«Ships of stone,» she whispered. «Why can’t Reno see you?»
17
Even after the moon set, the stars burned in such radiant profusion that ghostly shadows formed. Though as sheer as a veil, the shadows were nonetheless real.
Unhappily Eve concluded that, no matter how vague, starlight wasn’t exempt from Reno’s list of impossible demands.
A stone ship, a dry rain, and a light that casts no shadow.
She might have found an armada of stone ships, but the dry rain was as unattainable as ever. The shadowless light was also beyond her reach.
One of the hobbled horses snorted, disturbing Eve’s gloomy thoughts. She turned in her bedroll, blaming her sleeplessness on the hard ground rather than on her depressing reflections.
But the ground wasn’t any harder than it had ever been. Turning over didn’t make her more comfortable. It simply gave her a better view over the ashes of the campfire.
Reno’s powerful, broad-shouldered silhouette was looming unmistakably against the stars. His bare chest and feet were a lighter shade of darkness. Obviously he was ready for bed but not ready for sleep.
Reno was standing quietly, watching Eve rather than the slow wheeling of the stars overhead. She wondered where he had been, and why he had told her to go to sleep when he walked out of camp alone, and if he knew she was awake now.
Then he spoke to her, answering one question; he knew she was awake.
«Can’t sleep?» Reno asked in a low voice.
«No,» Eve admitted.
He walked over and sat on his heels next to her bedroll.
«Know why?» he asked.
She shook her head and asked, «Can’t you sleep?»
«No.»
«Know why?» she asked, echoing him.
Reno’s smile flashed faintly in the starlight.
«Yes,» he said.
«Are you worried about Slater?»
«I ought to be.»
«But you aren’t?» Eve persisted.
«Not enough to keep me awake.»
«Then why aren’t you sleeping?»
«You.»
Eve propped herself up on her elbow and stared at the darkness and thin starlight that hid as much as they revealed of Reno’s expression.
«Am I that noisy when I roll over?» she asked wryly.
He laughed. «No. You’re as graceful and quiet as a cat.»
Eve waited, watching him with eyes that gleamed in the dim light.
«But every time you move,» Reno continued, «I get to thinking how warm you are under the blankets, and how much I’d like to be lying beside you, touching all that sweet warmth.»
«I thought you didn’t want…» Eve’s voice faded.
«You?» Reno asked.
«Yes,» she whispered. «You hardly even looked at me while we made camp.»
«I didn’t dare. I wanted you too much.»
«Why does that make you angry? Do you think I’ll refuse you?»
Reno let out his breath in a stifled curse.
«I haven’t been like this since I was a boy,» he said roughly. «I don’t like it one damn bit.»
«I’m not teasing you. I lov —» Eve corrected herself instantly, «Iwantyou too much to be a good tease.»
She held the blankets aside in silent invitation.
«You’re tired, and so am I,» Reno said in a curt voice. «Tomorrow is going to be another long day. I should have enough self-control not to bother you.»
«I want you,» she repeated.
«Eve,» Reno whispered, trying and failing to control the wild rush of heat that had taken him at her words.
With an almost soundless groan of hunger and need, he knelt and then stretched out next to Eve beneath the blankets. She felt the fine trembling of his hands on her face and was amazed that she could affect his strength so much.
«I don’t want to hurt you,» he said hoarsely. «I want you so damn much, and you were so tight. …»
«It’s all right.»
Eve moved her head, kissing both of Reno’s hands in turn while he breathed her name into the fragrant warmth of her hair.
«It’s all right,» she repeated with each brush of her lips over his skin. «I want to be a part of you again.»
«Sugar girl,» he whispered. «Sweet and hot.»
He discovered within the yielding luxury of her mouth a feminine hunger and demand that raced through his blood and brain like straight whiskey. The kiss began gently but quickly changed, becoming a hungry, searching prelude to the deeper joining that would soon come.
Reno tried to rein in the wild need that had been eating at him since he had first tasted Eve in the liquid embrace of the pool, but control kept sliding away from him. He took the velvet heat of her mouth with deep, repeated movements of his tongue, probing and stroking, wanting her with a violence that was like nothing he had ever known before.
When Reno finally forced himself to end the kiss, he was wholly, painfully aroused. He braced himself on his elbow and closed his eyes, fighting for control.
It was impossible. Every breath he took was infused with the delicious scent of lilac and a woman’s secret warmth.
«Reno?»
The huskiness in Eve’s voice was another caress, making him want to groan. He touched her cheek with fingers that weren’t entirely steady.
«I hope you want me half as much as that kiss suggested,» he said in a low voice.
Eve took his hand and slowly moved it down to her breasts. Reno’s breath broke when he felt the nipple changing at his touch, becoming a tight velvet peak in a single rushing instant.
«I wish it were full sunlight,» he said.
«Why?»
Instead of answering, Reno bent and caught the tip of Eve’s breast between his lips, then took her deep into his mouth, pulling on her with hot, shifting pressures.
She made a throaty sound as her back arched in passionate reflex. His hands slid beneath her, holding her while he fed on the sweet flesh she had offered him. Her breasts were seduced and shaped by his mouth until they were full, flushed, and crowned by nipples that stood up hungrily against the sheer camisole.
Reno raised his head and looked at the proof of Eve’s desire. The sight did nothing to cool the savage hunger of his body.
«That’s why I wish it were sunlight,» he said huskily. «I want to see the pink buds swelling on top of your breasts.»
He laughed softly when he felt the wave of heat climb tangibly up Eve’s body at his words.
«And the sweet blush that comes when I talk about what I’m doing to you,» Reno said. «I’d like to see that, too.»
Eve made a sound that was half laughter, half embarrassment. Smiling, he bent down and took between his teeth one of the laces that tied her camisole. With small motions of his head, he tugged until the bow came undone.
«Take off your clothes, sugar girl.»
Reno felt the tremor that went through Eve as clearly as she did.
«I could do it,» he coaxed softly, «but then I’d have to let go of you. I don’t want to do that. You feel too damn good right where you are.»
He flexed his hands and tightened his arms, deepening the arch of Eve’s back until her nipples just brushed against his mustache. His smile was a lighter shade of night as he watched her shiver and twist restlessly, seeking a deeper caress.
«Gata,» Reno said thickly. «All supple and graceful. Undress for me. Want me as much as I want you.»
Eve’s fingers were clumsy as she undid the camisole. But even when wholly unfastened, the cloth didn’t slide free of her body. Damp from his mouth, the cotton clung to the hard nipples Reno had drawn from her breasts.
Hesitantly Eve peeled the thin fabric from her body. While she did, Reno kissed her breasts, her throat, her lips, taking tiny bites of her in between each nuzzling caress. He shifted just enough to allow her to get free of the camisole, but he never released her completely.
Soon the camisole lay beside the bedroll like a pale reflection of starlight.