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“When?”

He set his spoon down. Standing up, he went to her and pulled her up from her seat. Wrapping his big arms around her, he kissed her deeply, his tongue licking her lips and tasting the watered ale on them. His hands moved down her body until they came to her buttocks, which he clutched through her garment. She gasped when he pulled her pelvis against his and she could feel a hint of arousal.

“The sooner, the better,” he murmured. “I dunna know how much longer I can hold out. ’Tis torture sleeping in a bed, knowing ye’re in the next room and I canna lay down beside ye. Not for the act of it… but because I just want tae hold ye and never let ye go.”

Esme wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly, her supple body pressed against his.

“I never imagined I would want that, too, but I do,” she murmured. “I love you, Titus. I cannot remember when I have not loved you.”

He stopped fondling her. After a moment, he pulled back to look at her, his eyes glimmering with bewilderment and joy.

“Why?” he finally managed to say. “I feel as if I’ve done nothing tae earn it.”

She reached up, gently cupping his face. “But you have,” she said. “You are who I thought you were, or at least, you are trying very hard to be. I have never seen anyone work harder but, at the same time, you have been effortless. It has not seemed like work at all. I have always known the sensitive, compassionate man that is inside you. He exists, no matter how hard you pretend otherwise.”

Titus grinned, embarrassed. “He’s only there for ye.”

“I know.”

“Do ye want tae know something?”

“What is it?”

“I love ye, too.”

She giggled. He laughed. It was the first time he’d said it outright to her. Suddenly, she was in his arms and he was spinning her around until they were both dizzy and giggly. It was delirium, it was joy. It was everything they hoped it would be and more.

It was everything.

Eventually, he settled down, long enough for her to direct him back into the bigger bed so that he could sleep for a couple of hours before he had to go to the field. She pushed him down onto the bed, but he grabbed her and she ended up falling atop him.

As Esme struggled to push him away and get up, Titus’ mouth found the flesh of her neck and shoulder, suckling her skin, tasting her.

“Nay, querido,” Esme said, weakly trying to get away from him. “You must sleep.”

He had her in his arms, in bed, and he wasn’t going to let her go. “I will,” he murmured against her flesh. “In a moment.”

Esme knew this wasn’t a good idea. The more they discovered each other, the more they kissed, the more they wanted in a physical sense. Esme was a maiden, but even she felt fire stirring in her loins when he gently kissed her neck and shoulder. Everything about the man set her on fire in ways she didn’t fully understand, but she knew she would, one day.

She had to admit that she was looking forward to it.

As he peeled back her dress, exposing her right shoulder and much of her right breast, she tried to give him one last shove, but she ended up losing her balance and falling off to the side. Titus was on her in a flash, his mouth on her. One arm was pulling her closer while the other edged the top of her dress down, lower.

“Titus, please,” Esme whispered. “If you do not let me go, you will never get to sleep.”

Her words said one thing, but her body said another. Her hands were on him, clutching him, and she wasn’t resisting him in the least. He lifted his head to look at her.

“Do ye want me tae let ye go?” he purred.

“Well…”

“’Tis not a difficult question. Ye do or ye dunna.”

Before she could answer, he slanted his lips over hers, kissing her lustily. His arms went around her, pulling her tightly against him, drowning her in a passion she’d never before known. It was on the tip of her tongue to be firm and demand he release her. But gazing up into that beautiful, masculine face, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She lusted after him as badly as he lusted after her.

Titus knew he was lost the moment she latched on to him with her soft mouth. He lost himself in her honeyed lips, his hands entangled in her hair. He was more forceful in his kisses than ever before because, for the first time, he felt as if she had no restraint. He had no restraint. She was giving him permission to touch her and touch her he would.