“Please, please…!” she gasped out. She tossed and writhed, twisting against him, trying to throw him off her.
The fur bedcover and the sheets became tangled beneath her. His bare flesh pressed against her, as hers did against his. The pounding of her heart was growing louder and louder, along with the desperate sounds of struggling that escaped from her.
The pounding…it wasn’t her heart. It was knocking at the cabin door.
The door…
It was suddenly thrown open.
“Hawk?” said a worried, masculine voice.
The man atop Skylar twisted at the sound of his name being called. Skylar stared past him to see that there were two men standing in the doorway.
Two men in uniform.
Uniform!
One was young with sandy hair and a clean-shaven face. The other man was older, with a graying set of whiskers, the mustache perfectly waxed and groomed.
Oh, God! The cavalry had come.
She let out a shriek.
“Oh, sweet Jesus, sorry, Hawk!” the older man said. He punched the other, his face turning beet red. “He’s—occupied! With a lady.”
Occupied…with a lady! The words echoed in her mind. Then the realization struck her. They thought that…
“No!” Skylar gasped, inhaling raggedly. He was still on top of her. He leaned down upon her. Close. His breath all but fanning her cheeks.
She couldn’t get enough air to explain. She was mortified. She was more than half naked, his flesh was solidly pressed against hers. It did look like…
She stared with horror into those strange green eyes that now carried a wicked glint of pure amusement. Eyes so close to hers…
“Hush, hush!” he assured her, his voice mockingly tender. “My dear, the soldiers are gallant men, they’ll say nothing.”
“The soldiers will say nothing!” she exclaimed. “Dear God, they will certainly—” she began furiously, but a shift in his weight cut her off as what air she had managed to inhale was exhaled beneath his weight.
“Darling, please. You mustn’t be so upset. It’s really going to be all right. Shh…” came his whisper, his lips atop hers.
Then upon them. Forming perfectly over hers. His tongue demanding entry. She found her mouth parted with a startling force, the mercurial, hot thrust of his tongue. The taste of coffee and whiskey. She tried to twist away, but his fingers were threaded through her hair and brought close to her skull, holding her so taut she couldn’t begin to resist. She couldn’t breathe. The room was spinning…black stars burst before her…
“It’s all right, my dear. Truly. You needn’t be embarrassed.”
He wasn’t kissing her anymore. He was staring down at her, still looking amused while she desperately dragged in breath.
“Dammit!” she cried out.
“Sweet Jesus, I am sorry!” the older man protested. “Oh, ma’am, so sorry. Hawk, we’d no idea you had the company of a woman friend?—”
The Indian interrupted, eloquent to a truly staggering degree.
“Captain, all apologies accepted. I should truly be embarrassed that I did not hear your arrival.”
“Damn you all, wait!” Skylar lashed out again furiously.
“My dear! My dear! Don’t you think these poor men are suffering enough as it is? I should have heard them?—”
“That’s what worried us,” the older man said. “Why, Hawk, you can usually hear a pony snort a mile away.”
