Temptation & Twilight (48 page)

and it was Iain. Only he could arouse her like this with such base, simple pleasures. And then she traced his lashes through the cloth shielding his eyes, those eyes that were always open, watching…. And something else.

Something wet, trickling over her fingertips.

She brought a finger to her mouth, licked it. Salt. A clean scent. Not male sweat rich with the scent of musk and masculine flesh, but something else. Something purer. Tears.

“Iain?”

He trembled and she could have sworn she heard his tears run down his cheeks and plop onto the pillow.

“My God, Beth. I’ve seen you. I’ve seen you in my heart and in my soul.” And then he stiffened, pressed his fingers into her hips, squeezing. “Can I, Beth? Can I come inside you?”

“Yes,” she murmured, holding him close, feeling his body shudder beneath hers. “And stay forever.” IAIN STIRRED ON THE BED, his arms wrapped tightly around Elizabeth’s waist. Her head was resting against his chest, and he took comfort in her slow, steady breaths against him. His fingers were making idle stroking motions over her back.

BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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“I became a disciple today,” he whispered in the quiet of the room. He had not bothered to light the lamps when he had carried her to his room after her bath. He’d been content to dress her in his shirt and tuck her into bed, against his body, and lay with her in the dark room. There was something very peaceful in the dark, with Elizabeth.

He could think clearer, hear better…feel, without any barriers in the way.

“Hmm?” she murmured sleepily.

His fingers grazed the stones of the necklace he had bought her. She looked stunning in them. And, as he had guessed, Elizabeth had adored the fact that he had picked them out for her. She had liked his story about how he had imagined her in them, and what wicked things he wanted to do to her while she was wearing them, had even played them out for him—which of course, he had adored. He had thought he’d never have a chance to give them to her, never have her like this, and his feelings turned into a painful admission that he’d been terrified that he had lost her, and in turn had lost himself.

“I begged God that if He would spare you, if He would help me find you, that I would do whatever it took to be a person He could look down upon and take pride in.

Not a sinful creature, but a devout one.” Iain breathed deeply, taking in her fragrance, the feel of her silky hair pressed against his cheek. “I have never tasted fear like I did these past days. I was wrecked, lost in despair, and knew that if you were gone, I would not live. How could I go on after what we shared, knowing that I’d never taste it again? Never have you?”

He gathered her close, forgetting the bruises and abra-sions on her back. “I had a plan, you know. I knew exactly where I would go and what I would do. I’d head back to the estate, find that patch of long grass by the pond BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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where I took you on my plaid, and I’d end it, hoping that I might find you in my next life, and make a better job of loving you than I had in this one.”

“Iain, don’t talk like this.”

“I could not live without you, Beth. Don’t you know that? Don’t you see?”

He kissed her, capturing her lips, tasting them, feeling her soft hands come up to his cheeks. The kiss was slow and lazy, not meant to inflame, but enrapture. To convey every emotion, thought, feeling that he was so woefully unskilled at expressing.

His hand pressed tighter against her back, drawing her nearer as they ended the kiss. His eyes were closed, and he pictured Elizabeth lying there, her face tilted up to his, her eyes shut as well, and a sweet smile of pleasure curving her mouth.

“Well, I’m alive, Iain, and I’m here, never to go any-where but your arms.”

“It’s where you’ve always belonged, Beth.” ELIZABETH FELT the gentle glide of his fingers traversing her back. She followed the sweeping motions, concentrated on the movement.

The letter
I,
perhaps. It had been so long since she had seen the letters of the alphabet. But yes, it was an
I;
his fingertip made a little circle, dotting it. Her breath caught as his hand moved again, his fingers shaping more letters.

I love you.

She saw it in her mind, what he had written on her back, the sweetest of messages she could not only feel but see…could actually
see
in the recesses of her mind.

“I love you, too,” she gasped through tears. “Oh, how I thought I’d never be able to say the words to you. I love you, Iain Sinclair. Only you.
Always
only you.” BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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Pulling her atop him, Iain ran his hands through her hair, tugging it forward so that it cascaded around them like a curtain, so intimate and sweet smelling. She could feel the length of his body beneath hers, feel his strength against her softness, hear his soft breaths becoming deeper, harsher. When his palms cupped her cheeks, his thumbs ran over her lips.

“Let me see your love, Beth. Let me feel it.”

“For the rest of our lives, Iain?” His hands moved over her breasts, cupping and squeezing and coaxing. Then his right hand released her, slid up her chest and rested over her heart.

“Aye, Beth. For the whole of our lives, and whatever other ones God grants us. Share my life with me. The troubles and sorrows, the joys, the moments of silence and darkness. The pleasures of my bed, of our bodies entwined. Love me as my wife.”

Silently weeping, Elizabeth placed her fingertips on her lover’s brow and allowed them to sweep over his fanned lashes, his cheeks, the aristocratic nose. He was so beautiful to her, his features etched onto her fingertips, burned forever in her mind’s eye. He was going to give her beautiful babies, strong sons and gorgeous girls.

And he was going to love her every night until they were old, and then they would lie side by side and just hold each other.

“Beth,” he rasped, taking her hand and kissing her palm. “Marry me.”

“Yes,” she murmured, drawing him close. “Yes, I will.

I’ve always been yours. And you, my mad marquis, have always been mine.”

He smiled, and she felt the wicked curving of his mouth against her fingers. “Then this, Beth, is our wedding night. Let me give my vows to you.” BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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They were the most beautiful vows in the world, whispered in her ear and confirmed by his passion. Before she drifted off to sleep in his arms, she felt his fingers roaming gently over her once more. In large letters, starting at the base of her neck and on down her spine, he wrote something that made her grip the pillow and bite her lip.

Not even the kiss he placed on the curve of her bottom gave her the joy, the euphoria of that one word, traced on her skin with his fingertip.

Mine.

“I have loved you, Beth, and only you, for so long. I will love you for eternity, and into the next lifetime, and the next after that. I will always find you, my Veiled Lady, in whatever incarnation you might be, because my soul will know its mate. It will always come home, to reside with you.”

* * * * *

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