She said nothing, her pulse jumping as his hand slid stealthily from her waist to her chest. His fingertips found her nipple through the salt-roughened material of the boy’s shirt she wore.
This time, there was no tight binding to protect her; there was nothing but a thin layer of cloth and her own will, which seemed to have deserted her. All she had to do was pull away, tell him not to touch her, and she knew he would release her. He would never force himself on her.
He plucked at her breast, causing an answering twinge deep in her womb. He shifted against her, and she felt the hard press of his erection against her hip. Startled, she opened her eyes, and her gaze locked with his.
“I knew you were awake.” A note of satisfaction laced his voice. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want me.”
It would have been impossible if he weren’t so smug.
“I don’t want you.” Shoving away, she got to her feet and strode to the fire, trying to stir some life into the embers.
He groaned and thumped his head back against the sand. “And you call me a liar?”
She ignored him. Inwardly, she berated herself for not pulling away the moment she’d woken up. She could have saved herself this embarrassment.
Silence reigned behind her for several long moments. Then Talon heaved a huge sigh and joined her at the fire.
“Here, let me. You’ll never get it going that way.” He produced the flint from his pocket and started striking it, his brows drawn together in an ominous frown. “If you want to help, you can go gather some more dry wood.”
Her gaze wandered from his grim face, still battered from when he’d saved that little boy, to the enormous bulge thrusting against the front of his sandy breeches. “Yes, of course,” she murmured, backing away. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Don’t go too far. Keep me in sight.”
Kate forced back a hysterical laugh. Keep him in sight? The sight of him was branded against the back of her eyelids. It would be there until the day she died.
She strode up the beach a couple hundred yards and then ducked behind a tree to take care of her personal needs. She took her time coming back, gathering as much wood as her arms could hold. By the time she returned, Talon’s body had returned to normal.
She dumped the wood in a pile beside him. “Do you have any idea where we are?”
He glanced up, his dusky lashes tangling at the corners. “I believe we’re somewhere along the Atlantic coast of the Carolinas. Of course, I could be wrong. We could be stranded on some little barrier island.”
“Wonderful,” she muttered, sitting down beside him. Her gaze drifted to the stand of trees. What lay beyond? Indians, wild animals? She shivered and stared back into the fire. “What do we do now?”
He shrugged. “I thought we’d spend one more night here, resting. Then we’ll get back in the boat and head north along the coastline, stopping to make camp on the beach every night until we reach some sort of settlement. If this is an island, we’ll just have to continue to row west.”
Her shoulders slumped. Lord, she hoped this wasn’t an island. In fact, she hoped they were only a few miles from civilization. Because if she had to spend more than a few more days with him, she’d forget how much she hated him and remember how much she’d once loved him.
* * * * *
Talon gazed into the fire, chewing as slowly as he could, considering he hadn’t eaten a thing for nearly four days. Kate sat to his right, picking at the rabbit he’d snared earlier. He was determined to match her pace instead of behaving like the animal he felt himself becoming.
She’d been civil all afternoon, but he’d kept his distance, embarrassed by this morning’s fiasco. When he’d awoken, he’d been hard and aching as he usually was. Touching Kate had seemed as natural as breathing.
It had been a terrible mistake. Once again, he’d opened himself up to rejection.
“I’ve been thinking about Daniel.” Kate’s voice surprised him out of his bitter thoughts.
“You’re free of him now. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
She drew in a sharp breath. “Of course not. At least, not this way.”
“What way, then? Did you have some other plan to get rid of him?”
Talon was through being polite, through trying to win back Kate’s love. It was better if she saw him for what he truly was. A heartless bastard.
“How can you talk about him this way? He was your brother.” Kate’s green eyes were wide with hurt and accusation.
“Daniel wasn’t my brother any more than he was your husband. The only reason he ever lowered himself to speak to me was to threaten and cajole me into seducing you.”
