Her gaze softened, bright with emotion.
“But you found me.”
And God help me?—
I would never let her go again.
“And now I’m going to claim you.”
My voice was rough, low, thick with possession.
“You’re mine. All mine. No one else’s. I will erase every trace of that other man from your skin… from your soul.”
Then—
I crushed my mouth to hers in a savage, consuming kiss.
Our lips met with hunger, a clash of teeth and tongues, of desperation and need.
God, her taste was a drug, a poison, a cure-all at once.
The music from downstairs vibrated through the floor, a relentless pounding rhythm drumming into my spine and throbbing in my veins.
Laughter, moans, and muffled gasps of pleasure from the masquerade below bled into my awareness?—
But nothing existed except her.
Us.
Her soft curves pressed against me, the silk of her gown pooling around her like the ruins of a woman no longer untouched, no longer restrained.
Everywhere—upstairs, downstairs, in every darkened corridor of this house—lust hung heavy in the air, suffocating in its depravity.
But here?—
Inside this sacred space, we indulged in something deeper.
Not just carnal hunger—but something primal, sacred, eternal.
I had found her.
I would never let her go again.
Her fingers fumbled with my doublet, then tore it open, the fine fabric ripping beneath her urgency.
My bare chest met cool air, then heat, as her hands smoothed over my skin, her touch leaving behind a trail of fire.
Our gazes locked, something hot and reckless passing between us.
“The last time I saw you,” she murmured, breathless, “we were in the teepee. You were about to go to war.”
An ache speared through me, a memory of blood, of longing, of loss.
But she was here now.
This was war.
This was conquest.
