Page 23

“God, ye’re beautiful.” His lips nipped below her ear before he nuzzled her there, pausing to draw in a deep breath.

Was he inhaling her scent, or trying to slow down the pace? She wanted to ask, but he traced the same path along her curves with his lips, licking and nibbling her sensitized breasts through her dampened chemise. Unable to control what was happening to her, she arched up and moaned his name.

“That’s the way, lass. Imagine how it would feel if there wasn’t a garment between us. Me tongue would be able to sample yer flavor, while me lips would gently kiss, then draw ye in and suckle ye.”

She opened her eyes and stared into the dark sapphire depths of the gaze holding her captive. “Help me take it off.”

He stripped it off her and groaned. “God in Heaven, yer beauty takes me breath away. Let me unlock yer passion.”

“Yes, please.”

His head dipped, and his mouth settled on her breast, and she would later swear she saw stars as his tongue toyed with her nipple, setting off a series of explosive reactions inside of her.

The heat of him, the weight of him, added to the ministrations of his mouth…

his tongue…his teeth, tying her in knots, as tension built in her core.

As if he sensed what was happening inside of her, he pressed his hard length against the apex of her thighs, sending her spiraling until she screamed his name and flew into oblivion.

She snapped back to awareness when his weight lifted off her. “No! Don’t leave.”

He choked out a laugh. “I’ll never be leaving ye, Mary Kate.” He removed his boots and socks, then shucked his trousers.

The heavy length and breadth of him should have been frightening, but she’d felt the pressure of him and it had sent her spinning out of control. Needing to feel that connection and heady elation again, she lifted her hand, beckoning him. “Am I ready for you yet?”

He closed his eyes and groaned. “Not yet. Are ye willing to let me stretch ye?”

She nodded, and he settled on the bed once more, caressing her everywhere at once, until her breath caught and she felt the tension building inside of her again.

“Don’t be afraid of me touch, lass.” He slid his hand from her breast to her belly and lower still, finding her soft, damp, and wanting. “Yer body knows what it wants.”

“Does it?”

He dipped a finger inside and growled as he slowly urged her to relax and accept his touch, gently stretching her while plumbing her depths with first one finger, then two.

When he added a third finger, she felt herself pulse around him as she came apart once more.

She was still gasping when he removed his fingers and poised above her, his shaft nudging her entrance.

“Ye’re as ready as ye’ll be. Take me inside ye, lass. ”

She lifted her hips, offering herself. He started off slowly, gradually sliding in further, sinking deeper, until he pressed against her maidenhead.

“Look at me.” When she did, he warned her, “I’m sorry to be causing ye pain, but there’s no other way. It will ease, and when it does, ye’ll feel more than pain. When ye do, tell me, and I’ll take ye to Heaven.”

She hesitated, and he murmured, “Trust me.”

“I do.”

He lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her slowly at first, matching the pace he’d already set making love to her.

His next kiss stole her breath, and he plunged into her, filling her to the hilt.

He didn’t move his body, but rained kisses all over her face and neck as her ragged breathing finally slowed.

He tenderly kissed her. “There’s a lass—it’ll be easing now. Tell me when ye’re ready.”

A heartbeat later, the sensations she felt earlier, when he was finding places she had not known existed, returned. She was still sore, but the whispered promise of Heaven pulled at her as his kisses drugged her. “I’m ready.”

With a shout of elation, he withdrew and plunged into her carefully, yet with a determination that had her sliding her hands from the mattress around his waist and lower…to cup his buttocks. The taut muscles tensed beneath her fingers. “God, lass, I cannot hold out much longer.”

She had no idea what he was waiting for, because in her heart she sensed that Heaven was one forceful stroke away. She called his name, and he plunged into her one last time, pouring his seed inside her as she fell apart in his arms.

She must have drifted to sleep, because she woke to his fingertips tracing the line of one eyebrow and then the other. “Seamus?”

“Aye, wife.”

“Not your bride?”

His deep, rumbling laugh had her slowly smiling, waiting for him to answer. “Nay, me wife, and Lord willing, in nine months the mother of me son or daughter.”

Tears welled up and spilled over. A babe? So soon?

He kissed her tears away, worry creasing his brow. “Don’t ye want children?”

She nodded. “I just didn’t think it would happen the first time we made love.”

“Well now, ’tis because ye married an Irishman. Ye’d best be knowing that we’re a fertile lot. Who knows, when I make love to ye again in the morning, we could end up with two babes in nine months instead of just one.”

She laughed. “Now I know you are making fun of me.”

“An Irishman never jokes about babes, lass. Family is the glue. As da to our brood, I’ll be the head of our family. As their ma, ye’ll be the heart.” He stared at her until she worried that he may have found her wanting.

“Was I all right?”

He swooped down and kissed her soundly. “Faith, ye nearly killed me, lass.”

She slowly smiled. “You were all right, too.”

He pinched her. “Minx! God, how I love ye.”

She pinched him back. Hard . He was laughing when she confessed, “I love you too.”