Diana Palmer Collected 1-6: Soldier of Fortune / Tender Stranger / Enamored / Mystery Man / Rawhide and Lace / Unlikely Lover

When her eyes opened again she was exhausted. He sat on the bed beside her with a warm, damp cloth in his hands, bathing her gently.

“Is it always like that for men?” she asked, needing to know.

He shook his head. “It’s never been like that for me with anyone. The second time was even more intense. I cried out.”

Tears touched her eyes as she looked up at him. “Thank you.”

“Oh, God, don’t,” he implored her, bending to kiss her. Once he kissed her he couldn’t seem to stop. He put the cloth aside and took her into his arms, holding her, touching her face, brushing his lips over every soft, flushed inch of her face with a touch that was more healing than passionate.

She trembled in his arms, and they tightened, and she gloried in the delicious warmth of his skin against hers, the feel of her soft breasts being gently crushed by his hard-muscled chest.

“You cried out, too,” he said at her ear. “Just as you felt it. I had to cover your mouth with mine so that no one would hear.”

“Even in my dreams it never happened like that,” she confessed.

“I’m glad it happened with me,” he told her, lifting his head. “Thank you for waiting for me.”

She smiled slowly. “I’m glad I waited.”

“I didn’t use anything,” he said then. “Do you want to see a doctor tomorrow, or do you want me to take care of it until we get back to the States? A wife I can handle, but not a baby. Not yet.”

“Then, could you…?” She hesitated. “I’d rather see my own doctor.”

“Okay.” He bent and brushed his mouth over hers.

“Do you want children eventually?” she asked because it was important.

He brushed the hair away from her eyes. “Perhaps,” he said finally. “Someday.”

“Too much, too soon?” she murmured dryly.

“Getting used to a wife is enough for now,” he said. He let his eyes wander slowly over her. “You have a beautiful body.”

“So have you.”

He kissed her softly. “We’d better get some sleep. And, sadly enough, I do mean sleep.” He sighed as he rose, cloth in hand. “I’m not prepared for anything else until we go into town. Unless…there are other ways if you really want…”

She blushed wildly and changed the subject. “Where are we getting married?”

“In a little chapel down the street.” He grinned. “They’re open at 10:00 a.m. We’ll be waiting on the doorstep.”

“You aren’t sorry?” she asked as he started into the bathroom.

He turned, his body open for her inspection, his face faintly smiling. He shook his head. “Are you?”

She shook her head, too. He laughed and went on into the bathroom. Minutes later she was curled up in his arms, both of them without a stitch on, the lights off and the sounds of the city at night purring in through the window.

“You can have one of my undershirts if you like,” he said gently.

“I’d rather sleep like this, if it won’t bother you,” she murmured.

“I prefer it this way, too,” he confessed. He drew her closer. “Breathing may be a little difficult, and I may die of a heart attack trying not to indulge myself a third time, but I prefer it like this. Good night, lieveling.”

“Good night, Eric.” She curled up against him with a trusting sigh and was surprised to find herself drifting off to sleep only seconds later.

Chapter Five (#ulink_d1eb19ae-8ddf-5318-a236-7daaf219bf7a)

Dani was dreaming. She felt as if she were floating, drifting, her body bare and fulfilled. She stretched, smiling, and a voice brought her awake.

“Don’t struggle, darling,” a male voice chuckled. “You’ll make me drop you.”

Her gray eyes flew open along with her mouth, and she realized that Dutch was carrying her into the bathroom, where a huge steaming bathtub waited.

“Don’t you want a bath?” he murmured dryly.

“Oh, yes,” she said sleepily. “I had planned on waking up before I got in the water.” She curled into his chest, snuggled her face against his throat, and closed her eyes with a sigh. “But my pillow started moving.”

He laughed, realizing with a start that he’d laughed more in the past two days than in the past ten years. He looked down at her creamy body, her full breasts pressed into the rippling muscle and feathery hair of his chest. She was vulnerable with him. Yet, he sensed that she was much like him in her independence, her wild spirit.

“Wake up or you’ll drown,” he said.

“I thought I already had, and gone to heaven,” she replied, smiling against his throat. She wasn’t even surprised to find herself with him. She seemed to have dreamed about him all night long.

“We have to get married,” he said.

“Going to make an honest woman of me, hmmm?” she teased, peeking up at him.

But he didn’t smile. “You’re already an honest woman. The first I’ve ever known. Hold on.”

He eased her down into the warm silky water and then climbed in beside her. They soaped each other lazily, enjoying the different textures of their bodies, exploring openly.

“I feel like a child playing doctor,” he told her with a wicked glance.

“It’s old hat to you, I suppose,” she said, watching her hands move on his muscular chest, “but I’ve never touched a man like this. It’s all very new to me just now.”

He moved her hands down, watching the flush on her face and the panic in her yes. “All right,” he said gently as she resisted. “You’re still shy with me. I won’t insist.”

“Old maids have lots of hang-ups,” she said quietly.

“I’ll get rid of yours before the week’s out,” he promised. “Want some more soap?”

She let him lather her back. Something was niggling at the back of her mind, and she glanced at him worriedly as he rinsed her.

“What is it?” he asked gently.

“Something you said last night. About…about precautions.”

“There’s no problem,” he said carelessly. “I’ll stop by a drugstore. When we get back to the States, if you’d rather not risk the pill, there’s some minor surgery a man can have—”