Sweet Savage Heart (42 page)

Later that night, as Rana snuggled into her bed, she savored its comfort and softness. In spite of the awesome learning task before her, she felt happy and relaxed. The word “home” kept drifting across her sleepy mind like a peaceful cloud in a tranquil blue sky. She cuddled the doll in her arms as if it were a tangible link to her deceased mother, for it brought back good memories of nights when she and Marissa had shared this bed, had laughed and whispered and made up beautiful fantasies that had not been allowed to become realities. Yes, she decided, her destiny was here with her grandfather and her husband.
Husband,
her mind echoed, then she smiled.

With Nathan and Rana in bed, Travis stood before the fireplace in the sitting room and admired the three portraits above the mantel. His gaze finally settled on his favorite of Rana. She was so beautiful and radiant and she was so close, but so was Nathan. Lordy, how he wanted her, he reflected. It had been days since that night in the forest when she had declared that she had chosen him to share her life. She was like sunshine, and
flowers, and a fresh breeze; she was a rainbow, a child, a rare treasure; she was all things good and pure and priceless. Her eyes, so large and mellow, held such magic and allure. It was as if every inch of her called out irresistibly to be touched ever so gently. Her tumbling tresses presented an enticing aura of sensuality. This angel displayed overwhelming charms and she was… almost his.

Travis stared at her painted image and yearned for her. He imagined her lying in bed a short distance away, waiting for him. These next weeks pretending she was his “sister” would be unmerciful, yet he needed to protect her life and reputation as much as he needed to be with her. Could he betray Nathan’s trust in his own home? What if Nathan caught them together? It could damage their relationship. Even if they declared their love, would it excuse or justify their intimacy? There was no safe way they could marry until this danger with the Caldwells was past and, until they were legally wed, would Nathan understand and accept their wanton affair? It was indeed a predicament.

Travis paced the sitting room, wondering if he should go to Rana. He needed her and wanted her, but could he risk discovery? Twice he had challenged it on the trail; how long could his luck hold out? He doused the lanterns and headed toward his room.

In the hallway, Travis glanced to his left to find Rana poised in her open doorway, smiling at him and mutely beckoning him to her side. He looked toward Nathan’s closed door and sighed heavily. If he learned the truth, Nathan would have to understand that he could not resist Rana or deny these passions burning within them. He quietly headed toward her. She opened the door and allowed his entrance.

Travis closed and locked the door behind him. His hands captured her body and pulled it into his embrace,
creating a blissful contact. The dam that had checked their passions for many days suddenly shattered and a surge of powerful passion spilled forth. Her nearness caused his heart to race with desire. With the slowness of a snail, his hands moved over her face, down her throat, over her shoulders. His fingers deftly drifted over her bare flesh, causing her to tremble. Bending forward, he fastened his eager lips to hers. His tongue tentatively mated with hers, then darted between her lips to play joyously within her mouth. He kissed her nose, then her eyes, then sensuously attacked her ears, where his respiration caused her trembling to increase. Slowly, seductively, his mouth traveled down her neck and wandered over her shoulders. At the same time, his hands slipped up her body to capture two passion-swollen breasts and tantalize her taut peaks.

Rana shivered with longing. Her body quivered in delight. She had been waiting for him to come to her, fearing he would not. It had been too long and she craved him. Her breath came in shallow, sharp gasps as his tongue and hands brought titillating sensations to her. Suddenly her breath was stolen by feverish kisses and a fierce embrace. Her entire body experienced a rush of heat and tingling. His hands tenderly squeezed her thrusting peaks as his tongue probed her mouth. Then they slipped around her body to grasp her buttocks and fondle them, pressing her snugly against his rapidly enlarging manhood. Slowly his hands began to move up and down her body, stroking here and there.

Her fingers pushed aside his shirt and allowed it to float to the floor so she could press kisses to his throat and chest. Her arms encircled his taut body as her mouth worked its wonders. Her actions revealed her inexperience, yet she stimulated him to the edge of mindless surrender. She had craved him for days and she could not wait any longer. Her body was like an ember lying near a
fire, waiting to be ignited and consumed by its heat and sparked to blazing life.

Travis’s hands captured firm mounds and gently kneaded them. His mouth wandered over her face and his nose inhaled her heady fragrance. His manhood throbbed with painful cravings, flaming with a need only she could extinguish. Their tongues touched and explored the taste of the other. Her breasts burned like two coals against his chest. He groaned in achingly sweet need of her as his lips worked between her mouth, ears, and neck, and his talented hands stimulated her body to quivering desire. Down his hand drifted, over supple breasts, past a slim waist, over rounded hips, and into a beckoning fuzzy mound that radiated a heat to rival the July sun. Slowly and provocatively his hand stroked the hardened peak it located there until their starving senses were ravenous and pleading.

“Love me,” she entreated, enslaved by rapidly rising desire.

Travis could wait no longer to feel her body clinging to his. He lifted her and carried her to the bed. After placing her there, he quickly removed his clothes and joined her. He wanted to feel each sensation and to savor each emotion. She was so close, so intoxicating, so eager. He could think of nothing except her desire for him and his for her. Her flesh was as soft as Texas cotton and he longed to caress it. Her body was lithe and enticing, calling out to him to give it pleasure. Needing to feel her flesh against his, he assailed that body eagerly.

Rana’s hands moved over his compelling frame. He was so strong, so firm, so sleek. It felt wonderful for her hands to glide over his body, and she relished its feel and the power she possessed to stir him to life. Her fingers roved broad shoulders and a nearly hairless chest on which muscles stood out prominently before flattening to a taut stomach and lean hips. Her respiration
quickened and her insides quivered with anticipation of what lay ahead tonight. His embrace was enticing, stimulating, irresistible. It was too dark to see his handsome face, but she could envision it. Her senses were alive and alert, yet mindless and dazed. He demanded and controlled all she was, and she did not care. Her body was susceptible to his every move and touch. She wanted him to take her fully, for every area of her body and mind ached for his conquest.

Travis suppressed his groans of desire and pleasure as his hands and mouth wandered over her receptive body. Staggering sensations flooded his mind and inflamed his flesh. His lips found hers and urgently possessed them. He claimed her senses with skill and determination, wanting to be her only reality. His hunger could not be denied.

A flood of sensation washed over Rana. Her body relaxed and tensed simultaneously as he created ecstasy and torment at the same time. Some kisses and caresses sated her, while others tantalized her. Her hands grasped his shoulders and pulled him tightly against her smoldering body. She wanted… She needed…

Their contact and her eagerness were playing havoc with Travis’s control. Their naked bodies clung together and their mouths fused feverishly. His shaft demanded entrance to that moist haven, which could both cool and inflame it. His hand provocatively traveled down her stomach and teased along her silky thighs, encouraging her desires to burn brighter and more fiercely. He called on all he knew about women to give her the ultimate pleasure while trying to contain his rampant need.

Rana writhed on the bed as Travis toyed with the sensitive peak, which delighted and encouraged him to continue his actions. His lips found hers and sent reality spinning. His talented lips shifted from her mouth to her breast, then back and forth, causing her to squirm
beneath his artful seduction. Soon her body was pleading for appeasement. Her appetite was whetted beyond resistance or denial.

By then, nothing mattered to either except the dousing of the fires of passion that enflamed and consumed them. Yet Travis continued to use his deft hands and lips upon her pliant body. Her hands roamed his body, their pressure on it revealing the intensity of her desire. Aquiver with fierce longing, his mouth encased a taut peak and drove her wild with blissful torment. His mouth moved upward then to willfully invade hers, his hunger intense and his skill enormous. Her body was responding wildly and eagerly to his and his heart surged with joy. He soon became lost in the wonder of her love and response.

Her fingers lovingly traced the lines on his face and body. They drifted into his hair and played amongst its waves. They moved seductively over his lips, then drew his mouth to hers. Greedily she feasted at his love’s well, partaking of its heady nectar. She moaned against his mouth and covered his face with kisses. As his fingers worked on her body, sliding over her throbbing peak and thrusting into her aching womanhood, she yielded her all to him, entreating more stimulation, which he eagerly and happily granted her.

At last, she murmured hoarsely and weakly, “I must have you now, my husband. Enter me and feed this hunger.”

He responded huskily, “If I took you twice a day for the rest of our lives, my hunger for you could never be sated. Each time I take you causes me to want you even more.” He shifted between her inviting thighs and drove gently within her encompassing womanhood. She arched upward, craving and accepting his entire length. She sighed with temporary relief, then felt the burning flames attack her once more as he moved with caution and experience. She needed him so desperately that she
feverishly matched his rhythm, even as he warned her to move slowly and carefully. Wildly, skillfully, he guided and instructed her along this fiery path.

His mouth claimed hers and worked ardently before shifting its attention to her pleading breasts. As his warm, moist lips closed over one nipple, she writhed beneath him. He lifted her hips to drive more deeply into her body. His worked deftly, thrusting and thrusting until he feared she would cry out in sweet yearning. Lordy, how he wished they didn’t have to be careful with their voices and actions. It was sheer agony to have to control anything tonight.

Travis could barely restrain his desire to plunge into her body over and over again until his release came. Each time he advanced and retreated, he feared it would be his final movement. She was enjoying this night too much to end it swiftly and he wanted her to claim all the pleasure she could extract or he could give. He labored to master his heated flesh, as he wanted to prod her more slowly up that mountain she was climbing so rapidly. Each time he ceased his probing to cool his blazing desire, she would wiggle and entreat him to continue. He knew she was too dazed by passion to hear or comply with his warnings, so he ceased murmuring them in her ear and labored silently to send her over love’s precipice.

Rana thrilled to the way his manhood teased along the sensitive sides of the dark, damp canyon between her parted thighs. Her heart was pounding rapidly and her body was ablaze. Each time his tongue flicked over her nipples, she had to force herself not to cry out in pleasure. Her legs overlapped his and she matched his thrusting pattern. As her mouth clung to his and her hands pressed him tightly against her, she strove for the rapturous climax that had begun to melt her very core.

Their hearts and bodies were fused and their desires matched perfectly as they cast off all restraint and
caution. Their bodies blended time and time again, and they unselfishly urged each other up the spiral road of passion. Higher and higher they soared, until a staggering release struck them forcefully and sent them spinning wildly back toward earth. Blissful spasms racked their bodies and tossed them on a sea of sated contentment. They lay in an embrace of love and tranquillity, exhausted and enchanted.

Travis rolled to his back, refusing to release her. His heart was pounding and his body was soaked. Never had he experienced anything like this union of bodies, hearts, and spirits. It was wonderful, exciting, all-consuming, and powerful. They shared passion, tenderness, urgency, and ecstasy; they shared a beautiful love. This thing between them was good, and pure, and right; and no one would destroy it.

Rana curled against him, feeling and thinking as he did. She listened as his heartbeat and breathing returned to normal. She did not mind the wetness of his body, nor that on hers. The musky fragrance that filled the room brought a smile of happiness to her lips. His fingers were slowly, absently trailing up and down her back and she sighed happily and nestled closer to him, delighting when his embrace tightened and he rested his jawline against her forehead. A special peace filled and enveloped them. Their legs were entwined and their flesh joined as one. She closed her eyes and gradually drifted off to sleep.

Travis reluctantly drew away from her, arose, and, after kissing her damp forehead and covering her slender body, returned to his room, yearning for the time when he could remain with her night and day.

Nathan left for town the next morning after breakfast. Travis was cheerfully clearing the table and washing the dishes as Rana argued about helping with the chores, but
Travis won their genial debate by kissing each bandaged fingertip and telling her, “Just keep me company while I work. Since you hurt these lovely fingers saving my hide, the least I can do is wait on you while they heal properly.”

“They were injured many days ago, Travis. A little water and work will not harm them. It is wrong to be lazy and selfish.”

“You can’t fool me, woman. I know they’re still sore and sensitive. The only water I want them in is your bath, understand?”