'Ah! Not nearly so beautiful as my cattle!' she retorted.
He laughed softly again.
'You are disappointed.'
'Don't deceive yourself, Lieutenant. I am vastly relieved.'
'Why don't I believe you?'
'Because you're an egotist and a scurvy rat.'
'Why is it that you just beguile me so, Tess Stuart? Is it that you
taste like wine and smell of roses, even in the most god-awful heat of
the day.
Is it that fall of golden hair, or your eyes, like wild violets? No ...
it must be the tender words you're always whispering so gently to me.
Words like ... scurvy rat.'
'Lieutenant, will you please' -- 'I do want you.'
'What?' she cried.
'Very much. But I don't want to bargain about it. When you decide to be
with me, you'll do so because you want to.
You might have to think it through and weigh all the factors, or you
might just wake up one night and come to re108 aliz~ that it's going to
be, that there's just something there. I feel it when I touch you, when
I'm near you.
'You're a fool!'
'Am I?'
He l~aned closer. H~ was going to ~ h~ aga~. 'Don'tv' she cfi~ out.
H~ igno~ the wa~ing, tang h~ lips with his ~n, ~d ou~ sh~ m~bl~ a ~nd
prot, her mouth was al- ~dy pa~g to his. ~d his tongu~ was d~,. d~
within bet, and it touch~ her in pla~ it could not possibly ~ch.
She ~ ~at h~ was right, and she ha~ ~ for it, but she ~ h~ stffi, and
she wan~ h~ stffi. She t~bl~ against th~ swat sava~e~ of his touch, and
she felt the p~u~ of ~s b~y, of h~ t~ aga~st h~, of mo~ than his thigh.
H~ hands we~ in her hair, strong her fa~, rounding over the full ri~ of
her b~st, and sh~ was still bra~ against him, unabl~ to do anything
other than f~l. ~en he ~1~ her. She gas~ ragg~ly and fell back.
His lips ~ghtly bmsh~ fffst her forbid, then her ch~ks. He smile.
'Egotist, eh?'
He w~ off guard. She sl~m~ her ~ aga~st h~. She didn't qui~ hit home,
but she must have given h~ a good bm~ in the thigh. He groan~ at ~e pa~,
gritting h~ ~th, flash~g her a lethal glad.
'~ Stua~, if I didn't have ~me vague memo~ of ~- ~g a gentleman' -- 'If
you have any memo~ at all, sir, it must ~ vague~'
'Miss. S~art, I should tan' -- 'Do ex~ me, Lieut~ant,' she ~id, at~pt~g
to s~ past h~.
'It's not that you have~'t got d~nt lips, it's just that it's ~possible
to know wh~e they've ~n befog.'
'~nt lips]'
'~nt, y~,' she said sw~tly, still walking. He caught h~ a~ and pull~ her
into his a~s.
'I ~uld just' -- be ~gan, but then he laughs.
'Impo~ible to 109 know where they've been before! Why, honest to God! I
do believe that you're jealous!'
