Whip closed his eyes against the desire raking through his body, tormenting him with what he wanted more than breath — and must not take.
When his eyes opened, he saw the hurt and confusion in Shannon’s.
«I want you too much to trust myself,» Whip admitted, his voice raw. «That’s a first. I never had any trouble protecting a woman before.»
Shannon took a deep, shivering breath. «I don’t understand.»
«I can take a woman without making her pregnant,» Whip said in a clipped voice. «All I have to do is hold back my own pleasure until I’m not inside her anymore.»
«Oh.» Shannon frowned thoughtfully. «I understand. I think.»
Whip didn’t know whether to laugh or curse at his earnest, innocent widow’s expression.
«It’s not foolproof,» he added. «If a woman is in her fertile time, I don’t risk it.»
«What’s her fertile time?»
Whip’s eyelids lowered halfway, making his eyes a smoky silver gray against the heightened color of his face. His thick eyelashes were the same radiant gold as the lantern light itself.
«Didn’t your mama tell you anything?» Whip asked when he could trust himself to speak.
«Such as?»
«Such as women are most likely to get pregnant about halfway through their monthly cycle.»
A flush that had nothing to do with the hot spring’s warmth crept up Shannon’s body.
«Oh. Er, no,» Shannon muttered. «She didn’t say anything about that.»
Whip waited.
Shannon said nothing.
«When did you last bleed?» he asked bluntly.
She swallowed and closed her eyes.
«First I have Silent John and now I have Talkative Whip,» she muttered.
«When did you last bleed?» Whip repeated, his eyes level and his tone determined.
«It — it stopped last night,» Shannon said in a rush.
Desire lanced through Whip, hotter than any steamy spring, tightening his body even more. Just the thought of pushing into Shannon’s snug, sleek body was enough to take him to the edge of his self-control.
«Last night, huh?» Whip said huskily.
Shannon nodded and wondered if her face was as bright a red as she thought it was.
Whip smiled and nuzzled her ear with his tongue.
«I didn’t know a woman could blush from her breasts to her forehead,» he said huskily.
«It’s the heat of the water,» Shannon muttered.
Whip laughed very softly.
When Shannon shifted in embarrassment, she encountered the stark reminder of Whip’s arousal. She stopped moving even as he groaned.
«I’m sorry,» she said hurriedly. «I didn’t mean to hurt you.»
«You didn’t.»
«It sounded like I did.»
«You made the same kind of sounds beneath the tarp. Was I hurting you?»
The sensual shiver of memory that went through Shannon was felt by Whip, too.
«No,» she whispered. «You didn’t hurt me. I didn’t even know that kind of pleasure was possible. Can I truly make you feel like that?»
«Yes,» Whip said simply.
«How?»
Closing his eyes, Whip took a deep breath…and a tighter rein on his own driving hunger.
«We’ll start with a kiss,» he said. «Would you like that?»
«Oh, yes. Would you?»
«It’s a start,» Whip said tightly, lowering his head.
An instant later Shannon felt the velvet penetration of his tongue. The heat and textures of Whip’s kiss rushed through her, making her dizzy.
With a soft whimper, she turned her face up and parted her lips even more, wanting to get as close as she could to Whip. Her arms slid around his neck and her fingers searched through his hair, holding him hard against her mouth while she tasted him as deeply as she could.
With a rough, throttled sound, Whip kissed Shannon in return, pressing into her mouth, thrusting against her tongue, devouring her as thoroughly as he could with just a kiss. Finally, shuddering, he pulled free.
«Whip?» she asked huskily. «Is something wrong? Why did you stop?»
«You make me too damned hot.»
Shannon looked around the gently steaming pool. «Maybe we should get out of the water.»
He laughed despite the agony of his unruly, unfulfilled desire.
«It’s not the water,» Whip said. «It’s you. I feel like I’ve wanted you forever. You burn me even in my dreams.»
The look in Whip’s eyes made Shannon forget to breathe.
«Does that mean you’ll let me pet you?» she whispered.
«Anytime. Anywhere. Any way you want.»
And I’m a fool to even suggest it, Whip said silently to himself.
But he didn’t say the words aloud. He wanted Shannon’s hands on him too much to be wise.
Watching Whip’s face, Shannon ran her hands over his shoulders and chest, luxuriating in the strength and resilience of his flesh. Slender fingers kneaded, discovered, and enjoyed every difference in texture from hair-roughened chest to the flat, surprisingly smooth male nipples.
Whip’s eyelids lowered as waves of pleasure visibly swept through him.
Smiling, Shannon petted and stroked Whip from his forehead to his powerful thighs, loving the heightened color of his skin and the burning silver of his half-opened eyes. After a time she turned her head and touched the base of his neck with her tongue. The caress had a catlike delicacy and curiosity.
Whip’s whole body shuddered, raked by passion. Shannon murmured and ran the tip of her tongue over the steely tendons in his neck. Then she gave in to an urge she didn’t understand and tasted him thoroughly, savoring his skin with the sensitive surfaces of her tongue and lips.
«You’re salty,» Shannon said against Whip’s skin. «I like that. It makes me want to lick more of you. Is that all right?»
Breath came from Whip in a harsh rush. One of his hands went to Shannon’s head, caressing and pressing, encouraging her to more forceful explorations.
«Whip?»
«Your teeth,» he said huskily. «Let me feel their sharp little edges.»
A few minutes earlier Shannon would have hesitated, but not now. Now she wanted to give the primitive caress as much as Whip wanted to receive it. She lowered her head until her chin was barely above the steamy water. Slowly she opened her lips. Her teeth tested the pad of muscle that surrounded a nipple.
A thick, hungry sound was dragged from deep within Whip’s chest.
«Whip?»
«Do it again, honey girl. Harder.»
«Are you sure?»
Whip laughed, bent his head swiftly, and lifted Shannon up at the same time. With no warning he fitted his mouth to the base of her neck. Then his teeth tested her resilient flesh with a force just short of pain while his mouth tugged at her silky skin.
Fire burst in Shannon. Her eyes closed and she lifted herself against Whip’s mouth. She twisted slowly, increasing the power of the fierce caress. Whip laughed low in his throat and gave her what she was asking for, branding her with his mouth until she cried out.
Instantly he released her.
«I’m sorry,» Whip said. «I didn’t mean to hurt you.»
Shannon’s eyes opened, luminous with fire.
«Hurt me?» She shook her head and laughed. «Oh, no.»
Her mouth went to Whip’s chest and returned the fierce love play, tasting and biting and branding Whip with her heat until he groaned. Slowly she lifted her head.
«Am I hurting you?» Shannon asked.
But her eyes said she already knew the answer.
«You’re killing me,» Whip said huskily, «but you’re not hurting me one bit. Well, not most of me. One particular part of me is aching fit to die.»
«Where?»
«Guess,» he said succinctly.
«Oh. There.»
«Yes. There.»
Shannon’s hand slid beneath the water and rubbed down the taut muscles of Whip’s torso. Her fingers met a dense cushion of hair and a blunt, rigid thrust of flesh.
«Here?» she asked.
Breath hissed through Whip’s clenched teeth.
«Does touching you make it worse?» Shannon asked anxiously.
«Depends.»
«On what?»
«On where you touch me. And how.»
Shannon bit her lip, looked away, and went very still.
«I don’t know how,» she said.
«Explore, honey girl. I’ll survive.»
«But —»
«Unless touching me offends you?»
Shannon’s head came up in surprise. «How could it offend me? You feel wonderful.»
Whip shrugged. «Some women don’t like touching a man at all, much less where he’s most a man.»
«Truly? I’ve spent most of my time wishing I could touch you, even…there.»
«You’ve got your wish.»
She smiled despite the blush burning across her cheeks.
«Tell me if I hurt you,» she said huskily. «Although how I could hurt anything so hard is beyond me.»
Whip made a sound that was part laugh, part groan. The feel of Shannon’s fingers exploring him beneath the surface of the hot spring was a pleasure so great it was almost pain. As she caressed his length several times from blunt tip to rigid base, blood hammered so fiercely through him that he was afraid he would burst.
«Shannon.»
Her hand froze. «Am I touching too much?»
«Not enough.»
«I told you I didn’t know how,» she said unhappily.
Breath hissed between Whip’s clenched teeth. When Shannon would have withdrawn her hand, his fingers closed around hers.
«Like this,» he said hoarsely.
Shannon felt the circle of her hand being moved slowly over Whip’s hard, silky length, felt the fierce beating of his life’s blood beneath her palm, and savored the sleek combination of satin and steel that was uniquely male. She smiled and gave a shivery little sigh of pleasure at being permitted the freedom of Whip’s body.
The knowledge that Shannon was truly enjoying his arousal almost undid Whip. As her fingers pressed firmly around him, measuring and pleasuring at the same time, his blood leaped wildly. He dragged at breath and self-control and found neither. Release surged through him, taking him by surprise, for he had never been so quick off the mark before.
But then, he had never had a virgin widow looking at him before, watching his eyes and enjoying his flesh like a cat discovering catnip for the first time.
«You’re shivering,» Shannon said after a time. «Are you all right?»
«Much better.»
She smiled and stroked all of Whip’s body slowly, soothingly, for she could feel that some of the tension had left him. As she caressed him, she looked down at the swirling surface of the pool, where streaks of golden lantern light intertwined with black water.
«I wish I could see as much of you as I can feel,» Shannon said, trailing her fingertips down over Whip. «I’d like to see how you change when you want me.»
Whip’s heartbeat kicked hard as hunger rushed through him once more.
«Honey girl, you’re going to be the death of me.»
She looked at him, startled. «What do you mean?»
«I’m not sure I can tell you, but I’m damn sure I can show you.»
With that, Whip captured Shannon’s caressing hand and lifted it to his neck. Then he bent his head and took Shannon’s mouth, consuming it, making it completely his.
While he kissed her, his fingers stroked from Shannon’s neck to her knees. He teased her breasts, drawing their peaks into tight velvet crowns. When he rugged on one nipple, twisting it with great care, she arched and cried out.
The sound was lost in Whip’s mouth, but Shannon didn’t notice. A radiant darkness was swirling around her, glittering with the possibility of ecstasy, calling to her in all the colors of the rainbow.
One of Whip’s hands slid slowly up between Shannon’s thighs until he could go no higher. Long fingers curled around her softness. He probed lightly, felt a sultry welcome that owed nothing to the hot spring, and eased deeply into her clinging heat.
Shannon flinched and stiffened as though he had taken a lash to her.
«What’s wrong?» Whip murmured against her lips. «We’ve done this before.»
«And then you raged at me and wouldn’t touch me again.»
«Not this time. This time I know you’re a virgin. This time I’m going to touch you every way I can, but one.»
Whip’s hand moved swiftly, hungrily. A ripple of tension went through Shannon’s whole body, making it impossible for her to speak.
«I —» she said raggedly. «I —»
His thumb circled the knot of swollen flesh he had drawn from her softness. Shannon’s arms tightened around his neck as another fierce shiver took her. She tried to speak but could make only a choked sound.
Concerned, Whip reluctantly withdrew from Shannon’s body. His fingertips caressed the full, soft folds with great gentleness.
«What?» Whip murmured. «What is it?»
«I feel so strange,» she said raggedly.
«But do you like it?»
A long finger eased into Shannon as Whip spoke.
«Yes,» she whispered. «Yes.»
Even more than Shannon’s words, her body told Whip that she enjoyed the intimate caress. Hotter than the pool, her response spilled over him. Slowly he withdrew from her, his own body taut with the certainty that she could take him with only brief pain when her maidenhead was breached. She was sleek and sultry, made to hold him within her loving heat.
No, Whip told himself savagely. I can’t risk it.
What risk?came his own instant retort. There will never be a safer time of month for her. It will never be easier for me to control my own release than it is right now, when she has just given me such a sweet easing.
There were more arguments in Whip’s mind against taking Shannon, but he wasn’t listening to them. He was listening to the swift breaking of Shannon’s breath as he caressed her softness once more, slowly, deeply.
«Did you mean it?» Whip asked when he could go no farther into her.
«What?» she asked, dazed.
«That you wanted to see me?»
«Yes.»
«Good. Because I sure as hell want to see you. I’ve been dreaming of watching you again, all honey and cream and fire. I’ve dreamed some other things, too.»
«What?»
«When I show you, you’ll blush all over.» He laughed softly. «But you’ll love it.»
Whip stood up and walked out of the pool with Shannon in his arms. He got only as far as the heavy bearskin blanket before he stopped and looked down at the girl who was lying so trustingly in his arms, watching his eyes.
Steam lifted in silver wisps from Shannon’s skin. Water gleamed on her shoulders and slid in golden rivulets between her breasts. Taut nipples glistened with liquid diamonds. The desire to lick up each shining drop nearly brought Whip to his knees.
«The cabin will be cold,» he said huskily. «And it’s too far.»
«It’s just a few steps.»
«Like I said. Too far.»
Shannon smiled and watched steam lift from Whip’s body, first revealing and then concealing the power of his shoulders. Silver lines of water tangled in the thatch of dark gold hair on his chest. Captive drops glistened and winked at her as though they knew how much she wanted to sip them from his skin.
«Shannon?»
«Whatever you want,» she said huskily. «However you want it.»
Whip looked from Shannon’s mouth to her breasts and then to the sleek, dark pelt concealing her softness.
«Don’t tempt me, honey girl. I want you in ways that would make you blush to the soles of your pretty feet.»
Shannon’s glance lifted lazily from Whip’s chest to his burning quicksilver eyes.
«Do you?» she asked. «What are they?»
Whip opened his mouth. No words came out. He lowered Shannon to the thick, furry blanket. Then he sat on his heels and looked at her, simply looked at her, until she trembled.
For she was looking at him, too. The blunt, heavy flesh she had so recently measured with her hand looked very intimidating.
Whip put his fingers beneath Shannon’s chin, lifting her face, forcing her to look away from the stark evidence of his renewed arousal.
«Don’t be afraid,» Whip said simply. «I won’t take you that way.»
«I — but —» Shannon swallowed and tried again. «It’s all right. It just —»
Whip waited.
«Well, damn,» she muttered. «It didn’t feel as — as unsettling — as it looks.»
«Then close your eyes.»
With a small sound Shannon did as Whip asked.
«Give me your hand,» he said.
She held out shaking fingers to Whip. He took them, kissed them gently, and put them around flesh that ached as though it had known no ease in months, rather than in mere minutes.
Shannon let out a long, ragged breath. After another breath she began to caress Whip with slow, tentative movements.
«See?» he asked deeply. «No teeth.»
Helplessly Shannon laughed. When she opened her eyes, Whip was smiling down at her. His eyes blazed with an odd combination of tenderness and raw desire.
«I won’t take you that way,» Whip said again. «Not unless you ask me to just as plain as the sun rising.»
«Will it hurt?» Shannon asked.
«A little. But only a little, and only the first time. You were made for me, honey girl. I’ll fill you perfectly and you’ll fit me just the same.»
«Are you sure?»
Whip’s eyelids lowered. Watching Shannon, he caressed the soft nest between her thighs, then parted her, sliding deeply within. She gasped as pleasure washed through her, licking over him hotly in turn.
«I’m sure,» Whip said, his voice thick. «And so is your body. It kisses me in the sweetest way.»
With a swift, controlled movement, Whip moved between Shannon’s legs, urging them apart.
«W-Whip?»
«It’s all right. I’m just going to return the favor.»
«What?»
«I’m going to kiss your body in the sweetest way.»
At first Shannon didn’t understand. Then Whip bent and nuzzled the tender skin of her inner thighs. His tongue flicked out just as his lips brushed over her softest skin.
Shannon gasped Whip’s name as she understood.
«You told me whatever I wanted, however I wanted it,» Whip said, nuzzling her. «Right now, this is how I want it. Does it hurt you?»
«N-no.»
«Do you like it?»
Shannon’s breath came in with a ripping sound as Whip caressed her lovingly. He smiled, repeated the intimate touch, and felt her response all hot and sleek around him. The scent of her pleasure was a primitive perfume, telling Whip what he already knew. The virgin widow was his — whatever he wanted, however he wanted it.
And he wanted it all.
«There are some other things I learned in odd places around the world,» Whip said, biting Shannon with great delicacy.
A hoarse sound came from Shannon’s throat. Her back arched like a bow drawn by a master archer. Lightning strokes of pleasure surged through her with each touch of Whip’s mouth. As he pleasured her, his hands pressed against her inner thighs, opening her to his unexpected, consuming caresses.
«Seems there are as many ways of loving as there are of fighting,» Whip said against Shannon’s sultry skin.
Distantly Shannon realized that she was in a position of total vulnerability, utter abandon. Yet she could do nothing about it, for a net of wild, glittering lightning held her enthralled and shivering between her lover’s hands.
«I had no problem finding partners to hone my fighting skills on,» Whip said between tender, probing kisses. «But I never got around to finding a partner for this kind of play. So be patient with me while I get the hang of it.»
Whip’s tongue discovered the tight knot passion had drawn from Shannon’s soft, sultry flesh. Intrigued, he swirled around the knot teasingly.
Shannon gasped as tension and pleasure spiraled up swiftly, driving her higher and higher with each moment.
«Do you like that?» he murmured. «I do. I know how delicate you are there, so I’ll take only a tiny little bite.»
A high, rippling cry came from Shannon as the world became a glittering kind of black and then exploded into a thousand rainbow shards.
Smiling darkly, Whip felt ecstasy take Shannon, shaking her like a leaf in a fierce storm. He knew he should release her untried flesh, but he couldn’t force himself to do it. He kept on caressing her, tasting her lightly, biting her tenderly, loving her in a silence broken only by her wild cries.
Finally, reluctantly, Whip released Shannon from the thrall of his sensuality. He stretched out beside her, stroked her hair, and kissed the passionate tears from her eyes.
Blindly Shannon reached out to hold on to Whip, needing him in ways she didn’t understand. When he gathered her against his body, his rigid flesh nuzzled the apex of her thighs. She was soft, hot, flushed from his caresses and her own response.
The intimacy of their position made Whip’s heart stop, then beat with redoubled force. Reflexively his hips moved, probing the sultry nest with his blunt, unbending flesh. Silky heat curled out to meet him, inviting a deeper exploration. Knowing he shouldn’t, not able to stop himself, Whip caressed her with slow movements of his hips.
Instinctively Shannon’s own hips stirred. The motion slid Whip more firmly against her softness. A thrill of pleasure radiated up through her body at the slight penetration. She moved again, and was rewarded again by the sweet, unexpected pressure that caressed and stretched her in the same motion.
Whip groaned when Shannon’s helpless response licked over him as hotly as his mouth had moved over her a few minutes before. Then he felt her shift closer to him, her hips moving, her sultry core opening to him, weeping for him.
«Honey girl,» Whip said almost roughly. «Do you know what you’re asking for?»
Slowly Shannon opened her eyes. They were changed by passion until all that remained was a smoldering sapphire rim around each dilated pupil.
«What?» she asked, her voice husky.
«Look down.»
She did. Her eyes widened. She moved experimentally, then smiled a smile as old as Eve.
«I thought you said it would hurt,» Shannon said.
«You keep moving your hips like that and it will.»
«You mean…?»
«I mean you’re still a virgin,» Whip said bluntly, «but if you keep kissing me like that with your hot little mouth, I’m going to slide in you so deep you won’t know where I end and you begin.»
Shannon’s glance traveled down Whip’s powerful body to the place where they were almost joined. She moved again, testing him and herself at the same time.
«I don’t think so,» she said.
Disappointment sleeted through Whip. His body tightened in savage rebellion at being denied what it needed more than breath.
«We’re already as close as we can get,» Shannon said. «I push and it feels good but we don’t get any, um, closer.»
Whip let out a long, breaking breath as he realized that Shannon wasn’t turning away from him. She just didn’t understand how to accomplish the deeper interlocking that their bodies desired.
«Do you want to join with me, Shannon?» Whip asked softly. «Do you want to get as close to me as a woman can get to a man?»
Shannon looked up into Whip’s eyes and felt her heart turn over with love.
«Yes,» she said huskily. «I want that. I wantyou.»
Slowly Whip shifted until he was lying between Shannon’s legs once more.
Shannon’s breath broke. She could feel him more clearly now. The sensation was delicious. Bubbles of pleasure expanded through her. When they burst, they caressed him with loving warmth.
Whip smiled and fought against the harsh urgency that was driving him. He hadn’t expected Shannon to want him after he had given her one kind of fulfillment.
But she did want him. The honeyed proof of it was licking over him right now, calling to him, telling him how easy it would be to push into her untried body.
And how hot.
«Wrap your legs around my hips,» he said huskily.
When Shannon did, her breath broke. She felt Whip between her legs with stark clarity. It was disturbing…and profoundly arousing.
A shudder of pleasure and anticipation rippled through her.
«All right?» Whip asked.
«Yes,» she whispered.
Whip pressed into Shannon until he knew he would forever change her if he went any farther. He retreated, then returned, then retreated.
«Still all right?» he asked, his voice strained.
Shannon didn’t notice the roughness of Whip’s voice or the sweat standing on his skin. She was consumed by sensations that taunted her as much as they pleasured her. She twisted hungrily beneath his powerful body, seeking to increase the sensuous pressure of his presence within her.
Whip froze.
«Is it too much?» he asked, withdrawing.
«I want more, not less,» Shannon said raggedly. «I want everything you have to give me!»
Whip’s eyelids lowered for an instant as a shudder racked his body and soul. Then he looked straight into Shannon’s eyes and began rocking slowly, carefully. Her hips lifted insistently, demanding a more thorough kind of movement.
«Not yet,» Whip said, laughing, retreating.
«When…?» she cried.
«When your body is shivering and you’re all around me like hot, wild honey. Then I’ll take you, Shannon. And we’ll both scream with the pleasure of it.»
One of Whip’s hands moved down Shannon’s body, caressing her breasts and belly and hips. Then he found the satin knot of her desire once more. It was the same as she was — hot, slick, hungry. He teased her until she cried out and sought him even more urgently, her body coiling beneath his as forerunners of ecstasy raked through her.
Whip’s hand slid beneath Shannon’s hips, testing and caressing her resilient flesh. Then his arm moved fully around her bottom and he dragged her upward, lifting her, opening her completely to him, wondering if she would like it that way.
She did. He knew, because he felt the sultry pulses of her pleasure caressing his hungry flesh. The world darkened around him as desire coiled violently, pulling him down into the hot center of Shannon’s being.
«Shannon,» Whip said urgently. «Look at me!»
Dazed, shivering, Shannon opened her eyes. Whip was poised above her, his face dark with passion and his eyes like twin silver flames, burning.
«Now, honey girl. Now.»
He took her with a smooth, powerful thrust, not stopping until their bodies were as deeply joined as it was possible for a man and woman to be.
Shannon stiffened and gave a keening cry. Instantly Whip froze, hoping that her body would adjust to his presence if he didn’t move.
Then he felt the secret, deep pulses within Shannon and knew that she was transfixed by pleasure rather than pain. With a hoarse sound he began moving, no longer fighting the dark, elemental passion that called to him from her body. He drove into her tight satin depths, felt the honeyed kisses of her climax licking over him, and pulled her hips even more tightly against him.
Whip’s last thought was that he hoped Shannon meant what she had said about wanting everything he had to give, because he had just discovered it was too late for him to hold back anything at all. Life had become a hot, radiant darkness with neither beginning nor end; and its heartbeat was the hard, silken pulses of his release spilling into her welcoming body.