Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(128)

“Don’t ever leave me again,” he said roughly.

“I won’t, I swear it.”

“Next time there’ll be hell to pay.”

“There’ll never be a next time.”

“I’m going to hold you to your promises.”

“I’ll keep them,” she promised tearfully, and suddenly he turned, and his mouth was on hers, and she was held so tightly that she could barely breathe. His arms were hard and crushing, shaking from the force of his passion. Her thin nightgown was soaked by the cold rainwater that saturated his clothes, her fingers were sliding through the wet obsidian of his hair… she didn’t feel the cold, she was burning from inside. Welcoming the punishing kiss, she parted her lips and offered him the sweetness of her mouth, and he took it, not with appreciation or gratitude, but with a fierce demand for more. His lips parted from hers and slid down her neck, and she trembled underneath his plundering mouth, words escaping her lips in a fragile whisper. “Take me to bed,” she sighed. “Alec… I need you… I need to feel you inside me.”

Silently he lifted his head and stared down at her, his arms tightening around her slim body. In a lithe movement he picked her up and carried her to the bed. His eyes, blazing with desire, fastened on her as if he were afraid she might disappear, and his gaze did not waver from her as he shed his clothes. He dwarfed the small bed as he pulled her to the center of the mattress. She caught her breath as he ripped her deli-cate white gown down the center, too impatient to unfasten the tiny buttons that held it together. Brushing aside the remnants of the gown, Alec lowered his body over hers, and she felt hot and cold shivers run down her spine as his na**d flesh covered hers. He was as sleek and strong as a panther, demanding that she satisfy his hunger, unaware that there was any other world outside the small room. His bare flesh was damp with rainwater, and soon her skin was moistened from it as well, and she pressed her open mouth against his skin. He tasted like rain, like the storm, and she licked at the dampness with delicate flutters of her tongue.

He groaned her name and bent his head to her br**sts, his mouth flickering around the pale pink areola of her nipple, drawing it into his mouth, playing lightly with his tongue until the aroused flesh responded, contracting into hard buds. He seemed to savor the helpless sounds she made, and as he continued to tease her br**sts with his mouth, his hands drifted over the rest of her body. His fingertips smoothed across her legs and hips, drew a pattern slowly across her stomach, wandered to the insides of her thighs and teased them further apart. Mira arched up to him hungrily, crooning encouragement, desperate for the relief his touch could give her, but his hand moved slowly, lazily, until she whimpered her need for him to end the torment. Moaning as she felt his finger slip inside her, she undulated her h*ps in response to his rhythm. Suddenly his finger was withdrawn, and the shock of emptiness seared through her. Her hands slid down to his hard bu**ocks, urging him to settle on top of her.

“I should make you wait longer,” he whispered, desire shining in his eyes as he looked down at her. “For all I’ve suffered tonight, you should know a little of it too.”

“Don’t punish me.” She arched up to him, pressinga coaxing kiss against his throat. “Don’t punish me for loving you too much.”

“Oh God, Mira,” he breathed, and entered her in one stroke, hard and swollen, filling her softness until she gasped and writhed in an effort to accommodate him. Thrusting heavily, he joined his body to hers with long, powerful drives. As he brought her closer and closer to a dizzying precipice, her shaking hands locked behind his flexing back. She buried her face in his throat and sobbed as she was overcome by an ecstasy more perfect, more complete than anything they had ever shared before. Her flesh tightened convulsively around his, and as the same tremors shook his body she held him tightly, whispering her love against the damp heat of his skin.

When he had recovered enough to move, Alec rolled over with her and sat up, cradling her against his chest as he leaned against the pillows. She rested her cheek on top of his shoulder, sighing in contentment. “I love you,” he said thickly, unfastening her long braid and playing with the dark, silky locks. “Don’t ever doubt it. If it takes a lifetime, I’ll do whatever it takes to make you believe it.”

“I believe it right now,” Mira replied, pressing a warm kiss on his lips, her eyes soft and brilliant as she met his gaze. “But I’ll still require frequent reminders.”

“So will I.”

“It’s a good bargain,” she murmured. “Your love for mine.”

“That’s not a bargain, sweet… it’s a guarantee.”

The sound of raised voices filtered from the sitting room into the great hall, where they echoed until everyone in Falkner castle could hear the debate. Not a soul could be found tiptoeing through the hallways; when Alec matched up against Juliana, it was time to take shelter and close the doors. The Penrhyn will of steel and the explosive Falkner temper—there was notelling who would win, but the combination was not a good one. While the argument progressed, Mira sat in the corner of the sofa, occupying herself with sorting through her bag of herbs in order to make an herbal compress for Juliana’s eyes. Carr, the subject of the debate, sat nearby with a drink in his hand, having little success in interrupting and offering a word on his own behalf. Alec paced edgily around the room while Juliana spoke from her chair before the fire.