by Cheryl Holt
Love Lessons 34S
mense, all-consuming dread, instilled by his father when he was a child, made him too afraid to seize what she was offering.
He only knew of one way to have her, one way that was safe.
Bending down, he found her nipple, latching on and nursing like a babe at its mother's breast. Snuggled there, he suckled for a lengthy time, letting her scent and taste comfort him. But as he shifted to her other breast, he was past the need for consolation, and so was she.
Still implanted, his cock enlarged easily. Ready for her. For this.
He craved to feel her writhing and squirming, wailing out in ecstasy. Physical satisfaction he understood. Carnal pleasure he wasn't apprehensive about sharing. So he blazed a trail down her stomach, to her woman's spot, sinking his tongue into her pliant, wet recesses. The musk and salt of her sex enticed him, lured him, prompting him to long for things that could never be.
Needing her skin next to his, he untied her garters, unrolled her stockings. He savored her shins, her knees, her thighs. Finding her core again, he licked and grazed, causing her to thrash against his mouth. Worshiping her with his lips, his hands, he traveled up her abdomen, dallying at her breasts, then proceeding on.
Finally, he kissed her, and her sweetness and perfection flowed through him. When he eventually centered himself once again, he reached down to steer himself inside, but her hand was there, ready to act as his steady, constant guide.
Diligently, carefully, he entered her, and their hips instantly discovered a matching rhythm. Her verdant eyes locked on his, and he received such an infusion of unbridled devotion that his heart throbbed and ached. She started to come, while whispering his name, and he couldn't help but come with her, sliding into that realm beyond space and time, tarrying there, then drifting back. Together.
As reality tumbled into place, she was crying, and his
346 Cheryl Holt
heart constricted at witnessing her tears. With his thumbs, he wiped them away. "What is it, love?" His fury spent, his affection for her had seeped in to take its place.
"I'm just so glad I'm with you," she murmured, her voice catching. "Perhaps we made a babe just now. We didn't the last time, and I regretted the loss so very much. . . ."
"Oh, Abby—"
She cut him off. "Don't say that you think it would be wrong."
He couldn't imagine a greater gift. "No," he said, shaking his head and gazing down at her, his love for her shining through, "it wouldn't be wrong."
At his declaration, her certainty soared. "I can't stand to see you so distressed as you've been. Promise me that you won't send me away again."
"I won't." He sighed, giving in, losing the battle. Losing the war. "You're like a bad penny!" he declared, but he was smiling. "You keep coming back. I can't get rid of you."
"That's because I belong here. With you."
"Aye, love, it seems you do." He shifted, so she could stretch out and mold her body to his. They fit like two halves of a whole and, as she put her hand over his heart, the beat slow and firm against her palm, he felt as if the last piece of an unsolvable puzzle had fallen into place.
This sense of completion was what he'd always craved. Love. A family. A wife and children to watch over and nurture. But he'd never dared to envision a better future, believing his reveries impossible to attain.
Linking his fingers with hers, he ventured, "Are you sure?"
"How could you ask?"
"Do you truly grasp what you'll be leaving behind?"
"What would that be'.'" she inquired. "A few acquaintances who were never close? A brother who refuses to accept how much I care about you?" She cast them all onto
Love Lessons 347
the heap that was rapidly becoming her past. "Not much of a loss, in my opinion."
"But your family ..."
"We'll create our own."
"I'll never let you go," he vowed fervently. "If you say yes to me. 'tis forever."
"Is that a proposition, Mr. Stevens?" She raised up and covered him with her body, her fists on his chest. "Because if it's not, you'll have to do a little better. I'm afraid you'll have to marry me."
Nothing could make him happier. Nothing would make him prouder, but old wounds were slow to heal. "Tell me it will be forever," he urged.
"Tell me that you love me," she replied in return. When he hesitated, she chuckled. " 'Tis not so difficult. The world won't end if you speak the words."
"I realize that, but after all these years, 'tis difficult to change my convictions so readily. I've never believed that true love exists."
"I understand that about you, James. That's why you belong with me."
The final brick in his wall of reserve crashed down. Where she was concerned, he'd never stood a chance of keeping it erect. "I love you, Abby."
"I know you do. You always have, and I love you, loo."
"So . . . it's forever?" He sounded expectant as a young child wishing on a star.
"Yes, James. 'Tis forever."
"Will you have me, then, Abigail?"
"Until the end of time . . . and much longer than that." She graced him with a tender kiss.
Sighing contentedly, he nestled against her, and her warm breath coursed across him. He eased against the pillows, and a wave of lassitude swept over him. With his stress alleviated, the weight of the world he'd been carrying had vanished, and he was unexpectedly sleepy. He couldn't stifle a yawn.
348 Cheryl Holt
Abby sat up and straddled his lap. "You're exhausted, aren't you?"
"Well, proposing marriage does sap a fellow's energy. ..."
"Devil," she muttered, laughing. "I want you to eat a bit and rest, because when you awaken, you have a busy day ahead of you."
"Doing what?"
"First, we're bound for window-shopping on Bond Street, then we're taking a leisurely carriage ride in die park. With the top down."
"But everyone will see us together!"
"That's my plan," she said, wiggling her brows impishly. "I want to set all the tongues to wagging. By sundown, we'll be the talk of the Town."
"Heaven help me," he grumbled, "but you're starting to remind me an awful lot of my mother."
"What a wonderful compliment," she beamed. "The timid lady I used to be when we first met has completely disappeared." She bit her bottom lip, suddenly nervous. "You're not disappointed that's she's gone, are you?"
He gazed upon her, at the beautiful face and the naked, alluring body he knew better than his own. She was smiling wickedly, looking confident and full of mischief, and he decided that she would always be more than a handful.
How had he ever gotten so lucky?
"No," he exclaimed happily, "I'm not disappointed."
He hugged her tightly, cherishing her and loving her. For the first time in his life, eager to hope, content to dream.
CHERYL HOLT is a lawyer, novelist and mom who lives on the Oregon coast.
Her varied employment history includes public school teacher, mediator, cook, bartender, lobbyist, musician, and political
activist.
A graduate of the University of Wyoming College of Law, she worked as a law elerk for the Attorneys General of Colorado and Wyoming. Later, she served as a deputy district attorney in metro-Denver.
Her second book, My Only Love, was nominated by Romantic fifties magazine for a Reviewer's Choice Award.
Love Lessons is her sixth novel.
You can visit her website at www.eherylholt.com or write her at [email protected]
"sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
