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This time—this time, he would savor each moment

He dipped his head, kissed Lara’s throat Her head fell back and he felt her pulse race against his lips

Slowly, he told hiht had only just begun

But he could feel his urgency growing, feel the blood thundering through his veins She was so lovely, his wife So perfect, standing before hiht He cupped her breasts and felt their exquisite weight against his callused palms, watched her face when he brushed his thumbs across the rosy tips

“Oh,” she whispered, “oh, Slade…”

“Do you like that?” he said thickly, and she ers cool against his fevered skin

He bent his head, kissed her nipples, teased theue Her knees buckled and he swept her into his arms and laid her on the bed

“Now,” she said shakily, “now, please…”

He came down beside her, stopped the breathless plea with a kiss and traced the lush contours of her naked body with his hand The softness of her breast The feht convexity of her belly and then, at last, the hot, wet heart of her

The sound she

My wife, he kept thinking, this is my wife

She was everything ahi him as if he were all her dreams come true, as if were the only man who’d ever mattered

God, if only it were so

Stop thinking, he told himself furiously Just feel It wouldn’t ht Fro only to him She would dreahteen months She’d whisper his name in the darkness And when he took her in his arms, she’d look into his eyes and she’d say—she’d say—

Slade drew back and stripped off his clothing Lara lifted her arain and again, each kiss hungrier, deeper, more passionate than the last

“Now,” she said, her ainst his, “please, Slade, now”

He hs He took her hands in his, their fingers laced tightly together, and drew theht and she ed member brushed her labia Her hips lifted, her body arched like a bow, but still he held back

“Look at hly She opened her eyes They were black and deep with need, and he fought to hold his hunger in check “Now say my name,” he whispered “Say it, as I come into you”

“Slade,” she said, her voice breaking, “Slade, my husband, Slade…”

Slade groaned, pressed forward and lost hi body of his wife

It was late Very late, soht The moon had set but dawn had yet to touch the eastern sky

Lara lay with her head on Slade’s shoulder, her hand splayed across his chest, and thought how lucky she was, to have found this man…this man as now her husband

He had made love to her ild passion and then with such sweet tenderness that she’d wept in his arainst him and she’d tumbled into sleep, still safe and protected in the warm confine of his embrace

Lara sighed, turned her face against Slade’s shoulder and brushed a soft kiss against his skin

She’d been such a fool, fighting against thisthat Michael was all she needed to complete her life Her child was the joy of her existence and alould be, but Slade—Slade was the blood, flowing in her veins He was the warmth of her soul, the beat of her heart…

Oh, how she loved him She knew that noithout question She’d loved him since that first o, and no, she was even willing to hope there ht come a day she could tell him she did

The ti “I love you” to a man who didn’t love you could be a burden instead of a blessing, even if the man were your husband Slade had ht her here to convince her that they could work things out and ether, that they could deal with each other with civility and certainly find pleasure in bed, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear her say, Slade, I’ve fallen in love with you

It would be so sweet to say it, though To lean over her sleeping husband, wake hientle kiss, to smile into his eyes when he opened them and say…

“Sugar?”

Slade’s ht voice was husky and soft Lara smiled as he lifted her hand from his chest and kissed it