scents and sounds around her, the hiss of the fire, the bite of the herbs that hung from the rafters.
She wanted to remember this night, these hours. She didn't want to think about what was right or wrong or what tomorrow might bring. She wanted to live this time… to know what it would be like to lie in the arms of this man.
'You know what you're doing to me,' he said.
She swallowed and touched her bottom lip with trembling fingers. He could be mine, she thought, mine for tonight, at least.
And why not? What was there to lose? Her reputation? She was a widow, not a starry-eyed virgin. Once she reached California, no one would know or care whether or not she'd spent a single night in Ash Morgan's bed.
Hadn't she spent a lifetime trying to do what other people told her she should?
He rose and came to her as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Firelight played across his taut, bruised features, and she read the naked yearning there.
'Tamsin MacGreggor, you are something fine,' he murmured. She didn't say a word when he raised a hand to slowly pull the pins, one by one, from her hair. Her thick knot came undone and tumbled loose around her shoulders.
With a catch in her throat, she whispered his name.
Dark eyes gazed into hers questioningly as a smile curved his lips. 'I want you. I think you want me. Do you, Tamsin?'
She sighed and leaned against him as the strength flowed out of her limbs. 'I don't know… what I want,' she lied, but her fingers skimmed the sensual lines of his mouth and the chiseled angles of his cheekbones and battered brow.
She traced the length of his strong nose and the dark bristles of his unshaven cheek. As though she had all the time in the world, she savored the curves of his strong, squared chin and bronzed throat, committing every feature to her forever memory.
'Tamsin.' He groaned, and his arm tightened around her. She tilted her face so that her mouth met his.
She needed him, needed to hold him closer and shut out the bad things that had happened. She didn't care if it was just for now. She wouldn't waste this precious gift of time.
His mouth fitted to hers, searing her with a kiss that told her more than words. She clung to him, crushing him to her, and opening her mouth to draw him in.
His tongue filled her, but it wasn't enough. She could feel his hands seeking, possessing her in a way that no man had done before.
He backed her step by step until they reached the bed. Vaguely, she was aware that he'd pressed her down against the blankets and that his long, horseman's legs were wrapped around hers. She could smell rain and pine needles and woodsmoke, and above all the elusive male odor that was his alone.
She wanted more-had to have more.
'Tamsin.'
'Yes.'
'You're sure?'
'Yes, damn it,' she cried. 'Yes!'
He didn't hesitate. With a swiftness that both thrilled and terrified her, he responded to her need with a naked hunger of his own. With a sound more growl than groan, he thrust a hand beneath her skirts. Lean, callused fingers moved up her leg and thigh, scorching her skin with a welcome fire.
She arched under him, spreading her legs for his touch, thrilling to his weight and the hard proof of his arousal pressed against her heated flesh.
His kiss devoured her, and she reveled in the taste and texture of him. Wholeheartedly, she gave as good as she got, kissing him as she'd never kissed another man. But as wonderful as this was, it wasn't enough. She kneaded and caressed his neck and shoulders, caught his lower lip between her teeth, and shuddered at the wild sensations that shattered her reason and dared her to act on her innermost fantasies.
Ash's head moved lower. He kissed and bit her neck and the hollow of her throat, then buried his face between her breasts, all the while stroking and pinching her inner thighs. 'Is this what you want?' he asked. 'And this?'
'Yes, yes,' Tamsin urged him. She'd sensed a smoldering passion in Ash that matched her own hidden desires. She'd imagined what it might be like to have him make love to her, but she hadn't dared to believe it could come true.
Reality was better than her fantasies.
Tamsin was conscious of a throbbing ache and a growing moisture between her legs that both shocked and aroused her. Sex with her husband had been an uncomfortable duty. What was happening here in this lonesome cabin was wild and primal and wonderful.
Ash fumbled with his trousers, and she gasped as his swollen member pressed against her bare thigh. She knew that any decent woman would put a stop to this, but she couldn't. Brazenly, she reached down to touch him, and her eyes widened as she brushed the tumescent length.
He was so hot… so alive. All virile male, she thought, and she had never felt so feminine.
Ash groaned again. 'I want you wet for me,' he murmured. 'Wet and silky sweet.' Then he probed the source of her need with one long finger.
'You're wicked,' she whispered hoarsely. The feel of him inside her was maddening. She bucked against him, feeling herself nearing the delicious brink of some great precipice.
'Am I?' He tantalized her with two fingers and chuckled. 'I can be even worse.'
She clenched her teeth to keep from crying out with pleasure, and heard the sound of fabric tearing. Then Ash's mouth closed on her breast. 'Oh…'
Hungrily, he licked and sucked her nipple, worrying at her breast until she could not contain her growing hunger. 'Please,' she begged him.
'Please, what? Do you want me to stop?'
'No.' She groaned. 'Don't stop.'
'Tell me what you want me to do, Tamsin,' he whispered. 'Do you want this?' He pressed himself into her hand, filling it and making bolts of flame sear up her spine.
'Yes, yes,' she gasped.
She waited for his thrust, but to her surprise, he braced himself with his hands and lowered his head. She felt the length of his hair brush against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh and she caught her breath. He wouldn't! He didn't mean to-
'Oh!' She dug her fingers into his shoulders.
'You're sweet, Tamsin, sweet as wild honey,' he murmured.
Her eyes widened as ripples of tantalizing pleasure rolled through her. 'What are… you… Oh!'
She thrashed her head from side to side, unable to lie still, unable to think. His mouth was on her. His tongue teasing, licking… driving her to the point of no return.
He clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her cry as she reached the peak and tumbled off into nothingness amid a shimmering rainbow of iridescent colors. The earth fell away beneath her as she drifted in delicious waves of rapture.
She hardly realized that he'd turned over onto his back and lifted her so that she was astride him. 'Now it's your turn to do the work,' he said.
It seemed the most natural thing in the world to settle over him, opening for his deep, full thrust. There was barely an instant of hesitation on her part as she adjusted to the odd but pleasant experience of being in control. Then she moved with him, giving and taking, letting her primeval instincts take control until her passion rose again with an even greater heat.
This time Tamsin held back her climax until Ash reached his. His stifled moan of satisfaction was all she needed to push her over the edge again. Knowing that she had pleased him was an added happiness to her own fulfillment. And this time was no disappointment. She clung to him while her mind spun out into the heavens and her body convulsed with pure physical joy.
For long minutes they lay together, still joined, sheened with sweat and utterly spent. Then he turned on his side so that she curled beside him, fitting perfectly into the curve of his shoulder.
'Is it always like that for you?' she asked.
