Keeping Faith (Book 3 in the Red Valley Series)

Chapter 7

It had been a warm day, and since it hadn't rained in over a week, it was extremely dusty. Faith hated being dirty, but it was a way of life out here. And she so loved living out here. She took her hat off, shaking her head, letting her long hair tumble down her back in soft waves. Looking around, she saw a large flat rock and walked over to it, sitting down and removed her shoes and socks. A small snap somewhere in the distance caused her to stand up and look around.

Faith strained her ears and eyes, but didn't see or hear anything. After another moment, she shrugged her shoulders and called herself a silly fool. The men never came up here after dark. No, she didn't usually bathe in the creek when it was this close to a full moon, but she just didn't have the energy to fill the bathtub tonight.

She stood there in only her pants and chemise, and after taking another quick look around, she removed her gun belt and buckskins. Usually she left her chemise on but tonight, she wanted to feel the cool water against her skin, not clinging cloth. Faith reached down and grabbed the hem and pulled the soft material over her head, letting it float down to land in a soft puddle of fabric. Slowly, she eased herself into the cool water, sucking in her breath.

The water caressed her like a lover as it flowed over her body. She made her way to a deeper area of the creek that was about four feet deep and began washing her hair, then went back to the shallow water to bathe before back to the deeper water to rinse off. Faith was floating in the water, relaxing as she looked up at the stars. Of course, there weren't as many stars as usual because the moon was so bright. A chill suddenly ran down her spine that had nothing to do with the temperature of the water.

Faith raised her head and put her feet beneath her, making sure to keep her breasts covered by the water. A masculine voice startled her, nearly causing her to scream out. She glanced down at the bunk house but saw no lights burning. Damn, she must have been in the water longer than she thought and one of the men must have come up to bathe. This was going to be extremely embarrassing. She looked around again, this time to see a strange man standing on the far side of the creek bank. "Who in the hell are you and what are you doing on my property?"

"I think I'm going to join you, that's what I'm going to do." The man said with a smile that made her skin crawl.

Faith looked over her shoulder to where her gun lay on a rock ten feet away. Fear began to seep through her body causing her to shiver uncontrollably. He was going to rape her and or kill her. Even if she screamed, by the time the men heard her and got there, she would be gone. It didn't matter, she was not going down without a fight. The man began to pull his shirt tail from the waist band of his pants as he walked slowly towards her. Unfortunately the pool she'd been bathing in was only about two feet from where he was not standing.

Cade holstered his gun, then stood there as Faith Matthews, his new boss, began to slowly undress, starting with her boots. She sat down on a flat rock next to the creek bank and tugged, first one boot, then the other from her dainty feet. Next, she rolled her socks down her calves exposing trim ankles. He stood there spellbound. Slowly each article of clothing fell to the ground until all that remained was her chemise. To his surprise, she removed that as well, then eased into the water.

Watching her undress was the most erotic thing he'd ever witnessed. Her skin glowed like the finest alabaster in the light of the moon. His palms itched to feel the weight of her firm breasts and caress their dusky peaks. His mouth watered as he wondered what she would taste like. All he could think about was burying himself in her velvety depths. He heard her suck in her breath as she submerged her body under the cool water. Cade shifted uncomfortably, wishing his pants weren't so tight.