“Why would you want to when I’m right?”
He laughed again. “I bow to your matchless wisdom, my darling lady!”
She backed into the bed. It was high so Cade swooped her up and laid her tenderly in the center of the mattress. He stretched out beside her and skimmed his hand along her body from the curve of her cheek, over her breasts and belly, down to her thighs, pausing there to let the heat of his palm warm her. Everywhere he touched came alive with golden yearning, a desire formore.
“You are so lovely. Perfect and exquisite in all ways.”
She chuckled. “I’m grateful for the sweet words, and for the fact that the light is rather dim here!”
He shook his head, smiling down at her. “You are beautiful in all light and all situations.”
“Even when I’m rumpled and wearing clothing that has been saturated in seawater so I must taste like a lightly salted fish?”
“Especially then because you shine with beauty and grace even when you look as if you’ve been washed and salted.” He bent forward and kissed her throat. “Not salty at all. In fact, you smell like lavender.”
“Mrs. Williams was generous with her handmade soap.”
Needing to touch him back, she brushed his cheek with her fingertips. He’d shaved and she felt only the faintest prickle of whiskers, erotic and masculine. A golden sensation curled through her, increasing her desire. She knew that Bran saw silver when something important was at stake. Was this golden glow she felt with Cade similar? She didn’t really need to discuss it with Bran. She already knew that this golden glow was a gift beyond price.
She slipped her hand around his neck and pulled his head down for another kiss. His mouth was a miracle, deliciously Cade, amazingly stimulating. She’d been kissed by aspiring suitors and had never found their caresses very interesting. But Cade? “You have the most wonderful mouth,” she murmured.
He gave a mock growl. “The better to eat you with, my delectable little morsel!” He nibbled down her neck, and didn’t that feel wonderful? The air sparkled with golden light.
Her shift had buttons almost to her waist, and he undid them one by one as his lips moved sensuously over her bare skin until they reached her breast. She gasped as a sensation shot directly from her nipple to her loins.
She was even more shocked when she realized that he’d drawn her shift up around her waist and his fingertips had drifted to the incredibly sensitive area between her thighs. His delicate stroking created a wholly improbable amount of heat and desire. Panting, she buried her fingers in his dark hair to bring him even closer.
Then his lips followed his fingertips to that frighteningly sensitive place. “Cade!” she gasped as his magically gifted tongue triggered a cascade of sensations that exploded into searing need even more intense than what she’d felt that amazing night of discovery they’d spent together at the cottage.
Her body thrashed out of control yet felt safely held by his strength and protective body as she reached a peak unlike anything she’d ever experienced. “Cade!”
The fierce sensations flowed away, leaving her limp with astonishment and satisfaction. Cade rested his cheek against her belly as he whispered, “My darling, darling princess.”
When her mind had returned to rationality, she said huskily, “Act One was a stunning success. Now it’s time for Act Two.”
She wriggled so that she was lying on her side beside him, her hand free to roam his body. She sensed his emotions, his profound pleasure with how he’d satisfied her, but his body was tense and controlled until she unbuttoned his fall and slid her hand under to clasp that pulsing length of fascinating male flesh.
He gave a strangled gasp. “With a very small amount of effort on your part, you can end this right now and get that sleep you wanted!”
“Sleep can wait. I want to complete what we have begun.” She tugged at his hip to roll him over onto her, but he caught her hand.
“We can’t go that far,” he said seriously. “Yes, you get to make your own choices, but one risk I refuse to take is the chance of getting you with child. That would be unforgivably irresponsible on my part, and certainly far too soon when we’re still discovering each other!”
“I agree that this is not the right time for a child,” she agreed, “but I will now tell you one of the secrets of Tremayne females.”
He frowned. “There are secret female mysteries? I think I’d rather not know!”
“This one is simple, and I learned it from Gwyn. A gifted Tremayne woman won’t become with child unless she wants it to happen.”
“How can that be?” he said, startled. “There are methods that can reduce the chances of conceiving, from sheaths to withdrawal to vinegar-soaked sponges, but none are entirely reliable, and except for withdrawal, none are available at the moment.”
“I see you’ve made a study of the matter,” Tamsyn said admiringly.
“If Gwyn has secrets for females, Rhys had lectures for his sons so there would be no accidents,” Cade said dryly. “His goal was to make sure that no female would ever be harmed in any way at the hands of a Tremayne male.”
“Is that one of the reasons you feel that you might be wronging me?” she asked quietly. “Because you’re not.”
“It’s difficult not to feel that I’m breaking one of the cardinal rules of being a Tremayne,” he said haltingly. “No matter how much you point out that we’re not blood kin, my feelings for you still seem . . .wrong.”
