Only 06 - Winter Fire

love you, Case.”
    Despite her care, he heard the fragile confession. He wanted to protest the pain he knew loving him would cause her.
    Yet he couldn’t speak.
    He couldn’t even breathe for the hot, sensuous pressure of her mouth around him.
    He stopped trying to speak, to think, to breathe. He simply reached for the golden flame of Sarah the way a dying man reaches for life.
    And like life itself she came to him, hot and sweet and generous.

22
    S arah awoke with the warmth of Case surrounding her and his heart beating beneath her cheek. She murmured lazily, snuggled closer, and fell back asleep.
    When Case felt the small movements, he was torn between pain and peace.
    Pain because he never should have been in her bed.
    Peace because he was.
    What if she’s pregnant?
    The question had haunted him throughout the night, keeping him from sleep.
    I can’t let it happen again .
    Even Case didn’t know whether he meant making love to Sarah, or feeling responsible for a child’s life, or losing that child to death. He knew only that a chilling fear had settled in his gut. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before, even during the bloodiest of the war.
    Concealed by darkness, he had smiled.
    Hidden in silence, he had laughed.
    Last night he had lost himself in Sarah’s generous passion.
    Never again , he thought bleakly. I can’t go through it again, the laughter and the loss .
    Sighing, Sarah burrowed closer to him. Her trust kept breaking over Case in waves that were hot and cold, exhilarating and chilling, threatening every certainty he had.
    She loves me .
    I can’t love her .
    I’ll hurt her .
    I can’t hurt her .
    She loves me .
    I can’t!
    Thoughts circled and swooped, raking Case with a pain that should have made him bleed, but was all the more agonizing because it didn’t.
    â€œSis?” Conner called quietly. “Are you feeling all right?”
    Case felt the change that went over Sarah when she heard her brother’s voice. The tension of being fully awake shot through her, stiffening her.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” she called softly.
    â€œThe sun is up and you aren’t,” her brother said. “I thought you might be sick.”
    â€œNever felt better.”
    She yawned, stretched…and fully realized for the first time that she was naked beneath the covers.
    The look on her face almost made Case smile.
    Almost, but not quite. The price of laughter was simply too high.
    â€œHunter said to let you be, you’d probably had a hard time out here last night,” Conner said, “but I was worried.”
    Case felt the heat of Sarah’s blush as clearly as she did.
    â€œUh, yes, a hard time,” she muttered.
    When she heard her own words, she blushed even more hotly.
    A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He fought it to a flat line, but couldn’t deny the tenderness that shivered through him when she hid her scarlet face against his chest.
    â€œWhat was that?” Conner asked. “You sound funny.”
    She cleared her throat with unnecessary force.
    Case opened his mouth, only to have her small hand clamp right over it.
    â€œI’m just fine,” she said distinctly. “Hunter is right. Sleeping out here wasn’t as restful as being inside, that’s all.”
    â€œYou’ll get used to it,” her brother said cheerfully.
    She doubted she would ever get used to anything as elemental as Case in her bed, in her body, in her very soul. Heaven at midnight in the full flight of dreaming. Hell at dawn, when all dreams ended.
    The eyes of her lover said that dawn had come.
    â€œGo on into the cabin,” she said quietly to her brother. “I’ll be along in a few minutes to make breakfast.”
    â€œMorgan is doing it. Have you seen Case?”
    One black eyebrow rose in silent query as he looked at her over her hand. His eyes were shadowed with ghosts and vivid with the life he refused to accept.
    â€œBlazes,” Sarah muttered, lifting her hand.
    â€œWhat?” Conner asked.
    â€œYes, I’ve seen Case,” she said.
    All of him , she thought. Every bit .
    I tasted him, too .
    Lord, I didn’t know how bittersweet life could be, heaven and hell and everything in between .
    â€œWhere is he?” her brother asked. “I have an idea about spying on the Culpeppers that—”
    â€œCase is right here,” she interrupted.
    There