She made herself smile and hooked her hands over his shoulders. “It’s been a long time.”
And Silas was so much…bigger than Freddie. Lord Stone was built on monumental lines. She recalled that stunning moment when she’d first seen him naked. She’d been nervous—and sinfully thrilled.
His expression softened and she read love in his hazel eyes. She realized with surprise that he’d watched her with the eyes of love for months.
“I’m sure you’ll remember what to do.” Laughter warmed his voice despite his rough breathing.
“You might need to remind me,” she said, overwhelmingly conscious of his hard weight. She shifted again and he edged further. When he kissed her, she tasted passion. And love. It seemed Silas’s love was inescapable.
Of course it was. Here she lay beneath him, and his love was the very air she breathed, along with the rich, musky male scent that fired her senses. She waited again for the old fear of captivity to rise. Surely if she was to feel trapped, now was the moment. But joined to this marvelous man, it was impossible to feel anything but treasured. And avid for the ultimate union.
She angled toward him. “Don’t stop. I want you so much.”
I love you so much.
“Oh, my darling,” he whispered.
This time when he kissed her, she responded with all the emotion crammed unspoken in her heart. He raised his head and stared down at her with a question in his eyes—he’d notice the difference—but she bit his shoulder and rose to take him into her body.
Just as her heart flowered with love, her body flowered into delight. As he slid into her, his shuddering sigh expressed his happiness. Her fingers gripped his shoulders as he began to move. Hard, decisive thrusts that branded him on her heart as indelibly as a chisel carved wood. Swiftly her pleasure began to swell in great, engulfing waves. Over and over he plunged into her, hammering her into accepting his love.
Gasping Caroline ran her hands down the sleek skin of his back, feeling the muscles tighten and release with every stroke. She dug her fingers into the hard globes of his buttocks, encouraging him to go deeper and further and harder. Hot, restless, needy, she pressed upward.
“More,” she gasped.
Despite his fierce possession, a broken laugh escaped him. “You’re a demanding wench.”
Catching her hip with one hand, he lifted her. All pretense at control disintegrated. He kissed her on the mouth and she responded savagely, using teeth and tongue. She was desperate for relief from this endless striving toward an unreachable pinnacle.
He circled his hips, plunged deep, and sudden fire split the night. She cried out again and sank her nails into his flanks. As roaring flame gushed through her, he groaned and bucked, flooding her. She lay quaking with wonder in his arms and knew she never wanted to be anywhere else as long as she lived.
Caroline only slowly floated down from that miraculous space caught in the light between stars. Her heart beat like a thousand drums and her blood pumped through her veins like hot honey. The world she inhabited was sweet as sugar, bright as sunlight.
Silas slumped in exhaustion, burying his face in her shoulder. His crushing weight made it impossible for Caroline to snatch a full breath. But, for once, in a good way. Her body ached from the vigorous loving in a way it never had after Freddie’s desultory attentions.
And she was happier than she’d ever been before.
She sucked in a breath and blinked away the tears springing to her eyes.
Silas rose onto his elbows and glanced down at her. A frown wrinkled his brow. “Caro? Did I hurt you?”
“No,” she said in a choked voice. After such a transcendent union, a woman should be proud and elated. Instead Caroline felt like a pathetic puddle of confused emotion. She untangled a hand from his hair and wiped roughly at her eyes. More idiotic tears welled. “It was wonderful. You were wonderful.”
“Yet here you are, sobbing in my arms,” he muttered. “You’re obviously as happy as a dog with two tails.”
She pushed at him until he rolled away, breaking the connection between them. Immediately she missed him. “I’m fine.”
He turned onto his side and caught the trembling hand she clenched against his chest. “That sounds more like the woman I love. The minute she says she’s fine, I know I’m in trouble. Tell me what’s wrong.”
She studied that beautiful, clever face that she should have long ago known would prove her downfall. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
“I’m not sure even I understand.”
His lips stretched in a smile so warm that it made her toes curl against the sheets. “Emotions are bewildering beasts, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” she agreed, reluctantly smiling back. His smile gave her the courage to speak. “I’m feeling at such a loss. I hardly know where to turn. I’ve never…never known anything like what just happened between us. Freddie wasn’t a bad man, but we were a bad match. I did my duty by him and he did his duty by me, but it was a sour, barren bargain.”