Prologue Read online

  She watched his approach, the wind catching his shirttails and blowing them back to reveal his torso. Again she admired his natural grace, the long, slim waist and strong chest, and the way his pants hung so low on his hips.

  “You’re leaving tomorrow?” Maybe he hadn’t meant it.

  He sighed but didn’t look away. “Yes, I am. Nothing will change that,” he warned, his voice husky. “But there’s a storm coming tonight. Can you feel it?” A rumble of distant thunder followed his words.

  She nodded and left the window then to put on her wrapper. Ignoring the woman in her mirror who might have tried to stop her, she went downstairs to meet him at the back door. He was on the porch, looking at her through the screen. She pushed it open to let him in and he stepped inside.

  “What do you want, Chloe?”

  She knew what he meant, even in her innocence.

  “We’re practically strangers. I don’t know you,” she responded, wanting him to take this step.

  “Yes, you do.” Travis moved a pace closer. His voice was low, intimate. He grasped her with a look held her without touching her. His eyes darkened with a passion she felt emanate from him like static electricity. “I’m the one you can’t get off your mind. When you wake up deep in the night from dreams that leave you edgy and restless, I’m the one you’re reaching for.”

  Again, his perceptiveness astounded and embarrassed Chloe. There were too many nights when she woke from fragmented dreams of him, hugging her pillow, or stretching a hand across the sheets in search of him. What he said was true and he read that truth on her face.

  Thunder sounded again, nearer this time.

  He moved closer until his breath stirred fine strands of her hair. Mesmerized, she remained rooted to the spot as he continued.

  “You know me. And I know you. I know every curve of your body, the silky feel of your hair when it’s brushed out.” He reached out and removed her hairpins, combing the long strands with his fingers as they fell to her waist. “The sweet spot behind your ear that gives you goose bumps when it’s kissed.” God knew he’d imagined it all often enough.

  “That’s not true,” Chloe answered, her voice found. “You’ve never touched me. You don’t know anything about me.”

  “Let’s find out.” He leaned forward and she felt soft lips just behind her ear that made her shiver as every hair stood on end. To assure his success, Travis also ran his tongue around the opening of her ear. Then he grasped her wrist and pushed up her sleeve. Chloe saw the goose bumps on her arm and her life took the final, unalterable turn toward a destination she'd been approaching since Travis had appeared in her yard.

  Shyly, she put a hand on his muscled chest, looked into his eyes, and looked away again. His heart turned over at the apprehension and trust he saw on her face. He covered her hand with his own and lowered his mouth to hers, gently sucking first her upper lip, then the lower. The wind blew through the door, lifting her hair and winding it around them. His hand tightened on hers as he enveloped her mouth in a full, lush kiss.

  When the contact ended she buried her face against his neck and he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin against her temple. He didn't want to startle her by moving too quickly. He forced his hands to his sides and took a deep breath. The pressure in his groin was becoming unbearable but he had to give her one last chance to change her mind. "Chloe, are you sure this is what you want to do? I can go back outside and that will be the end of it. But if I don't stop now, I won't be able to."

  She realized she was in love with him as soon as he spoke those words. Maybe she couldn't change his mind about leaving but if he was going away forever, she wanted him to share this night and its secrets with her. Then she would have the memory to savor after he was gone.

  Timidly, she reached for his hand and raised his palm to her lips. "Don't stop, then."

  Travis put his hands on her shoulders. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had accepted him for what he was. Now this woman, who had taken him in and patched him up, who'd bawled him out and then listened to the story of his past with compassion instead of contempt, wanted to give him her body as well.

  "God, Chloe, I don't want you to end up hating me."

  He tried to read her face in the dim light. All he could see was what looked like a very young girl, wearing only a flimsy dressing gown and her long thick hair.

  “I won't hate you. I promise."

  At this last, so solemnly childlike, the feeble scraps of his self-restraint dissolved. Flames ignited within him, licking through every part of him.

  “I hope not," he muttered under his breath and pulled her back into his arms.

  "What happens . . . shall we go . . . ?" she asked, her words muffled. Oh, this was difficult. She was so ignorant about what happened between men and women.

  "Don't worry, it'll be all right," he whispered to her. “I'll take care of everything." He tried to encourage her as much as himself, worried at that moment about only one thing. He'd never taken a virgin before and had only a vague notion of what it might be like. He'd have to take things easy, move slowly. He didn't want to hurt her and knew he would. "It'll be all right," he repeated to her.

  The kitchen momentarily glowed with a faint blue flash as lightning moved toward Misfortune. Travis took her hand and led her through the darkening parlor upstairs to the rooms he first saw in this house.

  Her curtains alternately blew into the room, then were sucked out the windows. He went into the nursery and she heard a match strike as he lit the candle on the nightstand, giving her room the barest glimmer of yellow light.

  She stood in the middle of her bedroom, twenty-eight years old and about to become a woman at the hands of this handsome, enigmatic man who'd wandered into her yard.

  Nothing had ever seemed more right in her life.

  He returned and deliberately steering her away from the bed, he bent his head toward hers and kissed her again. He wanted to give her time to get used to her escalating desire before he carried her to the feather mattress.

  The pressure of his lips on hers seemed to intensify with the approaching tempest outside. His fingers searched for the fastenings on her wrapper, his touch feather-light on her breast. He caught and held her gaze while he opened the plain gown and pushed it from her shoulders. Beginning at her collarbone he laid a line of soft kisses up the side of her throat. When he reached her ear, this time she felt his tongue slip inside the opening and a tremor shook her.

  She stood before him now in her thin undergarments, weak moonlight outlining both of them in silver. She felt awkward and insecure but he smiled at her then, a sweet, reassuring smile. His hands on her hips, he covered her face with more slow kisses.

  Arousal and the chill wind hardened her nipples. Seeing them strain against the fabric of her camisole, he reached out and brushed the backs of his fingers against a nipple, then filled his hand with her breast. She sucked in her breath, and putting her arms around his neck, leaned into his palm. Each caress, every new sensation, burned hotter than the last, making her arch against him, to feel her body against his.

  Then he opened the row of tiny buttons on her camisole and carefully folded back each side of the garment, revealing her soft full breasts. She heard him swallow.

  "You're a beautiful woman." He skimmed the side of her breast with his palm. "Even more beautiful than I imagined all those nights when I couldn't sleep."

  He'd imagined her this way? Undressed before him? She suddenly felt too naked under his examination. She self-consciously closed the edges of the fabric but he moved her hands to his waist.

  "Don't hide, Chloe. This is part of making love. You get to take your clothes off."

  "But you haven't taken anything off," she pointed out.

  Another flash of lightning and its faint buzz filled the room, and she saw the broad grin he'd first

  shown her earlier. "Well, that's not fair, is it," he asked and kicked off his boots and socks.

  "No
t that you have to," she replied hastily, panic in her voice. She clutched her camisole again, wishing the wind would blow out the candle in the other room. She wasn't ready for so much maleness, so much strength.

  He threw his shirt into a chair by the mirror. "Yes I do. That's how it's done." He opened his belt and skinned out of his pants, the buckle clanking on the floor.

  In spite of her reticence, she couldn't tear her gaze away from him. She'd seen him without clothes when he was sick, but it hadn't prepared her for this. His back to the mirror, she could see the reflection of his tall straight form, from his wide shoulders and muscled arms down his torso and long legs. Facing him, the low light showed her only his silhouette, but at that moment she was positive she'd never seen anything more magnificent.

  When he crossed through the candlelight she was confronted with his hardness, full and threatening. But her concerns were forgotten when he took her into his arms again and dipped his head to her breast. His warm lips closed on her nipple, gently sucking, and a low moan escaped her. The sensation went deep inside, down where a heavy ache began to grow, and she twined her fingers in his dark hair. When he released her, the cool air tightened the sensitive bud even more. Her heart beat like a hammer and her skin burned under his touch. She felt like a leaf on a swift-moving river, being swept along by primal rhythms too elemental to control.

  Her response shot through Travis like wildfire. His muscles rigid with tension, his pulse pounding in his head, he craved release in her body. The smoothness of her skin, her satiny hair, the soft lushness of her breasts—he wanted to prolong the feverish torment, he wanted to end it.

  Outside the wind thrashed the maple tree in the yard as the storm gathered strength and another blue flash lit the room. Thunder quickly followed.

  Travis nuzzled Chloe's soft flesh, savoring the fragrance of her skin, his senses electrified. "You feel like silk, like velvet," he murmured. He struggled to pace himself, to resist tearing away her remaining underwear and taking her right now. He wanted to be gentle with this flower, to make certain he gave her every part of the experience he could.

  His mouth moved to her other breast as his hands searched for the closures on her petticoat and pantaloons. Finding them, he slowly pushed these last coverings down her legs. His palms flat to her thighs, a trail of soft, moist kisses followed the path of his hands over her skin. In the near-darkness, his fingers grazed her nakedness as a blind man might study a Braille text, exploring her shoulders, stomach, and back. His feathery inspection filled her with delicious shivers and raised goose bumps once more. Then he hugged her to him, chest to breast, hip to hip. She could feel the silky hair on his belly, but his swollen hot length grinding against her was intimidating. How would this ever work?

  She pulled away and he knew the reason for her fear, positive she'd never encountered a fully aroused male before. He tried to think of some way to soothe her. "Sometimes things seem a lot scarier than they really are. I know what that's like." The urgency of his need battled his wish to be patient.

  "Travis, I don't think you've ever been faced with this," she responded dryly.

  "I'll be careful, Chloe, I swear." Then he did a curious thing. He lifted her hand, put her little finger in his mouth, and slowly moved his tongue around it.

  This simple action scorched her senses in a way she'd never have believed. The heat of his mouth combined with the slickness and texture of his tongue to increase the strange heaviness she felt in her belly. How did he know these things? How could something as ordinary as sucking on her little finger make her want his touch on the rest of her? Longing to feel him, she stepped back against him and boldly put her mouth to his. He buried his hands in her hair when she tentatively ran her tongue over his lips. Then he took her hand, still wet with his saliva, and moved it across his chest and hard-muscled stomach, encouraging her to investigate his body.

  Imitating what she'd learned from him, she put kisses on his throat and across the breadth of his chest. When her lips found his nipple, she took it in her mouth as he had hers. He flinched in surprise and she heard a pained noise deep in his throat.

  "What is it?" she asked, full of concern. "Did it hurt?"

  “No, no. Oh, God," came his ragged whisper. Chloe, please. Touch me."

  Wasn't she touching him? She wondered what he talking about, but not for long. When she didn't

  he grasped her hand and held it firmly around throbbing erection. The shock of the contact

  would have made her pull back but he held her fast. He was hot and hard and velvety.

  He moaned and dropped his forehead to her shoulder as his hips moved in automatic reflex to exquisite torture, relishing the sparks coursing through him.

  His reaction made her feel like a magician, able to conjure the same exciting response from him that he in her.

  “I want to touch you, too."

  "Touch me like—like that?" she asked, uncertain.

  “Yeah, sort of. You'll like the way it feels, I guarantee it, honey."

  The simple endearment, which came from him so naturally, tugged at her heart. This was how other men addressed their wives and sweethearts, but 'd never heard it applied to her.

  Her breath caught when she felt his hand quickly whisper over the tender flesh between her legs, just , before moving to the softness of her thigh. She sagged against him, feeling she could no longer support her own weight.

  Swinging her up into strong arms, he carried her to the bed.

  The cool white sheets smelled of fresh prairie sun wind. Chloe lay against the pillows, her hair fanned around her. Travis stretched out on his side so close to her she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. He put his arm under her pillow to cradle her head and gazed into her face.

  "You know, one morning before I moved out to the shop I got up earlier than you," he said, lightly brushing her hip, "and when I saw you asleep in here, I wanted to get into bed with you, just to hold you in my arms. I wanted it a lot." He tucked her leg between his own.

  She knew what he meant. She'd wondered what it would feel like if he held her. From far away came the intoxicating thought that this was how it should be. She wanted to share her bed with this man, safe from storms in this haven. Safe in each other's arms. "I'm glad you're here with me now."

  He reached beneath her other knee and pulled it up. His lips were on her lips, on her body, in her hair, and sensuous words filled her ear as he sought to put her at ease.

  "You feel so good, Chloe, soft, so soft." He pressed a kiss to the tender place under her breast. He continued down the center of her stomach and was below her navel when he felt her tense. "It's okay, Chloe, it's okay. I won't do anything you don't like."

  She wasn't sure what he meant but when he began lightly massaging the inside of her thigh she didn't think about it anymore. The demanding want deep within her continued to grow, making her need to move her hips, reaching for something. She didn’t understand it but she couldn't stop, either. She'd never felt anything like this before, this yearning, and didn't even know what she craved.

  But Travis knew. With gentle skill he delved his fingertips into that most sensitive part of her. Startled by this intrusion, she instinctively tried to close her legs.

  "Chloe, just relax," he urged. His hand rested on her thigh.

  She felt like an idiot, not knowing what to expect. No one had ever explained these intimate details to her. People just didn't talk about such things. "I'm sorry, I just don't know how . . ."

  “I know. Don't be afraid, honey. Let me love you." His voice was patient but his breathing was getting ragged. He put a trail of kisses straight down her throat and rubbed the inside of her leg until he felt relax. When her hips lifted again under the onslaught of his ministrations he reached for the wet, aching want of her. This time she didn't resist.

  His knowing fingers caressed the dewy tender-slowly at first, and then more quickly, like the beats of butterfly wings.

  She squirmed against his han
d. God, what was he doing to her? she wondered. What was in those rapid strokes that made her feel like her body going to explode?

  'Travis," was all she could whimper, her ability to speak dimmed by the boiling frenzy he was creating her. Frantically she gripped his hand resting near her head, needing to hold onto him.

  “Just let it happen, honey," he encouraged, closing his fingers around hers. Her passion thrilled him, but the furious heat of her response only heightened his need and made minutes seem like hours.

  When she was certain she could take this no longer, that the fire surging through her would kill her in a spectacular conflagration, the intensity increased and forceful spasms hurled her into a dark place where only she and Travis existed. She heard herself sobbing his name and rolled toward him, unable to contain the emotional and physical forces swamping her.

  Travis himself felt like he was going to explode and if she'd been like the other women he'd had, he would have simply buried himself in her without having to worry about hurting her. But he couldn't do that with Chloe. She being a virgin almost made him feel like one, too.

  He put a knee between her legs. His shadow loomed over her and his hand went to her cheek.

  "I guess this is going to hurt, since it's your first time, but just this once. Do you trust me?" he asked.

  She turned her face against his palm. "I have almost from the beginning."

  Her simple words pulled at his emotions just as her body, open and ripe before him, made him ache to join her. He tucked his arms under her pillow, raising her head closer to his as he covered her. Turgid and throbbing, his body demanded relief and he probed her flesh, finding the opening of that warm comfort.

  Slowly, gently, he pushed against the seal of her femininity. Her body beneath him tensed. Finally, with one piercing thrust he broke through, sinking to her tight warmth. A low moan of comfort sounded in his throat. He was still for a moment, savoring the perfection of being surrounded by her.