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She shrank back, heat from the fire licking at her calves. “What–what do you want, Duncan?”
The sharp glint in his eye burned brighter. “You, Alexandria. I want you.”
Her fingers dug into the scratchy fabric of the blanket. She didn’t trust herself to respond, not when she had no idea what her reply would be. To send him away, or beckon him near? To demand that he leave her alone, or beg him to come closer? She licked her lips in uncertainty. The small movement drew Duncan’s gaze, and a low rumbling growl emanated from his throat. Her pulse quickened in response…and she knew whatshewanted. It was the same as what she had always wanted. What shewouldalways want, even after she was gone. Because she did love him. Even when it hurt.
“This won’t change anything,” she whispered as she dropped the blanket.
He prowled across the library, his shadow rippling across the bookshelves. She flinched when he raised his hand to her cheek. Released her held breath on a soft sigh when the pad of his thumb traced across her bottom lip.
“I’ve missed touching you,” he said hoarsely. He bent his head. Replaced his thumb with his mouth in a deep, drugging kiss that left her weak in the knees and wanting more. “I’ve missed tasting you.”
Another log popped in the fire and a second shower of sparks danced in the air, but their brightness paled in comparison to the sparks swirling between Alexandria and Duncan. What their minds had tried to forget, their bodies remembered, and they came together seamlessly. Two lost pieces of the same puzzle sliding into place.
Gathering a handful of her honey-gold curls, Duncan dragged her head back and kissed a fiery path down her neck to her collarbone. His nimble fingers made fast work of the ribbons holding her robe together and it slithered to the floor, revealing the thin cotton shift she wore beneath. The cotton shift that did nothing to disguise the rounded curves of her hips or the dusky rose of her areolas.
His eyes darkened, pupils dilating to ebony pools of desire before he lowered his head and drew her breast into the sinful heat of his mouth, suckling her pointed nipple through the shift, and the combination of wet cloth and his hot tongue sent a quiver of lust straight to the slick curls between her thighs.
He kissed her on the mouth again, a deliberately lazy tangle of lips that nearly lulled her into complacency and had her entire body humming in quiet pleasure, like a cat purring in the sun. Then, much as he had earlier that day, he scooped her into his arms, lifting her effortlessly and marching out of the library, up the stairs, and into his bedchamber where the candlelight was dim and the night reached out to welcome them into its obsidian embrace.
The door rattled on its hinges when he kicked it closed with greater force than necessary. She clung to his neck, loathe to let him go for even a second. Now that she had him, she wanted to hold onto him–onto these sensations–for as long as possible.
Their physical attraction pulsed in the air; hearts beating in tandem. He nuzzled her ear before gliding the tip of his tongue along the edge of the delicate shell. She ran her hands through his hair, nails skimming along his scalp before anchoring on his wide shoulders as he leaned over the bed and settled her in the middle of it amidst a small mountain of blankets and pillows.
She observed him, eyes heavy-lidded, while he undressed. First his shirt and then his trousers, showing off lean angles and rigid muscle that were forever burned into her memory. A brand she couldn’t rid herself of even if she tried.
The wax candles sputtered in their wick and the icy sleet beat against the windows as he climbed onto the mattress behind her, his large, gentle hands coaxing her into a sitting position against his chest.
She let her head fall back, tousled curls tumbling across his arms in a waterfall of silk. Her breath caught on a mewling sigh when he turned his wrists and skimmed his knuckles across her flesh from her thighs to her waist to her breasts, delivering the lightest and most teasing of touches. He hooked his pinky finger under the strap of her shift. Tugged it off her shoulder and then kissed the spot where it had been, teeth delivering a sharp nip that his mouth immediately soothed in an exchange of pain and pleasure that set her blood on fire.
Twisting in his embrace, she slid her knees on either side of his waist and looped her arms around his neck, bringing their faces together.
His eyes were the black blue of midnight. His nostrils flared. His jaw rigid. He held her gaze as his fingers, his clever, clever fingers, slipped between their bodies and wandered down, down to where she craved his touch the most.
Alexandria wasn’t ashamed to say that she whimpered. Not when this was what she’d craved the most these long months past. Not the act itself, although it was definitely pleasurable. But the connection. The compatibility. Thetogetherness.
There was lust here. The entire bedchamber was filled with it. But it was more than that. It had always been more than that. And when Duncan drove her to sweet, sweet release and watched in arrogant triumph as her lips parted on a silent cry and her slender frame shuddered in ecstasy, she knew–sheknew–that he felt it, too.
Murmuring a scandalous epithet that brought a renewed flush to her dewy skin, he nudged her backwards onto the bed, throwing a pillow aside as he went. Crouching low, he dipped his tongue to her navel, and after that each sensation, touch, sound, and taste blended together into a delicious mixture of heat and flame. Passion and desire. Lust and love.
It was better than she remembered. More than she imagined. All that she had been waiting for…and everything she hadn’t even known was a possibility.
When they finally both fell, breathless, onto their sides and instinctively curled into the warmth of each other’s bodies, with Alexandria’s head in the crook of Duncan’s shoulder and his strong arm draped possessively over her hip, she experienced a flowing wave of contentment that she’d feared she wouldneverfeel again with her husband. Yet here they were. Side by side, flesh still damp and muscles pleasantly aching from their lovemaking.
It was a gift she hadn’t dared to ask for.
A dream she’d given up on.
A hope renewed.
“That was…unexpected,” said Duncan, as if he were privy to her innermost thoughts.
“Youcame tome,” she reminded him, fingertips drawing a random pattern on his forearm.
“Indeed,” he replied, and although she couldn’t see his countenance, she felt his grin. “But then if I’m not mistaken, you came several times. Three?”
Alexandria blushed. “Four.”
“Four.” He gave a whistle, low and appreciative. “I suppose that’s bound to happen after ten months of celibacy.”
