What he saw gave him a sense of deep satisfaction. She knew she’d crossed him, she anticipated some kind of punishment, and her quickened breath told him she wanted it. Poor Beth, trapped in her fears, her guilt, her sense of duty. Someone had to free her. And that person was going to be him.

  “Take off your cloak,” he commanded.

  Quickly, she dropped it to the ground. She stood trembling before him. An ache of painful desire mingled with protectiveness swamped him. God, how he wanted her. Not just her body but her trust, her secrets. Her chest moved rapidly up and down, as though her heart were a trapped bird. Her nipples, good Lord, her nipples were hard from the cold, more swollen than he’d ever seen them. His own cock was just as hard, as it had been since he’d first seen her in that corset.

  Brutally he clamped down on his own arousal. This wasn’t about him. Not yet.

  The only light came from the red glow deep inside the woodstove in the corner. He decided against turning on the overhead light, instead walking across the room to the window next to the bed. A box of matches sat on the windowsill, along with a row of candles. He lit a match and touched it to each candle in turn. The eager flames flickered gleefully against their reflections in the glass.

  He surveyed the cabin. It was just how he’d left it, just how he’d wanted. A patchwork quilt covered the queen-sized four-poster bed, his trunk was tucked underneath. An armchair sat by the woodstove. A closed door led to a small bathroom. And by the front door, just as he’d dreamed, stood Beth. Awaiting his orders.

  “Walk to the foot of the bed.”

  It took her a few steps. He loved watching her move in those boots. She moved like a siren, like a goddess.

  “Bend over.”

  Behind the mask, her eyes widened. He gave her no time for second thoughts.

  “I said, bend over. We can keep this simple or we can get complicated. Let’s start with simple.”

  She gave a confused frown but instead of questioning, she bent over the foot of the bed and put her hands on the quilt. The posture gave him a perfect view of her luscious breasts, hanging like perfect pears over the edge of the corset. His delicious, dreamy Beth, with all that passion locked inside her. He nearly came right then and there.

  With iron control, he fought back his urge to throw her on the bed and fuck her senseless. Instead, he prowled alongside the bed, eating her up with his eyes. From the way her nipples tightened, he knew she felt his gaze on her. Good, that’s what he wanted. He wanted all her focus, all her senses tuned to him.

  When he stood behind her, the sight of her wet cleft and the sweet cheeks quivering on either side felt like a punch in the gut. She was more aroused from this still-new encounter than he’d seen her in nearly three years of marriage. Ah Beth. I’ve wasted so much time waiting for you to stop grieving.

  “Legs apart.”

  She shifted first one leg, then the other, until about a foot separated them.

  “Not good enough. When I say legs apart, this is what I mean.” With ruthless efficiency, he clamped one hand around the back of each thigh, lifted her off the ground, yanked her legs apart, then planted her booted feet back on the floor. Her legs were wide open now, her pink lips glistening with moisture, calling to him. He couldn’t resist. He stroked a finger among the silken folds, past the wet thong. Hot, so hot.

  She moaned. He found her clit and wiggled his thumb against it. She bucked against the bed, hips twisting, as if trying to escape his touch. He knew what she was afraid of. Coming like this, right in front of him.

  He didn’t think she’d ever had a true, deep, mind-shattering orgasm with him. Maybe little ones, here and there. Maybe. She always pulled away, or turned over or did something to change position so she wouldn’t lose control.

  “Don’t move,” he said harshly. “Rest your head on the bed. Yeah, like that.”

  It would help her lose herself, he knew. Beth lived in her head too much.

  She dipped her head to the quilt and snuggled her arms along her sides. Her eyes closed halfway, dreamy behind the mask. Her back arched so her ass curved toward him, displayed for his viewing and fondling pleasure.

  A smile touched his lips. Just how he’d wanted her. Let her mind take a rest and her body take over. He smoothed his hand along her spine, across the tight leather of the corset binding her flesh, to the string of fabric clinging to her hips. He followed the path of the cloth into the valley of her cleft. It was drenched with her juices. The thrill made his cock jerk in anticipation. Down, boy.

  He wrapped the fabric once around his finger so it tightened against her clit. She squirmed.

  “I said, don’t move.” He left her then to pull the trunk out from under the bed. He saw her eyes follow him as far as they could, but she held her position. He opened the trunk and pulled out two lengths of silky cloth.

  He rose slowly, dangling the restraints where she could see them. She bit her lip. A wild light sparked deep in her eyes. But she didn’t move.

  Hiding his satisfaction, he bent first to her right foot. If she’d resisted—for real—he would have stopped. But she didn’t. Not even a weak, obligatory protest left her lips. He tied her ankle, encased in that sexy burgundy velvet, to the bedpost, then did the same with the other. Lord almighty, she was sexy, spread open for him like that. With deep appreciation, he felt his way up the backs of her thighs and danced his fingers across the tender crease between her inner thigh and her ass.

  He rose to his feet. The air in the room felt quietly electric. The only sound came from the woodstove, the fire muttering to itself inside the cast iron. He felt hypnotized by her beauty, by her submission. Her winter-white skin glowed against the black of her stockings. The curve of her ass flowed gracefully into the swell of her thighs. In the darkness between her thighs, wetness called to him.

  She liked this. She needed this. They both did.

  Without warning, he slapped her lightly on the ass. A quiver of surprise, then she went still.

  He’d shocked her. Good.

  He gazed at the slight tinge of pink rising on her creamy skin. His throat tightened. Had he hurt her? A quick look at her face set him at ease. Her lips were parted, her eyes dazed, as though trying to solve a puzzle.

  Quick as a snakebite, he whacked her again, light but firm. Her body gave a quick, involuntary jerk then went still. Good girl. She was trying. Following his instructions. Love for her pooled in his heart. He spread his hand across her ass, feeling the heat of her skin. He used his index finger to explore lower, through the luxurious silk of her sex. The scent of her arousal rose from her depths, prickling his nose and making his whole body leap to attention.

  During the next flurry of whacks, he gripped her sex in one hand, letting his thumb play against her clit. Strangled moans rose from the bed. Red tinted her neck above the collar. Her breath came in frantic gasps. Her needy flesh fluttered against his fingers. How far could he push her, this first time?

  “Should I let you come?” he asked her, flicking his thumb across her clit and working two fingers into her depths. “Have I punished you enough?”

  Her only answer was a strangled moan. She was probably beyond words by now. He himself was so turned-on, he might explode. This was Beth, with her fresh skin and innocent smile. She’d opened herself up for him, exposed herself to his eyes and hands and knowledge.

  “We’ll get there,” he answered himself. Hypnotized by the sight of her like this, he didn’t want it to end yet. “Do you know how many nights I lay next to you, wanting to bend you over like this, split you open, fuck you hard? Do you have any idea how much I hate those flowery nightgowns of yours?”

  He ran his hands over the globes of her ass. Her skin shivered visibly under his touch. He scratched his fingernails across the backs of her thighs, pressed his thumbs into the grooves next to her swollen lower lips. Her body shook and he knew her knees would have buckled if he hadn’t fastened her tight.

  He spoke in rough grunts. “If I was an artist… I’d paint this. Your sexy ass spread apart for me. Your little pink hole. And your sweet pussy, so wet. You want me, don’t you?”

  Fiercely, he fingered her tender, slippery folds. She pushed her burning mound against his hand. Satisfaction at her response shot straight to his groin. Right now, he owned her, this precious, hot, ravenous being. He gave her what she wanted, pressing his hard thumb against her clit. “Say it. Tell me you want me like this, from behind. Tell me you want me to fuck you. This is me, Beth, the real me. Do you want me?”

  Her sex pulsed against his palm. He didn’t know he was holding his breath until she answered.

  “Yes,” she gasped, so wild he nearly missed it. “Please. I want you. I…I love you.”

  God, what she did to him. He tightened his grip and pulled her against his groin so she could feel his hardness. She pushed against him frantically, all notion of keeping still completely forgotten.

  Didn’t matter. What mattered now was giving her the glorious orgasm she’d earned.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he murmured. “I’ll take care of you. Don’t you worry.” He brought his other hand to his mouth and licked his fingers. Slick and warm, they went straight to her sex and stroked her clit. Her soft flesh swelled against his fingers, the little kernel hot to the touch. Every thrust of his fingers made her moan and the pale curves of her ass quiver. Silky liquid surrounded his hand. The intoxicating female smell of her went straight to his head.

  He couldn’t stand it another second. He opened his pants and pulled out his straining erection. Roughly, he pulled her onto his cock. God, the sheer, tight pleasure of her hot body laid out for his disposal, spread open for him, only him…

  He rammed hard into the furnace-hot depths of her body. He kept one hand clamped to her clit, his flat palm moving in rough circles. With the other he held her hips still for his plunging cock. Again and again he hammered into her. He fucked her with wild, unrestrained abandon while she writhed like an animal.

  She screamed. The sound wrenched out of her, a long, keening, grateful cry. Her body jerked against him, over and over.

  He came in a great, scalding explosion. It was the most intense orgasm of his life. But it was outshined by the sheer joy of watching her completely surrender to her bliss.

  Surrender to him.

  He’d done this. He’d turned his shy wife from a quiet, head-in-the-clouds dreamer to a crazed wanton. Or maybe he’d just let the wanton out of her cage.

  Satisfaction settled deep in his bones.

  After several long moments, she went limp under his hands. He untied her legs, lifted her up and curled her onto the quilt. He lifted the mask off her damp face and watched her eyelashes flutter to her cheeks.

  Let her rest.

  * * * * *

  When Beth surfaced from her drugged slumber, it took her a moment to remember where she was. Her body felt different. Lazy and sensual, a few twinges here and there. And then it all came rushing back. The costumes. Gavin. The deep, wrenching orgasm that had just turned her life inside out.

  She should run. Now. While she had a chance. Before Gavin knew she was awake. He wouldn’t chase her, she knew. If she wanted to leave, she could.

  Which was why she couldn’t possibly run.

  She lifted her head and looked around for Gavin. He sat in the armchair next to the woodstove, still in black, still masked. His head lolled back against the wall, his legs spread, pants refastened, his hands resting on his strong thighs. A deep flush swept across her body as she remembered what those magic hands had done to her. Gavin had made her feel things she hadn’t known were possible. Or maybe she’d suspected. The image of the bound woman in the photo came into her mind, along with the restless, excited feeling it had inspired in her.

  “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  So he wasn’t asleep. “No. Surprised me.”

  For a moment he stayed quiet. “I don’t ever want to hurt anyone. I could, easily. I’m too strong.”

  “But you wouldn’t.” She knew it in her bones.

  He shook his head, a worried frown pulling his black eyebrows together. “A girl I dated in college liked it rough. She showed me what she wanted, made me rip her clothes off, pin her hands over her head, fuck her hard as I could. I hated myself for liking it. She wanted me to hurt her but I wouldn’t. I freaked out and broke up with her.”

  Beth propped her head on her elbow to listen. They’d never talked about their sexual pasts. Part of her didn’t want to hear about him with other women. But most of her was fascinated. “Then what happened?”

  “Her friends started calling me. I went out with one and she told me she had handcuffs in her purse. Wanted me to cuff her to the steering wheel. Told me she’d heard what a great fuck I was. I hated that, hated thinking of them talking about me like that.”

  Beth felt heat come and go in her face. She’d never heard that talk. Then again, they’d gone to different colleges. And she wasn’t used to talking about such things.

  “I swore off kinky sex and focused on rescuing Thomason Heating from the bank. And then you came back to North Pole.”

  “And?”

  “When you smiled at me at that gas station—remember?—I wanted you so hard I could barely stand. A thousand times more than I ever wanted those girls in college. But I wanted it dirty, and you were so innocent. By some superhuman willpower, I held myself back. I loved you too much, I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  Her heart went out to him, this powerful man whose muscle power was dwarfed by his kindness. Gavin deserved something. Something special. Some kind of glorious thank you. She eased off the bed.

  He was only a few steps away, too close to bother getting to her feet. Instead, she crawled across the floor to him. He watched her through slitted, intense black eyes. Their heat made her shiver. She felt her hips sway from one side to the other as she made her way across the rug. His gaze fastened on her breasts, which bounced with each move she made. Oh God, the way he’d teased them with his thumbs…

  Another shiver.

  She crawled between his long legs. The thought of what lurked behind that zipper made her dizzy. She knew his penis and yet she didn’t, not anymore. Not the fierce way it had claimed her. Her mouth watered.

  She lifted her face between his thighs and, with her mouth, undid the snap at his waistband. Then she took his zipper pull between her teeth. She risked a glance up at him and caught his black gaze burning into her. Another wave of dizziness struck. Slowly, she pulled at the zipper, inch by inch. As his trousers parted, a massively aroused, fire-breathing dragon of an erection sprang from its cave. It reared up into the open air, demanding and ferocious. She’d always avoided this part of making love, and Gavin had never pressed her.

  But now she wasn’t afraid. Not dressed like this. Not tonight. Tenderly she touched its base with her tongue.

  Gavin groaned, a rough, helpless sound that told her just how much she turned him on.

  “No holding back,” she whispered, her lips moving against the satin skin of his cock.

  “You don’t know what you’re saying,” Gavin said between gritted teeth. “I don’t think I could hold back with a gun to my head.”

  “No gun. Just this.” She swirled her tongue across hard ridges and soft veins, up, up, up to the straining tip of his penis. On the way, she caught a glimpse of his white knuckles against the arms of the chair. A feeling of triumph flitted through her. She was the one making him crazy now.

  She fastened her mouth over the head of his cock and sucked with greedy pleasure. Why hadn’t she known how good he would taste, how he would fill her mouth with his soft steel, his salty sweetness? Why hadn’t she known how the sound of his guttural groans would make her melt inside? How had she done without the knowledge that right now, she was the only thing in his world—that she held his release in the tender secrecy of her mouth?

  “Beth, my sweet,” he pleaded, speaking her name like a prayer, like a tribute to a goddess. “God, Beth, you’re killing me. Beth!”

  And then hot liquid was everywhere, spilling over her lips, jetting into the air. He pumped into her with harsh groans. He needed her. The pleasure of that knowledge made her chase down every scalding drop of his essence.

  Chapter Seven

  Gavin and Beth lay naked on top of the patchwork quilt. He’d stoked the woodstove so the fire crackled and roared. It felt tropical inside their little cabin, even as a vicious wind hissed outside the windows. Now that the excitement had faded, Beth felt embarrassment creep back in.

  “You planned all this,” Beth murmured as she wound her fingers in the tangle of black hair on his chest.

  “Yes.” His eyes were at half-mast, his dark lashes casting shadows on his cheeks. How could a man have such long eyelashes and still be so manly? Testosterone practically oozed out of his pores, and yet he’d always been so gentle with her.

  “For how long?”

  “How long have I been planning it? I’m not sure. Last week sometime.”

  “You saw that photograph at the shop.”

  “Yes.”

  She wanted to be embarrassed—was embarrassed—but on the other hand…

  “Are you glad I did?”

  “Mmm.”

  “Come on, you can give me more of an answer than that.”

  “It’s nice to get some time away,” she said, skirting the question.

  “Time away?” He sat up, the muscles of his shoulder bunching as he moved. The candlelight flickered over his skin, turning it to a deep, burnished gold. “Maybe I should have booked a spa day. Or a scrapbooking weekend.”

  She giggled. “You know what I mean.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But unless you tell me in plain words, I’ll never be completely sure.”

  She dropped her eyes, and they happened to land on his sex. His spent penis rested in a bed of black curls. A tender feeling crept over her, along with a sense of deep well-being. What was she so worried about? She felt the urge to stretch, and indulged herself in a full-body extension, reaching her hands to the headboard and pointing her toes. “Fine. I’m glad you made this plan.”