And, then it struck her—a thought so quick, it appeared to have no time: she wanted, she needed to be close to this man. But, there was more to it. Shecravedthe feeling.
Yes, she had been truthful with herself and with him earlier when she had told him she needed to keep him close to her because of the terrible losses fate had thrown her. But, what she hadn't known then, but knew now, was there was more to it: she wished for a closeness with this man so intense that it felt akin to desiring to crawl under his skin in order to attain the "oneness" she seemed to need.
She gulped, not understanding what this was really about, and she found herself asking, "By your saying we should only be friends, does this mean you are never going to kiss me again?"
He turned his head to look at her, and she saw he was smiling broadly at her. He said, "A man has a right to tempt a woman with what might be were our minds more agreeable." And, having delivered these mischievous words, he came up onto his forearms and leaned into a position over her, there to place a wet, sensuous and delicious kiss upon her lips.
Perhaps he'd meant the kiss to be little more than a tease instead of a real kiss, but almost at once the caress became more passionate until he had positioned his body over hers, and, for a moment, she lost herself to the feel of his hard masculine chest as it pressed in against the softness of her breasts. Using his tongue, he opened her mouth to his, and as he deepened the kiss, she became lost to the musky masculine taste of him. Liquid fire rushed through her in response, and she answered him back with her own raw desire, giving back to him as much as she was being given.
Then his tongue swept in and out and around her mouth as though he were making love to her with a kiss alone. And, when he groaned deep in his throat, she lost all sense of time and place, feeling free—at least for a little while—of her duties to the memory of her parents and the life she had once known and craved. Heronly awareness at the moment was the erotic scent of him and the invigorating sweet-salty taste of his kiss.
Without thought of where they were or the problems they faced, she felt herself open up to him as his lips caressed her eyes, her cheeks, her nose and even her ears. Truly, she felt on fire, and she couldn't have stopped him even if she had wanted to, which she didn't. Beside herself from the exotic thrills racing through her system, she couldn't help sighing, the sound high-pitched and urgent. And, when he scooted down lower over her still, kissing a path up to her neck and upper chest, his every caress caused an explosion of carnal hunger to release within her, and she wished him to never stop.
It wasn't until he appeared to encounter some difficulty in removing her shirt—his own shirt that she was wearing—when the reality of what was happening between them seemed to elicit a sharp change in him.
She protested at once and murmured, "Oh, please don't stop!"
But, stop he did, though he didn't move away from her at once. Instead, he lay atop her, placing his head to the side of her and resting his face within the full spread of her hair. His breathing was quick and heavy, and she gloried in the feel of his chest against hers and the sound of his breath. His gasps were deep, and he was taking many of them, and because he was so closely entwined with her, she became aware of the vast differences between his muscular strength and her softer femininity.
She moved her hips a little, if only to experience more fully the thrill of being so close to this man who appeared to be quite ready to make love to her.
"Saa,"he whispered. "Do not move in such a way."
She didn't answer; she also didn't repeat the motion.
At last, with another deep breath, he rolled over to the side of her and did little more than take several more deep breaths. Hedidn't speak; neither did she. Indeed, she felt quite happy simply listening to his strained breathing, knowing she was the cause of it.
Still, he didn't say a word to her. Indeed, it was she who first spoke what was in her heart and in her mind, and she whispered, "If I did not believe you at first, I do so now. Sir, had you not ceased kissing me, I would have let you do whatever you wanted, marriage or not, pact or not. You were wise to observe this and say it to me."
He didn't answer her confession. In truth, what could he have said? It was more than apparent he could have made love to her here, now, regardless of where they were and the possible dangers there might have been in the environment.
"Perhaps," he murmured at last, "we should not touch each other too much when we are alone. Until I at last get back to my chiefs with my observations, we might be wise to keep a little distance between us."
No! His suggestion tore at her heart, and she murmured, "But, sir, I do not wish to be distant from you."
"I know," he said. "I do not wish it, either. Yet, I fear it must be. I thought I would have more control, but—"
"More control?"
"Áa,more control.
"I still do not understand."
He merely chuckled a little, reminding her of the teasing man she had come to know over the course of these last couple of days.
At last, he reached out and took her hand in his and said, "Come, we are close to the springs. Let us continue our scouting, and let us hope we have not alerted a war party of our being here. We forgot, for a very pleasant moment, why we are here. There is a man's life we are trying to save. Come, we must complete our scouting quickly. The life of your man is at stake."
"He is not my man."
"I know," he whispered. "I only say it to try to regain my scout's discipline."
"I…I am afraid I do not understand."
His response was another low chuckle, and, turning away from her, he sat up, picked up his quiver full of arrows as well as his bow and repositioned them over his back. Coming back down onto his forearms, with his body stretched out over the prairie, he gazed at her briefly and said, "Let us finish our scouting quickly and return to the others."
"But, I…" She broke off her protest. What could she say? Henrik's life could, indeed, depend upon the swiftness of their scouting. And, so she found herself saying, "Yes, you are right again."
Looking at her from over his shoulder, she saw a light in his eye when he said, "This time. Only this time."
