Beautiful Dreamer with Bonus Material by Elizabeth Lowell Page B

to speak, he put his finger on her lips, surprising her into silence. There was sensuality in the touch and something else, something indescribable that made her heart stop and then beat more quickly, more deeply.
    “Think carefully before you answer, Hope. Not one of my wells has ever gone dry.”
    He lifted his hand, freeing her.
    She closed her eyes, but still she saw Rio, his sun-darkened skin, his eyes deep and clear as the night. Echoes of his velvet voice moved like a caress over her skin, touching her more deeply than anything ever had, even her dreams.
    “Yes,” she said, her voice as calm as his eyes. “Ten mares. Storm Walker.” Then she looked directly at him. “And more, if you want. Horses, cattle, whatever. I have a lot of land and no water. Yet.”
    He watched Hope’s expression, felt her truth, heard her trust in him, and knew both pleasure and uneasiness. He had taken one dream from her and given her another: water unending, sweet water reviving her dying ranch.
    But he couldn’t guarantee that the second dream would be any more possible than the first. He could only guarantee that if it was possible, he would give it to her.
    “Sometimes there’s no water to be found anywhere, by anyone.” His voice was both quiet and rough.
    She smiled wearily. “Yes, I know. If that happens, your mares will still be bred and the foals cared for until I no longer own the Valley of the Sun.”
    “No well, no payment.”
    “Your mares will be bred,” she repeated, her voice firm. “Ship them in anytime.” With a wry twist to her mouth she added, “Storm Walker will thank you for it. This last year I’ve had to use my four remaining mares for working cattle rather than for breeding.”
    Rio’s smile gleamed in the gathering darkness. He held out his hand. She took it without hesitation, letting the warmth of him seep into her as the last of the sun’s crimson light fled the sky. His touch was a warm, living reality that gave substance to all hopes, all possibilities, everything.
    Eyes shining, heart beating rapidly, Hope allowed herself to dream again.
    “For as long as the water flows,” she said, pressing her hand against his, both clinging to and giving back his touch.
    The echo of his own words went through Rio like a wild wind, shaking everything it touched. He wanted to tell Hope not to trust him so much, not to believe in him so deeply.
    Yet that wasn’t what he wanted to say, not really. She could trust him with her dream of water. Her heart was a different matter. And it was her heart that accelerated at his touch, making her pulse quicken visibly beneath the soft skin of her inner wrist.
    And she wasn’t even aware of it. He could see that as clearly as he had seen her courage and determination while she worked herself to exhaustion to save her cattle and her ranch from drought. She thought it was the new dream that was stirring her blood and her heart.
    He knew that it wasn’t, not entirely. The same sensual hunger burned in his own blood as the heat of her skin slid over his.
    Rio couldn’t draw back from Hope. Her dream was as deep and compelling as she was. That was why he wanted to—why he must —help her. He had stopped dreaming long ago. The emptiness that had come with the end of dreams was a void that even the wind couldn’t fill.
    “When can you start?” Hope asked. She felt oddly breathless, suspended between Rio’s male warmth and the intimacy of desert twilight.
    “I already have.”
    “You have? What did you do?”
    “I looked at all your wells.”
    “Oh.” Hope said no more.
    Neither did Rio. There was nothing more to say. The Valley of the Sun’s wells were dead.
    She drew in a deep breath. “I see. Since you’ve already started working, it’s past time for me to make good on my promise of room and board. Mason will have dinner waiting by the time we get back. Nothing fancy. Beef, beans, bread, and salad.”
    Rio’s black eyebrows rose.