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nbsp; He straightened, his expression grim. “Even if Asher no longer sought you. Even if he released all claim on the reliquary. Hell, if he planned henceforth on a peaceful life of growing potatoes, I’d still meet him on the Beltane Sabbath. We’ve no life until he’s gone.”
She glanced down at his hands. The long, wide fingers, the callused palms. The strength in them. The violence.
“You’ll always wonder,” he said. “In the most secret corners of your heart, you’ll always question whether I could kill you if left with no other choice.”
“No.” She covered her ears. She didn’t want to hear this.
“That’s why I’ll climb to the quoit and draw on the power there to destroy him once and for all.” He pulled her hands away. Made her listen. “If I don’t, the questions will gnaw bit by bit. And rip us apart in the end.”
Hot tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. But her body seemed lighter, a weight she hadn’t understood suddenly lifted from her shoulders. She offered him a brave smile. “I may not like it, but I understand a warrior’s sense of responsibility.”
He gathered her against him as if she were fine crystal. “And as you’ve pointed out to me before, I’m a good little soldier.”
She sniffled into his shirt. “A few days from now, you’d better be the best.”
Amusement filled his tawny eyes. The hard, empty ruthlessness replaced with a new calm. It sent her bruised heart flip-flopping. Emotions slammed her from all sides. And then he kissed her. Just a gentle brushing of his lips across hers. A quick taste when she wanted to feast.
She moved into his embrace.
His hesitation was barely noticeable. A tensing of his shoulders, a hitch in his breathing, but it was enough. This unease between them had to end. And it was up to her.
She caught his head, brought it down to take his mouth in a confident kiss of persuasion.
He held back, dropping his arms stiffly to his side, somehow afraid to enjoy what she offered.
Desire raged through her, so forceful there was no time for tenderness or even words. What should have taken months and weeks had been distilled down to a few days. And the breath-taking, runaway emotions of love, passion, exasperation, and affection reduced to their basic elements. Come together at this heady moment. “Don’t you dare hold back. Not now,” she said.
His gaze was flat. Unconvinced. “Mayhap it’s best if—” Putting a finger to his lips, she whispered, “Don’t say it. Don’t say anything.” She backed him toward the bed, tripping him down onto it. Straddling him so that her skirts rode up around her thighs. She wouldn’t give him a choice.
Conor groaned as she popped the buttons on his breeches, as she hiked her gown further up to her waist. He opened his mouth to speak, but the glare she gave him stopped his words. Made his lips curve in a surrender smile.
Her kiss melted into his kiss, and then he was the one taking from her, his tongue, his teeth, his hands, his reluctance replaced by an impatience that startled her with its ferocity.
A quick shift, a slide of his fingers and hot liquid pleasure filled her. It was raw and wild and frenzied. She threw her head back, grinding against him, anything to extend the pulsing agony of his touch. Then his fingers were gone, and she moaned with the ache of his leaving.
But not for long.
He wrenched her gown aside with a ping of lost buttons, and her shift fluttered after. Flipping her onto her stomach, he licked down her spine, over the swell of her buttocks, between her thighs.
She squirmed beneath the onslaught of hands and mouth, wanting more yet not wanting what he was doing to end, but he held her firm, wouldn’t allow her to escape.
This wasn’t the gentle lovemaking of their first joining. This was a demand for surrender. Nothing less would satisfy him. Cupping his hand between her legs, he let her feel the hard ridge of his erection nestled at her rear. Rubbed against her in a provocative invitation to things forbidden.
She closed her eyes, arching her back to let him know she was more than willing.
He leaned forward, the pressure of his cock awakening wicked fantasies. Reaching up, he kneaded her breast through the fabric of her gown.
She groaned, the sinful crush of his hot, sweaty skin, his short, rapid breaths creating an exquisite torture that swept through her, pooling in her center.
He dragged her onto her hands and knees, his fingers deep inside her, his body covering her own. She threw her head back, her breaths coming in sharp, rapid bursts. Broke her own rule by speaking. “Take me. Now.” Her voice was husky with anticipation.
His dirty-sexy laugh sizzled along every raw nerve. Then he was guiding himself into her from behind. Holding her firmly back against him. Her arms gave out as he plunged into her again and again. Filling every inch, her muscles contracting tight around him. The violent domination heightened every sensation. Exposed every sinful secret. She fisted the bedcovers, stifling her sounds of pleasure in the thick quilts. Just as she teetered on the edge, the sharp kicks of delicious heat twisting through her, Conor pulled out. Rolled her over.
Poised above her, he paused to let her gaze rake his body. Come to rest at his groin. It was obvious he wasn’t finished with her. Just seeing his erect shaft made her heart slam the blood through her body in eager expectation. He was dazzling, with the lithe suppleness and chained strength of the hunter in every sliding muscle. And she was easy prey. His eyes glowed pale yellow, his gaze unfocused with a brutal hunger that excited her. She throbbed with unfulfilled need. So close and yet…
He held her captive, refusing to release her hands, ignoring her low whimpers of wanting as he moved over her, nipping, sucking, lapping the curves and corners of her body until every sense was alive, every inch of her skin aroused to his touch. She closed her eyes, but lights danced in front of her, burst around her.
When he finally parted her legs and drove into her again, she closed around him, rose up to meet him. He thrust over and over, forcing her to his rhythm as the sweet flood of heat between her legs swelled and moved out along her nerves until she was consumed by it. Until she shattered into a million pieces.
