He grinned then, a dazzling expression. “True.”
She bit her lip, suddenly shy.
His smile faded and he gazed at her soberly for a long, searching moment. “Good morning,shijii.”
Shijii, she had learned last night, meantdarling, although literally it meantmy heart. The endearment elated her. “Good morning.”
He smiled again, this time softly. “Miss me?” He couldn’t disguise the hopeful expression.
She had. She was struck with the knowledge, but afraid to admit it. So she found a new topic. “What are you doing?”
“I came to bathe.”
They looked at each other again. “What is it, Candice?”
“About Hayilkah …” She trailed off. She wanted to touch him, to be touched. But in broad daylight the intimacy of last night seemed like a dream—except that they both knew it was real. She shifted.
“Hayilkah is very sick,” Jack said. “Shozkay has decided I have to bring him, or his family, a mare in foal to the black.”
“That means you don’t have to give me back to him?”
“That’s right.”
She felt relief, and it showed.
He lifted her chin.“Shijii, did you really think I’d give you to him? Let him touch you again?”
“I … I wasn’t sure.”
That bothered him, and his jaw tightened. Candice saw it and was sorry, but new worries were crowding the old. Were they now free to leave?
She pictured the High C and her family, and she felt a deep sense of dread. This was what she didn’t want to think about—her future. Returning. The condemnation, the scandal. And what about Jack?
“Candice, would you run and get me soap? It’s in my saddlebags.”
“Of course,” she said, knowing at this moment she would do just about anything for him. And she was glad of something to do other than think. “I’ll be right back.”
Five minutes later she returned with the soap and a clean blanket. He was standing in the creek, naked, and she openly admired him, not without being affected by the sight. She was now very much aware of the rise of desire—and what it promised. He turned, and his eyes twinkled. “You make noise like a cow, a drunken cow, moving through the chaparral.”
Her eyes widened—he was teasing her! “Mooo!”
He chuckled. “You’re also as fast as a tortoise.”
“But as soft as a kitten,” she purred.
He laughed. “With claws, I know.”
She blushed at the reference to her wild passion.
“Give me the soap.”
“Step closer to the bank.”
“Throw it.”
“No.”
“No?” His tone was exaggerated.
