seem to want to look at him.
'Are you all right?' he asked her, softly smoothing back a tendril of
her hair.
She nodded against him.
'Did I--hurt you?'
She shook her head, but still she didn't say a word. 'You're not crying,
are you?' he asked her.
'No!' she said in muffled, indignant protest. 'Women do, you know.'
'Women do!' she repeated, speaking at last. She sat up, and her eyes met
his.
'How many women do you--did you ... Oh, never mind!' She started to
pull away. Her breasts swung heavy and fascinating before him, and he
quickly laughed, pulling her back. His voice was husky when he spoke.
'I've never, never, been in a--er, circumstance like this one before.'
'Like' -- 'With a virgin,' he said flatly.
She flushed crimson. He pulled her close to him. She was wiggling and
squirming, ready to retreat now that it was all over, despite the way
she had played the seductress so boldly. He didn't want to lose her.
'Tess!'
'What? Will you please' -- 'I didn't go back to Eliza that night,
either.
The whole thing was a show' -- 'Eliza is in love with you.'
'Eliza is in love with a lot of people.' She Paused, tossing her hair,
studying him with her enormous eyes.
'And what about you?' I m not in love with anyone, he said. Agam'~e felt
her pulling away. He tightened his hold around her. But I am your eyes.
And I love the way you fight until the bitter end, though I could also
strangle you for that same quality. I love the way you think, and I love
the way you take ~ of the people around you, and I even love the way
your ~Yes flash when you're jealous.'
'I'm not jealous' -- 'Then nosy. You were damned determined to I had
taken my bath.'
'Because' -- She broke off, staring at him. i He grinned.
'Because you weren't about to come near me had been near another woman,
was that it?'
He laughed again, hugged her close and rolled her over in the hay.
'Never fear, my feisty little love. When I am near you, I will never
find the need for another.'
His lips closed over hers. He stroked his hand down the length of her,
touching her openly and intimately. A sound rumbled in her throat
against his kiss. He ignored her. All the fires of hell were burning
inside him again, and this time he need not be so slow, so careful. She
had learned about tenderness. She was ready to learn about the tempest.
Later, when dawn neared, she slept. Jamie stared at the rafters as the
first pale light of day appeared, impressed by the eagerness and
complete abandon with which she had approached lovemaking. He had never
known a feeling of such relaxation, of physical bliss as her sleeping
body against his.
She had learned many things this night. She slept with her knee slightly
curved upon him, her hair tangled around his shoulders and chest. He
