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«Am I hurting you?» Whip asked.
«No,» she said, her voice ragged. «It feels — strange.»
«Strange bad or strange good?»
As Whip asked, he plucked and felt the hot rush of Sha
«Your body says that it feels good,» he said, biting her neck. «Damned good.»
Sha
«Whip! I can’t — stop! Stop! I’m scared!»
«It’s all right, honey girl. You’re nearly there. Lie back against me and let me take you the rest of the way.»
Sha
Whip knew what Sha
Sha
It took an act of will for Whip to stop caressing the honey and silk between Sha
And then he wanted to spend himself in her fire until he couldn’t remember what it was like to go hungry, aching with each breath, each heartbeat.
Sha
«You’re everything your walk hinted you were,» he said roughly. «Honey and fire.»
Whip set his jaw against the temptation offered by the girl lying so seductively between his legs, her body open to his hand. Slowly, feeling as though he were tearing off his own skin, he forced himself to release the sultry, honeyed flesh.
He wasn’t nearly so slow about getting out from under the steamy intimacy of the tarpaulin. A few swift, savage motions of his hands tucked the tarpaulin around Sha
«Stay here until the storm’s over,» Whip said.
«What about you?» asked a muffled voice.
«I’m hot enough to burn ice.»
Hail beat on Whip’s body as he went to check on the horses. Grimly he hoped it would put out the fire.
It didn’t.
10
«Any better luck?» Sha
«Same as yesterday,» Whip said, bending to scratch Prettyface’s ears.
Afraid that Whip would see her fear, Sha
Six days.
For six days Whip had gone up to the Rifle Sight claim while she stayed in the camp. For six days he had hammered with pickax and determination on the stone shoulder of the mountain.
For six days all Whip had found was the sweat dripping down his nose.
«Tomorrow,» Sha
Whip didn’t say anything. He simply slid his big hand under Prettyface’s chin and rubbed until the dog’s eyes glazed over with pleasure.
When Sha
Whip had protested that he could work in dirty clothes. Sha
«You should take a day off,» Sha
«It makes me sleep well at night.»
That was true, as far as it went. But it said nothing about how often Whip woke up during the night, sweating from forehead to heels, aching, his body rigid with a kind of hunger he had never known.
Whip wondered if Sha
He wondered, but he didn’t ask. Six days ago he had shown her what passion was all about. If she didn’t want more, he wasn’t going to push himself on her.
It was Sha
«Sit down on that log,» Sha
«Are you saying I smell like old Razorback?»
Sha
And he never kissed her, held her, caressed her until the world came apart around her and she cried out with pleasure.
«You always smell good to me,» Sha
«Another thing Silent John told you?»
She shook her head. «I learned it the same way you did, at the dumb end of a pickax.»
Whip’s mouth opened but no words came out. He simply stared at Sha
«Well, don’t look so shocked,» Sha
He grunted. «You’re not nearly as skillful asyouthink.»
«I can’t swing an ax or a pick like you,» she said tartly, «but I can get a job done if I stay with it, and getting the job done is what matters.»
With that, Sha
«Did you find any gold while you were swinging that pick?» Whip asked Sha
«No, but I was working a landslide that covered most of the Chute. Rifle Sight is richer.»
«According to Silent John.»
«I’ve seen some of the ore he brought back,» Sha
«He must have cleaned out that vein. From what I’ve seen, you could work all summer in Rifle Sight and not find enough gold to pay for your supplies.»
Fear breathed coolly down Sha
«The gold is there,» she said tightly.
Whip grunted.
From the corner of her eyes, Sha
Lord, but that is one beautiful man, Sha
A delicious sensation cascaded through Sha