Only 06 - Winter Fire

dead. She has stayed ever since.”
    â€œBecause Ute stayed?”
    Sarah nodded. Her loose hair slid over his bare skin like a lover’s caress.
    His breath came in hard.
    â€œDo you know Ute’s reputation?” he muttered.
    â€œI can guess,” she said. “Chances are he wasn’t a church deacon.”
    â€œYou can go to the bank with that.”
    â€œAre you hunting him?” she asked bluntly.
    â€œWhy would I?”
    â€œBounty money.”
    â€œIs that what you think?” Case asked in a cold tone. “That I came here hunting bounties?”
    â€œOn Ute? No.”
    Case grunted. “That’s another truth you can go to the bank on.”
    â€œBut the Culpeppers have a lot of bounty money on their narrow heads,” Sarah said.
    â€œI would hunt them for free.”
    â€œWhy?”
    He didn’t answer.
    She didn’t ask again.
    Silently they made a few more turns around the cabin. His skin seemed very warm beneath her hand.
    â€œDon’t you think you should rest now?” she asked anxiously. “You’re getting overheated.”
    Overheated , he thought grimly. That’s one way of putting it. Downright hot and bothered would be another .
    Randy as an elk in rut would be closest to the truth .
    Case didn’t like it. At all. If his sexuality had indeed come back to stay, it would be damned inconvenient for him.
    Especially with the gentle, sharp-tongued widow so close by.
    â€œLet go of me,” he said through his teeth. “I can walk alone.”
    â€œDon’t talk nonsense.”
    â€œI’m not.”
    â€œOf course you are,” she retorted. “If you fall, I’ll have to wash you all over again. You could take a chill or—or something.”
    Case give Sarah a sideways look. Her cheeks were pink with more than the effort of helping him lurch around the cabin.
    The dream of sweet release that had haunted him at odd times during the past week returned in a rush.
    Maybe it wasn’t a dream .
    â€œWatch it!” she said, bracing herself.
    Swearing, he dropped the rifle and caught himself with both hands against the cabin wall. She ended up between him and the rough planks.
    â€œOof,” she said. “You’re heavy.”
    â€œYou’re soft. Too soft. Damnation, I didn’t want this!”
    He made a rough, hungry sound as he lowered his mouth. Her lips were deep rose, glistening. They were parted with the same surprise that widened her eyes.
    If Sarah’s first kiss had been tender and searing, her second was deep, hot, and overwhelming. She couldn’t breathe for the weight of Case pressed against her body. She couldn’t speak for the thrusting of his tongue against hers, filling her mouth.
    She couldn’t even move to push him away.
    Grimly she set herself to endure him as she had learned to endure her husband.
    If only Case weren’t so big that way , she thought, it wouldn’t be so bad .
    And if he were gentle …
    With a muffled sound, Case curbed his violent, unexpected hunger. When he lifted his head, he saw that her skin was pale and her lips were rubbed red from the force of his kiss. Her pupils had dilated until there was little left but darkness rimmed with silver.
    She looked like a frightened girl rather than a woman interested in passion.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said, thoroughly disgusted with himself. “You took me by surprise.”
    â€œI t-took you!” she asked in disbelief. “I didn’t do one darned thing!”
    He closed his eyes so that he wouldn’t have to see the shadows and accusation in hers.
    â€œI bruised your mouth,” he said in a low voice. “That’s never happened before. I’ve never been rough with a woman, even back when I wanted them.”
    His eyes opened, but they were no longer glittering with passion. Slowly he lowered his head again.
    Sarah drew a startled, half-fearful breath. It came out in a ragged sigh of surprise when the tip of his tongue began tracing a warm, tender path around her lips. This was the gentle kiss she remembered, the one that made her stomach dip and her nerve endings shimmer.
    â€œCase?” she whispered.
    â€œIt’s all right. Just an apology. Nothing more…”
    His teeth nibbled gently around the same path his tongue had taken.
    â€œDoes that hurt?” he asked.
    She shook her head. The motion brushed her lips over his. When