«I couldn’t leave if you were pregnant,» Whip said. «Is that what you want? To force me to stay?»
«No. You would hate me.»
«I’d hatemyself. Oh, God…stop.»
Gently, relentlessly, Whip recaptured Shannon’s exploring hand and brought it to his lips. The kiss he gave her palm was fierce, edged with teeth. It sent a shaft of pure desire through Shannon’s body.
«What did you do with your other widows?» she asked in a husky voice.
A tinge of red appeared on Whip’s cheekbones.
«Honey girl, you ask the damnedest questions.»
«Were they all too old to get pregnant?» Shannon persisted.
Belatedly Whip realized that Shannon wasn’t asking for a detailed description of how he coupled with women. He let out a sigh, half laughing and half on fire at Shannon’s combination of innocence and breathtaking honesty.
«No, they weren’t too old to get pregnant,» Whip said. «They were old enough to know hownotto get pregnant.»
«Celibacy.»
The disappointment in Shannon’s voice made Whip ache with laughter and a reckless kind of passion he had never known before he met her.
«There are other ways,» he said.
«Truly? What are they?»
«Not coupling.»
«Sounds like celibacy to me.»
Whip’s smile was slow and very male. «Not quite, honey girl. More like half a loaf. Like you under the tarpaulin with hail hammering down.»
A shudder of memory and anticipation went through Shannon.
«Is that what you want?» she asked.
«It’s a hell of a lot better than nothing.»
«But…»
«But?» Whip asked, gathering Shannon closer.
«I want to touch you, too. I want to make the world catch fire around you,» Shannon whispered, remembering how it had been for her. «I want to watch you burn. I want to pleasure you until you cry out and the world goes a hot kind of black that’s shot through with all the colors of the rainbow.»
Whip’s heart kicked and blood slammed through his veins. He could barely force words past the heady rush of passion that was closing his throat.
«Did I make you feel like that, honey girl?»
«Yes,» she said in a low voice. «Only better. I don’t have words to tell you. Except…»
Whip nuzzled Shannon’s hair and made a questioning sound.
«I wanted more,» Shannon admitted. «I wanted to feel your body all hot and strong around me. I wanted…» Her voice faltered. «I don’t know what I wanted. I just knew that there was something missing.»
Every muscle in Whip’s body clenched at Shannon’s words. His breath wedged, then hissed out through his teeth.
He knew exactly what had been missing.
«Is that wrong of me?» Shannon asked when Whip didn’t speak.
«No, it’s not wrong,» Whip said huskily. «It’s damned wonderful. Some women are happy just to be petted a bit from time to time, but men want more.»
«Just a bit of petting? That’s all the women wanted?»
Whip made a rumbling sound of agreement.
Shannon frowned. «All the time?»
Whip’s teeth closed gently over the top of Shannon’s ear. He savored the shiver of awareness that went through her.
«Well, it’s certainly better than nothing,» she said finally. «But if the, er, whole loaf is at hand, why be satisfied with less?»
Whip laughed silently and wondered if a man could die of desire while sitting naked in a hot spring with a virgin widow who was as curious as a kitten.
And as heedless.
«Women are more likely to get pregnant during certain times of the month,» Whip said. «That’s when the, um, whole loaf is best kept in the bread drawer. Or drawers.»
«You’re laughing at me.»
«No, honey girl. I’m laughing, period.»
«Why?»
«You delight me,» Whip said against Shannon’s ear. «I want to kiss you from head to heels and back again, but I don’t trust myself not to take you.»
Shannon shivered and looked into Whip’s silver eyes. The heat and approval she saw made her heart stop.
«I’d like to kiss you the same way,» she whispered, «all over, head to heels. You have such a beautiful body, all sleek and powerful and —»
Warm, wet fingers sealed Shannon’s lips, shutting off the tumbling flow of her words.
«No more, honey girl. You’re burning me alive.»
Slowly Whip removed his fingers, caressing every curve of Shannon’s lips as he did.
«I don’t mean to burn you,» she whispered. «I don’t even know how. Will you teach me, Whip? Will you tell me how to turn the world into a glittering black rainbow for you?»
«No,» Whip said roughly. «Don’t you understand? I can’t.»
18
Whip closed his eyes against the desire raking through his body, tormenting him with what he wanted more than breath — and must not take.
When his eyes opened, he saw the hurt and confusion in Shannon’s.
«I want you too much to trust myself,» Whip admitted, his voice raw. «That’s a first. I never had any trouble protecting a woman before.»
Shannon took a deep, shivering breath. «I don’t understand.»
«I can take a woman without making her pregnant,» Whip said in a clipped voice. «All I have to do is hold back my own pleasure until I’m not inside her anymore.»
«Oh.» Shannon frowned thoughtfully. «I understand. I think.»
Whip didn’t know whether to laugh or curse at his earnest, innocent widow’s expression.
«It’s not foolproof,» he added. «If a woman is in her fertile time, I don’t risk it.»
«What’s her fertile time?»
Whip’s eyelids lowered halfway, making his eyes a smoky silver gray against the heightened color of his face. His thick eyelashes were the same radiant gold as the lantern light itself.
«Didn’t your mama tell you anything?» Whip asked when he could trust himself to speak.
«Such as?»
«Such as women are most likely to get pregnant about halfway through their monthly cycle.»
A flush that had nothing to do with the hot spring’s warmth crept up Shannon’s body.
«Oh. Er, no,» Shannon muttered. «She didn’t say anything about that.»
Whip waited.
Shannon said nothing.
«When did you last bleed?» he asked bluntly.
She swallowed and closed her eyes.
