Only 06 - Winter Fire

to.
    That didn’t mean he liked it. He didn’t.
    If he had felt that way about women in general, it would have been one thing.
    But only Sarah had this instant effect on his body.
    With a soundless curse, he walked fifteen feet along the wall and began digging again.
    More rubble.
    He kept digging, grateful for the physical work. It helped to take the edge off his prowling, relentless sexual hunger for the young widow who watched him with shadowed, mist-gray eyes.
    The blade of the shovel hit something that was neither stone nor dirt. Ignoring the ache in his thigh, he knelt and began pulling away rectangular blocks of rubble that were about the size of adobe bricks. Shards of pottery appeared. He looked at each one, then set it aside.
    â€œWhat is it?” Sarah asked eagerly.
    â€œDon’t know yet.”
    She hurried over and stood near him as he dug.
    â€œStay back,” he said. “I don’t want you near the wall.”
    â€œYou’re near it.”
    â€œThat’s different.”
    She didn’t bother to argue with such an illogical creature. She simply stayed where she was and watched.
    Yet instead of keeping her eyes on where he was digging, she was distracted by the flex and play of his body as he worked over the stubborn rubble. Like swift water flowing over boulders, he had both power and elegance. The sleek texture of his skin had an allure that made her palms itch to smooth down his back.
    Her hand was halfway to his shoulder when she realized what she was doing. She snatched back her fingers as though they had been burned.
    What am I thinking of? she asked herself. I’ve never wanted to pet a man in my life .
    Except Case.
    She didn’t know why he drew her so strongly. She knew only that he did. There was something deep inside him that called to her as surely as the flight of a wild hawk.
    Just as she called to him in turn, no matter how he tried to ignore it.
    I hate wanting you. It means not as much of me died as I’d hoped .
    She couldn’t help wondering if the ability to love was one of the things that the war hadn’t quite been able to kill in him.
    The thought was like the man himself—unnerving and alluring at the same time.
    Pushing away more rubble, Case reached carefully into the shoulder-deep hole.
    â€œGot it,” he said triumphantly.
    â€œSilver?”
    He didn’t answer.
    â€œWhat is it?” she asked.
    â€œKeep your shirt on.”
    â€œWhy? You didn’t.”
    His head snapped up. He saw immediately that she wasn’t looking at his hands. Instead, she was looking at him the way a kid looked at a half-unwrapped Christmas present.
    At that instant, he wanted nothing more than to do a little unwrapping himself.
    Don’t be more stupid than God made you , he told himself savagely. You seduce her and next thing you know she’ll be building dreams of hearth and home and kids around you .
    Kids .
    A chill rippled through Case, freezing him.
    Sarah had been hard used by life as it was. He didn’twant to hurt her any more. But if he gave in to the raw hunger coursing through him, sooner or later he would hurt her as surely as the sun rose in the east.
    He simply didn’t have what she needed. All he had was a hunger that was dangerous to both of them.
    Maybe she’s right , he thought. Maybe I should take half of the silver and run .
    Maybe I should just run, period .
    Yet even before the idea was fully formed, he rejected it with a finality that went all the way to his soul.
    It was bad enough to have to keep his hands in his pockets around the most desirable female he had ever met.
    Giving up the land, too, was unthinkable.
    â€œWatch it!” Sarah said.
    Hoping to stop one side of the hole from collapsing, she threw herself on her knees and made a wall of her hands. In the process, she thumped solidly into Case. He took her sudden weight without giving way an inch.
    Some of the hole collapsed despite her efforts.
    â€œSorry,” she said. “I thought you were going to be buried up to your armpits.”
    â€œInstead, we’re both in up to our elbows,” he said dryly.
    She looked down at her forearms, which had vanished into the loose rubble. So had his. For some reason the sight struck her as so ridiculous that she laughed out loud.
    The unexpected sound heightened his senses almost painfully, as though he had just seen a particularly beautiful dawn.
    He turned toward