He looked tough, overpoweringly male, and yet at the same time oddly boyish, Juliette thought. This was another kind of vulnerability than the one she had sketched on the bridge. She had a sudden desire to hold him close, smooth his hair, and stroke him tenderly.
“Why?” His lids had lifted and he was gazing at her with the same wariness he had shown when he had come into the cabin.
Juliette felt a pang of sadness. He was no longer vulnerable but armored again. “Because I suddenlyrealized I was being very foolish. Words don’t really matter, but you were making them matter to me. You were making me play this silly game with you even though I didn’t want to do it.” She met his gaze composedly. “So I decided to put an end to it. You can’t fight me if I won’t fight back.”
He gazed at her for a long time before his eyes closed once more. “Mother of God, you’ve done it again.”
She raised herself on one elbow to look down at him. “What have I done?”
“I said you had an instinct for the game.”
She frowned. “But I told you that—”
“I know what you told me. You’re going to make me battle with shadows.”
“I’m not battling at all. I find I very much like what you did to me. It would be very stupid of me to deny myself pleasure just to oblige you.” She continued politely. “Now, may I touch you?”
His eyes opened and he looked up at her. “What?”
“Your body pleases me. You’re very beautiful, you know.” She moved closer, her gaze on the corded muscles of his belly pulled taut by his supine position. “I’ve often thought I’d like to paint a nude male. Men are so much more beautiful than women. The lines are cleaner.” Her hands were running over the springy thatch on his chest, savoring the soft tickle on her palms. “But a woman never has the opportunity to study musculature. Michelangelo and da Vinci studied the dead to examine the way a man is made—” Her palm rested on his stomach and she felt the muscles contract and ripple beneath her palm. “Oh, that felt very interesting. Can you do it again?”
He was laughing softly, and her gaze flew back to his face. The mirror had vanished again and his expression was alive with humor and mischief. “I assure you it felt very interesting to me too. And yes, I’d say with your cooperation I could give you any needed response. Now, if you’d just move your hand a little farther down…”
He was boldly aroused again, and she felt a thrill ofheat even as she tried to look at the phenomena with a calm objectivity. How had it happened again so soon? Her hand curved around him and she felt him jerk beneath her touch. “That response is quite glorious, isn’t it?” She squeezed gently and heard him gasp. “Will you let me paint you without clothing?”
“I think not. I don’t believe I’d be fond of seeing my masculine attributes in a gallery.” He pushed her gently back down on the bed and moved over her. “But I’ll be delighted to provide you with a demonstration.”
“You’re very quiet. What are you thinking about?” Jean Marc idly unwound one springy ringlet at Juliette’s temple and then released it. Immediately, the ringlet wound itself back into its original curl. The curl was as stubborn and true to its nature as Juliette herself, he thought in amusement. “If you’re lying there planning on how next to approach me on the subject of posing without clothing, you needn’t waste your time. I’m not going to do it, Juliette.”
Juliette shook her head and the curly wisps brushed softly across his naked shoulder. “I wasn’t thinking of the painting.” She fell silent again and it was another moment before she asked, “Do you have children, Jean Marc?”
He stiffened. “No.”
“How can you be certain?” She raised herself on one elbow to look down at him. “I imagine you’ve had a good many mistresses.”
“I’m certain.”
“But how?”
“I have made quite sure I’ve left no bastards. A child gives a woman certain powers over a man.”
She nodded gravely. “And I know you’d never permit that. It would interfere with your silly game. But how can you be sure?”
He drew an exasperated breath. “I used a preventive machine made of sheep’s bladder.”
“What is that? It sounds quite disgusting.”
“It’s not at all.… Why are you asking these questions?”
“Because it occurred to me I could have conceived your child. One does not indulge in this sort of pleasure without the risk of a child,n’est-ce pas?”
Passionate possessiveness surged through him, stunning and bewildering him with its intensity. His hand moved down to gently rub back and forth across Juliette’s belly. “I suppose there’s a possibility.”
“Why did you not use this…this…machine with me?”
“I wasn’t prepared. I warned you not to come on this journey.”
“But you said you were not surprised. So why did you not protect me…and yourself?”
