Lundy broke into a trembling sweat. He shut his eyes. It didn’t matter. He saw her. He couldn’t help seeing her. He tried to fight his mind, but he was tired….
Her hair hid most of her. It had black night in it, and moonbeams, and glints of fire like a humming-bird’s breast. Hair you dream about. Hair you could smother yourself in, and die happy.
She raised her head slowly, letting the veil of warm darkness fall away from her. Her eyes were shadowed, hidden under thick lashes. She raised her hands to Lundy, like a child praying.
But she wasn’t a child. She was a woman, n***d as a pearl and so lovely that Lundy sobbed with it, in shivering ecstasy.
“No,” he said hoarsely. “No. No!”
She held her arms up to be free, and didn’t move.
Lundy tore the net loose from his belt and flung it on
