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Silver began playing a waltz again. Its slow, haunting melody recalled formal summer gardens and elegant dancers glittering with gems. Calmly, Case disengaged Ja
Without a word Ty turned and stalked off the dance floor, shouldering aside his brothers.
Behind him Case and Ja
"Cassie told me you aren't pregnant," Case said finally. "I'm sorry. A child with your grit and grace and Ty's strength and fancy speech… well, that would have been something to see."
Ja
"There's a fiesty zebra dun in the corral. That fool brother of mine packed more than a hundred pounds of gold all over Utah Territory for three weeks looking for that zebra mare. Sixty pounds of that gold is now in a bank waiting for you to draw on it. The MacKenzies will honor Ty's promise to see that Mad Jack's half gets to his kids."
"Half of my gold is Ty's."
Case shook his head. "No."
Ja
When Case saw that Ja
"You're free, Ja
Chapter Forty-Five
The oil lamps in Ja
"Allow me."
Ja
Ty stood in the doorway watching her, but he was a different man. Gone was the rough frontiersman. Ty was clean shaven except for a black mustache. He smelled of soap and wore polished black boots, black slacks and a white linen shirt whose weave was so fine it shone like silk. He looked precisely like what he was: a powerful, uncommonly handsome man who had been born and raised to wealth and fine ma
Ja
There was silence, then the sound of a door shutting behind Ja
"A gentleman never leaves a lady in distress."
Ja
''But I'm not a lady, so your fine ma
The bleakness of Ja
"Case told me," Ty said.
His nostrils flared at the fragrance of crushed roses that emanated from her skin and hair. Memories blazed for an instant in his eyes. He brushed her hands away from the fastenings that went down the back of her dress.
"You're a satin butterfly," Ty said, unfastening the dress slowly, feeling a hunger to touch her that was deeper and more complex than a desire, a hunger that tightened his body as each tiny hook silently gave way, revealing a bit more of Ja
Ty's long index finger traced the graceful centerline of Ja
"During the war, Case kept his sanity by walling off his emotions," Ty said quietly. "I kept my sanity in a different way. I swore that I would never see such ugliness again. If I survived, I vowed to surround myself with fine and fragile things that had never known even the shadow of violence and death. Every time grapeshot ripped through living flesh, every time I saw young children with empty eyes, every time one of my men died… I renewed my vow."
Eyes closed, body trembling, Ja
"It's all right, Ty," she said huskily. "I understand. You've earned your silken lady. I won't-"
Ja
"Run away?" Ty offered, finishing Ja
"Ty…" Ja
"Why?" His long fingers shaped her, caressed her, made her tremble with a wild longing. "You want me as much as I want you. Have I told you how much I like that? No games, no coyness, just the sweet response of your body to my touch."
Ja
Ty's hands stilled in surprise. "Yes. Why?"
"Think how you would have felt if they hadn't. Think how a child would feel growing up and knowing that his father felt a combination of desire and duty and disappointment toward his mother. Your child deserves better than that. So do you. And," Ja
Gently Ty turned Ja
"Ja
She turned her head aside and spoke quickly, interrupting Ty, words tumbling out in a desperate effort to be heard. "No. Please listen to me. Please. I may not be fine or fragile, but even mustang ladies can be broken. You said once you owed me more than you could ever repay. You can repay me now. Let me go, Ty. Let me go before I break."
Eyes closed, hands clenched into fists at her side so that she wouldn't reach for the man she loved too much ever to cage, Ja
Tears touched the sensitive skin between her breasts, and she was shocked to know how hot her own tears were. Then she felt Ty's cheek against her body, saw him kneeling at her feet, felt his arms close tightly around her waist, and she realized that the scalding tears weren't her own.