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all the bad things that had happened today—even being accused of immoral behavior. There was nothing better than a cool dip after a hot day, although a long, hot soak in a scented tub would have been nice, too.
    She only hoped that when she returned to camp Jed would not spoil her mood with another angry outburst. She just wanted to hold onto her sense of well-being for the night.
    * * * *
    Jed stared at the water nymph outlined in silver below him. His chest felt tight and his breath grew short as he devoured the sight of Caite, hair unbound and pale skin glowing in the moonlight. The sound of her happy, tuneless humming wafted to him on the breeze, and he caught the scent of her. He groaned. Before he knew what he was doing, he had stumbled down the short hill to stand in front of her.
    He had no accusations this time. He did not trust his voice. Instead, he merely grasped Caite by the upper arms and pulled her upward until she was standing. Keeping his gaze locked on her emerald eyes, wide with surprise, he groped for the towel on which she had been sitting. Finding the square of material with his fingers, he quickly wrapped the cloth around her until she was somewhat covered.
    "You should be more careful,” he whispered hoarsely. “You might catch a chill."
    Caitleen rubbed her arms self-consciously.
    Perhaps his grip had hurt her. Jed forced his fingers to release her, noting with some dismay the red marks they had left on her creamy flesh.
    "It is a warm night, Jed,” she said gently.
    "You don't know this area, Miss O'Neal,” retorted Jed. His protests sounded weak even to him. “The night air can be dangerous."
    Caite pulled the towel closer about herself. “I will be more careful. Thank you for the warning."
    "I don't want you catching sick,” Jed continued. Talking was the only way to keep from crushing his mouth down on hers. Tarnation! The way she was staring at him, wide-eyed and still wet from her bath, he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and taste every part of her.
    A tiny grin touched Caitleen's lips. “I appreciate your concern, Jed. Was there anything else?"
    Was she teasing him on purpose? “No, of course not. It's getting late, and we should go to bed. That is, to sleep."
    Cursing his fumbling tongue, Jed turned from her and hurried up the grassy slope as quickly as he could with his groin practically singing Ave Maria. Once back at the campsite, he let out a low mumble of curses directed at himself. So much for keeping her angry with him. Now the tempting redhead would think he was an addle-pated fool, and he couldn't blame her. He was acting like a fool. It seemed the bewitching Caitleen O'Neal was weaving a tempting spell around him, one he didn't really want to resist.
    But I have to, if I want to retain my self-respect, Jed thought. And blast it all, if he didn't have that, he didn't have anything.
    When Caite at last returned to the fire, fully covered in her white linen shift, Jed had already curled up in his bedroll, feigning sleep. Not wanting to risk another encounter with the delectable Caitleen O'Neal, he had rolled himself away so he could not see her. Keeping his eyes from the sight of her could do nothing to clear the vision from his mind, though.
    It's going to be a long night, Jed thought somewhat grumpily. He shifted in order to alleviate the pressure against the front of his trousers. A damn long night.

CHAPTER 3

    Caite woke to the morning sun already beating down upon her face. She yawned, stretched and sat up, scrubbing her face to force herself awake. Looking around for Jed, she saw he was already packing most of the bundles.
    "Wake up, lazybones,” he called. Remarkably, he sounded as though he were in a fine mood. “We've still got quite a ways to go."
    "It is already hot,” Caite grumbled good-naturedly. She quickly rose, dressed and joined Jed at the wagon.
    "That didn't take long.” He seemed pleasantly surprised with her promptness.
    Caite