Everlasting - Iris Johansen [39]
“Damn! Of course you are.” He was suddenly kneeling beside her. He picked up her bra and slipped it on her. He quickly fastened it with hands that were much steadier than when he had taken it off.
Her sweater followed and he was reaching for her jeans when she stopped him. “I'll do the rest.”
“No,” he said curtly. “We have to get you dressed as soon as possible. As it is, I've probably made you ill. Why the hell didn't you stop me?”
She stared at him bemusedly as he pulled up her jeans and fastened them swiftly. “I didn't think of it. I don't believe I was thinking at all at that particular moment.”
“Well, I should have thought of it.” He jammed her left foot into her boot and then smoothed the soft suede over her ankle. “If I had been thinking at all.” Then he was putting her right foot into the other boot. “All I was doing was feeling, dammit. I didn't care about anything but stopping that hellish…” His voice trailed off as he looked up at her. “I'm sorry, Kira. Will you forgive me?”
“There's nothing to forgive,” she said softly. “I don't even know why you think there should be. You're right, I could have said no at any moment and I think you would have stopped.” She paused. “I didn't say no.”
“I didn't give you much opportunity, did I? I practically kidnapped you from the caravan, pulled you up the hill, and demanded—”
Her fingers swiftly covered his lips. “I'm not a victim. You insult me by insinuating that I'd let myself become one. You took nothing I didn't want to give.” She smiled. “Now, don't you think you'd better get dressed? You're the one who's going to catch cold.”
“I seldom feel the cold,” he said, still gazing at her intently. “You have every right to be angry with me, you know. I should have waited for the ceremony tonight. I cheated you.”
“You didn't cheat me. The ceremony was Marna's idea, not mine. I think I like this better anyway. What happened here was just between the two of us. No mysterious traditions, no mondava.”
“You're wrong. The mondava was here. We merely anticipated it.”
He was speaking of the physical joining, she realized with a pang. Now that he'd had her, he might not want to go through Marna's binding, formal ritual. “I've been meaning to speak to you. Marna and I had a talk last night.” She looked fixedly at the trunk of a beech tree beyond his shoulder. “She explained about the mondava ceremony. Perhaps it would be a good idea if we didn't go through with it.”
“The hell you say.” Zack's voice was so violent that her gaze ricocheted back to his face. His expression was as hard and grim as his tone. “I think you'd better reconsider. We made a deal, dammit. I know I've just acted with all the tact and skill of a caveman, but that doesn't mean I'll always be that crude. You don't have to marry me, but it won't stain the family escutcheon to go through with this ceremony. It's not even legal in any other country or society. You can at least give me the mondava.” He stood up and quickly began to pull on his clothes. “The ceremony will go through on schedule. Get used to the idea.”
She was gazing bewilderedly at him. “Zack, you don't understand. It was you—”
He made a movement with the edge of his hand like the slicing of a knife. It was a curiously Indian gesture, the first she had seen him make. “It's decided. The discussion is over.” He turned and strode swiftly away, leaving her to stare after him with a dazed look on her face.
She'd had no idea her words would touch off such an explosion. It appeared that Zack was aware that the ceremony tonight constituted a commitment and wasn't at all averse to it. She felt a sudden surge of happiness so intense she was a little dizzy. He must have some feeling for her, other than desire, if that volatile break in Zack's usually tranquil demeanor was anything to go by.
She jumped to her feet and gathered up both Zack's jacket and her own. She stood a moment and looked out over the hills, breathing in the aromatic scent of pines and earth and the myriad subtle fragrances that composed