"I-I thought you were going into town with Magnus."
"I was. Until I saw you heading out on Temptation."
"You knew i was here?"
"I would have shown up earlier, but I wanted to make sure we wouldn't be interrupted."
"Interrupted?" The button on her breeches refused to behave beneath her fingers. "What difference would that make?"
"Don't bother fastening it," he said quietly. "It's just going to come back off again." Mesmerized, she watched him lift his hands and slowly unbutton his own shirt.
"Don't do that." Her voice sounded breathless, even to her own ears.
He tugged his shirt free of the waistband of his trousers, then stripped it off and let it fall to the ground.
Oh, she knew what he was doing… She knew, but she didn't know… "Sophronia's going to be expecting me," she said in a rush. "If I'm not back soon, she'll send somebody to look for me."
"Nobody's coming after you, Kit. I told them you wouldn't be back until late. We have all the time in the world."
"We have no time. I have… I have to go." But she didn't move. She couldn't.
He came closer, exploring her with his eyes. She felt him take in all the curves that her wet clothing outlined with such scrupulous attention to detail.
"Do you still want me to turn you over to Parsell?" he asked.
No! "Yes. Yes, of course I do."
"Then I will." His voice grew husky and seductive. "But first we have something to settle between us."
She shook her head, but she didn't try to back away. Instead, she heard herself say inanely, "This isn't proper."
"Most improper." His smile held a gentle note of mockery. "And neither of us cares."
"I care," she said breathlessly.
"Then why don't you climb up on Temptation right now and ride away?"
"I will." But she didn't move. She simply stood there and gazed at the muscles of his bare chest burnished by the late-afternoon light.
Their eyes locked, and he drew nearer. Even before he touched her, she felt the heat of his skin.
"We both know this has been between us ever since the day you came here. It's time we put an end to it so we can get on with the rest of our lives."
Temptation whickered.
He brushed her cheek with his finger and spoke softly. "I'm going to have you now, Kit Weston."
His head dipped so slowly that he might have been moving in a dream. His lips touched her eyelids and closed each one with a soft, quieting kiss. She felt his breath on her cheek, and then his open mouth, like a warm cave, settled over hers.
The tip of his tongue gently played with her lips. It slid along them and tried to coax away the uncertainty that held them shut. Her breasts had been so cold. Now they crushed against the hard warmth of his bare chest. With a moan, she opened her mouth and let him in.
He explored every part of the velvet interior that she made so freely accessible. His tongue touched hers. Gradually, he coaxed her into his mouth until she finally took what he offered her.
Now she become the aggressor. She entwined her arms around his neck. Tasted. Invaded.
He made a muffled sound deep in his throat. She felt his hand slide between their bodies. He pushed aside the open V of her britches and flattened his palm on her stomach.
The intimacy inflamed her. She dug her fingers into his thick, tawny hair. He pushed his hand beneath her shirt and found her breast. As his thumb circled the small, tight bud at the center, she pulled her mouth away with a smothered cry. Would she go to hell for this? What she was letting him do… This man wasn't her husband but her dearest enemy.
She felt herself falling and realized he was taking her to the ground with him. He cushioned their landing, then rolled her onto her back.
The earth was soft and mossy beneath her. He tugged at the button between her breasts, pushed aside the wet fabric, and exposed her breasts.
"You're so beautiful," he said huskily. He lifted his gaze to her face. "So perfect. Wild and free." Locking his eyes with hers, he covered her nipples with his thumbs and began making a series of small circles.
She bit her lip to keep from crying out. The frenzied sensations spiraled inside her, growing hotter and wilder.
"Go ahead," he whispered. "Let yourself feel."
The sound she made came from a place deep inside her.
His smile was smoky and full of satisfaction. He kissed the hollow of her throat, then the nipples he was torturing so expertly with his fingers.
Fiery pinwheels whirled behind her eyes as he suckled her. Just when she knew she could bear it no longer, his mouth trailed to the patch of flat, smooth stomach exposed by the open V of her britches. He kissed her there, then drew them down over her hips.
Finally she lay beneath him, naked except for her open white shirt.
Every nerve in her body quivered. She was frightened. Ecstatic. Noises played inside her head.
"Open for me, sweet."
His hands guided her… pushing… separating… Oh, yes…
Feathers of air touched her intimately. Her thighs were spread. She was open to his gaze, and the first trickle of apprehension hit her. Eve's Shame. Now he would do to her this momentous, awful thing that men did to women.
There's pain… There's blood…
But this wasn't pain. He brushed the curls between her thighs, and it felt more wonderful than anything she'd ever imagined.
His breathing grew heavy in her ear, and the muscles in his shoulders quivered beneath her palms. Her apprehension returned. He was so powerful, and she was defenseless. He could tear her apart. Yet she lay here.
"Wait," she whispered.
His head came up, his eyes darkly glazed.
"I shouldn't be… I need…"
"What's wrong?"
Her fear of him evaporated, but not her anxiety. So much was wrong, and right then, she knew she had to tell him. "It wasn't true," she managed. "What I told you. I've-I've never been with a man."
His brow clouded. "I don't believe you. This is another one of your games."
"No…"
"I want the truth."
"I'm telling you the truth."
"There's one way to find out for certain."
She didn't understand, not even when she felt his hand between her thighs. She sucked in her breath as he pushed his finger inside her.
Cain felt her wince, heard her gasp of surprise, and something inside him twisted. The membrane was there, that tenacious survivor of her rough, unruly childhood. Taut as a drumhead, strong as she was strong, it protected her even as it damned him.
His vulnerability frightened him, and he hated that. He sprang to his feet and cried out, "Isn't there anything about you that's what it should be?"
She stared up at him from her bed in the moss. Her legs were still parted. Long and slender, they held the secrets she'd shared with no man. Even as he grabbed his shirt and hat, he wanted her with a ferocity that made him shake, and pain he refused to acknowledge consumed him.
He stalked across the patch of grass to the place where his horse was tied. Before he mounted, he washed all feeling from his face and turned to inflict some of his own torment on her. But he couldn't think of words cruel enough.
"This isn't over between us yet."
13
Brandon proposed to her at the Wednesday night church social. She accepted his offer of marriage, but, pleading a headache, declined his invitation for a walk around the church grounds. He pressed a kiss to her cheek, took her back to Miss Dolly, and told her he would be calling at Risen Glory later the next afternoon to secure Cain's permission.
Kit hadn't lied about having a headache. She was barely sleeping, and when she did sleep, she'd jolt awake to the memory of the strange, tortured expression she'd glimpsed on Cain's face when he'd discovered she still was a virgin.
Why had she allowed him to touch her like that? If it had been Brandon, she could have rationalized it. But Cain… Once again she was plagued with the notion that there was something very wrong with her.