Fire seemed to run through my veins. ‘Rushton…’ I said, and he kissed me. Oh the sweetness of that long, soft, infinitely gentle kiss that was both a greeting and an affirmation. ‘Rushton,’ I said again for the sheer pleasure of speaking his name. With a muffled groan, he drew me wholly into his arms and his kiss deepened. I did not try to keep my head, or scold myself to be calm or careful. For the first time in my life, I abandoned control and gave myself utterly to the moment. I slid my hands under his shirt and over the hot tense muscles of his back.

‘Ye gods,’ he gasped and I was shocked at how much pleasure it gave me to rouse him. I had always been restrained before, even in the sweetest embraces, but I let my lips part under his and suddenly he wrenched himself from my arms, rising and walking away a few steps, tension in every line of his body. He turned and whatever he saw on my face made him utter a soft oath and return. ‘My love, Gevan is downstairs waiting for me. I thought it best.’

‘I don’t understand,’ I said stupidly.

He reached out to pull the shawl up over my bare shoulders and said gently, ‘My dearest one, I have always understood that you were not ready to make love with me. To begin with, when first we met, you were little more than a child. In truth it shamed me that I desired you. But I was happy to wait for the day when you would be ready for more. Indeed, you are no longer a child, and there has been much between us since that time. Yet I was … I am prepared to wait still. But after such a long parting, when you respond to my touch in such a way, it is very difficult to stop. I asked Gevan to wait for me because I knew it would restrain me.’

It was my turn to reach up and press a finger to his lips, silencing him. ‘It is true that I have not been ready,’ I said, ignoring the blood surging hotly in my cheeks. ‘But it has always been more a matter of fearing the closeness that comes with what happens between a man and a woman. You see, for me that joining will mean – it must mean – that our minds will mesh even as our bodies do. There would be no barriers. I would know all of you and you would know all of me, body and mind.’

He frowned. ‘I remember how terrified you were of meshing minds when we were trying to save you from the Zebkrahn machine.’

‘You promised not to mesh with my mind and you kept your promise,’ I said. ‘It is one of the things that made me love you. But if we made love, there would be no way to remain separate.’