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Cheeks flushed, hair spilling around her in every direction, Clarissa looked as if she’d already been ravished.

Not quite yet.

He stilled his hand, waiting, until she finally pressed against it.

“I’m going to slip my fingers inside you,” he said, “and hear my name from your lips before we’re through.”

The minx shrugged, actually shrugged, as if she doubted him.

Aidan was not fooled. She ruined the effect of her bravado by biting her lip. It was as good a place to start as any. He ran the tip of his tongue to the seam where her teeth met her poor lower lip, coaxing it to open. When it did, he plunged inside.

And his fingers followed.

She was dripping wet and more than ready to come apart at his touch, so Aidan circled and pressed with his fingers, unrelenting, even when Clarissa tried to pull her mouth away. If the sensations were too much, she would simply have to learn to be overwhelmed by them.

Aidan did not relent, not in anything, and certainly not in her pleasure.

Devouring her mouth as he slowed the pace down below, he captured her low groan. Hard and more than ready to sink himself into her, Aidan relied on years of discipline to ignore the powerful urge to claim this woman as his own. Instead, he continued his gentle assault until Clarissa met his pace, her hips circling and pressing against his hand.

Only when he felt a very slight tremor beneath his fingers did he relent. Pulling his mouth from hers, he watched in amazed delight as her angel’s face was transformed by passion—lips wide apart and head tilted back. When she finally found release, the powerful spasms gripping his fingers, he waited . . .

And was finally rewarded.

“Aidan!” she called, squeezing her eyes shut. “Oh my.”

Her chest heaved up and down, and Aidan tried to resist the urge to reach into the neckline of her gown. Actually, he did not try very hard. Slipping his thumb down as far is it would reach, he quickly realized he needed assistance. Reaching his other hand out from under the folds of her double-layered gown, he used it to pull down the offending material. Already loosened, it gave way just enough for him to uncover the prize he sought. There were too many folds of fabric to expose her entire breast . . . but it was enough.

Wrapping his lips around her, Aidan suddenly wanted nothing more than to ensure Clarissa found release again. Every time she thought to leave him, to spare his clan and sacrifice herself for their safety, he wanted her to think of this moment. Every time the rain began to fall or Clarissa heard the loud crack of thunder in the sky, he wanted her to clench tight in memory of his hands caressing that most intimate part of her. He wanted the nipples on her breasts to peak as they did now under his ministrations.

“Again,” he murmured against her. “Come again for me, my love.”

Pulling down the fabric from Clarissa’s other breast, caressing every bit of skin he could find, Aidan used his thumb and the very tip of his tongue to give both breasts the attention they deserved. Clarissa’s quick breaths confirmed what her clenched fingers on his back told him . . . she was close.

Aidan did not let up, and when she grabbed a fistful of his hair, Aidan’s moan entangled with hers until the cry he so coveted was forced from her lips. He captured it, his mouth covering hers as possessively as was acceptable.

When he finally pulled away, he amended his earlier assessment.

Now she looked thoroughly ravished.

“A small taste of what awaits my wife in the days ahead.”

She sighed, a defeated sound that should have saddened him. After all, it was the first time he’d ever asked a woman to marry him. An enthusiastic yes would have been ideal, but Aidan would take her sigh, accompanied by a small smile, instead.

Glancing out of their makeshift shelter, he realized the rain had stopped. Neither of them had noticed. He set her gown to rights, and forced himself to step back. “We should be getting back—”

“To Highgate End?”

“Aye, love.”

“Do you think it’s safe?”

“I do. The deal is done. We’ll be watching for your father’s men now, just in case, so he cannot surprise us again. And by the time he learns you’re really here, Caxton will be replaced . . . and you will be my wife.”

He waited for her to argue, but Clarissa surprised him. She came to him instead, placing her small hands on his cheeks.

“I love you, Aidan de Sowlis.”

And though his chest swelled to hear it, those were not the words he waited for.