She didn't make the mistake of disobeying him. She had to have read his intent, but she took her sweet time getting back into the pocket where it would be difficult for either man to make a grab for her without exposing himself for a good thirteen feet of sheer open territory. Rose took one last, suspicious look around, stepped inside the house, and closed and locked the door.
Kane didn't move, watching the two men outside. It took Carlson several minutes before he dared to move, slowly easing this body over sand and dirt as he made his way back to Fargo. Kane let out his breath. If Fargo was really going to make his way into the town, he would do it after he reported to Whitney, and the report was always given at a specific time. Kane spent a great deal of time watching, and it was apparent that Whitney's schedule was tight. He had two hours before Fargo would take off, giving Carlson the opportunity to make a try for Rose--and he was damn sure the man would make his try.
Carlson and Fargo both crouched low, appeared to argue, and then headed toward their camp. Kane continued to watch them for some time, turning over and over in his mind the problem of ethics. If Fargo went after a woman, and he followed and prevented it, he would be leaving Sebastian and Rose open to attack. He rubbed his chin on the back of his hand.
"Is something wrong, Kane?" Rose asked.
What the hell was he supposed to say to that? He had to make a choice, and it was a damned ugly one. Of course, there was no choice, but still, he would have that woman and anything that happened to her on his mind for all time. Unless ... He could go hunting now, kill both men, and he and Rose could make a run for it on their own without his unit's backing.
"Do you think the baby's strong enough to make a run for it, Rose?"
She remained silent. He turned his head to look at her. "Be honest."
"I don't know. He's way early, and very small. I think the hospital would have him in an incubator. But his lungs work and he's eating. He looks as if he's put a little weight on. I'd prefer to give him a few more days, but if we had to go ..." She trailed off. "Why?"
He looked away, rubbed his pounding temples, and then handed her the rifle. He'd tell her later, when he had to go out and check to see if Fargo was really going to try to get a woman from town. Maybe the man was all talk. He hoped the man was all talk. Rose took the rifle silently and set it aside, holding out her arms for the baby.
"Don't ever scare me like that again, Rose." He went on the attack to distract her. "You know damn well what an invitation you were extending to Carlson." In any case, he found he was angry with her. What the hell had she been thinking? The more he thought about it, the angrier it made him.
"Your daddy is such a baby," Rose sniffed, cuddling Sebastian to her. "I don't see why you should have all the fun, Kane. The man wasn't giving me any respect at all. I was trying to give him a heart attack, not you."
"Well, don't do it again." Kane scowled his blackest scowl, hoping for sheer intimidation. He'd noticed before that it hadn't worked well on her, but now that all the pregnancy hormones were leaving her body, she might recognize that he was a dangerous man--one not to be trifled with.
She sent him one of her mystifying smiles. It was baffling to him the way she used the secretive smile to answer his orders.
He slid out from the ledge and towered over her. "You would have made one hell of a spy." When her smile widened, he glared at her. "That was not a compliment, Rose."
"Really?" She laughed and walked right around him, undeterred by his solid mass. "I thought it was a wonderful compliment." She sank into a chair and deftly brought the child to her breast.
The hard-on was instant and aching. She was beautiful sitting there with her soft skin exposed and their child feeding. He didn't look away anymore, and Rose never tried to hide herself from him. Sebastian's nursing was much stronger than it had been, which made both of them happy. He'd been born early but showed every sign of being healthy.
"In a few days, he should be strong enough to leave," Kane pointed out.
"I agree." She nuzzled the little boy's head. "He's improving every single day."
He couldn't take his eyes off of her. "You're so damn beautiful, Rose. The things you do to my body without even trying are a sin."
She sent him that same mysterious smile. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind teaching me a few things. Although I'm grateful I can do things to your body without trying, I was expecting something a little more concrete and hands-on."
He pressed a hand to his heart. "Okay. That just isn't fair."
She sat there, the baby to her breast, looking up at him with those dark bedroom eyes and delivered her statement in a matter-of-fact, talk-about-the-weather tone. She had a siren's mouth and the longest lashes he'd ever seen on a woman. She had to know she was putting all sorts of erotic images in his head--or maybe she didn't. There was no amusement, no teasing, just her calm statement of facts.
"Why? Am I doing something wrong?" She looked confused.
He bent his head and kissed her, one hand sliding over her breast, feeling her soft skin. "No, sweetheart, you're doing everything right. I'll be more than happy to show you anything you'd like me to."
She nodded her head. "The only way to learn is to gather knowledge."
Kane winced. "What the hell." He frowned at her, slightly offended at her pragmatic approach. "I'm not a science project, Rose."
"Really?" She tilted her head to look up at him, her dark eyes running over his frame, dwelling for one long moment on the hard evidence of his arousal. "I rather thought of you as a very delicious science project."
Maybe the idea of being a science project wasn't so bad after all. He liked the way she was looking at him with such interest. Yeah. He could definitely handle being her project, especially if she thought of him as delicious. He was still cupping her breast in his palm, his thumb sliding back and forth over the firm mound. He felt the shiver of awareness going through her.
Rose deftly switched the baby from her right side to her left. He kept his hand supporting her breast while the baby latched on. "There's something really beautiful about a woman feeding a man's baby," he murmured, grateful she didn't hide her body from him.
"Do you think so? I was afraid that after having a baby you wouldn't find me attractive. It seems that men always lose interest in a woman after she gives birth to a child."
He straightened, shocked. "Why would you think that?"
Little frown lines appeared around her mouth. He had a mad urge to kiss them away. Instead, he waited for her answer, intrigued by her thinking.
"It's not as if I know anything about relationships; none of us do," Rose admitted. "We read newspapers and it seems as if everyone gets a divorce after they have children. Either that," she looked him in the eye, "or men can't be faithful, in which case, there's no reason to bother with getting married."
He would have laughed, but he could see that not only was she serious, but she was worried as well. Trusting him with her future was a difficult thing when Rose had been locked up her entire life. She'd only had a few months of freedom. She needed reassurance. She was being courageous in taking the steps she was taking at giving their son two parents. He was a stranger to her.
Kane crouched down beside the chair, stroking his thumb one last time over her breast, trailing his fingers over the baby's head before framing Rose's face with both hands. "I think any long-term relationship will have rough patches, Rose, but my loyalty to you will be absolute. I can't say what it's like for other men, but I'm wired to be a one-woman man. That woman is you. Everything about you appeals to the man I am. I find you amazing. Having my child only makes you more beautiful to me, not less so. Even your breast-feeding the baby is damned sexy."
She studied his eyes for a long time before he was rewarded with her slow smile. "You're a little bit crazy, but I like you that way."
"I won't always be easy to live with, Rose. I can be a bit of a dictator, and I suspect that's the last thing you want after being a prisoner for so many years. I've always known what I wanted, and I want you, but I also want you to feel as if you have choices."
Sebastian's eyes had closed. Only occasionally was he actually suckling in his sleep, and she gently removed him and put him upright on her shoulder, patting him. "I think we need to read more in that pregnancy book. I only got as far as the birth of the baby, not when the mother could safely have sex again, because I'm beginning to think that's a very important chapter."
Kane leaned in to kiss her. He loved the taste and scent of her. He loved her response, the way she opened her mouth to him, gave herself to him, the tentative following of his lead, such a mixture of innocent and unknowing temptress. His hand cupped the back of her head, all that silky hair sliding against his palm. Her mouth was warm and sweet and addictive. He could spend the rest of his life kissing her.