His tongue fluttered in the path his thumb had taken. Katherine locked her hands around his nape as he buried his face there. She cried out—again and again.
Suddenly limp and dazed, she began to float—until Liam nipped her thigh. Their gazes met. His was bright and feverish, but his tone, although raw, was teasing. “What, pray tell, was that?” he inquired.
She managed a smile, suddenly achingly aware of how he was poised between her open thighs. Her pulse pickedup its beat. “Perhaps you have pleased me,” she conceded, “but I am hardly satisfied.”
His jaw flexed, his eyes darkened. An instant later his mouth was fully occupied again. Katherine gasped, holding his shoulders, his tongue causing havoc upon her already sensitized skin. Her hips began to undulate urgently, brushing up against him. Suddenly his strong fingers were there, inside of her, thrusting deep repeatedly. Panting, she cried, “Liam, please! Come inside of me now!” But it was too late, for already she was spiraling out of control and keening wildly.
When she opened her eyes, he was stroking her face, staring down at her, his eyes a brilliant shade of silver. His hot, hungry look caused Katherine’s entire body to tighten. “I admit defeat,” she whispered, reaching out and cupping his cheek.
He smiled, but the muscles in his face were tense, and then he guided her hand down to his chest, and then lower still, to his abdomen. Their gazes locked now, he waited, and Katherine reached lower, tracing his heavy outline through his breeches with trembling fingertips.
Her body had become feverish with desire again. Holding his gaze, she said simply, “I want you, Liam.”
He laughed, the sound heavy with excitement, with triumph. A moment later he was moving on top of her, his strong arms around her, his mouth upon hers. His tongue thrust swiftly inside. Katherine did far more than meet it—she sucked it deep into her mouth.
And she curled her ankles around his calves, locking them in place. Her aggression shifted their bodies so that his throbbing loins were intimately wedged between her thighs.
He broke their kiss with a groan. “Kate, it’s been so long—too long—I cannot wait.” Already he was tearing at his breeches.
Pearl buttons hit the floor and scattered. Katherine’s hands delved into his breeches, finding him, gripping him. Her fingers brushed and teased the ripe tip she found there. Liam cried her name, shoving hard up against her palms,his back arched, all of his weight up on his heavily corded arms.
Both laughing and sobbing, tears streaking her cheeks, she guided him inside of her.
He needed no encouragement. Liam growled and plunged deep, so forcefully that Katherine was pushed back on the bed against the headboard.
She did not care. She cared about one thing—the man on top of her, the man inside of her—this man that she loved.
Clasping her buttocks, he lifted her higher, so he could thrust more deeply into her. Katherine clamped her legs around his waist. His frenzied pumping continued. She cried out, he gasped; her muscles convulsed, again and yet again, light blazing through the darkness, and then she felt his manhood thicken and stretch a final time, becoming impossibly huge and hard, and his hot, wet seed was shooting deep into her womb.
He held her in his arms, panting harshly, then turned to his side, taking her with him. They lay in one another’s embrace. Liam kissed the top of her head.
It was a while before Katherine could move. She shifted, came up on one elbow, caressed his chest, his face. Her eyes were shining. Liam’s eyes opened, the light in them as brilliant, and he smiled at her. Her heart turned over. “I love you,” she whispered.
His smile died. “How I have yearned to hear those three simple words.”
“I do,” Katherine said. “I always have—and Liam—I am sorry I ever doubted you.”
“Sssh.” He touched her mouth with his fingertip. “Do not apologize. Perhaps I should have told you of my game from the very beginning. Perhaps I am to blame for what we have suffered these many months past.”
“Do not blame yourself,” Katherine said fervently. “Let us truly put the past aside. I can forget it all now, Liam.”
“And forgive all, as well?” he asked, up on one elbow now.
She turned coy. “But there is nothing to forgive.”
He leaned forward and claimed her mouth, very tenderly.
“Katherine,” he said afterwards, “although I intend that we spend most of the time here in Desmond, would you mind very much if we passed a few months in the summer on Earic Island? In the manor house, of course?”
Katherine’s heart swelled. “Of course not,” she whispered. “I would love it.” Then she grinned impishly, although her very soul was singing. “Actually, there is one thing that bothers me.”
Liam tensed, until he saw her grin. “And what might that be, Kate?”
Katherine sat up, very serious now. “Liam, did you know that I traveled upon the French ship when you seized it?”
He sat up as well. “Of course.”
Katherine gazed at him. “Did you seize that ship because of me?”
