Page 193 of Forbidden

The word was as much a purr as a question. Low, husky, breathless with desire, the sound of Amber’s voice sent a shudder of anticipation through Duncan.

Suddenly she moved astride his thighs and he sensed her opening to him. She radiated heat and wept with desire. The scent of her made him wild.

Yet Amber stayed where she was, poised just above him, brushing against the very flesh she had tormented so thoroughly.

“Finish it,” he said hoarsely. “You want me as much as I want you. I can feel it.”

“That will never change as long as I draw breath.”

“Then let me take you and end this torment!”

“That can’t be your hand upon my thigh, pushing me down, can it?” Amber asked.

With a dark curse Duncan snatched back his hand.

“I didn’t mean to,” he said.

“I know. I felt your surprise.”

“Have I no secrets from you?” Duncan asked angrily.

“Many. But only one that matters.”

“What?”

“Your soul, dark warrior. It is shut away from me.”

“So is yours from me.”

“Nay,” Amber whispered. “Tonight I am giving it to you one breath at a time.”

Whatever Duncan might have said in answer was lost in the husky cry he gave as Amber slid down over him, taking all of him in a slow, caressing glide.

Before the taking was half complete, Amber came undone. Her shivering flesh and rippling cries undid Duncan. Even as she took him fully, he gave himself to her in a succession of deep pulses that left him shaking.

And then it began all over again.

The tempting and the teasing, the intimate caresses and the sweet torment. Whispered words and touches that made Duncan jerk with pleasure. Unexpected kisses, love bites that stung and pleasured at once.

While candles guttered and flames winked out, Amber burned on undimmed, pouring herself into Duncan as surely as he poured himself into her, burning with her because he could do no less, consuming her as certainly as he was himself being consumed.

A whispered plea, a vow given back, and Duncan’s hands were at last free to touch, his mouth to kiss, his body to sink deeply into the wildness that was Amber burning. She drank his passion and gave it back to him redoubled, driving both of them higher and higher, speaking to him in wild silence, describing a love that could not be put into words, expressing an unspeakable need.

Let me reach into you as you have reached into me.

Then rich life might grow.

When finally nothing was left undone, when both were so spent they slid from shattering ecstasy into sleep in the space of a breath, still Amber clung to Duncan, wanting to share her dreams as deeply as she had shared the rest of herself.

Let me touch your soul.

Just once.

But it was Duncan’s dreams that were shared, bleak turmoil redoubled rather than relieved by Amber’s wild giving and taking of self.

Soon Amber awakened, dragged into awareness by the conflict raging through Duncan’s soul. When she realized what had been gambled and what had been lost, cold seeped through her.

The last part of the prophecy had been fulfilled.