She finally closed her eyes with a smile, listening to branches snapping and rotten logs quietly breaking as Jack gathered their night supply of fuel. So he liked her passion, did he? Well, she’d show him some passion. The man had to go to sleep sometime tonight.

He returned twenty minutes later, set down the wood, and surveyed camp. “You’re not wearing the ski pants,” he said, eyeing them on the branch.

“I thought it would be warmer if we don’t wear much clothing, so our body heat can transfer to each other.”

He sat down beside her and took off his boots, placing them within reach. He then pulled a compact revolver from the back waist of his pants and tucked it inside one of the boots.

Megan scooted over to make room for him to lie down. “You should take off your pants. They’re damp.”

He hesitated, eyeing her over his shoulder. “We’re going to have to snuggle.”

“If I remember correctly, you’re a very good snuggler.”

His cheeks flushed deep red. He quickly stood and dropped his pants but left his long johns on. “Scoot toward the fire. I’ll sleep in the back.”

“But then you’ll get the edge of the sleeping bag to cover up with.” It was only a single bag, and opened up, there wasn’t enough material to both lie on and cover up with.

He picked her up when she didn’t move fast enough and set her down closer to the fire. “You’ll have me covering you,” he said, crawling in behind her and on his side so they were spooned together.

He wrapped one arm around her waist and cupped her belly protectively, tucked his legs over hers, and settled down with a tired sigh. Megan stared into the roaring fire, listening as his breathing slowly evened out, and she knew he had fallen asleep. What was it with guys, that they could simply sleep on demand?

She wasn’t so lucky, as her mind kept flitting from one thought to another. She thought about Kenzie and the creature they’d seen, and about Mark Collins and her samples he apparently wanted. And she thought about Jack’s proposal, her heart telling her to go for it, and her practical left brain cautioning her to wait until she got the report from the investigator.

But then she thought about the two months she’d shared with Jack on the tundra, and how they had been the happiest two months of her life.

Megan finally turned in his embrace and whispered, “Make love to me, Jack.”

Chapter Sixteen

J ack woke with a start, unsure if he had dreamed the words or if Megan really had said them. Either way was trouble. When he opened his eyes, Megan’s face was mere inches from his, her expression expectant. Before he could say anything, she cupped his cheeks and touched her lips to his—not with her usual damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead urgency, but with endearingly gentle determination.

His arms automatically tightened around her. “This isn’t wise, sweetheart,” he whispered, even as his lips moved of their own volition across her jaw toward her ear. “You’re just restless and edgy right now.”

“No, I’m horny,” she said, her hands gripping his hair to better direct his exploration of her throat. She tossed back her head to expose her neck, and arched into him with a shiver.

When in hell had she removed all her clothes?

“I want you, Jack. I want to feel you inside me.”

It sure as hell didn’t get any more direct than that, did it? And she hadn’t called him Wayne, so she was fully aware of what she was asking. Having as little willpower as a bear in a honey hive when it came to Megan, Jack locked his mouth over hers before she could change her mind.

She rewarded him with a soft sound of approval and released his hair to slide her hands up under the hem of his shirt, not stopping until she reached her target. Jack knew she was particularly fond of his chest, since she’d told him often enough.

Being quite fond of hers, too, he covered one of her breasts with his free hand, surprised at how full it felt—until he remembered why. He handled her gently, letting his thumb brush softly across her distended nipple, which proved to be very sensitive. Megan’s soft sound of pleasure turned into a full-blown moan as she arched into his touch, her legs moving restlessly against his as her fingers curled into the muscles of his chest.

Her response encouraged Jack to continue reacquainting himself with her beautiful body, all while drinking his fill of her equally delightful mouth. She obviously had the same thought, as one of her hands left his chest in search of a more interesting target.

Jack chased after her, actually surprised she’d waited as long as she had. “Slow down,” he whispered into her mouth. “We’ve got all night, sweetheart.”

She skillfully dodged his attempt to capture her hand and had her fingers wrapped around him before he could even rear back. Jack sucked in his breath and released a shuddering sigh.

Marauding Megan was back.

Lord, he loved her for knowing exactly what she wanted and not being afraid to go after it. Obviously liking what she found inside his long johns, she made another interesting sound, which Jack answered with a shout when her fingers feathered over his scrotum.

“Take off your clothes,” she murmured, wiggling around to tug at his shirt with her other hand.

He immediately sat up and pulled his shirt off over his head, then reached down and slid his long johns off without Megan’s help, as she was still locked on her target, determined to drive him mad. Just as soon as he was free of his clothes, Jack grabbed both her hands and wrestled them over her head so he could kiss her again.

He should have remembered that this in no way disabled her. Now that they were both naked, her toes became her new weapons of choice. She ran one foot up the length of his leg and somehow managed to wiggle halfway beneath him so that he settled between her thighs.

Locking both of her hands in one of his without breaking their kiss, Jack slid his free hand down between them and had just found her sensitive little bud when he was poked—several times and rather sharply—in the belly.

“Holy hell!” he yelped, scrambling back so suddenly he fell off the bed of boughs. He stared at Megan’s naked, moving stomach. She looked like she’d swallowed a basketball, it was so perfectly round—except when the tiny creature inside was doing calisthenics.

Dammit to hell, he couldn’t make love to her with their baby in there!

Megan burst out laughing. “I wish you could see your face right now,” she chortled. She stopped caressing her wiggling belly and reached out to him. “Come on, Jack. You’re going to get frostbite.”

He couldn’t stop staring at her belly. “We can’t…I’m not going to…” He finally looked at her. “Our kid will know what we’re doing, Megan. He’ll feel me when…when I’m…” He trailed off to a whisper, shaking his head because he couldn’t even say it out loud in front of the baby.

She laughed at him again. “Of course he’ll feel us. He’s supposed to. Having his parents make love is reassuring to him. Come on,” she said, wiggling her fingers as she reached out to him. “Show our baby how much you love us both.”

Jack wiped a hand over his sweating face. He couldn’t do it now if God Himself held a gun to his head. He climbed out of the snow and back into bed, pulling her down beside him so they were spooned together with her back to him.

She gave a frustrated huff, then started snickering. He threw a leg over hers to make her quit squirming. “Go to sleep. You need your rest. We don’t know if we’ll have to walk out of here tomorrow or not.”

Her entire body expanded, then deflated with a heavy sigh. “You are such a nerd.”

Megan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Of all the parochial, nonsensical notions—imagine not being able to make love because the baby might feel it? Did he honestly think pregnant women didn’t have sex? And now that she’d made up her mind to do it with him, she wasn’t about to not do it for another few months, that was for sure.