With a sigh, she disrobed. The water looked too appealing to resist any longer, and she slipped in. After setting her soaps and oils on the small ledge jutting from the side of a cliff, she washed her hair thoroughly. She'd just dunked under to finish rinsing it when Hugh appeared.

For the first time, she actually heard him before she saw him. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that his hair was disheveled and his demeanor was weary, but his eyes…they burned wild.

"You didn't have to come out here to coddle me," she said. "Go back to your new friends."

He was silent, just staring.

"Are you drunk?" She'd never seen him this way. Even at Vinelands, he'd had no more than a glass of scotch while everyone else imbibed heartily.

"Aye," he finally answered. "But it does no' help."

"Help what?" she asked, bewildered by this new facet of Hugh.

"Help me stop wanting you day and night. And I've come to realize only one thing will."

She stood waist-deep in the water, her hair streaming down her back, looking at him over one shoulder. Steam swirled all around her, and a hunter's moon glowed above, illuminating the pale perfection of her body.

Long moments passed as they both remained still, breathing heavily, as if gauging what the other's next move would be. Unless she'd been jesting earlier, this exquisite woman had admitted to having feelings for him—foryears .

He'd rather not have known that.

He hadn't drunk with the MacLarty brothers only to make sure none of them got any ideas about his wife—especially after they'd all seen Jane in nothing but a wet shift and his shirt. He'd drunk because she'd absolutely staggered him—

She turned fully to him, arms by her sides. Something in him simply…snapped.

With a muttered curse, he snatched off his shirt, boots, and pants. He dove in after her, then yanked her naked slick body to him, pressing her close. Her hands trailed up his chest to twine behind his neck and her lush breasts slipped against him, making her moan softly.

"This was supposed to fade, but it has no'," he slurred against her neck. "It's worse. How the bloody hell can it be worse?"

"I-I don't understand you, Hugh."

"You will," he said, then used a straight arm to sweep off her bathing oils from the rock ledge. He set her roughly atop the shelf, putting them face to face. She gasped, but he simply gazed at her, committing this scene to memory. Her dark hair was streaming over her breasts, over her tight, jutting nipples. The silky curls at her sex were stark against her pale, spread thighs. "So beautiful," he rasped. "You torment me. If you only knew…"

He shoved his hips between her legs, leaning in to softly suck her earlobe. She sighed, relaxing, allowing him to work her legs wider.

He grasped her breasts, molding them, covering them completely with his hands. Then, as she gazed at him breathlessly, he leaned down to suckle her as he'd wanted to do that afternoon.

She cried out, and he recognized that he couldn't stop what was happening, even if he wanted to. And he didnot want to.

Switching to her other nipple, he sucked her hard, but she liked it, holding his head to her breast, arching her back for more.

Only after he'd made sure that both of the peaks were hard and throbbing did he pull away to move down her body, to her spread thighs. When his mouth was inches away from her sex, he let her feel his breaths before he pressed his opened lips to her, and slid his tongue out. She gave a strangled cry as he closed his eyes in bliss, delving at her folds, finding them deliciously slick with her own wetness.

He glanced up to gauge her reaction and found her wide-eyed, shamelessly watching him. If possible, that aroused him even more. He spread her flesh with his thumbs, kissing her so that she'd never forget the sight of it. Between licks, he rasped, "Have you had this done tae you before?"

She shook her head. "N-no, never."

He knew his expression was wicked. "I'm going tae make you come like you never have before."

She gasped. "Are you sure you want me to, Hugh?" she asked with a hint of nervousness. "While you're down there?"

"I want you tae come right under my tongue," he growled, taking her between his lips to suck her clitoris for the first time.

She cried out, threading her fingers through his hair, clutching him hard. "Hugh,I will , yes!There . Oh, God, yes!"

At that, he went mindless…felt her damp breast clutched in his hand, her soft, soft flesh beneath his tongue…licking, devouring, squeezing her. He pushed up against the backs of her thighs, pressing her knees wider to get to more of her exquisite taste. She gave a sharp cry, undulating her hips up to his greedy mouth, completely abandoned.

He broke away to say, "Now come for me," then returned his tongue. When she did, her long moan was broken only by her awed words: "It feels sogood . Hugh, you make mefeel so good. "

He licked her madly as she writhed, and his cock seemed to pulse in the warm water with her every word, her every cry. When she grew too sensitive, he finally eased up, then stood before her. "I have tae be inside you," he groaned, desperate to sink into her glistening, plump flesh, still spread to him. Becoming frenzied, he used one hand to pin her wrists above her head against the rock.

Her half-lidded eyes grew wide and she quickly said, "Wait, Hugh. L-let me free. I need to tell you something." But her words sounded indistinct as he cupped her sex beneath his whole hand. "Hugh, please—"

"I am," he growled, keeping her wrists pinned. "I've waited too goddamned long, and I'll wait no more."

"But I'm—"

"No more talking." He was through listening. "You've haunted me." He wanted to punish her as she'd punished him again and again. He wanted to take out ten years of pain on her and make her feel what he'd suffered. He shoved her legs wider, about to plunge into her and take her mindlessly, furiously. Finally.

With his free hand, he clutched her breast, feeling his cockhead straining against her, seeking to be inside her. "I've told you I'm no' a good man. If you would believe me, if you only knew, you'd no' want my hands on you. But you push and push."

"I know. I do." Her face went soft, and her body relaxed. "And I'm sorry. It's just that I need you, Hugh," she whispered, then leaned up to press kisses to his neck. "So much that I can't think of anything but you." The light touch of her lips and her panting words against his skin set him awash in that indescribable feeling of…rightness.

Her eyes met his. She gazed up at him with desire, but also with trust.

He released her wrists and lowered his forehead to hers. "Damn you, Jane," he whispered harshly.

Had he actually thought he could hurt her? The woman he'd been born to touch and to hunger for?

"Don't be angry, please," she murmured. "I want this, but only if you do."

He almost laughed at that—if he did.

"I do, Sìne." He was glad she'd made him come to his senses. Not because he was going to back out of this—no, their fate was sealed on that score—but because he'd be damned if he took her like a mindless, rutting animal. The first time.

He disbelieved what he was about to do, but he was resolved. For once in his life, he would have the woman he desired more than anything else on earth. He didn't deserve her, but he was a selfish bastard. He didn't deserve her, but God, he needed her.

He'd bring her pleasure again. He'd meant for her to come around his cock when it was thick inside her, but knowing how badly he wanted this, he'd probably embarrass himself, losing his seed with the first thrust.

He slipped his middle finger into her wetness, and she moaned, hips arching up to meet his hand. She was wet for him, but so tight.