His breath was warm against her face, his expression intent.
She trembled, undone by more than his hands. “I can manage.”
“You can do anything,” he murmured. Her bodice sagged open. Her breath caught. “But let me.”
He cupped the soft weight of her breasts, his thumbs skating over her nipples. “Let me take care of you, Morwenna.”
Desire clenched her insides. An unfamiliar ache lodged in her throat. No one in her life had ever wanted to take care of her. Even Morgan knew better than to try.
Jack’s fingers brushed her throat, traced her collarbone, found her wildly beating pulse in the hollow below her jaw. Sliding the pins from her hair, he combed the smooth strands over her shoulders, arranging them over her breasts, caressing her through the long curtain of her hair. His touch made her feel attended. Cherished.
Loved.
He nudged her dress from her shoulders. It pooled at her feet.
They stood together in the sunlight like the first man and the first woman, naked and unashamed. His arousal brushed her stomach, silky and hot. She flushed with anticipation, her skin blooming.
He laced his fingers with hers. “Take me swimming with you.”
Her heart hammered. She glanced down at the blanket, sideways at him. “Don’t you want to . . .”
His smile lit his serious eyes. “There will be time later. Time for everything.”
The memory of her own words haunted her. Their lives will be short and hard enough. They should love each other while they can.
How could she refuse him this? How could she refuse him anything?
She would not Change in front of him. But she could give him this much of herself.
“All right,” she said.
They walked hand in hand to the water’s edge, the boundary of her world.
Jack grimaced. “Damn, that’s cold.”
She laughed. “Better to go in all at once.”
She ran forward, kicking up spray, and dived into the cold salt sea.
Joy.
The force, the shock, nearly forced her Change. Water enveloped her, embraced her, slid over her limbs, flowed through her hair.
She dived, free from gravity and the planes of earth, dizzy with freedom, feeling the magic bubble through her veins, wrap her sinews, stretch her flesh, soften her bones. Her thighs fused. Her toes spread. She opened her mouth to drink, to inhale, intoxicating briny gulps.
In the sea, she was free, she could be . . . anything. Anything at all.
“Morwenna!” A voice, louder than the cry of the gulls or the pounding of her heart or the rush of water in her ears. Jack’s voice, calling her back to shore.
Disoriented, she drifted, caught between Change and thought.
Jack.
Her hair floated around her in a cloud. She righted herself, found her feet and the direction of the light. The surface. There. She kicked, feeling her legs, bone and muscle, respond.
Sunlight and air broke on her face.
She forced herself to breathe. To be. To be human.
She turned, blinking the water from her eyes. Jack stood waist deep in the cold water, his wet hair molded to his skull. Water ran down his chest, emphasizing the masculine shape of him, the sleek, hard muscles, the tension of his broad shoulders.
The tension evaporated when he saw her. His face relaxed. “You were under a long time.”
Time. They had so little time.
She glided back to him. “I am here now.”
Let it be enough, she prayed. Let me be enough for him.
They played together like otters or children, bobbing, laughing, splashing in the water. He chased her, shrieking, diving, until she let herself be caught. Breathless, she floated in his arms, twined around him like kelp. Her hands drifted over him, enjoying the textures of him, rough and smooth, under the water. In that moment she had everything she wanted, Jack and the sea. Inside she was melting, flowing, brimming with love.
He trapped her hands; held them. “Come with me.”
“Yes.”
“Lie with me.”
Oh, yes.
They waded dripping from the water and lay side by side on the blanket, lacing their fingers together. Turning her head, she pressed her lips to his shoulder. His skin was cool and tasted of salt.
“You are cold.”
He shrugged. “The sun will dry me quickly enough.”
She rolled to face him, smiling, draping her leg over his hip. “I can warm you.”
“Better than the sun.” He turned on his side toward her, combing her damp hair from her face with his fingers. His brown eyes were steady on hers. “My light. My love.”
He covered her mouth with his. Soft and quiet, wooing her. Her heart lurched and then raced. He touched her gently and with purpose until she trembled in his arms.
He smiled. “Cold?”
“No.”
Her skin flushed as he continued to touch her, to taste, trailing his fingers from throat to breast, from hip to thigh and everywhere in between. His hands left fires in their wake, a bone-deep glow, flash points of pleasure.
“Jack.”
He gathered her close, body to body, skin to skin, heat to heat. Their mouths met and explored before he grasped her hips and nudged forward. She gasped, her fingers biting into his shoulders. He thrust.
Ah. She shuddered, her teeth biting down on her lower lip. “Again.”
He paused. “Are you asking me or telling me?”
She wriggled. “Which will get you to do what I want?”
“Either,” he admitted frankly. His neck arched, the cords straining as she touched him. “Oh, God, Morwenna.”
She melted against him. “Please. Do it. Now.”
He surged.
She cried out in passion, in possession, in joy. He was in her, part of her, as she clenched around him and made him hers, as he thrust inside her and made her his, all their boundaries blurring, all their divisions melting away. They moved together, flowed together, fused together by sweat and heat and need.
One.
Tenderness cracked her heart.
“You are the first,” she told him.
He focused on her face, his pupils wide and wild. “What?”
She touched his cheek. “My first love.”
Her last.
Her only.
“Good,” he said with masculine satisfaction and sank into her again.
The ripples began inside her. He held himself deep and still as she shuddered, as she shattered, feeling him everywhere inside her, surging inside her, in her blood and in her loins and in her heart. She wrapped her arms around him to hold him closer, wrapped her legs around him to bring him deeper, felt him push into her, pound into her, until he plunged with her into the heart of the whirlpool and they both were swept away.
They floated, drifting in each other’s arms. The sun was warm on her naked hip, golden behind her eyelids.
He raised his head and kissed her so sweetly she shivered again in longing and delight.
“I am a plain man with ordinary needs. I want to give you my life and my love. To share a home and children with you. Marry me, Morwenna.”
She felt the prick of real tears, hard, human tears in her eyes. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Are you asking me or telling me?”
But his emotions ran too deep for teasing. His gaze was straight and serious. “Which will get you to do what I want?”
“Either,” she answered honestly. “I love you.”
His hands tightened. His eyes blazed. “Yes?” he demanded. “Say yes.”
“Yes!”
Neither spoke again for a long while.
SIX
The sun slid toward the sea. Pink and purple clouds fled across the sky, herded like sheep by the wind. The tide rolled in, long, flat breakers edged with dirty lace.