“Yes.” His nose dragged through her hair, which had come loose during the wild run, tangling over her shoulders. “And you would be my woman, Hanna.”
Oh. Of course.
“You want me to be your wife in full.”
“Yes, and I will be your man. Your husband. And you would be the only woman for me. It’s that simple.”
There was absolutelynothingsimple about this matter. This question. This moment.
Hanna bit her lip, although she already knew what she should answer. There was nothing else to do.
The risk would be worth it.
She would have her little James, even if nothing else was as promised. Hanna would be a fool to even consider passing up the smallest chance that might happen.
Alaric’s hands tightened over hers, his body still heating her from behind. Asking her again with his touch.
He would have needs…
“Do you doubt me?” Alaric asked, perhaps sensing her inner turmoil, gripping her chin and turning her towards him, forcing her eyes up to meet his burnished golden gaze, which pierced her to the core.
Hanna frowned, but forced herself not to look away, examining the stubborn set of his jaw, the glint of grey in the rough stubble of his evening beard, the lines that creased the corners of his eyes that flared under her inspection.
His mouth, lips pressed tight as he awaited her answer.
She remembered how he had looked as he loped effortlessly after her through the woods, the sharp, white flash of teeth when he finally caught her.
She shook her head slightly.
This was a man who knew what he wanted. A man who meant every word that he uttered. Good or bad.
“Good,” Alaric said, his mouth softening, as he watched her expression change. His hands moved along her arms as he turned her even more.
“Will you let me kiss you, before you give your answer?”
Hanna blinked in confusion, but already he was cupping her head, bowing closer, his breath warm against her lips.
“At least let me have this one thing before you deny me…”
“Very well.” The words slipped free before she could consider anything else, something urgent fluttering inside at the way he was looking at her.
Alaric closed the gap, pressing his lips to the corner of her mouth, dragging lightly across her lips in the smallest of touches that was somehow more devastating than a full assault.
He brushed against her again, his mouth questioning, his hand warm as his thumb stroked lightly over her cheek.
Hanna remembered kisses then. Innocent things that she had shared with the stablehand she had once thought so handsome, years ago now.
She opened her mouth a little, allowing Alaric a sip of her lips, a small taste of something dangerously close to wanting.
He sighed, wrapping his arms around her, pressing close, lightly nipping her lower lip before sweeping into her mouth in full, stealing her breath as he tasted her slowly, deepening the kiss one breathless moment at a time.
Then, he pulled away. Setting her from him, holding her at arm’s length as her head spun.
“I want to know you, Hanna. Will you let me?”
ALARIC
He almost had her, Alaric felt it in the sway of her body towards him as he held her tight in his grip, the taste of her fresh and tart on his lips.
