Savage Destiny
Page 16
‘Then I’ll just have to love you a whole lot more until you can,’ she promised, and her words ended on a gasp as Pierce pulled her into his arms, folding them tightly round her as if he would never let her go. But she didn’t mind. At last, at long, long last they were back together where they belonged, and she clung to him. They had come through a fire not of their choosing, and now they were free to look ahead of them and not behind.
‘You’re shaking,’ Pierce breathed against her neck, and she laughed huskily.
‘So are you.’ She could feel the tremors going through him.
Easing back, Pierce framed her head with hands which were not quite steady. ‘I thought I had lost you for good this time,’ he confessed, pressing kisses over her eyes and cheeks until he reached her mouth, staying tantalisingly a breath away.
A tiny groan escaped her as she was forced to wait for the kiss she longed for. ‘I would have come back, if only to punch you on the nose!’
Pierce laughed, that supreme self-confidence returning by leaps and bounds. ‘You little firebrand! It’s quite a thought, but I’d rather you kissed me instead.’
His teasing made her eyes flash. ‘Are you begging me, Pierce?’
‘So you still want your pound of flesh after all?’
She arched a look at him from beneath her lashes. ‘Actually, I want about a hundred and seventy pounds of flesh quite desperately! What are you waiting for?’
‘Hell, I’m actually almost afraid to touch you,’ he revealed amazingly, even though his eyes sent a far different message.
In return, her own gaze flirted invitingly. ‘But not so afraid you’ll let me go?’
At that he laughed, and swung her up in his arms with a mastery which thrilled her. ‘I’ll never let you go. I’m your fate, Alix. Does that scare you?’ he challenged, carrying her through to the bedroom, letting her slide to the floor by the bed, but keeping her firmly within his grasp.
Her hands glided up around his neck, fingers locking into his thick dark hair. ‘Nothing scares me when I’m with you,’ she confessed, and closed her eyes as his head lowered and his lips finally took hers.
It was not a kiss of passion, but of love. A promise without words which told the depths and heights of their feelings for each other. Yet in their love for each other their emotions had never been temperate, and soon that kiss was not enough. The tempo changed with their heartbeats as they sought a response that only the other could give. The kisses became longer, deeper, searching out with tongues and lips, a fire which sent a fever to the blood and left them breathless.
Clothes were discarded haphazardly, and then they were lying together on the bed, their flesh the brush of silk on velvet. Each caress scorched them, raising the temperature until their bodies were slick. They moved together, gasps of delight mixing with moans of pleasure. As her hands sought out the planes of his back and shoulders, stroking the taut line of his buttocks, Alix knew their lovemaking had never been like this before. When Pierce raised his head from her breast, the tight lines etched into his face told the tale of how hard a task it was for him to keep in control.
She was fast losing hers, and didn’t care. She writhed against him as his hand sought the moist centre of her, and she melted into his stroking caress, gasping as her body arched helplessly. Then reason vanished as his mouth returned to the thrusting, aching point of her breasts, but only to pass on to the silken plane of her stomach, and lower, until he claimed her with the most intimate caress of all. Head thrashing from side to side, she cried out as her body responded with a series of delicious contractions.
Pierce moved above her again as she lay panting. He had wanted to give her pleasure, and he had, but she wanted to please him, too. Her hands went to his chest, finding the flat male nipples, teasing them with her nails until he groaned aloud, collapsing on to his back beside her. She followed him, her tongue tracing the same line, her hands foraging lower, finding and closing about the taut male shaft.
But that was all Pierce could take. His magnificent control shattered, and he took charge, rolling over until she was beneath him once more, taking possession with a driving thrust that hurtled them both towards the final edge. Caught in the spiral, Alix welcomed the ever-deepening thrusts until she thought she could take no more without going mad. Then the world disintegrated about her as she hurtled way up and out, hearing Pierce’s guttural cry as he joined her.
It was a very long time before the real world impinged on them again. Then, with a sigh, Pierce eased himself on to his side and propped himself up on his elbow to gaze down at her. Alix was swimming in a sea of lethargy, so replete that she didn’t want to move, yet she opened her eyes when he ran his fingers over her lips.
‘Remind me to send you away more often, if this is the way you welcome me back,’ he teased gently, brushing damp tendrils of hair from her cheeks.
Momentarily her eyes clouded. ‘Don’t you ever do that to me again, Pierce.’
He grimaced. ‘I admit I was wrong, but it’s how you make me feel. It’s as if I’m so afraid of losing you, I have to drive you away! Forgive me?’
So long as she knew he loved her, she’d forgive him anything. ‘I think I’ve proved it isn’t that easy to get rid of me,’ she told him softly, and he groaned.
‘I suppose I can’t believe my luck. I keep pinching myself to make sure it’s real,’ he confessed huskily, brushing a kiss over her forehead. ‘Happy?’
‘Incredibly happy,’ she sighed. Pierce might be able to inflict the worst hurt, but only he could ever make her as happy as this. They were the two sides of the coin of loving.
Still breathing heavily, he gazed long into her eyes. ‘And you do believe I love you? That despite what I did I always have?’
Sighing again, Alix took his hand and cradled it to her cheek. ‘Oh, yes. It’s the only explanation which makes sense.’ Her eyes lit up with an iridescent smile. ‘I’m glad I don’t have to hate you any longer. It’s hard to do when you really love someone. Pierce, is it truly all over now?’
He nodded solemnly. ‘All I want to do now is forget it. I bear no resentment towards your family. I was simply keeping a promise. From now, all my promises are for you and our own family.’
Alix pulled his arm around her, hugging it close. ‘Family. That sounds nice,’ she murmured, and his lips softened into a smile.
‘Do I take it that means you’ll no longer be wishing I come back as something nasty you can crush under your foot?’
She laughed. ‘Did I really say that?’
‘You did, and much more besides,’ he growled in mock-anger.
‘Well, you deserved it at the time,’ she teased, only to sober when other thoughts impinged. ‘You said some things too. The day you took me to see my grandfather you reminded me you’d never said you loved me, not in so many words.’
Pierce sobered too. ‘I knew that I could never say the words and refute them later. So I told you you could never know the depth of feeling I had in my heart for you. You were meant to take that as a desire for revenge, but it was always what you first thought. That depth of feeling was love, Alix, but I had to pretend otherwise.’
So she hadn’t really been wrong at all. It was good to know that, even now. Yet there was still something that hurt her deeply. ‘Why did you make love to me on our wedding night? Was it really necessary to close the loophole in that way?’ she asked, not realising the depth of hurt she revealed in her voice.
Pierce heard, though, and closed his eyes at the pain. ‘There was never a loophole. I didn’t have to make love to you, I needed to. It was necessary to me, my love, because I thought it might be the only time I would ever have you, the only time I could show you just how much I loved you. I wanted it to be good for you, and although I knew it would only hurt us both later I couldn’t help myself. If I was going to live in hell, then I had to taste heaven just once.’
Alix gazed up at him, hating to see the way her question had forced him in on himself.
Stricken, she touched her hand to his lips, and instantly he was back with her.
‘It was heaven for me too, Pierce. It’s always been heaven with you.’
He shook his head. ‘Not always heaven, darling Alix. I know I’ve hurt you badly, but I intend to make up for every second of pain.’
She smiled softly, nestling up to him. ‘Oh, how do you plan to do that?’ she teased, trailing her fingers through the hair on his chest and tugging gently.
He winced, but didn’t stop her. ‘Give me a couple more minutes and I’ll think of something,’ he retorted huskily, and she moved against him, her thigh rubbing his.
‘A few minutes?’ she challenged, and gasped as he suddenly rolled over and pinned her beneath him.
‘Alix Martineau, have you no shame?’ he growled in mock-anger, though his eyes sent a different message, one she answered.
‘I have a pain here, Pierce,’ she sighed, pointing to her lips. ‘Won’t you kiss it and make it better?’
His eyes glittered, and he lowered his head, taking her mouth in a searing kiss. ‘Better?’ he queried huskily.
Her arms crept up around his neck. ‘Try again; I’ll tell you when to stop,’ she invited, and with a throaty laugh he obliged.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8443-2
Savage Destiny
Copyright © 1993 by Amanda Browning
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com