Only 06 - Winter Fire

turned her face away.
    â€œHoney?” he asked. “Did I hurt you?”
    â€œNot…then.”
    He bent over her hand and breathed kisses against her skin.
    â€œWhen did I hurt you?”
    â€œAfterward. When you couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”
    His head came up fast and hard. She wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at the floor, thoroughly ashamed.
    â€œI don’t know what I did to disgust you,” she whispered.
    â€œYou did—”
    â€œNo,” she interrupted desperately. “Don’t tell me. It doesn’t matter. It won’t ever happen again.”
    â€œIt shouldn’t,” he agreed.
    Yet even as Case spoke the words, something deep inside rebelled savagely at the thought of never again sinking into Sarah’s sweet, searing fires.
    A tear slid down her cheek and caught in the corner of her mouth.
    He bent and stole the tear with a kiss.
    â€œDon’t,” she said, trembling. “I can’t take it again.”
    â€œSarah,” he whispered against her lips. “My sweet, passionate, innocent Sarah. You didn’t disgust me. I would sell my soul to be inside you again.”
    Her breath came in hard.
    â€œThen why…?” she whispered.
    â€œThat’s what it would cost me to be your lover. What little is left of my soul.”
    â€œI don’t understand.”
    He tipped up her face with his hand. Then he kissed her with a tenderness and hunger that left both of them breathing raggedly.
    â€œI don’t know if I can explain,” he said.
    She simply watched him with eyes that were a mirror of his own. Hurt and hunger, passion and dark regrets.
    â€œI went to war when I was fifteen,” Case said. “I dragged Hunter with me.”
    She bit her lip. The self-disgust in his voice was so strong she could almost touch it.
    â€œMy brother was married to a useless little flirt,” he continued. “They had two small children. Ted and Emily.”
    Despite his neutral voice, she sensed how hard it was for Case to talk about his niece and nephew. She wanted to tell him to stop.
    But even more she wanted to understand the darkness at the center of his soul.
    â€œHunter didn’t want to go because of the kids, but Belinda and I talked him into it.”
    â€œYour brother doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who is easily led.”
    â€œHell, maybe he was as glad to be rid of his wife’s company as she was eager to get in bed with the neighbor men.”
    Sarah winced at the contempt in his voice.
    â€œI went to war all eager to save honor and civilization,” Case said. “But even young fools grow up, if they survive. I figured out pretty quick that war is pure hell on good women and children, and they were all that was worth fighting for.”
    She stroked her cheek softly against his chest, wanting to soothe away the tension that was making him rigid.
    â€œI stayed sane by thinking of my niece and nephew,” he said. “Especially Emily. She was bright as a new penny, full of laughter and sass. She loved everything and everyone.”
    He hesitated, then kept talking, his voice a monotone.
    â€œWhen things were really bad during the war, I would pull out the little china cup and saucer I bought for Emily as a homecoming present. I’d just sit and look at it andremember her laughter and pray for the damned war to end.”
    Sarah’s arms stole around Case. She held him, silently telling him that he wasn’t alone with his memories.
    â€œI beat my brother home from the war by a few weeks,” he said. “I found…I found…”
    A ripple of emotion went through Case, breaking his voice.
    â€œIt’s all right,” she said. “You don’t have to tell me.”
    His arms went around her and he held her as though she were life itself. She didn’t protest the strength of his grip, for she knew that grief was holding him much more savagely.
    â€œCulpeppers,” he said finally.
    The sound of his voice made Sarah tremble.
    â€œSoutherners,” he said. “Like me.”
    â€œNot like you. Never.”
    He didn’t seem to hear. His eyes were open, unblinking, fixed on a horizon only he could see.
    And what he saw was unspeakable.
    â€œThey beat me to our ranch by three days,” he said hoarsely. “They killed every man in the valley, stole or slaughtered the animals, burned the houses and barns.