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«I feel —» Sha
For a long moment Whip looked at Sha
«How long have you been married?» he asked finally.
«What does that — have to do with — how I feel?»
The breaking of Sha
«It has everything to do with it,» Whip said thickly. «What you’re feeling is passion, honey girl. Pure and wild and hotter than hell.»
«I don’t — understand.»
Whip made a sound that could have been a curse or a prayer or both at once.
«Your husband wasn’t much of a man to cozy up with on a cold night, was he?» Whip said between his teeth.
«Silent John wasn’t — that is, heisn’t — a warm man.»
«Are you telling me that you haven’t ever felt sexual desire like this before?»
«This?» Sha
«Son of a bitch,» Whip whispered, shocked. «You mean it, don’t you?»
She nodded.
«As naive as an egg,» Whip muttered. «God. Silent John must have been about as much fun in bed as a rattlesnake. No wonder you don’t mind being his widow — he’s been as good as dead to you for years!»
Sha
As naive as an egg.
Abruptly, Sha
Whip has no right to act so superior just because I’m not as knowing about men as Clementine or Betsy.
But Sha
«Don’t call me a widow,» Sha
«Why? It’s likely the truth and you know it.»
«But if the truth goes beyond this cabin, who will protect me from the Culpeppers after you leave? And you will leave, won’t you?Yondering man.»
«Yes,» Whip said harshly, stung by the anger and distance in Sha
«As long as I’m Silent John’s wife, I’m safe enough here.»
«That’s crap, Sha
«It has been for seven years.»
«Only because Silent John was here with you,» Whip retorted. «Without him you wouldn’t last two months.»
Sha
«I’ll live where I please,» she said tightly.
«Alone?»
«Yes.»
«You can’t.»
«I can!» she said savagely. «And what business is it of yours how I live, yondering man? You have no right to order me about like I was bound by law to you.»
Whip was appalled by the idea of Sha
His fingers were bright with his own blood, blood drawn by Prettyface in defense of his naive, stubborn mistress.
When Sha
«Come on,» Sha
«What?»
Without a word Sha
An instant later she vanished.
The warm, humid smell of a hot spring floated back out to Whip, along with Sha
«Silent John told me never to tell anyone about the hot spring, but…»
Sha
«Well, come on,» Sha
«I’ll be damned,» Whip said, stepping toward the cupboard. «So this is why he built the cabin right into the mountainside.»
Sha
Sha
Whip ducked low as he went through the cupboard. Once inside the cave, he saw that the ceiling was high enough for him to stand upright. Lantern light glanced off the rocky walls and uneven floor, and made the many deep cracks in the rock look like ragged slices of midnight. But for the tiny hissing of the lamp and the seething, whispering swirls of water, the cave was utterly still.
A metal pan scraped over rock as Sha
When Whip looked from the water to Sha
«Surely you aren’t afraid of caves?» Sha
«No. But you ought to be.»
«Why? I’ve been here a thousand times.»
«Not with me. Not when lantern light outlines your breasts and shows me that your nipples are still hard, still hungry. Do they ache, honey girl?»
Sha
«Go to hell, yondering man. What I feel is none of your business.»
Frustration fairly vibrated through Sha
Abruptly Whip closed his eyes, unable to look at Sha
And if he touched her, he would take her.
He didn’t want that to happen. Not yet. Not after he had just discovered how naive she was. Seducing her now would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Whip wanted Sha
«I’m counting to three,» Whip said, his voice rough. «When I open my eyes, you better be —»
«But —»
«— in the cabin or I’ll strip those ragged clothes off you and teach you everything your damned husband should have about men, women, and sex.»
Sha
«Your hands need tending,» she said through her teeth.
«They don’t ache nearly so much as my crotch does. Do you want to tend to that, too?»
«You are a crude, miserable, surely —»
«Get your sweet little rump out of here,» Whip interrupted savagely, «or I’ll do something we’ll both regret. One.»
The temptation to throw the pan of water at Whip was so great that Sha
For an instant her fingers tightened, getting ready to lift the pan.