Still locked inside her, surrounded by her, held by her, he gave a little growl. “Give me your mouth.”

She obeyed instantly, tilting her head so he could kiss her. So he could lose himself there. She was sacred. The mother of his child. His lover.

“Marry me, Catarina.” It wasn’t a question. He wanted it to be, but it didn’t come out that way. It was a demand. An order. He made the command against her soft lips.

He felt her mouth curve against his. He pulled his head back to look into her eyes, even as he eased her feet back to the ground. He hated slipping out of her body, losing the ultimate, intimate connection between them.

“Are you asking me or telling me?” she answered, her hands smoothing down his arms.

He studied her face. “That depends. You saying yes, then I’m asking. You hesitating, then I’m telling you.” He was honest. How could he not be? It was the truth. He wanted his ring on her finger and her name to be his. She belonged to him. With him. More, he was hers, body and soul.

She laughed softly. “That’s so you, Eli. So romantic.”

He looked around him at the steadily falling rain, the thirsty trees lifting leaves toward the drops. “This is romantic.”

“I’ll marry you, baby. Someone has to take care of you properly.”

Her voice was filled with love. She didn’t declare her love, but at that moment he didn’t need her to. He heard it in her soft response. Elation swept through him. He would have taken her again, right there, but he couldn’t very well lay her down in the wet grass, and she looked exhausted.

“Right away. Immediately.” Definitely a command. Accompanied by a growl.

She laughed and shifted, her little female leopard leaping away from him, sprinting toward the dense grove of trees. He ran after her, shifting on the run, feeling his answering laughter. His answering happiness. He didn’t know how he managed it, he knew he didn’t deserve her, but she was his all the same and he knew he’d do anything to keep her.

I love you, Kitten, he whispered from deep inside his male.

The female teased and flirted with the male leopard over and over and he allowed it, staying close, rubbing along her fur, approaching cautiously when she crouched invitingly and leaping back when she halfheartedly swiped a paw at him. They tumbled together, rolling around in the grass, playing, but always, the male moved his female toward him. Toward the ranch house.

The much heavier male took her there on the porch, pinning her in the way of the male leopard, locking them together, staking his claim.