He slammed it closed once more, and kept his hand on it while his other arm circled her waist.

“I cannot let you leave, Nesta. You must know that.” He kissed her shoulder, tasting the skin along the gown’s edge. “We will leave it in heaven’s hands. If you are not meant to bear my child, you will not.”

She twisted in his hold, her eyes flashing with anger. “An easy bargain for a man to make.”

Very easy, because he wanted her to bear his son, but he was not allowed to speak of that, or of the other things he wanted.

He pulled her closer until his body pressed her back and bottom. His demanding embrace startled her. She braced her hands against the door to keep from being imprisoned against him.

He swept her hair aside so his mouth could reach her neck. The rapid pulse under his lips beat its hot rhythm into his blood, and it quickened more when he closed his mouth on it more aggressively. Resistance left on her gasps until her neck grew pliant to his assault. “You say that we will only know brief truces and simple pleasures, Nesta. So be it. But during these truces expect no quarter. My possession of you will be whole until the finish. I will not withdraw.”

“You are mad. You speak of daring fate.” Her voice sounded wonderfully breathless.

“We have been daring fate since the night we met.” He pulled her hips closer yet, so that his arousal nestled against the small of her back. Her bottom rose slightly in response. “Now, stop speaking of terms and conditions, and give yourself to me, Nesta. It is why you came here.”

She looked over her shoulder with eyes sparkling with passion. A few fires of rebellion still flickered, but as she looked at him a soft yielding washed away those tiny flames. She started to turn toward him.

“Nay, stay there.”

She arched an eyebrow. He could tell that she expected him to take her at once. His body yelled for him to. “Not yet. You bargain for simple, brief pleasure for a reason, but I’ll be damned if there will be anything simple and quick about tonight.”

Still holding her hips to him, he reached around and plucked loose the tie of her gown’s lacing. He pulled the crossing threads out row by row, and her breath quickened as each level slid free. She was naked beneath the gown, and her hips began a subtle, erotic flexing that showed how anticipation was affecting her.

She looked down between her braced arms at what he was doing. “You are making long work of that, Marcus.”