Page 74 of Anice’s Bargain

“Nay.” He shook his head. “I’ve listened since I’ve met ye, and I disagree.”

Anice lifted her face toward his, her mouth desperate for the sensual, masculine taste of him. One last time. Everything had to be enough, this one last time.

“It’s all in what ye’ve said, mo leannan.” He did not kiss her. Instead he stroked her face and her neck and shoulders and breasts. His fingers moved in tantalizing, teasing caresses over her entire body. Slowly, gently, he eased her back to the bed. “Ella dances better than ye, Marin fights better than ye, Leila plants better than ye.”

Anice stared at him in surprise. Had she said all those things?

“It’s why I dinna tell ye how beautiful ye are.” He crawled over the top of her and brought his hands back to her face, cradling her in his palms. He stared down at her as if she were the only woman in the world to ever have mattered. “I’ve seen how ye dance, and my body has burned from it.” He grinned his approval. “I’ve watched ye teach a clan to sow crops in the course of an afternoon with yer kindness, yer skill and yer wit. And I’ve fought with ye myself.” He nodded approvingly. “Ye’re so, so much more than simply an attractive woman.”

His mouth came down on hers then, sweet and tender. Sensual and loving. Anice clung to him as his kisses trickled downward to her nipples, to the dip of her navel, to the ache between her legs.

She clutched the bedclothes as his hot tongue licked at her center. This had to be enough. This had to be enough.

However, she knew it would not be. Despite the knowledge of his betrayal, despite her need to save her family, and despite the knowledge she would never forget this night, or the impact of his words, it would never be enough.

A greater part of her would always want James. Forever. Not only because of how he made her feel, or because he was the only person in the entire world who understood her better than even herself, but because…because she loved him.

* * *

James had waited far toolong to say what had been in his heart for so long. He ought to have told her earlier how he felt, but he had stubbornly pushed it away. Foolish rationale that if he let her know how beautiful she was, how deeply he cared for her, he would be giving her power over him.

The same as with Morna.

Except Anice was not Morna.

He loved her with his words, and now he loved her with his mouth, basking in the sighs and moans of Anice’s pleasure. Her breath hitched and she cried out with her release. He continued to taste her, to lick and tease until her body relaxed once more.

His cock was swollen with desire for his bonny wife, eager to sate them both. He got to his feet and crawled on the mattress over her, the taste of her sweetness on his lips.

He nuzzled her cheek with his nose and pressed a kiss to the spot under her ear that always made small bumps of delight rise on her skin.

She arched her hips up, fitting their pelvises together so the sweet sensuality of her curves pressed to him. “I need you, James.” Her arms curled up his back and she clung to him as though her life depended on it. “Please. I need you.”

It was a request she didn’t need to ask for again. Holding her to him, he shifted her underneath him and positioned himself between her legs. The cries of her crises only moments ago had left him hard for her. Hell, some days just looking at her left him hard.

He eased himself against her and thrust inside the grip of her heat. She gave a breathy gasp by his ear. Her legs locked around him with the same determined grip as her arms, bringing them as close as they could possibly be.

They had not been intimate like this, locked against one another as though every part of them touched. James cupped her bottom with both hands and flexed his hips, deep and fast into her.

Anice.His lovely wife. So much more than she gave herself credit for. There was one final thing he hadn’t told her yet.

His mouth caught hers and she kissed with a hungry, blind passion while their bodies joined again and again and again. He broke off the kiss and rested his brow to hers.

“Anice, I’ve never told ye.” He released one hand from her bottom and braced himself over her, so he might look at her as he said it. “I lov—”

“Nay.” She shook her head. “Don’t.” Her hips raised to his with more determination.

James grabbed her to him again, mind swirling with a distracted inability to understand her reaction. He thrust into her with renewed vigor, desperate for release, expelling his frustration, wanting to possess her completely.

She buried her face in his neck and loosed a muffled scream as her release took her. James was not far behind, his smooth pumps becoming shorter as the rushing swell of his climax overtook him.

Once their breathing had calmed and her clutching grip on him had loosened under the languidness of post-coital bliss, he rose to clean them both. When he was done, he pulled Anice into his arms, snuggling her back to his chest and cradling her with the whole of his body.

In those moments after pleasure, with heat still humming in their veins and cradled in the comfort of a shared bed, life was completely perfect.

Except that in reality, life was completely imperfect. And his father would no doubt be waiting for him.

James kissed Anice’s smooth, naked shoulder. “Ye’ve always been bonny to me, mo leannan.” She did not reply, clearly asleep as her deep, rhythmic breathing indicated.