Not that it mattered. Ty had taken care of the hopes, as well. No family. No profession. No wealth. No social graces. And no emotion in his voice but guilt and despair and anger at being trapped into marrying such a poor specimen of femininity.

"I've never trapped a living thing in my life," she said fiercely, "and I'll be damned to hell for eternity if I take your freedom now. Do you hear me, Tyrell MacKenzie? Do you?"

"You didn't take my freedom. I gave it away the same way men always have, thinking with my crotch instead of my brain."

"You can have it right back-freedom, brain, crotch, all of it! I want nothing that isn't freely given."

"The world doesn't work that way, sugar," Ty said wearily, releasing Janna and rolling over onto his back. "The only virgin a decent man takes is the girl who becomes his wife. We'll be married as soon as-"

"They'll be picking cotton in hell before I marry you," Janna interrupted, her voice shaking, her body cold and empty without him.

It was as though Ty hadn't heard. "I'm responsible for you. I live up to my responsibilities."

"I'm responsible for myself. I've lived on my own for five years. I can do it for another-"

"Christ!" hissed Ty, cutting Janna off. "Are you so naive that you don't know you could get pregnant after this? How would you take care of yourself, much less a baby, too?" He waited, but there was no answer except the small sounds Janna made as she searched for her clothes in the darkness. "We'll be married at the fort and you'll stay there while I hunt for Lucifer."

"No."

"Janna-oh, the hell with it." Ty whispered harshly. "We'll be married at the fort and then we'll hunt Lucifer together. Does that satisfy you?"

"No."

Janna thrust an arm through a shirtsleeve and fished around for the other opening. Even if it hadn't been dark, the tears streaming down her face would have blinded her. None of her emotions showed in her constrained whisper, for which she was grateful. Having marriage offered to her out of guilt was bad enough; having it offered to her out of pity would be unbearable.

"Janna, be reasonable. I'll need Lucifer to build a good horse herd," Ty said as patiently as he could manage. "Otherwise I'll have no way to take care of my family."

"I said I'd help you catch Lucifer and I will. Marriage was no part of the bargain."

Ty's patience evaporated. With uncanny speed he grabbed Janna, flattened her beneath him once more and began whispering furiously.

"Listen to me, you little fool. You have no idea how the world works."

"Then teach me," she whispered defiantly. "Teach me how to please a man, how to be good enough to be a mistress rather than a whore. That's all I ask of you. Education, not marriage."

"But if you're preg-" he began.

"I stopped bleeding two days ago," she interrupted. "There's little chance you've made me pregnant."

Ty should have been relieved, but the scent and feel of Janna beneath him was driving everything else from his mind. Even as he told himself he must be crazy, he realized that he wanted her again.

"This time, yes," he agreed huskily, "but what about the next time I take you, and the next, and the times after that? Because if I'm around you, I'll take you every damned chance I get." His hand slid down her body until he could feel once more her intimate heat. "Satin butterfly," he whispered, unable to control the faint trembling of his fingers as he skimmed the edges of her softness. "Don't you understand yet? When I see you, hear you, smell you, touch you, taste you…"

A threadlike groan vibrated through Ty. "You're killing me. I can't leave you alone if I'm around you. I can't live with myself if I get you pregnant. And I need you around so that I can track down Lucifer before he gets killed or this whole damned territory blows up in our faces. We have to get married, Janna. There's no other way."

"No."

Janna clamped her legs together, trying to deny Ty the softness only he had ever touched.

It was futile. All she succeeded in doing was imprisoning his hand between her thighs. He made a sound of pleasure and despair as one finger slid gently into her and he felt her sleek, humid warmth surrounding him once more.

"I won't marry you," Janna whispered, her breath breaking. "Do you hear me? I won't spend my life having you look at me and long for a silken lady."

Ty hesitated, then slowly probed Janna's sensuous warmth. "I hear you. But what are we going to do about this? I meant what I said, little one. Having had you, I can't leave you alone."

She tried not to give voice to her pleasure, but a husky sound escaped her lips. "Teach me. That's all I ask of you. A mistress, not a whore."

The words went into Ty like knives, twisting even as they sliced into him. "I can't live with that. It's not enough. You deserve much more. Come back to Wyoming with me," he said in a low voice, caressing Janna because he was helpless to stop. "Silver and Cassie can teach you how to sit and speak and smile like a lady. They'll teach you how to dress and I'll see that you have enough dowry to attract a good man, a man who won't berate you for what I took from you. Then you'll be a married woman, Janna, not any man's mistress or every man's whore."

"I'll marry no man," she whispered. "Ever."

"Janna…"

Her only answer was a husky cry and her warmth reaching out to Ty, silently promising oblivion within her body. The heat and scent of her filled his nostrils, sending a wave of desire through him. Suddenly he wanted to bend down and immerse himself in Janna, tasting her essence, drinking the very secrets of her body. The thought shocked him, for he had never wanted that kind of intimacy with a woman before.

"You're so sweet to touch," Ty whispered, stroking Janna with slow, hidden motions. "I never knew a woman could be so responsive, so perfect. Satin butterfly, more beautiful to me each time I touch you."

"Ty…" Janna said, moaning his name softly, feeling her tumultuous emotions condense into pure burning desire.

She knew she should tell him to stop but she was unable to form the words. She wanted his touch too much. She had never known such ravishing closeness with anyone, had never even dreamed it was possible. The knowledge that he, too, found something special in her made it impossible to turn away from his need.

Ty heard the telltale break and quickening of Janna's breath and didn't know whether to curse or laugh as he felt himself hardening, succumbing to her sleek satin trap once more. She was a handful of fire, a sensuous dream, so recently a virgin and yet so generous and unafraid as a lover.

Janna's small hands found his in the darkness and she held them motionless, trying to still the secret movements within her body.

"Stop," she whispered, yet even as she spoke she felt her own heat overflowing in silent contradiction.

"Why?" Ty murmured, slowly penetrating and withdrawing from her body despite her clinging fingers. "Am I hurting you?"

"N-no."

To Ty the sensual break and shiver of Janna's voice was as arousing as her heat welling up at his touch.

"You're too innocent to understand how rare you are, how extraordinary this is," he whispered, feeling the vital hardening of his flesh as he bent down to her. "But I'm not innocent. I know. I'd agree to anything in order to keep on touching you. I've never been hike this with any woman. Bruja, sweet fire witch. You burn me alive and I tremble and spend myself within you… and then you renew me with a breath, a kiss, a touch."

Janna whispered Ty's name helplessly, moved beyond words that she could affect him so deeply.

"Renew me," Ty whispered, lifting her hand and kissing it before placing it over his swelling male flesh.

She felt the helpless, sensuous jerk of his body as her fingers curled around him in answer to the pressure of his own hands.