Free WindLegends Saga 9: WindRetriever by Charlotte Boyett-Compo

eased her hand from under his. "If you'd like." She pushed off her slippers and swung her legs onto the oversized bunk. Nestling down beside him, she felt safe and loved as his arms enfolded her. It had been a long, long time since she had been held by him.
    "Am I squishing you?" he asked, nuzzling her hair.
    "No," she answered as she settled against him. She felt his fingers rubbing protective little circles on her back. "Are you comfortable like this?"
    "As long as I'm holding you," he replied.
    Catherine inhaled the warm male scent of him, the faint tang of the cinnamon oil that seemed as much a part of him as the color of his strange eyes and the bright gold of his hair. She felt loved and safe in his arms and wanted to stay there forever.
    "I've wanted you to hold me all week," she said, twining her finger in the patch of curls between his taut breasts. "I've needed to feel your arms around me."
    Conar was looking out across the cabin, his head starting to cease its insane throbbing.
    Having her in his arms, cradled against him, was almost as good as one of Rupine's injections of painkiller. It soothed the ache in his body if not in his heart.
    "Milord?" she asked, craning her head to look up at him.
    Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 37
    He looked down. "Aye?"
    Catherine hesitated as she watched his gaze soften. When he prompted her again, she nibbled at her lower lip. "Will you make love to me?" she finally asked.
    The Serenian tensed, his arms going rigid around her. "What about the babe?" he questioned. "Surely you're too far along to …."
    Catherine shook her head. "Meghan says no and so does Rupine. If we're careful, no harm can come to the baby."
    "I don't know," he said. "I'm not so sure it would be safe, Catherine."
    She was watching his expression, seeing a look she could not interpret clouding his face.
    Her hand stilled on his chest, her fingers splaying out along his breastbone. "Don't you want to make love to me, milord?" she asked and her voice was childlike, almost plaintive as she gazed up at him with a hurt expression that said she feared his answer.
    "Of course, I do," he was quick to answer. "It's just that I don't want to hurt you, Catherine."
    "You won't," she said. She shifted against him, lifting herself up until she could take one of his hands in hers. She placed in gently on her breast. "I need you, Conar." She molded his fingers to her. "I need you so much."
    Every instinct within him warned him not to give in to the pleading in his wife's voice. As much as he wanted her, needed her, too, he knew if he took her, it would make what he had to do harder. Not only on her, but on himself, as well. He shook his head, but she pressed his hand tightly to her chest and that part of him that had always leapt at the sight of her, stirred to remind him how great its need was.
    "Catherine...," he tried to say but she strained upward and claimed his lips in a heady kiss that made his head reel and his body throb with passion. His mouth returned the favor, taking hers in a brutal press that brought a moan of arousal from both of them. He felt the kiss from the tips of his toes to the tip of his manhood and back again.
    "Conar," she mumbled against his questing lips. "Please!"
    He was lost with that simple request and he knew it. He had wanted to hold her for days now. Had wanted to lie with her one last time before he gave her into the keeping of another man.
    The thought of that happening, of him giving her up, had been hurting him for weeks and now that it was almost a reality, the pain was so intense it was hard for him to keep his emotions under tight control. He could no more have denied them the pleasure of their lovemaking than he could cease to breathe.
    "Turn over," he said huskily against her mouth. "Turn over, Cat."
    She looked at him with confusion, but his hand was already turning her so that she moved to her side, her back to him. "What are you...?" She felt him dragging her skirt up and