“No,” she lied.
He tried to keep from smiling, couldn’t, and even laughed quietly. “Like hell. You are a lady to the bitter end, aren’t you?” He lowered his head and kissed her sweetly, almost chastely.
He swung his long legs over the side of the bed and walked unabashedly across the room to the dresser. Lauren studied his physique. No artist could have captured the sensual grace of Jared’s walk or the texture of his skin covered lightly with soft, tawny hair. He was a beautiful male animal and, in spite of her new awareness, she blushed.
He came back to the bed carrying a damp cloth. Kneeling beside her, he moved to open her legs. She shrank back instinctively.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said gently. “This may make you feel more comfortable.”
His voice was so soothing and his hands so tender that she allowed him to separate her legs and press the cloth to her. Avoiding his eyes, she stared up at the ceiling, astonished that these things were transpiring. Never in her uneducated fantasies had she imagined that such familiarity could exist between a man and a woman. Or maybe such things only happened with Jared. She riske
d a glance at her husband. He was gazing at her as though he could read her mind and knew each personal thought.
“I promise, Lauren, that it will never hurt as much again.” He smiled slightly. “You may even learn to enjoy it.”
The cooling cloth had reduced the stinging considerably, and she whispered, “Thank you,” as he took it back to the dresser.
She sat up, clutching the twisted sheet to her, and reached for her nightgown lying at the foot of the bed. “What are you doing?” he asked as he crawled back beside her.
“I thought—”
“You thought what?” he interrupted, taking the garment away from her and tossing it out of her reach. He began nibbling at her shoulder as he drew her back onto the pillows. “What did you think, Lauren?” he asked thickly. His lips were at her breasts now, and she couldn’t think at all.
“I thought… uh…” Oh, Lord.
He chuckled softly. “Go to sleep.” Laying his head close to hers on the same pillow, he closed his eyes. His arm rested heavily on her stomach. His hand cupped her breast lightly.
Sleep? Not tonight. She had too much to think about. She and Jared, who had fought, argued, ignored each other, and hurt each other, were lying here side by side completely naked in his bed after experiencing the most splendid coupling, and he wanted her to sleep. Impossible.
She would never be able to sleep.
But she did.
* * *
“Good morning.”
“Hmm?”
“I said ‘good morning,’ Mrs. Lockett.”
Lauren sleepily opened one eye and saw her husband’s smiling face close to hers. The room was still wrapped in dark gray shadows. “Jared,” she mumbled in complaint, “it’s not morning. It’s still the middle of the night.” She buried her face against his hairy chest and yawned broadly.
“I love getting up first thing in the morning.” He laughed at his own double-entendre, but Lauren looked up at him with naive eyes. He realized again just how innocent she was. Still. “Lauren.” He stroked her cheek and leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips.
She snuggled against his warmth as he pulled a blanket higher over them. He caressed the hair that spilled across his chest. As his eyes roamed the soft form cuddled against him, he laughed ruefully to himself. Who would have thought this of Jared Lockett? That he had spent the entire night with a woman was unusual in itself. As soon as he had satisfied his initial lust, he was always anxious to leave any woman he had been with before. Last night he had wanted to stay. With this woman.
Never had he lost himself so completely with a female as he had with Lauren. He always enjoyed the act, certainly. But his thoughts were often elsewhere: on a card game, business, another woman.
Last night, however, he had been aware only of the woman beneath him, responding with only a trace of virginal shyness. The feel of her, the scent, the texture, the taste had all combined to totally capture his senses. His absorption had been so tremendous that he hadn’t wanted it to end.
In a million years, he would never admit that last night had been a first for him, too. It was her initiation into the rites of loving. She had been a virgin. And it was the first time Jared Lockett had ever been with a virgin. It was a gift he had never expected to receive and one he didn’t feel he deserved, yet she had given herself to him.
Why? After the abuse he had heaped on her, why had she come to him, offering herself? He bent his head and brushed his lips across her forehead as the question continued to haunt him.
Her fingertips smoothed the crease between his thick, brown brows. They’ll be shaggy like Ben’s when he gets older, she thought. Twenty-four hours ago, she hadn’t even known that it was possible to be as intimate with another human body as they had been. Now they were lying with arms and legs entwined, and she felt no shyness or modesty or guilt. What had happened to all her rigid scruples? No matter. She didn’t want them back. Even now, she wanted to discover what further delights his body could offer hers.
“Jared, when?… I mean, how long?… Does it?…