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"It is a bit warm," I agreed, playing the game.

He tugged at the red scarf around his neck, planning to whip it off with debonair aplomb, frowning as he fumbled with the knot. I smiled and then sat down on the chair and removed my boots, flexing my naked feet, massaging them

for a moment. Jeremy finally got the scarf off and flung it aside and got to his feet. He spread the blankets out over the bearskin rug, one on top of the other, making a deep pallet in front of the fire. He spread my fur cloak over the blankets and stood back, admiring his handiwork.

"Always wanted to make love on silver-gray mink," he remarked.

"It's a lovely idea," I said.

I stood up and lifted my skirts, reaching under them to unfasten the sash that held the money bag in place.

Golden coins tinkled as I placed the bag on the chair.

Jeremy

watched with one brow cocked.

"You should-a let me do that," he drawled.

"I'm sure you would have enjoyed it."

"A lot," he assured me.

"But you're no good at knots, darling."

"I'm good at other things."

"Oh?"

He sauntered over to me and took me into his arms and gave me a long, lazy kiss, his lips lingering over mine as his arms drew me closer still. I put my hand on the back of his neck and stroked it and then ran my fingers through the rich chestnut waves. He made a moaning noise deep in

his throat, swinging me around in his arms. I placed my hands on his shoulders and clung to him as the lazy kiss went on and on and I became a prey to those delicious sensations

that had never been so sweet. He raised his head and looked into my eyes, his own a deep, deep blue filled with urgent love. I lifted my hand and caressed his cheek and ran the ball of my thumb along the full pink curve of his lower lip. He opened his mouth, took my thumb between

his teeth, gently biting down on soft flesh. Honeysweet warmth spread through me, and the back of my

knees began to ache. He took my whole thumb into his mouth and sucked on it, and after a few moments I pulled it free and brushed his lips with mine, tenderly expressing the love that trembled inside me.

"I've waited a long, long time for this," he murmured, pulling back and resting his hands on my shoulders.

"So have I," I whispered.

"I've thought about it, dreamed about it."

"And I as well."

He caressed my throat, his thumb exploring the softness.

My breasts swelled, nipples hardening, pushing against the silk bodice of my petticoat. Jeremy drew me back to him and reached behind me and began to unfasten

the hooks of my gown, and I pressed my thighs against his and felt the hard, swollen proof of his need throbbing beneath

its prison of cloth. He fumbled with the hooks and I shook my head and smiled and reached around to undo them myself. I slipped my arms out of the long sleeves and

lifted the gown over my head. Dark garnet velvet rustled softly as I let the gown slip to the floor.

Leaving him but a moment, I stepped over to put out the oil lamp, my gray silk skirts billowing like frail petals, making soft music. Shadows filled the room, walls coated a

deep blue-gray, soon shimmering with brilliant orange and gold reflections from the fire. Jeremy sat down on the edge ofthe chair and struggled to get his boots off. I smiled and knelt and clasped heel and toe and pulled, easing off first one, then the other. I stood and stroked the back of his

head as he pulled off his stockings. His thick chestnut waves were soft and pliant, silken to the touch. I ran my fingers through them and gently massaged his scalp. He got up and pulled the tail of his shirt out of the waistband and lifted it over his head and let it float to the floor like a frail white ghost in the semidarkness.

Wearing only his breeches, he turned to me, and I placed my fingers under the waistband and slowly began to pull downward. Jeremy moved his hips, assisting me, and I knelt and continued to tug and heavy black cloth slid down over muscular thighs and calves. Jeremy stepped out of the breeches, kicking them aside. He caught hold of my wrists and pulled me up and cradled me in his arms and nuzzled my neck and gently nibbled at my earlobe. I ran my hands over the smooth skin of his back and felt the strong musculature beneath. Each sensation that swept through me was sweeter, stronger than the one before.

The

firelight flickered and orange-gold patterns shimmered on the shadowy walls and radiance shimmered inside me as Jeremy unfastened my petticoat and lowered the bodice and caressed my breasts, fingers lightly stroking the swelling flesh, palms massaging the taut nipples with a gentle, circular motion. I felt a shock wave of delirious ecstasy as he circled my waist with his arms and bent his head down and covered each breast with fervent kisses.

Arching my back and closing my eyes, I reeled in a sea of shattering sensation.

Jeremy caught hold of the petticoat and pushed soft silk down my body, and layers of skirt billowed like gray petals again, fluttering and unfurling as he shoved them to the floor. His hands slid down my legs, firm, strong hands that had the feel of warm, smooth leather, and when I had stepped out of the circle of silk and shoved it aside with my

foot, his hands moved back up my calves and clutched my knees and traveled slowly up my thighs, squeezing gently, leisurely exploring every inch of flesh. And when, shuddering,

I could take no more torment and swayed, knees buckling, he caught me and held me to him and lifted my hair and kissed the side of my neck, supporting me as I went limp against him. Murmuring tender words, he lifted me up in his arms and carried me over to the pallet and carefully lowered me onto the incredibly soft mink.

Firelight washed over me, warming my skin as I stretched and writhed on the fur, but another warmth glowed inside me as Jeremy stood there with hands resting

on his thighs, lazily admiring me with eyes full of smoldering

emotion that need not be expressed in words. I raised up and curled my arms around his legs and rested my head against his thighs, and he caught his fingers in my hair and tugged gently, tilting my head back, and I looked up at the glory of him and he smiled and kneeled down and covered my mouth with his, pushing me back onto the fur, climbing atop me, pinioning me with his weight. His tongue slowly slipped into my mouth, the tip making soft jabs, and I wriggled beneath him and wrapped my arms around his back and spread my legs and wrapped

them around his, lifting my body up, up in that splendid search that would end in ecstasy.

He placed a palm on either side of me and raised himself up until he could look into my eyes, and I gazed up at that beloved face and saw the smile spread on that wide mouth

and saw the love glowing in those vivid blue eyes, love reflected

in my own, and that love bound us, a wondrous magic that augmented each sensation and made each touch twice as tormenting. He smiled and, still gazing into my eyes, told me without words all those things I already knew, and I was breathless, enraptured. He parted his lips.

His tongue flicked out, the firm pink tip touching the side of his cheek as, tightening his buttocks, he lifted and lowered

and made his entry, and as the first sweet shock shuddered

through every fiber of my being I cried out, raising, reaching for more.

Slowly, slowly, flesh filled, flesh clasped, flesh caressed flesh, demanding, pressing, probing deep, deeper, deeper still, and a glorious radiance suffused me, shredding senses with its glory. The beauty was beyond endurance, beyond belief, a shimmering, shattering thing that lifted us both into a realm of sheer enchantment rarely reached.

Still we were not there, still we scaled the peak of ecstasy, climbing higher, yet higher, together, as one, the summit soon in sight. I tightened my legs around him and ran my hands over his strong back and finally caught my fingers in his thick chestnut waves and tugged them as he thrust and strained in jubilant quest. We reached the top at last, stunned and shaken, and, breathless, hung suspended for an instant of soul-shredding bliss. His teeth sank into my shoulder and I cried out again as, together, we plummeted into an abyss of joyous oblivion.

Chapter Twenty...Seven

RADIANT SUNLIGHT GAVE THE SNOW A

brilliant white dazzle and touched the ice with a translucent

rainbow glitter. The sky was a pale blue vault, clear and lovely. Never had there been a more beautiful morning,

I thought, and never had I welcomed a new day with greater joy. There was a crisp, invigorating chill in the air, but it wasn't nearly as cold as it had been. I had come outside

without my cloak, for Jeremy was still asleep inside, using it for cover. Gazing up at the gorgeous blue sky, I folded my arms around my waist as though to embrace the

joy that filled me like a glorious tonic. I had come to feed and water the horse and, that accomplished, couldn't help but linger a few moments to savor the dazzle of the day.

A bird celebrated the sunlight from a tree limb nearby, its song a throaty warble embellished with trills, and as I stood in front of the hut a rabbit darted across the snow. I smiled, for no reason, for every reason, for the languorous ache in my bones and blood, for the teeth marks on my shoulder beginning to bruise, for the ashes of aftermath still glowing warmly within. We had made love a second time on the fur, before the fire, rousing and energetic, and much later, as white flakes floated in the brightness beyond,

as pale moonlight turned the walls of our haven a soft silver, as logs glowed a rosy pink, turning to ash, he woke and reached for me and we made love yet again, leisurely,

lazily, with tender expression that swelled to splendor. The smile curved on my lips as I remembered, rejoicing anew.

I breathed the crisp air and sunlight stroked my cheeks and I realized that I had never been as happy as I was at this moment. Happiness, so elusive, so ephemeral, was mine at last, and it was as though I had been in a stupor before, half-awake, half-alive, incomplete. And so I smiled, folding my arms closer around my waist, listening to the bird's silvery song, complete and completely happy.

Jeremy

was inside, Jeremy my love, and life had sparkle, was now full of splendid promise. A gentle morning breeze ruffled

my coppery red locks, blowing wispy skeins across my cheeks. Snow glistened, gilded with sunlight. I had never dreamed that love, true love, could bring such elation, such jubilation.

I had loved Derek Hawke, yes, but that love had been a dark, brooding obsession, fraught with shadow and doubt,

.

a constant torment tearing me asunder. There had been turmoil and tension and tears, never this joy, never this celebration in the soul. I had loved him, yes, but that love had died in the darkness of its own futility, supplanted by the vitality and exuberant splendor of emotions Jeremy had stirred from the very first. Obsessed by that darker love I had fought the new, denied it until, in the carriage, on my way back to London, it had burst upon me like a shining revelation ... and then fate had intervened.

An accident, a misplaced letter had almost robbed us of our future together, but, miraculously, we had been given a second chance. The happiness I now celebrated was all the more blessed for having almost been denied. As I gazed

at the beauty of the morning I knew I was the most fortunate

woman alive. All the grief I had endured was but a small price to pay for the joy I now cherished in my heart. I brushed the silky skeins of hair from my cheek and listened

as the last notes of birdsong rose in the air.

Inside, sunshine poured through the windows, filling the room with radiant light. I had put more wood on the fire, and it now crackled heartily, flames a lively orange.

Jeremy was still asleep on the pile of blankets, on his back,

one arm thrown over his eyes. The gray mink cloak was twisted around his legs, barely covering him, and his bare chest rose and fell with his steady breathing. His mouth was open, and he groaned as I crossed the room and took up

his knife and began to slice bread and cheese.

I toasted the bread over the fire, using a long, thin stick I had brought in earlier, and when it was nicely browned on both sides I placed the cheese on top and held the bread high up over the flames until the cheese melted. It was not a splendid breakfast, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. When the toast was ready, I nudged Jeremy awake and he sat up with a start and glared at me through a mass of waves that had fallen across his brow.

He scowled and lay back on his side and pulled the cloak up over his shoulder. Smiling, I jerked the cloak off him and he sat up again and told me in no uncertain terms just what he thought of bothersome females who wouldn't alIowa

chap to get some much needed sleep.

"You've been sleeping for hours," I informed him.

"Hunh?"

"It's a gorgeous day, Jeremy."

"Just a few more minutes' sleep," he begged. "I can hardly keep my eyes open."

"Here, have some toast."

"Who wants food?" he snarled..

He took a piece of toast and examined it with disdain and then proceeded to eat all four pieces I'd prepared, and then, while I ate an apple, he gnawed a piece of dried beef,

hair still spilling over his brow as he sat with knees propped up, quite naked in front of the roaring fire. I finished

my apple. He had two more pieces of beef and then, finally full, gazed at me with that smoky, seductive look in his eyes.

"I'd love a cup of coffee," I said wistfully.

"I can think of something I'd love a whole lot more."

"Oh?"

"Come here, why don't you?"

"Really, Jeremy-"

"Did I dream last night? Did it actually happen?"

"It happened," I said. "You were magnificent."

"That was just the beginning," he said. "I was exhausted, worn to a frazzle, but now that I'm all rested and bursting with energy-"

"You'd better get dressed, darling. It's late."

He gazed at the bright sunlight and frowned and reluctantly