Hawk's Way Grooms by Joan Johnston Page A

you won’t come, Mac.”
    Something bunched up tight inside of him. “Not come? I come every summer, Jewel.”
    â€œDon’t come back. As a favor to me, Mac. Please don’t come back.”
    â€œBut why? You’re my best friend, Jewel. I—”
    â€œYou know,” she said in a brittle voice. She raised her eyes and looked at him and let him see her pain. “You know the truth. It’s in your eyes every time you look at me.”
    He felt like crying again and forced himself to swallow back the tickle in his throat. “Jewel—”
    â€œI want to forget, Mac,” she said. “I need to forget. Please, please don’t come back.”
    A lump of grief caught in his throat and made it impossible to say more. When he left that summer, a part of himself—the lighthearted, teasing friend—had stayed behind.
    Mac had honored Jewel’s wishes and stayed away for six long years. The really sad thing was, it had all been for nothing. She wasn’t over what had happened. The past had not been forgotten.
    He had often wondered if he’d done the wrong thing. Should he have told her parents the truth, anyway? Should he have come back the following summer? Should he have tried harder to get in touch with her over the years, to talk to her about what had happened?
    A soft knock on the door forced Mac from his reverie. Before he could reply, the door opened, and Jewel stood silhouetted in the light from the hall. She was wearing a sleeveless white nightgown with a square-cut neck. The gown only covered her to mid-thigh. He could see the shape of her through the thin garment, the slender legs and slim waist and bountiful bosom.
    He sat up, dragging the sheets around him to cover his nakedness and to conceal the sudden arousal caused by the enticing sight of her in his bedroom doorway. “Jewel? Is something wrong?”
    She slipped inside and closed the door, so that momentarily he lost sight of her as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He heard the rustle of sheets and suddenly felt her body next to his beneath the covers.
    â€œJewel? What’s going on?” He hoped his voice didn’t sound as shocked as he felt. He didn’t know what she thought she was doing, but he intended to find out before things went much farther.
    He had expected an answer. He hadn’t counted on her laying her palm on his bare chest. She followed that with a scattering of kisses across his chest that led her to the sensitive flesh beneath his ear. His body was trembling with desire when she finally paused to speak.
    â€œNothing’s wrong, Mac,” she murmured in his ear. “I came because…” She nibbled on his earlobe, and he groaned at the exquisite pleasure of it. “I need your help,” she finished.
    He put an arm around her shoulder, realized suddenly he was naked and clutched at the sheet again. “Anything, Jewel. You know I’d do anything for you. But—”
    â€œI was hoping you’d say that. Because what I need you to do…It won’t be easy.”
    He waited, his breath caught in his chest, for what she had to say. “Anything, Jewel,” he repeated, his heart thundering so loud he figured she could probably hear it.
    She pressed her breasts against his chest and said, “I want you to make love to me.”
    His heart pounded, and his shaft pulsed. In another moment, things would be out of hand. His eyes had adapted to the dark, and with the moonlight from the window he at last could see the feelings etched on her face. Not desire, but fear and vulnerability.
    â€œI want to feel like a woman,” she said in a halting voice. “I want to stop being afraid.”
    He couldn’t keep the dismay from his voice. “Aw, Jewel.”
    A cry of despair issued from her throat, and she made a frantic lurch toward the edge of the bed and escape.
    He grabbed for her, knowing she had misinterpreted his