Chapter Nineteen

The door slammed shut behind Vienna and they were in a spacious bedroom with high windows and a Doberman standing guard at the end of a huge bed. He inspected them in bemusement.

"Don't worry about him," Mason said, dropping her boots next to an old armoire. "I've never brought anyone up here before."

Anticipation stirred in the pit of Vienna's stomach. She wasn't sure when her childhood crush became love, but she knew now that even if she hadn't read Sally Gibson's letter, she would still be here. Sometime during the past several days, she'd stopped fighting the feelings Mason aroused. And now, standing in front of her, she wanted to hold nothing back.

Blushing, she looked down at herself. Her skin was pink and her nipples were tightly bunched against her flimsy lace bra. She touched herself between her legs. Her thighs were wet and her panties clung to her fingers. She wanted Mason so much she couldn't think.

"I have something to tell you," she said shyly.

"It's okay." Mason unbuckled her belt and unzipped her jeans. Her eyes glinted with intent. Her nipples showed beneath her tight khaki T-shirt. "I know you didn't save yourself for me."

"Actually, in a way I did." Feeling light-headed, Vienna unfastened her dress and let it slide to the floor. "I've never been in love with anyone else I've slept with. You're a first."

Tenderness softened Mason's predatory smile, but only briefly. "And I'll be the last."

She discarded her jeans and briefs and advanced on Vienna, backing her toward the bed. She took complete control of her, cradling her breasts and sliding her tongue sensuously past Vienna's, wreaking havoc with her breathing. With exquisite pressure, she fattened both hands over the nipples, working them against her palms. At the same time, she kissed a downward path from Vienna's lips to her throat, and then sank her teeth into the muscle of her shoulder, sending a shock of anticipation from her neck to the small of her back. Her limbs felt heavy with arousal. Her hands shook as she explored the hard, unfamiliar contours of Mason's body. The flesh beneath her fingertips flinched and goose-bumped with each relentless caress.

Mason yelped softly when Vienna found her nipples and slowly squeezed them. Urgently, she murmured, "Touch me."

Wanting to see the body she was pleasuring, Vienna drew Mason's T-shirt up over her head and dropped it on the floor. There was no bra. Smiling, she dragged a single fingertip from Mason's bottom lip to the bony channel between her breasts. She could sense a boiling urgency in Mason, something deep down and dangerous. A knee pushed roughly between her thighs and applied pressure until Vienna responded in kind, bearing down hard. Wetness spread where Mason's thigh crushed the swollen flesh. Vienna could hardly stay upright. She could feel herself opening, her clit throbbing in appeal.

Their eyes met. Mason's were black with desire, the pupils huge within a ring of slate gray. There was a subtle alteration in her expression, a darkening. With a groan, she hooked her thumb into the thin silk of Vienna's panties and pulled them down, then pushed her back onto the bed. Caressing the inside of her thighs, she nudged them apart, exposing the pale copper swirl of hair.

She stared down, resting on her heels. "Oh. God. You're perfect."

Instinctively, Vienna brought her knees together. A rush of awe stifled her breathing as Mason slid her hands between them and lifted the knees, then spread her wide again.

"I want to look at you."

She lifted Vienna a little higher on the bed, so she was propped against the pillows, compelled to watch as Mason's fingers gently parted her. She dragged them back and forth with avid concentration, gathering then tasting Vienna's fluids. Needing more, Vienna lifted her hips toward the hand that kept skimming past her wet, craving flesh. A thumb worked her clit. Mason circled and teased.

"Please," Vienna whispered. The impression Mason left in her flesh had faded after their first lovemaking and she'd felt unbearably hollow ever since.

Just when she thought she couldn't stand another tantalizing caress, Mason moved over her, gazing down at her with fierce hunger. Then she was inside, so fast and so hard, Vienna cried out in shock and pleasure. A hand pushed one of her knees up and back, and Mason drove deeper, awaiting no cue and barely pausing with each delving thrust.

"You're mine," she choked out and Vienna hardly recognized the face inches from hers. The expression was glazed, the jaw taut. "Say it."

"I'm yours." Vienna gripped Mason's shoulders, needing something to hold on to. Her skin was hot and damp. The muscles surged beneath her fingers.

A spiraling tension compressed Vienna's core and she clamped down, almost expelling the fingers buried inside. Mason's response was visceral and immediate. She shifted her weight, pushing Vienna's legs wider, filling her, kissing her, pounding into her.

"Is that good?" Her voice was low and rough in Vienna's ear. "Is that what you need?"

"Yes." Holding her gaze, Vienna met each stroke with a whimper of pleasure. "I love you," she gasped, only seconds from letting go.

"Then give yourself to me," Mason said.

And Vienna had the strangest sensation of her flesh caving in. She was flooding, suddenly empty, aware only of an unraveling within as her body clamored to be filled again.

"Mason," she sobbed, stranded on the brink.

Frantically, she opened her eyes and found Mason staring down at her with such naked emotion she couldn't look away. Tears blinded her and she cupped Mason's cheek and drew her into a kiss so profound her body convulsed. Mason stroked her hair and kissed her forehead with deep tenderness, then moved down her body, and everything seemed to zero in at her core.

Sweet tension rose in steadily building waves as Mason's thumb inched delicately around her clit. Every tiny slithering stroke, every feather-light caress, made Vienna whimper for more. She tilted her hips as she felt the warm, slow glide of a tongue. Mason lapped and sucked far too gently, making her nerves scream and carrying her close to orgasm, only to ease off just as she felt herself nearing the crest.

Vienna moaned in frustration, and this time Mason drifted away, breaking contact entirely, before returning to the slippery gateway of flesh and slowly pushing several fingers inside, stretching Vienna and then easing back until she was invited deeper. Carefully, by degrees, she rotated her hand until Vienna gave herself completely. In return Mason stayed perfectly still, allowing her to control depth and rhythm.

Time slowed and they watched each other as Vienna's responses gathered intensity. Her face was wet with sweat and tears. She could feel a deep pulse at her center, but couldn't tell if it was entirely her own. All she knew was that the pulse was getting more powerful, opening and consuming her, spasming out like a living thing until it bloomed through her entire body. Vienna could only give herself in complete sensuous abandon; shuddering and heaving, she was taken over.

When the reverberations finally subsided, peace stole over her and she drifted in a daze of bliss. She didn't have the strength to move and barely protested when she felt Mason slowly withdraw. They lay sprawled in wordless aftermath, Vienna on her back, Mason on her side, her arm over Vienna's waist. For a long while, they were silent, then Mason's lips found hers, bestowing a kiss of such sweetness and delicacy, Vienna felt something squeeze her heart.

"I love you, Mason," she whispered. "And I want your body... very soon."

Mason laughed. "We have all night."

Vienna rolled over to face her. "Mason, I'm sorry for-"

"Don't." Mason's arms enfolded her. "Everything I have is yours."

Vienna curled in close. "I have all I want. You, my love."

They kissed again and Mason said, "We can take down the fence. Blakes and Cavenders on one estate. More room for horses."

"Is it okay if I live here, at Laudes Absalom?"

"I'd like that. And I have a feeling our ghost will, too."

"What about Mrs. Danville."

"Er...let's break it to her gently."

"Speaking of gently," Vienna teased, "where do you want my mouth?"

Mason grinned. "Temptress."

Vienna tilted her head back and stared into Mason's eyes. "You belong to me."

"Yes," Mason said. "Always."