A Promise of Thunder

sprinkling of black hair. The outlines of his muscles seemed to stretch his skin to magnificent proportions. Was there nowhere she could look without imagining his proud, regal length stretched atop hers, the exquisite fullness of him filling her …
    “Stop!” The word burst past her lips in a loud explosion of denial before she realized she had spoken aloud.
    Grady grinned with wry amusement. “Have I done something wrong?” He hadn’t done anything—yet—but he was seriously considering it.
    “You did everything wrong,” Storm said, finally finding the courage to raise her eyes to face him squarely.
    “Was it wrong to save you from those two men, who would have done God knows what to you?”
    “No, not that, I—oh, stop confusing me. You know what you did last night.”
    An enigmatic smile lifted the corners of his mouth, and his eyes glowed with fierce possession. “We made love, Storm Kennedy, and it was magnificent. Every bit as good as I knew it would be. Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it; I know better.”
    She groaned and dropped her face into her hands, giving in to her despair. If she lived to be one hundred, she’d never survive the horror of waking up in bed with the man responsible for Buddy’s death. The fact that she had responded to the savage’s loving in a way she’d never responded to Buddy intensified that horror.
    “Dammit, Storm, what is wrong with you? Those men didn’t hurt you. And your cabin is unscathed save for a shattered window, a broken hinge, and a few bullet holes.”
    She pried her hands away from her face and whispered savagely, “Why? What kind of man are you to take advantage of a woman in distress? What kind a woman am I to—to—oh, God, I can’t even talk about it. I’ve shamed Buddy’s memory.”
    Grady was truly perplexed. To his way of thinking there was no shame in a man and woman wanting one another, fulfilling their mutual need in a natural way. “Buddy is dead, but you’re alive, more alive than you’ve ever been in your life. If what I suspect is true, your dead husband never pleased you as well as I did last night. Can you deny the passion you experienced in my arms?”
    “No!” she spat fiercely. Her honey-brown eyes narrowed with anger. “But it was wrong to feel like that with a—a—savage!”
    The word exploded in Grady’s brain like a blast from a gun. “Savage! Is that what you think of me? Am I less than human becauseof my Indian blood? You’re a damn hypocrite, Storm Kennedy. I may be a savage, but you’re a liar who’s afraid to voice your true feelings. You told me last night that I was the first man to bring you to climax.”
    Storm gulped in fear, realizing she had trapped herself with her own words. “I—I
am
a liar. I didn’t mean what I said. Of course you weren’t the first man to—to—make me feel like that. Buddy and I had a very satisfying marriage.”
    “Are you telling me you’re always such a hot little piece?”
    His crude language brought a flush of color to her cheeks. “You’re the expert; think what you like.”
    Suddenly he swept back the blanket, exposing her to his lascivious gaze. Bold blue eyes raked the length of her naked body before coming to rest on her outraged face. “Something tells me, Storm Kennedy, that you protest too much. Tell me again that I didn’t please you.”
    “You’re an arrogant bastard, Grady Stryker. Buddy was a much better lover than you.” Her lie was more for her benefit than his.
    Grady’s eyes blazed with unholy light as he pulled her upright into his arms. She knew what he intended before his hard mouth came down on hers. His kiss was angry, his tongue a rapacious sword that stabbed past her lips in a fierce demonstration of total domination. His hands, oh, God, his hands—they stroked, caressed, and probed relentlessly, leaving nopart of her free of his possession. He was every bit the savage she had called him, and more. She fought against total subjugation and lost.
    With the agility and strength that was second nature to him, he lifted her atop him and impaled her fully, penetrating deeply, his hardened staff throbbing against the tight walls of her sheath. Storm gasped as he filled and stretched her, touching her so deeply and thoroughly, she felt magnificently possessed by the scent and essence of him.
    She expected savagery. He gave her tenderness.
    His lips softened. His mouth nuzzled her breasts with exquisite gentleness and thrilling