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couldn’t say was that as a young army lieutenant he was once called upon to assist the company doctor in just such a delivery. During a march, their outfit had sought lodging at a remote plantation and they couldn’t have arrived at a more convenient time. The young mistress, alone but for a single male slave, was giving birth. The doctor promptly offered his services and Blade volunteered to assist. As it was with Callie, the baby was turned wrong and the mother and child would have perished if the good doctor hadn’t known what to do.
    Shannon searched Blade’s face, wondering how so compassionate a man could look so big and dangerous. This was a side of him he rarely showed. It was also a mystery to her why he seemed to dislike her.
    “Why don’t you like me?” she asked bluntly.
    “Is that what you think?”
    “It’s obvious my presence on this wagon train offends you.”
    “Nothing about you offends me, Shannon,” Blade muttered beneath his breath, “except what you do to me.”
    “What?” Surely she hadn’t heard him right.
    “I said you don’t offend me and I don’t dislike you. It’s more like I offend you for being what I am.” Blade hadn’t meant to say so much, but somehow this exasperating female put words in his mouth.
    Shannon flushed. A few weeks ago that might have been true, but as the days slid by she had come to regard Blade as a man, not as a half-breed Sioux.
    “Is it true, Shannon? Do you think of me as less than human?” His voice was soft and low and utterly beguiling, turning Shannon’s legs to water. She couldn’t have spoken had she known what to say.
    He was so close that she could smell his musky masculine odor, feel the tenseness in his body. With rising panic she studied the shape of his lips as they hovered dangerously close to hers, mesmerized by their rich, full contours. Vividly she recalled their softness, the unique taste when his tongue explored her mouth.
    “Shannon.” Her name was a groan on his lips, softly uttered, barely heard, swept away on the warm summer breeze.
    Without realizing exactly how it happened, their lips meshed, clinging, tasting. A shudder passed through Blade as his tongue outlined the generous contours of her lips, lingering at their moist corners, savoring their sweetness. He knew he had no business kissing Shannon, it could only lead to problems for both of them. But a compelling force inside him blanked out all reason and bid him take this small pleasure and savor it. Seeking a deeper intimacy, he meshed their bodies, his desire rising between them like a hot brand. Blade’s strangled moan seemed to bring a semblance of order to Shannon’s scrambled wits as she came abruptly to her senses.
    What was she thinking, to allow a man she hardly knew such liberties? His mouth was demanding things she knew nothing about while his hands searched her body with practiced expertise. How many other women had he seduced so effortlessly with his male magnetism? she wondered. How had a half-breed acquired such sophisticated talents? And what was she doing in his arms, responding to him with an eagerness that shocked her?
    “Don’t,” Shannon gasped. She was shaking from head to toe as she pushed herself from Blade’s arms.
    My God! Blade thought, nearly as shaken as Shannon. If he continued like this he’d be bedding her on the hard ground in another moment. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” he taunted. It took considerable effort to make his voice deliberately cruel and cynical.
    “Are you trying to humiliate me?” Shannon struggled for breath, his cruel words fueling her anger.
    “Isn’t this why you came out here?” Blade replied with sly inuendo. “Does a half-breed kiss any differently than a white man? Did you pick me to experiment on because I’m only half-tame and the thought excited you?”
    Shannon sucked her breath in sharply. Then she bombarded him with her Irish temper. “You conceited jackass! I don’t understand