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Cupping her face between his hands, he crowded into her, letting her feel every glorious sensation as their bodies melded into one. "Aurora—look at me," he commanded, waiting until she'd complied before beginning the deep, slow rhythm she craved, rolling his hips in a way that drove him deeper, higher inside her each time. "Now tell me you love me."
Aurora was already unraveling, her legs tightly hugging Julian's flanks. "Oh, Julian—I love you."
His entire body shuddered at her words, sweat breaking out on his forehead. But he battled back his climax, refusing to let this moment end, refusing to tear his gaze from hers. "And I love you," he declared hoarsely. "My heart is yours, soleil. Always." He pushed into her, sealing his vow with the exquisite utter possession of her body.
A harsh cry escaped Aurora's lips, the pleasure too acute to bear. "Oh, God … Julian." Her body clenched frantically around his.
"Yes." He could barely speak. "Just like that—yes." He drove into her again, then again, his urgency splintering his control into fragments of nothingness.
"Don't stop."
"I won't … I can't…"
"Julian…"
"Yes, soleil—" He thrust forward one last time and held himself there, jaw clenched against the vortex of sensation that was peaking inside him, pounding through them both.
"Julian!" Aurora screamed and shattered. Clinging to her husband, she dissolved into wrenching spasms of completion, feeling his answering tremor, the urgent swelling of his body inside hers.
With a feral shout Julian erupted, shuddering convulsively as he poured himself into her, the force of his release sending him surging forward again and again until he'd given her all of himself.
With a choked sound of awe, he collapsed, blanketing her with his weight, tremors of reaction still coursing through him. "My God—I want to give you the world," he managed, wonder lacing his tone.
As awed as he, Aurora caressed the bunched muscles of his shoulders, the damp planes of his back. "You already have," she whispered. "You've given me you. Oh, Julian, I knew you felt as I did. But I needed you to know it—and to say it."
"I know it to the depths of my soul. As for saying it…" Julian rose up but made no move to lift himself away, somehow needing to entwine the life-altering words around the magic they'd just made with their bodies.
"I love you, Aurora Bencroft. I have from the moment you walked into Dawlish's. I will until the sun grows cold."
Aurora smiled through her tears. "I'll offer you a lifetime of passion, excitement and adventure—I promise."
"That I don't even question, much less doubt. In fact, I'm so certain your fire and spirit will pervade my life that I've made a decision. My days of solitary adventuring are over."
Her eyes widened. "Do you mean that?"
"I do." He rubbed one silky tress between his fingers. "You, my love, are all the excitement I can handle. From now on, all our ventures will be embarked upon together—beginning with that extensive wedding trip I promised you. We'll be sailing off as soon as this mystery is behind us. And rest assured, the voyage I've planned will astound even you."
Excitement shimmered through her. "Where are we going?"
"To fulfill your dreams. To the sites of every legend Mr. Scollard has ever told you—plus a few additional sites of my own. The world is at our feet, Rory, and I intend to show it to you. How would that be?"
"That would be paradise." Aurora's mind was already racing ahead to the wonder of discovery, the exhilaration of seeing, experiencing, traveling…
Coming home.
She blinked in astonishment at the ironic direction her thoughts had taken.
"Sweetheart, what is it?" Julian questioned.
"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."
A corner of his mouth lifted. "Try me."
"I was just thinking that our wedding trip sounds spectacular; a perfect beginning—and a perfect ending."
"Ending?" His brows drew together in puzzlement. "To what?"
"To a restlessness that is no more." Aurora drew a slow incredulous breath. "Oh, I'm sure I'll always embrace our journeys with open arms—as will you. But incomprehensible as this sounds, I'm looking forward to our homecoming almost as much as I am to our trip itself. Amazing, isn't it?" she said in wonder. "I've scarcely lived at Merlin Manor for one day, yet I've already begun to regard it as my home. Then again, that shouldn't surprise me. Your estate affected me as much—and as immediately—as you did, stealing my breath away and never quite restoring it. And your servants are the most endearing, albeit challenging group I've ever come upon. I can't wait to get to know them better. Most especially Emma, who's already reveling in her new job, and Gin, who's having a grand time trying to match wits with me—although I shudder to think how smug he must have been before I arrived." Aurora paused to inhale. "Also, the manor is but a shire away from Courtney and Slayde—and my new niece or nephew, who should be along very soon. Not to mention Mr. Scollard, whom I already miss and it's only been a few days." She broke off, eyeing the odd expression on Julian's face. "Am I upsetting you?"
