"Tyler!" She grabbed the towel on the chair, wrapped it around her, and stepped from the tub. Forgetting that he was supposed to be in jail, she asked eagerly, "Have you come to take me home?"
Tyler could feel the effect of her beauty shattering the lump in his middle. Or perhaps it was the eager light in her eyes that jolted his insides alive again. He'd known many beautiful women. None of them had made him feel like this. He wanted to wrap her in his arms, kiss her until she melted, and carry her off into the sunset.
But she didn't necessarily want the same things as he did. Sighing, Tyler refrained from reaching out for her. "Not necessarily. Looks to me like you've got a right cozy little place here." He gave a glance to the far corners of the room, noted another doorway, and strode over to inspect this possible hiding place.
Finding only another empty bedroom, one without the advantage of a mattress, Tyler faced Evie again. She was hastily tugging on her chemise without having toweled herself completely dry. The thin cotton clung to the moisture on her skin, leaving her nearly as naked as if she had not worn it at all. Silhouetted in the fire's light, her lovely figure made a tempting shadow beneath the garment, and Tyler caught his breath as his gaze found the outline of her legs and their juncture.
His fingers instinctively reached for the fastening of his gun belt. Principles flew out the window when confronted with the temptation of Evie in nearly nothing in the absolute privacy of this hideaway. Fear didn't enter those lovely dark eyes of hers as he lowered the belt to the nearest chair.
"Do you have any idea how long it's been since we've been alone together?" Tyler started across the floor toward her.
Evie clutched the open neck of her chemise and stared as Tyler approached. She wasn't prepared for this. Nothing could prepare her for the burning hunger she found in his eyes. Her skin was aflame even before he could reach for her. She felt consumed, reduced to cinders, and incapable of independent motion beneath that stare. A sudden breeze might blow her ashes across the floor, but nothing else would move her from this spot.
But as his hand cupped her elbow, he ignited a flame that restored her and caught her up in its raging glory. Evie slid her arms around Tyler's neck and arched her body against his, and he swept her into an embrace that threatened to consume them both.
Their mouths met and meshed and clung and devoured until they discovered that their starvation could not be satisfied with just this one contact. Evie shivered as Tyler carried her into the darkened bedroom, but she refused to release him after he lay her against the bare mattress. She clung to his shoulders and pulled him down until he was sprawled over her, his heavy weight pushing her back into the feather down.
"My God, Evie, I don't want to rape you. Give me time..."
But her warm hands were already inside his shirt, stroking, touching, making him feel like a warrior god as he jerked his shirt and coat free and started on his trouser buttons. If he didn't release them, they would almost certainly pop open of their own accord.
She was so soft and enticing beneath him. Tyler felt rough and grimy and completely undeserving of the scented silk and warmth of her, but her eager hands pulled at his clothing, and he had no intention of stopping.
He cursed at the tangled confinement of his trousers and his drawers and finally forced himself to sit up and remove his boots and clothing before returning to her. In his absence, Evie had flung off her chemise, and Tyler reveled in his unobstructed access to her breasts. He felt her arch off the bed as he took one nipple in his mouth, and it took all his self-control not to come into her then. He wanted it so bad that he ached.
"Tyler, please, now," she whispered in his ear as her hands rode down his back, their motion giving meaning to her words.
He had wanted to take time, to love her slowly, to show her how he felt, but after a night like this past one, they were both raging out of control. The brush of those soft thighs he had just seen silhouetted in the