By sundown her nerves were at the breaking point. She hadn’t been able to come up with any suitable plan to gain another reprieve. Sara was a little ashamed of her own cowardice. She knew that the bedding would have to happen sometime, knew that she would continue to dread it until it was over and done with, but those realizations didn’t ease her fear.

When the knock sounded at her door she almost screamed. She quickly regained her composure when she realized that Nathan certainly wouldn’t knock. No, he’d barge right in. The cabin belonged to him, after all, and she supposed he had the right to come in unannounced.

Matthew was waiting outside her door. She curtsied to the seaman and invited him inside. He declined her offer with a shake of his head. “Your Aunt Nora’s waiting to have a visit with you now,” he announced. “While you’re in her cabin I’ll have Frost bring in the tub. The captain thought you might be wanting a bath, so he ordered us to bring fresh water. It’s a treat you won’t be getting too often,” he added. “You’d best enjoy it.”

“That was very thoughtful of Nathan,” Sara returned.

“I’ll be sure to tell him you thought so,” Matthew replied for lack of anything better to say. He walked by Sara’s side, feeling both awkward and ridiculously shy. He blamed his condition on the fact that he wasn’t used to being treated like an equal except by Nathan. He’d never had a lady curtsy to him either. There was also her enchanting smile, he admitted. His shoulders slumped forward a little. Lord, he was falling under the pretty’s spell just like that ox Jimbo had.

When they reached Nora’s door Matthew forced himself out of his stupor and muttered, “Don’t you tire her out, all right?”

Sara nodded, then waited for Matthew to open the door for her. He was a bit slow to catch on until she motioned to show what she wanted. She thanked him after he’d thrown the door wide, then walked inside. Matthew pulled the door closed behind her.

“Matthew had the most bewildered look on his face,” Nora called out.

“I didn’t notice,” Sara admitted. She smiled at her aunt as she hurried over to the side of the bed to kiss her. Nora was propped up by a mound of fat pillows.

“I did notice what a worrier he is, though, and all on your behalf, Aunt,” Sara announced. She pulled up a chair, sat down, and brushed the crinkles out of her gown. “I believe he’s become your champion.”

“He’s a handsome man, isn’t he, Sara? He has a kind heart, too. His nature is very like my late husband’s, though the two men are nothing alike in appearance.”

Sara held her smile. “You’re a little smitten with Matthew, aren’t you, Nora?”

“Nonsense, child. I’m too old to be smitten.”

Sara let the subject go. “Are you feeling better today?”

“Yes, dear,” Nora answered. “And how are you feeling?”

“Fine, thank you.”

Nora shook her head. “You don’t look fine to me,” she announced. “Sara, you’re sitting on the edge of that chair, looking like you’ll bolt at the first provocation. Is it Nathan worrying you?”

Sara slowly nodded. “I was also worried about you, of course,” she confessed. “But now that I see you, I realize you’re going to be fine.”

“Don’t change the topic,” Nora ordered. “I want to talk about Nathan.”

“I don’t.”

“We’re going to all the same,” Nora countered. The cheer in her tone took the sting out of her remark. “How are you and your husband getting along?”

Sara lifted her shoulders in a dainty shrug. “As well as can be expected, given his disposition.”

Nora smiled. “Has he kissed you yet?”

“Nora, you shouldn’t be asking me that question.”

“Answer me. Has he?”

Sara looked at her lap when she answered. “Yes, he did kiss me.”

“Good.”

“If you say so.”

“Now, Sara, I know Nathan isn’t exactly what you imagined he would be, but if you’ll only look below the gruff exterior, I believe you’ll find yourself a good man.”

Sara was determined to keep the conversation light. “Oh?” she teased. “And how would you know what I imagined him to be?”

“In your wildest dreams you couldn’t possibly have imagined yourself married to Nathan. He’s a bit overwhelming at first sight, isn’t he?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Sara whispered.

“Of course you do,” Nora returned. “You fainted when you saw him that first time, didn’t you?”

“I was exhausted,” Sara argued. “Nora, he wants to ... sleep with me,” she suddenly blurted out.

Nora didn’t seem to be at all surprised by that announcement. Sara was acutely relieved that her aunt wasn’t embarrassed. She desperately needed her advice.

“That would be his natural inclination,” Nora announced. “Are you afraid, Sara?”

“A little,” Sara answered. “I know what my duty is, but I don’t know him very well, and I did want a courtship.”

“What is it you’re worried about?”

Sara shrugged.

“Do you think he’s going to hurt you?”

Sara shook her head. “It’s the most peculiar thing, Aunt. Nathan’s such a ferocious-looking man when he’s frowning at me, which is most of the time, but in my heart I know he won’t hurt me. He even told me he didn’t want me to be afraid of him.”

“Good.”

“But he won’t wait until I get used to the idea,” Sara explained.

Nora smiled. “I would expect that he wouldn’t want to wait, Sara. You are his wife, and I could see the way he watched you that first night. He wants you.”

Sara could feel herself blushing. “What if I disappoint him?”

“I don’t believe you will,” Nora soothed. “He’ll see to it that you don’t.”

“We have to have a child if Nathan is going to get the second half of the treasury set aside by the king, and since he was forced to wait to come for me . . . did you know he thought I had run away from him?” Sara explained what she’d learned, and when she’d finished Nora was frowning.

“Aren’t you pleased Nathan tried to come for me?”

“Of course. I’m frowning because I believe your parents have deceived you yet again.”

“Nora, you can’t believe—”

“As I told you before,” Nora interrupted, “I never quit writing to your mother. I will even allow for the possibility that one or two of my letters got lost, but certainly not all six of them. No, it was all a lie, Sara, to get you out of England.”

“Mother wouldn’t agree to such a lie.”

“Of course she would,” Nora muttered. “My poor sister is afraid of her husband. She always was, and she always will be. We both know it, Sara, and it’s pointless to pretend to each other. Get your head out of the clouds, child. If Winston told her to lie to you, she would. Now enough about your sorry parents,” she rushed on when Sara looked as if she was about to interrupt. “I want to ask you a question.”

“What is it?”

“Do you want to be married to Nathan?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want.”

“Do you or not?”

“I’ve never thought about being with anyone else,” Sara answered hesitantly. “I don’t really know how I feel, Nora. I dislike the notion of any other woman having him, though. Do you know I didn’t realize that until he mentioned the word ‘mistress’ to me? I reacted most vehemently to that proposal. It’s all very confusing.”

“Yes, love is always confusing.”

“I’m not talking about love,” Sara countered. “It’s just that I’ve been trained to think of Nathan as my husband all these years.”

Nora let out an inelegant snort. “You were trained to hate the man. They thought they’d raised another one just like your sister Belinda, but they couldn’t do it, could they? You don’t hate Nathan at all.”

“No, I don’t hate anyone.”

“All these years you’ve protected him in your heart, Sara, just as you’ve protected your mother whenever you had a chance. You listened to their lies about Nathan, and then you discarded them.”

“They think I hate him,” Sara confessed. “I pretended to agree with everything my relatives told me about him so they would leave me alone. Uncle Henry was the worse. Now he knows the truth. When I confronted him in the tavern, when I saw your band on his fat little finger, well, I lost my temper. I boasted that Nathan would retaliate and added to that lie by telling him that Nathan and I had been on the best of terms for a long while.”

“Perhaps it wasn’t all a lie,” Nora said. “I do believe Nathan would retaliate on my behalf in future, Sara. And do you know why?”

“Because he realizes what a dear, sweet lady you are,” Sara answered.

Nora rolled her eyes heavenward. “No, dear, I don’t believe he realizes that just yet. He’ll watch out for me because he knows how much you love me. Nathan is the kind of man who takes care of the people close to him.”

“But Nora—”

“I’m telling you he’s already beginning to care for you, Sara.”

“You’re being fanciful.”

The conversation came to an abrupt end when Matthew came into the room. He gave Nora a wide smile and a slow wink. “It’s time for you to have a rest,” he told her.

Sara kissed her aunt goodnight and went back to her cabin. The bath was ready for her. She took her time soaking until the water turned cold, then dressed in her white nightgown and matching wrapper. She was sitting on the side of the bed, brushing the tangles out of her hair, when Nathan came into the room.

Two younger men followed him inside. The seamen nodded at her, then lifted the tub between them and carried it out. Sara clutched the top of her robe against her neck in an attempt at modesty until the men left, then resumed brushing her hair.

Nathan shut the door and bolted it.

He didn’t say a word to her. He didn’t have to. The look on his face told her all she needed to know. The man was determined, all right. There wouldn’t be any more favors doled out, no more hasty reprieves. She started trembling.

Nathan had had a bath, too, she realized. His hair was still wet. It was slicked back behind his neck. His unforgiving profile wasn’t softened at all. He wasn’t wearing a shirt either. Sara stared at him while she continued to brush her hair, wondering what in God’s name she could talk about to ease the tension inside her.

Nathan stared back at her while he pulled the chair out from the table, sat down, and slowly removed his boots. The socks came off next. Then he stood up, facing her still, and began to unbutton his pants.

She closed her eyes.

He smiled over her shyness. It didn’t deter him, though. He took off the rest of his clothes and tossed them on the chair.

“Sara?”

She didn’t open her eyes when she answered. “Yes, Nathan?”

“Take your clothes off.”

His voice was soft, tender, he thought. He was trying to ease a little of her fear away. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind that she was afraid, for she was ripping that brush through her hair with such vigor that she had to be giving herself one hell of a headache. She’d knock herself senseless if she didn’t calm down.

She wasn’t soothed by his voice, however. “We’ve already had this discussion, Nathan,” she announced as she slammed the brush against her temple again. “I told you I was keeping my clothes on.”

She’d tried to make her voice firm, determined. The effort didn’t work. Even she could hear the tremor in her hoarse whisper. “All right?” she asked.

“All right,” he agreed with a sigh.

His easy agreement calmed her. She quit brushing her hair. She still wouldn’t look at him when she stood up and slowly crossed the room. She made a wide path around him, her gaze directed on the floor.

After she put her brush away she took a deep breath and turned around. She was determined to pretend his nakedness didn’t bother her. She was his wife, she reminded herself, and she shouldn’t be carrying on like a silly, innocent chit.

The problem, of course, was that she was an innocent. She’d never seen a naked man before. Lord, she was nervous. I’m a woman now, not a child, she told herself. There’s absolutely no reason to be embarrassed.

Then she got a rather thorough look at her husband, and all thoughts about being worldly flew out the chimney. Nathan was in the process of closing the trap in the ceiling. He was half turned away from her, but she still saw quite enough of his physique to make her forget how to breathe.

The man was all muscle and steel. Bronzed, too. It suddenly dawned on her that his backside was almost as dark as the rest of his body. How did he get that private area bronzed?

She wasn’t about to ask him that question, though. Perhaps after they’d been married some twenty or thirty years she’d feel comfortable enough to broach that topic.

Perhaps, too, one day in the future she might be able to look back on the night of agony and have herself a good laugh.

She certainly wasn’t laughing at the moment. She watched Nathan light the candle. The soft glow made his skin glisten. She was grateful that he had his back turned to her when he saw to that task. Was he deliberately giving her time to get accustomed to his size?

If that was his aim, it wasn’t working, she thought to herself. The man could masquerade as a tree. He was certainly big enough.

Sara let out a little sigh when she realized how childishly she was behaving. Her only saving grace was the fact that he wasn’t going to know how terrified she was. She averted her face so he couldn’t see her blush, then said, “Are we going to bed now?”

She was pleased with herself. She’d sounded very nonchalant when she’d asked that question.

He thought she sounded like she’d just swallowed a spike. He knew he was going to have to find a way to deal with her fear before he bedded her.

The question, of course, was how. He let out a sigh and turned to take her into his arms. She ran to the bed. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and slowly forced her around to face him.

His bride certainly wasn’t having any difficulty meeting his gaze, he thought. No, he didn’t have to nudge her chin up to get her full attention. Nathan held his smile. He doubted Sara would have lowered her gaze even if he told her there was a snake slithering across her feet.

“Does my nakedness upset you?” He asked the obvious, thinking to attack the problem head on.

“Why would you think that?”

His hands moved to the sides of her neck. He could feel her pulse pounding under his thumb. He kept his touch gentle. “You like it when I kiss you, don’t you, Sara?”

She seemed surprised by that question. “Do you?” he asked again when she continued to stare at him.

“Yes,” she admitted. “I do like you to kiss me.”

He looked arrogantly pleased.

“But I don’t believe I’m going to like the other thing at all,” she said, thinking to give him fair warning once again.

He didn’t look offended by her honesty. He leaned down and kissed her on her forehead, then kissed the bridge of her nose. His mouth brushed against hers for a fleeting second. “I’m going to like it,” he told her in a low growl.

She didn’t have a ready comeback for that comment, so she was silent. She kept her mouth closed, too, when his mouth settled on hers again.

He felt as if he were kissing a statue. He wasn’t deterred, though. He sighed against her mouth and slowly tightened his hold around her neck. When her skin began to sting she opened her mouth to order him to let go of her. That demand got all tangled up in her confused mind, however, when his tongue moved inside to touch hers.

Her response was nice. The ice inside her began to melt. Nathan softened his hold as soon as she opened her mouth for him. His thumbs made lazy circles along the sides of her neck. He was deliberate in his bid to overwhelm her and thought he was succeeding when she moved closer to him and put her arms around his neck.

Her sigh of pleasure mingled with his growl of need. He didn’t let up on his gentle attack. The kiss was long, hard, damned thorough. His mouth slanted hungrily over hers again and again while his tongue stoked the fire inside her.

The kiss seemed endless. Because she was innocent of such new feelings it didn’t take him long at all to rid her of her shyness, her resistance. He tried to contain his own hunger, but when her fingers threaded through his damp hair and he felt the sensual, feathery-light caress the flame inside him began to burn.

He wasn’t very deliberate. He’d tamed her and was suddenly impatient. Sara let out a ragged moan when he pulled her arms away from his neck. His mouth continued to plunder hers, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to get close to his heat again, to wrap herself around his warmth. He wasn’t cooperating. He kept blocking her arms and tugging on her at the same time. She didn’t understand what he wanted from her, couldn’t seem to sort it all out in her mind, for she was too occupied kissing him, and simply too overwhelmed by the strange, wonderful feelings rioting inside her.

“Now you can put your arms around me again,” he whispered when he ended the kiss. His smile was filled with tenderness. Lord, she was transparent. Her bemused expression hid nothing from him. Passion and confusion were there for him to see. Nathan had never known a woman who could respond with such openness, such abandon.

It shook him a little when he realized how very much he wanted to please her. The innocent trust she willingly gave to him made him feel as though he could conquer the world.

He was going to have to conquer her first. “Don’t be afraid,” he whispered in a deep, husky voice. He stroked the side of her face with the backs of his fingers, smiling anew over the way she instinctively tilted her face to the side to gain more of his caress.

“I’m trying not to be afraid,” she whispered back. “It does ease my worry because I know you care about my feelings.”

“And when did you come to that conclusion?”

He wondered over the sudden sparkle that came into her eyes. She seemed to be amused about something.

“When you agreed that I could keep my clothes on.”

Nathan’s sigh was long. He decided it wasn’t the time to mention the fact that he’d just removed her robe and nightgown. He guessed she’d find out soon enough.

“I’m not a very patient man, Sara, when I want something as badly as I want you.”

He put his arms around her waist and pulled her up against him. Skin touched skin. Her eyes widened in reaction, but before she could get her wits about her to decide if she liked the feeling or not, his mouth settled on top of hers again.

The man certainly knew how to kiss. She didn’t make him force her mouth open—instead she quickly became the aggressor. Her tongue rubbed against his first. He grunted in reaction. She thought that sound might mean he liked her show of boldness, and she became all the more wanton.

The kiss was wild. He wanted to rekindle the passion between them. When she began to make those erotic little whimpers in the back of her throat he knew he’d accomplished his goal. She was already hot for him again. And Lord, the sound made him ache to be inside her.

Her hands gripped his shoulders. Her soft breasts rubbed against his chest. He lifted her up and pulled her tight against his arousal, then drowned out the gasp that intimacy caused with another long, hot kiss.

Sara couldn’t seem to catch hold of a thought. The sensations his kiss caused were so strange, so wonderful, so consuming. She couldn’t even hold onto her shyness. She knew he’d taken her clothes off, had deliberately baited him when she’d reminded him that he’d promised she could leave them on. It was trickery on her part, but her reason had made perfectly good sense to her at the time. She wanted him to slow down, to give her time to get used to his body, his heat, his touch.

She didn’t have any idea how they’d gotten over to the bed, but Nathan was suddenly pulling the covers back. His mouth left hers when he lifted her up and gently placed her on her back in the center of the sheets. He didn’t give her time to try to shield her nudity from him but followed her down on the bed, covering her from head to foot with his warm body.

It was too much, too soon. Sara began to feel trapped and totally at his mercy. She didn’t want to be afraid, and she didn’t want to disappoint him.

The haze of passion cleared in an instant. She didn’t want to do this anymore.

But she didn’t want him to quit kissing her either. And God, she was frightened.

He’d probably take exception if she started screaming. For that reason she kept her mouth closed in an effort to contain the shout locked in her throat.

His knee tried to nudge her legs apart. She wouldn’t allow that intimacy and began to struggle against him. She slapped his shoulders, too. He immediately stopped trying. He propped himself up on his elbows to ease his weight away from her, then began to nibble on the side of her neck. She liked that. His breath was warm, sweet, teasing against her ear. She shivered in reaction. In a dark whisper he told her how much she pleased him, how much she made him want her, and even told her how beautiful he thought she was. When he was finished with his words of praise he was certain he’d coaxed her into accepting him completely.

He was mistaken. As soon as he tried to nudge her thighs apart again she went completely rigid on him. He gritted his teeth in frustration.

The feel of her soft skin made him wild with his own need to be inside her. But she wasn’t ready for his invasion yet. His forehead was beaded with perspiration from the effort of holding back. Each time his hands moved to touch her breasts she tensed up on him. His frustration soon made his hunger acutely painful.

It would only be a matter of minutes before he completely lost his control. God, he didn’t want to hurt her. He was feeling desperate to thrust inside her heat, but she was going to be hot for him, wet, ready, when he finally made her his.

She sure as hell wasn’t ready now. She was pinching his shoulder and trying to get him to move away from her.

He decided to let her have her way for just a minute or two. Nathan rolled to his side, thinking to put a little distance between them before he completely lost his sanity, forced her thighs apart, and drove into her.

He thought he only needed a couple of minutes to regain his discipline. When his heart quit slamming inside his chest, when it didn’t hurt so much to breathe, when the god-awful ache in his loins abated a little, he would try again.

Wooing a virgin was damned hard work, he thought, and since he had absolutely no expertise with either wooing or with bedding virgins, he felt completely inadequate.

Perhaps one day in the future, when he was an old, old man, he might be able to look back on this night of sweet torture and have himself a good laugh. At the moment he wasn’t in the mood to laugh, though. He wanted to grab hold of his bride and shake some sense into her while he demanded at the same time that she not be afraid of him.

The contradiction in those conflicting thoughts made him shake his head.

Sara was trembling from head to foot. As soon as he moved away from her the helpless feeling of being trapped vanished. She wanted him to kiss her again.

The look on Nathan’s face worried her, though. He looked like he wanted to shout at her. She took a deep breath, then rolled to her side to face him. “Nathan?”

He didn’t answer her. His eyes were closed, his jaw clenched tight.

“You told me you were a patient man.”

“Sometimes.”

“You’re upset with me, aren’t you?”

“No.”

She didn’t believe him. “Don’t frown,” she whispered. She reached out to touch his chest.

He reacted as though she’d just burned him. He visibly flinched. “Don’t you want to do this any longer?” she asked. “Have you quit wanting me?”

Not want her? He wanted to grab hold of her hand and force her to feel how very much he wanted her. He didn’t, of course, for he was certain she’d become terrified again.

“Sara, just give me a minute,” he said in a clipped voice. “I’m afraid . . . ” He didn’t finish that explanation, didn’t tell her he was afraid he would hurt her if he touched her. That admission would only increase her fear, so he kept silent.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” she whispered.

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He opened his eyes to look at her. She couldn’t really think . . . and yet the tenderness in her eyes indicated she did believe he was afraid.

“For God’s sake, Sara, I’m not afraid.”

Her fingers slowly trailed down his chest. He caught hold of her hand when she reached the flat of his stomach. “Stop that,” he ordered.

“You’ve only taken experienced women to your bed, haven’t you, Nathan?”

His answer was a low grunt.

She smiled. “Nathan, you like kissing me, don’t you?”

He’d asked her that very question not fifteen minutes earlier, when he’d been trying to rid her of her fear. God’s truth, he would have laughed if he hadn’t been in so much pain. The woman was treating him as though he were the virgin.

He was about to straighten out her thinking when she edged closer to him. He suddenly realized that his bride was no longer afraid of him. “Do you?” she persisted.

“Yes, Sara, I like kissing you.”

“Then kiss me again, please.”

“Sara, kissing isn’t the only thing I had in mind. I want to touch you. Everywhere.”

He waited for her to go rigid on him again. God, he wished he had the patience for this. His nerves felt as though they were about to snap, and all he could think about was spilling his seed inside her.

He closed his eyes and growled.

And then he felt her take hold of his hand. He opened his eyes just as she placed his hand on the side of her full breast.

He didn’t move for a long minute. She didn’t either. They stared into each other’s eyes. He waited to see what she would do next. She waited for him to get on with his duty.

Sara soon became impatient with him. He was gently stroking her breasts. The feeling made her tingle inside. It made her reckless, too. She rubbed her toes against his legs and slowly leaned up to kiss him.

“I hate the feeling of being trapped,” she whispered between feathery-light kisses. “But I don’t feel trapped now, Nathan. Don’t give up on me yet, husband. This is a new experience for me. Truly.”

He gently caressed the side of her face. “I’m not going to give up,” he whispered. There was a bit of laughter in his voice when he added, “Truly.”

She sighed against his mouth and kissed him just the way she wanted to. When her tongue moved inside to mate with his, Nathan’s control snapped. He became the aggressor again, deepening the kiss even more with wild abandon.

He kept up the gentle assault until she rolled onto her back and tried to bring him with her. Nathan didn’t give in to her demand but leaned down to kiss the fragrant valley between her breasts. His mouth teased first one and then the other nipple until they were both hard nubs. His tongue drove her wild. When she couldn’t stand the sweet torment any longer she grabbed hold of his hair and began to tug on him.

She felt as if she’d been hit with hot lightning when he finally took her nipple into his mouth. She arched up, demanding more. He began to suckle.

A warm knot formed in the pit of her stomach. “Nathan, please,” she moaned. She didn’t have any idea what she was begging him for, only knew the incredible heat was driving her beyond reason.

He turned to her other breast even as his hand slid down between her thighs. She didn’t clench against him but let out another ragged groan.

He leaned up on one elbow so he could watch her expression. She tried to hide her face in the crook of his shoulder. He reached out and caught hold of her hair.

“I like the way you respond to me,” he whispered. “Do you like the way I’m touching you?”

He already knew the answer. He could feel how ready she was for him. How hot. His fingers rubbed against the nub hidden between her folds until she was slick with moisture. His finger slowly eased up inside her.

Her hands had been fisted at her sides until that minute. She came apart then. She stroked his shoulders, his back. Her nails scraped his backside. “Nathan,” she whispered. “Don’t do that. It hurts. Oh, God, don’t stop.”

She continued to contradict herself by arching up against his hand. Nathan could barely understand what she was saying to him. He shook with raw desire to have her.

He silenced her weak protest with a kiss and moved to cover her. She didn’t try to lock her legs together but moved to cuddle his hardness between her thighs.

He twisted her hair in his hand to hold her steady for his kiss. The way she rubbed her pelvis against him drove him crazy. He wasn’t being gentle. She wouldn’t let him. Her nails stung. He liked that. She was moaning, too. He liked that even more.

He slowly eased into her but stopped when he felt the thin shield of her resistance. He lifted his head up enough so that he could look into her eyes.

“Put your legs around me,” he ordered, his voice harsh with determination.

When she did as he commanded he let out a low growl. And still he hesitated.

“Look at me, Sara.”

She opened her eyes and stared into his.

“You’re going to belong to me. Now and forever.”

Her eyes were misty with passion. She reached up to clasp the sides of his face. “I have always belonged to you, Nathan. Always.”

His mouth covered hers again. He thrust deep inside her in one swift motion, thinking to get the pain he knew she’d feel over and done with as quickly as possible.

“Hush, baby,” he whispered when she cried out. He was fully embedded in her. Her tight heat surrounded him, squeezed him. “God, that feels good,” he said with a groan.

“No, it doesn’t feel good,” she cried out. She tried to shift positions to ease the throbbing pain, but he held her hips and wouldn’t let her move.

“It will feel better in a minute,” he told her. His breathing was labored. He sounded out of breath to her. His face rested in the hollow of her shoulder. He nipped at her skin with his teeth, tickled her at the same time with his tongue. The sweet torture made her forget some of the pain.

“Don’t push against me like that, Sara,” he ordered. His voice was harsh, strained. “I’m not stopping now. I can’t.”

His tongue rubbed her earlobe. She quit struggling and let out a sigh of pleasure.

“The pain won’t last long,” he whispered then. “I promise.”

She reacted more to the tenderness, the caring in his voice than to the promise he’d just given her. She hoped he was right, though. She still hurt. The throbbing was insistent, but after a minute it did begin to lessen. Yet when he started to move again the pain immediately returned.

“If you don’t move, it isn’t so terrible,” she whispered.

His groan was harsh.

“All right, Nathan?” she pleaded.

“All right,” he answered, responding to the worry in her voice. It was a lie, of course, but she was too innocent to understand how much he needed to move. “I won’t move.”

Her hands began to stroke his hair, the back of his neck. His fever was burning out of control, and the pain of having to hold back was demanding to be appeased.

She couldn’t seem to quit touching him. “Nathan, kiss me.”

“The pain’s gone now?”

“Almost.”

He deliberately withdrew just a little when he moved to kiss her again, then just as slowly eased back inside her.

“You moved,” she cried out.

Instead of agreeing with her he kissed her. When he tried to withdraw again her nails dug into his hard thighs. She was trying to keep him still against her. He ignored her protests and sought to make her burn the way he was burning. His hand slipped down between their joined bodies, and his thumb slowly stoked the fire inside her.

Her head fell back on the pillows, and her grip on his thighs relaxed.

And then she began to move. Her hips pushed up against his. Her actions were instinctive, primal, uncontrollable.

She soon became demanding, too. He responded to her by slowly pulling back and thrusting more powerfully inside.

She squeezed him tight and arched up against him just as forcefully. The mating ritual took over. The bed creaked from the rocking motion. Their bodies glistened with perspiration in the candlelight. Her sweet moans blended with his raw growls.

They were both wild to find fulfillment. He couldn’t stop his own climax, nor the near shout he gave when he spilled his hot seed inside her.

His head dropped against her shoulder in complete surrender to the blazing orgasm that overtook him.

He knew she was close to finding her own release. His thrusts continued to be just as forceful, and when he felt her tense against him, he forced her orgasm by driving hard into her again.

She screamed: His name.

His ears rang from the noise. He collapsed on top of her, giving her his full weight in an attempt to stop her trembling.

Neither one of them moved for a long, long while. Nathan was too content. She was too exhausted.

She felt a trickle of moisture near her ear, reached up to touch it, and only then realized she’d been crying. Lord, she’d really lost her composure, hadn’t she? She was too pleased to worry about that, though. And too satisfied. Why hadn’t anyone ever told her how wonderful making love would be?

Her husband’s heartbeat pounded in unison with her own. She let out a happy sigh. She was his wife now.

“You can’t call me bride anymore,” she whispered against his neck. On impulse she tickled his skin with the tip of her tongue. The taste of him was salty, male, wonderful.

“Am I too heavy for you?”

He sounded weary to her. She answered him, yes, he was getting heavy, and he immediately rolled onto his back.

She didn’t want him to leave her just yet. She wanted him to hold her, to tell her what a fine woman she was, to give her the words of praise and love all new wives longed to hear. She wanted him to kiss her again, too.

She didn’t get anything. Nathan’s eyes were closed. He looked peaceful and sleepy.

She didn’t have any idea of the war Nathan was waging with himself. He was desperately trying to understand what had just happened to him. He’d never lost control so completely. She’d bewitched him. Confused him, too. He was feeling vulnerable, and damn, that feeling scared the hell out of him.

Sara rolled onto her side. “Nathan?”

“What?”

“Kiss me again.”

“Go to sleep.”

“Kiss me goodnight.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll want you again if I kiss you,” he finally explained. He didn’t bother to look at her but stared at the ceiling. “You’re too tender.”

She sat up in bed, flinching over the discomfort she felt between her thighs. He was right. She was tender. It didn’t seem to matter, though. She still wanted him to kiss her.

“You’re the one who made me tender,” she muttered. She poked him in his shoulder. “I specifically remember telling you not to move.”

“You moved first, Sara. Remember that?” he drawled.

She blushed. She took heart. He wasn’t sounding too surly. She cuddled up against him, wishing he’d put his arms around her. “Nathan, isn’t the after as important as the during?”

He didn’t know what she was talking about. “Go to sleep,” he ordered for the second time. He jerked the covers up over the two of them, then closed his eyes again.

She threw her arm over him. She was exhausted. Frustrated, too. She told him so.

He laughed. “Sara, I know you found fulfillment.”

“That isn’t what I’m talking about,” she whispered.

She waited for him to ask her to explain what she’d meant, then gave up when he kept silent. “Nathan?”

“Hell, what now?”

“Please don’t take that mean tone with me.”

“Sara ...” he began in a warning tone of voice.

“After you took those other women to your bed, well, after . . . what did you do?”

What in God’s name was she getting at? “I left,” he snapped.

“Are you going to leave me?”

“Sara, this is my bed. I’m going to sleep.”

Her patience was at an end. “Not before I explain proper etiquette to you,” she announced. “After a man finishes . . . that, he should tell his wife what a fine woman she is. Then he should kiss her and hold her close. They fall asleep in each other’s arms.”

He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. She said the damnedest things. Sounded like a general, too. “It’s called lovemaking, Sara, and how would you know what’s proper and what isn’t? You were a virgin, remember?”

“I just know what’s proper,” she countered.

“Sara?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t shout at me.”

He turned to look at her. Hell, she looked as if she was going to cry. He didn’t have the patience to deal with her tears. God, she was vulnerable . . . and beautiful. Her mouth was all rosy and swollen from his kisses.

He reached over and hauled her into his arms. After giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head he pushed her face down into the crook of his shoulder and muttered, “You’re a fine woman. Now go to sleep.”

He didn’t sound like he meant what he said, but she didn’t care. He was holding her close. He was stroking her back. She thought that was a little telling. She snuggled up against him and closed her eyes.

His chin rested on the top of her head. Each time the memory of their lovemaking came into his thoughts he blocked it. He wasn’t ready to let his emotions get the upper hand. He was simply too disciplined to let a woman get that close.

He was just drifting off to sleep when she whispered his name again. He squeezed her to let her know he wanted her to keep quiet. She whispered his name again.

“Yes?” he answered with a deliberate yawn.

“Do you know what this holding and hugging each other is called?”

She wasn’t going to let up on him until she told him what was on her mind. Nathan squeezed her again, then gave in. “No, Sara, what’s it called?”

“Cherishing.”

He groaned. She smiled. “It’s a good start, isn’t it?”

His snore was her only answer. Sara wasn’t bothered that he had rudely fallen asleep in the middle of her fervent speech. She’d simply explain it all to him again the next day.

She couldn’t wait for morning light. She was going to find a hundred ways to make Nathan realize his good fortune. She already knew she was the perfect mate for him. He didn’t know it yet, but eventually, with patience and understanding, he’d realize how much he loved her. She was certain.

She was his wife, his love. Their marriage was true in every sense. There was a bond between them. Marriage was a sacred institution, and Sara was determined to protect and cherish her vows.

She fell asleep holding him tight. The next day was going to be the official start of her new life as Nathan’s wife. It was going to be a day in heaven.