Yesterday's Roses (29 page)

With a small cry she jerked her hand away, struggling to escape from between his legs. Never in her life had she been so mortified.

“Sweetheart. Look at me,” Jake ordered, catching her shoulders in an immobilizing grip.

She shook her head with a sob and continued to try to squirm from his grasp. She wanted to die. Die! But since she knew that was bound not to happen, she would have to settle for running away and hiding like the coward she was. What he must think of her, fondling him like one of Coralie's girls!

Jake tightened his hold on her shoulders and drew her near. Bending close to her ear, he whispered, “It's all right. You're welcome to touch me there any time you want. I like it.”

She grew still at his words.
He liked it.
Turning her head ever so slightly, she stole a glance at his face. His lips were curled in a tender smile and his eyes were darkened with … what? No man had ever looked at her in quite that way before. It made her tingle all the way down to her toes.

Shyly, she cleared her throat. “I-I've never touched a man's—uh—you know—before.”

“And aside from peeking at mine, I doubt if you've ever really looked at one either.”

Turning as scarlet as a field of poppies, she shook her head.

“Then it seems as if your education in anatomy has been sadly neglected. Perhaps you would like to make an
intimate examination
of mine?”

She gulped and stared down at the bulge beneath his dressing gown. She
was
curious.

Cupping her chin in his palm, Jake forced her to look into his eyes. “All you have to do is to say yes, Hallie. Then I'll sit here quietly while you conduct your research.” At least he hoped he'd have enough control to sit still. He was beginning to seriously question his sanity at making such a suggestion.

Hallie chewed her lip indecisively for a moment, staring into his smoldering green eyes.

He nodded his encouragement.

“Yes,” she sighed, almost inaudibly.

Chapter 18

With his gaze holding hers captive, Jake reached down and loosened the tie at his waist. As he leaned back in the chair, the silk robe slithered open. He smiled and nodded again.

Slowly Hallie let her gaze drop from Jake's face to the broad expanse of his bare chest. Over the months since she'd seen him nude, she had often found herself daydreaming about the magnificence of his physique. That is, before she gave herself a mental slap and accused her mind of liberally embellishing the memory. After all, no man could be that perfect. Could he?

Jake could.
She sighed inwardly. And it seemed that she wasn't losing her wits after all. He as just as she remembered, with skin like tawny satin, impossibly fine and smooth. Just looking at him made her fingertips tingle to explore its texture. Hesitantly Hallie raised her hand, and then paused to meet his gaze again, seeking permission to touch.

Jake nodded his consent. Drawing a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the chair. Waiting.
He was crazy, definitely crazy, to willingly submit to such torture.

With trembling hands, Hallie lightly traced the shape of Jake's strongly sculpted muscles. He felt every bit as good as he looked, silk over granite with a sprinkling of dark hair that tickled her fingertips.

Experimentally, she caressed his flat nipple. She could feel him quiver as it hardened beneath her hand. The ache coiling in her belly tightened as she remembered how wonderful it had felt when he stroked her own sensitive nipple, and she wondered if her touch there made him feel the same way. When she looked up to ask him, she saw him watching her through narrowed eyes, his provocative lips slightly parted as if in a silent moan.

Somehow he managed to nod at her questioning look.
She was driving him insane, touching him like that.
He clamped his teeth hard into the flesh of his inner cheek and tried to think of his plans to expand his shipping operation in Panama City.
The cost of transferring building materials between …

But it didn't work, and he gasped uncontrollably as she teased his other nipple. Damn! All he could think of was wrestling his fiery temptress down to the rug and plunging deep into her woman's flesh until he found his long-denied release.

He's so well formed,
Hallie thought, completely unaware of Jake's insistent hunger. She let her fingertips trail from his chest down to his tapering waist, her pulse surging at his masculine splendor. Every muscle was as carefully defined as if it had been molded by the hands of a great artist. Why, he was even more magnificent than the sculptures she had seen in Europe, and she had been told that they represented perfection of the male form.

She stopped to push his dressing gown away from his side and bent close to examine where he had been shot. He shifted slightly to allow her a better view. The wound had healed well, though the scar was still dark pink from its relative newness. Impulsively, she pressed tender kisses across its length. It was a shame that his beautiful torso had been marred. It was almost as bad as the defacing of a rare work of art, which was how Hallie viewed his breathtaking looks.

Jake groaned at the feel of Hallie's lips, warm and soft, against his side.
He was going to die—explode—with wanting her!
It was terrible, the throbbing ache in his groin. He couldn't remember ever being so painfully aroused. He squirmed with discomfort as he felt her hands trace over the curve of his hips. And when she abruptly changed directions to move inward toward the source of his yearning, he almost howled with need.

Hallie could only stare at his sex straining hard against the naked contours of his belly. Amazing. She rested her hands on either side of him, her fingers splayed low on his groin, taking care not to touch his swollen length. His whole body seemed to convulse at her contact.

Biting her lip, she looked up at his face and was stunned to see it twisted into a mask of raw suffering. “Jake?” she whispered, suddenly concerned. The man looked to be in agony.

He opened his eyes enough to stare at her through slits and somehow managed to grunt. She had leaned so close to him that he could feel the warmth of her breath caressing his manhood. God! Now he understood the true meaning of the word “torment.”

She frowned. “Are you in pain?”

“Good God, yes!” And the ache was increasing a hundredfold with every passing second. Her hands were scant inches from him now, and moving closer. An agonized sob escaped his lips.

“Poor darling. Did you have fish for dinner? There has been an outbreak of illness from bad fish—”

He cut her off with another groan. “I didn't have fish.”

She continued to stare at him, unconsciously teasing his black curls with one fingertip. When she felt him jump beneath her touch and heard him stifle an oath, understanding crashed through her mind.

After clearing her throat several times, she asked, “Are your—uh—male parts troubling you?”

He made a choking noise and nodded.

Lord! He must be very sore indeed. His face was flushed a deep red, and his breath was coming in great, heaving rasps. She stared down at his inflamed flesh. Was that why he'd been so eager to have her examine him? Had he been too ashamed to tell her about it, thus preferring to show her?

Studying him closely, she scolded, “I realize it's embarrassing to discuss afflictions of your male parts, but you really should have mentioned it before it became so painful.” She could see a muscle spasm in his jaw as he tried unsuccessfully to clamp back a moan.
Poor, poor man! He really is suffering!

If Jake hadn't been so consumed by the engulfing fires of his lust, he would have laughed. For all her education and experience, Hallie Gardiner was still an innocent. She honestly believed he was suffering from some frightful medical condition. Undoubtedly, she was about to offer some sort of treatment.

He grinned inwardly at that.
Come to think of it, I could use some of her tender care down there.
Screwing his eyes shut, Jake uttered a pathetic moan and graced her with a look of abject misery.

It worked like a charm.

“Jake, darling. I know it hurts, but I'll need to examine you closer if I'm to find the problem.”

He groaned weakly in response.

“Poor darling,” she cooed in a soothing manner, moving her fingers closer to the source of his distress. “If I promise to be gentle, do you think you can bear having it touched?”

He made a sound halfway between a moan and a chuckle. “Probably not. But go ahead anyway.”

“How long have you had this problem?” she asked, carefully encircling his shaft with her fingers to pull it away from his belly. Lightly she prodded it, noting the way the pulse thundered down its length. She heard him sob and saw the muscles tighten in his belly as she applied pressure, but aside from that he held very still.
He was such a brave man!

Jake inhaled through his teeth. “It's been in this condition since I met you,” he muttered breathlessly.
No lie there.

Nodding, Hallie moved her hand upward to run her finger over the silky red tip. This time he let out a yelp and his hips heaved violently.

“Sorry,” she murmured, caressing his inner thigh in an attempt to calm him. He jerked away from her hand, groaning.

Utterly perplexed now, she inquired, “Did you injure yourself, perhaps? I've read that it's not uncommon for men to sustain damage in that area from riding accidents.”

He pretended to consider the question for a moment. Shaking his head negatively, he sighed, “No.”

She tilted her head to one side, her brow creased in concentration. “There are several other male problems I've read about. Perhaps—” Suddenly a look of shock settled over her features. “Jake Parrish! You haven't been indulging in relations with Coralie's girls, have you?”

“I haven't indulged in relations with anyone since before the war,” he replied, stifling his grin at her self-righteous expression. “I can safely assure you that I'm free from those kinds of diseases.”

For some reason, Hallie found herself absurdly pleased by his answer. Smiling inwardly, she quickly finished her examination. After gently poking his masculine sac and feeling his belly, she admitted, “I can't figure out what's wrong with you. Aside from your pain, you seem normal enough, at least according to everything I've read. Of course, since I've never treated a man's private parts before, I'm no authority on their afflictions.”

She glanced up at his face apologetically, expecting to be met with a look of bleak despair. Instead, he was staring down at her with one corner of his mouth curled in a half-smile. How typical of her brave Jake to smile during such an ordeal!

Hallie gave him a reassuring smile of her own. “Don't worry, darling. I know a male doctor who's qualified to treat such problems. I'll have him look at you first thing in the morning. Until then, I could rub you with some of Celine's numbing salve. Or if you prefer, I could make you an ice pack.”

Jake couldn't stop himself from chuckling at her suggestion. “The last thing I want is to have a male doctor poking at me down there, and I hardly think salve or an ice pack is necessary.” He raised his one eyebrow sardonically as he guided her hand back to his hardness. “Look closely, Dr. Gardiner. It's true I'm afflicted … with a plain, ordinary case of lust.”

Gasping, Hallie tried to pull her hand away. But Jake was too fast, catching her wrist and forcing her palm to remain against him.

“Don't you know that men harden when they become aroused?” he asked, cupping his other hand beneath her chin and forcing her to look at him.

She gave him an indignant look. “I'm not completely ignorant about the workings of the male body. And I understand about your—uh—turgid state. But from what

I've read, arousal is supposed to be pleasurable for a man, not painful.”

Jake lightly traced the shape of her lower lip with his thumb. “When a man is denied sexual release for long periods of time, such as I've been, his arousal begins to hurt. And being intimately handled by a beautiful woman only makes the condition worse. Damned unbearable, actually.”

She flushed scarlet at that. Lord! It was all so wickedly improper, the sensual nature of their discussion.

Yet, kneeling between his legs, mesmerized by the scintillating hunger of his gaze, she didn't care. Heaven help her! She liked touching him intimately, liked the way it made the longing build up inside her. If this was sinful and made her fallen woman, then let her fall.

Emboldened by her thoughts, Hallie brazenly caressed his rigid length with her thumb. His back arched wildly and he released her wrist with a growl. The uncontrolled violence of his reaction made Hallie feel powerful … and desirable.

Placing her hands demurely on his thighs, yet never once letting her eyes stray from his impressive display, she whispered, “Are all men so, well, large?” He looked enormous.

Jake's mouth twisted into a roguish smile. “Of course not,” he teased. “I happen to be generously endowed. A veritable giant among men.”

Her jaw dropped and her eyes bulged as she stared at the part in question. “Yes. I—I see.”

For a moment he considered letting her believe his manly boast. But she looked so serious, studying him like he was some sort of rare specimen, that he relented. Chuckling at her charming gullibility, Jake confessed, “I'm just teasing, Mission Lady. Though I don't make a habit of studying other men, I'd guess I'm fairly average in that department.”

“Wretched man!” Hallie squealed, reaching up to tickle his bare ribs playfully.

Jake laughed and made a grab for her hands, but she was too fast for him. “Ask any man about his endowments,” he managed between guffaws. “And he's bound to exaggerate a bit.”

“You men are insufferable liars! Every last one of you! You deserve to suffer with your lust.” Giggling, she resumed her attack on his ribs. He shrieked and doubled over, thrashing about in an attempt to evade her ruthlessly tickling hands.

Practically howling with laughter now, Jake lunged forward out of the chair and wrestled Hallie to the carpet. Growling with mock ferociousness, he rolled her onto her back. She grabbed for him again, but he easily captured both her hands in his and pinned them to her sides.

Straddling her wildly thrashing hips, he chuckled, “Lust is a highly contagious disease. Why, I hear it's reaching epidemic proportions, infecting both men
and
women. Come to think of it, you do look a bit flushed, Dr. Gardiner. Could it be that you're coming down with a case of it yourself?”

He grew suddenly serious as he stared at her. The way she was lying beneath him, smiling up at him with maddening boldness, was enough to make him moan with need. His Mission Lady, swathed from head to toe in layers of concealing fabric with her hair scraped back in a tight braid, was more seductive than a naked French courtesan. She ignited his blood, and his desire to possess her was becoming more ravenous with every passing second.

Moving his face close to hers until he could inhale the sweetness of her breath, Jake purred, “Perhaps I should conduct an
intimate examination
to find out if you've been infected.”

As he covered her lips with his in a sweeping kiss, he could taste the hunger in her. She was exquisite in her response, sucking his tongue into her mouth and twining it with her own. With a moan, he felt his restraint begin to lapse as her hands slipped from his now loosened grasp and snaked beneath his open robe, stroking the length of his bare back.

In one fluid motion, Jake tore himself away from the enchantment of her lips and balanced himself on one elbow. She looked so beautiful, lying there in voluptuous submission. The velvet robe had fallen open and he could see the soft curves of her body through the thin linen of the nightshirt. His pulse drummed in his ears as his gaze skimmed from the dark circles crowning her breasts down to the barely veiled mound of her auburn curls.