“No reason?” She pulled out of his embrace and sat on the bed. “You mean you only made love to me in order to impregnate me? As if I were just a broodmare, being mated to a stallion for breeding purposes?”
He softly caressed her cheek, his eyes stinging with unshed tears. “No. That was not the reason. I should say that was the excuse. The lie I told myself to justify having the audacity to touch you. Claim you as mine. Because I know otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared to reach for you.”
“Why not, Colin? Why did you have to come up with excuses and lies? Couldn’t you have simply courted me?”
He snorted. “No, I couldn’t. I knew I wouldn’t have a damn chance. So I snatched you up before someone else could. I realize it was selfish of me, but I wanted you too much to play fair.”
“I don’t understand what you are talking about. Who was going to snatch me? In case you hadn't noticed, I didn’t have suitors lining up for my hand. I was living as a poor companion to an invalid widow. Removed from society. Without a penny to my name. Afraid to even get close to a man. Let alone...” she trailed off as he lifted her off the bed, her weight a reassuring burden as he carried her a few feet to a mirror in the corner.
He softly stood her in front of it, then moved behind her. Her heat seeped into his hands as he caressed her shoulders.
“Look at us, sweetheart. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Bright as a ray of sunshine. Sweet as a cream puff.” He turned his head to punctuate his words with a kiss to her neck. She heard him inhale her fragrance. “You smell like the most delicious flower.”
***
SHE MELTED AGAINSThim, having no defenses against his sensuality. She was like softened butter in his hands. Her head tilted to the side to give him better access. Craving his touch.
He groaned. A sound so needful and raw it pulled at her insides. She wanted him to continue doing what he was doing. Her interest in the conversation waning as a tide of desire took over. But he took his lips away to stare at her eyes in the mirror.
“And look at me. I’m just a misshapen freak. A beast to your beauty. Sometimes I’m appalled I had the audacity to reach as high as you. To put my paws all over you, defile you with my body. Even put a babe in you. I just hope the poor baby takes after you and not me.”
Her eyes rounded and her heart squeezed painfully at hearing all this self hatred from a man that was just so beautiful both inside and out.
She suddenly realized she was not the only one nursing painful wounds. The way he had cut straight to the heart of her fears with a few well-chosen words. He could not have known all the right things to say unless he had suffered abuse, rejection, and shame.
How could she make him understand, vanquish his demons the way he had with hers? While she scrambled for the words, he continued talking.
“But I did, because from the moment I returned, you were all I wanted.”
She turned around then to face him. To look into his eyes directly and not through the mirror. Cupping his beloved face in her hands, she rose on tiptoes and kissed him softly. He let her, but did not respond. So she kissed him again, and his breathing fractured, while his hands tightened on her waist.
“Abigail, I want to love you until you forget the past.”
There were so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to find the exact words to tell him how she saw him. How precious he was to her.
But maybe it was better to show him.
She twined her arms around his neck, plastering her body to his. Kissing him frantically. Letting all her passion fly free. Testing this gift he had given her.
He was kissing her now. With need and hunger and even a bit of wonder. She could taste all his emotions in his kiss. She brought a leg up, wrapping it around his thigh, trying to get as close to him as possible. Closer still. She wanted him inside her. Now.
At last, he seemed to understand. He picked her up and brought her back to the bed. After laying her down on it, he started removing her clothes. Starting with the sleeping gown, then her chemise. Kissing her breasts as he exposed them to his eyes.
“Damn. You are so beautiful. My heart aches just looking at you.”
He lingered there. Twirling his tongue around one nipple while he tormented the other with his clever fingers. Then he switched to the other breast until she was arching off the bed and moaning with desire.
“Yes. Moan for me. I want you to fly free in my arms. I want you wild with passion. Can you do that for me?”
Her fingers sank into his glorious hair, massaging his scalp, then scratching and pulling when the pleasure became too intense to bear.
“Y-yes.”
When she couldn’t possibly stand it a second more, he slowly kissed down her stomach. Dipped his tongue in her navel, dragging it in languorous circles, driving her insane with need. Then his touch changed. Became tender. His big hands covered her belly, and he deposited the sweetest kiss in the space between his hands. It was a kiss for the baby. A show of love for the tiny life they had created. A vow of protection.
Her heart melted along with her core.
The moment lasted a few seconds before he went on, lower, lower. To the place of aching need, his breath fluttered over flesh that was already wet and throbbing for him.
