She caught her breath, overwhelmed by his sweet words and unexpected actions. “I missed you today.” She brushed his dark hair away from his pensive face. She wanted him to tell her where he’d been, but she didn’t want to sound like a shrew, demanding to know his whereabouts every moment of the day.
He turned his cheek into her palm and pressed a warm lingering kiss to her wrist, making her pulse race. Looking up at her through his extravagant long lashes, he reached out and stroked her nipple through the fabric of her gown.
“Make love to me,” he demanded. “Right now. I need you, love.”
His intensity frightened her. Something was terribly wrong. She wanted him to talk to her, wanted him to tell her what had put that desolate look in his eyes. But if making love to her would give him the same sense of peace and contentment she’d known in his arms last night, how could she refuse?
Without a word, she rose from the chair. Taking his hand, she led him through the darkened house toward the bedchamber.
After he closed the door, he sank into one of the plush chairs and gave her a moody look as he unbuttoned his cravat.
She sat nervously before him and wondered what she should do. She no longer felt as though she knew him. He seemed unapproachable, a far different man than the tender lover who had initiated her into the joys of the marriage bed.
“Tell me what to do,” she said, her voice husky and hesitant. “I want to please you, Dylan.”
“Do you?” He raised a mocking brow, as though he didn’t believe her, as though she had offended him in some way.
Swallowing, she lifted her hands to unfasten her gown. Slowly, deliberately, she let the heavy fabric fall off her shoulders. It caught for a moment on the fullness of her breasts, before pooling at her feet. Clad only in her lace chemise, she knelt between his thighs.
“I don’t know what happened to make you act this way.” She ran her fingertips across the taut fabric that restrained the thick length of his erection. “But I wish you’d talk to me about it. I want to help you.”
Her touch made him gasp and clench the arms of the chair with both fists, but his face remained impassive. Still, he said nothing. The watchful look in his eyes made her think he was testing her in some way.
Testing her… and expecting her to fail.
Holding his stormy gray gaze, she unfastened his trousers with a boldness she didn’t feel. As much as she wanted him, she’d rather he confided in her. Lovemaking was a temporary fix, at best.
But perhaps, in the tender intimacy that followed, he would open up and tell her what was troubling him.
She trapped his face with her hands, kissing him with devastating hunger.
He tasted of anguish and desperation. For some reason, she felt those things, too. It seemed as though this was the last time he’d ever hold her, as though he were saying goodbye.
Fumbling in his haste to remove her chemise, he gave up and tore it down the front. Her breasts tumbled free into his hands, as his tongue pillaged every corner of her mouth.
She was completely bare, while he remained fully clothed except for his loosened breeches. The feeling was both frightening and erotic, especially when he pressed more fully against her and his clothing chafed her sensitive skin.
He slid his hands up her thighs. She gasped when his fingers probed her intimately. “You’re so beautiful. So passionate.” His breath was moist and hot against her throat, and he sounded as though the words pained him.
She feathered her hands through his hair with infinite tenderness. “You’re the only one who has ever made me feel this way,” she assured him. “The only one.”
Lifting his gaze, he stared into her eyes as though all the secrets of the universe lay within. “I don’t want to talk. I just want to feel you.”
He shifted her weight, thrusting forward at the same time, sheathing himself deep within her. Natalia clung to his shoulders, overwhelmed by his fierce possession. He flexed his hips, a long slow slide.
Gasping at the exquisite fullness, she leaned forward and kissed him, trying to tell him without words that her anger was gone.
Only love remained.
Chapter Twenty-six
Dylan pressed his lips to Natalia’s temple, allowing himself this one last moment of intimacy before he said the words that would drive her away from him forever. They lay tangled amidst the blankets upon Natalia’s bed, having moved from the chair sometime after the first incredibly erotic episode. Even now, having made love to her twice more during the night, he wanted her again.
God, what a colossal mistake.
He should never have touched her, never should’ve admitted how badly he needed her. He’d meant it to be goodbye, wanted to create one last memory to cherish.
All he’d done was fall even more deeply in love with her.
