Eden, Janna wouldn’t have wanted him any more than she had wanted other men.
Yet he had taken advantage of their isolation and her gratitude anyway, because he had never wanted a woman so much.
It was the same right now. He wanted Janna. Right or wrong, passion or gratitude, Eden or hell. He wanted her. She was the sound of laughter on the wind and a wild silver mist glittering within his soul. She was the mysterious taste of the sea and the hot generosity of life itself. He would have given the blood from his veins to believe that she would have come to him no matter where and how they had met.
But he knew that it wasn’t true. If they had met in a normal way, she would have taken one look at his intimidating size and dark, rough looks, and then she would have smiled politely and walked away from him.
Raven knew that Janna was a gift given to a lonely raven by the old Haida gods, the cruel gods who gave only that they might teach man the agony of loss by taking back the gift. Raven also knew that there was no way to fight the gods, no way to keep the gift and evade the agonizing loss. He could only cherish Janna for the time that she was his, and open his hands when the time was over, freeing her and praying that she would never regret having given herself for a time to a man she didn’t love.
„You look as though someone carved you from stone,“ Janna murmured sleepily. Her fingertips traced the fierce lines on Raven’s face, lines that faded even as he turned to kiss her palm. „What were you thinking about?“
„Eden and the old Haida gods,“ Raven said, smoothing his cheek into the warmth of Janna’s hand. „And Eve.“ He lifted his head and looked at the gift of the gods lying within his arms. „You’re so beautiful,“ he whispered. „All woman, hot and generous. A man could die trying to get enough of you.“ He sank his teeth into her palm with sensual precision. „And I can think of no better way to step into eternity than listening to your sweet cries.“
Janna stared at Raven stretched out on the bed beside her, as naked and rugged as the mountains themselves. Sunlight streamed through the porthole, pure light washing over his powerful body. He was so completely male, so very perfect in her eyes that she couldn’t even speak to tell him how much it moved her to be desired by him. She could only touch him with a hand that trembled. The knowledge that she had pleased him gleamed in her eyes, tears shining in her lashes like distant stars. With a soft sound she went into the arms that opened for her in silent invitation.
„I love you, Raven,“ Janna said, holding him close. „I think I’ve loved you since the moment you pulled me out of the sea.“
Raven closed his eyes as pain twisted through him. He kissed Janna very gently when she would have whispered her love again. Then he sealed Janna’s lips with a long, callused finger.
„Don’t,“ he whispered, looking at her silver-green eyes, wishing that she had never spoken. He had already guessed the source of any emotion she might have for him, the reason that he was set apart from other men in her eyes; he didn’t need to be reminded that it was gratitude, not love, even when the reminder came in such a sweet and gentle way.
Janna stared at Raven, understanding only the pain in his bleak eyes, not the cause. „Raven?“ she asked raggedly. „Don’t you want – “
His lips came down over hers in a kiss that was as warm as sunlight and as powerful as the sea itself. He held her mouth for a long, long time, savoring her, wanting her.
„It’s all right,“ Raven whispered finally against Janna’s lips. „You don’t have to love me. I know that you’re grateful to be alive. I’m grateful, too. Without you I wouldn’t have known what it was like to die inside you and then to live again with you inside me. I wouldn’t have known what it was like to be in Eden, to find myself in a place out of time where no one exists but a single man and a single woman who were created for each other.“
With a swift movement Raven took Janna’s mouth. He felt a fierce elation when she opened willingly for the tender penetration of his tongue. He drank from her deeply and felt himself taken from in return before he lifted his head and looked down into eyes as enigmatic as mist veiling the primeval forest.
„Let’s take this time, this savage Eden, this gift,“ Raven said huskily, kissing Janna between each word. „Take it without labels or promises that will haunt you when Eden is a memory and the rest of your life is very real. I want you to remember me with joy, for that’s how I will remember you.“
Janna closed her eyes and tried very hard not to cry out with the mingled pain and pleasure of being with the man she loved, a man who laughed with her and wept with her – and did not love her. Yet he made love to her as though she were the only woman on earth.
But she was not. There was one other woman for Raven. The woman he loved and could not have. Angel.
Janna knew that she couldn’t change that; she could only envy it. And she could take the bittersweet gift that was Raven, take him and understand that love was like Eden – savage, innocent, knowing only its own existence, its own needs, a law unto itself, a primeval island set in an endless sea of time.
„Yes,“ Janna whispered, holding on to Raven until she ached, giving him all of herself that he would allow. „Yes, I want to be remembered with joy. Remember me, love. Remember that I loved you in a place out of time.“
Raven tried to look into the green depths of Janna’s eyes to the soul beneath, but he saw only the darkness of her long eyelashes and the silken swirl of her hair as her mouth caressed his chest. He started to speak but his breath caught. Her tongue was a dark, sweet flame burning over his skin and her cinnamon hair was wildfire caressing his arms.
He tried to slide his hands into her unbound hair. Before he could touch her, his whole body clenched and a hoarse sound was torn from his throat as her hands found his aroused flesh. She was woman and she was fire burning him all the way to his soul. With an inarticulate cry he found her softness, caressed her until she came to him and he could bury himself in her sweet, consuming fire, burning both of them alive.
The second time Janna woke up that morning, she was still locked within Raven’s arms. She nuzzled the resilient chest hair that had been tickling her nose. He tightened his arms around her, silently telling her that he was awake. Smiling, she smoothed her cheek against his warm chest. Soundlessly she whispered
He might not love her, but he had given her a passion that grew greater each time they made love. For that alone, she would have stayed with him. When passion was joined with his gentleness and strength, his laughter and intelligence, Raven was revealed to her as the man she had always dreamed of and never truly believed she would find.
And she could not help hoping deep within her mind that any man who made love to her as Raven did could not be utterly lost to another woman. Surely Janna had a chance to steal his love with each kiss, each caress, each cry of ecstasy torn from him.
Janna nuzzled Raven again, realized that his flat nipple was within reach and touched it dreamily with the tip of her tongue. „Mmm. You taste good. Like an oyster. Salty.“
„Want some lemon juice?“
„Raven on the half shell,“ Janna said, tasting him thoughtfully, then biting him with great care. „Nope. No lemon juice needed. Raw is best, the same way I found you.“
Janna’s stomach growled, reminding both of them that she had eaten nothing last night except a few oysters.
Smiling, Raven ran the ball of his thumb down her spine. „Want to flip to see who makes breakfast?“
„Heads,“ she said, then made a startled sound as she was picked up, turned over
