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“Yes. Was that so hard?”

He steepled his fingers and placed them across his lips, then studied her until she squirmed beneath his stare. “What?” she demanded.

“I think what’s really got you down is that I haven’t pledged my undying love.”

She expelled an unladylike guffaw. “There you go, flattering yourself again. You have a bad habit of doing that, Bondurant.”

“I’m here with you, Barrie,” he said quietly. Then he reached out, grabbed hold of the belt of her robe, and slowly pulled her to him. “This house you intend to buy, how big is it going to be?”

“Why?”

“I’ve been offered a job in the Justice Department. Sort of a freelance job. Sounds interesting. I’ll be spending a lot of time in Washington and will need a place to stay.”

“I see.” Her heart had picked up its pace. Her appetite had returned. In fact, she was ravenous. “What about Rocket, Tramp, and Doc?”

“I’ll get somebody to watch them and the place while I’m away. There’ll be plenty of downtime with this job. I’ll get back to Wyoming frequently.”

“You’ve got it all planned.”

“Pretty much.”

He tugged on the ends of the belt, opening her robe, then sliding his hands inside and resting them on her waist. His eyes held her transfixed. “You told me once not to look through you as though you don’t matter. You matter, Barrie. Throw out all that emotional garbage your parents left you with. Your father cheated nobody except himself. You matter a hell of a lot.”

Then he drew her down to straddle his lap, curved his hand around her neck, brought her close, and kissed her, sliding his tongue erotically into her mouth, sending her tummy plummeting and her spirit soaring.

His fingertips found her nipples tight and supersensitive. He pressed them, feathered them, molded her breasts while she wrangled with his clothing. His lips closed around one nipple as she took him inside her. She rode him with unabashed lust. Where had she learned to move like this? How had she come by this carnal skill to draw out his pleasure? From what pagan ancestor had she inherited this dark knowledge?

Nothing in her experience matched the way her body responded to his, or her need to pleasure him. Seconds away from her orgasm, he sensed it. “Are you going to start yelling like you did last time?”

“Unless you stop it.”

“Not a chance in hell,” he groaned. He gripped her hips and held them in place.

She gasped from the delicious pressure that created deep inside her. “I mean… unless you stop me… I might yell.”

His mouth captured hers in another kiss, which disintegrated at the onset of their simultaneous orgasms. He buried his face in the cleft of her breasts. Her soft, sta

ccato sighs made dash marks of erotic sound in the darkness.

Then she collapsed onto his chest, nuzzling his neck. He held her for a long time. When eventually he set her away from him, he brushed her wet hair from her face, traced her cheekbone with the tip of his index finger, stroked her damp lips with his thumb.

He’d never demonstrated so much tenderness, and tears came to her eyes. She whispered a single word. “Bondurant.”

“You know,” he said, “your voice alone makes me hard. It gets embarrassing.”

Laughing softly, she leaned forward to take love bites out of his throat. “So it’s accurate to say that you’re definitely in lust with me?”

When he didn’t respond, she pulled back to look into his face. He squinted, indicating she hadn’t quite nailed it.

“Love?” she ventured weakly.

He merely looked at her, his eyes answering with their trademark blue intensity.

“Really?” she whispered.

“Don’t get too excited. I’ll never remember your birthday, or Valentine’s Day, or anniversaries,” he told her. “I’m not the hearts-and-flowers type.”

She placed her hands on his cheeks. “Will you cheat?”