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Whip’s words stopped as though cut by an ax. He stared at Sha
«You’re a virgin.»
Sha
Whip shot to his feet and stood over Sha
«Naive, huh?» he said savagely. «Ha! You’re naive like a fox, pretty littlewindowlady. You figured I would give you a wedding ring if you could tease me into taking your maidenhood.»
Dazed, trembling, Sha
Whip didn’t have the same problem with breathing. And talking. He had never been more furious — or more frustrated — in his entire wandering life.
«What kind of twisted marriage did you have with that old man-hunter?» Whip demanded.
«I don’t understand,» she said shakily.
«The hell you don’t. Silent John was a piss-poor gold prospector, but he was first-class when it came to tracking down men and killing them where he found them, then collecting rewards for their sorry hides.»
Shock widened Sha
«He never said —» she began.
«Hell,» Whip interrupted savagely. «He never said anything, right? Silent John. Silent as a tombstone. And that was what some folks called him. Tombstone John. He earned that moniker, too.»
Whip’s glance raked Sha
«That man must have had ice water in his veins,» Whip said through clenched teeth, watching as Sha
«Henevertouched me.»
«Never?» Whip laughed harshly, not believing a word of it. «Even an old killer like him must have liked undressing you and —»
«Silent John was my great-uncle!» Sha
Blindly Sha
«And then you cam with your hungry eyes and fallen angel smile and gently hands,» she whispered.
Sha
«Why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?» Whip asked, his voice flat.
«I did.»
«Horseshit.»
«Go to hell, yondering man. Go Soon.»
Whip looked at the girl huddled in a crookedly buttoned shirt with part of his bedroll drawn up over her hips. There was nothing of the hot temptress about her now. She wasn’t pleading for his mouth, his hands, his body locked with hers in primal ecstasy.
Whip drew a quick, sawing breath and fought for self-control. Sha
But, by God, he did.
«When did you tell me you were a virgin?» Whip asked less harshly.
«When we were talking about me not having a baby.»
He thought about it, frowned, and shook his head.
«The subject of virginity didn’t come up,» Whip said.
Sha
And twice as cold.
«I asked how you could be sure that you didn’t leave any bastards behind,» Sha
«He never touched you,» Whip interrupted, finally understanding, believing. «You’ve really never been touched at all. My God.»
«Hallelujah,» Sha
Whip opened his mouth, closed it, and stared at the virgin widow who had turned to honey and melted all over him at a touch.
«My God,» Whip repeated. «I —» He shook his head as though coming out of deep water. «It never occurred to me that Silent John and you had’t been truly man and wife.»
«No more than it occurred to me that you didn’t understand why I didn’t get pregnant,» she shot back.
«Chastity. The oldest way of all. Judas H. Priest.»
Sha
«Sha
«What.»
«What did you think would happen after I had you?»
«Think?Think?Yondering man, when you touch me I can’t think worth a handful of cold spit.»
«You weren’t trying to trap me into marriage?»
Sha
«Why on earth would I want to do that?» she asked.
For the second time Sha
«What possible use is a man who puts a baby in you and then flits off around the earth until it’s time to come back and put another baby in?» she asked.
«I’d never get you pregnant and then leave you,» Whip said coldly. «You know me well enough to know that.»
Reluctantly Sha
«Is that what you were counting on? Getting pregnant so I would’t leave?»
Anger stirred in Sha
«I’m naive about sex, but I’m not stupid about life,» she said wearily.
«What does that mean?»
«Pregnant or not, I will never marry a man who wants me less than he wants a sunrise he’s never seen.»
Whip flinched at the conflicting emotions in Sha
«But you would have given yourself to me,» Whip said, angry for no reason.
A shiver of memory and desire went through Sha
«Yes,» she said.
«Why?»
«Why do you care?»
«Because I’m afraid you’re naive enough to believe you love me,» Whip said bluntly.
Sha
«Either way, it’s not your worry,» she said. «It’s mine.»
«I don’t want you to love me,» Whip said, biting off each word.
«I know.»
«Love is a cage.»
«Yes. I know that too. Now. Someday I’ll thank you for teaching me how to build cage of sunlight. But not today.»
She put her forehead back on her knees, shutting Whip out.
«Sha
«Go away, yondering man. You don’t want my body, you don’t want my love, you don’t want anything but the sunrise you’re never seen. Go chase it and leave me be.»