Page 22 of Miss Barton's Mysterious Husband
When they’d met, she’d been plump and pretty and as luscious as a chocolate éclair. This woman was slender, and her body was lithe with muscle. Proof of how she’d worked since leaving him. But her skin was as smooth and creamy as he remembered, and her lips were just as soft and eager.
Lips he could no longer resist.
He kissed her with all the wild joy he felt. She gave a low hum of approval and used her tongue to whip him into a frenzy of desire. Her fingers dug into his buttocks. Need shuddered through him like an earthquake.
This was every fantasy come true. Charmian aroused and desperate in his arms. The promise of uniting their bodies in the most profound act he knew. Without his wife, his life had been intolerably impoverished.
One thing alone remained before the picture was perfect. He withdrew from the kiss and studied her with his eyes and with his longing heart. “Take your hair down.”
She stood on tiptoe to land a couple of kisses on the corners of his mouth. “My hair?”
He found himself smiling at her. The sort of smile that came straight from the soul. The sort of smile absent since she’d abandoned him. “You have no idea how often red hair features in my dreams. I reached a point where I couldn’t abide seeing a red-haired woman, because the sight only made me ache for you.”
Her gaze softened. Already she stepped back and started to undo the thick auburn plait that snaked down across her bare breasts with their tight, rose-pink nipples. He bit back a groan and closed his eyes.
“Roland, are you all right?” she asked.
He opened his eyes and gave her a wry smile. “Your bosom might have featured in those dreams, too.”
Charmian released a huff of laughter and glanced down, even as her fingers worked on the plait. “You’re welcome to touch.”
“Oh, yes.” When he cupped her breasts, she gasped. He caressed the curves and brushed his thumbs across pert nipples.
“I’m…smaller than I was.”
The hint of apology made him lift his gaze from the delicious curves. “My love, you’re exquisite from head to toe.”
Her lips turned down. “I’m not the same as the girl you married.”
Roland kissed her with overflowing thankfulness. “No, you’ve grown up. I love the woman you’ve become. I love you, Charmian.”
The trouble faded from her lovely green eyes. “Have we learned to be wise, do you think?”
“I hope so. I’ll never take love for granted again. We received a precious gift, yet we were careless enough to cast it aside.”
“I pray that you’re right. The world has been such a sharp, cold place since we parted.”
“Nothing was right for me without you, my darling.”
She touched his cheek with a loving caress that he felt all the way to the soles of his feet. “Then let’s make it right tonight. It’s Christmas. The time for second chances and new beginnings. I love you, too.”
She ran her fingers through her hair, loosening it until it flowed over her shoulders. His heart slammed against his chest at the glorious sight. His wife was clothed in firelight and hair the color of flame.
Words had brought them this far. Actions would knit them together forever. Still gentle, he swung her around and broughther down onto the bed, cradling her in his arms as she sank into the thin mattress.
When he straddled her, she stretched out beneath him and circled his dick with eager fingers. Roland exhaled on a hiss, as a blast of heat threatened to incinerate him.
“Next time.” He caught her hand. “I’m too close to the edge, and I want to do you justice tonight.”
The hint of wickedness in her smile reminded him of the ardent girl he’d wed. “Do you remember our first night?”
He gave a short laugh. “How could I forget?”
The wicked smile deepened. “And it was even better the next day.”
He stroked her thighs, trailing his hands toward the russet curls that hid her sex. “After that, I couldn’t keep away from you.”
One finger traced a line down his chest, stopping on the way to tease his nipple with a fingernail. A shudder of response made him gasp. He thought that he was already as het up as he could get, but it seemed there was more.
