"Case told me," Ty said.
His nostrils flared at the fragrance of crushed roses that emanated from her skin and hair. Memories blazed for an instant in his eyes. He brushed her hands away from the fastenings that went down the back of her dress.
"You're a satin butterfly," Ty said, unfastening the dress slowly, feeling a hunger to touch her that was deeper and more complex than a desire, a hunger that tightened his body as each tiny hook silently gave way, revealing a bit more of Janna's skin. "And I'm going to release you from your cocoon."
Ty's long index finger traced the graceful centerline of Janna's back. She made a stifled sound as the dress fell away, leaving her naked. Ty had never seen anything quite so beautiful as her elegant feminine curves. He traced her spine once more, following it to the shadow crease of her hips.
"During the war, Case kept his sanity by walling off his emotions," Ty said quietly. "I kept my sanity in a different way. I swore that I would never see such ugliness again. If I survived, I vowed to surround myself with fine and fragile things that had never known even the shadow of violence and death. Every time grapeshot ripped through living flesh, every time I saw young children with empty eyes, every time one of my men died… I renewed my vow."
Eyes closed, body trembling, Janna felt the lingering caress of Ty's fingertip tracing her spine; but it was the pain in his voice that broke her heart and her control. She had loved him recklessly, without regard for the future cost. Now the future had come to demand its reckoning.
"It's all right, Ty," she said huskily. "I understand. You've earned your silken lady. I won't-"
Janna's voice shattered as Ty's hands caressed the length of her back before smoothing up her torso until her breasts were cupped in his hands.
"Run away?" Ty offered, finishing Janna's sentence for her. The feel of her nipples hardening at his lightest touch made blood rush in a torrent through his body. "That's good, because touching you makes me so damn weak that I can hardly stand, much less run after you." With aching gentleness he caressed the breasts whose textures and responsiveness never ceased to arouse him. "So soft, so warm. No, hold still, love. It's all right. We're going to be married just as soon as I find the strength to leave this room and round up a preacher."
"Ty…" Janna's throat closed around all the tears she hadn't shed, all the dreams that couldn't come true. "You have to let me go."
"Why?" His long fingers shaped her, caressed her, made her tremble with a wild longing. "You want me as much as I want you. Have I told you how much I like that? No games, no coyness, just the sweet response of your body to my touch."
Janna bit off a telltale moan and asked desperately, "Did your parents love each other?"
Ty's hands stilled in surprise. "Yes. Why?"
"Think how you would have felt if they hadn't. Think how a child would feel growing up and knowing that his father felt a combination of desire and duty and disappointment toward his mother. Your child deserves better than that. So do you. And," Janna added softly, "so do I. Seeing you, having your body but not your heart… It will break me, Ty. Is that what you want?"
Gently Ty turned Janna around. She met his eyes without evasion despite the slow, helpless welling of her tears.
"Janna," he said softly, bending down to her, "I-"
She turned her head aside and spoke quickly, interrupting Ty, words tumbling out in a desperate effort to be heard. "No. Please listen to me. Please. I may not be fine or fragile, but even mustang ladies can be broken. You said once you owed me more than you could ever repay. You can repay me now. Let me go, Ty. Let me go before I break."
Eyes closed, hands clenched into fists at her side so that she wouldn't reach for the man she loved too much ever to cage, Janna waited for Ty to leave. She heard him make a hoarse sound that could have been anger or pain, sensed currents of air moving as he moved, and she trembled with the violence of her emotions.
Tears touched the sensitive skin between her breasts, and she was shocked to know how hot her own tears were. Then she felt Ty's cheek against her body, saw him kneeling at her feet, felt his arms close tightly around her waist, and she realized that the scalding tears weren't her own.
Moved beyond words, Janna stroked Ty's hair with trembling hands, feeling as though she were being torn apart. She had thought she could leave him, but every instant she was with him told her how wretched life without him would be.
"I won't let you go," Ty said finally. "Don't ask me to. Don't beg me to. I can't do it, Janna. I need you too much."
"Ty, don't," she whispered achingly, trying to still the trembling of her body, failing. "I want so much for you to have your dream."
"I dreamed of you every minute I was away. You're my dream, Janna. I went back to get that gold for you, not for myself. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing you, couldn't lick my lips without tasting you, couldn't sleep for wanting you. Then I walked into that ballroom and saw the perfect silken lady of my dreams dancing with the perfect silken man. And I wasn't that man. I went-crazy. I wanted very much to kill that high-nosed son of a blue-blooded bitch for even looking at you."
"But you said-you said that you'd seen past the clothes, that I wasn't a fragile silken lady."
"Yes, I'd seen past the clothes, and I thank God for it."
Ty turned his head slowly, kissing the smooth breasts that smelled of roses.
"Listen to me, Janna. There's far more to being a lady than silks and bloodlines. A true lady is more concerned with the needs of the people around her than she is with the state of her wardrobe. A true lady gives succor to the sick, laughter to the lonely, respite to the weary. And to one very, very lucky man, a true lady gives herself… and asks nothing in return but that she be allowed to give the gift of her love."
Ty smoothed his cheek between Janna's breasts, absorbing the beauty of her living warmth. "That kind of gift is so rare that it takes a man by surprise."
He kissed the velvet tips of Janna's breasts, smiled to hear her breath break and tremble even as her body did. His mouth caressed the smooth skin of her stomach and the auburn cloud at the apex of her thighs.
"My sweet satin butterfly," he said in a low voice. "Let me love you again." His hand eased between her legs and he groaned to feel her heat once more. " Janna… please, let me."
Janna's knees gave way at the first gliding penetration of his caress. Ty's arm tightened, holding her still for a searing instant while he was still within her warmth. Her breath unraveled as he slowly released her, leaving her body shimmering and without the strength to stand.
With a dark yet oddly tender smile, Ty caught Janna and came to his feet, taking the warm weight of her in his arms once more. He walked the few steps to the bed, put her on the fur coverlet and kissed her lips gently before he stepped back and unhurriedly removed his own clothes, watching her with smoldering green eyes the whole time.
When he was as naked as she, he lay next to her on the bed, gathered her against his body and kissed her as tenderly as though she were a frightened maiden. The caresses he gave her were equally restrained, almost chaste, but his words were elemental fire.
"Your body is all satin, strong and hot and sleek. You're perfect for a man who is more rawhide than silk. For me, Janna. Just for me. You are… perfect."
Janna's breath caught, then broke when Ty's hand smoothed down her body. She didn't deny him the intimate warmth he so gently sought. She could no more have refused him than she could have told her heart to stop beating. Nor could she hold back the shimmering pulse of her pleasure, the heat that welled up and overflowed at his touch; and she cried out his name with each pulse.
The evidence of Janna's need for him was an exquisite shaft of pleasure so intense that it was also pain. Ty groaned and sought her secret warmth once again, and once again she didn't deny him. Eyes closed, he bent and kissed her lips, her breasts, the taut curve of her belly, trying to tell her things for which there were no words. And then her fingers threaded lovingly through his hair and the words came to him.