With a triumphant roar, Braden sat up. “Now you’re mine…”
“I have always been yours,” she whispered.
Before he could think on her words, he pressed her back against the mattress, separated her thighs with his knees and drove himself back into paradise.
She raked her nails over his back as he thrusted against her. In and out, faster and faster until he thought he would go mad. She clasped him tight with her legs and arms, then threw her head back and screamed out his name as her release took her.
Braden laughed as he continued to fill her.
“That’s it, Maggie,” he breathed in her ear. “Hold me.” Because, in truth, he never wanted her to let go of him.
She held him tight and when his own release came, it shook him all the way to his soul.
Never had he met her equal. Braden lay there, still inside her, just listening to her breathe in his ear. Her tiny breasts were flat against his chest, and for the first time in his life he didn’t want to leave her. If he could, he would crawl inside her skin and stay there forever.
The peace inside him was indescribable. His body was fully sated and yet he still wanted more.
It was the strangest, most frightening thing he had ever encountered.
What was it about her? She was magical.
Rolling over, he pulled her to him. She curled against his right side with her head on his shoulder and one arm draped over him.
For hours they lay there, neither speaking, just feeling each other, grateful for the time in each other’s embrace and terrified of what the morrow might bring.
In the wee hours of the morn, Maggie fell asleep.
Braden stayed awake, listening to her breathing as he held her close. It was such a miraculous sound.
“Oh, Maggie,” he whispered against her hair, knowing he would have to leave her when this day was over.
Why? his mind demanded.
I have no choice!
She commanded him in ways no one ever had. Her touch made him weak, and he was helpless before her. Deep inside he knew he would give her anything she wanted.
And that he could never do.
Nay, once this day was finished. So was their relationship. He must make sure of it.
Brushing his lips against her forehead, Braden allowed himself a moment to absorb the taste and smell of her. He closed his eyes and let it wash over him. He would carry this memory for the rest of his life.
And it would haunt him throughout eternity.
“Good-bye, my love,” he whispered.
Seventeen
Maggie came awake slowly to the sound of Braden’s gentle snore.
Not quite ready to rise, she snuggled closer against his side, until she recalled poor Connor waiting for her in her room.
Afraid the boy would think she had abandoned him, she quickly got up and dressed.
With a parting look at Braden’s naked, slumbering form draped in furs, she rushed from the room and gathered apples, bread, and a cup of milk for Connor.
She knew she should have told Braden about his son last night, but it just hadn’t seemed the time. Especially not after the way Braden had reacted when she’d asked him about children.
