Only 04 - Only Love

around once more, feet off the ground, and hugged her close, for they were in the kitchen where there was no one to see.
    “I know you weren’t flirting with Cal,” Whip said softly. “But if you had smiled like that at me, I’d have wanted to do… this .”
    As he spoke, the humor in Whip’s eyes gave way to the passion he no longer could conceal. He bent his head and took Shannon’s mouth in a quick, deep, hungry kiss.
    “And then I would have wanted more, sodamned much more,” Whip said softly, breathing hard, holding Shannon against him. “ I want you, honey girl . Virgin or widow or wife, heaven or hell or everything between, I want all of it.”
    With a low sound, Whip let Shannon slide down his body, making no attempt to conceal his arousal from her.
    Her breath fragmented over his name.
    “Tell Cal and Willy that I went to check on Sugarfoot,” Whip said hoarsely.
    The back door banged, leaving Shannon alone in the kitchen with her heart beating frantically and the taste of Whip in her mouth like wine.

14
    T HE next morning a wind howled down the peaks, herding brief, wild thunderstorms down the long green valley where Caleb and Willow had built their home. As Whip came inside, he held the doorknob carefully, making sure the front door didn’t slip from his grasp and slam shut behind him.
    Shannon was in the living room, sitting by a window in one of the chairs Caleb had made. In her hands was one of Willow’s gingham blouses. Shannon was making tiny, neat stitches in the sleeve where the seam had given way.
    “Where’s Willy?” Whip asked.
    “She’s taking a nap with Ethan.”
    Whip smiled almost sheepishly. “Cal told me that we woke Ethan up with our dancing last night.”
    Pink brightened Shannon’s cheeks, put there by the memory of Whip’s hard kiss and even harder body.
    “Ethan wasn’t awake for long,” Shannon said. “He went right back to sleep when Willow sang to him. She has such a beautiful voice.”
    “You should hear her sing with Reno and Eve,”Whip said, smiling. “Together they have the kind of harmony that would make angels weep with envy. Christmas was a special time last year, with all of us being together and the carols being so beautifully sung.”
    “It must have been wonderful,” Shannon said, her voice wistful.
    Whip looked at Shannon. Her face looked less drawn now than it had a week ago. So did her body. Sitting in the sturdy house with mending in her hands and a glass window nearby with sunlight shining through, she was as relaxed as a cat lying next to a warm hearth.
    “You like it here, don’t you?” Whip asked.
    “It would be hard not to. Caleb and Willow are generous with their hearts and their home. Seeing them makes me realize how much my parents missed in their marriage.”
    “Reno and Eve are the same as Cal and Willy. So are Wolfe and Jessi. Must be something in the western air.”
    Shannon glanced away from Whip, not wanting him to see the emotion in her eyes when she looked at him and thought of a home, a marriage, a sharing of life and love and children with Whip.
    But that wouldn’t happen. Shannon knew it as surely as she knew that Whip was a yondering man. Yet she couldn’t stop loving him.
    So she looked away from what she knew she couldn’t have.
    But Shannon didn’t turn aside quickly enough. Whip had already seen her dreams. He had seen the hope she couldn’t deny, and the love, and the sadness of knowing that someday he would leave her. The fact that Shannon didn’t scold him or demand his love in return made Whip feel moretrapped and restless than ever—and at the same time, it made him want her until every muscle in his body was flexed in the brutal tug-of-war between restraint and consummation.
    Whip glanced quickly at the hallway that led to the bedrooms. The door to the nursery was closed. So was the door to Willow and Caleb’s bedroom.
    Knowing he shouldn’t, unable to stop himself, Whip crossed the living room with a few swift strides, took the mending from Shannon’s hands, and lifted her without warning into his arms. He was rougher than he meant to be, because he was hungrier than he had known.
    “Whip?” Shannon asked, startled.
    “Don’t fight me. Kiss me and let me kiss you. Let me have you, even if only in this way.”
    Shannon’s lips were still parted in surprise when Whip took her mouth. His tongue shot between her teeth and he groaned when he tasted the minty flavor and sultry textures of