A Summer Smile

admit that this is quite pleasant.” His big hands were suddenly cupping her breasts, weighing and toying with them through the cotton of the shirt. She gasped and she could hear him give a low laugh. “Pleasant?”

“Remind me to buy you a dictionary,” she whispered. “That’s not the right word either.”

His index finger was tracing the whorl of her nipple through the shirt, and she could feel herself hardening and peaking more with each circle of that teasing fingertip.

“It’s only a question of comparison. What I’m doing to you now is only pleasant”-his finger inserted itself between the buttons of her shirt with shocking suddenness-“when you compare it to this.”

The touch of his skin against her nipple sent heat rocketing through her. His finger was rubbing back and forth against the naked peak, then began flicking it with a fingernail with every pass. “What word would your dictionary use to describe this, Zilah?”

There weren’t any words. She was being jolted by tremors with each tantalizing touch. “Daniel…”

His navy blue eyes were narrowed with satisfaction on her face. “You like that, don’t you? I love that expression on your face; I love to know that what I’m doing is causing it.”

Then his hands were rapidly unbuttoning her shirt and pushing it down her arms until it fell to the silver mat. “Ah, that’s what I wanted.” His eyes were caressing her with the same magic as his hands. “Lovely. All gold and pink and touched with warmth.” He brought her close, rubbing her naked breasts sensually against the cloud of auburn hair on his chest. “My lovely summer girl.”

“What?” she asked dazedly.

“Never mind,” he muttered. His head was bent, his tongue gently stroking her nipple. She felt a white-hot shiver run through her. His lips closed on her with a strong suction that caused her back to arch and a low cry to break from her throat.

He lifted his head and drew a long, shaky breath. “Dear heaven, I want to be inside you. I want to hear you cry out like that when I come into you and fill you. I want to move and twist until every part of you belongs to me. To feel you tighten and pull at me.”

“Daniel!”

He shook his head as if to clear it. “I think we were pretty close to sending up a few Roman candles.” He grinned. “I never did like fooling around with the little stuff.”

“I gathered that”-her heart was pounding so hard she could scarcely speak-“from your conversation.”

“I told you I wasn’t subtle.” He suddenly frowned in concern. “I tend to get a bit graphic on occasion. Did I offend you?”

“No.” He had excited her. She drew a shaky breath. “You didn’t offend me.”

His eyes were narrowed shrewdly on her face. “You liked it.” He smiled. “And you like me. We fit, don’t we, love?”

“Yes, I think perhaps we do.” She returned his smile and then her breath abruptly caught in her throat as she met his eyes. The world narrowed down to just the two of them in a dark intimacy that glowed with all manner of starlike things. She pulled her gaze away with an effort. “I guess I’m not much on subtlety either.”

“Lie down.”

Her eyes flew to his in surprise.

He smiled slightly and shook his head. “No Roman candles, not even any firecrackers. Just you sleeping in my arms. I think we’d both like that. Okay?”

She nodded, her throat tight. “Okay.” His chest was warm and solid and the soft mat cushioned her naked back as he turned her spoon fashion, his palms lovingly cupping her breasts. Her hair splayed in a silken mass over his upper arm.

Treasured. The word came to her even as weariness flowed over her in an irresistible tide. Desire was still there, smoldering low, but it was that blessed feeling of being treasured that she was most conscious of now. Considering that he was a dangerous man who had exploded into her life with shocking violence, she was astounded that she should feel this way in his arms. Treasured and protected and…

She awoke to darkness and the uneasy feeling that something was wrong. Yet what could be wrong? she wondered drowsily. Daniel’s arms were still around her, holding her securely, his warm breath feathering her ear. Her forehead knitted in a frown as she realized what was wrong. Daniel’s breathing was jerky and labored and his arms around her were shaking. He was trembling as if he were a malaria victim! The panic that thought engendered jolted her wide awake.

“Daniel?” She tried to sit up but his arms were suddenly rigid manacles around her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” The words were jerky, as if they were spoken between clenched teeth. “Go back to sleep.”

“There is something wrong,” she insisted. “Are you ill?”

He laughed shortly. “If you can call being gutless ill, then I guess I am.”

“Gutless? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her concern was growing by the second. “Daniel, what’s wrong? Dammit, you’re scaring me.”

He drew a deep breath. “God knows I didn’t want to do that. Look, there’s nothing to be afraid about. It’s just my damn nerves. I told you I didn’t like walls around me. I thought I had it under control, but I woke up and there it was gibbering at me in the darkness. Sometimes it happens like that. I’ll be all right in a few minutes. Go back to sleep.”

“Let me go, Daniel. I’m not going to go meekly back to sleep and leave you like this. I couldn’t do that.” She felt a slight loosening of his arms and she turned over to face him. Her arms slipped about his waist with an instinctive maternal protectiveness as old as time. “Now, what’s wrong? Tell me.”

The darkness was complete. It both isolated and bound them together with an unbelievable intimacy. It must be like this floating in space, she thought vaguely as her hands began to soothingly stroke the tense slide of muscles that corded Daniel’s back and shoulders.

“Why?” she asked softly. “If you suffer this badly from claustrophobia, why the devil are we here in this cave?”

“I told you why.” His lips were buried in her hair, and the words were scarcely audible. He was obviously trying to stifle the trembling that was wracking his body, but an occasional shiver still shook him. “There’s no way I’m going to make a bad situation riskier because of this damn weakness.” He was speaking through set teeth. “It’s been years since it happened. I thought I could control it.”

“Since what happened?”

“A number of years ago I found myself thrown by a revolutionary group into a sod hut about the size of a postage stamp in the middle of the desert. It was six months before Clancy blew the group and got me out. My nerves were in pretty bad shape, so I left Sedikhan for a few years. I batted around the world for a while as captain of a schooner and then came back to work for Clancy.”

“You were a sea captain?” Zilah’s eyes were wide with curiosity.

“There weren’t any walls,” he said simply. “I needed that.”

She felt a rush of sympathy so strong that she couldn’t prevent helpless tears from forming in her eyes, and she couldn’t speak for a moment without revealing the pity she felt. She hated pity herself and she could see that he detested revealing his weakness. Despite his offhand explanation, those few words had drawn a graphic picture that made her shudder. How terrible it must have been for a man of Daniel’s temperament to be caged for that length of time. It was clear he was still feeling the effects even after all these years. Yet he hadn’t hesitated to undergo an experience that he knew would be excruciatingly painful just to make life safer for her. “I can see how you would,” she said huskily. “But what an idiotic man you are, Daniel Seifert.” Her arms tightened instinctively around him. He had stopped shaking, but the muscles of his back and shoulders were rock-hard with tension. Her hands moved over them, trying to massage and release the tautness. “It’s all right now. Go to sleep. I won’t let you go. I’ll hold you until morning.”

“Will you?” His laugh held a touch of desperation. “I don’t think that would be a very good idea. Not now.” She could hear the leaping cadence of his heart beneath her ear, and the hard flesh of his chest was burning her cheek. “I’m not in control at the moment.”

“None of us is in control all of the time. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Let me help you,” she said softly. “You’ve done so much for me. I need to give to you too. Let me comfort you, Daniel.”

“The kind of comfort I need now isn’t the kind you have in mind.” His words were muffled in her hair. She could feel his warm breath feathering her ear. “And you don’t owe me anything, dammit. How many times do I have to