Page 103 of Enslaved
With his mouth still possessing hers, he carried her down the hall to his own chamber and kicked the door closed behind them, shutting out the world.
Diana was in a frenzy to see him naked, to run her hands over the slabs of muscle in his chest, to feel the hot slide of naked male skin against her soft flesh. She knew Marcus’ body completely; Mark’s not at all. They felt the same, but she needed to see him, to taste him, to explore to the full his powerful maleness.
Her fingers were on the buttons of his shirt but his impatient hand brushed them away. He stood her on the bed while he tore off the shirt and flung it away. Her eyes widened as she saw the gold half-coin gleaming against the dark expanse of his muscled chest. Her fingers trembled as she lifted it.
“Mark, your Caesar coin! Marcus always wore it!”
The pupils of his eyes dilated with need. He would put his indelible stamp upon her to obliterate all thought of Marcus. He reached for her, but she stayed his hands.
“Where did you get the coin?”
“I’ve always had it,” he said thickly. Again his hands reached out for her. His powerful fingers splayed beneath her breasts and he dipped his head to devour her.
“Wait! Wait! I have something to show you.”
He closed his eyes and groaned. The last thing on earth he wanted to do was wait. Because she held him off, his hands fell to the waistband of his riding breeches and he stripped them from his body.
Diana’s eyes filled with love. Naked, without his modern clothes, Mark was Marcus. She hadn’t lost him, he was here for the taking. It was up to her to make him remember. Diana smiled a secret smile. She would have to ensnare him. Mark Hardwick was compulsive about his freedom. He would be easy to seduce; almost impossible to marry. In that moment, Diana made up her mind to have him. There was no way in heaven or hell she was going to lose him a second time!
Slowly, with tantalizing fingers she unfastened the corset and stepped from the scarlet lace. His black eyes smoldered as they traveled from her creamy breasts to the golden curls of her high mons. Around her slim waist she wore a gold chain that added a most erotic touch to her nakedness. She slipped her fingers beneath the half-coin and lifted it.
“This is the other half of Caesar. We fit together perfectly.”
She had his attention now. She unfastened the clasp and put the other half of his priceless gold coin in his hands. Mark lifted it to his own half-coin. When he saw the two halves fit together to form a perfect Julius Caesar, he sat down upon the bed stunned.
“I’ve been searching all my life for this. It’s probably the reason I have a passion for archaeology and Roman artifacts. I’ve had my half-coin since my earliest memory. I assumed it came from a great-grandfather. How did you get yours?”
Diana knelt down on the bed beside him. A faint blush dusted her cheeks as she remembered. “The coin was whole when Marcus wore it. After the first night we spent together, he took it off and placed it about my neck so I could have it all day to remember him, while we were apart.”
“After he made love to you?”
Her lashes fanned her cheeks. “No. The first night he wanted to keep me virgin longer.”
“He must have been mad,” Mark said hoarsely.
“After that, whenever we made love, we passed it to the other, taking turns wearing it. The Caesar coin medallion was precious to him. When he asked me to marry him, he gifted me with half of it, to wear forever.”
Mark fastened the tiny clasp and lifted the chain over her head. The half-coin dipped into the deep valley between her breasts.
“Do you believe now that you were once Marcus?”
“I’m beginning to,” he admitted in a voice that sounded like black velvet. He reached out a calloused fingertip to trace the swell of her breast. Diana shuddered. “I don’t think I have the willpower to keep you virgin any longer.”
“But I’m not virgin. You made love to me every night,” Diana whispered.
He cupped her shoulders with gentle hands and pressed her back upon the bed. She yielded, doing whatever he wished to do. Their eyes met and held as Mark trailed the back of his fingers along the inside of her silken thigh. She did not resist his touch, but rather welcomed it as her thighs fell open to aid his searching quest.
As he ran his fingers through the gilt tendrils, she arched her mons in pleasure. His touch was hypnotic. Again she marveled that such large, powerful hands could be so tender when they caressed her female flesh.
One finger only stroked her cleft; a drop of woman’s mist formed instantly, luring him on, easing his way. One finger only circled and separated her pink petals. One finger only slid up inside her.
Diana wet her top lip with the tip of her tongue. His black eyes followed its glistening trail. She wanted his fingers inside her, she wanted his tongue inside her, she wanted him to sheath his great gladius sword. She was drowning in need and he was obviously in a mood to draw out their loveplay until she was on the edge of madness. She swallowed hard, her throat aching with desire. It had to be just the way he wanted it this first time. How else could she enslave him?
She reached for his other hand, dropped a kiss upon it, then took one finger only and dipped it into her mouth. She began to suck upon him seductively and Mark felt the erotic sensation all the way to the tip of his marble-hard erection.
Diana was scalding hot and tight upon the finger of his other hand. When he imagined what she would feel like on his shaft, it began to pulse and buck of its own volition.
The problem was, he could clearly feel the barrier of her hymen pressing back against his fìnger. He withdrew it slowly and made a decision. He would not tell her she was still virgin. She believed otherwise. She had an innate female sensuality that had nothing to do with age, and she was eager for his lovemaking. He did not want to see fear in her eyes. He wanted to see her pleasure, he wanted to feel her passion, he wanted to fulfill her every expectation of her woman’s sexuality.
