Each Time We Love (58 page)

Her
mind
curiously blank, Savanna glided
forward.

Breaking his absorption, he glanced up as she came toward him
and in a movement Micaiah mistakenly attributed to shyness one of her
hands reached up to touch the fire-bright waves that cascaded over her
breast. He was enthralled by her, Adam forgotten, everything forgotten
but the vision of loveliness that was approaching him. The pistol
slipped from his slackened grasp and, dazed by the knowledge that he
had won at last, that in seconds he'd ease the ache of his body with
hers, he stumbled forward, clasping Savanna in his arms, his mouth
brutally closing over hers.

Hardly aware of Micajah's fumbling movements, barely aware of
his hand seeking her breast, of his rapacious tongue plundering her
mouth, almost dreamily Savanna closed her fingers around the dagger. As
if from a great distance, she heard Adam's cry of tormented rage, and
in that same instant, the knife came free in her hand,

Micajah was not so overpowered with lust that he didn't
realize that there was something strange about Savanna's easy
surrender, and uneasily he lifted his mouth from her bruised lips. Eyes
narrowed, he stared down at her, trying to gauge her mood.

A sudden fierce smile on her lips. Savanna met his gaze
squarely and in one lightning movement plunged her dagger deep into his
breast. An expression of utter astonishment crossed Micajah's features
and with a soft, half-surprised sigh., he sank to the ground beside the
pistol.

Even as Savanna stabbed Micajah, Adam's foot came free of the
boot, and with a bellow of rage he charged awkwardly across the space
that separated him from the other two. He'd crossed only half the
distance when Micajah had slumped to the ground, and wearing an
expression almost as astonished as Micajah's had been, Adam came to a
sudden halt. It took him a split second longer to realize what had
happened, and, his face blazing with frank admiration and all the love
he felt for her, Adam closed the distance between him and Savanna and
jerked her into his arms.

Oblivious of their surroundings, of Micajah's body on the
ground, of the occasional roar of the alligators, of Savanna's
nakedness, they kissed each other with a desperate, grateful abandon,
their bodies melding together to form one telling silhouette against
the fire. Frantic kisses were rained on faces and lips, hands urgently
explored as if reassuring themselves that it was true—they were safe
and in each other's arms.

It was several moments later, his breathing ragged, that Adam
finally raised his head and gazed intently into Savanna's lovely face.
"Oh, Jesus, sweetheart! I do love you!" he said thickly. "I've wanted
to tell you for weeks, but somehow the time was never right." He kissed
her again, the fiercely tender kiss of one lover to another.
Reluctantly ending the kiss, blue eyes nearly black with emotion, he
uttered with passionate intensity, "Before anything else happens, I
want you to know that I've loved you practically from the moment I laid
eyes on you—only like a damned fool, I didn't realize it."

A tremulous smile curved Savanna's mouth. His words were
everything she had ever wanted to hear, a sweet flood of delight
coursing through her body. He loved her! She smiled shyly up at him,
her aquamarine eyes soft and glowing. "We were both fools. I've loved
you for almost as long, and when I read Micajah's note, I was so afraid
that I'd never get to tell you."

Unable to help himself, Adam kissed her again, hardly daring
to believe that he could be so happy. She loved him!

But despite Savanna's burgeoning joy, there was still one tiny
niggle of doubt, and a shadow flitted across her face. Hesitancy in her
voice, she asked, "When you married me, it wasn't
just
because of the baby?"

His hand caressing her fiery hair, Adam smiled gently and
murmured, "If you'll remember, I asked you to marry me
before
I even knew of the baby's existence."

"But I thought that was just because you felt you should offer
it—not because you cared anything for me."

Adam's lips twisted. "I cared for you—I might not have
admitted to myself that I loved you, I only knew that the thought of
never seeing you again was tearing me apart." Looking wry, he added,
"When I got Bodene's letter telling me of your pregnancy, I was
overjoyed! Not, I'm ashamed to admit, because of my impending
fatherhood, but because I was so certain that since there was to be a
child, you would be more agreeable to the idea of marrying me. I was
positive that when I arrived in New Orleans I could woo you, exert my
reputed charm and convince you to marry me—if only for the child's
sake." His lips twisted again. "You gave my pride a thorough battering,
sweetheart, and when nothing I could say would convince you, I'm afraid
that I let my hurt and anger prompt me into forcing you to marry me. I
didn't plan it—I was just so blasted furious at you that the words
popped out before I even had time to think about it."

A glint appeared in Savanna's eyes. "Well! I'm pleased to hear
that you don't normally go around blackmailing people to get your way.
Even though I forgive you for it, it was a dastardly thing to do, Adam."

Reaching down and handing her the shirt she had discarded
earlier, he helped her into it, his expression rueful. "I can't deny
it. My only excuse is that I was a driven man!" He looked at her, a
look that nearly made Savanna's knees buckle. One lean finger sliding
tenderly down her cheek, he said huskily, "The only woman I loved, will
ever
love, would have nothing to do with me. What
else could I do?"

It was an odd place to be sharing these most intimate
exchanges, but both of them had hidden what was in their hearts for too
long and this frightening brush with death had made them, each in his
own way, determined that not another moment would pass without the
truth being told. Nothing mattered to either one of them at the moment
but that they declare their love for each other, and if it was done
with a dead man lying on the ground and alligators hissing and roaring
just beyond the firelight, so be it.

Half-annoyed, half-teasing, Savanna pulled her breeches on
and, giving him a dark look, muttered, "You could have told me that you
loved me!"

"Would you have believed me?" he asked steadily, the
sapphire-blue eyes boring into hers.

Savanna started to answer with a vehement affirmation, but she
stopped abruptly, thinking back to all the uncertainties that had beset
her then. Would she have believed him? Probably not, she admitted with
painful honesty. Confused as she had been, she'd have viewed his
confession of love as just another ploy to convince her to marry him.

She smiled wryly. "Feeling as I did then, I'd no doubt have
called you a liar and tried to put a knife in you!"

Adam smiled faintly, nodding his head in agreement as he
helped her finish putting her clothing to rights. "I almost told you
the day I confronted you about the baby," he admitted suddenly. "You
were sitting under that oak tree and I thought you had never looked
lovelier… it was right at that precise moment that I realized what was
wrong with me—I loved you!"

"Oh, Adam!" Savanna exclaimed breathlessly. "That's when I
realized that I loved
you
¹
."

After that, what could he do but kiss her? Lost in the world
that only lovers can enter, they were completely unaware of two things:
the slight, stealthy slide of Micajah's hand toward the pistol that lay
next to him on the ground, and the soft thud of approaching horsemen.

Savanna's wound, while deadly, had not been instantly fatal to
Micajah, and she and Adam had made the mistake of not making sure that
he was really and truly dead. Micajah's face was twisted in a horrible
grimace and his hard blue eyes were fixed in deadly concentration on
the two lovers as his hand inched nearer the pistol. He knew he was
dying, but before he succumbed, he was viciously determined to kill the
man who had upset all his plans—the desire to kill Adam St. Clair the
only thing that was keeping him alive. His fingers closed unsteadily
about the pistol and with a last, tremendous surge of power, Micajah
lurched upright and aimed the pistol at Adam.

Micajah's dreadful chuckle was the first and only clue Adam
and Savanna had that he was not dead. In dawning horror Savanna stared
at the man she thought she had killed. Frozen in terrifying disbelief,
she watched hypnotized as Micajah slowly began to pull back on the
trigger. An anguished scream of denial was already rising in her throat
when a shot rang out through the night.

Incredibly, Adam was alive, his arms still locked tightly
around her, and dazedly she stared at Micajah as a bloody hole suddenly
erupted in the middle of his forehead and the pistol slipped for the
last time from his nerveless fingers. A sound behind her made her whirl
around, and in stunned comprehension she watched as Bodene calmly put
away his own smoking pistol and, followed by Jack and Toby, slowly
urged his horse into the firelight.

Tall and dark in the saddle, Bodene stared down a long while
at Micajah's corpse. Glancing across at the two lovers, he finally said
dispassionately, "Always knew I'd have to kill that bastard someday."

The
Golden Armband

The
wine of Love is music,

And
the feast of Love is song:

And
when Love sits down to the banquet,

Love
sits long.

"The
Vine"

From
Sunday Up the River
James
Thomson