Chapter 8

Roland’s arms enclosed his wife, and he kissed her back with all the aching hunger that had tormented him ever since she’d left.

More than hunger compelled him. Love was the driver. So much love.

So he didn’t fall on her like the ravening beast that he’d likened himself to earlier. Instead, his touch turned tender. He kissed her face and her neck and her shoulders and her breasts. Little touches to confirm that she really was here and not a figment of his lonely imagination, as she’d been so often during their agonizing years apart.

She laced her hands around his neck, pulling him closer. Her breath caught with each contact of his lips and enchanting murmurs of pleasure escaped her. Dear Lord above, the memory of Charmian’s fervent responses had haunted him.

Appetite strained like an unbroken horse against the rein. He’d hardened the moment she took off her nightgown, and he grew harder with every second. But he wanted this first mating after so long to express care and reverence and gratitude. They’d have time for the fierce tides of passion later.

Later…

A magic word to a man who had believed that he’d lost all chance of a future with his beautiful wife. Who stroked his neck and back and ran her hands through his hair. Who was warm and willing in his arms.

Who became impatient with teasing, he could tell. She clung nearer, and her hands curved around his buttocks in a shameless appeal for more than glancing kisses.

Despite having dreamed of her for so long, he was surprised at how familiar everything felt. The inn supplied lemon soap, so her scent held a citrus tinge, whereas the girl he’d wed had preferred a rose perfume. But beneath that, she smelled like Charmian. Smoky and musky and womanly. His nostrils flared to catch the earthy essence of her arousal. That hadn’t changed.

When they’d met, she’d been plump and pretty and as luscious as a chocolate éclair. This woman was slender, and her body was lithe with muscle. Proof of how she’d worked since leaving him. But her skin was as smooth and creamy as he remembered, and her lips were just as soft and eager.

Lips he could no longer resist.

He kissed her with all the wild joy he felt. She gave a low hum of approval and used her tongue to whip him into a frenzy of desire. Her fingers dug into his buttocks. Need shuddered through him like an earthquake.

This was every fantasy come true. Charmian aroused and desperate in his arms. The promise of uniting their bodies in the most profound act he knew. Without his wife, his life had been intolerably impoverished.

One thing alone remained before the picture was perfect. He withdrew from the kiss and studied her with his eyes and with his longing heart. “Take your hair down.”

She stood on tiptoe to land a couple of kisses on the corners of his mouth. “My hair?”

He found himself smiling at her. The sort of smile that came straight from the soul. The sort of smile absent since she’d abandoned him. “You have no idea how often red hair features in my dreams. I reached a point where I couldn’t abide seeing a red-haired woman, because the sight only made me ache for you.”

Her gaze softened. Already she stepped back and started to undo the thick auburn plait that snaked down across her bare breasts with their tight, rose-pink nipples. He bit back a groan and closed his eyes.

“Roland, are you all right?” she asked.

He opened his eyes and gave her a wry smile. “Your bosom might have featured in those dreams, too.”

Charmian released a huff of laughter and glanced down, even as her fingers worked on the plait. “You’re welcome to touch.”

“Oh, yes.” When he cupped her breasts, she gasped. He caressed the curves and brushed his thumbs across pert nipples.

“I’m…smaller than I was.”

The hint of apology made him lift his gaze from the delicious curves. “My love, you’re exquisite from head to toe.”

Her lips turned down. “I’m not the same as the girl you married.”

Roland kissed her with overflowing thankfulness. “No, you’ve grown up. I love the woman you’ve become. I love you, Charmian.”

The trouble faded from her lovely green eyes. “Have we learned to be wise, do you think?”

“I hope so. I’ll never take love for granted again. We received a precious gift, yet we were careless enough to cast it aside.”

“I pray that you’re right. The world has been such a sharp, cold place since we parted.”

“Nothing was right for me without you, my darling.”

She touched his cheek with a loving caress that he felt all the way to the soles of his feet. “Then let’s make it right tonight. It’s Christmas. The time for second chances and new beginnings. I love you, too.”

She ran her fingers through her hair, loosening it until it flowed over her shoulders. His heart slammed against his chest at the glorious sight. His wife was clothed in firelight and hair the color of flame.

Words had brought them this far. Actions would knit them together forever. Still gentle, he swung her around and brought her down onto the bed, cradling her in his arms as she sank into the thin mattress.

When he straddled her, she stretched out beneath him and circled his dick with eager fingers. Roland exhaled on a hiss, as a blast of heat threatened to incinerate him.

“Next time.” He caught her hand. “I’m too close to the edge, and I want to do you justice tonight.”

The hint of wickedness in her smile reminded him of the ardent girl he’d wed. “Do you remember our first night?”

He gave a short laugh. “How could I forget?”

The wicked smile deepened. “And it was even better the next day.”

He stroked her thighs, trailing his hands toward the russet curls that hid her sex. “After that, I couldn’t keep away from you.”

One finger traced a line down his chest, stopping on the way to tease his nipple with a fingernail. A shudder of response made him gasp. He thought that he was already as het up as he could get, but it seemed there was more.

“I loved how much you wanted me. It made me feel like a queen.”

He kissed the pale slope of her breast and slid his hand between her legs. She moved under his caresses and sucked in an audible breath. He smiled against her skin when he discovered that she was slick and hot already. “I still want you like the very devil.”

“And I want you,” she murmured. “We’ve wasted so much time.”

He kissed the hint of sadness from her eyes, as he stroked her cleft. “Then let’s not waste any more.”

With a sigh of surrender, she bumped her hips higher. “Take me, Roland. I don’t want to be lonely anymore.”

Finding the site of her pleasure, he teased her until she writhed. He held back from taking her to her limit. That was a moment he meant to share with her.

He raised his head and shifted back. “Open your legs for me, my love.”

The intensity between them reached such a pitch that it almost felt like a reprieve when everything turned to a disorderly scuffle. On such a narrow bed, trying to position their bodies almost knocked him to the floor. They were both breathless and laughing by the time she cradled his hips between her thighs.

She shifted up on the pillows. “Please don’t break your neck, now I’ve got you back at last.”

Kissing her again, he poised above her. The path to paradise lay open before him. After so long, he wasn’t sure whether they would come together like strangers, but he slid into her as smooth as honey. She closed hard around him, claiming him in return.

Roland rose on his elbows to survey her. Her eyes were the color of wet moss and heavy with desire. Her lips were swollen and parted to give him a glimpse of small white teeth.

Her beauty sliced through him like a saber. It always had, but seeing her like this, lost in their connection, the feeling was overwhelming.

Roland was home after a long and arduous journey. The half of his soul that had been missing was finally returned to him. For the first time since Charmian left, he trusted in tomorrow.

He felt an invincible urge to lose himself in the passion flaring between them. But first, despite his fierce animal urges, he needed to bask in this closeness that had been stolen from him. A closeness that made his life worth living.

Charmian stroked the straining muscles of his arms before tracing the line of his back. As he stared into her eyes, he believed at last that their love was strong enough to recover from their separation. In so many ways that mattered, their marriage started tonight.

They’d both suffered. They’d both learned the value of what they shared. They were both strong enough to fight for their love.

She bowed up, brushing her breasts against his chest. The change of angle made his balls contract in needy craving.

“I wanted to have your baby. I wanted it so much,” she whispered.

“Let me give you a baby now. I want us to be a family.” Poignant emotion thundered through him. He pushed deeper in preparation for the sensual storm ahead. “I want this for the rest of our lives.”

“Oh, yes, Roland, yes.”

The stillness had been transcendent. Now he thirsted to give her everything he had. “Let me take you to the stars, my love.”

***

For three hard years, Charmian had felt empty and lost. Having Roland back to fill all those longing parts of her felt like a miracle. Muscles that she hadn’t used since she’d left him surged to throbbing life, as her body adjusted to a man again.

When he pulled back with a slow power that thrilled her, she sighed her pleasure and lifted her hips. How strange that she’d relived this act over and over since their parting, yet it turned out she hadn’t remembered it at all. She’d forgotten how every part of her melted with desire. She’d forgotten the ferocious thunder of her blood. She’d forgotten the sheer animal pleasure of having Roland deep inside her.

She’d forgotten how love turned his physical possession to pure gold, so she felt as if they existed in a glowing bubble of light.

Charmian caught the glint of firelight on her wedding ring, worn for the first time since she’d run home to her mother in such a taking. Silly, thoughtless, careless little girl she’d been.

She was no longer that brainless ninny – although at least she’d been smart enough to fall in love with Roland. She’d grown into a woman who knew enough to cherish their love as the precious, unique treasure it was.

As he shifted forward, her frantic hands closed around his arms. She thought that he’d gone as deep as possible, but now he seemed to touch her womb.

“Oh, yes,” she sighed, tightening around him.

“That’s so good, beloved.” Awe rasped in his voice. She wasn’t alone in finding this an experience of the soul as well as the flesh.

But flesh had its own demands, demands that they’d both resisted for too long. That need could no longer be denied.

He rose on his elbows and began to move in hard, determined thrusts. The rise to climax was swift. All the pent-up desire rushed through her to charge her response to every touch. She welcomed him as he plunged inside her. Her fingers digging into his arms, she strove for that rapturous peak.

When he scraped his teeth over a sensitive nerve in her neck, Charmian shuddered into ecstasy. Rivers of fire. White light. Heat. Muscles clenching in helpless delight. She lashed her arms around him, clinging as she rode out the irresistible storm.

As she convulsed, she cried out. Through her fiery crisis, she heard him groan. He jerked in her arms, and the liquid heat of his seed flooded her.

Roland slumped against her and buried his face in her shoulder. She heard his hoarse breathing. He was heavy, but she didn’t mind. The press of his body confirmed that he really was here. Ripples of ultimate pleasure ran through her, soothed the sharp edges of her long unhappiness.

After a few seconds, Roland shifted to the side, stretching out against the plaster wall. She stared at him, noting that he was no longer the troubled man who had arrived at the inn. He looked younger, easier, more like the carefree gentleman she’d married.

She shifted closer to kiss him with all the gratitude in her heart. “I’d forgotten how magnificent you could make me feel. Thank you.”

His smile held no trace of his earlier bitterness. “I love you, Charmian.”

“And I love you.”

His expression expressed a wry fondness. “And you’re still crying.”

As he brushed at the tears trickling down her cheeks, she gave a waterlogged giggle. “I’m just so happy. I thought this would never happen. I was terrified that I’d lost your love forever.”

“Impossible.” He kissed her with such tenderness that her tears spurted anew. “I’m so grateful we found our way back to each other. You’re my reason for living.”

She studied his face, as she struggled to control her wayward emotions. “I don’t want to go to sleep. I’m afraid this might be a dream.”

A laugh escaped him. “On my solemn oath, I’m here, and I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“That makes me happy, too. You make me happy, Roland. Don’t go away again.”

“Never.” The word sounded like another vow. After so much heartache, they’d found each other. The magnitude of the gift was almost beyond understanding.

She cupped his jaw in her hand, feeling the faint prickle of whiskers. “I can’t believe we’ve been so lucky.”

Eyes alight with adoration studied her features. “You’ll start taking it all for granted in twenty years or so.”

She gave another watery huff of amusement. “What a lovely idea.”

He kissed her with all the love that she read in his face. Love and weariness. They’d both had an arduous day, and they’d had to wend their way through a tangle of harrowing emotions before that perfect, passionate conclusion.

“Sleep now, Charmian. Sleep safe in my arms, as you’ll sleep safe in my arms from this day forward.”

“Roland…” Emotion welled up inside her, although she didn’t want to cry anymore. She’d spent far too long crying. So she swallowed the lump in her throat and responded in a wry tone. “I hope the beds are bigger at Leeder Hall.”

A brief laugh. “No risk of falling on the floor there.”

“I’m pleased to hear it.”

“Roll over on your side, and we’ll manage very well.”

It turned out that he was right. She shifted around to fit her back against his chest. Lying close like this, there was plenty of room.

He slipped his arms around her and curled one hand over her breast. The gesture was so laden with tenderness, those dratted tears rose again. Mistily, she stared into the firelit darkness and said a fervent prayer of gratitude for second chances and steadfast love.

Roland’s familiar scent surrounded her and the warmth of his long, powerful body. Her heart settled into a steady beat, as she finally accepted that her long ordeal was over. She and Roland were together and would stay that way.

Roland’s embrace tightened. He dropped a kiss on her naked shoulder. “Happy Christmas, my dearest wife,” he murmured, his voice gruff with tiredness.

“Happy Christmas, my love,” Charmain whispered, closing her eyes. For the first time since she’d left him, she felt at peace.