«Didn’t you?» Wolfe leaned over, flattening his hands on either side of Jessica’s body. «First you ask me to touch you, then you say you’ll never suffer a man’stouch.AmI not a man?»

«But you are so much more than other men,» she whispered. With trembling fingertips she traced the black line of Wolfe’s eyebrows and the fierce brackets on either side of his mouth. «So much more…»

Wolfe couldn’t prevent the primitive shiver of response that went through him at Jessica’s words, at her touch, at the emotion in her eyes.

«Jessi,» he breathed, shaken. He turned his head and kissed her fingertips, then spoke before he could think better of it. «There are ways of touching that will give you intense pleasure, yet leave you still a virgin. Do you understand me?»

Slowly, she shook her head, watching him with luminous eyes.

«I can give you ecstasy without taking your maidenhead,» Wolfe said simply.

Jessica’s eyes widened.

He smiled. «Oh, elf, the look on your face…»

«Is such a thing possible?» she asked, ignoring the heat creeping up her cheeks.

«Quite possible. There will be no pain for you, no risk of pregnancy. You will be a virgin still.»

«How can that be?»

Wolfe bent down and brushed his lips against Jessica’s ear. «I’ll show you, but you’ll have to help me.»

«How?»

«I’ll show you that, too.»

13

Very gently, Wolfe’s fingers slid into the wild, silky depths of Jessica’s hair. He rubbed her scalp slowly.

«You have wonderful hands,» she said, sighing. «They quite unravel me.»

Smiling, Wolfe traced the rim of Jessica’s ear with his tongue. She made a startled sound as sensations coursed through her, leaving a trail ofgoosebumps on her arms.

«Such a tiny cry,» he said. «Did I frighten you?»

Jessica shook her head and watched him with heavy-lidded eyes. The scent of roses curled up from her unbound hair. Wolfe’s nostrils flared as he took in the scent.

«Tell me how it made you feel,» he murmured.

«Is that how you want me to help you?»

«That’s one way.»

«You made me feel shivery and yet very still at the same time,» Jessica said, watching Wolfe. «I think a rosebud must feel that way at the first touch of the sun.»

Wolfe’s breath came out in a silent rush as he fought for control. «You humble me, Jessi.»

She would have asked why, but the tip of Wolfe’s tongue was tracing her ear once more, drawing forth another delicate tremor of sensation. Her breath caught again.

«I didn’t know,» she said.

«What?» he murmured against her ear.

«How sensitive my ear was.» She sighed and stretched her neck, silently offering herself to his mouth. «And how good my Lord Wolfe’s tongue feels.»

His heartbeat paused, then deepened as sleek talons of need sank into his body. He nuzzled Jessica’s soft earlobe before he caught it very gently between his teeth. He heard her breath break, then unravel in a shivering sigh.

«And your Lord Wolfe’s teeth,» he whispered. «How do you like them?»

Jessica’s answer was to arch her neck while her hands pushed her long hair above her head, baring her neck and ear to his mouth. With a rather fierce smile, Wolfe accepted her offering. His tongue traced her ear once more, spiraling inward until she gasped at the warm penetration. He continued the rhythmic strokes until her voice broke over his name. Slowly he released her and lifted his head, enjoying the sight of her half-closed eyes and her hair fanned over the pillow.

«Is that all?» Jessica asked wistfully.

Laughing softly, Wolfe shook his head. «Where would you like to be kissed next?»

«Where else would it feel that good?»

«There are places where it will feel even better.»

Jessica’s eyes widened as she read the confidence in Wolfe. «Truly?»

«Oh yes.» Wolfe looked from her parted lips to the curves of her body beneath the covers. «But you’ll have to keep helping me.»

«Does that mean I get to bite your ear?»

The combination of mischief and innocent passion in Jessica’s voice made Wolfe laugh even as he felt the vital hardening of his body.

«It means I want you to keep telling me how it feels when I touch you,» Wolfe said.

«I’d rather bite your ear.»

He laughed, delighted by the sultry teasing in her eyes. «Not yet, Jessi. It would distract me.»

«Distraction? Is that what you call those odd butterfly shivers in the pit of my stomach?»

«In a way. Those shivers are the beginning of passion, and passion is damned distracting.»

Jessica hesitated, giving Wolfe a look through lowered eyelashes. «That’s what I was afraid of. Being passionate.»

«Are you still afraid?»

«Not with you.»

Wolfe kissed her gently. «Good, because I suspect I’ve never known a more passionate woman, but exploring your passion will require physical intimacy. Not consummation. Just…intimacy. That kind of intimacy disgusted you before.»

«Do you mean…» Jessica flushed and swallowed. «After you bathed me, when you…?»

«Yes. When I put my hand between your legs.»

Jessica covered her flaming cheeks with her palms. «Dear God, Wolfe. I don’t know if I can speak of such things.»

«Too disgusting?» he asked neutrally.

She shook her head.

«Talk to me, Jessi. The last thing I want to do is frighten or repel you.»

«How about embarrassing me?» she muttered.

«I like that idea.» Wolfe looked at the curves of her body beneath the fur cover. «I’ll keep it in mind. Now talk to me.»

«Talk?» Jessica asked in disbelief. «I can’t even think at the thought of you touching me like that. I keep remembering how I accidentally caught your hand between my legs in the bath and your skin felt so much nicer than the sponge, but remembering makes me shiver and turns my heart upside down and I can’t breathe for the velvet butterflies filling me and you’re asking me to carry on a conversation as though we’re in Lord Robert’s library discussing the relative merits of Keats and Shelley!»

As soon as Wolfe untangled the torrent of words, he smiled and kissed the hands that shielded her hot cheeks.

«You felt unbelievably soft to me, both in the bath and in the bed,» Wolfe said. «Touching you made me shiver and turned my heart upside down and I couldn’t breathe.»

Slowly Jessica lowered her hands. «Feeling like that doesn’t unnerve you?»

«It should,» he admitted ruefully, «but all I can think of is what a sweet delight you are to touch, and how brave you are to trust me despite your fears.»

«I suspect you’re saying I have no more sense than a spring rosebud.»

«I suspect I’m saying I have no more brains than the sun that unwraps the rose.» Wolfe bent down to Jessica’s mouth, stopping only when he was so close he could feel her breath flowing over his lips. «Will you let me touch you the way sunlight touches a spring bud?»

Jessica’s breath caught. «How does sunlight touch a bud?»

«Gently. Completely. Everywhere.»

Her breath came out in a soft rush that Wolfe tasted, for his mouth was covering hers. When his tongue drew a warm line over the sensitive edge of her mouth, she opened it in surprise. His tongue slid inside. Unexpected pleasure shivered through Jessica.

«I didn’t mean to shock you,» Wolfe said against Jessica’s lips. «I warned you it would be…intimate.»

«You didn’t shock me. The butterflies did.»

«Butterflies?»

«Don’t look behind you, but the parrot is back.»

«Hammer the parrot.» Wolfe caught her lower lip tenderly between his teeth. «Tell me about the butterflies.»

«I think they’re made of fire, not velvet.»

«Do you want to find out?»

«Yes, but please don’t misunderstand if I’m startled and draw back,» Jessica said softly. «You don’t repulse me, Wolfe. You’re the most beautifully made man I’ve ever seen.»

«Sweet little liar. Either of Willow’s brothers is more handsome than I am.»

«Tree That Stands Alone, you are blind. When you walk into a room, all men are in your shade. You alone catch the light.»

Jessica felt the tiny shuddering that went through Wolfe and knew that her words had moved him.

«Does that mean you’ll let me kiss you intimately again?» he asked when he could trust himself to speak.

«Yes,» she whispered. «Please.»

The gliding heat of Wolfe’s kiss sent glittering sensations from Jessica’s tongue to her knees. She pressed her fingers deeply into his hair, wanting to touch more of him, wanting to be closer, wanting to feel more of the intriguing, shimmering pleasure.

The kiss deepened, strengthened. Wolfe consumed the soft warmth of Jessica’s mouth until the world shrank and began to spin slowly around her. The feeling was new but not frightening, for he was still with her, as close as her breath, closer.

He was her breath.

She wound her arms tightly around Wolfe’s neck, knowing he was strong enough to keep her safe in the world he had created with his kiss, a world of languid heat and butterfly wings brushed with fire. When he tried to lift his head, she protested and searched out his tongue with her own, wanting the kiss never to end.

Strong arms slid beneath Jessica as Wolfe lifted her from between the sheets. The flexing and shifting of his powerful body was another kind of fire caressing her. The bare skin of his chest and arms and back felt better to her palms than the soft fur on which she now lay. She tested the power of his torso, sinking her fingertips into resilient muscles, scoring him softly with her nails.

A deep sound vibrated through Wolfe as hunger knotted fiercely in his body, making his muscles cord up beneath Jessica’s exploring hands.

«Wolfe?» Jessica whispered. «Is something wrong?»

«No. I just learned that elves have tiny golden claws, that’s all.»

«What?»

He laughed deep in his throat as he looked at her dazed, sultry eyes and flushed lips. «You taste of brandy,» he said.

«So do you.»

«I taste of you. Lick my lips, Jessi. Let me feel that soft little tongue in my mouth again.»

Surprise shivered through her. «I didn’t realize…»

Wolfe made a questioning sound that was also a purr of anticipation.

«The kiss,» she whispered. «I didn’t know how intimate it had become until I heard your words.Itasted you.»

«The brandy was all you.»

«The rest of it wasn’t. You’re so warm and almost salty and almost sweet.» Jessica shivered. «Like wine, your taste keeps changing. And like wine, you make me dizzy.»

«Jessi,» Wolfe said thickly, «you’re going to burn me alive.»

When Wolfe’s arms tightened, lifting Jessica to his mouth, she went eagerly. He teased her by holding back, kissing her chastely until her arms locked around his neck in an attempt to hold him close for the kind of deep kiss he had taught her to enjoy.

But Wolfe was much too strong to be held. The tiny maddening kisses continued.

«Wolfe?»

He made a purring, questioning sound that ruffled her nerves, but there was nothing lazy about his eyes watching her. They smoldered behind his thick lashes.

«Kiss me the way it was before,» Jessica whispered. «Kiss me so that I can taste you on my tongue.»

Wolfe groaned and took her mouth in a seamless, hot kiss that was more arousing and yet more satisfying than any he had ever known with a woman. His hands kneaded from her scalp to her nape to her hips, shaping her to his body. The silk of her nightgown was more of an enticement than a barrier to his fingers, for the cloth was so sheer that the heat and textures of her body weren’t concealed. She was as sleek and supple as a cat beneath the silk, and like a cat she arched in response to the stroking of his hands over her back. When he finally ended the kiss, she was shivering against him as though cold; yet her skin was hot, flushed with passion.

Slowly Wolfe’s intent, dark glance went from Jessica’s mouth to the pulse beating quickly in her neck and then to her breasts. Her nightgown was a translucent veil too sheer to conceal her body. Her nipples were deep pink, tempting him.

«Remember the bud and the sunlight?» Wolfe asked in a husky voice. «Remember how I warned you that passion is an intimate thing?»

«I find I like that. With you.»

«Good, because it begins to get intimate now.»

«Begins?» Jessica’s eyeswidened. «Begins?»