Epilogue

Moonlight poured in the bay window, filling the captain's quarters and washing across them as they lay on the feather bed. Deliciously exhausted, Harley nestled her head more comfortably into the dip of Ronan's shoulder and tickled her fingers through the dark dusting of hair across his chest.

He covered her hand with his and ran his other hand up and down her back in a wonderfully possessive way. "Fidgeting, are ye?" He nudged a kiss to her forehead and chuckled. "Did I fail to sate ye, my love?"

"You know better than that." She raised up and propped her head in her hand, but avoided his gaze while worriedly chewing on her bottom lip. A shadow she couldn't ignore nagged at her, stirring worries that this precious happiness that had been so long in coming might be endangered. "I cost you your sister. I worry about that becoming a wedge between us or between me and your family. If not now, then someday."

Without opening his eyes, Ronan tugged her back down and gave her a long, slow kiss. Combing his fingers deeper into her hair, he lifted her face and locked eyes with her. "Aveline's punishment for meddling with the fabric of time couldha been far worse than being bound to Mannanán Mac Lir as his immortal wife. She couldha paid for her poor judgment by forfeiting her existence to the abyss for the rest of eternity."

"The abyss?" Harley ran her hand down his chest, the muscular ridges of his abs, and then lower, pleased to discover he was more than ready to rock the boat again, so to speak. She arched a brow as she straddled him, then leaned forward and wiggled to rub all the right parts against all the right places.

"Lore a'mighty, woman." He groaned and filled his hands with the cheeks of her behind and squeezed. "How can ye feel so wet and ready but still be asking questions?" He lifted her, rocked his hips, and slid inside with a groaning thrust. He groaned again as she started a slow grinding of her hips that matched the gentle sway of the boat atop the waves.

"Maybe since I was such a late starter, I'm making up for lost time," she said, reveling in the way he filled her, the way he hit all the right places and made her feel more alive than she had ever felt before. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Mind?" He rolled her over and settled in with a steady pounding that made his opinion quite clear. He nuzzled her throat and cupped her breast in one hand while rocking into her. "Does this feel as if I mind?"

She raked her nails down his back, then squeezed his buttocks while arching into him. "I am not sure," she dared. "Perhaps you need to drive the point home harder."

He reared up and gave her a wicked arch of his brow. "Drive it harder, ye say?"

She wrapped her legs around him, hugging him with her thighs. "As hard as you can."

"As ye wish, wife—as ye wish." He hammered into her, pounding harder and harder until the gorgeous waves of bliss exploded through her, making her unleash a throaty scream that triggered his answering roar.

They convulsed and shuddered together; him emptying and her filling until they collapsed and went still except for their ragged breathing.

"There now, love," he rasped. "Is that better now?"

Harley tightened her arms around him and kissed the salty sweetness of his throat. "Much better. As we used to say in Kentucky, that was finer than frog hair split three ways."

Ronan chuckled, then gave her a long kiss before lifting his head and smiling down at her. "I am glad, then, for that is verra fine indeed."