And when he obliged her, she convulsed and gave in, crying out.
He caught her and pulled her close to him, holding her tightly as her mind spun. She caught her breath finally, then looked up at him and smiled sheepishly.
“I’m sorry I yelled so loudly.” She closed her eyes, embarrassed. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“I hope it comes over you again,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose. “In fact, I’d like to make that happen now.”
She was hugging her legs about him again, and he began to kiss her and stroke her body.
“I want you, Maddie. Even more now than before.”
“I want you, too,” she said between kisses. And, unbelievably enough, it was true. Her body was responding to his touch, becoming tense and expectant once again.
He kissed her cheek, her nose, the column of her neck. “You are so beautiful.”
“I’m not.”
He met her gaze with those dark smoky eyes. “You are. I wanted you the first time I saw you. I can’t believe you’re my wife.”
Maddie felt her heart lurch, felt something very much like love pour into it, and then she quickly shook her head. These were words of seduction, not love. This was a man who wanted to charm her. She couldn’t allow herself to believe his words. If she believed them, she would fall in love with him.
And no matter what else happened in this marriage, she would not fall in love with a man who was so wrong for her. A man she knew would grow to hate her when she refused to allow him to control her.
He cupped her cheeks and looked down at her again. “You’re mine,” he said, kissing her possessively.
Her breath was stripped away. Lord, she believed he really did find her beautiful. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.
She had assumed all along that he wanted Ashley, and yet, he’d never said as much. Other than a boastful comment to his brother, he’d shown no interest in Ashley whatsoever, hadn’t even looked back when he’d grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the blacksmith’s shop in Gretna.
Maddie broke the kiss and looked into her husband’s eyes. “You never wanted to marry Ashley, did you? You aren’t sad at all that the wedding was mixed up.”
He blinked at her, looking confused. “Sad? Hell, I’m relieved. When I realized the priest was doing everything wrong, I couldn’t believe my luck.”
“You couldn’t—you realized and didn’t stop him?”
Jack bent so that his face was a hairbreadth from hers. “Why? When I knew it meant I would have you?”
Maddie swallowed hard and tried not to melt at his words. Jack wanted her. Jack desired her.
And she wanted him as well. She desired him. She had begun to care for him.
She was in deep trouble.
JACK SLID HIS HANDS around to cup Maddie’s sweet bottom. Her skin was smooth and slick from the water, and her flesh intoxicatingly warm. He was so hard for her, he could barely think straight.
She was looking at him with those blue eyes, her lids lowered invitingly. He pulled her tight against his erection, and she gasped in a breath and tilted her head back. Her long brown hair glistened wet in the sun, and the tops of her breasts emerged from the water. He kissed the soft skin of her neck, while his hands kept her body pressed against him.
Without being told what to do, she moved provocatively against him, and he knew he had to be inside her soon or lose all sense of control.
“Maddie,” he growled in her ear. “Do you feel me?”
“Yes,” she moaned, and rubbed her hard nipples against his chest. Her legs closed tight around his waist as he repositioned her. His cock grazed that hot, wet place he’d been dreaming about.
She opened her eyes then and looked at him. Desire clouded the usual startling blueness. “Stop teasing me,” she said, voice low and husky.
He grinned. “Demanding, aren’t you, Lady Blackthorne?”
He rubbed against her intimately, inserting just the tip of his cock inside her, letting her have a taste of what was to come. She shivered in his arms. “Please, Jack. Now.”
