"I should have fought harder to make ye understand, Boyd.But yer words from the tavern cut so deep."
"No, 'tis my fault, Bella.Because I had not trusted inus...I had not trusted my heart.I failed us both."
"We were deceived, Boyd.Robbed of our future together.Now we have nothing!"she cried.
Boyd roared, "No!My Bella, now we have everything.Everything!I will not let them take any more from us.Do ye hear me?"He grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently.
Before Bella could respond, Boyd pulled her into his arms and crushed his mouth to hers.
The kiss was explosive.A decade of longing and rage and desperate need colliding in a frenzy of lips and tongues and gasping breaths.Bella's hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer even as tears streamed down her face.
Boyd's arms wrapped around her waist, hauling her against him, and she came willingly, her body molding to his like it remembered exactly where it belonged.
"I never stopped," Boyd panted against her mouth."Never stopped wanting ye, dreaming of ye, loving ye.I'll be damned if I let them take anymore from us."He kissed her again with abandon, pulled away, and rasped, "There'll be no more distance between us.I want to spend the rest of my days loving ye."Then his mouth came crashing down on hers again.
Bella was breathless from his kisses, and she could not resist anymore.The years melted away and she remembered this Boyd, the gentle blacksmith's apprentice who had loved her more than life itself.Only different now.Matured.More determined.She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her body so close to his she wanted to be swallowed up in his embrace.Then she finally let go and returned the kiss with her whole heart.
"Then love me," Bella whispered."Please, Boyd.I need ye."
Boyd pulled away, gazing at her with so much adoration.Then he growled low, and that was all the warning she had.The next thing she knew, he had stripped her of her arisaidh, then ripped her kirtle open.
"Boyd!'Tis a new kirtle!"
"I'll buy ye a new one, love."
Bella gasped at the feral look in his eyes.His large hands were frantic, tearing at fabric, desperate to eliminate every barrier between them before he tore her sheer shift in two.She now stood before him naked, her pretty garments pooled at her feet.
Boyd held his breath as his heated gaze raked over her entire body.
Bella blushed, wondering if perhaps he did not like what he saw, feeling self-conscious until he growled, "Damn it, wife, ye're even more beautiful now.I'm going to enjoy tasting every inch of ye."Boyd felt a surge of possessiveness and relief that all these years, no one else had taken what was his to treasure.No other man had replaced him.Mine!
He kissed her again and rasped, "Undress me, love."
Bella did not wait.She roughly tugged his plaid away, her hand brushing against his hardened length.Then Boyd lifted his arms so she could remove his shirt over his head, while stealing kisses.
Her touch was reverent and desperate, until they both stood before one another without any barrier between them.
Bella gazed at his body, loving every inch.There were several scars now, and he had filled out considerably since the young man she had known.Every inch of him was larger now and she felt flushed.
She felt a surge of relief that no other woman had touched what was hers and hers alone.Mine!
They stood apart, breathing heavily, until their eyes met.Their expressions matching completely.Deep love and longing.
For several heartbeats they stared, until without words they lunged for one another with a passion that had not waned.As their lips and tongues tangled once more, their hands moved with urgency to touch and caress and hold close.
Boyd was ravenous.He pulled away for a moment and rasped, "To have and to hold, till death parts us."
Bella, breathing heavily, repeated the vow."To have and to hold, till death parts us."
What followed was primal, visceral coupling the likes they had never experienced before.It was raw hunger, pure, ravenous, untamed.
***
