“What’s wrong?” She touched his shoulder and he flinched, his skin hot beneath her fingertips.
“When are you expecting your monthly?”
She stared at him, shocked by the impropriety of his question even after all the intimacies they’d shared. “I don’t know,” she whispered, embarrassed heat suffusing her face. “Soon.”
He gave her a pained smile. “Think about it. I need to know for certain. This is important.”
She glanced away, still flushing, and tried to remember. This month had been so full of changes, she hadn’t really thought about anything so mundane, but now she realized she hadn’t had one since right after she’d left the Manor.
“I should start any day now,” she said at last. “It’s been about a month.”
He nodded, his gaze drifting over her bare breasts. “I hope you’re not pregnant. Not now. We should wait awhile before we make love again. I want to know for sure that our baby was not conceived aboard that ship.”
She bit her lip and tore her gaze away from his beautiful body. “I don’t want to stop touching you. I spent so many nights on the other side of that fire dreaming of you, wishing you were beside me.”
“Ah, sweetheart. You’re enough to tempt a saint, and I’ve never claimed to be one.” He reached out and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I want to do this right. I want to be sure all our children are conceived in love, not blackmail and distrust.”
She sighed. “I was looking forward to sleeping in your arms tonight.”
He gave her a wicked grin and pulled her back into his lap. “You can still sleep in my arms. And there are other things we can do. Things that will give us pleasure, but not cause a baby.”
“There are?” She lifted one brow, delighted.
“Yes,” he whispered, kissing her deeply. “I’ll show you tonight.”
* * * * *
After a dinner that consisted of the last of the dried beef and an apple to share, Talon busied himself by making a bed out of their blankets close to the fire. He pushed aside his growing unease over their dwindling supplies. Soon they would have to forage for food.
Instead he concentrated on thoughts of the night to come. He still couldn’t believe Kate had agreed to marry him. Hell, he couldn’t even believe she’d decided to forgive him.
He didn’t deserve it. He knew that with every breath in his body.
Kate had disappeared down the beach with a pile of clothing a while ago, saying she needed a few moments alone. While he waited for her, he kicked off his boots and shed his shirt then climbed beneath the top blanket. She emerged from behind the trees a few minutes later, pausing, her gaze loving yet self-conscious.
His breath caught and his heartbeat accelerated. She wore nothing but a white linen shift, and she’d unbraided her chestnut hair, letting it tumble across her slim shoulders. His gaze caught and snagged on her long, bare limbs, entranced.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured as she knelt on the blankets beside him.
Kate shook her head. “I’m a mess. I don’t have anything to brush my hair with…”
Talon silenced her with a kiss. She melted into his embrace, her mouth moving over his with all the passion in her beautiful soul.
God, how he’d missed that passion.
He thought of his vow not to do anything that would cause a baby and prayed he had the strength to resist burying himself deep within her. He would never get enough of her, not in a hundred lifetimes.
Kate lifted her trembling hands to remove her shift, but he stilled her. “No,” he whispered. “Let me.” He undid each of the tiny buttons, kissing each inch of pale, soft skin he uncovered.
Her breasts were so sensitive. He loved the way her breath caught at the barest brush of his lips, loved the dark, pouty tips. He spread the wealth of her chestnut hair across her chest, admiring the result. “I promised myself I’d see you this way one day.”
“What way?” Her emerald eyes were smoky with passion.
“Wearing nothing but your hair.” He bent and kissed her, drowning in the taste and feel of her. As they kissed, he pleasured her with his hand, drinking in her soft, broken cries.
Soon that was no longer enough, and he slid down her body, loving her with his mouth, taking her to the edge again and again and then pulling back until she was nearly sobbing with need.
At last he let it happen, let her tumble headlong into rapture, holding her trembling in his arms in the aftermath.
