' She batted her eyelashes at him. He burst into laughter.
'What do you think I'm talking about? ' she asked innocently.
'Sex.'
'No, ' she blurted out before she too burst into laughter.
'Men don't like to be teased, Jessie. Remember that.' He took the
lead once again. She trailed behind him just as she had for the last
eight hours. She didn't say another word for a long while, until
curiosity got the better of her.
'Cole? ' 'Yes? ' 'Were you disappointed? ' 'About what? ' 'That I
wasn't talking about sex.'
'No, ' he snapped. 'I wasn't.' Her shoulders slumped, and she felt an
acute wave of disappointment.
'Then you never once thought about it. . . with me? ' He couldn't
believe they were having this conversation. Didn't she realize the
effect shewas having on him? Probably not, he decided. It was
apparent she was innocent, but she wouldn't be for long if she kept
asking him such personal questions.
'Yeah, I thought about it.'
'And? ' 'And what? It isn't gonna happen, Jessica.'
'No, of course not, ' she hastily agreed. 'But I've thought about it
too, several times, as a matter of fact.' He almost fell off his
horse. 'Will you stop talking about it? ! ' 'You don't have to yell
at me. I was just being honest with you. You're very easy to talk to,
at least you were until you got upset, and admitting that I've thought
about making love to you isn't a crime.
I'm not going to act on it. I wouldn't even know what to do.'
'Then I don't have to worry you'll do anything stupid.'
'Like what? ' He didn't answer her. He swore he wasn't going to say
another word, and he definitely wasn't going to look back at her, at
least not until he had gotten rid of the notion of dragging her off her
horse, pulling her clothes off, and making love to her.
'I hope the water's warm, ' she remarked.
He hoped it was cold . . . icy cold.
The last mile seemed like twenty to her, and by the time they finally
