Reno was standing quietly, watching Eve rather than the slow wheeling of the stars overhead. She wondered where he had been, and why he had told her to go to sleep when he walked out of camp alone, and if he knew she was awake now.

Then he spoke to her, answering one question; he knew she was awake.

«Can’t sleep?» Reno asked in a low voice.

«No,» Eve admitted.

He walked over and sat on his heels next to her bedroll.

«Know why?» he asked.

She shook her head and asked, «Can’t you sleep?»

«No.»

«Know why?» she asked, echoing him.

Reno’s smile flashed faintly in the starlight.

«Yes,» he said.

«Are you worried about Slater?»

«I ought to be.»

«But you aren’t?» Eve persisted.

«Not enough to keep me awake.»

«Then why aren’t you sleeping?»

«You.»

Eve propped herself up on her elbow and stared at the darkness and thin starlight that hid as much as they revealed of Reno’s expression.

«Am I that noisy when I roll over?» she asked wryly.

He laughed. «No. You’re as graceful and quiet as a cat.»

Eve waited, watching him with eyes that gleamed in the dim light.

«But every time you move,» Reno continued, «I get to thinking how warm you are under the blankets, and how much I’d like to be lying beside you, touching all that sweet warmth.»

«I thought you didn’t want…» Eve’s voice faded.

«You?» Reno asked.

«Yes,» she whispered. «You hardly even looked at me while we made camp.»

«I didn’t dare. I wanted you too much.»

«Why does that make you angry? Do you think I’ll refuse you?»

Reno let out his breath in a stifled curse.

«I haven’t been like this since I was a boy,» he said roughly. «I don’t like it one damn bit.»

«I’m not teasing you. I lov —» Eve corrected herself instantly, «Iwantyou too much to be a good tease.»

She held the blankets aside in silent invitation.

«You’re tired, and so am I,» Reno said in a curt voice. «Tomorrow is going to be another long day. I should have enough self-control not to bother you.»

«I want you,» she repeated.

«Eve,» Reno whispered, trying and failing to control the wild rush of heat that had taken him at her words.

With an almost soundless groan of hunger and need, he knelt and then stretched out next to Eve beneath the blankets. She felt the fine trembling of his hands on her face and was amazed that she could affect his strength so much.

«I don’t want to hurt you,» he said hoarsely. «I want you so damn much, and you were so tight. …»

«It’s all right.»

Eve moved her head, kissing both of Reno’s hands in turn while he breathed her name into the fragrant warmth of her hair.

«It’s all right,» she repeated with each brush of her lips over his skin. «I want to be a part of you again.»

«Sugar girl,» he whispered. «Sweet and hot.»

He discovered within the yielding luxury of her mouth a feminine hunger and demand that raced through his blood and brain like straight whiskey. The kiss began gently but quickly changed, becoming a hungry, searching prelude to the deeper joining that would soon come.

Reno tried to rein in the wild need that had been eating at him since he had first tasted Eve in the liquid embrace of the pool, but control kept sliding away from him. He took the velvet heat of her mouth with deep, repeated movements of his tongue, probing and stroking, wanting her with a violence that was like nothing he had ever known before.

When Reno finally forced himself to end the kiss, he was wholly, painfully aroused. He braced himself on his elbow and closed his eyes, fighting for control.

It was impossible. Every breath he took was infused with the delicious scent of lilac and a woman’s secret warmth.

«Reno?»

The huskiness in Eve’s voice was another caress, making him want to groan. He touched her cheek with fingers that weren’t entirely steady.

«I hope you want me half as much as that kiss suggested,» he said in a low voice.

Eve took his hand and slowly moved it down to her breasts. Reno’s breath broke when he felt the nipple changing at his touch, becoming a tight velvet peak in a single rushing instant.

«I wish it were full sunlight,» he said.

«Why?»

Instead of answering, Reno bent and caught the tip of Eve’s breast between his lips, then took her deep into his mouth, pulling on her with hot, shifting pressures.

She made a throaty sound as her back arched in passionate reflex. His hands slid beneath her, holding her while he fed on the sweet flesh she had offered him. Her breasts were seduced and shaped by his mouth until they were full, flushed, and crowned by nipples that stood up hungrily against the sheer camisole.

Reno raised his head and looked at the proof of Eve’s desire. The sight did nothing to cool the savage hunger of his body.

«That’s why I wish it were sunlight,» he said huskily. «I want to see the pink buds swelling on top of your breasts.»

He laughed softly when he felt the wave of heat climb tangibly up Eve’s body at his words.

«And the sweet blush that comes when I talk about what I’m doing to you,» Reno said. «I’d like to see that, too.»

Eve made a sound that was half laughter, half embarrassment. Smiling, he bent down and took between his teeth one of the laces that tied her camisole. With small motions of his head, he tugged until the bow came undone.

«Take off your clothes, sugar girl.»

Reno felt the tremor that went through Eve as clearly as she did.

«I could do it,» he coaxed softly, «but then I’d have to let go of you. I don’t want to do that. You feel too damn good right where you are.»

He flexed his hands and tightened his arms, deepening the arch of Eve’s back until her nipples just brushed against his mustache. His smile was a lighter shade of night as he watched her shiver and twist restlessly, seeking a deeper caress.

«Gata,» Reno said thickly. «All supple and graceful. Undress for me. Want me as much as I want you.»

Eve’s fingers were clumsy as she undid the camisole. But even when wholly unfastened, the cloth didn’t slide free of her body. Damp from his mouth, the cotton clung to the hard nipples Reno had drawn from her breasts.

Hesitantly Eve peeled the thin fabric from her body. While she did, Reno kissed her breasts, her throat, her lips, taking tiny bites of her in between each nuzzling caress. He shifted just enough to allow her to get free of the camisole, but he never released her completely.

Soon the camisole lay beside the bedroll like a pale reflection of starlight.

«Keep going,» Reno whispered. «This time I want you to be completely naked.»

With shaking fingers, Eve undid her pantalets and pushed them slowly down her legs until she was as Reno wanted her, completely naked. Her skin glowed like the creamy petals of a night-blooming flower.

«Yes,» Reno whispered. «Like that. You’re beautiful. You should always be as God made you.»

He drew his mustache across Eve’s breasts as he lowered her back to the warm blankets. She shivered and bit back a cry of pleasure as heat shimmered through her in the wake of his caress. When the tip of his tongue fenced with her taut nipples, she twisted again, harder, wanting more than his teasing.

Reno gave Eve what she asked for, his mouth both caressing and demanding, his hand sliding down her body, seeking the sultry, delicate flesh that lay concealed between her legs. When he found her and touched her once, very lightly, she cried out.

Instantly Reno withdrew, for the memory of making Eve bleed haunted him. He clenched his teeth against the pain of wanting her and not having her.

«I’m sorry,» Reno said, sitting up. «I never meant to hurt you.»

«You didn’t.»

«You cried out.»

Eve touched his chest with fingers that trembled.

«Did I?» she asked huskily.

«Yes. Did I hurt you?»

«Hurt?» She shivered. «No.»

The masculine textures of muscle and hair lured Eve. She stroked Reno, liking the feel of him beneath her palm.

«Lie next to me again,» she whispered. «You make me too dizzy to sit up. Especially when you touch me like you just did. If I cried out, it was because your touch took the world away.»

Reno’s eyes narrowed against the sudden clenching of desire deep in his loins, a knife turning, bringing pain.

«You aren’t tender?» Reno asked.

As he spoke, he touched the thicket of hair that shielded Eve’s hidden warmth. Her breath came in brokenly, soft echo of the tongues of fire licking up at his touch.

«Sugar girl? Talk to me. Are you sore?»

«No. I ache, but it’s not…» Eve’s voice faded. «That is, it isn’t…»

«Isn’t what?»

«I…» She took a ragged breath. «I can’t…I don’t know how…to say it.»

«Embarrassed?» Reno asked gently.

She nodded.

«Try to tell me,» he coaxed. «I want to know if I do anything that hurts you.»

«How could you?» she muttered. «You’re not doing anything at all.»

Reno’s soft laughter was a rush of warmth across Eve’s breasts as he bent down to her. When he kissed the hardened tips, they tightened even more.

Sensual lightning went from Eve’s nipples to the pit of her stomach and beyond. In the wake of lightning came a twisting need that was close to pain.

«I ache, but not from what you’ve done,» Eve said, biting back a moan. «I ache from what youhaven’tdone.»

«Are you sure?»

«Yes!»