normally , she would have lit a rush dip , saving the valuable candles , but the small room glowed now with soft gold light , and he realized that the bloom of it had lit them through their lovemaking , leaving him with memories of russet and ivory and the gold down that covered her like a lion 's pelt , the shadowed crimson and purple of her secret places , the dark of his skin on the paleness of hers-memories that glowed vivid against white sheets in his mind .