“...At that moment, our fates entwined, Roses. I know not why, but I know it to be true—I am bound to you forevermore. There is nothing to regret.”

“I began to turn my body, but he held me and laid me back onto the bed, insistently, kissing my breasts but not lingering, kissing a line down my stomach and lower. “You want me to prove to you that I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life, Roses. Is that true, aye? Because I just can’t take this anymore.”I gasped as he licked into my sensitive flesh, wetting me with his soft strokes, speaking soft words against my skin. “If you insist on doubting me, Roses, if you absolutely insist on breaking down every defense that I have with your tears and your plush, wet, ripe beauty, then that’s what I’ll have to do, lass. Is that what you want from me? Proof?”I could only sigh a soft response, already falling, burning, wanting too much.”

“He pushed himself a fraction deeper, still exploring his lazy rhythm. I could feel his thickness beginning to stretch me. The sensation was dizzying, and my vision blurred at the edges.“Is this what my Roses wants from me?” he whispered in my ear, biting the soft flesh of my lobe between his teeth. “Say it to me.”“Aye, warrior,” I gasped.”

“You’re too sacred,” he continued, and his voice was husked with emotion. “You’re the one. My sunlit angel. My Roses. Mine.”

“The attentions of Wilkie Mackenzie were a conquest, an aspiration, a dream. The fresh memory of all those women, batting their eyelashes coquettishly, it boiled in my veins. One in particular. And Wilkie looked almost amused, now that his own jealousy had eased. “Are you jealous, my love?”

“The beauty of his face, artfully shadowed and lit from the fading firelight, it fairly stunned me.”

“You are not only the solar spectrum with the seven luminous colours, but the sun himself, that illumines, warms, and revivifies! This is what you are, and I am the lowly woman that adores you.”