She looked over at him. “We protect what’s ours.”
“With everything in us.”
She nestled her head against his shoulder. “I have enough good memories of that cabin to chase away the bad.”
He intended to give her more.
When they reached the cabin, he saw Pete sitting on the steps. With a wide grin splitting his face, the elderly cowboy came to his feet and approached as Rawley brought the buggy to a halt. “I didn’t figure a newly married man would want to take time to see to his horses.”
Rawley leaped from the buggy and shook the man’s hand. “Thanks, Pete.” Then he reached up, placed his hands on either side of Faith’s waist, and brought her to the ground.
Leaning toward Pete, she brushed a quick kiss over his cheek, his face turning red enough to obliterate most of his fading freckles. “We appreciate it, Pete.”
“My pleasure, ma’am.”
Slipping his arm around her waist, Rawley led her to the cabin.
“That was sweet of him,” she said.
“It was indeed.”
As they neared the steps, he swept her into his arms, taking pleasure from the echo of her laughter.
When they reached the door, she shoved it open, and he carried her over the threshold, kicking the door closed behind them. He headed for the bedroom and didn’t stop until they reached the bed, where he slowly lowered her feet to the floor and cupped her face between his hands. “I’m not a man of fancy words. I don’t know how to tell you how much it means to me that you’re my wife. All I can do is spend the rest of my life trying to show you—starting tonight.”
With a smile that warmed her eyes, she brushed her fingers up into his hair. “I love you, Rawley, with everything that’s in me.”
His low growl reverberated around them just before he claimed her mouth, pouring all that he was into the kiss. With her he felt reborn, rising unscathed from the ashes of a dark past that no longer mattered. As she divested him of his jacket, vest, tie, and shirt, as each layer fell away, he felt the glory of her love washing over him. He was worthy of her caressing his skin. He was worthy of her.
“I love you.” His declaration was ragged and raw as he leaned back and held her gaze. Her love humbled him, would have brought him to his knees if he didn’t need to remain standing in order to remove the damn red gown that was keeping so much of her hidden from him.
He took care not to rip or tear it, yet still his hands worked swiftly until she was revealed in all her splendor. He tumbled them onto the bed.
“Your pants,” she ordered.
One of the reasons he loved her was because she knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to ask for it. He tugged off his boots, shucked off his pants, and stretched out beside her, his leg nestled between both of hers, his thigh pressed up against the heavenly spot that had been denied him for a month.
Lowering his head to the curve of her neck, he nibbled the soft skin, taking joy in her sigh, in her fingers digging into his back. Leaving a trail of kisses in his wake, he journeyed down to her breast, taking the nipple in his mouth, stroking his tongue over the little bud that came to attention for him.
She released a tiny mewl, lifting her hips and pressing her intimate core against his thigh. “I want you,” she sighed. “I want you now.”
“When I’m done worshipping you.”
She didn’t need to be worshipped, didn’t need to feel like a goddess—she wanted only to feel like a woman, a woman desired, a woman loved.
No, she thought. She wanted to be a woman who desired, a woman who loved. And she did love and desire this man.
He wedged himself between her thighs, then scooted down and circled his tongue around her navel. Bending her legs, she pressed her soles to the backs of his firm thighs.
He pushed himself lower.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
Lifting his gaze, he fairly scalded her with the smoldering heat in his eyes. “Tonight I’m going to taste all of you.”
Lower he went, spreading her legs, spreading her folds. When he lowered his mouth to the sensitive bud, she nearly came off the bed. Partly sitting, with her back curled, she rested back on her elbows and watched as he feasted.
“Oh, God,” she moaned on a rush of breath as her entire body strained to be closer to him.
