He groaned her name and bent his head to her breasts, his mouth flickering around the pale pink areola of her nipple, drawing it into his mouth, playing lightly with his tongue until the aroused flesh responded, contracting into hard buds. He seemed to savor the helpless sounds she made, and as he continued to tease her breasts with his mouth, his hands drifted over the rest of her body. His fingertips smoothed across her legs and hips, drew a pattern slowly across her stomach, wandered to the insides of her thighs and teased them further apart. Mira arched up to him hungrily, crooning encouragement, desperate for the relief his touch could give her, but his hand moved slowly, lazily, until she whimpered her need for him to end the torment. Moaning as she felt his finger slip inside her, she undulated her hips in response to his rhythm. Suddenly his finger was withdrawn, and the shock of emptiness seared through her. Her hands slid down to his hard buttocks, urging him to settle on top of her.
"I should make you wait longer," he whispered, desire shining in his eyes as he looked down at her. "For all I've suffered tonight, you should know a little of it too."
"Don't punish me." She arched up to him, pressinga coaxing kiss against his throat. "Don't punish me for loving you too much."
"Oh God, Mira," he breathed, and entered her in one stroke, hard and swollen, filling her softness until she gasped and writhed in an effort to accommodate him. Thrusting heavily, he joined his body to hers with long, powerful drives. As he brought her closer and closer to a dizzying precipice, her shaking hands locked behind his flexing back. She buried her face in his throat and sobbed as she was overcome by an ecstasy more perfect, more complete than anything they had ever shared before. Her flesh tightened convulsively around his, and as the same tremors shook his body she held him tightly, whispering her love against the damp heat of his skin.
When he had recovered enough to move, Alec rolled over with her and sat up, cradling her against his chest as he leaned against the pillows. She rested her cheek on top of his shoulder, sighing in contentment. "I love you," he said thickly, unfastening her long braid and playing with the dark, silky locks. "Don't ever doubt it. If it takes a lifetime, I'll do whatever it takes to make you believe it."
"I believe it right now," Mira replied, pressing a warm kiss on his lips, her eyes soft and brilliant as she met his gaze. "But I'll still require frequent reminders."
"So will I."
"It's a good bargain," she murmured. "Your love for mine."
"That's not a bargain, sweet… it's a guarantee."
The sound of raised voices filtered from the sitting room into the great hall, where they echoed until everyone in Falkner castle could hear the debate. Not a soul could be found tiptoeing through the hallways; when Alec matched up against Juliana, it was time to take shelter and close the doors. The Penrhyn will of steel and the explosive Falkner temper—there was notelling who would win, but the combination was not a good one. While the argument progressed, Mira sat in the corner of the sofa, occupying herself with sorting through her bag of herbs in order to make an herbal compress for Juliana's eyes. Carr, the subject of the debate, sat nearby with a drink in his hand, having little success in interrupting and offering a word on his own behalf. Alec paced edgily around the room while Juliana spoke from her chair before the fire.
"I don't see that there's much you can do to stop Carr from leaving," the matriarch said. "And your bullish temper isn't going to convince him to change his mind either. He won't be talked out of it."
"Carr," Mira interceded, "are you certain that leaving England to search for Leila Holburn is what you want?"
"It's what I want," Carr said, his green eyes sincere. "I know everyone thinks that it's merely out of obligation to Holt, but it's more than that."
"I asked Juliana to help me. talk him out of it," Alec said grimly, "thinking that she would take a practical view of it all. And instead—probably just to confuse me—she prattled to him for an hour about knights and quests and all sorts of chivalric balderd—"
Juliana interrupted with a derisive snort. "I never prattle, Alec. And I dislike your implication that my advice to him has been less than sound. Furthermore, he's not a boy any longer, and he has the right to make decisions unaided by you, or me, or anyone else."
"Not when he has no idea what kind of trouble he can bring on himself!" Alec said, scowling. "We're not talking about sending him on a tour abroad! He's going to a place where none of us will be able to help him out of his scrapes."