Rose in Bloom (22 page)

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I love to run my tongue over it.”

“I see.” He tossed his trousers on the floor. “I had no idea that my flaws were so attractive. I fear my body is covered with imperfections, sweet. Perhaps you should run your tongue over all of them.”

“Oh no, your body is perfect, Cam.” Rose grinned. “But I shall run my tongue over it anyway.”

He lowered himself on top of her and took her mouth, exploring her with his tongue and lips, kissing her face, her neck, her breasts. He took each swollen nipple between his lips and tugging delicately as she moaned beneath him. “I’ve missed you,” he said huskily. “I can’t imagine ever kissing another woman.”

“You’d better not,” Rose said wickedly

“You don’t have to worry.” Cameron trailed tiny kisses over her stomach, pausing for a moment to run his hands over her abdomen. “The fact that you’re carrying my child makes you even more beautiful.”

She smiled. “I’ll be big as a house soon enough.”

“You’ll still be beautiful, sweetheart.” He kissed between her thighs, trailed down her shapely legs, caressing and kissing until he reached her ankles.

Rose’s breath caught as he tongued the inside of her ankle then blew on the wetness.

“Do you like that?” he asked.

“Oh yes, it’s wonderful.” Rose sighed.

Cameron kissed the instep of her foot, each of her toes, gently turned her over and kissed up her calves to the back of her knees, tickling her sensually with his tongue and breath.

“Cam, please, make love to me,” Rose breathed.

“Soon,” he said.

He kissed the back of her thighs and glided his tongue over the wetness of her sex, kissed her back and her neck. “I’ll love you until the end of time, Rose. I promise you.”

“Love me now, Cam!”

He thrust inside her from behind. Rose bucked under him, trying to meet him with her hips, as he maneuvered one hand beneath her and rubbed her sensitive peak. Rose exploded quickly, sobbing his name and writhing against his nimble fingers. Cameron followed, pulsating within her as he climaxed.

He rolled over onto his side. “I’m sorry, sweet. I wish I could have lasted longer. I just wanted you so badly.”

“It’s all right,” Rose said. “I don’t mind. It felt wonderful, Cam.”

He leaned toward her and kissed her lips. “I’m glad.” He tangled his fingers in her long tresses. “Next time I’ll make it better for you.”

“It will always be wonderful with you. I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. Forever.”

* * * *

Rose awoke when the soft rays of dawn peeked through her window. Cameron rested next to her, his arm strewn across her body, his breathing slow and steady. She leaned over and kissed his nose, and then gently moved his arm so she could rise. She wrapped an extra sheet around her and strode to her window, gazing out upon the bright new day. Smiling, she hummed softly to herself.

“Sweetheart?” Cam’s voice was husky.

Rose turned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I knew as soon as you left the bed,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep again without you beside me.”

Her lips curled. “You won’t have to.” She walked back to the bed and sat down. A tingle of excitement pulsed through her as he reached out and stroked her bare arm. His hair was tousled and sexy, his night beard a shadow on his strong jaw.

“You were humming your song,” he said.

“My song?”

“The song I wrote for you.”

“Was I?”

“Yes. It came to me in a dream. I dreamed of you one night. Well, actually, I dreamed of you every night.”

She smiled and tousled his hair.

“But one night, I dreamed that you were a flower, floating across the breeze. The song came to me, so I got up in the middle of the night and wrote it all down. It was the easiest composing I’ve ever done. But it became the hardest. I had to give it to Xavier for him to give it to you.”

“When he gave it to me, I knew you had written it.”

“How?”

“I saw some of your drafts at the pianoforte the day I visited Kat. But I would have known it was yours anyway. I know you. You’re in my heart. In my soul.”

He closed his eyes and pressed her hand to his heart. “As you are in mine. Everything I’ve ever written has been for you. It will always be. You’re my muse, Rose. My inspiration. You’re everything. Everything.”

Rose let the sheet fall from her bosom and then climbed in bed next to Cameron. Slowly she slid her tongue over his throat and down to his chest, flicking his hard nipples and then sucking them into her mouth. She drifted downward to his stomach, pushing her tongue into his navel, smiling as his breathing quickened.

“What are you doing?” he asked, grinning.

“I’m running my tongue over all your imperfections,” she said. When she reached his erection and began nibbling, she giggled.

“Sweet,” he said teasingly, “don’t ever laugh when you’re pleasuring that part of a man’s body. It’s likely to lead to a feeling of inferiority.”

“I’m sorry.” She continued giggling. “Believe me, I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just…I was thinking that there’s absolutely nothing imperfect about this part of you. In fact, it’s rather…majestic.”

“That’s better,” he said, pulling her toward him. “Come here.”

He rolled her over and kissed her deeply, his tongue exploring the innermost parts of her mouth. He covered her face with moist kisses, his breath massaging her as he moved to her breasts and pleasured them slowly. “You’re full of imperfections too,” he teased, licking small circles around her nipple. He continued lower, licking and nibbling, parted her legs, and kissed her wetness. “This part of you is extremely imperfect. I think I shall have to give it special attention.”

He pushed her thighs forward, grasping the cheeks of her bottom so she was completely bared to him. Rose opened her mouth to protest, but he hushed her and resumed his delicate assault on her. The soft velvet of his tongue teased her peak as he slowly glided his strong hands up the planes of her body and squeezed her breasts. He pinched her nipples while his mouth worked on her sex, sucking her swollen flesh and releasing it.

Rose writhed beneath him, and she soared toward climax when his tongue swiped lower, over her most private opening.

“Cam!”

“Shh, sweet.”

She calmed. She was his. Every single part of her. Even that part. And as he tongued her, she shivered. It felt wonderful. When he breached her anus with a finger, she jolted. The intensity shocked her for a moment, but he slid his tongue over her pussy and soon the penetration turned to pleasure. Profound and shimmery pleasure unlike anything she’d imagined. To her complete surprise, she was thrilled to share this with him. He nipped at her clitoris, sucked it between his lips, all while working her bum with his long finger. Her body raced toward climax with a vengeance that she hadn’t yet known.

“Cam!” she cried. “Cam, yes, Cam, yes!” An explosion of whirling waves crashed into her, as he continued to plunder her, bringing her to the crest once more.

“Again, sweet. Come for me again.”

Fingers slid in and out of both openings now, his tongue still working her peak, and bliss raged through her, catapulting her to the crest again. Joy. Pure joy.

“Now, Cam. Come inside me now!”

He crawled forward, his silver eyes smoking as they gazed into hers. As he pushed into her, she wrapped her legs around his back, pulling him closer.

“I love you, Rose,” he said as he thrust. “Only you.”

“And I love only you, Cam.”

He thrust and he thrust, and as she fell into climax again, he plunged into her deeply.

“You’re mine, Rose!” he roared, as his body shuddered against hers. “Mine!”

He collapsed against her, and she rubbed his muscular back, tracing soothing patterns with her fingers.

“Mine,” he continued to whisper. “Always mine.”

“Yes,” she soothed. “Yours.”

“I love you. I love you.” His breathing slowed, returning to normal.

“I love you, too,” Rose said. “Forever.”

They lay silently for a few moments, their legs tangled together intimately.

Cameron softly caressed Rose’s abdomen and broke the silence. “Do you want a boy or a girl?”

“A gypsy crone at the festival yesterday told me it was a girl,” Rose said. “A little girl with your hair and my eyes. Won’t she be a beauty, Cam?”

“Any child from you is bound to be a beauty,” he said, chuckling softly. “But it could just as easily be a boy.”

“It’s a girl,” Rose murmured.

“My sweet, you’ve never struck me as the type of person to believe in fortune telling.”

“I never thought I did,” Rose said seriously. “But she also told me that if I scattered rose petals at midnight last night, my true love would come back to me. And you did.”

“Is that why you were outside last?”

“Yes. I scattered the petals over the place where we had our first…encounter. Then I lay down. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“You looked like an angel, when I found you.” Cameron stroked her cheek. “Your hair was fanned out on the grass, and your face was glimmering in the moonlight.”

“You make me feel beautiful, Cam.”

“You are beautiful. The most beautiful woman alive.”

“I think you’re biased.” She ran her fingers through his silky hair.

“Hardly. Any man would agree with me.”

“Not the duke. He has eyes only for Lily.”

“He’d better. I’ll pummel any man who looks at you the way I do.”

“Cam…”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

Did she dare ask the question? “If you love me that much, how could you have let Evan have me?”

“It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do, Rose.” He moved away from her slightly, almost imperceptibly, but she felt it. “The thought of him touching you, of any man touching you that wasn’t me… I can’t bear to think of it. Don’t make me go back to that place. Please.”

“I didn’t mean to upset you.” She stroked his arm lightly.

“I didn’t feel I had a choice at the time. I was shortsighted. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve already explained all of that. You don’t need to go through it again.”

“Tell me then. If you truly thought I was gone from your life, why didn’t you accept Xavier? You had feelings for him, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did,” she said. “I cared for him as a good friend. And to be honest, I had thought to accept him after you… Well, there’s no other way to say it. After you jilted me.”

Cameron winced. “God, I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right.” She kissed his mouth. “But I didn’t love him. And he didn’t love me. Still, I might have accepted him except for one thing.”

“What is that?”

“Well, his father and my aunt are getting married. They met twenty years ago and fell in love. But both were in loveless marriages to others, so they weren’t free to be together. I didn’t want the same thing to happen to me or to Evan.”

“Did he take it well?”

“He seemed to. I think he was just as glad that I said no.”

Cameron toyed with her nipple. “I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s true. We’re on good terms. He’s going to be my stepcousin soon anyway, so he will always be in our lives.”

Cameron grimaced a bit. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“It’s a fact, Cam. Neither of us can change it. My aunt and his father are very much in love.”

“Then I suppose I shall have to tolerate him.”

“He’s a very nice person, Cam. I think the two of you could be friends.”

“That’s reaching a little too far, sweet. But I’ll be cordial.”

“That’s all I ask.”

“How could I not be? I got the prize and he didn’t.” Cameron lightly stroked Rose’s abdomen again.

She smiled, chills racing to her core. “That feels nice.” Then, “I’ve been thinking, Cam.”

“About what?”

“Well, I have two mares you know. My favorite is Junie. She’s a beauty, nearly black. The other is a bit younger and gentler. Her name is Nora. I’d like to give her to Kat and teach her how to ride.”

“I can’t let you give Kat a horse.”

“But I want to. You have Apollo, and Tricia has Mary. I’ll have Junie, and Nora is for Kat. We can all go riding together. Won’t that be wonderful?”

“You are wonderful, sweet. You’re the most kind and unselfish person I’ve ever met. Kat will love that.”

“Good.” Rose smiled. “Are you hungry?”

“Famished, actually.”

“I’ll send for a tray and have a bath readied. We have a lot to do today. You should…speak to my father.”

“He’s here?”

“Of course. For the wedding.”

Cameron rubbed his forehead. “Dear God.”

“It won’t be so bad. I’ll go with you.”

“I have nothing to wear, Rose. I can hardly put my formal clothes back on. They’re completely ruined.” He pointed to the heap of garments on the floor.