“You see? You should rest. We’ll talk about being mates in the morning.”

“Oh, no.” In one quick move, Ellison rolled his body over hers, pinning her with his warm weight. “I’ve been waiting all day to get my arms around you again. I was thinking about us in the pond all last night and all today, remembering the bluebonnets, the sunshine. You.” He skimmed his lips, warm and satin smooth, across her mouth. “Why did you decide to start making love to me, yesterday? Not that I minded.”

“I wanted to.” Maria slid her hands to the small of his back, his flesh warm through his shirt. “I was worried that when you finally seduced me, I would be afraid. So I thought if I did it fast, without thinking about it, then I’d know if I would be afraid. Does that sound crazy?”

“And were you?” Ellison’s voice was quiet. “Afraid?”

“No.” Maria dug her hands into his back, pulling him closer. “No, I wasn’t. It was . . . so beautiful.”

“Yeah, that’s a good word for it. Fucking amazing is another.”

“That’s two words.”

“Whatever.”

Ellison knelt back from her and skimmed her shirt up and off over her head. Cool air touched Maria’s br**sts, held by her satin bra, the spring breeze from the open window soft.

Ellison reached over and switched off the lamp. In the white moonlight, he unsnapped her bra, slid it off, and tossed it aside, then took time to rest his gaze on her, taking her in.

“Trouble with pond water is it’s too muddy,” he said. “You can’t see what you want through it.”

She smiled. “I know.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you can make a man hard looking at him like that, and saying that.”

“I only said I know.”

“Maybe, but it was the way you said it.”

Maria started laughing. She loved this man, who made her feel good, and made her laugh, at the same time he spiraled her into wanting. She reached for his belt buckle and popped the big thing open.

“Why do you wear this?” The buckle had an oil well and Texas emblazoned on it.

“Because I like Texas. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s not afraid of the world. I like to brag that I’m from the most in-your-face state in the country.”

“But you’re from Colorado.”

Ellison grinned his big Texas grin, then subsided. “You want to know the truth?” He traced a soft pattern on her breast, which slid fire to her heart. “When my sister and I and my nephews were rounded up to be brought here, Collared and registered like cattle, I didn’t know what was going to happen to us. By the time we were dumped here, left in front of this house, which was at the time a rundown pile of crap, I’d figured out one thing. Deni and I had left behind a lot of sadness, a hole where our lives used to be. I looked around at this vast place, and I decided Texas would be our new beginning. I left behind my old life and totally embraced the new, every part of it. Got me a big pickup, a flag, a belt buckle, and an accent. The hat and boots I already had, ’cause you know, real cowboys come from Colorado.”

Maria laughed again. “You have a big ego.”

“So I fit right in. But I learned to love everything Texas, my new home, my new life. It saved me.”

She nodded, understanding. “Like me trying to learn to be American, and go to school, and live with Shifters.”

Ellison drew his fingers up her throat and around her chin, his touch featherlight. “We’re both carving out a place for ourselves.” His voice went quiet. “How about we do it together?”

Words welled up inside Maria, so many words that she couldn’t make them coherent. “Yes,” she said softly.

The Shifter wolf flashed into his eyes and out again. “Maria, honey, yesterday, in the water, everything was slow, sensual.” He slid his touch to her breast again. “Tonight, I don’t know if I can be as sweet.”

Maria’s heart beat faster, a point of heat curling between her thighs. “I don’t want sweet.”

“You sure?” Ellison’s breath came faster, his body tightening. “I don’t want to rush you, or scare you. But if I start . . . I won’t be able to stop.”

More excitement licked through her. “I’m sure. It’s not the same.” She laced her fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck. “You’re Ellison. You care about me. It’s different.”

“I do care.” Ellison’s voice gentled. “I love you, Maria. I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”

Maria had been waiting for him. She hadn’t known it those long years, through the misery and the pain. But she’d realized, that day she met him, when he’d touched his hat and said, “Ma’am,” that her knight in shining armor had come.

“I can’t . . .” Ellison said. “Goddess.”

He rolled off her, coming to his feet, his eyes pale gray in the moonlight. He yanked off his belt and boots, jeans and shirt, emerging bare. Bruises and abrasions were dark across his torso, but they were healing, his Shifter metabolism working on them already.

Ellison leaned down and yanked open the button of Maria’s jeans. She tried to help slide them down, but he had them off in a few swift jerks, pulling the panties after them. He left her shoes, slim sandals, on her feet, too impatient to remove them.

Ellison came back onto the bed, his warm bare body over hers, lowering himself without hurting her.