Only 03 - Only You

now,” Eve cautioned in a low voice.
    “Like a rock,” Reno promised.
    She pushed his chin up and ran the razor over his throat with light, even strokes. When she finished, she heard the long breath he let out. Gingerly he touched his neck.
    “I didn’t cut you,” Eve said quickly.
    “Just checking. That blade’s so damned sharp, I wouldn’t know I’d been killed until I saw the blood running down to my belt buckle.”
    “If you’re that worried about my skill,” she said tartly, “why did you want me to shave you in the first place?”
    “I’ve been asking myself the same question.”
    Eve hid her smile as she rinsed the rag in cool water. She was still smiling when she turned back to him with the wet rag between her hands. His breathing hesitated, then resumed more deeply as she rinsed his face once, then again for good measure.
    While Eve worked, small drops of water dripped onto Reno’s shoulders and tangled in the dark thicket on this chest. When he breathed, the drops trembled and gleamed like translucent pearls. The temptation to touch a drop was so great that it startled her.
    “Something wrong?” Reno asked huskily.
    Eve shook her head too hard. Her hair spilled over her shoulders and across Reno’s chest. His breath hissed in as though he had been burned.
    “Sorry,” she said.
    “I’m not.”
    She gave him a startled look, then gathered up her hair and twisted it into another knot at the nape of her neck.
    “I like it better when it’s free,” Reno said.
    “It’s in the way.”
    “Not for me, gata .”
    “Lift your hands,” was all Eve said.
    Reno moved his hands and waited while Eve poured more water into the basin and rinsed him thoroughly from crown to collarbones.
    “Not a single cut,” she said with satisfaction. “While you finish your bath, I’ll get some witch hazel.”
    Before Reno could object, Eve was hurrying back to camp.
    The thought of stripping, bathing, and waiting naked for her to return tempted him. The thought of the deeply cut hoof marks by the water hole told him how foolish he was being even to consider it.
    He could divide his attention long enough to taste Eve’s cool skin and hear her breath break with desire; but if he had his pants off when she came back, the next thing he would be wearing would be soft, sultry woman.
    Cursing silently, Reno stripped, washed himself, pulled on the clean underwear he had brought with him, and yanked his pants back on. Only then did he begin on his chest. He was just reaching for his clean shirt when Eve’s voice came from the darkness.
    “Reno?”
    “Come ahead. I’m decent.”
    She walked close enough to see the faint shine of his damp, naked shoulders and the dark silhouette of his jeans.
    “Thank you,” she said.
    “What for?”
    “Not shaming me.”
    “An odd choice of words for a…”
    Reno found he couldn’t finish the sentence. Hedidn’t like thinking of Eve as a saloon girl. With an irritated sound he turned his attention back to straightening out his shirt so he could put it on. Then he had a better idea.
    “Fix this, would you?” Reno asked, holding out his shirt.
    When Eve hesitated, he said sarcastically, “Never mind. It wasn’t part of our bargain , was it?”
    She took the shirt and shook it vigorously. He watched with eyes moonlight had transformed to the color of hammered silver. It was obvious that men’s clothing was almost as familiar to her as her own.
    “You’re real good at that,” Reno said.
    “Toward the end, Don couldn’t get into his clothes, much less fasten them,” Eve said.
    “Then you wouldn’t mind helping me out?”
    Surprised, she said, “Of course not. Hold out your arms.”
    He did, and she slipped the shirt on.
    “Fasten it for me?” he asked blandly.
    Eve gave him a wary look.
    “You don’t have to,” he said. “It’s not part of—”
    “Our bargain,” she muttered, reaching for the first button. “Perdition. I suppose you’ll want me to undress you, next.”
    “Hell of an idea. Are you volunteering?”
    “No,” she said instantly. “It’s not part of—”
    “Our bargain.”
    She looked up sharply. He smiled.
    Eve concentrated on the buttons. As she worked, she tried not to notice how different his powerful body was from Don Lyon’s frail, agetwisted form.
    It was impossible. Health and strength radiated from Reno’s big body.
    “Why didn’t his wife take care of Lyon?” Reno asked.
    “Donna did what she could, but a lot of