«But the undressing can wait,» he continued. «Hand over the soap and washrag.»
She had forgotten the piece of lilac-scented soap and cloth she had brought to the pool. With difficulty, she forced herself to unclench her hands.
Reno took the ragged square of flour sack and the pale lump of soap from her.
The deep marks left by Eve’s nails on the soap and on her other palm gave silent proof of the effort she had made not to lose what little control she had over herself.
The evidence of her own uncertain temper appalled Eve. She had never thought of herself as a particularly passionate or violent person. The orphanage had taught her never to lose control of herself, for if she did, she would be at the mercy of others.
Just as she had been at Reno’s mercy, reaching for love and getting nothing in return but pain.
Pity I had to learn the lesson all over again.
Reno looked at the crescents Eve’s nails had cut in the soap and in her own skin. Then he looked at her eyes. There was nothing of laughter or passion or curiosity in them now. Her eyes were as bleak as a winter sunset.
«Eve,» he whispered.
She simply watched him out of yellow cat’s eyes.
«I’m sorry I hurt you,» he said. «But I’m not sorry about having you. You were silk and fire. …»
Reno’s voice died. Eve’s innocent passion had been a revelation that his mind still had trouble accepting.
His body had no such problem. Though he had just had her, he wanted her again. She wanted him, too. He was certain of it. Her body was crying out its hunger and frustration.
But Eve was too innocent to understand the source of her anger. Reno knew better than to try to convince her with words. She was in no mood to listen to him on any subject, least of all the subject of her own needs as a woman.
Besides, there were better ways than words to teach an innocent like Eve, more pleasurable ways. For both of them. All he had to do was convince her to trust him with her passion again.
A difficult task, but not an impossible one. Her body was already on his side.
«Since you’re feeling shy, I won’t undress you,» he said calmly.
Surprise widened Eve’s eyes. She hadn’t expected Reno to allow her any slack at all.
His smile told her that he knew very well the source of her surprise. He tucked the washrag into the waist of his pants and shoved the soap into a pocket.
«Into the pool,» Reno said.
«What?»
«Come on. You’ll feel better after a bath.»
Eve said nothing. She just waded until the waterfall’s cool silver braids twisted down less than a foot away from her. Water lapped to midthigh and swirled around her legs in patterns of rainbow bubbles.
To Eve’s surprise, Reno walked into the pool right behind her. He didn’t undress, as she had feared he would. He looked just as he had when he had rolled off her — half-buttoned shirt, bare feet, and dark pants.
At least his pants were fastened now.
Heat climbed Eve’s cheeks as she remembered how Reno had looked before, his pants undone, the evidence of her virginal stupidity gleaming scarlet in the daylight for everyone to see.
«Your hair is as clean as sunshine,» Reno said, «but I’ll wash it if you like.»
Eve shook her head tightly.
«Then I’ll tuck it up out of the way.»
«No,» she said instantly, not wanting to be touched. «I’ll do it.»
Hurriedly Eve caught up her long hair and twisted it into a knot on top of her head. A few tendrils slithered back down. She ignored them. The look on Reno’s face as she lifted her arms and dealt with her hair told her that he liked watching her breasts shift and sway with each movement of her body.
And if the look on his face weren’t enough, there was the frank bulge in his pants to give away his thoughts. Hastily she glanced away.
«Ready?» Reno asked.
«For what?»
He bent and scooped up water in his cupped hands.
«To get wet,» he said simply. «You can hardly take a bath when you’re dry, can you?»
Reno’s reasonable tone of voice was at odds with the smoldering sensuality of his eyes.
«I don’t need any help getting wet,» Eve muttered.
He laughed softly and let water from his hands trickle down the front of her camisole.
«Some things are better when they’re shared,» Reno said in a husky voice.
«Baths?» she asked sarcastically.
«I don’t know. I’ve never shared one.»
Eve looked surprised.
«It’s true,» he said.
«I believe you.»
«Do you?»
«Yes.»
She shivered as water that was neither warm nor cold trickled down between her breasts.
«Why?» he asked, curious.
«You wouldn’t bother to lie to a slut.»
Reno closed his eyes and grappled with the rage that stabbed him like black lightning, threatening to rip away his control.
«I suggest,» he said distinctly, «that you never use that word again in my hearing.»
«Why not? You’re so damned fond of the truth.»
He opened his eyes. «Baiting me won’t make you feel better. I can guarantee it.»
Eve made an involuntary sound and looked away. The grim shadows and raw fury she saw in his glance reminded her too much of her own seething turmoil. In any case, Reno was right. Baiting him hadn’t made Eve feel better. It had made her feel worse, on the breaking edge of her own control. She felt like biting and clawing and screaming. The depth of her own wildness was frightening.
«And that’s all you’re doing,» Reno added. «Baiting me. We both know you’re not a slut.»
Eve said nothing.
The temptation to push Eve until she agreed with him nearly overwhelmed Reno, but he managed to keep his silence. Barely. He scooped up more water, letting it fall in sparkling liquid necklaces over Eve until her camisole and pantalets were drenched.
Eve closed her eyes and pretended that she was washing herself beneath one of the barrel showers Don Lyon had rigged before his hands became too crippled for such things.
The cool glide of the water down her body made her shiver, but not with cold. The day was too hot for that, and the sun’s heat was both absorbed and reflected by the high rock walls.
Eve flinched at the first touch of Reno’s hands on her shoulders. He whispered her name unhappily. Through a screen of thick bronze eyelashes, she saw the painful line of Reno’s mouth.
«I won’t hurt you,» he said with aching control. «I would never have hurt you the first time, if I had known. …»
Eve’s breath came out in a long, ragged sigh. She nodded, believing him, for it was the simple truth. She had sensed that about Reno the instant he sat down at her table in Canyon City; despite his size, despite his strength, despite his lethal speed, he wasn’t the kind of man who enjoyed cruelty.
«I know,» she said in a low voice. «It’s why I dealt cards to you. You weren’t what Slater and Raleigh King were.»
Reno let out breath that he wasn’t aware of having held. He brushed his lips over Eve’s forehead in a soft caress that ended before she could be sure she had felt it at all.
«Let me bathe you,» he said.
She hesitated, then reached up to remove her camisole. Hands sleek with lather closed over her wrists, holding her gently.
«Let me,» Reno said.
She hesitated again.
«I won’t take you,» he said. «Not unless you ask me to. I just want to make you…hurt less.»
Unable to bear the intensity of Reno’s eyes, Eve closed her own and nodded. For several moments she waited in an agony of suspense, but when Reno touched her, it was only to wash her face as gently as he had his nephew’s.
Yet Eve didn’t feel like a baby. Reno’s touch made an almost painful pleasure course through her. She hadn’t known how sensitive her face was. The ritual of soaping and washing and rinsing made frissons of pleasure ripple over her.