it out. He would have to save the looking part until morning, when she'd had time to get used to the marriage bed. At least this way, he could leave his clothes off.
Evie clutched the top sheet, pulling it up to her neck when he crossed to the bed. "Tyler." There was a question and a warning in her voice.
Tyler threw back the quilt but left her the sheet as he climbed in next to her. The bed sagged beneath his weight.
"Tyler, I don't want..." She bit back a gasp as he captured her waist, and pulled her against his bare chest. "I mean, if I'm already pregnant..."
"Hush." He closed his mouth over hers, wide-open and demanding.
Evie gasped as Tyler's tongue plunged between her teeth. A flickering of the pleasure she recalled from before prevented her from jerking away. The questing touch of strong fingers against the side of her breast made her moan in despair.
She remembered this part all too well. Her toes tingled. The tips of her breasts grew tight and painful waiting for him to find them. The sensation grew stronger and moved downward as his tongue plundered and did sweet things to her mouth. She didn't know how to respond, but Tyler didn't seem to care. He was decimating all her defenses very effectively without her help.
His hand slipped inside the gown he had somehow unfastened already. He cursed against her mouth at encountering another barrier. He halted his kisses to raise himself over her, and Evie wondered what expression was on his face.
"From now on, I don't want you wearing anything in bed. I can keep you warm, so you don't need this folderol. Help me get it off of you."
Evie surprised herself by lifting her hips so Tyler could pull the nightgown up, then lifting her arms so he could pull it over her head. He rewarded her with a kiss that sent more than her toes tingling, and she was reluctant to remove her lips from his when he reached for the edge of her chemise. Obligingly, Tyler held her mouth captive as he rolled the thin cloth upward, until her breasts were bare to the damp night air.
Evie emitted a kitten's mew as his fingers plucked her nipple. Tyler touched his tongue to this responsive tissue, and she literally jumped in his arms. Within seconds, the chemise lay tangled somewhere among the sheets, and Tyler's kisses moved unhampered over her skin.
Evie dug her fingers into his hard shoulders in a vague attempt to halt this assault on her senses, but even this grip bombarded her with strange sensations. He wore nothing, and her fingers dug into hot, smooth skin and taut muscle. Instead of pushing him away, her hands clung there, smoothing the rippling muscle as he bent over her, riding downward as he lifted his head to tease her lips with kisses. She didn't dare go farther than his waist, but even that held a strange fascination t. He was narrow there, but she could feel the cords of muscle jerking at her touch. She liked knowing he was responding to her.
She didn't like it when she felt Tyler's hands pulling at the drawstrings of her pantalets. She tensed, and this time, she did pull away. Tyler kissed her again, murmuring soothing phrases, but she was too terrified to respond. She knew what would happen when he had her undressed.
He loosened the strings but didn't immediately pull the fabric away. Instead, he bent his head to suckle at her breast until Evie was whimpering for more, while his hand stroked her abdomen and then moved lower.
She didn't want to feel this way. She didn't want to feel every nerve end drawn to the man hovering over her. But she was awash with heat and desperate for his kisses and her skin craved his touch as if it were a balm to all her fears. When Tyler's hand slid inside her pantalets, the craving went with it, centering where she didn't want it the most.
"I'm going to make love to you, Evie," Tyler whispered as he nibbled his way to her ear. "I'm going to put myself inside you and make you my wife and show you how much pleasure there can be in this. Tell me you'll let me show you, Evie. I won't hurt you again."
She was even ready to accept the pain again. His words were an incitement as surely as the fingers now touching her where she had