Free Two Alone by Sandra Brown Page A

hard, unyielding line. He paused for only a heartbeat before he began roughly rubbing the cotton sock over her throat, chest, breasts, and stomach. Then, reaching around her again, he blotted the sweat off her back. They were so close that her breath stirred his chest hair. Her lips came perilously close to touching one of his distended nipples. Hers, hard and peaked from the cold, grazed his skin.
    He pulled back quickly and angrily dragged a thermal top over her head. While she was working her arms into the sleeves, he ripped the damp fur they'd been lying on off the pallet and replaced it with another one. "It's not as soft, but it's dry."
    "It'll be fine," Rusty said hoarsely.
    Finally they were cocooned again. She didn't resist when he pulled her close to him. She was shivering uncontrollably and her teeth were chattering. But it wasn't long before they began to warm up. Their bodies were in chaos because of what their eyes had seen. Erotic impressions lingered in their minds.
    Lying in his embrace fully dressed had been unnerving eno ugh. Lying there with him wearing only underwear wreaked h avoc on Rusty's senses. Her fever had broken, but her body was burning like a furnace now.
    His bare thighs felt delicious against hers. She liked their hair-s mattered texture . Because she was braless, she was sharpl y aware of his hand resting just beneath her breasts, almost but not quite touching them.
    He wasn't immune to the enforced intimacy. He'd exerted hi msel f by switching out the pelts and changing clothes so quickly, but that wasn't the only reason he was breathing heavily. His chest swelled and receded against her back rhythmically but rapidly.
    And then there was that other inexorable evidence of his arousal.
    It prompted her to whisper, "I don't think I need to... uh… prop my leg on top of yours."
    A l ow moan vibrated through his chest. "Don't even talk about it! A nd for God's sake, don't move." His distress was obvious.
    " I 'm sorry."
    " For what? You can't help being beautiful any more than I can 't hel p being a man. I guess we'll just have to tolerate that from each other."
    S he honored his request and didn't move so much as a muscle. She didn't even reopen her eyes once they were closed. But she did fall asleep with a tiny smile on her lips. Inadvertently, p er haps, but he had told her that he thought she was beauti f ul.

F our
    It made a difference in their relationship.
    The forced intimacy of the night before didn't draw them closer together. Rather, it created a schism of uneasiness between them. Their conversation the following morning was stilted. They avoided making eye contact. They dressed with their backs to each other. They moved awkwardly. Their motions were jerky and unsure, like those of invalids who had just regained the use of their limbs.
    Taciturn and withdrawn, Cooper whittled her a pair of crutches out of two stout tree branches. Aesthetically, they weren't much to rave about, but Rusty was immensely grateful for them. They allowed her mobility. She would no longer be confined to die bed.
    When she thanked him, he only grunted an acknowledgement and stamped off through the underbrush toward the stream to get water. By the time he returned, she was accustomed in the crutches and was hobbling around the clearing on them. " H ow does your leg feel?"
    " O kay. I cleaned it with peroxide myself and rook another pill. I thi nk it's going to be okay." She had even managed to dress in the one remaining pair of slacks and put her boots on. Enough of t he soreness was gone that the a dditional pressure of clothing did n' t irritate the wound.
    T hey drank from the thermos in turn. That passed for break fast. Co oper said, "I'd better start building that shelter today."
    T hey had awakened to find their cocoon dusted with snow.
    T his t ime the fl akes weren't merely grains; they were real and ominous , harbingers of the first winter storm. Both knew how harsh the winters in this area could be.