Fanny couldn’t stop laughing, anticipating he was going to take his revenge and toss her fully clothed into the water. What she loved, even more, was to feel the shaking of his shoulders and knew that he too laughed. Then she heard it, low and rumbling and so wonderfully carefree.
When he stood at the edge, he pretended to toss her, and she shrieked, the sound echoing around them. A flock of birds took to the sky, and she wriggled in his arms. She fell but he caught her about the waist, placing one hand beneath her shoulder and the other under her hips to hold her firmly against his chest. Dazzled, she put her hands on his shoulders to brace herself and stared up at him.
There was a wry edge to the curve of his mouth and a definite glint in his eyes. “I had a memory of us, just now, swimming in this very lake…naked. I am unable to reconcile that I was ever that improper, Miss Fairbanks.”
“Scandalous, I know,” she murmured tenderly, reaching up to brush a lock of wet hair from his forehead.
Simon lowered her to the ground, and before Fanny could put any space between them, he caught her chin with his thumb and forefinger, lifted her face to his and covered her mouth with his.
For a precious second, Fanny stopped breathing altogether. With a soft gasp, she parted her lips, and he kissed her deeper, swiftly rousing her senses. He deepened the kiss until she could no longer think, only feel the powerful sensations he evoked in the pit of her belly when he slid his tongue sensually against hers.
He broke their embrace and stepped back from her. Fanny turned away from him and launched herself into the lake with a splash, allowing the water to close over her head and sink deep. She saw his body enter the water, and their eyes met. Somehow, she smiled, then kicked her feet, pushing to the top. Seconds later, she surfaced, and a joyous laugh rang from her.
“Woman,” he said as he too surfaced, “I was not certain you could swim.”
He swam toward her with powerful strokes, and she met him in the middle. Fanny did not hesitate; she took his mouth in a deep and carnal kiss.
There was a start of surprise in his body. She felt his smile against her lips, and her heart trembled. Simon jerked her toward him, pressing her body intimately against his as he took control of their embrace.
Their kiss was passionate and flavored with a hint of desperation. Fanny wasn’t certain who it came from, but she clung to him and allowed the sensual assault on her senses to take her into another world. He framed her face with his large hands and gentled the kiss. Tears pricked behind her lashes when he kissed the corner of her mouth and up to the bridge of her nose. Simon took her hand and waded with her to the shore. First, he hauled himself up, then assisted her from the water.
They walked sedately for a few yards, and when he huffed a breath and glanced at her, Fanny laughed. As if they had silently agreed upon it, they broke into a run for the cottage. By the time they reached it, she was panting and out of breath from the exertion and the anticipation. He slipped his hand about her waist and hauled her up against his body.
“I cannot understand this hunger I have for you,” he muttered, kissing her mouth almost angrily.
Fanny did not tell him that he had been more tempered and gentle in the past. She thrust her fingers through his hair and kissed him back just as passionately.
With a harsh groan, he wrenched open the door, spilling them inside the cottage. Everything then became a blur of need and frantic desire. With lips fused together, they made it to the cot. The moment felt surreal as they stripped off their wet garments, staring at each other. The fireplace crackled, and the carnal way he stared at her as she removed the last bit of her soaked chemise had her flushing. Water dripped from his inky black hair, and a rivulet ran over his eyes. Still, he did not blink, as if he did not want to miss a moment of her.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered.
She wanted to weep at the scars that peppered his body. At least five horrid scars and she reached out with trembling fingers to touch the one at his hip. He gripped her fingers, brought them to his mouth and kissed them, one by one.
With a soft sigh of need and longing, she curved into Simon. His lips claimed hers, concentrating her thoughts on only him. The kiss sent her stomach into a wild swirl, and with a muffled moan, Fanny clung to him.
As he kissed her, he touched her everywhere, each caress eliciting a gasp of pleasure from her and fanning the flames of her desire. He rubbed the skin of her back and shoulders, sensitizing her flesh. Simon explored the soft lines of her waist, hips and traced a sensuous path to the globes of her buttocks. He squeezed her derriere, sending a quiver of sensual shock through her. His tongue was more intent…more ravishing…just more.
Gently, Simon eased her down on the small cot, and she opened her legs to cradle his large but comforting weight. Bracing himself on an elbow, he released her swollen mouth and kissed a fiery path down to her throat and breasts. She cried out when he took a nipple into his mouth and sucked, the deep pull reaching down to her belly. Fanny writhed beneath him, feeling hot and desperate. These sensations were far different to the one night she had lain in his arms. Though he had loved her three times that night, it had never been with this passionate intensity that left her limbs quaking.
He paid equal attention to each breast, using his tongue to tantalize her aching nipples, which had swollen to their fullest. Her heartbeat throbbed as he reached between them and glided tormenting fingers over her quivering belly to her aching sex. A long finger pushed in deep. He groaned and bit into the soft flesh on the underside of her breast. Fanny whimpered and rocked her hips in time to the delicious sensations. His lips continued their downward path, and she moaned as another finger slid deep inside her, where they moved slowly, teasingly stimulating her sex.
Somehow, he was there, between her splayed thighs, staring at her intimate flesh. Fanny blushed. “Simon…what are you doing?”
“Ah, my sweet, I gather I never did this before.”
“No,” she said on a ragged gasp when he blew slightly against her curls. “What—”
Her words broke away on a wild cry when he covered her nub with his mouth, and his tongue flickered back and forth, making her writhe. Desire sluiced through her body, and her hips arched toward his wicked mouth. As he licked and sucked, driving her high with need, she struggled to hold her body taut to permit his glorious ministrations.
It was impossible. Fanny drowned under the waves of pleasure. Nothing mattered more than the sensations he was so gently inflicting upon her skin. He climbed up, nudging her thighs apart, spreading her wider.
“I want to touch you, Simon. Let me touch you.”
Sweat slicked her skin, and he nipped the corner of her mouth as the blunt head of his erection nudged at her entrance. “You will touch me. . . later. I promise you we’ll belong to each other for the entire night.”
“Yes,” she murmured, kissing his mouth briefly.
And with a powerful surge, he sank his cock deep inside her welcoming body. Fanny’s muscles burned in sharp discomfort as her flesh parted under his entry. She gasped, and he swallowed it in a deep kiss, holding himself rigid while she adjusted. He kissed her, mating his tongue with hers for long, sensual minutes. Fanny relaxed, and she gripped his hair as he withdrew slowly and then forged back inside her with strength. The pleasure was intense, all-consuming, and she wanted more. Fanny trembled; she felt poised on the edge of an arousal unlike any she had known before.