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A breeze rippled through the branches of the trees, but it couldn’t cool their overheated flesh. The heat rose between them, shimmering like a cloud, filming their bodies with a fine sheen.
Felicity was beyond thought now. There was only Gareth and the pleasure he could bring. A pleasure that was close to pain.
She writhed and trembled as he slid along her body. He took her higher, then higher still, keeping release just out of reach.
Her hands clutched at him as she felt herself reaching another peak. He gave her no time to catch her breath as he brought his lips back to hers. She cried out his name as he entered her.
Her body sensitized, completely aroused, she wrapped herself around him as he began a slow descent into madness. He filled himself with the taste of her, the fresh, clean scent that would always be her. And he knew that for an eternity to come, he would hold this memory of paradise in his heart and be warmed by it.
The need for release clawed at him until he felt himself exploding. The madness was complete. He no longer existed, and neither did she. Now they were one. Joined. Forever changed.
Then she soared with him, climbing to some distant place just out of reach. Their bodies trembled and shuddered. They reached the bright distant star together and shattered into a million blinding pieces.
“God in heaven, what have we done?” They lay, still joined. Gareth’s cheek rested against hers. He could feel the warmth of her tears. Could taste the salt on his lips. His heart forgot to beat. “I knew you were a maiden. A virgin. And I took you like some”
She put a hand over his mouth to still his words. “You said in life we all make choices. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a grown woman, able to make my own decisions. This was my choice.”
“But now those tears tell me you regret that choice.”
She shook her head. “They’re happy tears. I’ve never known anything quite so…stunning.”
His fears dissipated. His heart began to beat once more. “Truly, my little happy face? You have no regrets?”
“None.”
With a deep sigh of relief he rolled to one side, drawing her firmly into the circle of his arms and wrapping them both in his cloak.
It felt so good here. So right. She reached a finger to his mouth and traced the outline of his strong lower lip, laughing when he caught it lightly between his teeth and nipped.
Suddenly avoiding his eyes, she ran her fingers through the hair on his chest. “How is it that I can taste you, feel you, experience all that I did just now, if you are…what you say you are?”
He put his hand beneath her chin and forced her to look at him. His words were spoken with a rare gentleness, though his eyes remained solemn. “Don’t question the fates, love. Just be grateful for the miracle. Savor it, for all too soon a price will be named. And we will have to pay.”
“Oh, Gareth.” She closed her eyes against the pain and drew his head down for a long, lingering kiss.
Hearing his little moan of pleasure, she thrilled to her newly discovered power. Even now she could feel the passion rise in him again, could feel the strain of his muscles as he dragged her almost savagely against him. Her man. Her love. The knowledge made her heart soar. “I don’t care about the price. I’ll gladly pay, as long as we have this night.”
“Then let’s not waste a minute of it,” he murmured against her throat as he took her again.
The light of dawn streaked the eastern sky. A chorus of birds sang in the nearby gardens. The sharp tang of meat roasting, and the sweeter scent of bread baking, attested to the cook’s diligence. A light in the scullery windows signaled the beginning of a new day for the servants.
Still Gareth and Felicity lay in their secret bower, sheltered from view, locked in a fierce embrace.
All night they had loved, then slept, only to awaken and love again. Their lovemaking was by turns tender then savage. At times they lay calm and cozy as old lovers. At other times, sensing that their time together was all too brief, they came together in a wild frenzy, until, sated, they would doze once more.
Now, with morning upon them, there was no more time to waste. Every moment was precious to them. There was still so much to say, so much that each wanted to tell the other.
“Why did you let me see you, when you kept yourself hidden from everyone else?”
Gareth smiled at her question. “You’re a beautiful woman. Isn’t that enough?”
She shook her head. “You’re keeping something from me. What is it?”
He caught a strand of her hair and, avoiding her eyes, watched it sift through his fingers. “You looked like another.”
“Cara. Did she have red hair?” The words escaped her lips before she could stop them.
She saw the sudden clenching of his jaw before he nodded. “Aye. And green eyes. But it was more than the physical resemblance. There’s a goodness in you, love, that was so like her.” He caught her by the shoulder and stared deeply into her eyes. “Love, true love, is never only physical. Love is the mating of one soul to another. And it was your soul that touched mine.”