He contemplated her face, that face which had haunted his dreams.
She was here now, real. He held onto her, letting his hand stroke her to confirm it was true. She truly was here with him. She seemed to feel the same, barely able to believe they had finally found each other and this moment.
He led her to the fire.
“I fear this is a dream,” he whispered.
“Then, we must never wake,” she replied.
And with those words, he helped her down to the beautiful Persian rug. Her skirts pooled out about her legs.
He knelt down and, ever so reverently, skimmed his fingers along her cheek, and then to his shock, he said, “Marry me.”
She blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“Marry me,” he said again, even as he felt his whole body rattle with his audacity. He didn’t want to be her lover. He wanted to be hers, forever, and he wanted her to belong to him. He didn’t ever want them to look back or to run away from each other again.
“Say yes,” he asked, leaning in and kissing the nape of her neck.
She took in a long, shuddering breath, and he was certain she was about to say no. She had come here only to be his lover, to enjoy the rough pleasures he could give her.
But then she pulled back, took his hands in hers, and said in a single breath, “I will.”
His heart nigh exploded in his chest.
It was madness, he knew, but it was the right sort of madness.
And with that, he pulled her towards him, into his embrace, holding her in the place where she was always meant to be.
Chapter 17
Need pulsed through every part of Mary’s body. Her lips parted, hungry for his mouth.
But he did not give it to her. Not in the way she’d imagined.
Oh, no, he bent and pressed a soft kiss to the arch of her neck.
A moan of pleasure escaped her lips as he slid his mouth over her hot skin, tracing over her collarbones then to the curve of her breast.
He took her nipple into his mouth through her chemise.
She arched against him, shocked.
A feral growl ripped from his throat, and before she knew what he was doing, he’d worked her chemise free from her shoulders and pooled it at her waist. He tugged it past her hips then whipped it down her body.
In an instant, she was exposed before him. Every bit of her.
It felt so perfect, as if she’d been waiting for this moment her whole life. So, she did not try to hide herself from him.
His firm hands caressed her ribs, down to her thighs, then back up to cup her breasts.
“Mine,” he whispered roughly.
“Yes,” she agreed without hesitation. But then she found herself grabbing at his shirt. He eased back, allowing her to yank it over his head. He guided her hands to his breeches.
Her fingers trembled, not with fear but desire, as she undid the front placket. As she worked his breeches down his hard, granite legs, she purred, “Mine.”
A low, tortured sound slipped past his lips. “Yours,” he replied.
She gazed at the hard shaft between his legs. She’d seen the adult male form in sculpture, but never in life.
He was a picture of opposites. Hard and smooth.
Tentatively, she reached out, then boldly, she took him in her hand.
He hissed.
Triumph at his pleasure coursed through her.
But before she could go further, he whipped her onto her back.
“Tonight is about you,” he growled.
She didn’t understand what he meant, but she trusted him.
So as he all but devoured her mouth with his, his hand eased between her thighs, stroking until it found her center.
A cry of amazement tore from her lips.
He’d found some spot. A spot that suddenly had her desperate for breath.
Relentlessly, he circled his fingers over it, spreading her own slick desire over her folds.
As she began to shake and hold onto him tighter, he didn’t relent. Oh, no, he only increased his attention.
And just as she thought she couldn’t bear it, he rumbled against her ear, “That’s it, luv. Oi want to see you take your pleasure.”
And as if he had somehow commanded it to be so, wave after wave of wild ecstasy washed over her.
The intensity and purity of it stole her breath and thought. She could not hold back her cry of wonder.
His hard body pressed over hers. And as he slid his tongue into her mouth, his shaft pressed against her opening.
The liquid pleasure part of her body eased, and then as