here before you get soaked through again.”
It was another ten minutes before a small if smoky blaze was started. Though the heat was not needed for warmth, it still felt wonderful to ward off the dampness that clung to their clothing, hair, and skin.
“That should do it,” Dominic said as he reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a length of cotton cloth with which to wipe his face and neck.
“You’re very wet. You’d best change.”
“In a minute.” He sat down near the fire and held out his hands to the flames. He closed his eyes as the heat began to soak into him, an expression of sensual pleasure tautening his features. “I must be half cat. Lord, I hate to be wet.”
Her gaze was on his face and she trembled. He had the same expression she had seen when he looked down at her in the big bed at Killara.
“I remember once when I was a kid out on a trail drive, a big storm blew up and we had to ride herd for three solid days in a steady downpour. I got so tired of mud and boots that squished and-” He broke off as he looked directly at Elspeth. He inhaled sharply. “Oh, no, don’t do this to me. Not now, Elspeth.”
“I’m not doing anything,” she whispered. On the contrary, something was being done to her, for her bones were surely melting and she was dizzy and disoriented. “I’m just listening to you.”
“You’re doing something all right.” His gaze clung to her face. “And you’ve got to stop it. I can’t do this by myself; you have to help me.”
“Help you do what?” Her tone was soft, edged with dreams. The beauty of his lips held her spellbound. She wanted to reach out and touch his lower lip, trace it to the corners where the smile began. She couldn’t remember ever wanting to touch anyone before. Perhaps years ago, when she was a child, before her father had taught her that touching others was to be discouraged and suppressed.
“Elspeth…” He reached out impulsively to touch her, and then stopped. His hand fell to his side and clenched into a fist. “Don’t do this to me. I’m trying like hell to keep my promise.” His light eyes were glittering. “I’m
It was the time for them to be together. She knew it in some mystical fashion that sprang from within her like a seedling searching for the sun. But to make it happen she must be bold, she must have the bravery Dominic claimed she possessed. “I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately.” She lowered her eyes to the fire. “I believe I would like to have a child. After all, the life of a scholar can sometimes be lonely, and I doubt if I shall ever marry again. Perhaps this will be my last chance to-”
He stiffened as if struck by a bullet. “What the hell are you saying to me?”
The soft color stole into her cheeks. “I think I’m making myself reasonably clear.”
“Oh, you’re clear enough, but there’s nothing reasonable about it, neither in your words nor in your thinking.” He was suddenly kneeling beside her. He was pale, a muscle jerking in his cheek, and his gaze held hers with an emotion close to anger. “For God’s sake, be honest with me, you don’t want my child. Shall I tell you what you want? You want
“Yes.” She lifted her head and looked at him. “I do want everything you’ve mentioned, but I would also like your child.”
“Why?” he asked blankly. “Why me?”
“I told you, I don’t think I will have the opportunity-” She stopped. She would not lie to him. She drew a deep breath and said simply. “I love you. I believe I always will, Dominic Delaney.”
“My God,” Dominic said softly.
“Naturally, I wouldn’t want you to feel obligated, but if it would please you to… You said all women were similar. I would try to-”
“Shut up!” The hoarse words were wrenched from him. “Lord, love, please shut up.”
“I can’t.” She looked at him, her green eyes shimmering with tears. “It’s too important to me. You didn’t seem to find me distasteful before and I would try my best to please you. I learn quickly. Even a hetaera must begin at the beginning, and from the murals on the walls of the temples, it appears some of them weren’t attractive either. One of the ladies had quite a monstrous hooked nose and-”
His fingers touched her lips. “Shhh, you’re tearing me apart. I can’t take any more of this. I don’t know how I’ve held on to my sanity for as long as I have.”
She swallowed. “Then you will… do it.”
“I’m very much afraid I will,” he said regretfully. His fingers moved to caress her cheekbone. “For a while I thought I was going to turn into a gentleman after all. I guess I should have known I’d never make it.” He pushed the plaid from her head and let it fall to her shoulders. “Your hair is still damp.” He buried his hands in her long tresses, slowly letting the locks flow between his fingers. “Cool,” he said thickly, “and slick.”
She found she was holding her breath. The slight tugging was setting off tiny sparks in her scalp. “You like it?”
“I like all of you,” he murmured. “Oh, Azuquita, where are you now that I need you?”
“What?”
“Never mind, it’s too late anyway.” One hand left her hair to cover her hand clutching the plaid at her breast. He carefully unclasped her fingers and slowly pushed aside the edges of the tartan to reveal the nakedness beneath the wool. He froze, looking at her, the pulse in his throat hammering. “Oh, yes, much too late.”
She closed her eyes, her cheeks ablaze with color. Shyness. Excitement. And a passionate desire for reassurance. “Why?” she whispered. “Why are you doing this? It isn’t pity?”
“Pity? How little you understand.” He carefully pushed the tartan from her shoulders and it fell to the ground behind her.
“Then why?”
He bent his head and laid his lips on the pulse pounding in the hollow of her throat. “Any number of reasons.”
“Give me one.”
“You don’t have a monstrous hooked nose.” He pushed her back on the tartan and shifted back to take off her boots.
“Oh.” She tried to think of something else to say, but she was finding it increasingly difficult to form either words or thoughts in a mind overflowing with the physical imagery of Dominic. The sight of bronze skin, translucent gray-blue eyes, and a smile brimming with tenderness was causing her to gaze up at him in wonder. Then he kissed her, and thought disappeared entirely. When he lifted his head and would have moved away from her, she reached up to stop him. “No,” she whispered. “Stay.”
“I’ll be back.” He sat back on his heels and his fingers went to the buttons of his shirt, his gaze on Elspeth lying naked before him, her hair spread like a glowing tawny escutcheon on the red plaid of the tartan. If he lived to be a hundred, he knew he would remember this moment and the gifts she was offering him. Beauty, love, and courage- precious gifts, every one. He stripped off his shirt, peeling the wet material from his skin and tossing it aside.
Her shyness was gone, she realized with surprise. She was experiencing desire, anticipation, uncertainty, but no shyness. There was something so inexplicably tender in his manner that prohibited any feeling of discomfort. Would he think her bold? But surely the women he was accustomed to weren’t shy either and he… She lost her train of thought as her gaze wandered lovingly over him. How beautiful he was. The soft dark thatch of hair on his chest was irresistibly inviting, and she sat up on one elbow to reach out her hand to touch it. He glanced up from unfastening his belt to look at her.
She felt the color sting her cheeks, not so bold after all. “This feels different from the hair on your head. Rougher.” Her fingers tangled in the springy thatch. “You don’t mind my doing this?”
“I like you to touch me.” He took her hand and placed her palm flat against his chest. He held her gaze as he slowly rubbed her hand up and down over his flesh, letting her feel the textures of him, the smooth, warm skin over supple muscles, the faint prickle of wiry hair, the hard pounding of his heart vibrating through his body and into her own through the sensitive flesh of her palm.
She was suddenly trembling, her heart beating as erratically as Dominic’s. Her hand slipped down over his torso, tracing the line of dark hair to where it disappeared into the waistband of his trousers.
He shuddered. She could feel the muscles of his stomach bunch and tauten beneath her hand. “I like it too
