As his lips met hers, what little control he had evaporated. He heard the growl in his own throat, and her eyes widened.
Then they were on the floor, Meagan landing on top of him, the water cascading over them in a warm arc. Alexander kissed her, furrowing her hair where droplets of water glistened like jewels. She closed her eyes tight, tears still beading on her lashes, the line of freckles across her nose an endearing sight.
She pressed her fingers into his bare shoulders, indenting his flesh. The slight pain only increased his desperation.
Too many wretched garments barred the way between her and himself. Alexander found the fabric-covered buttons at the back of her bodice and impatiently pushed them at the holes. No, not fast enough. He spread his hand.
Fabric tore and buttons popped, and he fumbled with the ties that held her stays. The night he'd first made love to her, he'd been able to slowly and deliberately work the complicated laces free, but tonight his clumsy fingers tugged and pulled to no avail.
"Let me." She dropped a kiss to his lips, then rose to her knees, her thighs on either side of him, his erection pressing the tangle of her skirts. He had already snapped the laces, and she reached behind her to tug and pull them free.
The stays came off to reveal her pale chemise, her tight, dark nipples pressing the fabric. She shrugged off the remains of her bodice, then unlaced her chemise and pushed it from her shoulders. Her breasts came into view, beautiful and taut, fitting perfectly into his hands.
Every lesson he'd learned at the cult of Eros fled his conscious mind. He only knew he wanted Meagan with mindless intensity and would not be satisfied until he sated himself with her.
"Take off the dress," he commanded.
Meagan, face still stained with tears, climbed to her feet and let her chemise and gown fall from her hips, then she stepped out of the clothes and tossed them aside. She was naked except for her stockings and slippers, just as she had been at Lady Featherstone's the night the love spell had made him take her. She was even more beautiful now, pink-cheeked and starry-eyed, knowing what it was like to have him inside her and wanting it again.
He reached to her hips and dragged her down on top of him. "Ride me," he said.
Her lips curved to a smile, a woman pleased that a man wanted her so much. She slid her knees to either side of him, rubbing the lips of her opening against his waiting cock. He groaned with frustration, fingers clamping her wrists.
"Please."
The secret smile broadened. Her opening was so slick, filled with honey. Still she teased him, rubbing the folds against his flange, scraping her hard nub against his tip.
"Do not," he said between gritted teeth. "Do not, Meagan, you will regret it."
"I don't believe I will," she said softly, and then finally she eased herself straight onto him.
As soon as she tightened around his stiffness, her red lips parting with what she felt, Alexander lost the remnants of his sanity.
His mind went blank, shooting down roads of wildness he didn't understand. All he felt was the tight point where they joined, her wrists under his fingers, her soft backside resting on his thighs.
Do not hurt her, his mind warned him, but he was beyond all thought.
He thrust up into her, reveling in the hot pressure of her. He wanted to stay inside her forever, in this woman he loved, letting her scent cover him, the smell of her honey coupled with her own musk and the sweet spice of her perfume.
Love you. I love you.
When he pried open his eyes he saw her far gone in the feel of it, her eyes closed, hands clenched against the pain of his grasp on her wrists.
He was hurting her. He slowed his thrusts.
Instantly her eyes jerked open. "No," she begged. "Don't stop. Please."
Alexander released her hands and grasped her hips, pulling her harder onto him as he thrust deep inside her. He slid one hand to where they were joined and rubbed his thumb against the twist of hair and the firm nub beneath it.
Meagan screamed. She ground her hips faster and faster, her shrieks driving him to a frenzy.
He felt himself start to change. No. No, not yet.
"Alexander," she said, brown eyes wide.
He twined his fingers through hers and held on so hard that his nails creased her skin. "Do not let me go away. Keep me here."
She nodded, loose strands of hair brushing his chest. She held his hand firmly, never mind that he must nearly be breaking her fingers.
She leaned to him, the points of her nipples hard against his flesh. "I love you, Alexander. Stay with me."
He nodded. The logosh wanted her as much as he did, but he would stay for her. He had to.
He felt himself begin to change again, his muscles rippling. Meagan stared in shock, and then he was Alexander again. "Damn it."
"Stay with me," she breathed. "Be my husband. I love you."
"Say it again."
"Stay with me."
"No." He could barely think of words. "The other."
She skimmed her lips over his face. "I love you. I love you, Alexander."
"God help me." He climaxed, his body shuddering with release, his temperature soaring. He swore his skin burned, and then his hands became claws, raking Meagan's flesh.
"Alexander," she cried desperately. "I love you."
Exerting every ounce of strength he had, Alexander willed the claws to become fingers again, ordinary brown hands scratched from bramble in the woods.
His seed filled her and he gathered her against him, his breath raw, his heart pounding.
They lay together, breathing hard, trying to recover, every inch of Alexander's body hurting and yet satisfied.
He scraped the hair back from her forehead. "You are the most precious thing in my life. My Meagan. I love you."
She let out her breath and a little laugh came with it. "Oh good. Because I love you too."
Meagan was too exhausted to walk up the stairs to the bedrooms above. She happily let Alexander scoop her into his strong arms and carry her.
The gallery creaked with the interesting squeal of an old house, the railings dark with age. She fell in instant love with the bedroom Alexander took her to off the first landing. The chamber was small, situated in the front of the house and right over the warm sitting room. The bed had a carved headboard and a high mattress piled with pillows and thick down quilts.
"If you had brought me to this house right away," she said as Alexander set her down on the cozy comfort of the bed. "I would not have hesitated half as long when you asked me to marry you."
He raised his brows, a ghost of the cool Grand Duke returning. "I thought anything less than my overblown house in Berkeley Square would not please you."
She smiled sleepily as he climbed into the bed beside her and pulled quilts and pillows around them. "I am a country girl and I like simple pleasures."
"I will endeavor to remember." He rested his head on her pillow and slid a strong arm around her waist, his large body warming the bed better than a hot brick.
"I admit I was curious to see what was inside that house." She smiled. "And what was inside you."
"I believe you saw that clearly enough tonight."
"I wanted to see it. I want all of you-logosh and Grand Duke and Alexander and warm furry panther."
He frowned. "You are pleased that your husband is a wild beast?"
"Hmm." Downstairs after he'd lain on the carpet catching his breath, after she'd stretched herself on top of him and soaked in his warmth, he'd risen and refilled the bowl of water from the kitchen to gently clean the scratches his half-man, half-panther self had made in her thighs. The scratches were light, just drawing blood. He'd kept his incredible strength sheathed for her even then.
She ran her fingers lightly over his lips. "I believe Nvengarian women like their husbands to be beasts in the bedroom, although I assume they do not mean so literally. At least, that is what it says in Adolpho's Book of Seductions."
His dark brows drew together. "I have been meaning to ask, who gave you this book? I am aware of no translations of the Book of Seductions in English."
"Penelope is copying it out for me. Her Nvengarian is much better than mine, so she is translating and sending it to me in letters."
"Is she? Good God."
"Why? What is the matter?"
Alexander raked a hand through his hair. "You and Princess Penelope, the leader of Nvengaria, reading the Book of Seductions together. I thought English girls were shocked at the mere mention of men and women sharing the same bed."
Meagan grinned. "Of course we talk about seduction and bed games and men's physiques all the time. We are simply discreet. I never told you about TTs."
He looked perplexed. "TTs?"
Quickly Meagan explained her girlish game of tight trousers with Penelope, and Alexander's eyes glinted with humor. "Is that what ladies whisper behind their fans in ballrooms? And I thought Englishwomen were demure to the point of tedium."
"We learn to keep our ribald ways well hidden. Are you shocked? Did you want a shy bride?"
"I believe I told you I wanted no bride at all." His blue eyes heated. "Until I saw you, and I could not keep visions of you out of my head."
"That was the love spell."
"It was more than that. It was you with your red hair and adorable freckles and the most sensual body I'd ever seen in my life."
"You're mad. You can't really like my freckles."
"I love them." He bent his head and drew his tongue across the line of them on her collarbone. "I love every inch of you."
"Then I shall tell my stepmama to stop bleating at me to put buttermilk on them."
"You could put wine on them," Alexander murmured against her skin. "Or perhaps chocolate."
"I've never heard of those as remedies for freckles.""No, but I would enjoy lapping such things from your skin."Her body heated with anticipation. "We shall have to see what we can do about that. And now..."
"Mmm?" He softly kissed her shoulder. "I thought you were tired, my wife."
"I am exhausted and do not believe I shall remain awake more than five minutes. But will you do something for me? Just to please me?"
"Name it," Alexander said.
"Will you shift into the panther again?"
He studied her a moment, his gaze sharpening. He asked in a quiet voice, "Why?"
"Because there is no fire in the room and your fur would be warm to sleep against."
He watched her, eyes glowing with the magic inside him. "I thought you wanted me to remain Alexander."
"But you still would be Alexander. You would just have a soft coat."
He stared at her incredulously, then suddenly he began to laugh. The laughter built up from chuckles to a full-blown roar and he flopped over onto his back, his arms across his stomach.
She had never heard him laugh so, not the full surrender to mirth that shook the bed and filled the room with his gravelly voice. Tears streamed from his tightly closed eyes as he gasped for breath.
"I love you," he said, rolling over to kiss her again. "I have been fighting myself all this time, and you sum it up in one simple sentence."
"Well, 'tis true," she said.
"It is true." He kissed the tip of her nose, his smile wide. "But it took you to tell me."
"I am pleased I am so wise. Now, will you?"
He kissed her, a long satisfying kiss that made her wish she were not quite so tired. But after a sleep, perhaps...
"For you, my Grand Duchess, I will oblige."
Meagan raised up on her elbow as Alexander rolled over, putting his tightly muscled back to her.
She was not certain she saw it begin, but Alexander's hands curved to claws, then his arms thinned as his shoulders grew broader and heavier, his face elongating to the black harshness of the big cat. And then all of a sudden her bed was full of wild animal, a smooth black-coated panther lying next to her, its breathing loud in the darkness.
"Thank you," she said. She snuggled down next to his furred warmth, sliding one arm around his middle. "Good night, Alexander."
She heard and felt the rumble deep inside his body, and then she fell into sleep.
Lady Anastasia quickly opened her hotel room door when she heard the soft knock, sensing with her entire body who it was. Clad once again in her velvet peignoir with nothing beneath, she stood aside to let Myn enter.
"Alexander?" she asked anxiously.
"Found, and well," he said as he closed the door. "His wife is with him."
"And everything is-all right?"
"She loves him," Myn answered, his large blue eyes never changing. "She will ground him and keep him as he needs to be. And he loves her well in return."
Anastasia relaxed. "Well, I know you would not have left him if all was not settled. Thank you for looking after him. He is a difficult man, but he deserves his happiness."