Page 51 of Texas Honor

“So are you,” she replied unsteadily and managed to smile back. What good was pride now when she’d offered herself to him?

He touched her taut nipples through the cloth. “No more embarrassment?” he asked quietly.

“You know what I look like,” she whispered.

“Yes.” He opened her blouse, no longer interested in the rain that had slowed to a sprinkle, and his eyes feasted on her soft skin before he bent and tasted it warmly with his mouth.

Mari lifted softly toward his lips, savoring their sweet touch, so much a part of him that nothing seemed wrong anymore.

“You’re so sweet,” he whispered. He drew his cheek across her breasts, his eyes closed, savoring her. “For the rest of my life, I’ll never touch another woman like this. I’ll never lie with another woman, taste another woman, want another woman.”

That was how she felt, too, about other men. She closed her eyes, smoothing his wet hair as he brushed his mouth over her pulsating, trembling body. She loved him so much. If this was all he could give her, it would be enough. Fidelity would do. She couldn’t leave him again.

“I’ll never want another man,” she replied quietly.

He laid his cool cheek against her and sighed, holding her as she held him, with the wind blowing softly and the rain coming down like droplets of silk over them.

Then he moved away, gently rearranging her disheveled clothing. He brushed back her damp hair, kissed her tenderly one last time and carried her in his arms back to the car with her face pressed wetly into his warm throat.

“The car,” she faltered. “We’ll get the seats wet.”

“Hush, baby,” he whispered, brushing a kiss against her soft mouth as he put her into the passenger seat and fastened her seat belt. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters now.”

He got in beside her, found her warm hand and linked her fingers with his. He managed to start the car and drive it all the way home with one free hand.

Lillian took one look at them, and her eyebrows shot up.

“Not one word,” Ward cautioned as he led Marianne inside. “Not one single word.”

Lillian sighed. “Well, at least now you’re getting wet together,” she murmured with a smile as she wandered back toward the kitchen. “I guess that’s better than mildewing alone.”

Marianne smiled gently at Ward and went upstairs to change her clothing. He disappeared a few minutes later after an urgent telephone call and drove off by himself with only a wink and a smile for Mari. She walked around in a daze, dodging Lillian’s hushed questions, waiting for him to come home. But when bedtime came, he still wasn’t back.

Mari went up to her room and paced the floor, worrying, wondering what to do. She couldn’t leave, not after this afternoon. He wanted her and she wanted him. Maybe he couldn’t offer her marriage, but she’d just settle for what he could give her. He had to care a little. And she loved him enough for both of them.

Why hadn’t he gone ahead, she wondered, when he had the chance this afternoon? Why had he stopped? Was he just giving her time to make up her mind, to be sure she could accept him this way? That had to be it. Well, it was now or never.

She put on her one seductive gown, a pretty white one with lots of lace and long elegant sleeves. She brushed out her dark hair until it was smooth and silky and dabbed on perfume. Then, looking in the mirror, she stared into her troubled blue eyes and assured herself that she was doing the right thing.

An hour later she heard Ward drive up. He came up the stairs, pausing at her door. Seconds later he started away, but Mari was already on her feet. She opened the door breathlessly and looked up at him.

He was wearing a dark pair of slacks with a patterned gray shirt open at the throat. His creamy dress Stetson was held in one hand. The other worried his hair. He stared at Mari with eyes that devoured her.

“Dangerous, baby, wearing something like that in front of me,” he said softly and smiled.

She swallowed her pride. “I want you,” she whispered shakily.

He smiled down at her. “I know. I want you, too.”

She opened the door a little wider, her hands unsteady.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Is that an invitation to be seduced?”

She swallowed again. “I don’t think I quite know how to seduce you. So I think you’ll have to seduce me.”

His smile widened. “What about precautions, little temptress?”

She blushed to her toes. She hadn’t expected resistance. “Well,” she began, peeking up at him, “can’t you take care of that?”