox braced himself before leaving the relative shelter of the tumbled boulders to stare up the hillside at the icy terrain. They’d have to climb the rugged sides of the canyon wall to reach the plateau. From there it was an hour’s trek on horseback to the ranch house.

      As bitter cold and windy as it was, he preferred to get back to the ranch rather than spending another night in the sleeping bag with Kat Evans—or whoever she really was. The sooner he got back, the sooner he could relinquish his responsibility for the woman.

      Maddox unclipped the radio from his jacket and flipped the On switch. “Tuck, you out there?” As he waited for any response, he knew he’d get none. The handheld radios had a short range. More than likely, Tuck had made it back to the ranch and was wondering what had happened to Maddox. He hoped they hadn’t sent out a search party. With the skies as heavy as they were, they could be in for another onslaught of the white stuff.

      Maddox