“I’m definitely interested,” she tried.
That moved him. A little. “Hmm. Well, the treat was going to be a kiss—”
Yes! She had guessed correctly.
“—but you don’t seem interested. Go ahead. Knit.”
Was he deaf? She looked at his latest offhanded wave and wanted to tackle him to make him stop the gesture. Daft man.
“I told you I was interested. Twice.”
A low rumble of assent. “I’ll tell you what. You can kiss me,” Daniel offered generously. “If you want.”
She turned her head. His profile greeted her, obdurately male and typically handsome. His nose jutted at a belligerent angle. His mouth pursed in thought, finely shaped and, she knew, marvelously talented. He appeared both cocksure and curiously…hopeful?…at the same time.
You can kiss me. If you want.
Sarah did want. She wanted very much.
“I wouldn’t know how,” she protested, but it was only an excuse. They both knew it. The knowledge was there in Daniel’s face as he went on gazing at the ceiling.
“I need you, Sarah,” he said simply. “I need you, and I need to know you want me. The same way I want you.” He hesitated, not looking at her. “These past few days—”
“Have been foolish,” she said, understanding just then exactly how foolish. She’d set out to prove something to Daniel. She’d only succeeded in teaching something to herself. Something remarkable.
Only a man who loved her—who truly loved her—would still want her now, she realized. Only a man who loved her would see the real her, would look beyond her nightgown, her beauty treatments, her socks and her curlers and everything else. She’d tried her best to deter him.
Thrillingly, she’d failed.
That could only mean one thing. Even if Daniel couldn’t bring himself to say the words, as Sarah moved to meet him, she knew then that he felt them.
Poised on her forearms, her nightgown billowing behind her, she stared at him in wonder. Although he said nothing more, Daniel had never before seemed so vulnerable to her. So open. For the first time, Sarah felt she held a piece of his heart in her keeping. All she wanted to do was to treasure it.
“I do need you,” she whispered, and dared to press a kiss to his waiting mouth. The motion felt awkward, unfamiliar, until Daniel moaned and cupped the back of her head in his hand, holding her to him. His reciprocity made it right.
“I do want you,” she said, and braved a trembling touch to his face. The slant of his cheekbones, the arch of his brow, the bristly texture of his skin all felt different, forbidden, until Daniel smiled and covered her hand with his own, making sure she went on touching him. His assurance made it perfect.
“And no matter what else, I do love you,” she said, and risked laying herself half atop him in an untried caress. Her breasts pushed against his chest. Her bent knee touched his thigh. The closeness they shared felt almost overwhelming, nearly too exciting, until Daniel looked into her eyes and kissed her back, quieting her fears. His sharing made it love.
“I do. I do love you,” she said, needing him to know it in the same way she needed to arch against him, to touch him, to breathe. “I love you.”
“Ahhh. Sarah. Then let me love you back.” He brought her forehead gently to his in that familiar, uniquely caring way he had. Their gazes met. “Let me love you. I know I don’t have the words, but—”
“Shhh.” She kissed him, feeling better at it now. “I know. It’s all right.”
At that, he seemed relieved. A little of the cockiness returned to his expression, and Sarah couldn’t help but love it. She’d always been drawn to his surety, his strength, his way of taking life lightly.
“Are you sure?” Daniel asked, giving her one final chance to resist. “Because stopping won’t be easy, after—”
“If it’s not easy, just beg me,” Sarah said, striving to sound ever-so-sensible. “And then we’ll stop. Someone once told me there is plenty of begging involved with these sorts of romantic moments, although I’ve yet to experience it myself.”
He grinned. Wolfishly. “That sounds like a challenge.”
“That sounds like you’re eager to fulfill it.” She smiled, feeling all the more a seductress as she grew accustomed to the press of their bodies, the heat of their togetherness, the role of the pursuer. “But if not, there is always knitting. You might enjoy it. Wool, needles—”
Daniel growled and kissed her. She squealed as he squeezed her middle in his powerful hands, then yelped aloud as he lifted her higher. After a stunned moment, Sarah found herself straddling him, her scratchy nightgown covering most—but not all—of her legs.
His gaze went straight to her bared knees, then roved higher. He swallowed hard. “Do I look like I want to knit?”
“No. You look like you want to kiss me again.” Sweet heaven, she hoped he kissed her again. “But looks are often deceiving, you know.”
“Hmm. I reckon you’ll have to wait to find out which one I’d rather do, then.”
Hah. “That’s what you think.”
Emboldened by his love, Sarah knew she was more than ready for this game. Feeling no shyness at all, no hesitation, she grabbed handfuls of her hem. Daringly, she lifted her nightgown. It flew to the bedpost, then slumped to the floorboards to join Daniel’s discarded britches.
He stared. “You vixen! I wondered how you didn’t wind up scraped to pieces by that attacking nightgown of yours.”
Flirtatiously, she smoothed her lacy white gown in place. “Yes. It felt far more comfortable to wear this beneath it.”
Daniel’s appreciative gaze was that of a man glimpsing a long-lost friend. He captured a bit of filmy white between his fingers.
“From now on, wear only this,” he ordered. “Or wear nothing at all.”
“Yes, sir.”
His grin widened. “I like the sound of that. All right. You can kiss me again.”
Feeling beyond willing, Sarah did. With her hands pressed to Daniel’s broad chest for balance, she leaned closer. Her mouth touched his, and she was lost. All banter, all playing, all sense of mastery flew from her head as their kiss went on and on.
This was what it felt like to share a kiss in love, she realized, and wanted to sigh with the wonder of it. Daniel’s care, his attention, his need were all for her, and in that moment, Sarah savored them all.
“Very good,” he managed when they were through. Despite his carelessly said words, his voice sounded throaty and needful. “But I’ll need another to be sure.”
She gave it gladly, this time splaying herself flat against him as their mouths met. Daniel felt warm and solid and beloved beneath her, and her whole body tingled in the places where they touched. Sarah knew she needed more. In frustration, she wriggled atop her husband, then stopped in shock as another, warmer and harder and more compelling, part of him met her sheer-gowned backside.
He groaned. “Careful. Unless you mean for this to end too quickly between us, you’d best stop that.”
“What?” Arching her brow, Sarah swiveled her hips the merest degree. It was all she dared. “This?”
Another groan, louder this time. Hearing it filled her with a surpassing sense of feminine power—and a wonderful sense of longing, too. Daniel wanted her. He wanted her.
“Yes, that. Stop wiggling. I can’t stand it.”
She couldn’t let that pass. “Stand…this?”
Fiercely, he grabbed her hips. His hands clamped in an especially sensitive—and until now, unnoticed—spot. Sarah gasped. Having him touch her there aroused all sorts of fluttery feelings in her belly and lower. Heat pooled in the same places her virginal nightgown did. She scarcely knew how to express everything that was happening to her.
Somehow, Daniel knew. “You’re blushing.”
She couldn’t speak.
He lifted his hand, freeing one side of her from those engrossing sensations. Before Sarah could take any relief in that, though, Daniel traced his fin
gertips over her partly bared bosom. He examined her there, appearing fascinated.
“You’re blushing here, too.”
“I can’t help it. Oh, Daniel. How long will this go on?”
His rakish grin surprised her. “As long as you want.”
“Oh.” Restlessness seized her, making her impatient for…something. Sarah didn’t know what. “Then please—”
“I’d say that sounds like pleading. Almost—” his brow lifted “—begging.”
“Not fair!” she cried. “You have me at a disadvantage.”
His expression sobered. His gaze met hers as he lifted his hand from her bosom to her cheek. “Ahh, Sarah. You have no idea.”
She couldn’t reason what he meant, but the look on his face bespoke love. Devotion. Wanting. Those were all she could have hoped for, so Sarah didn’t question him any further.
“Please love me,” she whispered.
Everything in her heart agreed. So when Daniel tenderly turned her in his grasp, she let him lay her down on the soft, warm linens. When he kissed her, she opened her arms and held him to her. When he placed his hand beneath her nightgown and slowly, slowly slid it past her calves, her knees, her thighs…she welcomed him.
Finally, after countless kisses, he coaxed her upright to sit. Although Sarah didn’t know why, she did so agreeably. Trustingly. She found herself with both legs parted on either side of his torso, meeting him chest to chest. She couldn’t move her gaze from Daniel’s rugged, handsome face. Never had he seemed more wonderful to her…never had he felt more necessary.
He showed her his intentions. Sarah nodded, wanting this new and magical time between them to go on and on. An instant later, as she’d known it would, her nightgown whisked over her body. The cooling touch of the night air gave her goose bumps—or maybe her husband’s touch was responsible for that. Either way, she longed for more.
Her wedding-night gown dropped to the bedside in a flurry of white, as tangible as the fears she’d discarded with it. Bravely, Sarah faced Daniel again. Under his loving gaze, she lay back against the pillows.
“You are beautiful.” He touched her with awe, his deft hands skimming her bared curves with something approaching reverence. He shook his head. “Too beautiful for me, by far.”
“No!” Fearing Daniel would stop, Sarah reached for his hand. She wove their fingers together, squeezing hard. “I’m just me. Just Sarah. You know me.”
His gaze lifted. “You were never ‘just Sarah.’ To me, you were always more than that. I should have told you sooner. The funny thing is…” His smile quirked. “I only just realized it myself.”
Tears stung her eyes, forcing her to blink them away. To know that he saw her, that he loved her, was more than she’d ever truly dared to wish for. Sarah touched him in amazement. She knew she would never be the same again.
“You know I’ve always loved you,” she said. Her voice quivered with the magnitude of the admission, with the thrill of finally being able to give him the truth, once and for all. “Always, always. It was always you, Daniel.”
He looked humbled. Moved. Gratified, all at the same time. Giving a hoarse cry, he buried his face in her neck. He squeezed her tightly, holding her safely to him. For a man so unused to emotion as Daniel, his embrace was a telling thing. It communicated his feelings as strongly as any words would have done—more so, Sarah thought as she wrapped her arms around him.
He kissed her then, a hot press of his lips to her neck. Then another. Another. They came faster and faster, each kiss more passionate, more intense, than the first. She shivered beneath them, losing herself in feverish explorations of his naked back, his muscular arms, his hair-prickly chest. She arched higher, needing to be closer, and Daniel answered with a kiss fully on her mouth.
Skin to skin they pressed together, Sarah writhing with a need she didn’t quite understand. All she knew for certain was that Daniel would fulfill it. He ground against her in his turn, seeming unable to stop himself. Every hot press, heady with the hard, exciting feeling of his manhood against her thigh, intrigued her more.
“You should be naked, too,” she managed, gasping.
Within seconds, he’d complied. “Yes, ma’am.”
His words echoed her earlier bantering with him, making Sarah feel safe. Comfortable. Beyond ready. This was Daniel. Daniel. If anyone would be the first one—the only one—to love her, it was him. And now he was ready for that, too.
“Don’t be shy. Have a look,” he urged. “You know you want to, wife.” He posed beside the bed, lingering just for an instant, waiting impatiently. When she glanced up, he tilted his head. “Wife,” he mused. “I like the sound of that.”
“So do I,” she declared. Then, bravely, she peeked.
Her glimpse of him was brief. She had a shocked impression of size and heft, of the sheer impossibility of what she knew they were about to attempt, before Daniel ended her view. He joined her in their bed and kissed her. The rascal plied his kisses so thoroughly that Sarah forgot her worries over what they planned altogether.
All she knew was the deep, delightful angle of his mouth, the sinful swirl of his hands on her breasts, the murmured praise he offered as he encountered every unexplored part of her. He took blatant pleasure in kissing every inch, in touching and squeezing and admiring. His talented hands were everywhere, bringing her shudders of yearning. How he aroused such feelings, she’d never know.
“After this, I’ll never want to wear clothes again.” She panted, holding his shoulders to keep her steady in the whirl of sensation he’d created. “Since you like me so well naked.”
Daniel paused with his head near her belly. His answering smile was for her alone, and all the more precious for it.
“If you’re trying to make me disagree…” He kissed her navel, then pronounced it delicious. “You’re failing.”
She quivered. The fluttery feeling inside her grew stronger, encouraged by his attention. Her whole body felt powerfully drawn to get closer. Closer.
“After this,” Sarah persisted breathlessly, “I’ll—”
“After this,” he promised, offering a scandalous wink to make up for his interruption, “you’ll know what it is to be loved. And well.”
As sure as he’d predicted it, she did. Shockingly, uninhibitedly, Daniel showed her all the ways he could love her. He stroked her till she shook. He kissed her all over. He touched her in places no other man ever had or would, and all the while, Sarah welcomed him. By the time he’d made his way to the most private parts of her, she had no sense left at all.
“Please, please,” she begged. “I need—”
“I know,” he said, “and soon—”
Whatever else he said was lost to her. All at once, Sarah’s body arched in a moment of perfect pleasure, suspending her between everything she knew and everything she needed. She moaned, unable to help herself. This was…this was…
Bliss. Crying out, she clutched at Daniel. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and held him, riding out the incredible sensation. When at last it spiraled away from her, leaving her spent and breathless and pulsing, she looked up to see him watching her with raw need.
“Oh, Daniel. That was…”
“Perfect.” He stroked her rag-rolled hair from her face, then kissed her again. He sounded breathless, as though he’d run a long way to find her in their bed. “Ahhh, Sarah.”
In his voice, she heard everything she needed. Love and wanting and togetherness. She pulled him closer, opening herself to him, and her reward was a union far more remarkable than any they’d shared till now. Preparing her with whispered words and a gentle beginning, Daniel settled himself between her thighs. Finally, finally, he made their coupling complete.
An intense fullness gripped her. She gasped in surprise, her eyes widening. She never would have predicted this. This felt…unlike anything she’d ever experienced.
Daniel stilled immediately. He watched her with obvious concern. The muscles in his arms corded
with the exertion of holding himself unmoving within her, of denying himself—them—something remarkable.
“Is this all right? Sarah? If it’s too much, I’ll—”
“No. No.” She shushed him with a kiss, drawing him closer with her arms around his shoulders. She wanted this. Wanted him. To know that they were one was all she’d ever hoped for. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
His face eased, gladness taking the place of his concern. “Then hold on to me, wife. We’re only beginning.”
His caring made their loving easy. His skill made it beyond pleasurable. Only a few heartbeats had passed before Sarah realized something truly unbelievable—this lovemaking of theirs could get better and better. With a hoarse moan, Daniel took them both to new heights, to raptures that made her clutch him still harder…that made him cry out and stiffen against her, thrusting again and again.
At long last he slumped against her, his heart thumping wildly. “Ahhh, Sarah. You are wonderful.” He offered her a smile, one as wicked and as tantalizing as any she’d ever seen from him. “I don’t think I can ever let you go.”
She kissed him. “There will never be a need.” She meant it with all her heart. “Never, never, never.”
With a gusty sigh, Daniel took her in his arms. He rolled them both to their favorite cuddling position. Sarah happily wiggled her backside in place against him, loving the way he made her feel safe and beloved and cozy. Tonight she lay with a changed man. From here on, everything would be different.
Daniel loved her. He loved her!
He hadn’t said the words, it was true. But in light of everything they’d shared, Sarah could not believe that mattered. Not truly. Daniel loved her. Their lives would be wonderful now. She couldn’t wait to get started.
But first…a tremendous yawn overtook her.
“Tired already?” Daniel asked. Humor sounded in his voice—humor, and something else. Something intriguing. He trailed his fingertips over her middle, then lower. “If I can’t keep you awake till nearly sunrise, I haven’t done my job properly.”
Oh, my. Incredibly, another thrill shook her. Sarah turned her head. “Sunrise? We have work to do and Eli to care for. Our chores will be waiting.”
Lisa Plumley - [Crabtree 02] Page 18