“I know.” He stopped at the top of the stairs, found her mouth again.
“I’ve never been like this before.” Swamped with emotions, she turned her face into his shoulder.
Neither had he, he thought.
As he carried her down, neither noticed that the air had remained warm and calm.
He laid her in front of the fire. Levering himself up on his elbow, he traced the shape of her face with a fingertip. Something kindled inside her, simmered with desire and flamed around her heart.
“Rafe.”
“Ssh…”
To quiet her, he brushed his lips over her brow. She didn’t know what she would have said, was grateful he’d stopped her. The wanting was more than enough. She could be relieved that neither of them needed words.
She should have been relieved.
Her mouth was ready for his, and it warmed beautifully under the pressure of lips and tongue. Though desire remained, poised and trembling, everything in her seemed to soften.
Here was tenderness, so sweet, so unexpected. Her sigh whispered out like a secret.
He felt the change, in her, in himself. Marveled at it. Why had they always been in such a hurry? he wondered. Why had he hesitated to savor, and be savored, when there was so much here?
He loved the flavor of her, that quietly seductive taste that clung to her skin. The feel of her, soft curves, long lines. The smell of her hair, her clothes, her shoulders.
So he savored it now, all of it, with long, slow kisses that clouded his mind and made him forget there was anything beyond this room for either of them.
His hands were careful this time as he drew her sweater off, slipped the trousers down her hips. Rather than touch, rather than take, he kissed her again, drawing out the simple meeting of lips until her body went limp.
“Let me.” With a dreamy murmur, she shifted until they were both kneeling. Already clouded, her eyes stayed on his while she unbuttoned his shirt. Trapped in the silky mood, she slipped it away and, with her hands resting lightly on his shoulders, swayed to him.
They held each other, moving only for quiet, sipping tastes, soft, gentle caresses. She smiled when his lips brushed her shoulder, sighed when hers tasted his throat.
When they were naked, he drew her down so that she lay over him, so that her hair fell to curtain them both.
She could have floated on this whisper-thin cloud of sensations endlessly, with the winter sun slanting cold light through the windows, the fire crackling, his body strong and hard beneath hers.
The feel of his hands on her, stroking, soothing even as they aroused, was like a gift. She felt the wonder of it in every pore, in every nerve, with every pulse.
There was no clash and fury now, no desperation, no vicious drive to mate. Now she was aware of everything—the dust motes spinning in the sunbeam that rayed over the floor, the sedate hiss of flame on wood, the scent of roses and man.
She could count his heartbeats, quicker, stronger, as her lips trailed over his chest. The bunching and quivering of a muscle beneath her hand, the sound of her own thickening breath.
With a sigh that caught in her throat, she wrapped around him as he rolled her to her back.
Time spun out, stretched, quivered. The clock on the mantel ticked the seconds away, and the minutes. But that was another world. Here there were only needs lazily satisfied, and hearts quietly lost.
For pleasure—his as well as hers—he eased her gently to the edge and over. His name was only a murmur on her lips as she arched, tensed, softened to silk. She opened for him, drawing him close with a velvety moan as he slipped into her.
Overwhelmed by her, by the simplicity of it, he burrowed his face in her hair. The tenderness shattered them both.
They didn’t speak of it. When they parted in the morning, both of them were determinedly casual. But they thought of it. And they worried.
Rafe watched her drive off as the sun struggled over the mountains to the east. When she was gone, when there was no one to see, he rubbed the heel of his hand over his heart.
There was an ache there that he couldn’t quite will away. He had a very bad feeling that she was the cause of it, and that somehow, in a matter of hours, he’d gotten in over his head.
God, he missed her already.
He swore at himself for that, then swore again for reaching like a trained dog for the cigarettes that weren’t there. Both were just habits, he assured himself. If he wanted, he could just go buy a pack of cigarettes and smoke his brains out. Just as he could snatch her back anytime.
Sex was a powerful bond. It wasn’t surprising it had caught him, as well.
It didn’t have to be any more than that. They’d tidied that up, hadn’t they? A man was entitled to be a little shaky after thirty-odd hours of sex and solitude with a gorgeous woman.
He didn’t want anything more. Neither did she.
It was a relief and a pleasure to find a lover who wanted no more and no less than he did himself. A woman who didn’t expect him to play games, make promises neither expected to be kept, say words that were only words, after all.
Scowling, he grabbed a shovel and began to deal with the snow that piled the walk. The sun was strengthening, and he worked fast, so that even with the bite of the northern wind he sweated satisfactorily under his coat.
She’d probably head straight for the shower, he mused, tossing heavy snow off the path. Wash that pretty doe-colored hair of hers.
He wondered what it looked like wet.
She’d dig some of those neat, classy clothes out of her closet. Nope, he thought, correcting himself. Regan would never dig. She’d select. Quiet colors, simple lines. One of those professional-woman’s jackets, with a pin on the lapel.
She’d fix her face, nothing too obvious. Just hints of blush along the cheekbones, a touch of color above those ridiculously long lashes. Then lipstick—not red, not pink, a kind of rose that accented those full lips and that sassy little mole beside them.
Halfway down the walk, he stopped, leaned against the shovel and wondered if he was losing his mind. He was actually thinking about her makeup.
What the hell did he care what paint she slapped on before she went down to open the shop?
She’d put on the kettle for tea, or have cider simmering so that the place smelled of apples and spices. Then she’d go through the day without giving him a thought.
Snow flew as he attacked it. Well, he had plenty to do himself, and no time to brood about her.
He’d reached the end of the walk, and the end of his patience, when Devin rattled up the lane in the sheriff’s cruiser.
“What the hell do you want?” Rafe shouted. “Haven’t you got somebody to arrest?”
“Funny how a little blizzard quiets things down.” Leaning on the open car door, Devin watched his brother with amusement. “Saw Regan’s car was gone, figured it was safe to drop by.”
“I’ve got men due any minute. I don’t have time to chat.”
“In that case, I’ll take my doughnuts and go.”
Rafe swiped a hand over his chilled face. “What kind?”
“Apple and brown sugar.”
Some things were sacred, and an apple doughnut on a cold morning topped the list.
“Well, are you going to stand there all morning with that idiot grin on your face? Give me a damn doughnut.”
Obligingly,