Wolfe looked uneasily at Jessica. He sensed the wild grief in her as clearly as she had sensed it in him that morning. Yet there were no tears in her eyes, no resonances of passion in her voice.

He didn’t know her this way. The realization frightened him.

Wolfe’s hands flashed out, pulling Jessica into his arms. «I won’t take you into the wild with me,» he said harshly.

«I know.»

«Is that why you’re so eager for me to hunt mustangs? Are you already tired of having me in your bed and body?»

The words were hardly out of Wolfe’s mouth before Jessica was kissing him as though she expected to die in the next moment and wanted him never to forget what she had been like when fully alive. He kissed her in the same way until they both were breathing brokenly, consumed by passion.

«Fill me,» Jessica whispered against his mouth. «Fill me until I can’t remember what it is to be separate from you. Fill me as though it were the last time.»

With a hoarse sound, Wolfe swept the filmy layers of Jessica’s nightgown above her waist. He whispered her name as he knelt between her legs and drew them up over his thighs. The melting ease of his penetration told him more about her love than any words could have. The sweetness of being possessed by him and possessing him in turn dragged a husky sound from the back of her throat.

«More,» Jessica said urgently. «Wolfe, I must have more of you.»

«You’re too small. I’ll hurt you.»

«Please…»

She pulled at him, straining against him, asking for more of him, asking for all that he had to give, her words a dark fire licking over him, making him shudder with a need unlike any he had known before. With a hoarse sound, he slid his arms beneath her knees and lifted her legs, opening her without reservation. She moaned and bit her lip and arched against him, asking for more. Her silken heat spilled over him, underlining her whispered pleas.

«To think I called you a nun,» Wolfe said hoarsely. «You are fire, elf. Burn for me.»

Then he gave her what she was crying for, filling her, sinking into her so deeply that she felt him all through her body until she was stretched on a golden rack of ecstasy and she burned.

Wolfe felt Jessica’s wild release begin and laughed with elemental triumph. He moved slowly, deeply, dragging cries from her, watching her burn, burning with her as the silky fire of her ecstasy fused their bodies together. He drove repeatedly into her, sinking more deeply into her fire, wanting it never to end. But she felt too good, she lured him too profoundly. Her words and rippling cries and sleek body demanded that he give himself to her as completely as she had given herself to him.

Even as Wolfe tried to hold back, he knew it was too late. He was too much a part of her, his body so deeply joined with hers that he didn’t know where he ended and she began, two flames intertwined, burning redoubled with each breath. Fighting no more, he gave himself to her and to the ecstasy that burned ever higher, feeding on his release, renewing and consuming both of them until they burned as a single flame, inseparable.

CALEB was waiting for Jessica in the kitchen. He looked at her pale, drawn face and bleak eyes and said something savage beneath his breath.

«You really mean to go through with this damn fool idea?» he demanded.

«Yes.»

«Did you tell Wolfe?»

«That wasn’t part of our bargain. I agreed not to set out alone if you would agree not to tell Wolfe that I was going.»

Caleb took off his hat, ran long fingers through his black hair, and said bluntly, «I think this is a piss-poor idea.»

«I’m aware of that,» Jessica said in a clipped voice. «I’m also aware that Wolfe would probably kill Reno orRafe if they helped me. Wolfe won’t kill you.»

«You’re a lot more certain of that than I am,» Caleb retorted.

«Wolfe will be angry, but he knows there is no other woman for you except Willow. Reno orRafe wouldn’t touch me, either, but I’m afraid to test Wolfe’s temper that far. He might shoot before he asked questions. He’s frighteningly good with that rifle.»

«Seems like a man as possessive as Wolfe is just might love his wife.»

«Desire isn’t love,» Jessica said tightly.

«Jessi —» Caleb began, only to be interrupted.

«I trapped Tree That Stands Alone into marriage. I’m setting him free.»

«Jessi —»

«Are the horses ready?» she asked, cutting across his attempts to speak.

There was a taut silence.

«I’m damn tempted to ride out after Wolfe,» Caleb said finally.

«I can’t stop you.»

«And I can’t stop you, either, is that it? You’ll cut and run off in the wild the first chance you get, and the Devil take the hindmost.»

«Of course. That’s the only reason you agreed to take me to the stage in the first place.»

«Blackmail.»

«In a word, yes.»

Caleb’s mouth turned down as he looked at the darkness and determination in Jessica’s eyes. It reminded him of the time Willow had set out alone on Ishmael in the middle of the night rather than go through with a marriage she believed Caleb didn’t want. Willow had come very close to dying because of her determination that Caleb be set free. The memory of nearly losing her still haunted him at odd moments, making him go to Willow and hold her, reassuring himself that she was alive, safe, his.

Jessica was no less determined to do what she believed was right than Willow had been. All Caleb could do was see that Jessica stayed safe until Wolfe had a chance to sort out the mess.

Grimly, Caleb pulled out his six-gun, spun the cylinder to check the load, and holstered the gun with a smoothness that told its own deadly story.

«The horses are waiting, Mrs.Lonetree.»

Tears came unbidden to her eyes. «My name is Lady JessicaCharteris.»

«CALL it,» Reno said.

«Heads,» saidRafe.

«Tails.»

Rafeflipped the coin.

Reno’s hand flashed out, caught the coin, and smacked it down on the back of his hand. He pocketed the coin without bothering to look at it.

«Tails,» Reno said, turning away.

As he reached for his horse’s rein, the bullwhipRafe was holding rippled and writhed as though alive. Suddenly, the tip cracked with the sound of a pistol shot.

Reno turned towardRafe, who was coiling the whip with swift motions of his hands.

«That’s your free one, Matt,» Rafe said flatly. «Don’t do it again. Which horses do you want?»

«Only one of us is going. Me. You’re staying with Willow.»

Rafesmiled thinly. «I figured that out real quick. What you haven’t figured out is Wolfe was so eager to get finished hunting mustangs and get back to his wife that he left here at a dead run.»

Reno hesitated, listening.

«By the time you catch up and the two of you get back to the ranch,» Rafe continued, «Caleb will have a hell of a long lead on you. So which of Caleb’s horses are best for making up time over rough country?»

«Willow said to be sure one of the horses we had waiting for Wolfe was Ishmael.»

«All right. Who else?»

Reno’s smile was as hard and brilliant as his eyes. «Doesn’t matter. Everything Caleb left here is better than anything he took with him. That boy was in no hurry to put daylight between himself and Wolfe.»

Rafeblinked and then laughed softly. «Tricky.»

«Smart. Wolfe is going to come down off the mountain like a bluenorther.»

«Maybe. And maybe he’ll just letJessi go. From what I’ve seen, he wasn’t any too pleased to be married to her.»

Pale green eyes assessedRafe before Reno showed his teeth in a wolfish smile. «And that’s just what you were planning to rub Wolfe’s face in, wasn’t it?»

Rafe’ssmile was as cold as his gray eyes. «That’s a fact. He was hard on her.»

«He had some cause, andJessi was the first one to say so.»

«All the same, I’d like to be the one to tell Wolfe.»