Page 80 of Texas Honor

“It’s a miracle,” he replied. “In every respect. And miracles shouldn’t be twisted into minor amusements. The only times I ever had sex with women, I was involved emotionally. I couldn’t lower my pride enough to buy it.”

And men were supposed to be indifferent about feelings? She stared up at him, fascinated. “Did you learn...all that...with women?”

The corners of his firm mouth curved up. “Not all of it, no. I wanted to be a doctor when I graduated from high school. I took two years of premed before I switched to veterinary science. I learned all sorts of interesting things about bodies and how they work.”

“So I’ve noticed,” she murmured.

He touched her chin, tilting it. “Sex is beautiful,” he said softly. “In the proper circumstances, it’s an exquisite expression of love and commitment. God must have thought so, because He allowed children to come of it.”

She searched his pale eyes, smiling. He was an enigma. Such a hard, unbending man to be so sensitive. “Thank you for the lesson,” she said.

“My pleasure. Hearing it might not remove those scars, but it could put what you’ve experienced into perspective. You aren’t frigid—you’re just untaught.”

“I could never talk to Dennis about sex,” she recalled quietly. “He said it was my fault that it was never good.”

“I’m afraid he had it backward,” he replied. “A considerate lover can make it good.”

Her eyes lifted. Her lips parted to ask the question, but at the last second she got cold feet and averted her eyes.

He leaned close to her ear. “What do you want to know, big eyes? How I am in bed?”

“Of course not!” she blurted.

He took her earlobe gently between his teeth and teased it, and she felt the sensations all the way to her toes. “I’m slow, and thorough, and I know where all the nerves are,” he whispered.

She made a wild little sound and darted away from him, her eyes like saucers in a face burning with embarrassment.

He laughed, leaning back against the sofa to study her frenzied confusion. “Running away so soon?” he murmured. “You wanted to know. I told you.”

“You were being kind, for once,” she grumbled. “Now you’re back to your old cutting self.”

“I’m frustrated,” he replied. “I should have explained frustration to you. It makes bears out of nice men.”

“You never were a nice man,” she told him, brushing back her hair.

“That’s true,” he agreed pleasantly. He winked at her. “But I’m sexy.”

She smiled. “I guess you are,” she agreed unexpectedly.

He lifted an eyebrow. “I’m delighted that you agree. At some future date, would you like me to prove it to you?”

“Well...”

“Chicken,” he chided. “Go to bed. Tomorrow, I’m taking Becky for her first ride. You can come, if you like.”

“Gabe, she’s so small,” she protested.

“And I’m big,” he replied. “And I’ll take good care of her. And her mother.”

“I can’t help being overprotective,” she said defensively.

“It’s just a stage you’re going through,” he told her. “You’ll outgrow it. I’ll help. Now, scoot. Let me drink myself to sleep, so that I can forget this swollen arm you damn near burst.”

“I damn near burst?” she echoed blankly.

“Trying to take advantage of me,” he replied with virtuous indignation. “Look at me, for God’s sake! Shirt half off, fingerprints all over my chest, I smell of whatever kind of perfume you’ve bathed in...”

Her eyes widened. He was flirting with her. She’d had so little experience with flirting. But it seemed like fun.