Price of Desire (16 page)

She knew his wants and his purpose, but she would not deny
her
wants,
her
needs
.
Let him play this game out
.
She would take
what she wanted and then . . .
then they would see who won the night
.
She smiled as she opened herself to him
.
He bent his head, his tongue flickering over her pulse where it throbbed at the base of her neck
.
She let herself go.

Chapter
Five

This was madness
.
This was hunger
.
Wulf nuzzled his face at the base of her throat, drawing that same scent of summer that had clung to her before
.
As they touched he could feel the fire, the rough magic rise up between them, burning them both.

He’d knocked on her door desiring only to talk, to make her understand that he needed to see his child, but then he s
aw
her bathed in candlelight, so ravishing, so tempting
.
Even her words, denying him his daughter, had not abated the demons of desire that sprang forth, the urge to make her his, to conquer her
.
Her eyes beckoned him on, promising salvation
–
oblivion from every torment, every memory of darkness and despair
.
In her glance was only heaven, in her body forbidden nirvana
.
She was the siren he could not resist.

He whispered kisses over her neck, across her chest
.
She shuddered and stirred beneath him, the sweet honey taste of her skin urging him onward, binding him with memories of that other night
–
that night when she’d begun and he’d followed
.
His anger and passion combusted with uncontrollable force
.

“Do you remember how you
held
your breasts up to me
?
They glowed in the moonlight
,
” he growled
.
“I could see the desire in your eyes, feel how much you needed me
.
You shivered at my first touch, just as you do now.
”
He ran a single finger along her collarbone, his eyes glowing at her response
.
“
I could have stared at you for hours, but your impatience drove me on
.
And then I touched, caressed, the velvet of your skin, fed upon the bounty of your breasts
.
You were all the sustenance I needed, all that I need.
”

He finished speaking and lowered his head again
.
His tongue darted out and circled the pearled tip of her nipple
.
Each shudder
shook her
,
spread the fire of
his passion, dr
ew
him deeper into the tangled web of their desire
.
When he finally drew a nipple deep into his mouth, sucking, nursing, licking, she sighed once and then melted beneath him, her thighs opening in welcome as she collapsed backwards onto the bed.

Then he feasted
.
He moved from breast to breast and back again, unable to deny himself the dream that had tormented him these last years
.
He pushed her gown lower, delighting in her response, gaining recompense for all she had denied him
.
She raked her fingers through his hair, clenching, clawing, urging him on, until he
was
smothered in her welcoming flesh.

He drew back for breath and she moaned, opening her eyes to reveal dancing fires of passion that would know no denial
.
He felt the pounding of her heart beneath his hands, smelled the growing musk of her desire
.
He slipped over her
until
he lay nestled between her thighs, pressing hard against her,
and
only the thin cotton of their clothing separated them.

He pulled back, staring deep into her darkened eyes, the pupils huge and round, burning with
a
desire equal to his own
.
She was so damned beautiful, so perfect
–
the cream of her skin, the gold of her hair, the soft body that so well
followed the contours of
his own
.
He lowered his mouth roughly, catching her inviting lower lip between his teeth
,
and tugging
.
She moaned and stirred beneath him, pressing her pelvis up.

With one hand he swept up the loose skirt of her
gauzy
night
rail, curling his fingers deep into the soft flesh of her hip
.
Her eyes flared at his touch
.
He nipped harder at her lip before joining his mouth tightly to hers, delving into the sweetness of her depths
.
His tongue swept, and teased, and played, seeking to consume her all
.

He was lost in her, unsure where memory ended and reality began
.
Each move, each shiver, each caress blended with that afternoon so long ago
.
No other woman had ever tasted so sweet, ignited such fires within him, brought him to this peak of pleasure
–
or despair
.
He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, fighting for control, detachment.

“Is she my daughter?
”
He forced the words out
.
She could not deny him now
.
He pulled back, arched above her, poised, promising all and granting nothing
.
“Is she mine?”

“Damn you.
”
It was more of a cry than a word
.
She opened her eyes wide and stared up at him in the darkness
.
He thought she would answer, but then she moved beneath him, raising her hips to rub against him, blatant in her invitation, forcing his mind to the present, to the heat that sizzled between them
.
She clenched her thighs tight around him
.
She closed her eyes and threw her head back
.
She was as lost as he
.
If he asked again she would tell him the truth
.

He started to speak.

Her legs moved up his thighs, clasping tight about him
.
He drew a sharp breath as she shifted until he lay nestled against her very core.

He was vanquished, his mind
devoid of everything
but his driving need
.
Self-loathing stirred and was forgotten
.
All was forgotten, all but the beckoning siren beneath him.

He didn’t know whose hands moved, unfastening his buttons until he sprung free, didn’t know which of them positioned, pressed, progressed
.
He met her eyes, knew the cold reality of the present
.
Then he was lost in the passion of the moment, his demons free
.
All he knew was the heaven of sensation as he drew back and pressed forward, burying himself to the hilt
.
Her inner muscles clasped him, pulling him deeper, pulling him home.

“My God, it’s better than I remembered, better than I dreamed
,
”
h
e gasped against her hair, as he pulled back and surged forward.

“Is this real, then?
”
He almost missed her soft despairing question as her whole body drew taut beneath him
.
“
Or
a
dream I cannot escape
?
”

Even as she whispered the last word
,
he felt her body shake, her inner depths pulsing against him
.
She buried her face in his shoulder, smothering her cry
.
He became still, holding himself with iron control until he felt her
fall
quiet beneath him
.

Then he moved again, drawing them both back into the dance
.
Her response to his every move, every touch, every taste, shot through him
.
No other woman had ever moved as one with him, shown him all that could be.

Even now, in the midst of passion,
in
the midst of the fire, he wanted her to be the same as every other, needed to deny that there was anything unique or extraordinary about this encounter, this fire
.
His mind fought for independence, for
what he took for
sanity, even as his body merged and melded, drawing ever deeper into the dark flames until he knew nothing but
the swirl of scent, taste and touch that were uniquely this woman
.

He knew the end was near, knew he could not hold back longer, felt her fingers dig deep into his back urging him on, heard her cry, felt her dissolve, pulling him into
a
vortex of flame
.
He threw back his head, letting out his own cry of glory, of conquest, of homecoming
.
He had reached heaven and there
could be
no return.

This was madness, the sweetest of dreams, the most costly of fantasies
.
Even as Wulf’s weight collapsed upon her, pressing her deep into the downy mattress, the first glimmer of sanity returned
.
What had she done
?
How had an argument over Anna ended here
?
At least she had not answered
.
She had taken his seduction and thrown it back at him
.
If he could stab with passion like a sword, then so could she
.
She clenched her inner muscles around him one more time and felt him jerk in response, the last thro
e
s of desire still surrounding them.

She closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath filled with sweat, brandy, and the joint musk of their bodies
.
How could she have forgotten how good this was
?
How could she have forgotten the magic of his touch, the way she responded to the perfection of his body
?

His body
.
She must remember it was only his body, his touch that drew her – nothing more
.
It was his body she had wanted
.
His body she had joined with.

She exhaled, her breath rustling the hairs that sprinkled his chest
.
He raised himself up on his elbows, still impaled deep within her
.
Their eyes met and for the briefest of seconds she glimpsed a vulnerability she had not expected
.
She reached up to touch his face, to feel the warmth of that stubble-roughened skin
.
Before her hand had moved even a fraction of an inch his eyes darkened, shuttered, almost punished
.
There was a renewal of passion, desire, but no warmth
.

He began to move again within her, swelling, growing, filling her completely, but his eyes burned with ice
.
Self-loathing shook her as his hands gripped her thighs without tenderness
.
This is what she had brought herself
.
The pace increased
.
She cried for him, begged for him, opened herself to him
.
But even as he brought her to the peak, even as she shattered around him, the intensity of the heat burning her to the quick, she shivered from the ice that encased him.

The first beams of sun
light
were just
peeking through the windowpanes
when Rose wakened the next morning
.
It was not the light that had awakened her, nor even the first sounds of the house coming to life
.
It was not even the knowledge that she had a house full of guests and a long day ahead of her
.

Rather
,
it was
an absence
.
His absence
.
She
ha
d lain beside him all the night, his large body sprawled across her bed, their limbs intertwined
.
They had not spoken since the first time, had not looked into each other’s eyes since the second
.
But throughout the dark hours their bodies had sought each other, caressed each other as the most familiar of companions – while her soul bled alone
.