Only Mine

6

«You're joking,» Jessica said.

Wolfe felt the warmth and tension of her body and smiled. «No, I’m not. Pick up the sponge.»

She bent over a bit awkwardly, for Wolfe’s arm was still around her hips. Just when her bend was at its deepest, she felt Wolfe’s hand caressing and squeezing her hip as though testing its shape and the resilience of her flesh. She straightened so quickly that she almost fell over.

«Wolfe!»

He made a deep sound that could have been stifled laughter or a muffled question.

«Your hand — that is,» she stammered. «You —»

He smiled a lazy, dangerous kind of smile. «I?» he invited.

Jessica blinked. She had never seen quite that expression on Wolfe’s face. He was remarkably handsome, and looked every bit the devil she had accused him of being a few minutes ago. If the flame looked half so beautiful to the moth, it was no wonder the poor thing ended up getting too close.

«I, er, nothing,» Jessica muttered.

Hurriedly, she started rubbing up a thick lather on the sponge. Wolfe measured her high color and the pulse beating rapidly in her throat. The looks she gave him as she washed his face and shoulders told him she was both nervous and intrigued by his nakedness.

Lady Victoria, my hat is off to you — along with everythingelse, Wolfethought withamusement.You’reevery bit as wickedly clever about human nature as I remembered. Jessica is no more a nun than I am.

Working in a rush, Jessica rinsed Wolfe, trying not to see beneath the darkly reflective surface of the bath. It was impossible. She closed her eyes, thinking to make the bath less intimate that way.

It was a mistake. With her eyes closed, her hands seemed doubly sensitive. The sleek, hot power of his body beneath her hands made her tremble. The different textures of Wolfe was a new, pleasurable shock each time her hands moved across his chest. Heat burned softly through the pit of her stomach, making her shiver. She moved her hands across Wolfe’s chest once more, telling herself that she was rinsing him and knowing that she was lying to herself. She wanted to knead his flesh like a cat, and, like a cat, she knew she would purr all the while.

Desperately, Jessica opened her eyes just in time to see one of Wolfe’s long, powerful legs emerge from the water. Dark patterns of water-slicked hair began above the ankle and progressed farther up his muscular thigh than she was prepared to acknowledge.

Wolfe saw the direction of Jessica’s glance and knew that the water wasn’t hiding as much of him as it had before. He waited for a long, tense moment, measuring the combination of fear and desire in her. Knowing that he intrigued her as a man was violently exciting to him.

And it showed.

«W-Wolfe?»

«Surely I’m no more difficult to scrub than bricks,» he said casually. «Wash me, wife.»

Carefully looking no farther than Wolfe’s thigh, Jessica ran the soapy sponge over his leg in a single, breathless rush.

«Rinse,» she said.

The huskiness of her voice was another kind of caress on Wolfe’s responsive flesh. His right leg disappeared, only to be replaced by his left. She rubbed the sponge up the flexed muscles of his calf to his knee, only to fumble and lose the sponge. Instantly it sank beneath the surface of the water between his legs.

Jessica waited for Wolfe to retrieve the sponge for her. When he made no move, she looked up. She thought she saw the gleam of his eyes beneath his black lashes, but decided she was wrong. Carefully she fished beneath the water. Her fingers met hard, smooth flesh rather than sponge. Breath hissed between Wolfe’s clenched teeth.

«I’m s-sorry,» she said breathlessly, snatching back her hand. «I didn’t mean to…»

«Touch me?» Wolfe smiled without opening his eyes. «I forgive you, sweet nun.»

«The sponge,» she began.

«Hammer the sponge. Your fingers feel much better.»

Jessica was too rattled to argue. She grabbed more of the soft soap and rubbed it into the powerful muscles of Wolfe’s thigh, skimming over him in the space of seconds. Then, against her will, her own hands betrayed her and returned to enjoy the feel of his skin beneath her palms.

«Rinse,» she said in a low, choked voice.

The leg vanished back into the water. Lather swirled and floated away. Before Wolfe could make any more demands in regard to being washed, Jessica surged to her feet and hurried from the room, mumbling something about checking the heat of her own bath water on the stove.

Wolfe’s shuttered, hungry glance followed Jessica until she was out of sight. Reluctantly, he fished out the sponge and finished the bath, knowing he had teased her as much as he dared…at the moment.

By the time Jessica’s bath water was heated and she returned cautiously to the bedroom, her heart was beating at a less frantic pace and her stomach no longer did odd little flips at every other breath. She watched from beneath lowered eyelashes as Wolfe tamped the wooden plug back in place, closing up the hole that drained the bathtub through an opening in the bricks and onto the ground below.

Jessica admired the flex and play of Wolfe’s body while he emptied bucket after bucket of scalding water into the tub, then drew more water from the pump to cool the bath. It was quite easy for her to admire Wolfe’s supple power, for he wore nothing but his linen towel wrapped as a loin cloth. The pale luster of the cloth against his copper-brushed skin fascinated her.

Rather quickly she began to feel the increasingly familiar sensation of having swallowed golden butterflies. As a result, her fingers were clumsy when she went to work on the buttons up the back of her dress. Even worse, her arms simply refused to flex more than a few inches. Her muscles were too tight after hours of scrubbing to have any flexibility left.

With a stifled, frustrated sound, she hooked her fingers in either side of the opening at the back of her neck and yanked. Buttons tore free and fell soundlessly onto the thick wool throw rug by the bed.

Warm, hard fingers brushed Jessica’s hands aside. Wolfe began unbuttoning the dress in a silence that thickened with each jet button sliding free of its tiny hole. Finally, nothing but the long sleeves were holding the dress in place. The exquisite lace of Jessica’s silk camisole revealed more than it concealed of the skin beneath.

«Thank you,» Jessica said breathlessly. «I can manage now.»

«Don’t you want me to bathe you?»

«No, that won’t be necessary thank you,» she said, running the words together in her rush to have them spoken.

Wolfe’s long finger traced the length of Jessica’s spine. «Are you certain?»

She shivered as an odd tingling rippled through her at his touch. «Yes.»

Wolfe’s finger paused before retracing every bit of its journey as he asked, «Yes, you’re certain you want to be bathed?»

Jessica made a small sound as curious sensations flared unnervingly in the pit of her stomach. «No, I can bathe myself.»

«If you change your mind, call me.»

As soon as the door closed behind Wolfe, she let out a long breath she hadn’t been aware of holding and began stripping off her clothes with more haste than care. With the pot of soft, rose-scented soap in one hand and the sponge in the other, she stepped into the tub.

A delicious shivering went over her as she lowered herself into the water’s hot embrace. The tremor of sheer pleasure was very much what she had felt at the long, slow stroking of Wolfe’s fingertip down her spine. The realization was almost as unnerving as his touch had been. Quickly, she ducked beneath the water to wet her hair before she began rubbing soap into it.

By the time Jessica had rinsed and begun to work a second round of soap into her hair, the quivering reluctance of her arm muscles abruptly changed into something more alarming. Her arms locked in a half-raised position. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t raise them any farther. In fact, she couldn’t even hold them upright.

Soap began trickling down her face and into her eyes as her arms fell uselessly to her sides.

«Wolfe,» Jessica cried out. «Something is wrong with my arms!»

Afraid to open her eyes because of the soap, Jessica didn’t know Wolfe had come into the room until she felt a warm cloth moving over her face. She flinched in surprise.

«Be still, Jessi,» Wolfe said. «I won’t hurt you.»

«I know. You just startled me. My arms, Wolfe. I can’t —»

«Yes, I can see,» he interrupted.

He ran his hands gently over her arms. The slender muscles were knotted and hard beneath her smooth skin.

«Do you hurt?» he asked.

Jessica shook her head. «Not really. I think the muscles have just declared a holiday. The same thing happened to my legs that day I tried to jump the creek the way you had. Remember?»

Wolfe smiled slightly. «How many times did you try?»

«I don’t know. I spent most of the morning running and jumping.»

«And landing in the water.»

«And landing in the water,» she agreed, sighing. «It made me angry that you could fly so easily over the creek time and again and I couldn’t do it even once. That night I couldn’t walk.»

«You never told me.»

«I was too proud.»

«Just as you were too proud to tell me today that you couldn’t work any more.»

Jessica said nothing.

«I’ll take care of the soap on your face, first,» Wolfe said. «Your arms can wait. Tilt your head back and keep your eyes closed.»

The gentleness of Wolfe’s voice was matched by his fingers sliding into Jessica’s soapy hair and easing her head back while he blotted up the last of the lather.

«No, don’t open your eyes yet. I haven’t gotten all the soap out.»

Jessica heard the sound of cloth being rinsed, felt the swirling of water over her breasts, and blushed at the reminder of her own nakedness. Water ran warmly over her closed eyes, down her cheeks, down her neck.

Wolfe watched each golden trail of moisture with something approaching envy. He wanted to be that close to her, that warm on her skin, licking over her without hindrance.

And he was a fool to want any part of her at all.

«Do your eyes sting?»

«No,» Jessica said hesitantly, wondering at the leashed anger in Wolfe’s voice.

«Keep them dosed until I rinse your hair.»

«You don’t have to. I can —»

«You can’t do a bloody thing,» he interrupted impatiently. «The muscles in your arms have cramped. Take a breath.»

Jessica barely had drawn a breath before her body was shifted and her head was pushed under the warm water. Unlike Wolfe, she was almost able to stretch out in the narrow tub.

Working quickly, Wolfe stripped out lather and swirled clean water through the long mahogany strands until all the soap was gone. Only then did he prop her head above the water against the tub.

«That should do it.»

Jessica tried to push a stray lock of hair from her eyes, but her arms still wouldn’t cooperate. When she tried again, the struggle brought the pink tips of her breasts above the level of the water. Immediately, her nipples tightened against the cool air of the room.

When Wolfe looked down, he wished he hadn’t. His body hardened in a rush that would have brought him to his knees if he had been standing. But he wasn’t. He was kneeling next to an aristocratic little nun who had worked so hard at unaccustomed tasks that her arms had given out. He would have felt worse about being such a savage taskmaster, except that Jessica’s revenge, while unintentional, was complete. The memory of her breasts tipped by tight coral crowns would haunt him without mercy.

«Useless blue-blooded nun,» Wolfe said through gritted teeth. «Take another breath.»

«I didn’t mean to do this,» Jessica said, stung by the tone of Wolfe’s voice. «Between the clothes and the kitchen floor, I —»

The words ended in sputtering sounds as Wolfe lowered Jessica’s head into the water. Moments later, he hauled her into an upright position once more. With swift, efficient movements, he lifted her long hair and squeezed water from it.

«Where is your towel?» he asked.

There was silence followed by a sigh as she admitted, «I was so eager to get into the water I forgot about getting out again.»

«Hold your hair out of the water while I get — damn, you can’t lift your arms.»

Wolfe draped Jessica’s hair over the edge of the tub and down onto the bricks.

«Don’t move. If you slipped under the water, you’d probably drown. I’ll be right back.»

Moments later, Wolfe came back into the room carrying linen towels and a soft cotton flannel blanket. He dried Jessica’s hair as best he could, wrapped it in the length of linen, and tucked everything on top of her head in a neat turban.

«How are your arms doing?»

«Fine, as long as I don’t try to move them.»

Wolfe turned aside, picked up the sponge, and began soaping it. He washed her back, shoulders, and arms, rinsed her, and began soaping the sponge once more.

«Don’t panic, little nun.»

«What?»

The breath stopped in Jessica’s throat as she felt the sponge gliding over her collar bones, her breasts, her ribs, her belly.

«Lift one leg,» he said as he soaped the sponge once more.

«Wolfe,» she said faintly.

«Just brace your foot against the lip of the tub the way I did. Don’t worry. I won’t let you drown.»

Slowly, Jessica lifted her right leg. As though it was something he did every day, Wolfe washed the delicate, high-arched foot, slender ankle, and calf. She watched him with a sense of stunned disbelief as the sponge slid beneath the water and on up the length of her leg.

«Now the other.»

Dazed, Jessica obeyed, lowering one leg and raising the other. The sponge began moving over her once more. When it went from foot to calf to thigh, she shivered. But the sponge didn’t stop there. It swept over the triangle of hair and then down to the soft flesh below. An odd sound squeezed from Jessica’s throat. Instantly, the sponge stopped moving, remaining tucked between her thighs.

«Is something wrong?» Wolfe asked blandly, looking up.

Jessica made another small sound.

«Yes?» he asked.

She blushed brightly enough to put dawn to shame. «Wolfe, please.»

«Please what?»

Putting her hands against his wrist, she tugged, but her arms didn’t exert any force. His hand stayed where it was.

«Do you want me to move my hand?» he asked.

«Yes,» she said, shivering.

«Then unclamp your legs.»

Belatedly, Jessica realized that she had pressed her thighs together in an instinctive effort to shield herself from Wolfe’s touch. The sponge, and his fingers, were caught between her legs.

«S-sorry,» she whispered.

Wolfe wasn’t. He had loved being pressed into the secret, silky warmth of her.

Hurriedly, she shifted, releasing him. The slow withdrawal of the sponge and the hint of a sleek, intimate caress made her feel faint. She flushed from her breasts to her forehead.

«There’s no need to be embarrassed,» Wolfe said in a matter-of-fact tone. «Even if a husband and wife never share a bed, a certain amount of intimacy is inevitable between them.»

Jessica swallowed and watched with huge eyes as Wolfe stood and shook out the soft cotton flannel blanket.

«Can you stand up?»

Her eyes became even bigger. «No.»

«Then I’ll help.»

«But I’m not wearing anything!» she said frantically.

Wolfe sighed and said in a very patient tone, «I know. It’s the usual practice to be naked when in the bath. Can you stand or do you need help?»

«But —»

«Jessica,» he interrupted, «quit dithering and get out of the bath before you take a chill.»

«Close your eyes.»

«This is foolish,» he muttered, but he closed his eyes.

Despite her largely useless arms, Jessica thrashed around until she managed to get to her knees. She was almost to her feet when she slipped.

«Wolfe!»

He caught her, lifted her out of the tub, and stood her on the bricks. With as much disinterest as he could manage, he began drying her briskly.

«Close your eyes!» she wailed.

«I can’t see what I’m doing with my eyes closed. Why don’t you close yours, instead?»

Jessica blinked. «What good would that do?»

«Just a thought.»

Wolfe stifled a smile and closed his eyes. Almost immediately his hands slipped, fumbled, and ended up sliding over her hip without the towel between.

«This isn’t working,» she said breathlessly.

He thought it was working quite well, but said only, «Do you have a better idea?»

«Hold out the blanket tightly and I’ll dry myself on it.»

Within seconds, Wolfe knew it was a bad idea…and a good one. The feel of Jessica’s small, utterly female body rubbing against the cotton in his hands inflamed him as much as bathing her had. When the blanket slipped and he felt the unmistakable texture of a nipple dragging against his palm, he had to fight to draw air into his lungs.

«There, that should do it,» Jessica said finally.

Wolfe didn’t know whether to be glad or sad that the lovely torment was ending. He turned his back and went to the bed. A sweeping motion of his arm opened the fur cover so that it lay flat over the bed.

«Come here and lie down,» he said, carefully not looking at the naked, intensely female nun who stood trembling next to the tub. «I’ll see if I can rub the knots out of your arms and back.»

Uncertainly, Jessica looked at the tall man who stood by the bed. Naked but for the strip of white linen he wore wrapped carelessly around his loins, caressed by light and brushed by shadows, Wolfe’s body was both beautiful and rather frightening in its obvious strength.

«Your ladyship, if I had intended to attack you like Lord Gore, it would have happened ten times over by now.»

The cold anger in Wolfe’s voice made Jessica flinch.

«Yes,» she said faintly. «I know. It’s just…new to me.»

«It’s new to me, too.»

Jessica gave him a startled look. «It is?»

«I’ve never bathed a woman before. But then, you aren’t a woman. You’re a nun.»

Without a word, Jessica went to the bed and lay face down. The silkiness of the fur against her nude body made her gasp.

«Now what?» Wolfe asked impatiently as he threw the cotton blanket over her.

Jessica shivered. «It feels strange to have nothing against my skin but fur.»

«You’ll warm to it.»

She let out her breath and shifted experimentally. The fur warmed and stroked her in return. A shivering little sigh went through her.

«You’re right. The fur feels quite…extraordinary.»

Without realizing it, she moved again, stroking her body against the luxurious coverlet. The sensuality implicit in the movement went into Wolfe like a knife. It occurred to him that Lady Victoria had a point worthconsidering: Teachthe little nun not to fear a man’s touch.

Wolfe had been trying to ignore the passion in Jessica. At that moment, he decided it would be more intelligent of him to awaken that passion. Then the thought of a man’s bed and body wouldn’t be so horrifying to her. Then she would agree to end this sham marriage and find a union more suitable to her station.

Then Wolfe could find a marriage and a woman more suitable to his own desires — a strong, resilient mate who could match his passion, work by his side in the wild land, and give him children. Next to those vital things, an amusing elf was simply that.

An amusement.

And if the thought of another man taking Jessica’s untouched body made Wolfe angry at some primitive level of his being, that was too bad. Life had taught him that the hunger he felt for a female was temporary; a true marriage was not.

Until death do us part.

«First, I think some brandy is in order for you,» Wolfe said thoughtfully.

«Brandy?»

«Umm.»

His rumbling sound of agreement made Jessica smile. «Thank you, but I don’t really enjoy spirits.»

«Think of it as medicine.»

«Medicine?»

«Yes. I’ll bring a bit extra for the parrot, too.»

«Parrot? Oh, that parrot. Indeed, it must be on the loose in here.» She laughed softly and rubbed her cheek against the fur, forgetting for a moment the aches and alarming weakness of her arms. «This fur has the most heavenly texture.»

Wolfe stood for an instant, transfixed by the sight of Jessica smoothing her skin against the fur as though it were a lover’s body. Abruptly, he turned and walked out of the room. When he came back, he carried a small snifter of brandy in his hand.

«Sit up, Jessie.»

She rolled onto her side, but when it came time for her arms to push her body upright, they weren’t equal to the task.

«I don’t think I can,» she admitted.

Wolfe set the snifter aside and helped Jessica sit up. The cotton blanket started to slide to her waist. She made a startled sound and grabbed. Her reflexes were very slow, for her arms simply didn’t want to move. The blanket fell below her breasts before she caught it.

Closing his eyes, Wolfe told himself that he was a fool to react as though he had never seen a woman naked to the waist before. Yet the image of Jessica’s creamy curves and rosy nipples burned behind his eyelids, making his heartbeat deepen and increase as though he had been running uphill.

With a stifled curse, he opened his eyes, jerked the blanket up over her breasts, and pressed the snifter’s rim against her soft lower lip.

«Drink.»

Wolfe’s voice was thick with desire, but there was no mistaking the command in it. Grimacing, Jessica opened her mouth, drank, and swallowed. An instant later, she was gasping for air and coughing. Calmly, Wolfe poured water from a carafe on the bedside table and offered the glass to her. She drank quickly. Even so, the brandy left a fiery trail from her tongue to her stomach.

«Better?»

Jessica nodded, because she couldn’t speak.

«Lie down on your stomach again.»

Casually Wolfe took the blanket off Jessica, shook it out, and let it flutter down over the tempting curves of her bottom and the shadow cleft between.

«Where is your rose oil?» Wolfe asked.

«In the crystal bottle on your dresser.»

«There are nine such bottles.»

«The one with the stopper that’s the color of my cheeks,» she muttered into the fur.

«Ah, that one.» Wolfe looked at the fiery color of Jessica’s face. «Blushing again, elf?»

She turned her head and slanted him a narrow look. Against the intense color of her face, her eyes looked like gems.

«You’re enjoying this,» she accused.

Wolfe turned away before Jessica could see him smile. He retrieved the proper bottle from the dresser.

«Be careful,» she said. «It’s fragile.»

«Don’t worry. I’m not clumsy with small things.»

She laughed softly and confessed into the fur, «I know. You’re the only man I’ve ever seen who can take a handful of roses from a bush and never know the bite of thorns.»

Smiling, Wolfe coaxed the fragile stopper free and poured a small amount of oil in his palm. When he sat next to Jessica on the bed, she made a startled sound. She made another sound when he began rubbing his hands up and down her body.

As he had suspected, Jessica’s back was as knotted as her arms. Warmed by his hands and the friction of skin against skin, the rose oil gave its fragrance to the silent room. When his hands kneaded up her back from waist to nape, Jessica made a low sound.

«Too hard?» Wolfe asked.

«Too…wonderful.» Jessica sighed. «Ah, that feels like heaven.»

He smiled and continued working the stiffness out of her back. Each time he worked down her spine, he took in more of her sides, coming closer and closer to her breasts. Each time he approached her waist, he eased a bit lower. The soft flannel retreated to the small of her back, then to the beginning of the velvet cleft of her bottom. The temptation to run his finger over the intriguing shadow was great, but Wolfe resisted it. He knew Jessica would panic.

«Tell me where it’s sore.» Wolfe moved his hands to Jessica’s shoulders. «Here?»

She nodded her head without opening her eyes. When she felt the pressure of his strong fingers kneading out the clenched tension of the muscles, she groaned.

«Pleasure or pain?» Wolfe asked in a low voice. Jessica nodded her head.

«Which one?»

«Yes,» she sighed, uncurling her hands along her sides.

He laughed softly, poured more oil onto his palm, and resumed rubbing.

«What about here?» he asked.

The gentle glide of his hands across Jessica’s upper arms felt wonderful. She groaned and relaxed even more beneath his touch. As he worked on the knotted muscles of her left arm from shoulder to fingertips, his hands kept brushing between her arm and her body. The first few times it happened, she tightened and tried to move away. Then she forgot to be self-conscious about his touch, for it simply felt too good to object when the back of his fingers brushed the sides of her breast, her ribs, the inward curve of her waist, and the smooth swell of her hip.

The third time Wolfe’s hand traced Jessica’s body without her withdrawing, he smiled and switched his attention to her other arm. In order to reach it, he straddled her thighs. As he worked down her right arm, he slowly dragged the blanket lower and lower until the full curves of her buttocks were revealed. The breath in his throat caught as he looked at the creamy, fine-grained skin and feminine promise that lay so close at hand.

«What about here?» he asked, tracing the long muscles that ran along either side of Jessica’s spine. «Stiff?»

«Yes,» she sighed.

Wolfe tested, agreed, and bit back a comment about his own stiffness. The loin cloth he had wrapped around himself could not contain the change that passion had wrought on his body. The sight of Jessica’s graceful hips rising from the rumpled blanket was a sweet torment. The thought of opening her legs and easing into her soft body with the fur all silky around her made him groan.

«Wolfe?»

For a moment he didn’t answer. Then the talons of need eased and he could breathe once more.

«What?» he asked.

Jessica shivered with pleasure as Wolfe’s hands kneaded down her back to her waist, lingered, then eased upward again with a combination of gentleness and strength that was magic on her aching body.

«That feels so good.» She sighed and unconsciously arched against his touch. «It makes me dizzy.»

«Must be the brandy.»

«I don’t think so, my lord. I think it’s your hands. I didn’t know anything could feel so wonderful.»

«Are you sure? A moment ago you couldn’t tell the difference between pleasure and pain.»

«I’m sure.» The sound Jessica made was more like a soft moan than a sigh. «It’s like fire without pain, a pleasure that goes to the center of my bones.»

Wolfe’s breath caught before it came out in a soundless rush of air, for what she was describing was the essence of true passion.

«Yes,» he whispered. «It’s like that, fire without pain.»

For long minutes, there was no sound in the room but the subtle whisper of flame and the glide of Wolfe’s palms over Jessica’s rose-scented skin. When his hands continued past her waist to her hips, she didn’t notice for a few moments. Then her body stiffened.

«Wolfe?»

«You have sore muscles here, too,» he said matter-of-factly.

«Yes, but —»

«Hush, Jessi,» Wolfe interrupted firmly. «Pretend I’m still working on your shoulders.»

«But you aren’t!»

«That’s where the pretending comes in.»

For a time there was a silence that was like the flesh Wolfe was kneading — silky, taut, quivering with possibilities.

«You’re not pretending.»

«How do you know?» Jessica retorted.

«The parrot told me.»

She giggled, then giggled some more, imagining a parrot darting brightly about the room telling secrets.

«I’m muzzled,» she said after a moment.

«On that little bit of brandy? I doubt it.»

«I’m a little bit myself, remember? You’ve said so often enough.»

Not everywhere, Wolfe thought silently, sinking his fingers into Jessica’s resilientflesh.Thereare parts of my self that are quite lush.

Jessica’s breath broke on a ragged sigh.

«Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rough,» Wolfe said, smoothing his palm over the tender curve of her bottom. «Perhaps more oil…»

«You weren’t rough,» Jessica said lazily.

«Then why did you make that small sound?»

«I didn’t.» She smiled. «The parrot did. It’s muzzled, too.»

«A drunken parrot. The mind reels.»

«More like the stomach.»

«On a sip of brandy? Impossible.»

«Then it must be the butterflies.»

«What butterflies?»

«The ones in my stomach. Every time you touch me a certain way, they whirl around like leaves on the wind.»

Jessica giggled again, then gasped softly when Wolfe’s thumbs drew deeply beneath the curves of her buttocks, skimming the place where herthighswere pressed together.

«Like that?» he asked, his voice husky.

«Y-yes.»

«Then I’ll do this, instead.»

Jessica’s breath unraveled in broken sounds as Wolfe’s lean, strong fingers kneaded down the back of her thighs to her knees. A curious, boneless feeling stole over her, a combination of brandy and the shimmering warmth of Wolfe’s hands smoothing oil and pleasure into her skin. Without realizing it, she groaned softly and relaxed the tension that had kept her legs pressed together.

Wolfe took one look at the dark mahogany shadow her relaxation had revealed and locked his jaw against a sound of passionate need. Very quickly he looked away, concentrating on the slender legs that lay beneath his hands. But here, too, Jessica’s femininity was obvious in each satin curve of thigh and calf, in the unblemished silk of skin never before seen by any man, and in the shivering response that rippled through her when he caressed the sensitive crease behind each knee.

«Roll over, little one.»

Bemused by unexpected lassitude, Jessica responded to the gentle command. She didn’t stop to think of her nudity until she felt the caress of fur from her nape to her ankles. Her eyes opened slowly, then closed once more when Wolfe dropped the soft flannel blanket over her, covering her from breasts to mid-thigh. She sighed and snuggled more deeply into the fur with slow movements of her hips.

Wolfe looked away with a soundless curse at his own foolishness in offering himself such a temptation. But his dark glance came back again, drawn inevitably by the small movements of Jessica’s hips, the swell of her breasts, and the telltale rigidity of her nipples.

«Warm enough?» he asked in a husky voice.

Jessica nodded slowly.

«How do you feel?»

«Like a mitten…being unraveled.»

Wolfe’s smile was as hot as the blood surging through his veins, but Jessica didn’t notice. She was adrift on a soft fur raft while strong hands kneaded her neck and shoulders, her arms and fingertips. As Wolfe soothed every knot from her aching arms, she made tiny, low sounds. Each sound was a knife sliding over the leash of his self-control, fraying it, until finally his hands slid down to her wrist and his fingers interlocked deeply with her own.

«Sore?» he asked, squeezing her hand gently.

The ragged sound Jessica made was pleasure, not pain. Her lashes stirred lazily, revealing a flash of aquamarine eyes. When he flexed his hand again, her fingers spread and laced tightly with his until their hands could not be more deeply joined.

«That feels good,» she said in a husky voice.

«This?»

Wolfe’s hand flexed again, caressing the sensitive skin between Jessica’s fingers and sliding down until he could go no farther. He pressed palm against palm and squeezed deeply.

Sighing, Jessica nodded. «Yes, that.» She smiled. «The butterflies like it, too.»

Wolfe continued the seduction of Jessica’s hand until she moved with him, spreading her fingers wide in silent invitation, sighing as he caressed from tip to base until her fingers closed, trapping his hand against her.

With a final squeeze, Wolfe dragged his fingers free of hers, ignoring Jessica’s small murmur of protest.

«Wolfe? You’re not stopping, are you?»

«No,» he said as he poured more oil into his palm. «I’m just going to work on your legs some more. Let your arms relax or they’ll knot up again. You’re weak as a day-old kitten.»

«I know.» Jessica’s sigh was so deep it was almost a moan. «But it was worth it.»

«What was?»

«All the scrubbing. Without it, I’d never have discovered what pleasure your hands could give me.»

Wolfe’s eyes narrowed against a violent surge of desire. He began rubbing the length of Jessica’s legs, beginning at the ankles and working slowly upward. When he reached mid-thigh, she stretched without moving her arms from her sides, arching her back and her feet, curling her toes. Her response was a knife in his loins, demanding that he take what she was so innocently offering.

«Jessi,» Wolfe whispered.

Long fingers pressed between her thighs as he encircled one leg and began kneading slowly, deeply, unraveling her even more. When his hands slid up beneath the blanket, Jessica stirred. Wolfe hesitated, waiting for an objection. None came. He let out a silent breath and slowly moved his hands even higher. The delicious pressure made Jessica sigh and stretch again.

«Why have you never done this to me before?» she murmured.

«I was just wondering the same thing.»

His palms slid higher. She sighed and shifted languidly.

«I’m all unraveled. ’Tisquite wonderful.»

«Yes,» Wolfe said huskily.

Closing his eyes, he savored the sleek resilience of Jessica’s flesh, the warm shifting of her body, the languid sighs. He knew he must stop touching her soon, for the hunger of his own body was becoming unmanageable.

Yet the soft temptations of her flesh were so close to hand, so hot, that he couldn’t force himself to withdraw right away. She was a heady fragrance and a hard need that was eroding his control as surely as he was unraveling her fear of a man’s touch. The blanket retreated before his gently insistent hands, leaving her secrets defended only by the mahogany cloud he longed to brush with his palm.

Then Jessica shifted again and the cloud parted, and a low sound of need was dragged from Wolfe. His hand moved, brushed, lingered, burned. Then his fingers were seeking and finding and testing the softness that had been revealed.

The intimate caress sent Jessica bolt upright with a gasp of mingled pleasure and shock. When she saw Wolfe’s hand between her legs, pleasure fled and shock became fear fed by a torrent of brutal memories. In her mind a stormy night descended and her mother screamed from the hallway floor as the lord ruthlessly pulled her legs apart.

«No!» Jessica cried.

«Easy, little one,» Wolfe said thickly. «I won’t hurt you. It’s a natural part of —»

His words were lost beneath the raw scream that tore from Jessica’s throat. She moved convulsively to defend herself, but her arms were too weak to push away a child, much less a man of Wolfe’s strength. She drew breath to scream again, only to have a hard hand clamp over her mouth, forcing her back down upon the bed.

It was her nightmare all over again, a woman’s screams cut off by the brute force of a husband intent upon rutting between his wife’s legs. Jessica tossed and thrashed from side to side, but couldn’t shake off the hand over her mouth or the heavy thigh pinning her own legs to the bed. Shuddering, wild with fear, she flailed against Wolfe with weak arms until he gathered her wrists in one hand and held them against her naked stomach.

«Jessi, listen to me, I won’t hurt you.»

If she heard, she didn’t respond.

As Wolfe looked down at Jessica’s struggling body, he felt a volatile combination of frank lust, shame at his loss of control, and anger at her wild fear.

«Be still, damn it,» Wolfe said curtly. «I won’t touch you. Do you understand me? Jessica!»

Wolfe had to repeat himself several times before Jessica subsided and lay still but for the involuntary tremors that shook her body, residue of her terror.

«I’m going to lift my hand from your mouth, but if you scream again, so help me God I’ll slap you into sanity as I would any hysteric.»

Jessica watched Wolfe with pale, glittering eyes. There was no comfort in his face — his eyes were black, his face dark and grim, his mouth a flat line. Even so, she nodded her head, for his hand was no longer invading her body. Slowly, Wolfe freed her mouth.

Jessica didn’t scream, even though she was pale and trembling. When she spoke, her voice was like breaking glass and her breath was coming in bursts. Despite that, her words were all too clear.

«No wonder you were called theviscount’ssalvage. Gentlemen who can’t control their baser urges make use of whores, not wives. If I had thought you would ever do anything so vile to me, I would never have sought a marriage. You have no need of an heir to inherit a title or a great estate, no reason to so foul my body, yet you would rut upon me like a beast!»

Wolfe looked down into Jessica’s face and felt her contempt beating at him with thick, invisible wings. Silence stretched and stretched until it was a living thing quivering between Jessica and Wolfe.

«What do you expect?» Wolfe snarled. «Ever since we got on the stagecoach together I’ve been breathing your air and watching you look at me when you think I won’t notice.»

Jessica didn’t deny it, for it was true. She had always watched Wolfe. He fascinated her. And the older she became, the more the fascination had deepened.

Wolfe continued speaking, his voice harsh with frustration and anger. «You keep watching me with hungry eyes and wondering how it would be to couple with a savage, but when I —»

«Never!» Jessica interrupted wildly. «Never! I never thought of coupling with you. The thought horrifies me!»

Wolfe’s eyes narrowed until they were little more than splinters of black. «Then you will agree to an annulment.»

The words were so soft, Jessica didn’t understand them at first. When she did, she closed her eyes and sought to control the fear clawing at her.

«No,» Jessica said, her voice shaking. «You may be a savage, but you won’t take me by force.»

Deliberately, Wolfe’s hand settled on the mahogany nest just above her thighs.

«Won’t I?» he asked softly.

She stiffened as though he had taken a whip to her. When her eyes opened, they were so dilated with fear that there was barely any color to them. She tried to lift her hands in a silent plea, but her arms wouldn’t respond. She tried to speak, but all that came from her lips was a hoarse whisper that could have been Wolfe’s name.

With a barely controlled fury at himself, at her, and at the sham marriage, Wolfe surged to his feet beside the bed.

«Get out,» he said flatly.

Jessica looked up at Wolfe without comprehension.

«Get out of my bed, your ladyship. You disgust me as much as I horrify you. I couldn’t take you if I had to. You’re not a woman, you’re a spoiled, cruel child.»

Jessica moved too slowly to suit Wolfe. He bent over and hauled her to her feet.

«Agree to an annulment,» he demanded in a low voice. «Damn you, let me go!»

She swallowed dryly and shook her head.

Wolfe looked at Jessica for a long moment before he spoke in a soft, cold voice that was more punishing than a blow.

«You will rue the day you forced me into marriage. There are worse things than being caressed by a savage. You shall learn each one of them.»