of his being, that was too bad. Life had taught him that the hunger he felt for a female was temporary; a true marriage was not.
Until death do us part.
«First, I think some brandy is in order for you,» Wolfe said thoughtfully.
«Brandy?»
«Umm.»
His rumbling sound of agreement made Jessica smile. «Thank you, but I don’t really enjoy spirits.»
«Think of it as medicine.»
«Medicine?»
«Yes. I’ll bring a bit extra for the parrot, too.»
«Parrot? Oh, that parrot. Indeed, it must be on the loose in here.» She laughed softly and rubbed her cheek against the fur, forgetting for a moment the aches and alarming weakness of her arms. «This fur has the most heavenly texture.»
Wolfe stood for an instant, transfixed by the sight of Jessica smoothing her skin against the fur as though it were a lover’s body. Abruptly, he turned and walked out of the room. When he came back, he carried a small snifter of brandy in his hand.
«Sit up, Jessie.»
She rolled onto her side, but when it came time for her arms to push her body upright, they weren’t equal to the task.
«I don’t think I can,» she admitted.
Wolfe set the snifter aside and helped Jessica sit up. The cotton blanket started to slide to her waist. She made a startled sound and grabbed. Her reflexes were very slow, for her arms simply didn’t want to move. The blanket fell below her breasts before she caught it.
Closing his eyes, Wolfe told himself that he was a fool to react as though he had never seen a woman naked to the waist before. Yet the image of Jessica’s creamy curves and rosy nipples burned behind his eyelids, making his heartbeat deepen and increase as though he had been running uphill.
With a stifled curse, he opened his eyes, jerked the blanket up over her breasts, and pressed the snifter’s rim against her soft lower lip.
«Drink.»
Wolfe’s voice was thick with desire, but there was no mistaking the command in it. Grimacing, Jessica opened her mouth, drank, and swallowed. An instant later, she was gasping for air and coughing. Calmly, Wolfe poured water from a carafe on the bedside table and offered the glass to her. She drank quickly. Even so, the brandy left a fiery trail from her tongue to her stomach.
«Better?»
Jessica nodded, because she couldn’t speak.
«Lie down on your stomach again.»
Casually Wolfe took the blanket off Jessica, shook it out, and let it flutter down over the tempting curves of her bottom and the shadow cleft between.
«Where is your rose oil?» Wolfe asked.
«In the crystal bottle on your dresser.»
«There are nine such bottles.»
«The one with the stopper that’s the color of my cheeks,» she muttered into the fur.
«Ah, that one.» Wolfe looked at the fiery color of Jessica’s face. «Blushing again, elf?»
She turned her head and slanted him a narrow look. Against the intense color of her face, her eyes looked like gems.
«You’re enjoying this,» she accused.
Wolfe turned away before Jessica could see him smile. He retrieved the proper bottle from the dresser.
«Be careful,» she said. «It’s fragile.»
«Don’t worry. I’m not clumsy with small things.»
She laughed softly and confessed into the fur, «I know. You’re the only man I’ve ever seen who can take a handful of roses from a bush and never know the bite of thorns.»
Smiling, Wolfe coaxed the fragile stopper free and poured a small amount of oil in his palm. When he sat next to Jessica on the bed, she made a startled sound. She made another sound when he began rubbing his hands up and down her body.
As he had suspected, Jessica’s back was as knotted as her arms. Warmed by his hands and the friction of skin against skin, the rose oil gave its fragrance to the silent room. When his hands kneaded up her back from waist to nape, Jessica made a low sound.
«Too hard?» Wolfe asked.
«Too…wonderful.» Jessica sighed. «Ah, that feels like heaven.»
He smiled and continued working the stiffness out of her back. Each time he worked down her spine, he took in more of her sides, coming closer and closer to her breasts. Each time he approached her waist, he eased a bit lower. The soft flannel retreated to the small of her back, then to the beginning of the velvet cleft of her bottom. The temptation to run his finger over the intriguing shadow was great, but Wolfe resisted it. He knew Jessica would panic.
«Tell me where it’s sore.» Wolfe moved his hands to Jessica’s shoulders. «Here?»
She nodded her head without opening her eyes. When she felt the pressure of his strong fingers kneading out the clenched tension of the muscles, she groaned.
«Pleasure or pain?» Wolfe asked in a low voice. Jessica nodded her head.
«Which one?»
«Yes,» she sighed, uncurling her hands along her sides.
He laughed softly, poured more oil onto his palm, and resumed rubbing.
«What about here?» he asked.
The gentle glide of his hands across Jessica’s upper arms felt wonderful. She groaned and relaxed even more beneath his touch. As he worked on the knotted muscles of her left arm from shoulder to fingertips, his hands kept brushing between her arm and her body. The first few times it happened, she tightened and tried to move away. Then she forgot to be self-conscious about his touch, for it simply felt too good to object when the back of his fingers brushed the sides of her breast, her ribs, the inward curve of her waist, and the smooth swell of her hip.
The third time Wolfe’s hand traced Jessica’s body without her withdrawing, he smiled and switched his attention to her other arm. In order to reach it, he straddled her thighs. As he worked down her right arm, he slowly dragged the blanket lower and lower until the full curves of her buttocks were revealed. The breath in his throat caught as he looked at the creamy, fine-grained skin and feminine promise that lay so close at hand.
«What about here?» he asked, tracing the long muscles that ran along either side of Jessica’s spine. «Stiff?»
«Yes,» she sighed.
Wolfe tested, agreed, and bit back a comment about his own stiffness. The loin cloth he had wrapped around himself could not contain the change that passion had wrought on his body. The sight of Jessica’s graceful hips rising from the rumpled blanket was a sweet torment. The thought of opening her legs and easing into her soft body with the fur all silky around her made him groan.
«Wolfe?»
For a moment he didn’t answer. Then the talons of need eased and he could breathe once more.
«What?» he asked.
Jessica shivered with pleasure as Wolfe’s hands kneaded down her back to her waist, lingered, then eased upward again with a combination of gentleness and strength that was magic on her aching body.
«That feels so good.» She sighed and unconsciously arched against his touch. «It makes me dizzy.»
«Must be the brandy.»
«I don’t think so, my lord. I think it’s your hands. I didn’t know anything could feel so wonderful.»
«Are you sure? A moment ago you couldn’t tell the difference between pleasure and pain.»
