Aurora lay unresisting for his ministrations, like a child. She hadn't the energy or the will to move.
"You were right," she murmured. "I am a coward."
"No," Nicholas replied softly. "But you've let fear rule you for too long."
She sighed when his warm lips touched her eyelids. She wanted to lie like this forever, safe in Nicholas's arms, pressed against his hardness, his warmth, sheltered and protected and cherished.
The intimacy of their embrace, however, had a starkly different effect on Nick. When Aurora nestled closer, he went still, his heartbeat quickening and deepening. Awareness of her flooded his senses, while a wave of longing hit him, colliding with the breath he was trying to take.
He wanted to comfort her. Wanted to ease her fear, her sadness, to erase that anguish and despair from her beautiful face. But even more, he wanted her.
Almost involuntarily, his lips began moving upon her flushed face, savoring the velvety texture of her soft skin. When she stirred against him, an ache started deep in his groin like a lick of fire.
Nicholas drew a steadying breath, struggling for control as hunger shuddered through his body. How had it happened, this deep and powerful need of her? He couldn't deny it any longer…
Urgently he molded her soft lips to fit his, desire flaring through his senses as he took her mouth. She gave a soft murmur of protest at his sudden move, yet he kept up his tender assault and felt a surge of triumph when her mouth turned hot and pliant under his.
Then suddenly she drew back, her palms pressing against his chest. Her breath came in soft pants as she regarded him, her blue eyes wide with dismay.
Nicholas drew a sharp breath, struggling to check his savage need. She wanted him, he knew. When he touched her throat, he could feel the wildness of her pulse.
"I intend to make love to you, Aurora," he warned hoarsely, his voice raw with desire. "If you want me to stop, then tell me now."
He lay still, waiting, drawn as tight as a bowstring. His loins were full and aching for her, his heartbeat like an anvil in his chest. Yet it had to be her decision this time.
Aurora stared into his eyes, drowning in the sheer intensity of the dark depths. She didn't want his lovemaking, his passion, and yet she couldn't fight his tenderness, the stirring kisses that were so sweet and so fierce. She no longer had any defenses against him.
Mutely she shook her head, knowing the sweet torment of defeat. A desperate longing welled up within her, the need to touch him, to feel him deep inside her.
"I don't want you to stop," she whispered. Reaching up, her fingers curled in the waving thickness of his silky hair.
"Please," she added helplessly. "Make love to me, Nicholas."
Chapter Eighteen
He offered the haunting promise of paradise, if I but had the courage to grasp it.
He undressed her slowly, wanting her with a need so powerful it made him shake. She was still shy about her body, and he ached with the effort to be gentle.
When Aurora stood naked before him, he pulled the pins from her hair one by one, and let the shining mass cascade down over her bare shoulders. Her nipples were erect, her skin pale gold in the flickering lamplight, her legs long and slender.
She seemed to have no idea how beautiful she was, Nicholas thought reverently, or how exquisitely sensual. Her features mirrored the wanting, the longing, he felt; her blue eyes were dark with yearning.
"Aurora," he murmured hoarsely as he took her mouth. Hunger ran rampant through him as he kissed her, a slow, deep, claiming kiss, parting her lips and thrusting his tongue within her welcoming warmth, searching out her secrets. Exultation filled him when he felt a shiver of desire surge through her. He wanted her hot and wild, burning for him… and yet he forced himself to restrain his dire urgency. This was a moment to savor. He intended to love her slowly, completely. To make it last.
Steeling himself, he broke off the kiss and stepped back to shed his own clothing.
Watching, Aurora drew a sharp breath at the magnificence of Nicholas's aroused body. He was so intensely male, his form sculptured and shadowed with bronze in the lamplight. But it was his gaze that held her spellbound.
She saw stark longing in his eyes; she saw need, raw and bold, as he came to her. His fingers glided gently over her bare shoulders, then lower, over the curve of her rib cage, her waist. Then his hands slid down over her hips, pulling her against him. She felt his hot, throbbing maleness against her.
"See what you do to me?" he asked softly. "Can you feel the fire raging in my loins?"
Not letting her answer, he bent to her breast, and the coolness of the night air against her bare skin gave way to the scorching heat of his mouth.
At the softest lash of his tongue, she quivered. When he suckled gently, her fingers dug into his shoulders and clung.
Her soft whimper only aroused him more fully. Nick clenched his jaw, remembering his violence when he'd taken her yesterday. His need was no longer so frantic this time. The frenzied, explosive desire had tempered. Instead he was filled with the longing to share tenderness, to express it.