Then he was beside her, his face darkly intense, as his fingers moved to her hair, fastening in its flowing silkiness as he pushed her back on the blanket. "I'll be slow later," he said thickly. "I promise, love, but I have to get inside you. It's like a fever, I'm hurting so."

"So am I." She opened her thighs and he moved between them. Then she could see only his face above her, flushed and heavy with sensuality, beautiful. A warm nuzzling demand at the heart of her womanhood and then his lips were covering her own.

He plunged deep and his lips covered the little cry she made. Hot. Slick. Full.

"Tight," he murmured. "Lord, you feel wonderful."

"So do you." She could barely speak. The exquisite fullness of him was pervading her entire body.

She wanted it to go on forever. Her hands closed on his shoulders. "Don't move. It's…"

He stayed like that for an endless moment. "I can't stand it, love." He flexed hungrily. "I have to move."

"All right. It's just-" She broke off as he began pistonlike strokes, driving with an explosive passion that almost tore her apart. She arched up, trying to help him, wanting more of him.

His fingers tightened in her hair and the slight pain was as erotic as the hot rhythm between her thighs. But the tension was mounting swiftly, too swiftly. "Gideon, it's too-"

"I know," he gritted the words between his teeth. "And I can't stop. It's been too long." He plunged deep and was still. He closed his eyes. "I want to stay in you forever." Then he was driving with a wild ferocity that shook them both to their foundations. The tension grew, spiraled, and then exploded into a brilliant release of beauty and rapture.

He collapsed on top of her, his chest moving harshly with his labored breathing.

"Damn, wasn't that wonderful?" He lifted his head and looked down at her. "Mine. You're mine now. I told you we belonged together." He kissed her with loving affection. "Don't you feel it, love? Why don't you admit I was right all along and we were meant to live happily ever after?"

Her breath was still coming in little gasps and her heart hadn't steadied its wild pounding, but she had to laugh helplessly up at him. "Gideon, don't you ever give up? This is taking unfair advantage of my vulnerable situation."

His eyes twinkled. "Oh, do you feel vulnerable?

Now I wonder why?" He stirred lazily within her. "Of course, I guess certain important strongholds have been invaded." His hands released her hair and reached down to cup her breasts. "And certain outposts have totally surrendered, but I can't see why you should feel vulnerable." The stirring was no longer lazy, but demanding. "I think maybe I'm going to see if I can make you feel that way again."

She inhaled sharply as his lips closed on her breast, and his teeth nibbled delicately. "I didn't think… not so soon."

"I didn't either. I believe I'm starving. I can't get enough." His head lifted and he looked down at her. "I may never get enough of you."

He began to move and Serena realized she might never get enough of Gideon either.

The brush of Gideon's lips against her cheek was as velvet soft as the warm glance of the sun. Strange that she should recognize his touch even in this state of half waking, she thought drowsily, as she turned her cheek to invite more than a light caress. It was as if she had known the touch and feel of him for a millennium of intimacy rather than a few short hours. Even if she were blind and deaf she'd know him by that gentle touch alone.

"Open your eyes, love."

Her heavy lids lifted to see him bending over her, his dark eyes warm and intent. She lifted a lazy hand to stroke the crescent creases in his lean cheek. "Is it morning?"

"No." He turned his head to capture her fingers with his lips, nibbling at the tips for a delicious moment before releasing them. "But I'm lonely. I need your undivided attention for a while."

She chuckled, as her arms slid over his naked shoulders. "You've had my undivided attention for more times than I can count tonight. But I'm always ready to oblige." Her tongue brushed the hollow under his shoulder blade. He tasted good. Salty and strong and alive.

"I'm not quite the satyr you think me, you insatiable wench," he said as he settled back on the pillows and pulled her back into his arms, cradling her dark head in the hollow of the shoulder she'd just caressed. "You don't appreciate the fact that I'm a very sensitive fellow. I have other needs besides the purely physical, you know."

"I hadn't noticed," she said teasingly, one hand moving to play lazily with the soft thatch of hair on his chest. This hair was sun-streaked, just like the rumpled lock hanging down on his forehead, she noticed idly. "You must admit you haven't been displaying much of your soulful side tonight. It was only natural for me to assume that you wanted more of the same." She raised her head to look down at him, the silken veil of her dark hair brushing his chest. "By all means, bare your sensitive soul. I'm waiting with bated breath." Then, as she saw the flicker of disappointment in the depths of his eyes, she sobered abruptly. Obviously he had been sincere, not teasing. She bent swiftly and kissed him with infinite gentleness. "Tell me," she urged softly.

He shook his head. "I didn't have any melodramatic declarations in mind. I just wanted to see you wake up in my bed, in my arms and to hold you. That's all."

Serena felt her throat tighten and she lowered her head to its former place on his shoulder. Those simple words had moved her unbearably. Her eyes were misting as they lay there in silent intimacy. Everything around them seemed to take on an added poignancy. The airy canopy above their heads, the gleam of the leaded-glass windows across the room, the glow of the copper lamp on the bedside table that Gideon had turned on when they'd come back from the lake. This place. This time. Could anything be more perfect?

Gideon's hand was stroking the fine hair at her temple and his voice was a deep rumble beneath her ear. "You know, when I was a teenager, moving from place to place, I used to want something totally my own, something beautiful that wouldn't change no matter what happened in the world around me." One finger moved down to outline her lower lip with a gossamer touch. "I guess it made me pretty much of a pain for a while. I was so damn possessive that I couldn't have any friends without wanting to be everything to them." His lips brushed the top of her head. "I learned my lesson eventually, when I found I was driving people away just when I wanted them closer. You can't force people to open their minds and hearts and take you in. You've got to be invited." His voice was husky as he continued haltingly, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you might have to back off and shove me away if I come too close and try to barge in where I'm not wanted. You were right when you said I was pushy." His fingers touched her lashes that were now star-spiked with tears. "You see, I've found my something beautiful, and I might not want to let go, even for a little while. Not even to let you breathe and grow. You'll have to let me know, Serena."

Her chest was aching with every breath she took, as her arms tightened around him with almost maternal fierceness. She was hurting with everything that was in her for the child he had been, for the pain and loneliness of his past, for the hard lessons he had learned, and for the honesty and vulnerability of the man he had become.

The brimming tears now flowed down her cheeks, and she felt him tense against her as a drop dampened his shoulder where her head was resting. "Hey." He raised his head to look into her eyes. "What are the tears for?"

"Nothing. I've just decided I like the idea of having a pushy man around."

His gaze searched her face. "Forever?"

She went still. Panic and rejection rose within her. It was insane. Gideon was everything beautiful and good in the world. Why was she so terrified of making a commitment?

A flicker of disappointment crossed his face. "It's all right. I don't have to have the words right now. What happened tonight was in the nature of a promise anyway. It's good enough to last us for quite a while."

Yes, it was, she thought dreamily. They lay there a long time and gradually Gideon's arms relaxed about her until they were only a comforting possessive shelter to keep out the outside world.

She was almost asleep when his voice reverberated beneath her ear with a satiny hint of threat and with a gravity that made the words a vow. "But if you ever could bring yourself to say forever, love, I'd make sure you never regretted it. Not for a minute."

Four

"Sit still," Serene ordered as her charcoal pencil traced the line of the strong masculine column of his thigh. It was a beautiful line, she thought absently, graceful and symmetrical while remaining totally masculine. "How do you expect me to get this right if you're always moving?"

"I'm chilly," Gideon said plaintively. He stretched lazily, his sleek muscles rippling, before resuming the pose she required of him. "You can't expect a man to pose in the altogether without getting goosebumps, love."

"It's nearly eighty degrees," she reminded him heartlessly. The waterfall in the background should turn out very well and add to the primitive beauty of the picture. "If you weren't so tanned, I'd worry about your getting a sunburn."

He thought for a while. "Well, then, I think I'm much too modest to pose in the nude." At her distinctly derisive snort he gave her a sly glance.

"First, you ravish my magnificent virile body, and then you make me display my manly beauty for your lascivious pleasure."