The Christmas Treasure Read Online Free PDF Page A

 
    His voice was low, rumbling like distant thunder. Thunder that could lull one to sleep or suddenly burst into a violent storm.
    Something in his eyes, in the easy grace of his stance, reassured her. At the same time, an odd excitement was building within her, as if she were about to partake of some forbidden pleasure.
    "I don't know if I can do this," she murmured. She had never stood in front of another human being less than fully clothed. Now she was being told to expose her naked body to a stranger's gaze.
    Gabriel stepped closer. "Of course you can," he said softly. "It's time."  
    She gripped the sides of the tub, took a long breath, and stood. Her face burned like fire as she felt the shocking touch of the air on her wet back, hips, and legs. But more devastating than the chill of the air against her naked skin was the heat of Gabriel's gaze.    
    Then hard strength cushioned by soft cloth enveloped her. She closed her eyes and let him take her weight. His arms became a strong haven. As if in a daze, she let her tired body lean against his.     
    "Careful, Chiquita ," he murmured. "So you were serious then?"  
    "Serious?"
    "About your bones turning to jelly?"
    "Jelly? Mmm . . .." Lorilla's knees were turning to jelly now, but not from the hot water. "I'm sorry. I'm just so very tired."  
    He turned her around, bath towel and all. Lorilla knew she was covered, but the idea that only one layer of cloth separated her body from his gaze terrified and intrigued her. She trembled.
    "So I see. I'll put you to bed."
    Lorilla blinked several times and peered up at him. His head was bent slightly and he watched her with an unfathomable expression. Her tongue darted out to lick her lower lip.
    Gabriel's hands tightened and pulled her full length against him, his warmth enveloping her more sensuously than the warm bath. His body was hard, unyielding, beneath the robe. She felt like warm clay, waiting to be molded by his hands. "Lorilla, you promised me something earlier."
    "I did?"  
    "Yes. With your lips. With your tongue. You came here to be my wife. You know what that means."  
    Lorilla nodded, although she had only the vaguest notion.
    With a mutter that could have been a curse or a prayer, Gabriel swept her off her feet and carried her through the sitting room and into the bedroom. The room was dark and lit with candles, but Lorilla was hardly aware of the furnishings. All she could think of, all she could feel, was him.  
    He lay her on the bed, towel and all, then untied the sash at his waist and let his robe fall to the floor.  
    The warmth of the bath had lulled her eyelids into drooping, but the sight of Gabriel's naked body planed by candlelight swiftly banished her drowsiness. The sense of forbidden pleasure shot upward like a bird in flight as she stared shamelessly at him.  
    His body was like an unexplored landscape. Lorilla had taken care of three younger half-brothers, but she had never dreamed there could be this much difference in a child and a man.  
    Gabriel Beltran was a man. His broad shoulders and sharply muscled chest and arms were like a statue, seemingly cut from granite. A sprinkling of hair darkened his chest. Lorilla's gaze followed the trail of dark hair down to his flat belly and lower, where it spread again to frame his… "Oh, my," she gasped.  
    Gabriel lay on the bed, propping himself up on one elbow. He smoothed her hair back from her face.  
    "I…" Lorilla began, as Gabriel's fingers traced the line of her jaw. "You, I had no idea you would be…" Words failed her as his body loomed over hers.  
    "That I would be what? Mexican?" His dark brows lowered ominously. His eyes changed to the color of a stormy sky as he stared at her. "I was under the impression you knew of my family. My mother was American. My father was the descendent of a Spanish lord."  
    Lorilla heard the suppressed anger in his voice. She had unintentionally offended him. "Oh, no --"  
    "I assure you,