Jennifer Horseman (55 page)

Apparently. Tonali took the end of the ribbon in his mouth and circled her, careful to keep the ribbon under the blue silk robe. No easy task, but then Tonali was no ordinary being. Wide, disbelieving eyes watched as the cat pulled the end back under the ribbon twice, making a fine knot. " Twas not possible," she told herself, too stunned to move as Tonali silently stalked from the room, leaving the lingering impression of his amusement.

A hearty chuckle caused her to swing around. "Gar-rett!"

She forgot Tbnali, the ribbon, his birthday present, and the huge party they would soon be late for, a party she, his mother, and Elsbeth had worked for weeks to arrange. With a burst of giddy excitement, she ran to the bed. Garrett threw back the covers just as she fell on top of him, and he suffered the sweet mercy of intimate contact with her soft form. Contact that brought anticipation so sweet as to be almost painful.

"Garrett . . . Garrett, you're up—"

Garrett was ever quick. "For you, love, always. And right now it's a problem."

She socked him playfully, laughing until her consciousness too, riveted to the shocking heat of him, the feel of his hard-muscled body on her skin, the hot waiting pressure of him. Tiny pinprickles of pleasure erupted from every place their bodies touched. Then his hands slipped under the robe and around her hips, holding her to him. She felt his hands along her back as his face brushed against her neck.

He was dizzy with the sweetness of her scent. "My God, you feel soft," he whispered with his lips, yet spoke with his hands.

Her breath escaped in a gasp and she arched against him as his lips found her neck, but all she could think was, "I missed you ... I missed you . . . Garrett. . . ."

Amusement filled his gaze. "You said that last night." His hands slipped under her arms to barely cup her breasts, as he slowly drew circles there with his thumbs.

"Just so we can get all conversation out of my way: You missed me, and I you, and is there anything else in God's world that we need to say to each other?"

"I love you ... I love you. . . ."

"And I love you. Anything else?"

" Tis your birthday ..."

"Aye, and Tonali —bless his soul—made you my present, which with profound gratitude, I accept." She laughed as the ribbon came undone, tossed away. Strong hands slid over her slender back, stopping with a sensuous pressure on her buttocks before sliding back up. The measure was repeated, his strokes deepening. "We don't need the wrapping, do we love?" he asked, as hands slid the thick robe from her shoulders, the caress of his gaze as potent as his hands. He slid her up and over him to taste her mouth as his hands combed the long hair spilling in chaotic disarray over his arms. Seeing that her soft lips were dry, he brought two fingers to his mouth, then with tantalizing slowness he traced a path over her lips, following it with his tongue, until her eyes closed and her breath came in small delicious pants. "Kiss me, love . . ."

Like heaven, the kiss seemed to last an eternity, bringing the blood pounding in her ears to the unsteady beat of her pulse. All the while her heart was singing with her love. Yet she heard him say, "Are you teasing me with that tongue of yours? Don't deny me now. It's what I want most ... oh, love . . ." The kiss deepened, his mouth a velvet circle centered by flame. She was only vaguely aware of her toes curling against his legs, the syrupy warmth rushing between hers. The ever-escalating heat of their passion rose as his hands came over her breasts in sensuous play. Hot pleasure flowed through her, and she twisted maddeningly against his hard waiting shaft—

He groaned, answering the sensuous movement withing him. She cried now only in the blissful aftermath of the blessing that was their love, the only way to express the profundity of their joy. Sensing the same desperate wonder now, he got up out of bed and came to where she stood at the looking glass.

"Do you see it? Dear Lord — "

"See what?"

"My marks!Garrett, they're gone!"

Garrett looked to the mirror. The late afternoon sun streamed through the nearby window, caught and held in the mirror she held in her hand, the reflection acting as a wand to banish the sight of her marks.

"Are they? Are they truly gone, Garrett?"

Garrett's gaze filled with the wonder of the miracle before him. "Aye, love, they are gone."

She looked for a long moment more before she swung around to face him, greeting his look of tenderness and love. "Oh, Garrett, did you make them go away? Is it your magic?"

His heart opened to embrace her as he drew her into his arms, and with tenderness and love he kissed her mouth. "Aye, love, the magic of our love . . ."