He lifted her hips. She understood and took him inside herself. He gritted his teeth as her tight warmth encased him. She began her slow rises and falls. He leashed his need and took what she gave for a good while, but his hunger finally turned savage. He pressed one hand on the headboard behind his head for leverage and took over.

Not so careful this time. He had no choice. His body howled with the need to thrust hard and deep and possess completely. His mind saw future takings in other ways, and those images only drove him on. The release, when he finally accepted it, proved cataclysmic.

She fell on top of him, into his arms, kissing his chest and neck, gripping his shoulders. Within his senseless ecstasy, he thought he heard her scream again.

* * *

They lay in silence for a long time. He was glad she did not need a lot of chatting. The quiet held an intimacy that words might destroy. Finally, however, she rose up on her elbows and looked at him.

“Thank you.” Such depth in her eyes when she said that. “I think you were heroic again, in a different way. Not so careful.”

“Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head. “I liked it. Next time I don’t think you will have to be careful either.”

He had avoided thinking about a next time, since he had no standing to expect one. A new contentment settled on him with her words. She sat up, unconcerned with her nakedness this time, glorious in it, her breasts soft now that passion’s firmness had passed. He looked at her, and felt himself stirring again.

“It is time I left,” she said.

“Leave if you want, but you answer to no one.”

“Beth—”

“She knows where you are.”

“Yes, but—”

“She knew why you came, even if you did not.”

She just looked at him, then swung her leg and slid off his body and the bed.

“Before you dress completely, Minerva, go look out the front window at the place directly across the way where the two buildings meet.”

She pulled the chemise on and padded away. He heard her steps growing fainter as she entered the sitting room. Several minutes later the steps came back.

“When did you see him?”

“Early. Soon after you came.”

“He must have grabbed on to the back of my carriage when it left.”

“That or he jumped across roofs to stay ahead of you. He is fast and knows this town well. If he were not a partner in your inquiries, I might seek to make him one in mine.”

She picked up her dress and shook it out. “I did not tell him to do this. I hope you believe that.”