Page 223 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 1-4

‘I can be if you’d rather.’

Her fingers sifted gently through his hair, her mouth curving as she looked up into his eyes. ‘That night you were the god of the forest. And I let you catch me.’

Strange, mysterious woman. Wild and passionate one minute, stubborn and angry the next, then warm and almost tender the minute after that.

She intrigued him.

She’ll be your wife if she agrees.

The thought gripped him tight as a wave of possessiveness swamped him. Yes, she would behiswife. No one else’s, just his.

‘You did.’ He tried not to let the possessiveness bleed into his voice. ‘And you know what that means.’

Slowly, like the dawn breaking, she smiled. ‘No. What?’

‘It means you’re mine.’ This time he couldn’t stop that possessiveness from colouring his voice. ‘And the god of the forest always keeps what’s his.’

He thought she might protest at his blatant declaration of ownership, but she didn’t. Instead her eyes darkened further, the gold eclipsed. Did she like it? Did she want to be claimed?

He stared down at her, and it came to him then that it was a fine line she walked. Because yes, she did want that. Her mother hadn’t wanted her, and her grandparents hadn’t either. They’d taken her away, but it hadn’t been about her, he thought. It had been for themselves, because they hadn’t liked the way her mother had brought her up.

But that night, she’d let him catch her, because deep in her heart she wanted to be captured. She wanted to be held. Even though she fought against it and wanted her freedom, she also wanted that tether.

He wasn’t sure why what she wanted mattered to him, perhaps it was merely that she was carrying their child. Regardless, he wanted to give that to her. Both the tether and the freedom.

And why not? When it suits what you want very well.

There was an element of snideness in the thought, but he dismissed it. Yes, it worked well for what he wanted too, but who cared? In the end, they both got an arrangement that suited both their needs.

Maude clearly liked the thought of him keeping her, because her fingers tightened in his hair, bringing his head slowly lower until their lips met.

Her mouth was warm and she tasted both tart and sweet from the orange juice she’d been drinking, and he could feel the autumn sun on the back of his neck, as soft and warm as her mouth and body.

‘Here,’ he murmured, easing her down onto the blanket. ‘Let me have you here. I’ve caught you, nymph, so you have to give me whatever I want.’

She was still smiling, but there was a delicate flush to her cheeks now, a sure sign of arousal. ‘Do I?’ There was a playful note in her voice. ‘And what is it you want, O great god?’

He was already pulling at her clothing, and usually he was more adept, but he felt oddly desperate and inexplicably clumsy, and so she had to help him. She laughed as she got tangled in her jeans and underwear, until he covered her mouth with his, taking her laughter for himself.

Finally they were naked and he was stretched out above her, where he preferred to be, looking down at her, this beautiful, wild, uncanny woman he’d found in the forest that night, and he felt himself teetering on the edge of a cliff he hadn’t known was there. But the feeling made no sense, so he kissed her again, relishing the way she arched beneath him, letting him know she wanted more, and then her legs wrapped around his waist and that was the sweetest feeling yet.

He guided himself into her, loving how she gasped as he pushed in slow, deep, and then he stopped, buried inside her. He lifted her hands and threaded her fingers through his, before pressing them down on the blanket, on either side of her head.

She smiled. ‘I like you like this,’ she said softly, her voice husky with pleasure. ‘Naked and in the sun. You look like you’re meant to be here. Like me.’

He shifted his hips, unable to look away, trapped by the pleasure darkening her eyes as he moved. ‘Do I?’ he asked, rough and raw. ‘Like a god, if I remember right.’

She gave a soft laugh that ended on a gasp as he drew out of her, then slid deep inside again. ‘Oh...yes...’ She sighed. ‘You are, badger.’

He found himself smiling back at her, staring into her eyes, gone molten and soft with liquid gold. ‘Don’t kill the moment, nymph.’

She laughed again, a soft sexy little laugh that had him kissing her, wanting to taste the joyous sound of it and keep it inside him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d smiled at someone during sex. The last time it had been playful, and teasing, and tender.

He rolled suddenly onto his back, just for a change, so she was above him, the sun turning her hair into a golden glory. Her face was alight, her hands braced on his chest, and when he gripped her hips, moving her, she sighed, her inner muscles squeezing him.

Beautiful nymph. Beautiful Maude.

A groan escaped him as she tilted her hips slightly. ‘You’re killing me,’ he murmured, the pleasure sharper, hotter. ‘I like it. Do it again.’

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