His, he thought dimly while his body shuddered with unbearable need. This time, for all times, his.

She began to rock, slowly at first, like a dance. Clouds shifted over and around and passed the moon so that her face was shuttered, then revealed, then shuttered again like a dream he couldn’t quite capture.

The blood began to rage, in his loins, in his head so that he was sure it would explode and leave nothing but shattered bones.

He saw her arms lift, rise witchlike toward the sky. Her movements quickened, and he began to murmur to her, the words desperate and Gaelic. It seemed she answered him, with the same urgency, in the same tongue. Then his mind hazed, and his body erupted, emptying him into her.

On a long, shuddering moan, she slid down to him. Visions danced in her head, faded.

She must have slept, for she awakened with her heart beating slow and thick, and her skin shivering warm. Even as he cupped her breast, her lips curved and welcomed his.

His touch was gentle now, almost worshipful. So she sighed, and enjoyed and let her body be stroked tenderly back to arousal.

She opened for him, felt him fill her. Delighting in the two sides of him, she matched his leisurely pace until the last ember of need quieted.

Later, she lay beside him, cozy in the blanket he’d drawn over them.

“Darling.” He stroked her hair. “We can’t sleep here tonight.”

She felt his muscles jerk when she ran her hand low over his belly. “We don’t have to sleep.”

“I mean we can’t stay out here.” He turned his head for the simple pleasure of burying his nose in her hair. “It’s going to rain.”

“It is?” She opened one eye and looked up at the sky. “Where did the stars go?”

“Behind the clouds, and there’s rain coming soon.”

“Hmm. What time is it?”

“I’ve lost track.”

“Where’s my watch?”

“You weren’t wearing one.”

“I wasn’t?” In reflex she felt her wrist. Odd, she never took a step without her watch. Never used to.

“We don’t need a watch to know it’s time I got you under roof.” With regret, he tossed the blanket aside. “Maybe you’d ask me in for tea so I could spend a little more time looking at you.”

She pulled the chemise over her head. “We could have tea in my room.”

“I’d feel as uncomfortable about that as I would taking you to mine while my family’s in the house.” He watched her smooth on her stockings. “Will you be after wearing something like that again?”

She tossed back her hair as she buttoned her blouse. “I assume you’re not talking about the suit.”

“No, darling, the under it.”

“I don’t have much along these lines, but I’ll see what I can do.” She rose to tug on her skirt. “Maybe I can pick up a couple of things in Dublin.”

“Dublin? Are you going to Dublin?”