he asked, his voice newly husky, an octave deeper than before.
‘The bread…’
A small, crusty piece, liberally spread with butter, followed the cheese, but this time Lily used her fingers to feed him. Her heart kicked against her ribs as she felt the warmth of his mouth close about their tips.
‘Some smoked salmon…and asparagus…and…’
She chose the items faster now, not wanting to look away from him, her eyes returning swiftly to that darkly intent gaze while her fingers moved blindly over the selection of dishes.
Her breathing was becoming less controlled, heated and uneven, in time with the thundering beat of her heart. Her body felt as if it was bathed in the warm glow of bright sunlight instead of the cool light of the moon. And the tiny hairs on the back of her neck had lifted in instinctive awareness, bringing each nerve shiveringly awake.
‘Oh, and strawberries…’
This time he moved more swiftly than she had anticipated, and she felt the graze of his teeth on her fingertips. The sensation sent electrical pulses of reaction down her arm, making her shiver in a very different response from the one she had felt earlier. Her own mouth was dry, and she had to swallow sharply to relieve the constriction there. Her lips, too, were uncomfortable, and her tongue snaked out to moisten them gently, her heart turning over as she saw his cloudy gaze drop to follow the small, sensual movement before flicking back to her now flushed face.
‘Would you like some cream with that?’
Slowly she scooped some from the bowl, holding her finger just inches from his mouth, knowing what would happen.
Ronan smiled slowly, seductively. Then with deliberate care he leaned forward once more and took her into his warm, moist mouth, licking the rich cream from her skin before he sucked gently along her finger’s length. There could be no mistaking his meaning as he slid his lips up and down in a blatant likeness of another, far more intimate caress.
‘Ronan!’
Unable to bear the tension any longer, she leaned across the table, easing her finger from his mouth and replacing it with her lips. The already frantic pounding of her heart threatened her ability to retain any degree of control as she savoured the erotic mixture of the taste of the cream, herself, and the intense, totally personal flavour of Ronan on her tongue.
When at last they had to break apart in order to breathe, Ronan drew back slowly and reluctantly, dragging in a raw-edged breath, his darkened eyes locked with hers.
‘I think…’ he said, slowly and hoarsely, his chest heaving as if he had just run a marathon. ‘I think, my lady wife, that now is the time.’
And, getting to his feet, he held out his hand to her, strong, hard fingers locking with her paler, slender ones.
‘Come with me,’ he said, and it was part command, part awe-filled request. ‘Come to bed. I want you now.’
The journey up to the bedroom took far longer than Lily could ever have anticipated. On each step Ronan paused to kiss her, every touch of his lips growing deeper, more passionate as they moved higher. And with each kiss her breathing grew faster, shallower, setting her head spinning, so that she couldn’t think, couldn’t form a single coherent word inside her thoughts.
She could only feel. Feel the pulsing excitement that flooded every inch of her body. Feel the growing need uncoiling, growing, spiralling deep inside her. Feel the heat of her blood, the thud of her heart, the ache of need that made her breasts swell and the most intimate point between her thighs throb with yearning sensation.
It seemed for ever until they reached the room. A lifetime before Ronan kicked the door closed and gathered her up into his arms. Sweeping one hand through the silken fall of her hair, he held her head immobile with one strong hand at the nape of her neck, bringing his dark head down sharply, crushing her lips under his in one final, wordless declaration of the passion he could now hold back no longer.
Lily could only respond in kind. Straining her body against his in a relentless need to get closer, to feel as much as was possible of his hard strength against hers, she abandoned all control. At last she could release all the pent-up frustrations of the past weeks, open herself to the deep-felt need to know everything there was to know about this man, experience the full, elemental force of his lovemaking. Her mouth kissed, clung, urged, demanded, inciting him to an electric build-up of passion, opening the floodgates of need, fully content in the knowledge that she would never be able to close them again.
When the erotic contact of their mouths became inadequate, they broke apart, each breathing heavily, eyeing each other with a wild excitement.
‘Do I undress myself?’ Lily asked unevenly. ‘Or do you want to do it.’
‘Oh, I want to,’ Ronan assured her deeply. ‘I want to more than all the world. But I warn you…’
One hand came out, slid a tiny button on the front of her bronze silk blouse with a delicate slowness that had her wriggling in impatient delight.
‘I intend to enjoy every minute of it, every sight, every sound…’ The corners of his mouth quirked up in delight when an uncontrollable whimper of response escaped her as a second button slipped from its mooring.
‘Every scent…’
Lowering his proud head to the creamy curves his actions had exposed in the open neckline, he inhaled deeply, taking in the floral aroma of her perfume and the subtler, deeply personal fragrance of her skin.
‘And every taste.’
Hot and wet, his tongue snaked out, tracing heated, erotic patterns across her skin, dipping down into the scented valley between her breasts. As Lily moaned her response she felt him smile against her flesh, the tiny movement making her nipples swell in yearning response, their hardened peaks straining against the lacy confines of the cobweb-fine bra she wore. Ronan’s triumphant laughter shivered across her burning nerve-endings.
‘More?’
‘More!’ It was a choking cry of heartfelt longing.
‘More,’ Ronan echoed, taking that tormenting mouth down and across the slope of one breast, sliding the softness of his lips along its satin curve until they closed over the aching nipple, suckling strongly.
With a gasp of delight, Lily’s hands clenched in the auburn sleekness of his hair, holding him closer still, unable to get enough of this sweetly agonising pleasure. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt his teeth graze the sensitised bud, heightening her arousal even more with wicked expertise.
But a second later even that was not enough. While his attention was concentrated on one part of her there were other, equally sensitive areas that grew impatient, demanding the same voluptuous rapture.
And she was no longer content to be still. She wanted to feel him too, to touch his skin, explore every inch of his body, know him fully at last.
The silk jacket was clumsily tugged off and discarded carelessly on the floor, followed swiftly by his shirt and tie. The feel of the warm satin of his flesh under her fingertips acted like the flick of a switch, triggering off a wild yearning that had her flinging caution to the winds. Fingers trembling with need, she fumbled with the narrow leather belt around his waist, sighing
