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He put his finger to her lips and shook his head. “Do not speak of it. It shall not be. I’ll not allow Fox to harm you.”
Comforted, she moved again, and began to sing along with the strange music. “They say we’re young and we don’t know, we won’t find out until we grow.” She threw her hair back, laughing. “I love this song,” she said, “and now you’re here...it’s perfect, listen.”
“You got me, and baby I got you. They say our love won’t pay the rent,” she sang. “I got flowers in the spring, I got you to wear my ring.”
Cullen almost slapped himself. A ring. He should have given her a ring. The song wasn’t wrong. A thought teased in his mind, a memory of his mother promising him her jewelry in trust, for the day he took a wife. He’d dismissed it as women’s nonsense, but now it made him wonder.
“And if I get scared,” Sunny continued, “you’ll always be around.” She put her hand to her heart and looked at him meaningfully. Her eyes glistened a moment, then she blinked them and shook her hair out again. “Don’t let them say your hair’s too long,” she sang, and weaved her fingers in his hair. “I don’t care, with you I can’t go wrong.”
Cullen laughed.
She meshed her fingers with his. “Put your hand in mine, there isn’t a hill or mountain we can’t climb.”
“That is true enough,” he said, beginning to see the method in the song.
“I got you babe,” she sang, “and...?”
She looked at him expectantly.
Cullen mustered himself, unsure what was required. “I got...you?”
Laughing in delight, she nodded and hugged him tightly.
Relieved, he locked her in his arms, moving with her, a silent vow on his lips. He would be patient, support her and be by her side, then he would wait no longer to fulfill the other cause in his soul—because his intention was to end that blackguard, Nathaniel Fox, with his sword, for everything he’d put Sunny through.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Celeste’s tea had indeed relaxed Sunny.
Combined with the wine, she felt mellow, like the reality of their situation was spinning away and all that was left was pleasure and happiness.
“Now,” Cullen said, moving closer and running his hands over her back as he drew her against him. “Let’s speak about something else of great importance.” He kissed her forehead, then her eyelids, and then he moved his mouth along her jaw line, his seductive touches claiming her.
Her head sank back. “Great importance?” she repeated vaguely, her nerve endings fluttering at his every touch.
He kissed her neck, running the tip of his tongue under her jaw, releasing a tremble in her limbs. “Yes, the orchard.”
“The orchard,” she repeated again, mindlessly this time, as his fingers wound their way through the buttons on her dress.
Humidity was fast gathering in her core.
“I’ve been taking a closer look, familiarizing myself with it.” He pushed her dress down from her shoulders. It fell away from her body, pooling on the floor. Her bra soon joined it. His head dipped, and he kissed her nipples, one and then the other, even while he attempted to carry on the conversation. “We want it to flourish again and I think we need to go about this in the ancient way.”
His hand tugged at the waistband of her panties.
“Cullen.” She rested her hands on hi
s upper arms, steadying herself with her fingers clasping around his warm, tanned muscles. “If you’re going to have a conversation with me and expect me to understand a word you’re saying, you’re going to have to stop undressing me at the same time.”
He grinned. “Ah, but I must. I’m readying you, Sunny love, because I want to couple with you.”
Hearing him say it always made her heart race. “Now that part I understand.”
He drew her against him and nodded toward the window, where the sun had disappeared and the moon now spilled through the tangled trees. “The things Celeste mentioned. I heard of it before. Back when I used to help the tenants with their land, I learned about such things. The Cornish believe in keeping the ancient ways alive, especially when it comes to nature.”
He truly was a Cornish man, keeping the traditions alive. “That’s true enough, even today,” she managed, while pivoting her hips against his, enjoying the feel of his hard body against hers and the promise of lovemaking to come.
“Sometimes the ancient ways are the best.” He cupped the back of her head in one strong palm.
