"You didn't hurt me."
"Like hell I didn't."
"Ty, you didn't. I felt nothing but pleasure."
He heard Janna's words, felt her hands stroking his hair, soothing him, and felt a cold rush of self-contempt. He had wanted her, he had taken her despite her innocence, and in doing so he had left her suited only for the life of a prostitute or a nun.
"You're so innocent. My God, you don't even understand what has happened, do you?"
"I understand that you didn't hurt me."
"I didn't hurt…" Ty's laughter was low and as harsh as the guilt clawing at him. His hands tightened on Janna as he realized the extent of his folly. "You little fool, I ruined you! You have no family, no profession, no wealth. All you had of value for a husband was your virginity, and now that's gone. I've left you suited to be nothing except a man's mistress, but you lack the social graces for even that profession. You'll end up locked in a nun's cage or you'll be the toy of many men, not one."
Janna flinched and tried to draw away from Ty's cruel summation of her value as a woman, a mate, but she was too securely held to retreat. He drew her closer, not even noticing her futile attempts to free herself from his embrace.
"Never mind, little one," Ty said, his voice low and empty, echoing with despair at the death of his personal dream, the silken lady who now would forever be beyond his reach. "It was my fault, not yours. I'll marry you as soon as we get to the fort."
It took Janna a minute to absorb what he had said, what he had implied-and when she understood, she was wild with hurt.
"Like burning hell you'll marry me," Janna said in a low, savage voice.
"What?"
"I may be suited only to be a saloon girl, but I keep my word."
"Janna, I didn't mean-" Ty began, only to be cut off.
"No! I said that I wouldn't ask for any promises or have any regrets or any secret plans," she whispered angrily, telling herself that hopes weren't the same as plans.
Not that it mattered. Ty had taken care of the hopes, as well. No family. No profession. No wealth. No social graces. And no emotion in his voice but guilt and despair and anger at being trapped into marrying such a poor specimen of femininity.
"I've never trapped a living thing in my life," she said fiercely, "and I'll be damned to hell for eternity if I take your freedom now. Do you hear me, Tyrell MacKenzie? Do you?"
"You didn't take my freedom. I gave it away the same way men always have, thinking with my crotch instead of my brain."
"You can have it right back-freedom, brain, crotch, all of it! I want nothing that isn't freely given."
"The world doesn't work that way, sugar," Ty said wearily, releasing Janna and rolling over onto his back. "The only virgin a decent man takes is the girl who becomes his wife. We'll be married as soon as-"
"They'll be picking cotton in hell before I marry you," Janna interrupted, her voice shaking, her body cold and empty without him.
It was as though Ty hadn't heard. "I'm responsible for you. I live up to my responsibilities."
"I'm responsible for myself. I've lived on my own for five years. I can do it for another-"
"Christ!" hissed Ty, cutting Janna off. "Are you so naive that you don't know you could get pregnant after this? How would you take care of yourself, much less a baby, too?" He waited, but there was no answer except the small sounds Janna made as she searched for her clothes in the darkness. "We'll be married at the fort and you'll stay there while I hunt for Lucifer."
"No."
"Janna-oh, the hell with it." Ty whispered harshly. "We'll be married at the fort and then we'll hunt Lucifer together. Does that satisfy you?"
"No."
Janna thrust an arm through a shirtsleeve and fished around for the other opening. Even if it hadn't been dark, the tears streaming down her face would have blinded her. None of her emotions showed in her constrained whisper, for which she was grateful. Having marriage offered to her out of guilt was bad enough; having it offered to her out of pity would be unbearable.
"Janna, be reasonable. I'll need Lucifer to build a good horse herd," Ty said as patiently as he could manage. "Otherwise I'll have no way to take care of my family."
"I said I'd help you catch Lucifer and I will. Marriage was no part of the bargain."
Ty's patience evaporated. With uncanny speed he grabbed Janna, flattened her beneath him once more and began whispering furiously.
"Listen to me, you little fool. You have no idea how the world works."
"Then teach me," she whispered defiantly. "Teach me how to please a man, how to be good enough to be a mistress rather than a whore. That's all I ask of you. Education, not marriage."
"But if you're preg-" he began.
"I stopped bleeding two days ago," she interrupted. "There's little chance you've made me pregnant."
Ty should have been relieved, but the scent and feel of Janna beneath him was driving everything else from his mind. Even as he told himself he must be crazy, he realized that he wanted her again.
"This time, yes," he agreed huskily, "but what about the next time I take you, and the next, and the times after that? Because if I'm around you, I'll take you every damned chance I get." His hand slid down her body until he could feel once more her intimate heat. "Satin butterfly," he whispered, unable to control the faint trembling of his fingers as he skimmed the edges of her softness. "Don't you understand yet? When I see you, hear you, smell you, touch you, taste you…"
A threadlike groan vibrated through Ty. "You're killing me. I can't leave you alone if I'm around you. I can't live with myself if I get you pregnant. And I need you around so that I can track down Lucifer before he gets killed or this whole damned territory blows up in our faces. We have to get married, Janna. There's no other way."
"No."
Janna clamped her legs together, trying to deny Ty the softness only he had ever touched.
It was futile. All she succeeded in doing was imprisoning his hand between her thighs. He made a sound of pleasure and despair as one finger slid gently into her and he felt her sleek, humid warmth surrounding him once more.
"I won't marry you," Janna whispered, her breath breaking. "Do you hear me? I won't spend my life having you look at me and long for a silken lady."
Ty hesitated, then slowly probed Janna's sensuous warmth. "I hear you. But what are we going to do about this? I meant what I said, little one. Having had you, I can't leave you alone."
She tried not to give voice to her pleasure, but a husky sound escaped her lips. "Teach me. That's all I ask of you. A mistress, not a whore."
The words went into Ty like knives, twisting even as they sliced into him. "I can't live with that. It's not enough. You deserve much more. Come back to Wyoming with me," he said in a low voice, caressing Janna because he was helpless to stop. "Silver and Cassie can teach you how to sit and speak and smile like a lady. They'll teach you how to dress and I'll see that you have enough dowry to attract a good man, a man who won't berate you for what I took from you. Then you'll be a married woman, Janna, not any man's mistress or every man's whore."
"I'll marry no man," she whispered. "Ever."
"Janna…"
Her only answer was a husky cry and her warmth reaching out to Ty, silently promising oblivion within her body. The heat and scent of her filled his nostrils, sending a wave of desire through him. Suddenly he wanted to bend down and immerse himself in Janna, tasting her essence, drinking the very secrets of her body. The thought shocked him, for he had never wanted that kind of intimacy with a woman before.