Mistletoe Wishes: A Regency Christmas Collection

His expression was austere. “My prayer every night I was away was that I’d live to come back to you.”

“And mine was that you’d live to come back to me.”

“We’ve been fools.”

She shifted against the sheets in a futile attempt to ease the insistent heat between her legs. “We have.”

A sensual glint entered his eyes. “Do I still make your heart beat faster?”

She extended one hand toward him. To her surprise, it didn’t tremble. But his admissions tonight had taught her a measure of courage. “Why don’t you come closer and find out?”

To her regret, he didn’t immediately take up the invitation. “If I touch you now, I won’t be kind. I’ll use you to the limit. I’ve starved for you, and only your complete surrender will satisfy me.”

Ooh, that sounded so exciting. A wanton thrill rippled through her, and her toes curled against the sheets.

“Show me,” she whispered. “Show me, before I die of wanting you.”

Chapter 6

When he stepped out from behind the base of the bed, Canforth felt the heat of his wife’s gaze on his naked body. As she leaned amongst the pillows, admiration brightened her eyes, and something very much like desire. With a shock, he realized that a frailer version of that desire had always been present. Even from the first, when he’d been too blinded by her virginal delicacy to see.

He hoped to hell that his rapacious need didn’t kill that precious longing. He’d tried to warn Flick what she invited. Once he was heaving about on top of her, she mightn’t be so encouraging. But now that she was willing and within reach, he could no longer hold back. For God’s sake, he was only human.

The sight of her threatened what little remained of his precarious control. His eyes devoured her from the top of her ruffled head to her slender bare feet. Damn it, but she was a glorious creature. Slim and graceful. Piquant face under a cascade of mahogany hair. Satiny, white breasts, crowned with beaded nipples, like rubies in the snow.

He stopped beside the bed and took her hand, his pulses jolting at even such an innocent contact. When he met her shining eyes and read the hunger there, he knew she was ready. He’d always felt like a hulking monster beside her, but tonight they’d unite as naturally as a wave ran up a beach. His attention lingered on the feathery curls at the apex of her thighs, and he thanked heaven for granting him this chance to discover her secrets.

What he’d learned already left him reeling with surprise. To think, she’d wanted him when they married. Even more wondrous, she wanted him now. And despite time and distance, they’d both stayed true to their marriage vows.

Flick raised her chin, and the steady courage in her eyes made his heart soar. “I’m not afraid, Edmund.”

Never had he loved her more. His blood seething with impatience, he kneeled next to her and kissed her. Another of those ravenous, passionate kisses that had turned his dream to fire, before he’d discovered that it was no dream. Flick responded with more of that unpracticed fervor that risked burning him to a cinder. His injured leg protested all this movement, but he ignored it.

He slid his tongue into her mouth, savoring her rich flavor. A sound of encouragement emerged from deep in her throat, and her hands crept around his neck, pulling the hair at his nape. The sting intensified the fierce sensations assailing him.

In a fever of need, he kissed Flick all over, tasting the silky skin at her collarbone and inside her elbows, and the delicate pattern of blue veins across her breasts. He nipped and sucked at her nipples, making her cry out and dig her nails into his shoulders. When she undulated against him in unabashed demand, he saw stars. He stroked between her legs, until she moaned and writhed. A gush of feminine arousal rewarded his caresses.

On a groan, he dragged her under him. Her brown eyes were open and glittering with excitement. He kissed her, torn to the point of torture between building her arousal and seeking his satisfaction. Knowing he had no choice, when he’d wanted her so long and so desperately.

With a sultry smile, she cupped her hand against his scarred cheek. “Don’t wait another second, Edmund. Not one more second.”

He sank into another kiss, succulent and hot. His hips jutted forward, and he slid into her body. Controlling the pace of his entry threatened to rip him into a million pieces. By heaven, she was tight. Through the furious blood pounding in his ears, he heard her murmur in discomfort. He paused and sucked in a jagged breath, battling for restraint. When he scraped his teeth along her neck, she shuddered, and her body softened, letting him edge deeper.

Canforth could hardly endure the pleasure streaking through him. Pleasure mixed with pounding frustration. He burned to plunge inside her, claim her to the core, find his consummation. Only possessing her

would assuage the agonizing absence of the last years.

“Trust me, Flick,” he muttered. “Let me in.”

She made an incoherent murmur and tilted to meet him. He kissed her again, advancing into delicious resistance. Sucking in the warm, musky scent of her skin, he buried his head in the crook of her shoulder. Her breath was humid and erratic on his ear, and her arms clasped him closer.

For an excruciating moment, he lingered to let her adjust to his invasion, before even that delay asked too much. With a guttural groan, he seated himself fully within her.

She cried out and clenched hard around him. When he raised his head to look at her, her eyes were dark and heavy, and flags of color marked her delicate cheekbones.

He was a large man, and she was slightly built. When they’d first married, this discrepancy had troubled him, made him fear he’d hurt her if he yielded to his passions. Now it turned out that they were a perfect fit. Flick shifted with voluptuous languor, and Canforth felt the change of angle like a blast of trumpets.

“Are you all right?” he murmured.