"Nor am I any longer. I've thought about the questions you put to me, Aurora. You asked if I was willing to be faithful to you. Well, I am. Completely."
She stared at him.
"I'm through wandering, I promise you. I'm through taking unnecessary risks. All I want is to settle down with you… to be your husband, perhaps raise a family."
"You would actually give up your adventurous life in order to raise children?" she asked with total skepticism.
He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I know, it sounds unlikely. But I've discovered something in the past few years… Adventure begins to pall when you have no one to share it."
She met his dark gaze searchingly. "I'm not certain I believe you," Aurora said finally.
"Well, I don't believe you're as timid as you pretend," he replied, his tone turning light once more. "I think you like to be daring, like how it makes you feel." A wicked gleam shone in his eyes. "Come closer and I will prove it to you."
They were riding side by side now through the dense, silent beechwood, his knee nearly touching her mount's side.
"I cannot move any closer," Aurora pointed out warily.
His mouth slashed in a sinful male grin. "Yes, you can." Reaching out, he caught her around the waist and scooped her onto his horse to sit sideways in front of him.
Startled, Aurora clung to his arm for balance. "What in heaven's name are you doing?"
"Showing you how daring you can be. Now turn around and lean back against me. Put your leg over my horse's neck… that's right."
"Nicholas… this is mad…"
Her protest was interrupted by a gasp as he drew down the bodice of her gown to expose her bare breasts. An arrow of heat shot through her as he cupped the lush swells. Involuntarily Aurora arched against him, even as she gasped out an objection. "Nicholas… anyone could see us!"
"No one is within miles of us."
She could feel her breasts trembling, peaking, straining to fill his hands as she quivered in his arms. "Damn you, why are you doing this?"
"Because," he whispered huskily in her ear, "I want you to remember me. For the rest of your days, whenever you ride, you'll think of me. Now hush and enjoy this…"
Her nipples became velvet daggers against his palms as he lavished her with tantalizing caresses. No longer resisting, Aurora bit her lip and leaned back against him, giving herself over to his erotic ministrations.
When she was thoroughly pliant, his hand stole unerringly beneath her skirts and found the curls at the apex of her thighs. His bold caress sent a shock of pleasure surging up through her body.
"Open your legs to me, love," he murmured. Yet Aurora needed no further urging. She was so ready, so instantly aroused that she trembled.
She whimpered as his hand pressed wantonly against her starving flesh. There was a brazenness about it that thrilled her. Her breathing became harsh and ragged as he molded his ringers over her sex, stroking, teasing, finding a relentless rhythm that matched the steady rocking of his horse.
"God, you're so silky wet…" he whispered encouragingly. "So wet and so hot, it makes me want to take you right here."
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She groaned at the indescribable pleasure of that possessing hand, undulating her pelvis beneath his palm. The heat building inside her was like a raging fire.
When she climaxed, Nick held her trembling, shaking body as passion flared through him. This was how he wanted her, hungry and burning with desire for him. Yet there was a vital element still missing.
He pressed his lips against her sun-bright hair, his own desire tormenting him with what he wanted more than breath. He should have felt triumphant, seeing her swept up in the storm of carnal passion he had striven to create. Aurora couldn't deny her body's need any more than he could. But while he could demand sexual surrender from her, it was her love he wanted. His want had become craving, a feverish hunger.
He had lied a moment ago. He did intend to ask for her heart. He could claim her body, but it would not be enough.
He was wiser now. Since meeting Aurora, he had come to believe an elemental truth. Something his father had tried to tell him, what the journal so eloquently expressed. That for every man there was one woman who was destined to be his life's mate.
Aurora was his mate, his destiny; Nicholas knew it in his soul.
But he had yet to convince her of that. Hell, he hadn't even told her of his love. Perhaps that had been a mistake. When he'd first realized his true feelings, he had wanted the opportunity to show Aurora how he felt, to give her the chance for her own feelings to grow. He had hoped physical passion would lead to love, and it still might…But he was swiftly running out of time.