Page 94 of Texas Honor

She colored a little. “You were...very quiet.”

“I always am,” he replied softly. “But I felt it all the same. You felt it just before I did,” he added with a gentle smile. “I don’t imagine you had the presence of mind to notice what was happening to me. I felt your body shuddering....”

“Don’t,” she whispered, pressing close.

“It shouldn’t embarrass you to talk about it,” he said at her ear, smoothing the dress against her back.

“I’ll get used to it,” she promised. “But it’s all so new.”

“Yes.” Everything seemed to be, with her. He closed his eyes as he rested his cheek against her hair. It smelled of flowers. So did she. Her body was soft and warm, and his began reacting to it all over again.

And this time, when she felt it, she laughed delightedly.

“You witch!” he cried, shocked into laughing himself. “I thought you were too shy to talk about it.”

“I’m only shy, not numb,” she teased, and moved even closer. “Gabe, I love it when...this happens. I love being a woman.”

His chest expanded until he thought it was going to burst. “We’d better say good night before I lose my head again.” He lifted his face and searched her eyes. “I’m sorry if I forced this on you. I want to marry you. But I didn’t mean to back you into a corner.”

She touched his shirt. “Actually it wasn’t a corner you backed me into, it was a sofa you laid me down on....”

“Stop that,” he murmured darkly, and pinched her.

“You stop it,” she returned with pert defiance. “I’m a big girl now, I could have said no if I’d wanted to.”

“Bullfeathers,” he snorted. “You were half out of your mind. I’m the one who should have—”

“Bullfeathers?” Her eyebrows arched.

He glowered down at her. “Well, there’s Becky,” he said, glancing away. “I can’t very well use my regular words around her, can I?”

Maggie laughed delightedly. He made the sun come out, he made her whole and free and so happy. “Oh, Gabe,” she breathed, and embraced him suddenly, holding him, hugging him. “You’re wonderful.”

He knew instinctively that, like Becky, she avoided physical contact most of the time. The fact that she was relaxed enough with him to initiate it now was devastating. He held her, ignoring the anguish of his body.

“Honey, I’m glad you think so,” he murmured against her hair. He smoothed it, admiring its silky texture. His arms contracted gently, and he smiled. “I never imagined it would feel like that,” he said absently, and nuzzled her cheek. “I used to dream about undressing you, touching you. Long after you left here, you’d invade my dreams. I should have realized then...”

“Realized what?” she murmured dreamily.

He stopped, shocking himself with what had popped into his mind. He ignored it, put it away quickly. No, that wasn’t going to happen; he wouldn’t let it.

“Nothing,” he said. “I was just thinking back.”

She stared across his broad chest to the window beyond. “Gabe...was it like that with her?”

He stiffened a little. “‘Her’?”

“The woman you were so much in love with.”

He drew a quick breath, hesitating. He didn’t want to talk about it, to remember it.

“I shouldn’t have asked,” Maggie said when she realized how personal a question she’d asked him. She lifted her head. “I haven’t the right to ask you such questions.”

“Haven’t you,” he replied quietly, “after the intimacy we’ve just shared?” He touched her face with oddly explorative fingers. “Maggie, it’s never been like that with anyone,” he said at last. “Not even...with her.”

She blossomed in front of his eyes, her face suddenly radiant, unexpectedly beautiful.

He laughed nervously. Imagine, feeling nervous with Maggie. He bent and brushed her mouth with his. “Go to bed. We’ll talk again in the morning, in broad daylight. You’re very seductive at night, and we’ve already committed one big blunder, thanks to my sudden lapse.”