My Heart's Desire (Barrett 1)

“When did it happen?” he asked in a raw voice.

Alex smiled, moving into his arms. “Probably on the island. In any case, not long after we were married.”

“How long have you known?”

“Since the afternoon of the ball. I was going to tell you that night, but …” her voice trailed off.

Drake’s features twisted in pain. “But I nearly raped you because of my stupid, destructive jealousy.” He ran his hand caressingly over Alex’s body, pausing where his child was nestled safely within her womb. “Love, I’m so sorry. The thought of hurting you or our baby …” He raised wondering eyes to hers. “Our baby,” he repeated, cupping her belly possessively.

Alex moved closer, wrapped her arms around his neck. “Our baby,” she murmured in agreement. “And you didn’t hurt me, Drake. You’ve never hurt me … not physically, at least.”

“I’ll never hurt you, in any way, again,” he vowed, sealing his promise with a tender kiss. He hesitated as Alex pressed her lush, desirable body against his. “Alex, is it all right?” he questioned her anxiously. “The baby—”

“… will be delighted to learn how very much his parents love each other,” Alex finished, running her hands along the muscled planes of Drake’s back.

“His?” Drake barely got out the word, his body leaping to life beneath his wife’s te

asing caress.

“Or hers,” Alex conceded, pausing in her exploration of Drake’s body. “Do you have a preference?”

Drake ran his tongue over the delicate shell of Alex’s ear, his hands sliding down to cup her silky bottom, pulling her against his throbbing erection. “Several preferences, princess. Shall I tell them to you?” He whispered a few choice, erotic phrases into her ear, and Alex melted against him with a soft moan of surrender.

“Your grace, your wish is my command,” she replied in a sultry whisper, lifting her face for his kiss. Drake’s mouth opened over hers, his lips moved back and forth with barely leashed need. His tongue stroked hers slowly, with tender urgency, his hot breath filling her mouth. He loved her, and that knowledge made him want to give her everything, to shower her with every exquisite sensation a woman could know.

Alex arched slowly against Drake, making him wondrously and acutely aware of the presence of their unborn child. He had to be the luckiest man alive. For in his arms he held his life.

For a timeless moment they kissed. Long, deep, melting kisses broken only by Alex’s soft sighs and Drake’s husky words of love. When that alone was no longer enough, Drake began a slow exploration of Alex’s body, worshiping her with every stroke of his fingertips, teasing her tingling flesh with soft touches and gentle caresses that brushed ever so lightly upon her sensitized skin.

By the time his seeking fingers found the dewy wetness between her thighs, Alex was trembling, her whole body ablaze with desire. She recognized Drake’s need to be the aggressor, to have the opportunity to demonstrate his love for her. But waiting was rapidly becoming an impossibility.

She undulated her hips against his hand, trying desperately to deepen the contact, and was rewarded by Drake’s husky chuckle.

“Still so impatient, princess?” he teased, nibbling at her lower lip. He slid his fingers farther inside her … but only a bit.

Alex moaned. “I want you, Drake,” she pleaded.

“Mmm, I can tell,” he murmured, kissing the side of her neck, flexing his fingers slightly, feeling the inadvertent tightening of her inner muscles.

Duke, hell, he thought with a smile. The way she responded to him made him feel like a king.

His smile froze as Alex, relinquishing her passive role, began her own heavenly torture. Starting with the taut planes of his smooth back, she slid her hands over Drake’s body, lingering on the solid muscles of his broad shoulders and the hard wall of his massive chest. When she lightly brushed his nipples with her thumbs, Drake let out his breath in a hiss.

“Is there some problem, your grace?” she purred. Before he could answer, she stroked one of her hands through the soft, dark hair on his chest, over his rigid abdomen, and paused deliberately over the throbbing symbol of his need.

“You are merciless …” Drake ground out, flames leaping through him.

She brushed her fingers ever so lightly against him, then lifted them, hovering. In response, Drake thrust his hips forward, seeking more of Alex’s caress.

“Patience, Captain … remember?” she whispered against the vein that throbbed in his neck.

With a deep growl Drake seized her hand and brought it back to its original goal. “To hell with patience. Touch me, wife.”

She closed her fingers around him, feeling his life, his power, the effect she had on both. He pulsed in her hand, hardening and lengthening until he had to grit his teeth to retain a shred of control. Deliberately, he kept his gaze locked with hers so that his beautiful wife could see what she was doing to him. And when he could bear the intensity no longer, when the need to be one was so powerful that it could not be denied or delayed, Drake drew Alex to him, looking deep into her eyes as he lifted her leg to rest over his and slid into her moist, welcoming warmth, pressing deeper and deeper until they were one.

He lay quietly for a moment, overcome with emotion, listening to Alex’s uneven breathing and feeling the pounding of her heart as it beat against his. Then, slowly and with the need to give Alex more pleasure than she had ever known, Drake began to move inside her, lowering his head to find her lips with his. He made love to her with his mouth, his tongue, while he simultaneously drew her hips to his again and again, circling his body against hers until Alex was frantic, her body so tight around him that Drake knew it was time.

With one powerful thrust he gave her what she needed, at the same time pulling her to him, pressing her loins to his and holding them there to intensify the pleasure that exploded in wild, gripping spasms through Alex’s body.