She was his. He was hers. At the height of the union, there was no difference.
He released her hands to hold her hips. The rake of her nails down his back was like a streak of lightning through the storm.
West didn’t last long. He wanted her too much, and he’d been too sure that he’d lost her. The mighty surge began in the soles of his feet, blazed up through his legs, and centered on his burning balls. He gave a guttural groan as his seed burst forth into her welcoming body.
Gasping, he slumped over her, crushing her beneath him. Then with his last strength, he rolled to the side and separated their sweat-slicked bodies.
Never before had he given so much to a woman. Masculine satisfaction flooded him as he relished the idea that they might have started a child.
The air was thick with the scent of sex. In the early February dusk, Helena’s lithe form gleamed white and beautiful. Her hair snaked around her as she lay sprawled against the sheets. She looked exhausted and well used, but contented in a way he’d never seen her before.
When his pulse had calmed, he caught the hand lying loose and open on the sheets and raised it to his lips. “I’ll use more finesse next time.”
Her laugh was a soft puff of weariness. “I’m beginning to think finesse might be overrated.”
“I’ll look forward to convincing you otherwise.”
Her free hand gave a floppy wave. “I’ll have to marry you now.”
“If you don’t, I want Artemis back.”
“There is that.” Then contrary to her teasing, she turned to curve one arm around his neck and kiss him as if his presence was as necessary as air.
“Come here,” he muttered, and drew her close. She rested her dark head on his chest and curled into his side.
For a long time, they lay in the gathering twilight. Gradually West’s heart found its natural rhythm.
He spoke the words he’d kept hidden for more than a year. “I’m sure a woman of your enormous intellect has already worked out that I love you.”
The silence that greeted his declaration seemed to last a month.
Then she rose on her elbow to study him through the shadows, her eyes like a starlit night. “Of course I hoped. Especially once you started acting like a hero, afire to save my honor and sacrifice yourself for my happiness.”
He gave her a sheepish smile. “The result of temporary madness. I promise to return to being a selfish swine forthwith.”
She smiled back and ran her hand down his jaw with a tenderness that made him ache. “The problem, West, is that for a woman of such vaunted intelligence, I’ve always misunderstood you. I think it’s because you stole my heart when I was a silly girl, and I never got it back.”
Stole her heart? He brightened. That sounded damned promising.
Attempting his old sardonic manner, he arched an eyebrow. “You weren’t a silly girl. You were smart enough to choose me.”
She kissed him softly. “I was, wasn’t I? But not smart enough to see that under your arrogance, you were a man of honor. And I should have seen that. Even when I was sixteen and mad about you, you restricted yourself to a few kisses, although you must have known I was ripe for seduction. Crewe certainly knew.”
West didn’t want to talk about her vile husband. Not now when she said things that made him hope. “You were my best friend’s sister.”
“See what I mean? And you’ve verged on Sir Galahad in the last few days. Bone-headed, I think you’ll agree, but unwaveringly gallant.”
“Would you rather have a clever cad?”
Another of those bewitching, enigmatic smiles. “Ca
ds don’t go the distance, in my view. I’m all for knights in shining armor these days, even when they choose to wear a bedsheet instead.”
With care, he picked his way through her words. This was too important for him to get wrong. “So you’ve decided you like me?”
A brief laugh. “I’d better, given what we just did.”
“And you want me?”