When he reached out to clasp the collar around her throat once again she stood still, watching his hands. A flash of gold caught her attention. When he lowered his hands, she grasped the left one, turning it so that she could see the ring that gleamed there on his finger.

The gold ring was on his ring finger, right where a wedding ring would rest. The black onyx was slightly oval, like Leo’s pupils. Engraved in the face of the onyx were the initials RH. Without words, he’d told her that he belonged to her just as much as she belonged to him. Wondering, she looked down at the ring, touched beyond belief. In a gesture that was pure instinct, she pulled his hand to her lips and kissed the ring.

His eyes flared brightly, their green glow intensifying. If she hadn’t known before that he wasn’t human she’d certainly have known it now. He’d lost control over his personal glamour. She could see the points of his elfin ears through the strands of his hair. The gold dusting of his skin glimmered under the lamplight. With a rough, inarticulate sound he bent down to capture her lips in a searing kiss that claimed her as thoroughly as his body had two nights ago.

She felt one of his hands tangle in her hair and roughly clasp the back of her head. His other hand moved to her hip. She felt herself being herded backwards out of the lamplight, into the shadows, and she struggled briefly.

“It’s safe, kitten. I’m here. Nothing can hurt you.”

She felt herself relax at his roughly whispered words, up until she felt the bricks of the building against her bare back. Leo bit into the side of her neck, his mouth working, sucking at her neck, marking her as his for all the world to see. He undid the fastening of her halter top, pulling the strands down, exposing her breasts to the cool night air.

She looked with dazed eyes over his shoulder at the figments of her imagination, those few men whose attention she’d so desperately craved at one time or another, and let them go with no regrets. For her, now, there was only Leo. The figments watching them didn’t matter, only Leo’s hands did. He began to greedily pull and tweak her nipples into diamond-hard points, palming the weight of her breasts, commanding her body’s responses.

Gasping for breath, Ruby decided two could play at that game. She reached down with one hand and began to rub his erection through his pants. She pulled the zipper down in a frenzy when he dipped his head down, sucking on her nipple as if he were a starving man and she a five-course meal.

“God, Leo, don’t stop.” She was panting with desperation, eager to feel his silken heat in her hands.

She pulled his erection out of his pants and stroked it up and down as he suckled her.

“If you don’t stop that this will be over before it’s started,” he growled. He shifted to her other breast and took the nipple between his teeth. He nibbled it, smiling against her when she gasped in pleasure. In response she moved her hand faster on his throbbing cock. He yanked at her zipper, pulling frantically at her pants. “God, kitten, you’re killing me.”

“Good.” Ruby wiggled slightly as he pulled her pants down, sighing her pleasure when he stroked and petted her soaking wet pussy. He pinched her clit almost roughly, smothering her scream with a kiss that practically devoured her.

With a quiet oath Leo tore his mouth from her. He took her hand off his cock, tugging and pushing till he had her positioned facing the wall, both hands spread, her ass cocked back and waiting for him. “Does it excite you to know the figments are watching us, kitten?” He stroked her ass, holding her in place within the cage of his body. He leaned against her, brushing his erection between the cleft of her buttocks in a hypnotic rhythm.

“What? Who? God, Leo, could you fuck me already? I’m dying here!”

Leo laughed under his breath at the rough tone of her voice. In one swift move he sheathed himself in the tight, wet heat of her body, stealing her gasp of pleasure with another rough kiss. She felt tighter this way, unable to spread her legs because of her pants down around her knees. Her pussy clung to his cock, holding him to her, reluctant to let him go.

Leo ended the kiss and looked down as he thrust his shaft in and out of her body, watching the gleaming length sink in, each move causing the woman under him to moan and gasp in delight. When she tried to wiggle her ass in an attempt to get him deeper he slapped it, causing the globe to ripple enticingly.

Her gasp at the sting of his palm turned to a moan as he gave her what she wanted, moving deeper into her as he pushed her hard up against the wall. One hand held on to her hip and pulled her to him, back and forth, forcing him in even further. The other hand dipped down between her thighs and began strumming her clit between his two fingers.

“Oh, oh God, Leo, that feels so good.”

“Yeah, it does. Can you come for me, baby?”

She did with a muffled shriek even before he was done asking. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, something Leo didn’t like. He wanted to hear her scream, but it was too late. Leo felt the climax rip through her and, with a surprised cry, felt himself come deep inside her. He pounded into her as the last rippling echoes of her climax set off his own.

Leo shuddered against her. Golden sparkles drifted around them and settled on her skin like fairy lights. Inside and out, he surrounded her, filled her senses until nothing else existed but him. He collapsed against her, pushing her almost roughly into the bricks, both of them gasping for air. She rested her cheek against the brick, her face turned towards his. A satisfied smile drifted across her face.

His breath tickled her ear as he whispered against her, “Mine.”

With a sigh, she closed her eyes. “Yours.” He felt his breath hitch before he buried his face in her neck with a contented sigh.

Chapter Six

When Ruby opened her eyes, they were back in the hayloft. She was on her stomach, her pants down around her knees. Leo lay over her like a dead man, panting lightly, his nose still buried in the side of her neck as if breathing in her scent. With a huffed little laugh, she whispered, “I gather not everything just now was an illusion?”

“Nope,” he breathed against her neck.

She shivered at the intimate sensation. “All I can say is, that was one hell of a mind fuck.”

“Gives a whole new meaning to the word, doesn’t it?” The rich satisfaction in his voice made her grin. She could feel his lazy smile against the side of her neck. One of his hands reached up and tangled their fingers together as he slid off to the side. He cradled her in his arms and she settled against him, content to be held.

The lay together like that for a while, getting their breath back and enjoying the feel of each other, until thoughts and feelings began to race through her head again. “Leo?”

“Yeah?”

“How old are you?”

He sighed, pulling his softened cock out of her body and rolling onto his back. “Are you sure you want the answer to that?”

She looked over at him, his glamour down, that gold-dusted skin even more exotic in the mundane hayloft they were in now. “Yeah, I want to know.”

“I’m ninety-three years old.”

She blinked. “Wow. You look good for your age.” When he sighed wearily she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, trying to reassure him. “I know. Elves are immortal, right? Unless someone kills them?”

“Try long-lived rather than immortal and you’d be closer.”

All of the impossibilities of a relationship with Leo began to rear their ugly heads. “That means when I’m old and wrinkly—”

“You won’t be.”

The note of complete certainty in his voice confused her. “Uh, give me about forty years and I will be.”

He shook his head. “That’s the other thing I need to explain to you.” He sat up and began pulling up his pants. “You’ve heard the stories of a man riding off with a Sidhe lass to Underhill, only to return three hundred years later and age all of those years in one day?”