For All Eternity
Page 30
“But—”
Calder bent and took one of Maeve’s nipples boldly into his mouth, effectively cutting off her words and swamping her doubts in a storm of physical and spiritual sensation.
Maeve threw back her head, abandoning herself to Calder’s attentions, glorying in the wild appetites he had aroused in her. He smoothed the rest of her clothes away without leaving her breast, and then Maeve was clothed only in moonlight.
“Here’s something else mortals do,” he said gruffly when both Maeve’s breasts were throbbing and wet from his tongue. He dropped to one knee before her, like a cavalier acknowledging his queen, parted the veil of silk that hid her most sensitive place from view, and kissed her there.
Maeve cried out, half in protest, half in glorious surrender. Calder’s hands cupped her bare buttocks, and he pressed her hard against his mouth and suckled until she was trembling against him, whimpering softly in her need.
Calder lowered her to the bare wooden floor finally, and his own clothes were gone, quite literally, in a twinkling. He poised himself over her, and she parted her thighs for him willingly, even eagerly.
He entered her in one hard, desperate thrust and, as quickly as that, Calder’s own control snapped. He and Maeve moved together in a graceful dance of passion, their sleek bodies rising and falling, twisting and turning, as each worshiped the other.
It ended with a simultaneous, white-hot melding, not only of their physical selves, but of their souls as well, and afterward they both lay stricken and exhausted on the hard floor.
Maeve was the first to move. She put her clothes back on, reached into the pocket of her gown, and took out the pendant the gypsy had given her, long, long ago. Crouching beside Calder, who was still splendidly naked and had managed to raise himself onto one elbow, she put the chain around his neck and then kissed him softly on each side of his face.
“This is my pledge to you,” she said. “I will be your wife, now and throughout eternity, in heaven or in hell, in life or in death.”
Calder sat up, took Maeve’s face in his strong hands, and kissed her earnestly. “And this is my pledge to you,” he replied then in a hoarse voice, drawing back only far enough to look deep into her eyes. “I will be your husband, faithful and brave and patient. I will love you beyond forever, and my soul will be a part of yours.”
Maeve moved back into his arms. It was the closest they would ever have to a wedding, this exchange of vows they had just shared, but she and Calder had agreed to love each other for all eternity.
Forever sounded just right.