Willow hurried to follow him, wondering if it was the Slayer. She stopped abruptly when she turned the corner of the keep and found no one there. Where had the figure disappeared to so fast?
She entered through a door near the kitchen, hung her cloak on a peg, and left her healing basket on a chest to retrieve later. She took guarded steps, peering suspiciously at any nook or cranny she passed and turned corners with caution. If the cloaked figure had entered here, he could be lurking anywhere in wait. Or had it been someone simply returning to the keep?
She finally entered the Great Hall and cast a quick glance around to find it empty, the only sound the crackle and pop of the fire burning strongly in the hearth.
“Looking for me?” came the whispery voice behind her.
She gasped and turned with such haste that she stumbled and fell against her husband.
He was quick to settle his arms around her. “You’re cold,” he said and anger flared in his eyes. “Where have you been?”
He was warm, not a chill to him and she pressed herself against him to steal a bit of his warmth. “Someone needed tending.”
“You went alone? On your own? In the dark of night? Have you no sense, wife?”
She laughed. “I usually have too much.”
“Not this time,” he snapped. “I forbid you from ever again going out on your own at night like that. You will find me and I will go with you.”
“That word forbid does not sit well with me, husband,” she said and stepped away from him.
“A wife follows her husband’s rule.”
“Not this wife,” she said with a grin.
“And here I thought you were a reasonable woman,” he said, a slight smile teasing the corners of his mouth.
“Aye, I am, which is why I chose a decent man to wed and not someone who wishes to dictate. Though, I see he may need reminding of that now and then.” She gasped when she found herself in her husband’s strong arms. She still couldn’t understand how he could move so fast that his movements could barely be seen.
“I’ll not lose you due to your own stubbornness,” he said and kissed her when she went to argue with him. “One thing you are not is foolish and until this culprit is caught it would be foolish for you to go out alone late at night and in a snowfall that has turned heavy. I ask if it is necessary for you to do so, then let me go with you so I don’t worry needlessly.” He grinned. “And if you think to refuse my heartfelt request then know that I will be your shadow day and night until I deem it safe for you.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re still dictating.”
“I beg you to humor me on this before my poor heart shatters, so frightful I am of losing you.”
She laughed softly again. “Your tongue does charm.”
He cupped her chin. “My tongue tells the truth this time. I wouldn’t want to live without you.”
He kissed her and Willow was glad he did, since his words left her speechless. It was no tender kiss and it left no doubt as to where it would lead and that soared Willow’s passion.
Slatter rested his brow to hers after ending the kiss. “I have an insatiable aching need for you, wife.”
“And I for you, husband,” Willow whispered a hair’s breadth away from his lips.
“I have no patience for slow and lazy tonight. I want you quick and hard.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
He scooped her up in his arms and they were in the bedchamber with haste, tugging each other free of their garments before falling on the bed together, his lips claiming her in places that soared her passion beyond reason.
Willow didn’t waste time in spreading her legs, eager for him to enter her, feel him swell inside her, fill her, love her.
“Love me,” she said, not realizing she did until the words had slipped achingly from her lips.
“Always,” he said and claimed her lips in a kiss that almost sent her over the edge.
She moaned with intense pleasure when he slipped into her and her moans grew as he did as he said he would… he took her quick and hard.
She spiraled up and up, reaching and reaching with every forceful thrust until she reached the edge and burst with pure passion.
Slatter captured her mouth in a kiss, though it was her climax he wanted to feel as her moans rippled through him, sending him over the edge to join her. He tossed his head back and let out a rumbling roar that echoed throughout the room.
“Don’t stop. Please don’t stop,” Willow pleaded.
She pleaded with him every time, though she didn’t have to. He had become familiar with her ways and knew she would climax again not long after the previous climax. He loved how responsive she was and how easily her passion ignited for him… only him.