As soon as a beautiful woman entered a room full of men and the hounds bared their teeth, sniffing after the bitch in heat. Gas lights gave a golden hue to the adobe walls. The crush of bodies increased the temperature or perhaps it was the woman within the throng of men.
Gabriel had followed her.
He’d had known he wouldn’t like what he found. A courtesan. He should have guessed. A woman unprincipled enough to engage a hired gun to kill her lover could only be a courtesan. And yet, he couldn’t resist the lure of Sin. Now that he knew who and what she was, he found himself infatuated with her.
After his first meeting with her, he had sought her out and located her home. Watching. Waiting. The woman had simply taken his breath away. Her beauty was beyond all his imaginings and he’d become addicted to her. Obsessed. Why hadn’t he left well enough alone and moved on with his life as he’d intended to? Was it the plea in her voice? Or her enticing scent?
Either way, he could not resist.
To be surrounded by water but dying of thirst was a fate worse than death, and yet that is exactly how he felt. Close enough to touch her and yet still unreachable. The courtesan named Sin glided into the room full of guests and the throng of men parted like the Red Sea. Music from the band twinkled in the distance but very few danced. This wasn’t a traditional ball; instead it was an orgy of flesh, one man’s exhibit of his most prized possession.
And the trophy outshone every other courtesan there. She dazzled her audience and they played right into her hands. The dusky rose of her dress bore the sweetest resemblance to what he imagined the tips of her breasts would look like. Even a saint would forsake all his ideals for the sake of Sin. The spectators converged around her and closed in like sharks circling their prey.
Only she didn’t cower in fear. Oh, no. Her soft sultry chuckle indicated pleasure at the attention. Its huskiness incited something primal in him. He wanted to hear her voice next to his ear.
“Gentlemen, please, give my lady some room and remember who she sleeps with this evening.” The dark Spaniard with the scarred cheekbone handed Sin a glass of champagne. “My lovely.”
“Perhaps it’s my new perfume that is attracting so much attention.”
The Spaniard chuckled. “If you wish to call it that.”
Several guests chuckled with a salute. Did he plan to auction her off to the highest bidder? And was she aware of it? An intriguing pink color blossomed on her cheeks and it drew every man’s attention. A courtesan who still blushed. The irony.
Sin’s gaze swept the room and collided with his. Gabriel nodded and raised his glass to her. She paused and narrowed her eyes, tilting her head in the slightest way. She studied him. He set the empty glass on the server’s passing tray and headed for the entrance.
He’d had a belly full of Marco Santiago’s display of opulence, especially when it was bought with blood of other people. As self-appointed mayor of the small town called Iniquity, Santiago had made a small fortune from its residents. Word spread that he ruled with an iron fist for more than a decade.
A breeze cooled the heat from Gabriel’s face as he exited the stuffy hacienda and waited for his horse to be brought around to him. Why had he come? To torture himself?
“You left before we could be introduced,” the voice whispered from behind him. He didn’t turn, because he knew who it was. He would always remember that sultry tone.
“For a reason.”
“And why is that?” She eased around, facing him. He peered down into silver—grey eyes. Unusual for a Spanish girl.
“From what I could see, you had your hands full with enough men.”
A slight grin tilted her lips. “I could never get enough of men,” she teased him though he didn’t return the smile. “Maybe I should introduce myself—”
“I know who you are, Sin. There’s not a man in that room who doesn’t know exactly who you are and who you belong to.”
Sin frowned. Long, dark strands of hair escaped her coiffure to trickle down her neck. He tamped down the impulse to drag them away and kiss the tender flesh of her collar. “Then perhaps you can clear up the mystery as I have no idea who you are.”
He chuckled. “Is that what drew you all the way out here? The fact that there was a man in the room you hadn’t met before?”
She paused and scrutinized his face. “No, mi cielo. Your face is so arresting I couldn’t help but notice you. And then I feel as if...I have met you.”
His heart quickened at those words. She remembered him. Somehow, she sensed him, like an animal sensing its mate. It had been two weeks since their last encounter and somehow she’d known who he was.
Gabriel smiled. “Impossible. I would remember a face such as yours.”
“And so would I, but I still I feel as if we have met.”
He reached for her hand. The first contact of skin sent a jolt of awareness through him and, like lightening, his heart thundered inside his chest. Her quick intake of breath indicated she’d felt it too.
Lowering his lips to her gloved hand, the heat of her palm seeped through the fabric and his only thought was to peel the silk away. He lingered over her hand far too long but she said nothing. Instead, she seemed as entranced as he.
When he straightened, their gazes collided each searching for answers within the other’s eyes. Her lips parted and her breath escaped. Wind fluttered the threads of hair across her ruby lips, and she brushed them away.
“I fear I’ve lingered too long, and I hate to pull you away from your...guests. Good evening, mi princesa.”
“Good evening,” she whispered.
Gabriel turned on his heel and headed down the driveway.
“Stone! Will I see you again?”
He stopped at her use of his name. He neither turned nor answered because she already knew the answer to that question. As did he.
There was little that could keep him from holding Sin in his arms...just once.