Chapter 40

Then have me.

Her words unleashed a dam within him, and Colin could only groan as he reached for her, pulling her close as his lips took hers in a kiss that left no doubt of his hunger for her.

His tongue snaked past her teeth, and she surrendered to him with an eager moan, her arms wrapping around him as she pressed her naked body to his. In the firelight, their shadows moved together, melding until it seemed as if they had become one entity.

"Alice, my Alice," he whispered reverently as he trailed kisses down her jaw to her collarbone. "My sweet, little lamb."

In response, her head fell back, exposing the smooth, graceful column of her neck. Her delicate fingers dug into the muscles in his shoulders as a delighted mewl slipped past her lips, the rosy tips of her breasts straining for his touch.

He dared not make her wait too much as he swept his hand past an aching bud, watching in delight as it puckered at his touch.

"Colin…" she mewled, her hand cupping his erection through his sodden clothes. "I need you."

He groaned, as her touch had him nearly exploding in his breeches. "Patience, little lamb."

He flicked his tongue against her nipple, enjoying how quickly she unraveled at his touch. Her body arched like a drawn bow, tense and waiting. Aching for him.

Only for him. He knew it now.

He gently bit the tight, little bud, drawing it into his mouth as he sucked it a little. Shuddering moans fell from her lips, serving to inflame his desire to see her undone. When his tongue lashed that sensitized peak, she let out a soft cry.

"C-Colin…!"

He loved hearing her calling his name, her voice dripping with need. Desire pooled into his groin, his tongue lashing her breast as her soft cries urged him.

He cupped the mound of soft curls between her legs, feeling the dampness of her desire for him. He slipped his fingers through her slick folds and found her already wet for him.

"God, Alice," he groaned. "How can you be this wet?"

He circled the pearl of her desire, and her hips shifted underneath him, her body seeking more of his touch.

He caught her as her knees gave out, cradling her as he carried her to her canopied bed and laid her gently on the pristine sheets.

The covers had been pulled back, and he surmised that she must have gone to bed—or at least attempted to—before she came rushing out in the rain to find him.

The thought of Alice lying here, alone, suffocated in the pain he had caused her, stirred a poignant ache within him.

He leaned down and gently brushed the dark locks that fell over her forehead. Her green eyes glittered in the firelight as he gazed at her somberly.

"I have hurt you so much," he murmured tenderly. "How will I ever begin to make it up to you, little lamb?"

She smiled up at him softly. The look in her eyes was so achingly gentle and filled with more love than he ever deserved.

"Just love me," she told him achingly. "Hold me and love me…"

He groaned and pressed his lips to hers. "With pleasure, my love."

He stood up and dispensed of his clothes, throwing off the wet linen shirt and his ever-tightening breeches until he stood before her fully unclothed. When her vivid gaze ran over him, from his chest down to the length jutting hungrily between his legs, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Do you like what you are seeing?" he teased.

"Very much," she croaked.

He returned to the bed and kissed her, sweetly this time, barely restraining the urge to sink into her warmth and thrust himself into her until all of him was spent.

He felt her hands gently wrap around his shaft, and he groaned against her lips, his hips thrusting into her touch as she gently stroked him. Colin had never before looked deeply into the eyes of a woman while she pleasured him to near fulfillment.

"Do you like it when I touch you like this?" she asked him hesitantly.

"More than you can imagine."

She bit her lower lip, and Colin felt so hard that he feared he would finish before he ever got inside her. "I was afraid you might think me too bold…"

He laughed hoarsely at that. He had experienced all sorts of carnal delights that could be had between a man and a woman, but only with Alice had he felt such dizzying heights of sheer pleasure.

"I like it when you are bold," he rasped, his eyes fluttering shut when she squeezed him lightly. "I also like it when you are shy. I like damned well everything about you."

He caught the flash of a mischievous smile before she flipped him on his back.

"In that case," she told him, sliding down his body. "I hope you would not mind my doing this…"

Her hands were gentle, applying only the slightest pressure as she stroked him, driving him mad. Alice, with her innocence and sheer curiosity, brought him so much more pleasure than the most talented courtesans in all of Europe ever had.

"Little lamb," he rasped. "I fear that I will not be able to last if you continue to do that."

No woman had ever pushed him to such a state—only Alice. His little lamb.

"I want to be inside you," he pleaded with her softly. "Please, Alice…"

She shifted and looked up at him quizzically. "How would you have me?"

He smiled and reached out for her. "Have you ever ridden a horse astride, little lamb?"

Her eyes widened in surprise, darkening in deep desire.

"Put me inside you," he urged her softly.

There were many things he could teach her. So many ways she could pleasure him, and he could pleasure her. He would start with this.

As for the rest, they had all the time in the world.

He closed his eyes as Alice sat up. She grasped his thick erection and slowly, achingly sank herself onto him. Colin felt his entire mind reel as her wet warmth clasped him. When he was fully sheathed inside her, she let out a soft hiss.

"Does it hurt?" he asked her.

She shook her head, and that slight motion was enough to drive him wild. He grasped her hips and began to thrust into her in slow, shallow motions. Alice shuddered and fell on his chest with a soft moan as his length grated within the spongy ridges inside her.

"Oh, Colin… that feels so—ah!"

Little quakes wracked her delicate frame as her release shot through her, a soft cry tearing from her lips as she hurtled into pure ecstasy, her body bowed back.

"C-Colin!"

He pressed his palm to her lower back, feeling her tight, hot channel spasming around him, squeezing him. He let out a soft groan as he continued to hold her to him, drinking in her pleasure as he felt her tense against him again. Her legs quivered on either side of his as her breaths came out in soft, little gasps.

Her eyes flew open in bewilderment as he renewed his efforts from beneath her. Colin heard her whimper as he pushed into her. Grinding ever so slowly, rubbing his length against that secret spot where she ached so much. As he did, his pubic bone pressed against the nub of her desire.

Alice came undone in his arms once more, her soft cry blowing hotly in his ear. He allowed her a moment's pause before he began to move into her once more.

Shallow thrusts that had her dissolving into a puddle of liquid heat to be molded as he saw fit.

"Colin…" she gasped after he pushed her to the edge a third time. "Please… oh, Colin—ah!"

He felt his body respond to her feminine cries, could feel himself losing control. Holding her hips tightly in his hands, he surged into her. His hips snapped up to meet hers as her wet warmth clung to him, her hot sheath nearly driving him out of his mind.

He reached his peak with a roar of triumph, his voice mingling with Alice's delighted cry. His seed burst into her as she held him tightly, milking him so deliciously until he had spent all of himself into her.

"I love you," he told her, his voice hoarse. His arms wrapped around her still-shaking body, and he pressed a soft kiss to her brow. "I love you so much, Alice. My little lamb."

"I love you, too," she murmured sweetly. "Even though you can be such a beast."

He laughed and held her close to him, their bodies still joined. "Do you know how much of a beast I can be, little lamb?"

She shook her head and laughed, but shining in her eyes was her response.

He groaned. "Sleep now. There will be time enough later for more."

Alice let out a soft yawn and nuzzled into his chest. Moments later, he could feel her body relaxing against his, her breaths becoming more regular and even.

A serenity unlike anything he had ever known began to settle into Colin. As his eyes fluttered shut, he could not help but smile to himself.

He had been wrong about a great many things in his life, his parents included, but at least he got one thing right.

And he was holding her in his arms.

I hope you know what you are signing up for, little lamb. Because I am never letting you go again.

* * *

It was already daybreak when Colin awoke to a soft but persistent knocking on the door. In his arms, Alice began to stir before she nuzzled her nose into his chest again.

"Alice!" a fretful voice called insistently from the other side of the door. "Alice!"

At that sound, her beautiful green eyes flew open, and Colin sucked in a harsh breath at the sight. It was the most wondrous thing he had ever seen.

Alice, however, was in a right state of panic.

"Is that my mother at the door?" she gasped, instantly pulling the covers to her chest.

"Don't!" Colin warned her, tugging at the other end of the sheet. "It has taken us such a convoluted way to get here. I shall not have you hide yourself from me."

A delicate blush bloomed in her cheeks, and he had to resist the urge to kiss her once more.

"But my mother…" she trailed off.

But then the knocking stopped, and then Lady Brandon called out, her voice hesitant, "Your Grace?"

"She knows!" Alice moaned in abject misery. "She knows you are here!"

Colin laughed and held her close. "Fear not, my love. I am right here with you."

"Well then," Lady Brandon declared from the other side of the door, "I sincerely hope you will marry my daughter!"

Colin laughed as Alice buried her face in her hands in mortification. He pressed an ecstatic kiss to her head as he called out to the Marchioness, "Rest assured, Lady Brandon, I have every intention to!"

"Splendid!" the Marchioness exclaimed in satisfaction. "When you are—ahem!—so inclined, do inform the Dowager Countess of your intentions. We have a great deal of planning to do."

"I shall do that as soon as possible, My Lady," he replied with a grin.

"Well then, I shall excuse myself while you… discuss this with my daughter at greater length."

When Colin looked back at Alice, her green eyes were wide with surprise.

"You are marrying me?" she asked incredulously.

"If you will have me, little lamb." He smiled tenderly at her.

She frowned. "And if I won't?"

He pushed her back onto the bed, eliciting a surprised squeal from her.

"In that case, I have numerous means at my disposal to convince you otherwise…"

She giggled and ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders, watching his gaze darken with desire as she did so. "It should hardly take my Wolf so much effort to convince me," she murmured, looking up at him from beneath her lowered lashes.

He growled and kissed her deeply. "Oh God, I love you. I love you so much!"

"I love you, too, my Wolf." She smiled up at him. "Thorns and all."

Colin smiled at her again as his lips descended to meet hers. He could not have found a better woman to entrust his heart and happiness to. Alice was his match in every single way.

And he would dedicate the rest of his life to her.

A Wolf would only have one mate in its entire lifetime, and for Colin Fitzroy, the Duke of Thorns, no one but Lady Alice Barkley would do.