The Touch of Fire Read online

  There was still that feminine fastidiousness about her that made her always look neat and fresh, but she was infinitely more relaxed, and even seemed happy. He wondered about that, because he had thought the loss of her medical practice would constantly chafe at her. But all of this was still new; the fascination of it would wear off, and that was when she would miss the career for which she had trained her entire life.

  “What do you like most about it?” he asked lazily.

  “The freedom.” She smiled at him.

  “We’re on the run. Does that feel free to you?”

  “All of this feels free to me.” She waved her hand at the enormous landscape surrounding them. “Everything is bigger than life. And there are no rules; we can do whatever we want.”

  “There are always rules. It’s just that they’re a different set of rules. Back in Philadelphia you couldn’t go without your petticoat; here, you don’t go without your weapons.”

  “In Philadelphia, I would have to bathe behind a locked door.” She pointed to where the small stream they had camped beside widened into a pool just big enough for bathing. “Here, there are no doors to lock.”

  The expression in his pale eyes changed at the mention of bathing. The past several days, since her menses had started, had been increasingly frustrating. If she stripped off naked, as he suspected she intended, he would be reduced to beating his head against a rock somewhere to take his mind off his clamoring needs. A man on the trail got used to long periods without a woman, but damn if having one wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to get accustomed to again. The tyrant in his pants had come to expect frequent loving attention, and had been making Rafe miserable.

  She smiled at him, slowly and sweetly. “Why don’t you take a bath with me.” It wasn’t a question. She began unbuttoning her blouse as she walked down to the curve in the stream where it deepened and widened.

  Rafe found himself on his feet, his heart beating hard. “Are you all right now?” he asked in a hoarse voice. “Because if you take off your clothes in front of me I’m going to be inside you, honey, whether you are or not.”

  She smiled over her shoulder. Her dark eyes looked soft and sleepy. The seductiveness of it slammed into his gut. Damn, how had a woman who had been so innocent such a short time ago learned how to do that?

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  The answer, of course, was that he had made damn certain she lost that innocence. He had made love to her so many times and so many ways over the past weeks that sometimes he had felt drugged with sex. And women were natural seductresses, even when they didn’t know what they were doing. Just being female made them seductive, nature’s lodestone that drew men like flies to honey.

  Not even his surging lust could make him forget the need for caution. He doused the fire so it couldn’t be spotted in the deepening shadows, even though he hadn’t seen any signs of their being followed, and carried both rifle and pistol with him down to the stream, where he placed them within easy reach. He didn’t take his eyes off Annie as he began stripping.

  She had removed her blouse, then paused to work her hair free from the braid. Her raised arms lifted and exposed her breasts, barely covered as they were by the thin shift. Her nipples, already erect, pressed against the cloth. Rafe felt dizzy from the rush of blood through his body.

  He forced himself to look away, and inhaled deeply to steady himself. He took a slow, careful look around to make certain no danger was threatening, and returned to the task of undressing just as Annie was wading naked into the pool, carrying her clothes. Her round, dimpled buttocks made him dizzy all over again.

  The little pool at its deepest was only knee high, and it felt freezing after the spring heat of the sun. Annie bit back a squeal and with her foot found a smooth area in which to sit. She caught her breath and did so. It was a good thing she had taken a deep breath, because the coldness of the water temporarily deprived her of the ability.

  Cold or not, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bathe and wash her clothes. She lathered up the bar of soap in her hand and began the laundry.

  She looked up as Rafe waded into the pool. He didn’t seem to even notice the temperature of the water. His eyes were intent, and he was fully aroused. Annie’s breath caught again at the power of his muscled body. She began to have doubts about finishing the chore first.

  “Bring your clothes,” she said. “They need washing.”

  “Later.” His voice was guttural.

  “Clothes first.”

  “Why?” He sat down in the water and reached for her. Then suddenly the temperature of the water got through to him and his eyes widened as he said, “Shit!” explosively.

  She tried to control her shivers by scrubbing harder. “It’ll probably take that long to get used to the water, for one thing. For another, if I don’t wash the clothes first, they won’t get done. Do you honestly expect me to have the energy to wash clothes afterward?”

  “I don’t think I can get that used to the water,” he muttered. “Hell, we might as well do laundry.”

  She hid her smile as he stood up and reached for his clothes, dragging them into the water. He was shivering, too. He was scowling as he took the soap and began scrubbing his own garments.

  After a few minutes, though, the water didn’t seem as cold, and the warmth of the setting sun on her bare shoulders was a delicious contrast. As she finished rinsing each garment she wrung it out and tossed it onto a bush growing alongside the stream. Rafe did the same, and soon the bush was almost flattened beneath the weight of wet clothing. She began soaping herself, and the friction of her hands sliding over her skin added to the warmth.

  She wasn’t surprised when Rafe’s hands joined hers, or at the places he elected to wash. She turned into his arms and his mouth came down hard on hers. The familiar taste of him was like heaven. The restrictions of the past few days had been frustrating for her, too. Without preliminaries he pulled her astride his thighs and onto his thrusting erection.

  It had been only a few days, but she was shocked anew at the almost unbearable fullness. How had she forgotten? She couldn’t move; she felt as if he stretched her to the limit, that any motion would result in pain. But his hands were on her buttocks, moving her, and there was no pain, only the overwhelming sense of being penetrated and filled. She collapsed weakly against him, her face buried in the warm flesh of his throat.

  “I thought the water was too cold,” she managed to murmur.

  His reply was deep and rough. “What water?”

  Afterward she walked on trembling legs back to the camp, shivering again as the cooling air washed over her wet flesh. She wished she had thought to carry a blanket to the stream so she wouldn’t have had to make the short trip while naked. She dried off and hurried into clean clothing.

  It was later than when Rafe normally insisted they move camp after having eaten, but she didn’t suggest remaining where they were. He’d taught her the value of always being cautious. Without protest she began gathering up their wet clothing and various other articles while he resaddled the horses. Twilight was rapidly fading into true darkness as he led them to a secure place to bed down for the night.

  Before she got between the blankets that night, she reached under her skirt and untied her drawers, then stepped daintily out of them. Rafe joined her under the blankets and twice during the night demonstrated his appreciation of the convenience.

  He had hoped, since there were only two of them, that they would be able to slip through the Apache lands without seeing or being seen by anyone. It would have been much more difficult for a larger party to travel undetected, but entirely possible for one or two people to do so. It required caution, but Rafe was a cautious man.

  The Apache were nomads, wandering wherever the food supply led them. The bands were never large, seldom over two hundred people, since that many would have made fast movement impossible. But the Apache didn’t have to be a large band to be dangerous to white people.