“I know you won’t.”

Gavin leaned down and nibbled her ear. Is this what you like?

I like that very much.

As he nibbled and kissed, her hands found his waist and tugged his shirt away from his kilt.

Gavin reached down and unfastened something on his leg before a loud thump hit the floor.

My weapon.

My warrior is always ready.

God help anyone who disturbs us now.

She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. “You really are desperate to have me.”

“More than you can know.”

Being inside his head, she had a pretty good idea. She envisioned her hands on his backside, felt his desire for her to touch him. Instead of bringing the image into her head she took the liberty of walking her hand down his bottom, loved the taut round feel of it against her palm.

He groaned, or maybe that was her. It didn’t matter. The feeling of making him squirm mixed with the electricity of touching Gavin in such an intimate way exhilarated her, made her bolder.

While his hands danced up her leg, she allowed hers to do the same to his. Every muscle rippled beneath her fingertips. When she reached the apex of his leg where it met the bare curve of his arse, Gavin captured her lips in the most soulful kiss he’d delivered yet. She couldn’t touch enough of him, couldn’t separate her feelings from his. They both had the same goal—give the other complete satisfaction.

Something inside him switched, and he pulled away long enough to strip his shirt and all the finery that went with it. In only his kilt, he lowered his chest to hers and took her lips again.

His strong back was silk beneath her hands. Such a strong capable back. Such a strong man. Hers.

“I am yours.”

And I’m yours.

He lifted off her long enough to help her remove the silk that separated them. The gown slid to the floor and Gavin looked his fill.

“You’re so beautiful.”

Amber lifted a hand and traced the ridges of his shoulder and down his chest. His hard muscles twitched, and she leaned forward to kiss and taste him.

Gavin leaned back against the bed. Yes.

Her tentative touch found the sensitive nub of his nipple. It grew into a tight bud, much like hers did when he touched her. When Gavin moaned, she felt his pleasure ripple through her and dampen between her legs.

Gavin filled his palm with her breast before she realized he’d moved over her again. His fingers played and without any warning, his mouth was on her, licking and making all rational thought explode from her head.

You’re killing me, Amber.

The thick ridge of him sought her through his kilt with a need to be touched. Amber had no idea what it was like for a woman to have intimacies with her husband for the first time without the bonding link they shared, but she knew it couldn’t be as all knowing as this time was for them. Her husband’s desire to be touched moved her hands with a will of their own. Her hand traveled higher on his thigh until she felt him.

Yes. Please.

Amber smiled under his kiss and reached for him.

His thickness shocked her. Yes, she’d seen him before, but never like this. Her gentle squeeze brought a moan to his lips and complete abandon to whatever she wanted of him over his soul. He was so much larger than she was.

Before the thought managed to form in her head, Gavin said, “We’ll fit. I won’t hurt you.”

I know you won’t hurt me. How can anything so perfect ever hurt?

She ran her hand along his length and felt the joy it gave him, felt her own excitement grow.

Gavin undid his kilt and swept it from his body.

It was only them, this moment. He pressed her open, wider, and slid a hand between her legs. One swipe of his fingers left her pushing him closer.

Please, Gavin.

No reason to beg, my love.

He moved between her legs and positioned himself over her.

Open your mind. Think of my pleasure.

She gasped as he pressed down. She felt her own sheath closing around him, accepting him into her tight, welcoming home. The intensity of the moment brought the flames in the hearth across the room higher and the candles flickered against her closed lids.

Gavin moved away and back, filling her a little more.

As her excitement grew, so did his, yet she knew he held back, afraid he’d hurt her. Instead of telling him he wouldn’t, she pushed the thought of them joined and the feeling of how glorious it would be having him fully embedded inside her.

Gavin leaned up on his elbows and opened his eyes, which she met without waver. An emotion she wasn’t sure she wanted to label moved between them as he took her fully. Her body hesitated, but she only felt her husband’s pleasure. She was tight, gripping him and making it nearly impossible for him not to move.

Energy circled them both, solidifying their bond in a way only intimacy could.

He kissed her, slowly. Tell me I can move, Amber…Please God tell me I can move.

Instead of answering him, she surged against him. The friction forced his name from her lips.

The feel of him within her wasn’t something she could have prepared herself for. The emotion of joining him completed her.

With each stroke of his body against hers, all thoughts of anything other than unraveling in his arms fled. “Gavin,” she cried.

Thank goodness his gift filtered the sound of them in the room from anyone else in the Keep. When he found the perfect pace, her body fought the climb until it surged over in a stream of fire and heat.

As her pleasure pushed over the edge, she felt a wave of ecstasy crash over her husband like a wave on the sand. The tidal wave swept her up with him, leaving them both rolling back to the earth in slow foamy tremors.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Gavin enveloped her. The enormity of emotion that welled over him when he claimed her was too big to describe. Even now, as he lay by her side with her leg draped over his, he wasn’t close enough.

Tara was right.

Amber’s thought drifted in his head. “Tara was right about what?”

“I-I didn’t want you to hear that.”

He laughed. “Too late.”

Amber snuggled closer. “She told me that because we’re bonded I wouldn’t feel any pain.”

A completely male part of him swelled. “It’s a perk of our heritage.”

“Yet you and I both know you’ve never used that perk before.”

He tilted her head and smiled down at her. “I’ve never needed it before.”

Kincaid felt her pride in knowing she was the only maiden he’d ever taken to his bed. What she probably didn’t know was he was the one who felt like a god. He’d made her first time something special, something she’d treasure. Hell, he’d treasure it his entire life. The way she moaned and called his name made him feel more powerful than any gift from his ancestors, whoever they may have been.