He saw a flash of green from the corner of his eye and turned to see her standing in the mouth of a cave.
“You must catch me first, my lord,” she cried, and disappeared into the cave.
Edward’s eyes grew quickly accustomed to the dim interior, and he saw Cassie standing quietly some feet away from him.
“Alas, my lord,” she said in a breathless voice, “it appears that you have trapped me.”
“You deserve a good beating, my girl.”
“Yes, Edward,” she said, and bowed her head.
In an instant, she felt his hands grasp her shoulders and his breath warm upon her forehead. She raised her head and parted her lips in mute invitation.
He realized vaguely that she had tricked him, but she was standing on her tiptoes, her mouth close to his, and he felt rational scruples slip willingly from his mind. They were to be wed, after all, in but two days’ time.
“I love you so, Edward.” He felt her breasts pressing against his chest, and wrapped his arms tightly about her back.
“And I you, Cass.” He brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her, savoring the taste of her. He grew more demanding, and wrapped his hands in her hair that hung to her waist. He shuddered when she dug her fingers into his back. She was filled with passion, innocent passion, and it was driving him mad.
“Please, Edward, touch me the way you did on the beach, when you first saw me.”
He released her hair and his hands caressed her. He cupped her buttocks and lifted her to press her belly tightly against him.
“Damn your ridiculous skirt and petticoats.” He pulled away from her and shrugged quickly out of his coat. He spread it on the sand and eased himself down. “Come here, Cass,” he said, and held his hand out to her.
Cassie fell to her knees beside him and let him pull her into his arms. She fell onto his chest and let her hair swirl about his face. Edward circled her chin with his fingers, tilting her face to him so he could look into her eyes. They were huge and dark in the pale light, full of tenderness and excitement.
“Lie on your back, Cass,” he said softly.
He balanced himself on one elbow and smoothed her hair away from her face into a golden halo about her head. “God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered. His fingertips traced the straight line of her nose, and gently outlined her cheek.
“I feel so urgent, Edward,” she said, as his fingertips lightly touched her mouth. “My heart is pounding so, I can scarce breathe.”
He saw her eyes widen as he cupped her breast and pulled her to him, and felt a shudder pass the length of her body. “There is much, much more.”
“Please teach me, Edward. Let me become a woman.”
Although he had had much practice, Edward’s fingers trembled as they probed at the small buttons on her bodice. He wanted her as he had never before desired a woman. She lay passively, staring up at him as the material parted, and he pulled free the blue ribbons that held her chemise close over her breasts. When cool air touched her skin, she stiffened, for no man had ever before seen her naked.
“Don’t be afraid, Cass,” he said. He parted the chemise, baring her breasts. They thrust up firm and full toward him, delicately white and smooth, her creamy nipples a dusky pink.
“Do I please you, Edward?”
He groaned deep in his throat, and closed his mouth over her. She sucked in her breath in surprise as he licked and tugged at her with growing possessiveness. He felt her quicken and arch her back instinctively to press more tightly against him.
Edward sat back on his knees and jerked open his white lawn shirt.
Cassie raised her hand and tangled her fingers in the light brown hair of his chest. She lightly traced the diagonal white scar that slashed down his shoulder. “Let me feel you against me,” she whispered.
He lowered himself down upon her, his senses reeling at the giving of her, and he kissed her deeply, savagely, until she moaned breathlessly into his mouth. He drove his hands frantically beneath her, to the buttons on the skirt of her gown.