Lover Be Mine: A Legendary Lovers Novel (26 page)

At his roughness, Sophie gave a soft gasp before melting against him. When he kissed
her possessively, she twined her arms around his neck. At the feel of her lithe body
molding to his, sharp arousal flared up to join the darker emotions simmering inside
him. When his arms tightened further around her, Sophie shivered and met his thrusting
tongue with an urgency of her own. It seemed they were both seeking release for the
passion that had been smoldering between them for days.

Then just as suddenly, Sophie pressed her hands against his shoulders, ending their
scorching kiss. Sorely disappointed, Jack presumed that she was pushing him away,
but instead, she took his hand and led him inside to his bedchamber, where she shut
the balcony door and proceeded to pull up the hem of his shirt from his evening breeches.

Jack sucked in a breath when her hand began stroking his abdomen, spreading heat across
his skin, but he remained motionless, letting Sophie have her way.
She removed his shirt altogether and stepped closer to press her lips tenderly to
his bare chest, making desire run through him like fire.

“What the devil are you doing, Sophie?” he finally rasped.

“Kissing away your anger.”

Jack battled his conscience. “That is far enough.” His hands fisted at his sides as
he tried to bring discipline to his senses. “You need to return to your own rooms.
If you stay, I won’t vouch for my self-control.”

“You needn’t vouch for anything, Jack. I am staying with you tonight. I want to make
love to you.… Fully, this time.”

She was determined to comfort him, he knew. But using her body was not the way to
do it, no matter how much he wished otherwise. “We will both regret it in the morning.”

“I will have no regrets. I know what I want, and it is you.”

In the dim glow of moonlight shining through the windows, he could see serenity and
resolve on her features, as if she had no doubts whatsoever about what she was proposing.
When he hesitated to reply, Sophie gazed up at him with wide, imploring eyes. “Will
you honestly regret making love to me, Jack? Don’t you want me?”

“That goes without saying.”

Watching him closely in return, Sophie felt her heart jump at the raw emotion she
saw on his face. Jack’s feelings were unmasked for a moment, his expression deep and
intense, and she could see a whisper of aching need in his liquid-dark eyes.

That look decided her. Her heart hurt for him, for
the unresolved conflict with his father that was eating away at him inside. But that
wasn’t why she intended to give herself to Jack. What she craved was the fulfillment
of being one with him. This sensual intimacy between them felt as natural as the beat
of her own heart.

“You were right,” she murmured. “No one will know what we do here tonight … unless
you get me with child. But you said there were ways to prevent your seed from taking
root. How?”

“Placing special sponges soaked with brandy or vinegar inside your woman’s passage
is one.”

Her eyebrow rose. “Indeed? Did you bring any of those sponges with you?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“So your abduction wasn’t as prepared as you led me to believe.”

A smile flickered across his mouth at her teasing. “I didn’t have that much faith
in my powers of seduction.”

“Is there nothing else we can do?”

“I can withdraw from your body before climaxing.”

“Then please, Jack, take me.”

He answered her plea by pulling her into his arms. A moment ago his hard kiss had
robbed Sophie of breath and she’d reveled in his fierceness, but this time his kiss
turned exquisitely tender. She sighed into his mouth. She loved the taste of him,
the texture of him, the feel of him.

She was aware of his leashed hunger, however, and even more aware of her own welling
need. They undressed each other with restrained haste, and when
the last garments were cast aside, Sophie drank in her fill of him. Jack stood before
her naked, all rippling muscle and sizzling heat. Her gaze dropped to his loins. He
was heavy and aroused, his thick shaft jutting out from the juncture of his thighs.

He studied her in turn, his eyes taking possession wherever they touched. Then he
reached up and pulled the pins from her coiffure.

“Your hair is so vibrant and alive,” he said, combing his fingers through the curling
mass and spreading it over her shoulders. “Just like you, love.”

Releasing her tresses, Jack led her to the bed and drew back the covers. Moonlight
pooled around them as he lay down with her, then raised himself up on one elbow. He
was gazing at her breasts, Sophie saw. The nipples were pebbled and hard, as if begging
to be touched. Obligingly, he raised his hand to cover one swell.

His arousing touch only heightened the pleasurable sensations inside her: The thrum
in her blood, the tightening of her skin, the throbbing pulse between her thighs.

Then his mouth dipped to her breasts and the twinges of pleasure sharpened. Jack’s
tantalizing caresses made her want to press closer. He kissed each nipple in turn,
laving the swollen tips with his silk-rough tongue, suckling until she gave a breathless
whimper. When he blew on a peak that was still glistening from his mouth, she quivered
at the erotic shock of it.

Meanwhile, his fingers delved between her legs and began stroking her folds in a leisurely
rhythm.

“Jack … what are you waiting for?” Sophie asked with growing impatience.

When he raised his head, there was nothing leisurely about his look. His eyes trapped
her in his hot gaze.

“Hush, sweeting. I am making your body ready to accept mine. You’re already wet for
me.” His voice was rough and husky. “Your body is flowing with honey.”

It was true. Her feminine cleft was sleek with moisture, her body aching shamelessly
for him.

He bent to her once more, his tongue playing in an erotic dance while he drew his
thumb slowly over the bud of her sex again and again. When his fingers finally slipped
inside her, she could feel her dampness increasing, seeping and spreading from her
woman’s core to her inner thighs. Her entire body was turning sleek and liquid.

Completely breathless now, she reached for him and clutched at his shoulders. Her
body was feverishly hot, straining against his hand as he continued his tender assault.

“Please …” she pleaded.

Sparing her much of his weight, he settled between her thighs and began easing the
velvet smooth head of his manhood inside her.

Sophie tensed as his hard flesh penetrated her, so Jack halted. She could feel the
gentle kisses he was pressing over her face, feel his breath hot and soft on her skin.

“Am I hurting you?”

“No … not much.” There was only a slight burning where his flesh met hers.

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No! No,” she repeated with certainty.

With infinite care he pressed farther until he was seated fully inside her. Then he
held himself completely still.

After another long moment, she stirred her hips, tentatively, testing. The discomfort
was definitely fading, enough that Sophie opened her eyes to look up at Jack.

His eyes had gone black with desire, but he gently brushed a curl from her cheek.
“Better now?”

“Much better.”

His smile held infinite tenderness as he slowly began to move inside her. Sophie felt
heat rising again. He kept up the languid, deliberate rhythm, coaxing her with his
hard body, until urgent longing began to clamor at her senses. When Jack kissed her
again, her mouth met his, matched his, mated with his, just as their bodies were doing.
She clung to him, desperate to assuage the terrible longing, to get as close to him
as possible.

It was not long before the flames he ignited grew into a shattering explosion that
showered her with burning embers. Sophie felt wave after wave of fire wash over her
helpless body … scorching sensations so vibrant, so riotously sweet, they hurt with
their intensity.

Her head thrashing frantically on the pillow, she dug her fingers into his shoulders
while hearing her own rasping cries of bliss.

At her quaking, Jack’s hand rose to cradle her throat, soothing her thundering pulse
with his calming
touch, while his mouth feathered light, tender kisses over her face.

When her final tremors faded, Jack allowed himself to seek his own release, his hips
thrusting slowly, with carefully controlled power. Just as his body began shuddering,
he withdrew from her and spilled his seed against her thigh.

In the breathless aftermath, Jack gathered her to him. She could feel the rapid beat
of his heart beneath her cheek as her own pounding heart slowed.

“Are you certain I didn’t hurt you?” he asked at last.

“Very certain.” She’d been lost in the fire and wonder of him.

He didn’t appear to believe her, however, when he drew back to search her face.

Sophie curled her fingers in his tousled hair. “Honestly, Jack … you just gave me
the most amazing experience of my life. How could I possibly have any regrets?”

He let out the breath he’d been holding and touched her face with his fingertips.
“How do you always know the right thing to say?”

She didn’t always know. She was only relying on her instincts to peel back the many
complex, warring layers of Jack Wilde. And she was succeeding. He pretended not to
care, but she was winning his cautious trust, she was convinced.

He rose and washed before returning to the bed with a dampened cloth for the insides
of her thighs. When he used it on her, Sophie’s cheeks heated with embarrassment.
Yet after what had just passed between
them, his ministrations were rather tame, she supposed.

Tossing the cloth aside, he rejoined her in the bed and pulled her into his arms.
In the hush afterward, Sophie lay there replete and contented, but her mind was far
from still.

She had told Jack the absolute truth. She had no regrets at all about mating with
him. Her only regret was pushing him to face his father. She didn’t know what he would
decide in the morning, but she realized he couldn’t stay here any longer. Confronting
the prince was only dredging up all the pain and bitterness of his childhood.

He’d suffered more than enough hurt already.

A fresh wave of tenderness swept through her as she remembered Jack’s account of losing
his beloved mother and his brutal captivity afterward. Sophie felt an overwhelming
need to draw him closer, to shelter him from harm.

How did you survive?
she thought compassionately.
How did you become such a tender, generous man?
Her lips pressed a kiss to his shoulder as she asked a final silent question.
How could you doubt that I want you?

He’d given her a taste of something powerful and profound. Something more wondrous
than she’d ever dreamed of. Indeed, he’d given her the most exciting adventure of
her life.

It all still seemed so unreal to her. She was far from home, in a lavish palace in
a remote principality, lying with her lover, savoring his incredible passion. This
escapade was sheer fantasy, a total escape from reality.

She would not be able to deny reality much longer, however. Jack shouldn’t be forced
into becoming a prince simply to win her father’s approval.

But she would make the most of the time they had left together, Sophie vowed, until
she had to go back and face her duty.

Dawn was streaking through the windows when Jack slowly came awake. He was keenly
aware that the woman curled against him was Sophie, although his eyes remained closed
as he took stock of other sensations. He felt drained of emotion yet strangely content
at the same time. The string of tight, cold knots in his chest had begun to loosen,
all due to Sophie. Her warmth had spread through him, easing his anger and bitterness.

Likely he should not have let her give him the gift of her innocence, but their joining
had been precious to him. And watching her come alive in his arms had been nothing
short of incredible. She was so utterly feminine and womanly, so exquisitely responsive,
she took his breath away.

He couldn’t regret a moment of it. Particularly when he recalled his chief aim. If
he was to overcome her resistance to a future together, then binding her to him through
passion was the most effective means.

Easing away from her delectably naked form, he quietly drew off the covers and sat
up. As he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, however, he felt a caressing hand
on his hip.

Turning, Jack glanced down at Sophie. Her expression was soft and contented and perhaps
a little shy.

“Good morning,” she murmured.

Her dark hair was a riot of curls spilling over the pillow and framing her face. Reaching
down he brushed the coiling tendrils away from her forehead, then bent to place a
lingering kiss on her lips.

“Good morning to you as well.”

Her soft sigh conveyed pleasure, while her smile held the warmth that never failed
to affect him. “Jack, if we are to leave later today, I would rather not spend what
time we have here indoors.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Could we explore the grounds? Perhaps walk down to the lake below the palace? We
could even have breakfast there. We didn’t finish dinner last night, remember? We
were too occupied satisfying other appetites.” A glimmer of amusement appeared in
her eyes. “I am not complaining, I hope you realize.”

Jack suspected what she was up to; she still wanted to soothe the angry beast inside
him. But he helped her to dress and donned his own clothes while she braided and pinned
her hair and put on her cloak. Her fingers holding tightly to his, they negotiated
the palace corridors and stairways, passing various servants who looked startled to
see them wandering the halls, and even more startled by their appearance in the kitchens
and their request for an alfresco breakfast to fill Jack’s knapsack.

After securing directions, they left the palace by way of the cultivated gardens and
easily found the trail that descended through the woods. Bright morning sunlight drenched
the mountains in gold, but the air was rather cool in the shadows of the forest.