Page 47 of Willing to Wed the Rancher
“Since you are still confused”—his whisper was charged with something she couldn’t name—“I must clarify again.”
This time when he closed the distance, she was ready. She was eager for his lips to touch hers again, and she rose up to meet him.
As his mouth came against hers, he pressed in harder and more fervently.
Her heart sped, her breathing quickened, and need swelled within her, a need she hadn’t known she had—the need to be close to Franz, to be a part of him, to connect with him more completely.
The passion of his kiss invited her to join in the melding, so she let her lips tangle with his. And she was surprised when he took the kiss even deeper, sweeping in like a summer storm, engulfing her with pouring rain, with lightning crashing through her, sizzling along every nerve ending, leaving her body heated and charged and eager for more of him.
Even with the power of his kiss and the power of his body against hers, she sensed a restraint in his movements and muscles. The realization that he was being careful, that there was more that could be unleashed between them, made her tremble.
His hand had slipped from her neck to her hair, which had somehow come unbound over the night and now hung in tangled waves. His fingers were smooth and gentle, and yet, even as they wound through her hair, he seemed to be holdinghimself back there too, as if he wanted so much more than he was allowing himself.
He broke the connection of their lips and shifted away.
This time she wanted to chase after him and nearly whimpered her protest.
But her entire body was blazing, and she was suddenly keenly aware of just how intimately their bodies were touching—their hands on each other, every part of her body flush against him.
Somewhere at the back of her mind, she sensed that she needed to put even more distance between them, but the connection with him pulled her in so strongly and thoroughly that he was all that existed in her world and nothing else mattered.
“Clarabelle.” He spoke her name reverently.
She also sensed a request in his tone, that he wanted her attention, and so she opened her eyes and met his gaze again, feeling suddenly shy about how she was reacting to his kisses.
He drew his hand from her hair to her cheek, tracing a path down to her chin. His eyes were so dark the blue had turned to midnight. “I love you.”
She couldn’t keep from inhaling a sharp breath. He loved her? How was that possible already?
“I know it is soon,” he whispered. “But I have never been more certain of anything.”
“I don’t understand how.”
“I do not completely understand it myself.” His whisper was so soft it was almost a caress. “All I know is that I have been in love with you since the moment I met you.”
Her heart swelled with such affection for him that she wanted to tell him she loved him in return. But how could she be certain he was the man she’d been dreaming of, the man who would be her other half, the man she would cherish until her dying day?
He bent in and brushed a kiss against her forehead.
The touch contained his adoration. Could he really love her already? Was it possible?
Whatever was happening between them, she wanted more of it. She couldn’t stop herself from stretching up and brushing her lips to his again, tentatively, not sure if he would welcome another kiss or if he’d already had his fill.
He responded immediately with a soft moan that told her he most certainly welcomed her kiss, that he was as hungry for her as she was for him. Perhaps even more so, because this time, he ravaged her lips with a passion that seemed to unbridle more desire. His fingers in her hair tightened, and his palm on her spine splayed against her possessively.
A part of her already knew she was his. From his first kiss, he’d claimed her, and she didn’t want anyone else. But someone calling her from a distance penetrated through her haze. Was that one of the children?
She needed to get out of the bed before the children saw them together in such an intimate way. It would only make matters more complicated. Or would it?
“Clarabelle?” The voice came again but louder.
Franz must have heard the call at the same time she did, because his deep kiss turned shallow. And although he didn’t release her, he paused.
“Heaven have mercy, Clarabelle!” The shocked declaration came from right behind them. “Have you no decency?”
The voice belonged to Clementine.
Clarabelle froze.
