Forever My Love (Historical Romance) (32 page)

She was not willing to let him off so easily. "Can't I be with you just a while longer?"

He watched the way the moon played across her hair. "I don't think so."

She took a step that brought her even with him. "I like to be with you, Damon. While I was at school, I always pretended I belonged to you. You are the closest thing I have to a family, you know."

He was touched by a strange sadness. Apparently she had suffered a great deal from loneliness. He gathered her into his arms, wanting to insure that she never knew another day of hurt. She was hard to resist, and he wondered if she knew what was happening between them.

Royal sighed. "Perhaps I am tired. May I just kiss you good night?" She stretched up and pressed her mouth against his.

When their lips met, it was as if the night were charged with electricity, and try as he might, Damon found himself pulling her against him....

32

Royal reveled in being in Damon's arms. She belonged to him as surely as any person could belong to another. She raised her head and looked at him. Raw, intense feelings were reflected in his eyes.

"Royal," he murmured, "why do you do this to me? You are tearing my insides out."

She trembled, waiting for the touch of his mouth against hers. Softly his breath touched her cheek, and she closed her eyes, wanting so badly to be a part of him—to become one with him, to feel every breath he took, to feel every pain he experienced—to be happy when he felt joy.

"I tell myself this is wrong," he whispered just a fraction away from her lips, "but I cannot stop myself."

Her young, inexperienced body throbbed with a yearning that was like a physical pain. "Oh, Damon, I want to be with you."

His lips brushed against hers, and he felt her draw in a breath. His hand moved to the belt at her waist. "Yes," he said, untying the sash. Opening the robe, he slipped his hands around her tiny waist. "I remember the feel of you so well," he said in a voice deep with passion.

Damon pulled her closer to him, unable to stop the longing that had taken possession of him. "You belong to me," he whispered, his lips pressing against her silken lashes, drifting down her cheek, and, at last, fusing with her mouth.

Royal's head was spinning, and she was drifting in a world where the only sound was the beating of her heart and the only feelings were the wonderful hands that caressed her.

"I have always belonged to you, Damon," she told him, her eyes shimmering. "I want to be one with you tonight."

Damon's trembling hand touched silken flesh, and he closed his eyes, trying to keep from ravishing her on the spot. He was half-mad with desire, and yet he fought to keep that desire under control. Royal was innocent, and he was man with a great deal of experience. He must be strong because she was not aware of the consequences of her actions.

He pulled back and shook his head to clear it. "You are consuming me." His voice came out in a groan. "Now, will you go to bed?"

She took his hand and raised it to her lips, kissing the fingers one by one. "I know that you will soon be gone, and I will be alone again. Do not leave me until you have given me something to hold on to," she pleaded.

With a heavy groan, he pulled her forward. "I have always been in control where women were concerned, but not with you. From the very beginning, you have had me in hell."

"Oh, Damon, I don't mean to—I only want—"

His mouth dipped to cover hers, and he felt as if the whole world consisted only of the taste and feel of her. He had no will of his own as his hands cupped her waist. The kiss deepened, and his hands slid upward, stopping just where her young breasts swelled.

She rolled her head from side to side as his lips drifted down her neck. Slowly and sensuously his hands inched up her breasts to circle, tantalize, and torture. "Sweet, sweet," he murmured against her lips.

Her eyes were feverish with newly aroused desire.

"Tell me again you have never done this with a man before," he insisted, needing to know he was the first to be with her.

"I have never wanted this with another man," she answered in a breathless voice.

Royal slowly unfastened his shirt, and her hands inched up his chest to brush against the dark hair there. "I have no knowledge of lovemaking, Damon. I want to learn from you."

Her hands boldly stroked up his neck to lace through his hair. She moved forward and pressed her soft, velvety lips to his.

Slowly Damon slipped the robe off her shoulders while the silvery moonlight cast flirtatious shadows across her beautiful body.

Lifting Royal in his arms, he gently placed her on the bearskin rug and then stood over her while he tossed his shirt aside. His other clothing soon followed. While he was undressing, Damon stared down at her, holding her spellbound.

Royal watched, fascinated as he stood before her with the flickering firelight dancing across his body. His legs were long and muscled, his waist narrow, his shoulders wide. She allowed her eyes to follow the dark hair that covered his chest, then narrowed across his stomach. Her eyes widened when she saw the evidence of his desire, swollen and throbbing.

Damon dropped down beside her and circled her neck with his hand, bringing her lips to within a breath of his own. "Don't you know you should never look at a man like that?" His voice was raw with longing.

He lowered his head, and his mouth brushed her arched neck. He knew just where to touch... to arouse... to excite. His hand moved across her taut stomach, circling, enticing.

Royal's eyes were glazed with pleasure and pain. "Ohhh," she breathed when his hand moved lower, his finger sliding in the warm, velvet softness of her. He came up against a barrier that told him she had never been with a man, and in a moment of sanity, he moved his hand and sat back.

"Damon, don't leave me!" she cried, clutching him by the arm and pulling him to her.

He should have known she was ripe for a man's touch. He closed his eyes, furious with himself that he had brought her to this state.

Royal pressed her body against his, and an aching tide washed over her. How right it was to be in Damon's arms, she thought.

He whispered harshly against her lips, "If I don't stop now, it will be too late."

Her fingers twined into his dark hair, and her lips parted to receive the hot kiss that would not be denied. He could no longer control his hands as they roamed over her body, touching, feeling, molding.

Royal felt his lips drawing every emotion out of her. His hands took a sensuous path, up her spine, across her shoulders, and down to tenderly circle her breasts. She gave a sharp intake of breath when his lips touched the rosy tips ever so softly. Looking into his golden eyes, she had the feeling that they were swirling tides of passion.

A tremor shook her body when Damon ran his hands over her hips and brought her beneath him. An aching started in her heart and traveled throughout her body when he smiled at her tenderly.

"If you don't want this," he murmured, "say so now, and I will walk away." He waited for her answer, knowing what it would be.

"I don't want you to stop," she confessed, groping for his hand and placing it on her swollen breast.

Damon groaned. He already knew she would bring him a deeper satisfaction than he had ever felt before, and his body ached to take what belonged to him.

He pushed her head back against the rug and positioned himself between her legs. His mouth burned into hers as he slowly lowered his body, first brushing against her soft flesh and then pressing his body against hers.

Royal could not catch her breath as his body fused to hers. She gasped and finally drew air into her lungs. His life-giving shaft probed between her legs, and she stared at him with bewilderment in her eyes.

"I don't know how to—"

"Shh," he whispered, tracing her face with a lean finger and loving her with every fiber of his being. "I will teach you all you need to know."

"I don't want to displease you."

"Tonight, I will take all you have to give, but I will also give to you. Do you believe this?"

"Yes."

She laid her face against his, thinking how right this felt. She loved him—and had for a long time. Perhaps even from that day long ago when he'd promised a young girl he would not forget her. If she gave herself to him now, would she be able to hold on to him? No, perhaps not, but she would have this little bit of him to keep forever.

His hands moved over her hips, circling, enticing, pulling her closer to the heat of his body. He closed his eyes, allowing pure ecstasy to wash over his body as her satiny warmth closed in around him. He was more alive tonight than he had ever been in his life.

His dark hair mingled with her golden curtain of hair. Their minds merged, and their bodies trembled and quaked.

With tenderness in his expression, Damon eased himself slowly into her body, knowing with regret that at any moment he would cause her pain. "You pilfer all of a man's mind, seductress," he groaned. "Will you leave me with nothing?"

Royal ran her hand down his back, wondering how he could ask such a question. Did he not know that she had just given him her life, her will, and her whole heart?

"I will give you all I have to give, Damon. If that isn't enough, I have no more to give."

He moved deeper within her and felt her stiffen. "It will but sting," he cautioned.

Her lips parted, and he was caught under her spell, needing all of her, wanting to keep her with him from this day forward. Pride of possession flamed in his eyes.

Gently he slipped to the barrier within her, then, with a forceful thrust, broke through. She gasped and her eyes widened with surprise as she tore her lips from his.

"It was necessary," he said, holding her to him, trying to absorb the ache that tore at her virginal body. "There will be no more pain, I promise. I will make your body sing."

He was right, she thought as she clutched him tightly. He set a rhythmic motion that sent the blood throbbing through her veins. Pleasure and passion reflected in her eyes with his gentle movements. Each time he thrust forward, she caught her breath with pleasure, and each time he eased back, she clung to him.

Her velvet smoothness caressed his pulsating desire, taking him higher and higher to an elevation of pleasure.

Soon Royal's body caught his rhythm, and she moved with him, enhancing her pleasure and bringing a shuddering gasp from him. She nipped at his ear with her teeth, ran her hands up and down his hips, and pushed against him, giving and taking pleasure.

"What are you doing to me?" he murmured in a passion-laced voice.

"Making you remember me," she whispered. "When you go away, I don't want you to forget me."

Forget her, he thought, how could he forget her when she was in every thought he had, every breath he took?

The pleasure became so intense that it felt as if his loins would burst, and relief came moments later when he drove deeper into her and erupted with life-giving fluid.

Royal's body quaked and trembled as Damon clasped her ever tighter against him. She reached deeply for a breath and clung to him as if he were her very life.

Swirling joy sang through her like a love song. She opened her eyes and saw tenderness in his golden gaze. For a long moment they lay in each other's arms, reliving the closeness they had captured.

Royal watched the moon playing tag through the tall pine trees and turned to Damon. Her blue eyes held a new awareness. "I have never felt so alive."

"Nor I," he admitted. His finger trailed down her flat stomach, and he felt her melt against him. To his delight, he found he wanted her again as she turned to him and pressed herself against him.

Eagerly she responded to his every move. She filled his needs and made him feel immortal.

When at last she lay exhausted in his arms, he began to question his actions. He was not as noble as he would have hoped. He must have known all along that this would happen. Since the night she had tantalized him as the mystery lady, he had been unable to get her out of his mind.

Angry with himself, he gazed coldly at the object of his obsession.

"I belong to you now," she said, touching his mouth with her lips.

"Yes," he agreed, knowing what he must do. "Royal, I have asked Ezekiel to bring the parson tomorrow."

Her eyes were sparkling. "Do you want... to marry... me?" she asked, almost afraid to hope.

He pulled her to a sitting position and stared at her. "Do you realize the consequences of what just happened between us?"

"I am not so innocent that I don't know that." She smiled. "I never knew that such wonderful—"

"For God's sake, Royal, I have to think!"

Her hand teased the hair just over his ear. "I want you to think of me."

He caught her hand and held it in a firm grip. "We will be married tomorrow night."

Tears were swimming in her eyes as she laid her head against his shoulder. "Yes, I should be your wife after tonight," she agreed.

"I need to ask you again, Royal. How do you feel about Preston?"

She was quiet for a moment. "I have known two fine men in my life. You are one—Preston is the other."

"You know you can't marry Preston now, don't you?"

She tossed her head back and met his inquiring gaze. "I want to stay with you forever."

He held her to him, wondering if what she was feeling was the lingering effects of their lovemaking. He was experienced enough that he knew how to please a woman, but that was not necessarily love.

He stood up and scooped her into his arms and carried her outside. Royal looked at him as if he were crazed. "Surely we should not go out without our clothing?"

He walked toward the river. "No one will see us." He waded into the swift current and held her while the river rushed over them.

Royal squealed in delight as he dumped her in the water. Laughingly she reached for him, and he pulled her to him.