Bayou Heat by Donna Kauffman Page A

Erin McClure
     didn’t possess.
    One he was disturbed to discover he had a trace of as well.
    “It’s a favor to Marshall. That’s all.” He turned and continued down the narrow trail.
    “What is your connection to Marshall? He’s never said. I don’t know him that well,
     but I admit I was a bit surprised to—”
    Teague caught her by the forearms and held her still.
    “Surprised someone like him had a connection with someone like me?” He hated the dark
     emotions simmering inside him, but he was helpless against them. Just as he was apparently
     helpless against all the other emotions Dr. Erin McClure aroused in him. “Is that
     what you meant,
chèr?
”
    He’d startled her, he knew. She didn’t try to pull away, nor did she appear angry.
     But her pulse under his fingertips told another story. He felt his blood begin to
     stir hot and heavy, like the night air, pushing thick and hard through his veins.
    His hold on her changed. He still held her captive, yet now she held him too, in her
     own way. He couldn’t stop touching her.
    No moon filtered through the trees. Her eyes were black, bottomless, but he didn’t
     have to see them to know she was responding to him. He could feel it, pulsing under
     his fingers, beating in his ears, thrumming in his groin. He could smell it. Wanted
     badly to taste it.
    His hands slid up her arms to her shoulders. Heexerted just enough pressure for her to know he wanted her closer but didn’t wait
     and stepped in closer himself.
    “Erin.”
    “I’ve never met anyone like you,” she said on a shaky whisper.
    The admission shot a hot thrill through him. “What am I like,
chèr?
”
    She stared at him, her face cast in deep shadow. The silence between them stretched
     out, the only sound that of the earthy throb of the
maman
drums as they echoed through the trees. Teague felt that beat deep inside his belly,
     and lower.
    Just when he thought she wouldn’t answer, she spoke.
    “Dangerous. To me.”
    “Why? What do you think I’m going to do to you, Erin?”
    There was a pause, then her voice stroked him again. “It’s not what I think you’ll
     do, it’s what I want you to do.”
    “What is that, Erin?” He took another irreversible step forward and lowered his mouth
     close to hers. “What do you want me to do to you, Erin? Tell me.” He brushed his lips
     against hers. “Tell me.”
    “Teague.” His name was no more than a gasp.
    “That’s right,
ange
.” He touched his lips to hers. “Say my name again.”
    “I don’t—”
    He kissed her then, slowly, completely, swallowing words he should probably hear but
     didn’t want to. She stilled. He took the kiss deeper, pressing his tongue pasther soft lips, twining it with hers. Not admitting, even now, that he was inside her
     mouth, pulling her body tight against his, that it might go beyond that. That
he
wanted it to.
    When she lifted her hands to his arms, grasping his biceps, digging her fingertips
     into the twitching muscles there, he felt something drop hard into his stomach, leaving
     him almost light-headed. Lighthearted.
    Something beyond sexual pleasure, beyond the carnal knowledge of her that his body
     was screaming for.
    She leaned into him and relaxed her mouth, granting him an invitation, one he took
     to heart.
    And that is exactly why he pulled away.
    They stood staring at each other, their breathing audible in the small space between
     them. Teague felt something shift inside him. Around him. As if this moment somehow
     defined a very important change in the world. That nothing would ever be the same.
    “He’s my half brother.”
    Erin was obviously as nonplussed by his declaration as he was for blurting it out.
    “Who is?”
    He could still taste her on his tongue, felt her there as he spoke. It made his skin
     heat and his body even harder. “Marshall. You asked what my connection is to him.”
    He waited while she absorbed that information. It was common knowledge in the