by Diana Palmer
Noreen smiled back. “I never minded doing whatever I could for you. You gave me a home when my parents died. You didn’t have to. You could have put me in an orphanage.”
“The very idea,” Mary muttered. “That would never have happened. Family is family.”
“I was never abused or badly treated here, nevertheless,” Noreen continued.
“But you were never really happy, either. I hope you will be now, Noreen,” she said sincerely. “You and Ramon.”
Impulsively Noreen went forward and awkwardly kissed her aunt on her soft, powdered cheek. “Thank you.”
Mary hugged her warmly. “You’re the only daughter I have left now,” she said a little awkwardly. “I hope you’ll come and see us from time to time. Especially when the children come along,” she added, with eyes that warmed with the thought.
Noreen smiled. “We hope to have several.”
“Which will give us all something to look forward to,” Mary replied. “And now, we’d better get you back to your new husband. He’s looking just a little impatient!”
The drive to Charleston was long, but it afforded them a privacy they could never have achieved in an airplane. Ramon stopped frequently along the way to let Noreen get out and stretch her legs, so the journey wouldn’t be too tiring.
Once, they stopped to have pie and coffee, and he held her hand while she ate hers, as if he couldn’t bear to let go of it.
The way he looked at her was even clearer evidence of a love he was no longer denying. The warmth in his black eyes made her heart race like mad.
He felt her pulse increase and he smiled secretively. “And now,” he said softly, “you belong to me in every way. It is the happiest day of my life.”
“And of mine,” she agreed huskily. She searched his face with possessive eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, querida,” he said quietly. “With all I am.”
She flushed a little, still shy with him despite the beautiful gold band on her left hand, above which an engagement ring of blue topaz surrounded by diamonds sparkled in the light.
Ramon, too, wore a wide gold band. It had been his own decision, but it made her happy to think that he wanted the world to know his status as much as she did.
“I hope Mosquito won’t tear up too much of Aunt Mary’s furniture,” she murmured. “Perhaps we should have boarded her.”
“We’d come home to find her hanging from the ceiling in a net,” he chuckled. “She’ll be very happy with your aunt and uncle. They like her, too.”
She clasped his hand and looked at him with fascination. “I still can’t believe it,” she said absently. “It’s like having every single dream of my life come true.” She frowned. “You don’t think I’m dreaming?”
He smiled indulgently. “Wait until we arrive at our destination,” he said softly. “And I’ll prove to you that you’re not.”
She pressed her hand into his hungrily and her eyes searched his. “I want to be as close to you as we can be,” she said shyly, dropping her gaze when she saw the fierce dark flames suddenly burning in his.
His breath sounded strained. “You take my breath away,” he whispered. “But, in all honesty,” he added huskily, “it is what I want as well, to feel you so close…” He bit back the rest of what he was going to say and finished his pie.
They arrived at the luxury hotel in Charleston a short time later. Neither had spoken very much in the car, in a tense and hungry atmosphere that was almost tangible.
Ramon checked them in with seeming patience and then tipped the bellboy who had carried their luggage to their suite. But no sooner was the door closed and locked behind the man than Ramon had Noreen up in his arms and headed straight for the king-size bed. He didn’t even stop to turn down the covers, so hungry was he for the feel and touch and taste of her.
“Is it…too soon?” he whispered at her eager lips. “Are you tired…?”
Her long legs wrapped around his as much as her skirt permitted and her mouth gave him her answer. The nervousness she’d felt at first was completely gone, replaced by a passion so long denied on both sides that it was overwhelming.
It was explosive between them, hungry and hot and so frantic that she couldn’t even think.
One minute they were fully clothed, and the next they were so close that she could feel him in every cell of her body. He savored her warm, soft nudity with his mouth, his hands, his eyes.
Her hands touched him with wonder, enjoying the feel of his warm bronzed body all along her own. He watched her with eyes that grew each second more hungry.
Slowly, then, the practiced caresses became more invasive, more drugging. He smoothed her down on the bed and his mouth found her in ways that all her imagining hadn’t prepared her for. She gasped, and he laughed softly at her shock, and then increased the pressure of his mouth against her taut breasts, slowly, so slowly, drawing the hard nipples into his mouth to taste them with his tongue.
She was more than ready for him when the need became too great to prolong.
He eased over her, his arms catching his weight as he made of his entire lean body one long caress, holding her gaze all the while to watch the wonder and shock and delight in them when he began to join his body to hers.
“Is it what you expected, ¿querida?” he whispered as his hips moved down to hers. “Are you frightened of me, like this?”
She felt the power and strength of him against her softness with awe and just a little fear. Her hands tightened on his shoulders. She swallowed, her lips parting as he moved gently on a nervous breath.
“Does it hurt?” he persisted, his face showing the strain of his restraint for her sake.
She bit her lower lip. “It…burns,” she whispered, reddening.
“Yes. But it will ease,” he whispered back, his voice deep in the room, the silence unbroken except for the sound of their unsteady breathing. His hand moved between them and he touched her gently, anticipating her shocked momentary withdrawal.
“I’m sorry.” She laughed nervously.
“No, it is I who should be sorry, for rushing you,” he said gently. He smiled and touched her softly, in a totally new way, so that her body clenched, but not in pain. “Yes,” he said, watching her eyes. “This is what was missing, this tension that builds sweetly, that makes your body so hungry for me that even pain is no deterrent… Ah, yes. There. And there…”
She was clutching him with her fingernails, holding on for dear life, because the pleasure he was giving her now made her moan with a new hunger. She wanted him to touch her again and again, she wanted to feel his hands seeking… Oh, there! There!
“Ramon!” she sobbed. Her hands seemed at once to be pulling him and pushing him. Her long legs wrapped without inhibition around his and she moved, lifted…
Her eyes flew open as she felt him. She was shocked, speechless, despite all the lectures and all the books she’d read. Nothing in her experience described the sensations that were throbbing along her every nerve as he moved in a slow, gentle rhythm and her body began to adjust to him. There was a slight hesitation, with a flash of pain that she barely recognized as such, and then all at once, he was completely part of her.
She absorbed him, and then lay shaking with her heartbeat, looking up into his eyes as they moved as one body in a slow, steady, sweet rhythm that all at once became desperation. She clung as a piercing, throbbing pleasure took her higher than she’d ever been in her life. She sobbed, watching his face contort as he, too, found the source of the hot pleasure and gave himself to it. They stilled for that one long second of shared pleasure and stared at each other, breathless in their staggering closeness.
“Incredible,” he breathed, his face hard with contained passion.
She searched his eyes, tense with her own need. “Yes.”
“Can you, again?” he whispered tenderly.
“I can,” she managed to say through her breathless delight. “I’m fine.” She looked down and flushed
as he did the same.
“It was never like this,” he said, trying to explain the enormity of what he was feeling. “Never!”
He moved with exquisite tenderness and heard her breath catch. He smiled, and moved again, and bent to her mouth. The need was still there, but it transmuted into a slow, soft, incredibly intimate rhythm that both worked to keep from becoming frantic. He looked into her eyes as the ecstasy began to grip him, laughing with shock as he felt the glory of it wash over him in slow, dragging waves that prolonged what was already unbearable joy.
She laughed with him and then groaned and sobbed as she gave herself to the feverish heat and arched up into his waiting body, giving up her body and her heart in the same crisp, oblivious little movement.
It was like riding a rainbow, drowning in warm wine, breathing joy. She clung to him, shuddering, and clung still harder, because the ecstasy never seemed to end. Her muscles hurt from the tension, but it was too sweet to fight.
Eventually she was too exhausted to withstand the pressure, and she fell back away from him, trembling in the aftermath. His own pleasure long since achieved, he smiled down at her, having sustained her for as long as she was capable of receiving pleasure from him.
He smoothed back her damp hair with loving hands. “You were greedy,” he whispered softly, and kissed her.
“I couldn’t stop,” she confessed. She laughed wickedly, secretively. “You are very sexy.”
He nibbled her lower lip. “So are you, mi esposa.”
“As first times go,” she said with demure pleasure, “that was unbeatable.”
“I could return the compliment.” He searched her eyes. “We are one, now, completely. Man and wife. One body. One soul.”
She touched his mouth and felt his lips purse against her fingers. “I love you so much,” she whispered huskily. “Are you sure…?”
“¡Querida!” He sounded shocked. His mouth brushed hungrily all over her face. “How could you doubt what I feel for you now, or do you think such exquisite lovemaking is commonplace between couples?”
“Isn’t it?”
He drew her close and kissed her tenderly. “It is not. We loved,” he whispered. “Look.”
His hand smoothed along her body, which was still intimately joined to his, and felt her ripple with the pleasure. “This is what it means to marry and become part of another person. It isn’t the physical act of joining alone, although this is exquisite and beautiful. It is the oneness of mind, heart and soul, as well.” He looked into her eyes hungrily. “I have never known this with anyone else,” he said emphatically. “Only with you.”
She relaxed, feeling his possession of her increase. She moaned, because the pleasure came singing back. “I love you,” she said softly.
“As I love you, my heart,” he whispered, and kissed her, feeling her body warm and kindle under him. His hand gently stilled the sensuous motion of her hips. “But now you must rest. I won’t overtire you, regardless of the endless delight I find in your sweet body.”
She sighed and smiled up at him. “Spoilsport.”
“Not at all.” He chuckled, moving gently away from her. He drew her against his side and pulled the covers over them with a long, weary sigh. “Sleep, for a little while. And when you are rested, we can start again.”
Her heart jumped and he felt it under his hand. He laughed, too. “How strong it beats, for a heart that was so badly broken.”
“Not broken any longer,” she said, correcting him. “Strong and faithful and devoted to you.”
“As it should be. What a marvelous future we have to look forward to, Noreen—a shared pleasure in each other’s lives and so much in common. Eventually, if God wills, a houseful of children, as well.” He sighed with sheer joy. “My cup overflows with joy.”
“So does mine.” She curled into his body and closed her eyes. Somehow, all the bad memories had fled, leaving only the promise of the years ahead. Her hand flattened on his chest, feeling the strong beat of his own heart. “I never dreamed of such happiness.”
“Nor I.” His arm contracted and he kissed her forehead gently. “Try to sleep now. We have all the time in the world for intimate discoveries and mutual pleasure. You are tired, and I must take great care of you.”
She smiled drowsily. “And when you need it, I’ll take great care of you.” Her eyes closed. “What a wonderful Christmas it’s going to be.”
He smiled, too. “I’ll tie you up with ribbon and put you under the tree, my heart, because you are the best present I ever expect to get.”
She laughed softly, nuzzling closer. “I love you.”
Outside the curtained window, a light rain was falling. But louder than its faint patter on the windowpanes was the strong beat of Ramon’s heart and the metallic whisper of her own. She thought that life could hold no greater pleasure than Ramon in her arms. Her broken heart was truly mended.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1496-5
THE PATIENT NURSE
Copyright © 1997 by Diana Palmer
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