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Her eyes wide, Melanie watched Shane jump from the buggy and come around to her side. Her breath was stolen away when he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her from the buggy and half dragged her to the riverbank. Turning her to face him, he glowered down at her.
"Now do you want to tell me why you're giving me the cold shoulder?" he demanded. "Why have you been so quiet since we left town? What did I do that did not please you, Melanie?"
Melanie blinked nervously up at him. "I'm sorry, Shane," she murmured. "It's just thatthat"
"It's just what?" he stormed. "I thought you understood mewhat I was about. Was I wrong?"
"How could I know that much about you?" Melanie said. "Shane, we truly don't know one
another at all. Today proved that I don't know you."
"Why today?" he said, searching her eyes for answers.
Melanie lowered her eyes. "Oh, Shane, it was the way you enjoyed your winnings so much after that card game," she blurted out. "Your brother Josh is a gambler." She looked quickly up at him. "He gambles and drinks so much of your father's money away! Even my brother Terrance is guilty of the same. Shane, I would hate to think that your life could be guided by such weaknesses! I love you so much, I couldn't bear to lose you to cards and whiskey. I have seen how it destroys a man's moralshis strengths. Please, please understand!''
Shane was taken aback by the violence of her feelings about cards and whiskey. He had never seen them as a problem, for he and the old chief had always indulged in both in moderation. He had been taught the art of restraint, of willpower. He would never let cards or drinking rule him. He understood the dangers.
Touched by Melanie's concern for him, understanding now why she had been distant with him, Shane drew her to him and cradled her in his arms. He untied her bonnet and lifted it from her head, then tossed it to the ground. He wove his fingers through her auburn hair, then lowered his mouth to her lips.
"Never worry about anything taking your place in my life," he whispered against her lips. "You are
my woman, don't you know? Now that I have met you, you have become my life. Only you."
A sweet current of warmth swept through Melanie. Unable to resist, she twined her arms around his neck. "Shane, oh, Shane," she whispered, then emitted a soft moan of passion against his lips as his mouth closed hard upon hers. A need familiar to her only since she had met Shane was rising up inside her, spreading and swelling. She clung to him as he lowered her to the ground. The spongy green moss beneath her cushioned her back. Shane's hands, busy disrobing her, were setting fires along her flesh as it became exposed to the afternoon sunlight that was drifting like spiraling, golden ribbons through the trees overhead.
When Shane leaned away from Melanie as he withdrew her last garment, leaving her shamelessly nude beneath his passion-filled eyes, she could not help being alarmed by her willingness to let Shane remove her clothes. Even more than thatto share another intimate encounter with him. Only he could blot out all reason! Only he!
"Shane, we mustn't," she said, grasping at sanity for a fleeting moment. She reached for her dress and held it against her body. "Your father . . ."
"Today is ours," Shane said, easing the dress from her hands. "Tonight is my father's."
Melanie's eyes widened as he laid her dress aside and began undressing himself. Very soon, he had removed his clothes and was bending over her, reaching a hand to sweep her against him. Melanie was breathless. She was frightened. She
had never seen a man undressed before and even now she could feel the hardened full length of his manhood pressing against her thigh.
"This moment is ours," he said, brushing his lips against the nipple
of her breast, causing it to stiffen and throb with pleasure. "Close your eyes, Melanie. Let yourself enjoy the feelings that are blossoming within you. Let me take you to paradise and back."
She wanted to cry out and tell him that this was wrong, that this was shameful! But she could not find the words. She was being consumed with a hot, pulsing desire. She recalled how he had given her such pleasure before. Her body cried out for the same rapture. She wanted to give him the same, in return.
"My love," she murmured, arching her body as Shane caressed her skin lightly with his fingertips while his lips and tongue skillfully teased her taut breasts.
And then he was suddenly sculpting himself against her body, his hardness gently probing between her thighs. Melanie's heartbeat was so wild it felt as though she might be swallowed whole by it as she waited for that moment of his entrance inside her. She bit her lower lip to keep from crying out with pleasure as Shane began caressing her tight core of womanhood while he pressed himself farther and farther within her. A sudden burst of pain made her eyes fly wildly open, but in only an instant the pain was smoothed away into something wonderful as he began moving rhythmically within her.
"Relax," Shane whispered, his breath hot on her cheek. "Enjoy."
As Shane continued tantalizing her with his hands and mouth, Melanie moaned softly. Lifting her legs and locking them together at her ankles about his waist, she began to move against him, moving her hips to meet his eager thrusts.
His mouth seared into hers with intensity, causing delicious shivers of desire to race up and down her spine. Her body was turning to liquid, melting into his. . . .
Shane was molded perfectly to the curved hollow of Melanie's hips. As she responded to his touch, thrusting her hips toward him, he pressed deeper within her. Gathering her buttocks within his hands, he relished the softness of her skin against his flesh. The air heavy with the promise of what was to come, he was hardly able to hold back any longer that which he had desired from the moment he had seen Melanie. The need was ravaging him, heart, body and soul. White heat was traveling through him, vibrating in his bloodstream.
Taking a moment to get his breath before the final plunge into rapture, Shane drew his mouth from Melanie's lips and leaned back to look down at her. As his hands smoothed damp, perspiration-laced tendrils of her hair back from her face, their eyes met and locked in an unspoken understanding, a promise of ecstasy.
A surge of pleasure welled within Melanie as Shane gathered her fully against him again and began more heated strokes within her. She clung
to him, pressing her lips to his sinewy shoulders. She closed her eyes, her breathing becoming rapid as she felt the wonders of rapture spilling over inside her, drenching her with warmth. She clung to Shane, only half aware of making whimpering sounds, as his body shuddered maddeningly into hers, then lay quietly against her.
