“I didn’t expect you to return tonight.”
“Neither did I.”
“Are you hungry?”
Her legs seemed to move of their own volition, carrying her to stand before him. Her heart began its erratic beating. Her head felt light.
“Gavin…” she whispered. His voice, when he responded, was also low and he sounded angry.
“What do you want from me, Rachel?” What did she want from him? To love him. To spend her life with him. To be a mother to his children. To be at his side through good times and bad. To grow old together. But she couldn’t say those things, and so she did the only thing she could. She stood on tiptoe, placed her arms around his neck, and kissed him. What she’d meant to be only a tender gesture, a means of telling him how much she loved him, became a fire in her veins, spreading violently through her, leaving her skin tingling and her limbs weak. When he clutched her tightly to him, she could only moan in acquiescence. His mouth moved hungrily over hers and she responded with equal greed.
“No more, Rachel,” he whispered huskily as he swept her feet up from the floor.
“God help me, I can’t resist you anymore.” She pressed her face against his shoulder as he carried her across to his bedroom door. Just as he stepped into the darkened room, he paused.
“Do you know what’s happening? Do you want to be here?”
“I… Yes.” Her voice quavered as she answered the second question. As for the first, she wasn’t sure what was happening, only that she knew she couldn’t bear to stop it now. He closed the door with the heel of his boot, then carried her to the bed. She felt cold when he released her, moving away into the darkness. She felt like crying out, begging him to return. A moment later, a match flared, then the lantern came to life. He turned it low, leaving only an eerie golden glow to spill across the bed. The rest of the room remained in shadows. Gavin sat on the edge of the bed and removed his boots, then turned and took her into his arms as he stretched out beside her on the bed. His mouth returned to claim hers, first with gentle nibbles and then with a renewed vigor. The blood surged hot through her veins once
again. She clung to him as his mouth pillaged hers, teasing her lips until they opened to the exploration of his tongue. Lightheaded, she responded in kind, delighting in the taste of him. When his hand slid slowly from her back to cup her breast, she gasped lightly into his mouth. She’d never felt such an intimate touch. It frightened her. It intrigued her. His mouth moved away once again, this time to trail kisses across her cheek to her ear, then to her throat, his lips pressing against the pulsing vein just below her jaw. She closed her eyes and arched her neck, offering herself willingly to the new sensations he stirred within.
“Don’t move,” he said softly in her ear. Goose pimples rose on her arms and legs. She felt the gentle movement of the bed as he slipped away from her. A sixth sense told her he wouldn’t be gone long, yet she opened her eyes make sure he wasn’t leaving her completely. His shirt was already missing. Lamplight played across the muscles of his broad chest, shed golden highlights upon the dark chest hair, turned his skin to bronze. She’d never seen anything more beautiful, more magnificent in all her life. She met his gaze, and her stomach seemed to drop, as if falling from a great height. She was vaguely aware of the movements of his hands and arms as he removed his trousers, knew that he stood naked before her if only she had the courage to look, but she couldn’t move her eyes from his. She was locked in his power, helpless against it, caught in a maelstrom of new and wondrous emotions. Kneeling on the bed, Gavin took hold of her shoulders and drew her up onto her knees to face him. He pushed her robe from her shoulders. She caught the sleeve with her fingertips, pulled the garment free and tossed it aside. His hands drifted down her sides, stopping near her hips. Slowly, he began to gather her nightgown into his hands. Cold air swirled around her ankles, her thighs, her waist as the flannel garment inched upward. And then he was pulling it up over her head, flinging it aside as she had the robe. Only now did his eyes release their magnetic hold on hers. His gaze drifted down just as his hands came up to play lightly over her breasts. Again, she gasped, this time audibly. She swayed toward him, her knees feeling unsteady, a strange ache beginning in the apex of her thighs.
“Gavin…” He drew her closer, their bodies brushing lightly against each other. She was aware first of the silky feel of his chest, and then of the unique physical differences between them as his hands cupped her buttocks and drew her to him. Her eyes widened, and there was a moment of fear, of wondering what it was she was doing. And then he was kissing her again as he lowered her back onto the bed. Fear vanished, and she surrendered willingly to the inevitable. He was like a starving man presented with a banquet. He wanted to feast on it all. He wanted to make it last in case he should never be presented with such glorious delicacies again. She was more beautiful than he’d imagined. Her skin was porcelain-smooth. Her breasts were full and firm, the nipples hardening in response to his touch. Her waist was narrow, her stomach flat, her hips rounded, her legs long and shapely. When he kissed her throat, he could feel the rapid beating of her heart and her ragged breath against his hair. Braced above her on his hands and knees, he trailed a path of kisses from the hollow of her throat down to her breast. He covered the areola with his mouth, laved it with his tongue, sucked it up between his teeth. She writhed beneath him, and he groaned in response, feeling his own need for her increase until his whole body was pulsing with it. He stretched out beside her again, this time leaving her on her back. With a careful touch, his hand slid from her breast to her belly, and then lower, lower. He heard her gasp, felt her startled flinch. He covered her mouth with his, stopping her protest with the fire of his kisses. The rhythm of his touch sent a river of heat flooding through her. After the initial surprise, she gave herself over to a world of wondrous sensations, delighted in the flashes of color and bursts of light that danced inside her head. Her body felt at once languorous and tense. His hand tutored her body, readying her for him. When he rose above her for the second time, she intuitively reached up to draw him closer. When he entered her, she scarcely felt the pain, an instinct as old as time lifting her toward the sinuous drive of his hips, fitting them together in perfect union. She murmured something, though she knew not what. He sighed near her ear. She felt the cadence of his movements and found pleasure in learning the ancient dance, the beat growing in fevered tempo until, at the final crescendo, she cried out, her body arching against his. He spoke her name even as he shuddered against her. And then she seemed to spiral slowly back to earth. They lay replete, bodies sapped of energy, each locked in the other’s embrace. Gavin rolled onto his side, taking her with him, their bodies still joined. Rachel smiled as she nestled her face against the base of his throat, finding pleasure in the sated intimacy that followed the tumult of moments before. I love you, Gavin, she thought. And then she slept. The waking was slow and blissful. She slept against him, her hand upon his chest. His face was buried in the abundance of her hair. He felt a tightening as he remembered their love-making. And then he felt the guilt. He was supposed to be Patrick’s friend, but he had taken Rachel to his bed, lay even now with her in his arms. From nearly the first moment they’d met, he’d felt his desire for her growing. He had nearly betrayed Dru. He had betrayed Patrick. All because of the woman lying in his arms. Worse yet, he knew he wouldn’t be able to control himself if she stayed until spring. He would take her to his bed again and again. And they would continue to betray