She leaned against the slender column of the birch tree, her eyes on the fiery sphere that was sinking behind the dusky purple-violet of the mountains. She felt almost affectionate toward those towering peaks, she realized with amazement. Jared had given her that also, and the knowledge caused that tentative budding she'd experienced the night of the shooting to begin to unfold its petals in a poignantly beautiful blossoming.
Was it love? She didn't know and really didn't care. How could she put a label on something she'd never experienced? It was enough to feel this overwhelming desire to give and take, to belong to another human being on levels she'd never conceived possible. She had received precious gifts today that she must return in kind. It was how those gifts should be presented that she must decide. For a moment she felt an odd rush of shyness, before she quickly smothered it. She lifted her chin proudly, her eyes on the moon, which was gaining glittering prominence now that the sun had gone down. There was nothing to be shy about. She was the Piper, wasn't she?
Her sudden joyous laughter echoed on the clear night air as she began to make her plans. She stayed there a long time while the moonbeams turned the wind chimes to silver tears and the breeze played mysterious melodies in the branches of the trees.
The moon was high in the heavens when she quietly opened the door to Jared's room a few hours later. The heavy velvet drapes on the French windows across the room were drawn back and the moonlight was streaming in, revealing the outlines of the heavy antique furniture in the master suite.
"Welcome home, sweetheart." The voice came from the confines of the huge canopy bed in the center of the room. "Do you know how long I've waited for you to walk through that door?"
"You were expecting me?" She glided forward, the white ermine cape billowing gracefully out behind her. She could dimly discern his lean, shadowy form on the bed, several pillows propped up against the headboard behind him. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have kept you waiting," she said teasingly. "You could have let me know, Jared."
"Not expecting," he said quietly. "Hoping, love." She was close enough now to see the polished bronze of his naked shoulders and the dark curling thatch of hair on his chest, which narrowed to a thin line where the satin sheet was pulled carelessly over his flat stomach. "There's quite a difference. I'd never insult you by taking you for granted."
She could feel her heart hammering against her ribs as she slowly unfastened the buttons of the cloak. "I'm afraid I've committed that particular faux pas already," she said a trifle breathlessly as she shrugged out of the cloak and draped the lovely thing on the back of the chair a few feet away. "Should I have waited for an invitation?"
"You know better than that," he said gruffly, his pale gray eyes glistening in the darkness of his shadowed face. "I've wanted you here in my bed for at least an eon or two."
"Good." Her hands were swiftly unbraiding her hair. "I'm glad you're going to support my seduction of you." She ran her fingers through her long tresses, and he had a fleeting memory of her small, vibrant figure clothed in scarlet chiffon, preparing for the tempting of the piper.
"Is that what you're doing, seducing me?"
She was still. "I thought that was what you wanted." There was a frown of uncertainty on her face as she peered at him through the dimness of the moonlit room.
"With utmost fervor, love." There was a reassuring thread of humor in his voice. "But that's not enough, not any longer. I feel I have need for the solace of the spoken word. In short, I want to know why, Tania. Why are you willing to come to me now?"
"What if I said it was lust?" she asked softly. "What if I said I didn't care what you thought or what you were, as long as you could give my body the pleasure you gave
it that first morning I was brought to the chateau? Would you still invite me to your bed?"
"You're damn right I would." He chuckled. "And then I'd do my very best to make you take back every word before morning. I've made a study of you, remember? I know that, as beautifully passionate as you are, you wouldn't be here if you didn't feel something else as well. What I want to know is, what is that something?"
She shrugged helplessly. "I just don't know," she said with bold honesty. "I've never felt like this before." She ran her tongue nervously over her lower hp. "It's strange. ..."
"I wouldn't want to include that eloquent avowal in a testimonial," he said dryly. "It might sound as though you're coming down with a rare tropical disease."
She laughed shakily. "Do you want promises? I can't give you that. It's all too new."
For a moment there was a flicker in his face that might have been disappointment, before he held out his hand to her. "No promises," he agreed quietly. "Perhaps that's the safest road for both of us. We'll just play it by ear."
"One step at a time," she said softly, placing her small hand in his and letting him tug her toward the bed.
She paused with one knee on the mattress, resisting the pull that would have brought her down into his arms.
"There's something you should know," she said, her voice hesitant. "I'm a virgin." She saw the shock that tensed his body, and rushed on. "Probably not in the physical sense. Ballerinas rarely are. But I've never known a man. If that turns you off, I'll understand."
"Windloe?"
"My friend," she answered with a little shrug that was awkward for someone so innately graceful. "At first I think he wanted to be something more, but in time he accepted that I couldn't be for him what he wished."
His gaze was narrowed intently on her face. "And why couldn't you do that? Your father?"
"I don't know," she whispered, her dark eyes wide and vulnerable. "It might have had something to do with it."
"And why do you feel differently now?"
Why was he asking these questions that she couldn't answer? "I just do." She threw out her hands in helpless frustration. "I trust you, Jared. I think if you'd asked me to jump off that cliff tonight, I'd have done it. Is that enough?"
"It's enough, love." His voice was husky. "For now, it's more than enough." With one strong tug he pulled her down into his arms.
His flesh was so firm and warm against her own that for a moment she couldn't breathe for the delicious shock of it, the heady scent of soap and musk surrounding him. She could see the molten gleam of his silver eyes as he looked down at her. "You don't mind my being a virgin, then?"
His lips nuzzled against the side of her throat. "It may present a few problems." He bit the lobe of her ear gently. "But nothing we can't overcome."
Her hands moved up to the smoothly corded muscles of his shoulders. "I like to touch you," she said softly. "You feel like steel sheathed in silk." Suddenly she frowned. "My own body isn't very pretty right now. My shoulder isn't altogether healed, and there are still bruises from the rope. I can't be very appealing. If you'd rather wait ..."
"I wouldn't rather wait," he assured her, an amused smile tugging at his lips. "I'll close my eyes so that I won't see all your many imperfections, sweetheart. Now, is there any other horrible surprise lurking for me, or may we proceed?"
"There are my feet," she said seriously. "I have very ugly feet. Dancers do, you know. I can't even promise that will get better."
He shook his head in amusement. He couldn't believe this. Where was the sensual siren who'd been driving him insane for the last three weeks? She was like an earnest little girl as she anxiously cataloged all her faults, and an aching tenderness tore at his heart strings. He tried to keep the huskiness from his voice as he said lightly, "Well, that's another matter entirely. I think I'm going to have to examine these monstrosities before we go any further." Then he was moving away from her, down her body, pushing up the satin of her nightgown and taking one small foot in his hand. "Yes, I can see why you felt you had to warn me," he said with a solemn frown. "Callouses"—his thumb lightly massaged the arch—"muscles, and I even detect a few tiny scars." He bent his head and lightly kissed her instep. "It's incredible that such ugly feet could produce magic l
ike the Piper."
She felt a little shock run through her. The Piper. She'd let her inexperience and insecurity temporarily make her forget who she was. She wasn't a child, she was the Piper, and the tolerant amusement in Jared's voice must be changed to something more respectful of her status. She took her foot away and sat up in bed. "Perhaps I can do something to overcome that revulsion and make you forget how ugly I am," she said. "Let me think for a minute." Almost absently she pulled the nightgown over her head and threw it casually aside. She was totally naked now, her silky dark hair cascading over her shoulders and the exquisite line of her back. She heard him inhale sharply and felt a thrill of satisfaction run through her. "Let's see, I don't think you expressed any aversion to my breasts. Perhaps concentrating on them would distract you." She got to her knees so that she was facing him, and edged closer until the rosy tips her nipples were grazing his chest. "They're a bit on e small side, but you seemed pleased with them before." Her lips brushed the hollow of his throat, where the pulse was throbbing jerkily. "Do you like my breasts, Jared?"
"Yes, I like your breasts." They were exquisite breasts, he thought, perfectly formed, with sweet, perky nipples that blossomed passionately when he touched them with his lips and tongue. He wanted to touch them now, but he was afraid she'd revert back to that uncharacteristic insecurity. He'd not even considered the possibility that she was a virgin, and the primitive surge of pleasure he'd known had been followed by concern. He'd wanted their joining to be everything it could, and now he was going to have to move very carefully. He didn't want her uncertainty to cause her to lose even a minute portion of the pleasure that was to come. He'd hoped his teasing amusement would snap her into this aggressive vitality that was an integral element of her personality. The confidence that being in charge would give her would help ease her triumphantly into this new experience, but it was going to prove more difficult than he'd imagined to play a semipassive role, when all he wanted was to be inside her. He made a deliberate effort to steady his breathing. "They're very lovely breasts."
"I'm glad you think so," she said, rubbing them back and forth across his hair-roughened chest like a sinuous little cat. "I like yours also." She leaned forward to nibble at a tiny male nipple. "It's very satisfactory that we're so different there, isn't it?"
"Very satisfactory," he said in a strangled voice. Her hair smelled faintly of wild flowers and was silky soft as it brushed against his chest. Oh, Lord, he didn't want to lose control and reach out for her. "We have several other satisfactory differences as well."
"I've noticed." One small hand reached out to brush the most prominent of those differences with a teasing gesture that caused his hips to jerk forward in explosive reaction. "Do you like me to touch you there, Jared?”
"Yes, I like it," he said thickly. "I like your hands on me, I like your lips on me, and I'm absolutely insane about what your tongue does to me. I'd like to spend the next hundred years or so just letting you perfect your technique with all three. Would you like that, too, little Piper?"
"It would take much less time than that," she scoffed, grinning at him impishly. "I learn very quickly Jared." She was finding that teasing Jared was very exciting. It was completely different from the frustrating enticement she'd meted out as punishment during their dual of wills. Knowing the pleasure she was going to give him made these anticipatory moves like a pas de deux that preceded the explosive finale. She could feel the tension in him like a dark, dangerous current, and that river of strength was even more thrilling because it was leashed. She hadn't realized until now how much she'd hated being sexually dominated by Jared when she'd been under the influence of the paradynoline. It was comforting to know that she had a certain amount of power also in this most intimate of conflicts. "Would you like to see how quickly I learn?" Her legs parted and then closed upon him, capturing him between her thighs. He felt so warm, so hard, so right against the sensitive center of her womanhood that she felt a surge of explosive heat rise within her that was dizzying in its intensity. She abruptly forgot all about conflicts and power struggles as she clutched desperately at his shoulders. "Jared ..."
The rest was lost as his lips closed over hers in a savage hunger that he quickly softened into an equally urgent sweetness. He hoped to hell she was ready, because he didn't think he could wait much longer. God, he loved the taste of her. His tongue explored the smoothness of her teeth, the side of her cheek, savored the texture of her tongue, in a kiss that ravished and entreated in one. He could feel her thighs tighten around him, and he gave a low groan that was almost a gasp. The erotic feeling of flesh against flesh was too close a parody to the real thing for his self-control, and he moved away from her with a wrench that caused the muscles of his stomach to knot painfully. "The step you just took was more of a quantum leap," he said huskily, his chest moving rapidly from the harshness of his breathing. His hand moved between her thighs in an exploring caress that caused her to stiffen with an electric shock of pleasure. He smiled with relief as he felt the welcome evidence of her arousal, but he had to be sure. She was so tiny, and even if there was no barrier, her virginity would doubtless cause her to be tighter than any woman he'd ever had. He'd better take more time to be sure she experienced no pain at all. Just the thought of her in pain filled him with an aching empathy greater than any he'd ever known. "Why don't you just rest on your laurels now and let me help?"
Her nails bit into his shoulders as one of his hands slid around to cup her buttocks while the other began a rhythmic thrusting that caused her to arch against him with a little guttural cry of need. He paid no attention, his fingers delving and rotating with a skill that was causing lightning flashes of sensation to pour through every vein. There was a frown of intense concentration on his face, and she could hear the painful rasp of his labored breathing. She could feel his hunger like an invisible force, and it fed her own desire until she was moving against his hands and pressing against him with an urgent rhythm of her own.
He closed his eyes, his face flushed and heavy.
"Would you like me inside you?" he asked thickly. "Do J you want me to fill you with every bit of me? I want to 1 invade you and make you mine, little Piper. Would you J like that too?"
"Yes." Her affirmation was more like a moan as another finger was added to the rhythmic sorcery he was performing on her body. "Oh, yes."
He pushed her gently on her back and moved over her, parting her thighs and slipping swiftly between them. It was all done with such skill and deftness that before she knew it she was lying looking up at him bewilderedly in the most vulnerable position known to woman.
It brought her a sudden shock of uneasiness that must have been reflected on her face, for his eyes suddenly narrowed. "What's the matter?" he asked quickly, his hands moving caressingly on the softness of her belly. "What's wrong, love?"
She shook her head in confusion. "I don't know," she whispered. "I feel so . . . helpless."
He seemed to understand at once. "It's only an illusion," he said quietly. "You're not being dominated, Tania." His hands were gently preparing her once more, easing the tenseness. "It's only that it will be easier for you this way." He moved closer. "There's no reason for you to worry about domination or conflict, because there isn't going to be any." She felt the warm hardness of him begin to enter her. "No one is going to lead and no one is going to follow. We're traveling along this road together." He was pushing gently, carefully, his face taut with pleasure and self-restraint, until suddenly she was surrounding all of him in an unbelievable closeness. "All the way."
His breath expelled sharply in a little burst of relief. Oh, Lord, she had taken all of him, and there was no sign of pain or discomfort on her face. There was only glazed pleasure and a childlike wonder. Her breasts were moving as she breathed in little pants, her eyes wide and dark in her flushed face, her lips parted in a delicious invitation that he couldn't resist.
He bent forward to take her lips, content for the moment to just fill h
er, to be joined to her in this incredible tightness. His tongue entered to move and probe with a freedom he would not yet allow his body.
Her fingers curled in the hair at his nape to bring his head closer. The double impalement was unbelievably erotic, and unconsciously she suddenly thrust her hips upward to take more of this blinding sensual pleasure. The movement brought a molten sensation that caused her eyes to widen and a little gasp to break from her.
He tore his lips from hers. "No," he whispered urgently. "It'll hurt you. Let me do it." His lips brushed her cheek in a kiss so beautifully tender that it made her throat tighten. "I couldn't bear to hurt you, sweetheart."
"You aren't hurting me," she said. "You feel wonderful. I just want more." Her lips rose to cover his with loving sweetness. "Please give me more, Jared."
He felt something inside him explode into a million shimmering pieces that he wasn't sure could ever be put together again. He wanted to give her everything, every part of his heart and soul, his memories, all of his future, but the only thing he could offer her in this moment of poignant intensity was his body.
"I will, Tania," he said, his voice a throaty murmur. "Whatever you want, sweetheart." He started to move with painstaking care, but the silken friction was a provocation that couldn't be denied, and his thrusts gradually escalated to a fiery intensity, until they were both riding the tide of feeling, moving with frantic urgency, reaching for that ravishing beauty.
And it was beauty, she thought, a beauty so strange and all-encompassing that everything else faded in comparison. It was like the wind chimes, whose music tantalized and satisfied at the same time, whose silver-and-crystal loveliness could be pristine or reveal a rainbow spectrum of brilliance. The music was surrounding her, enfolding her. The rainbow was setting her on fire with sensation while still wrapping her in the bands of loving protection.
Then Jared was garlanding all the branches of her spirit with rainbows, as he had decked the forest of white birches, and the song of the wind chimes echoed in every corner of her heart and body.