Page 23 of Miss Barton's Mysterious Husband
“I loved how much you wanted me. It made me feel like a queen.”
He kissed the pale slope of her breast and slid his hand between her legs. She moved under his caresses and sucked in an audible breath. He smiled against her skin when he discovered that she was slick and hot already. “I still want you like the very devil.”
“And I want you,” she murmured. “We’ve wasted so much time.”
He kissed the hint of sadness from her eyes, as he stroked her cleft. “Then let’s not waste any more.”
With a sigh of surrender, she bumped her hips higher. “Take me, Roland. I don’t want to be lonely anymore.”
Finding the site of her pleasure, he teased her until she writhed. He held back from taking her to her limit. That was a moment he meant to share with her.
He raised his head and shifted back. “Open your legs for me, my love.”
The intensity between them reached such a pitch that it almost felt like a reprieve when everything turned to a disorderly scuffle. On such a narrow bed, trying to position their bodies almost knocked him to the floor. They were both breathless and laughing by the time she cradled his hips between her thighs.
She shifted up on the pillows. “Please don’t break your neck, now I’ve got you back at last.”
Kissing her again, he poised above her. The path to paradise lay open before him. After so long, he wasn’t sure whether they would come together like strangers, but he slid into her as smooth as honey. She closed hard around him, claiming him in return.
Roland rose on his elbows to survey her. Her eyes were the color of wet moss and heavy with desire. Her lips were swollen and parted to give him a glimpse of small white teeth.
Her beauty sliced through him like a saber. It always had, but seeing her like this, lost in their connection, the feeling was overwhelming.
Roland was home after a long and arduous journey. The half of his soul that had been missing was finally returned to him. For the first time since Charmian left, he trusted in tomorrow.
He felt an invincible urge to lose himself in the passion flaring between them. But first, despite his fierce animal urges, he needed to bask in this closeness that had been stolen from him. A closeness that made his life worth living.
Charmian stroked the straining muscles of his arms before tracing the line of his back. As he stared into her eyes, he believed at last that their love was strong enough to recover fromtheir separation. In so many ways that mattered, their marriage started tonight.
They’d both suffered. They’d both learned the value of what they shared. They were both strong enough to fight for their love.
She bowed up, brushing her breasts against his chest. The change of angle made his balls contract in needy craving.
“I wanted to have your baby. I wanted it so much,” she whispered.
“Let me give you a baby now. I want us to be a family.” Poignant emotion thundered through him. He pushed deeper in preparation for the sensual storm ahead. “I want this for the rest of our lives.”
“Oh, yes, Roland, yes.”
The stillness had been transcendent. Now he thirsted to give her everything he had. “Let me take you to the stars, my love.”
***
For three hard years, Charmian had felt empty and lost. Having Roland back to fill all those longing parts of her felt like a miracle. Muscles that she hadn’t used since she’d left him surged to throbbing life, as her body adjusted to a man again.
When he pulled back with a slow power that thrilled her, she sighed her pleasure and lifted her hips. How strange that she’d relived this act over and over since their parting, yet it turned out she hadn’t remembered it at all. She’d forgotten how every part of her melted with desire. She’d forgotten the ferocious thunder of her blood. She’d forgotten the sheer animal pleasure of having Roland deep inside her.
She’d forgotten how love turned his physical possession to pure gold, so she felt as if they existed in a glowing bubble of light.
Charmian caught the glint of firelight on her wedding ring, worn for the first time since she’d run home to her mother in such a taking. Silly, thoughtless, careless little girl she’d been.
She was no longer that brainless ninny – although at least she’d been smart enough to fall in love with Roland. She’d grown into a woman who knew enough to cherish their love as the precious, unique treasure it was.
As he shifted forward, her frantic hands closed around his arms. She thought that he’d gone as deep as possible, but now he seemed to touch her womb.
“Oh, yes,” she sighed, tightening around him.
“That’s so good, beloved.” Awe rasped in his voice. She wasn’t alone in finding this an experience of the soul as well as the flesh.
