“If we don’t, I will die of wanting. And too many people are depending on us for you to allow that.”
With a growl, he scooped her into his arms and marched down the cloistered hallway to her bedroom. He slammed the door shut with his foot and tumbled them both onto the bed. She murmured faint words of gratitude, which he cut off with a searing kiss, and refused to allow her to escape as he took his fill of her sweet mouth.
He drew out the kiss until she was so heated and breathless that when he finally broke away, her chest was heaving like bellows.
“Have a care,tesora mia,” he rasped. “This won’t be like before. What we’re doing will change everything. I’ve wanted this for so long. Wanted you, for so long.” He traced her ear with his lips and adored the way she shivered. “I’ve loved you so many ways from a distance. I’m terrified about the possibility of what it will be like when we’re finally, truly together.”
She stroked his neck and his shoulders. “It’s going to be glorious.”
In the faint light from the lamp, her cheeks were aflame and her chestnut curls cascaded back against the pillow. She was utterly exquisite.
The enormity of the moment was a palpable thing; he could not shake the fear that this joy would slip away from him.
“Ian.” She reached for his hand and drew him to her. “If you’re not ready for this. If you don’t want to be with me tonight—”
He denied it with a penetrating kiss. “You don’t think I’ve dreamed of this, night and day, since I learned about sex?”
Her fingers danced along the waistband of his trousers. “With me, specifically?”
“Don’t tease.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t like it.” Her hands hovered over his buttons. “You do like it, don’t you?”
The truth was, he loved it. She’d taunted him for so long. Now, he recognized it as a display of affection, and his heart grew wings.
“Is this your way of telling me what you like?” His mouth skimmed her neck. “Delayed gratification?”
Her hands continued their exploration of his skin. “I don’t really know. You’re the only person I’ve ever been with.”
For a moment, her wide eyes made her look as innocent as she had when they’d played together as children.
But as she stared at him, and her gaze grew hot, she whispered, “I’ve never imagined doing this with anybody but you, Ian. You’re the only man who’s ever roused me.” Her voice caught. “If you love me, don’t make me wait another moment to show you what I’ve been dreaming about.”
His composure cracked wide open, and his mouth descended on hers as he pulled her close. “Tell me what you want.”
“Take off your clothes. I want to feel every inch of you against me.”
“You first.”
She wriggled off the bed and turned for him to help unfasten her dress. Together, they dispatched her of the evening gown, corset, and drawers, and Diana lifted her arms for him to pull off her linen shift.
Her skin glowed in the lamplight, a canvas of pink and gold. The sight made him breathless again.
“I will never tire of you looking at me like that,” she whispered.
“How,tesora mia?”
“Like a sailor marooned on a desert isle who finally discovered a fresh spring.”
“Let me take a sip.”
He bent so his lips could take in the rosy peak of her breast, and when her knees buckled, he caught her and gentled her back onto the bed, between the sheets.
She moaned his name. Violence tinged her tone as she tugged at his trousers. “Off. Now.”
“What happened to delayed gratification?”
There was a distinct sound of ripping, and when Ian glanced down, the top button of his trousers was missing, and Diana held her blade with a black thread dangling from it.