was clinging to arching, writhing. meeting him, welcoming him, him. She
felt the slap of his body against hers, and earthy and real. She felt
the sun upon his naked flesh, and that, too, was real. And she felt
more. the certain heat, the glow of the sun, which heightened every
swift pleasure, a touch of the blue, cloudy sky. She was damp, and so
aware of him within her, and aware of the rising ecstasy inside her
body. Coiling tighter and tighter until she was crying out again, then
gasping in a soft shriek as something came upon her so strong and sweet
and volatile that it rent the whole of her with shivers, while something
like hot nectar seemed to swamp her body. She couldn't move. She could
scarcely breathe, and it seemed that the world went dark before the sun
burst upon her again. And just as it did, he thrust hard within her and
stayed and stared at her, the whole of his face tense and haunting and
taut with passion. Then he exploded within her, and thrust and thrust
again. and lay down beside her, wrapping her in his arms.
The sun was still above them.
'I'm afraid of you,' Tess admitted.
He had been flat on the earth. He rose up on an elbow. 'What?'
'I'm afraid of caring too much.'
He touched her cheek.
'We're all afraid of caring too much .'
'I don't believe you're afraid of anything.' He smiled, a crooked,
rueful smile.
'Yes, I am. I'n afraid of losing you right now.'
'Right now,' she repeated.
'But what ... what about tomorrow, Jamie?
That's what frightens me.'
'What do you mean?'
She shook her head. She rolled away from him, rising to her feet,
straightening her slip and dusting bits of leaf and dirt and grass from
it.
She smiled at him, then hurried toward the water.
He must have stripped off the remnants of his for when he came up behind
her, he was stark naked.
placed his hands around her waist and kissed her nape.
177 he whispered in her ear, so softly that she wasn't sure she heard
him.
'Tomorrow? I'm not sure. But I think that I'm falling in love with you,
Tess.'
He left her, walking into the river, then ducking beneath the surface
and swimming into the center of it. He rose, let out a cry and shivered.
'It's damned cold for summer!' he called out to her.
Tess stooped and threw water over her face. She watched as Jamie dove
beneath the surface again.
A twig snapped suddenly behind her. She leaped up, spinning around.
There were four of them. The so-called Indians. They were clothed in
bronze paint and breech clouts
'Jamie!'
she whispered.
