From the Heart

told me.”
    Her dress slid to the floor.
    She pressed closer and let his mouth find hers again. She was drowning, but the water was so warm, so soft. The need for him was sleepy, growing as he moved his hands over her. She was a prisoner of his touch—a touch that was gentle. She made no protest when he lifted her into his arms.
    Moonlight filtered into the bedroom, shadowed light, softly white. Liv nearly broke through the surface.
    “Thorpe—”
    Then he kissed her again. Lost, longing, she clung to him as he lowered her to the bed. He undressed her slowly, with soft kisses and caresses. The words he murmured were quiet, stroking her nerves, arousing her body.
    When his back was bare, Liv ran her hand over it. There was hard strength. She wanted him to be strong. Needed forhim to be. He lowered the chemise to her waist, following the trail of his hands with his mouth.
    Desire changed from dreamy to desperate in a flash. Liv moaned and pressed him closer until his mouth was hungry at her breast. Her movements under him were no longer languid, her hands no longer timid. She arched to help him strip the thin garment from her. He ran his hands up the inside of her thighs, and she felt a rush of heat engulf her. She crested on a moan, but he slid his fingers over and inside her, driving her up again.
    She dug her nails into his shoulders. Nothing, no one, had ever made her feel like this—mindless, aching, glowing. Liv wanted him to take her, but he had other pleasures to give.
    His tongue glided down her torso, flicking over the curve of her waist until she knew she would go mad. Wandering, he moved lower still, until on a strangled gasp, she peaked again.
    Her responsiveness overwhelmed him, taking him beyond his own desire. He wanted her to experience every drop of pleasure he could give. She was sensitive to every touch, every thought. Though the moonlight gave her skin a marble hue, it felt like liquid fire under his hands. Need for her vibrated through him. Each time she moaned his name or reached for him, the shock of it rocketed straight through him. Desire pulsated from her—for him. That alone took him to the edge of reason.
    His mouth crushed down on hers, and Liv answered the demand ravenously. All restraint had fled; all barriers were broken. She knew only a desperate need for fulfillment and the one man who could give it to her. She opened for him, then guided him inside of her.
    Her gasp was muffled against his shoulder. She felt the muscles tense and ripple against her mouth as he took her beyond what she remembered, past what she had dreamed of. She gave herself up completely and went with him.
    Thorpe lay wrapped round her, holding on to the warmth. For him, the world had whittled down to the bed—to the woman. Even in the dark he could see her, each curve of her body, each plane of her face. In all of his memory, he had never felt so involved, so totally united. Her skin was smooth against his, her nipples still taut as her breasts pressed againsthis chest. Her breathing was leveling slowly. He had known there was passion under her strict control, but he hadn’t guessed the depth of it or what its effect on him would be. He was vulnerable, almost defenseless for the first time in his life.
    Liv felt the intensity of passion drain into contentment. She had never experienced that sort of abandonment. Had that been missing all of her life? She was almost afraid to find the answer and what it would mean. One basic truth was that he had made her feel like a woman again, complete. The taste of him still lingered on her lips and tongue. She didn’t want to lose it, or the warm security she now held nestled in her arms.
    But who was Thorpe? she wondered. Who was he who had drawn from her what she had been unable, or unwilling, to give any man for more than five years.
    “I promised myself this wouldn’t happen,” she murmured, and buried her face against his neck.
    Her words forced Thorpe out of his dreamy state. “Regrets?” he asked carefully, and waited what seemed a lifetime for the answer.
    “No.” Liv gave a long sigh. “No regrets.” She tilted her face back. “I never expected to be here with you, like this. But I don’t regret it.”
    He relaxed again and held her closer. The soft, serious words stirred him. “Olivia, you’re such a complicated woman.”
    “Am I?” She smiled a little and closed her eyes. “I’ve never thought so. Too simple perhaps, and singleminded, but