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ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 76

Cara rode Brady’s hips, and now he dropped his hand from her breast to guide the pumping of her hips. His other hand stayed busy on her soul.

Bab reached under her skirt and touched herself. Her woman hole wept the thick, sticky water it always did when pleasure stirred inside her. The faster Cara bounced on top of Brady, the faster Bab stroked herself. It not for Angel clutched in her arms, she would have crawled from her hiding spot and joined the mating couple.

Cara’s hands dug into Brady’s shoulders and her mouth opened in a cry lost to the sound of the sea. Brady’s body went rigid, and his hand left Cara’s center to hold her hips along with his other one. He surged upward into her and held his position with his back arched off the ground.

Bab’s soul took flight from between her legs and took her breath with it. Every part of her body shivered with waves of pleasure. For long moments, her eyes saw nothing and her ears heard only the pounding of her heart and a rushing that wasn’t the sea.

Angel had fallen asleep at Bab’s breast. She was lucky she hadn’t dropped her precious child when the senseless pleasure took her.

Cara sprawled on top of Brady with the same boneless satisfaction Bab felt. Did the skinny woman get to have those wondrous feelings each time she mated with Brady?

After a while, Cara slid to Brady’s side and snuggled up to him like a child to her mother.

Was it possible for a man and woman to like being in each other’s company even after they mated? Brady was never gruff or mean to Cara, but did he feel a true affection? Could a man care for a woman?

The couple rose, reluctance in their movements. They strode hand in hand, naked, to the sea. They walked into the water a short distance and splashed each other like playful children.

Washing again?

They left the water and slowly put their clothing back on, and now she understood why they wore so many layers. If Cara found such rapture every time she mated with Brady, they would surely spend their days doing nothing else. They had to hide their bodies to control their urges. Bab wanted to go tear Brady’s clothes off even now after so recently finding her pleasure.

She waited until the couple was well out of sight before again taking up their trail. They left the sands and headed into the trees. Once away from the sea’s roar she could hear the distant grumble of the falling waters. Her fear of it was only a nagging discomfort. Mostly her mind snagged on the image of Brady without his clothing and Cara sitting astride him. The woman had taken him, mounted him, and had been in charge of the mating. It was so strange and exciting. She couldn’t wait to have Brady.

Despite his pretty body, Bab was sure she was stronger than him. She would hold him down and climb on top of him as Cara had done. A shiver of pleasure rolled from her toes to her engorged breasts. The next time they stopped to mate, she would join them and have her share of the sky-eyed man.

ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 77

“I think I can swim that.” Brady shaded his eyes and stared across the river.

Cara looked at him. She knew his body as well as he knew her own after the last few days. A year ago she wouldn’t have believed she would find a man beautiful, but he was and not only physically. His patience layered with his obvious desire for her excited every part of her.

“What do you think?”

“About what?” She’d lost track of their conversation.

He gave her a puzzled look. “Crossing the river. I think we can swim it.”

She looked at the wide expanse of water. It was no longer muddy and probably wasn’t as cold as the day of their accident, but it ran fast and deep. “I’m not a good swimmer.”

He took her hand as he had so often on their trek from the cave to here. “You don’t have to be. I’ll tie us together. You just have to keep your head above water.”

“No. I could pull you under.”

“My lady, you have no faith in me.” He laughed and tugged her after him toward the falls.

The need to make decisions pressed on her mind, but she was so happy she couldn’t dwell on it. Soon they would find a place to spread their blankets for the night. Then they would make love before they slept and perhaps again when they woke. Each time they enjoyed each other’s body, she felt more confident Brady would never hurt her.

The falls crashed less than a quarter of a mile away, already loud enough to drown the sound of the sea behind them.

“Look.” Brady pointed at the river bank. “We can put in there and cut a diagonal across the expanse. It will carry us downstream, but we can reach the other side before we hit the sea.

See how the current slows as it meets the sea?”

She looked where he pointed. There was no way she could swim it.

He selected a level area a bit back from the bank to make camp. It seemed very near where he’d pulled her out of the river after the accident. They dropped their packs and set about gathering firewood. Much of it was still damp, but the sunny windy day had dried enough for them to find an adequate dry supply.

Brady took his gun and went hunting toward the falls. Not that there was anything or anyone close enough to hear the shot, but caution was always best.

She found a few small, orange tubers in the rich soil along the river bank. She washed them and sliced them into finger-thick pieces. After crumbling a few nuts in the new cooking shell, she added the yams. Searching further along the river, she found some wild mint. How wonderful would some real black tea taste instead of weak, mint water?

As expected, she heard no shot, but Brady returned with a game bird similar to the one he’d shot before. He’d already cleaned and spitted the bird. They set it above the flames and settled side by side on the blankets to watch it cook.

“This is like a feast.” Brady sipped the warm, mint water.

Twilight spread from the west, overtaking their little camp. It was strange to feel so safe, alone with a man in a foreign land, strange and wonderful. Her intimacy with Brady seemed to ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 78

have healed something inside her, something she’d thought destroyed. But perhaps it had only been broken, and the broken could sometimes get better.

“Cara, there’s something we should be thinking about.”

“I’m already thinking about it.” She put her hand on his thigh and ran it along the inside of his leg.

He caught her hand and held it. “You know we might be stuck here. If we can’t cross this river, I’m not sure we can make it home by winter. Even if we go north and find a way off the beach, we might not be able to make it through the mountains to Parlania.”

“We’ll

manage.”

“I’m sure you and I can survive.” He turned on the blanket so he faced her fully.

“Seeing the Savages with their babies made me think about some things. I’ve been selfish and careless.”

“What are you talking about?” His worried frown made her nervous.

“We’ve been making … love and not taking any precautions. You could get pregnant.”

“Pregnant?” Her throat closed around the word. Ice spread through her middle to her hands. His skin was warm against her fingers but not enough to thaw the frost in her heart. Her earlier thoughts came back to her. She’d been wrong. Things broken badly enough could never be repaired.

“You’re so tiny, Cara, I’d be scared to death to have you deliver our child here away from all help. And then the cold of winter; and it will be tough to feed ourselves let alone keep a little one alive. We need to be careful. I have to stop spilling my seed inside of you. I should have taken care from the start, but I couldn’t think of anything but having you.”

“So you don’t want to have sex with me anymore?”

Under other circumstances the horror of his face might have been comical. She was too far from amusement to even smile.

“How the hell did you come up with that question? I want to have you all the time. I had trouble walking today I was so hard.”

“I don’t understand then.”

“We can’t let you get pregnant. I have to pull out of you before I come.”

“Brady, have you noticed I haven’t had my woman’s monthly flow since we’ve been here?” She should be embarrassed by having this conversation with a man, but she wasn’t. Not with Brady who had more intimate knowledge of her than anyone.

“I know. We’ve only been here fourteen days, but I’m worried it’s too late already.

Seeing that Savage give birth and all that … stuff is what started me thinking.”

“And

worrying?”

“Of

course.”

She looked away from him. Bitter sweet surety swept over her. She loved him. Loved him more than her life. More than anything. Even her loyalty to Juston Steele and his family was as nothing to this wrenching emotion twisting her insides with despair. She blinked a few times, but her eyes were dry as always.

“Cara?” He moved closer but she scooted away. She couldn’t tell him if they were touching. She was too much a coward.

“You don’t have to worry about me getting pregnant. You know what happened to me.

The Savages … damaged me. I haven’t had a monthly flow since that time. I’m sterile.”

He didn’t look away. His blue eyes warmed as much as such a cool color could. He gently cradled her face between his palms. Holding her gaze, he leaned slowly toward her until ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 79

their lips touched. She closed her eyes against the emotions in his. The kiss was tender and brief.

“I’m sorry, Cara. You would be a terrific mother.”

Damn him. Was he trying to make her cry? She pushed him away and frowned at him.

“I’ll never know.”

He shrugged. “I guess we won’t.”

Her heart did a funny little leap when he said we. “So you don’t have to worry about having another mouth to feed.”

“I was worried about you.” He leaned in for another kiss and ran his hand along her thigh. “So I guess the only way to fatten you up is to feed you more.”

She slapped his hands away with half a laugh. “If you want more heft in your women, maybe you better consider Rena or Bab.”

He laughed and went back to his exploration of her thigh. “You would be so jealous.”

She pulled his head down and captured his smiling lips with hers. How could he so easily lift her spirits? How did he render her ghosts so powerless?

Telling him had lifted a burden of guilt she hadn’t even been aware weighed on her. The secret of her barrenness no longer hung between them. Though it wasn’t as if he’d asked her to marry him or be his lifelong mate. Certainly she would be his for life if they never found their way home, but it would be different if they did. He would want a wife to carry on his family name not an infertile, damaged warrior.

His clever hands and lips distracted the last of her regrets. Her shirt came off and then his. For a moment she wondered what he’d meant about fattening her up, but he seemed to enjoy the sight, feel and taste of her small breasts and prominent ribs. She hadn’t always been so lean, but her appetite was one of the things she’d lost at the hands of the Savages along with her innocence.

As usual, her hands found his wild mop of hair and indulged in the erotic silkiness of it sliding through her fingers. He went willingly to his back and pulled her down to sprawl half on top of him.

His fingers teased the waistband of her pants while she tugged on the laces to his. It was so nice to be alone and away from the disturbing presence of the female Savages and the conundrum they presented. Admitting to her love, even if only to herself, had freed her body to enjoy him even more than before. She intended to love him with all her heart through all the hours of the night.

* * * *

Bab wrapped Angel snuggly in her hide sling and set her against the wide trunk of a tree.

She set her small bag of food beside the baby to further protect her from the wind.

The twilight thickened to full dark beneath the trees where she crouched. Brady and Cara had set their fire not far from the cover of the woods and near the river. Delicious cooking scents drifted toward her as well as the comforting scent of burning wood. But she was not comfortable.

They were doing it again. Only mutual pleasure could account for Cara’s eager participation. The couple’s bare skin gleamed in the golden light of the fire. Again the hairless, smooth look of Brady’s skin drew her. She edged closer. The noise of the water covered the sound of her approach though she doubted the mating couple would hear her anyway, so intent were they on each other. They went about it so slowly, so gracefully, so cleanly. Brady’s gentle way of mating could not be denied.

ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 80

Hot wetness swelled her woman hole, and her heavy breasts tingled as milk dripped from her nipples. Brady lay on his back as before. Cara rubbed herself against him, bare chest to bare chest.

Bab was close enough to see Cara’s hand dip into Brady’s clothing and touch his man rod. Her heart pounded in her chest and her breath came in short pants. The ache in her hard little nub spread to a pleasant tingling across her entire bottom. By the end of the next cold time, she would have another lovely child but this time the babe would have dark hair.

She undid her skirt and let it fall to the ground. Men could only mate one time before they had to rest, sometimes for most of a day. She couldn’t let Brady waste his seed on Cara. It wasn’t her turn, it was Bab’s turn. There was no way she could wait half the night for Brady to recover. She jumped up and ran at them.