Page 34 of Texas Honor

“My God, you can’t imagine what it does to me,” he said curtly. “Feeling that and knowing that I’m causing it. Knowing how hungry you are for me. If I took you right now, you’d scream, Marianne. You’d writhe and cry out, and I wouldn’t be able to hold back a damned thing because you’ve already got me so aroused I don’t know where I am.”

As he spoke, he moved, letting her feel the proof of the statement as his weight settled against her. His big hand smoothed up, cupping her warm breast, and his mouth opened, taking her lips with it in a silence that shattered her resistance.

Her body lifted toward him as he slid both hands under it, taking her breasts, savoring them with his warm, callused hands. His mouth was taking a wild toll of hers, crushing against her parted lips, tasting the sweetness of them in a blazing hunger.

Her hips shifted and he groaned huskily. Her eyes opened, looking curiously up into his.

“What you feel is getting worse by the minute,” he whispered huskily. “If you start moving your hips, I’m going to lose it. Are you willing to take that risk?”

She almost was. Her body was crying out for fulfillment. She wanted his hands on all of her. She wanted his clothes out of the way so that she could touch his skin. She wanted to smooth her fingers down the hard muscles of his back and thighs and feel him in the most intimate embrace of all.

He groaned at the look in her eyes. His hand found hers, pulling it to his body, pressing it flat against him, letting her experience him.

She trembled and jerked away from that intimacy, and it brought him to his senses. He rolled over, bringing up his legs, covering his eyes with his forearms. He stiffened, groaning harshly.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, biting her lip. “Ward, I’m sorry!”

“Not your fault,” he managed roughly. His teeth clenched. “God, it hurts!”

She sat up, helpless. She didn’t know what to do, what to say. It must be horrible for him, and it was her fault, and she didn’t know how to ease that obvious pain.

He jackknifed to a sitting position, bent over his drawn-up legs, breathing unsteadily. His hands were clenched together, and the knuckles went white. He shuddered and let out an uneven breath.

“I never realized...it hurt men like that,” she faltered. “I’m so sorry!”

“I told you it’s not your fault,” he said curtly. He didn’t look at her. He couldn’t yet. His body was still in torment, but it was easing just a little. He sat quietly, waiting for the ache to go away. She was potent. He wondered if he was ever going to be able to stand up again. Damn his principles and damn hers!

“If I were modern and sophisticated...” she began angrily.

“That’s what we’re going to talk about in a minute,” he said.

She stared at his downbent head, absently fumbling to close her bra and pull down her blouse. Together they were an explosive pair. She loved him beyond bearing. Did he, could he, feel the same way? Her heart flew up into the sun. Was he going to ask her to marry him?

She scrambled to her feet, feeling nervous and shy and on the edge of some monumental discovery. “What are we going to talk about?” she asked, her eyes bright, her smile shy and soft.

He looked up, catching his breath at the beauty in her face. “I want you.”

“Yes, I know.”

He smiled slowly. “I guess you do, honey,” he said, reminding her of that forbidden touch that made her blush.

She lowered her eyes to the ground, watching an ant make its way across a twig. “Well?”

“We can’t go on like this,” he said, getting slowly to his feet. He stopped just in front of her, near the edge of the river. “You realize that, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she said miserably.

“And one of these days I’m going to go off my head. It could have happened just now. Men aren’t too reliable when their bodies start getting that involved,” he added quietly. “I’m just like any other man in passion. I want fulfillment.”

She swallowed. This was it. She looked up. “So. What do you want to do about it?” she asked gently.

He stuck his hands into his pockets and searched her eyes with a weary sigh. “I’ll set you up in an apartment for a start,” he said, his voice reluctant but firm. “I’ll open an expense account for you, give you whatever you need. Lillian can be told that you’ve got a job in the city. Not Ravine, obviously. Maybe in Victoria. That’s not too far away for me to drive, and it’s big enough that people won’t be too curious.”

She stared at him. “But it’s so far from the ranch...” she began, wondering how they were going to stay married with that kind of arrangement.

“Far enough to keep people from making remarks,” he said. “I don’t want to expose you to gossip.”

“Gossip?” She blinked. Wasn’t he proposing?

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