"I CAN MAKE LOVE ONLY WITH WORDS."
Mischa's voice was seductively soft. "Shall I tell you how I would touch your hair, your lips, your full young breasts? Shall I describe what we would have together if the world were different? "
Laddy said breathlessly, "Mischa.... "
He glanced at the art exhibited around them. "Look at this painting by my friend," he commanded. "This is a woman in love body and soul, as you will someday be, but not with me. If I were the one, how could I keep from touching you? When I am next in prison," he continued, "I will remember this moment as though I had touched your flesh, as though we had become one."
Laddy felt sudden tears at the thought of the years stretching ahead, desolate and loveless, while she waited for this man, the man who could never come to her....