This corner of Beaumont was dense, almost primeval, with dark, cool woods and hilly terrain, but as the afternoon passed, even the forest’s coolness did little to combat Ivy’s discomfort. Removing the smart little jacket of her riding habit was necessary. Soon, even the long-sleeved shirt beneath became uncomfortably warm.

"Will you melt?" Sebastian asked. Sunlight filtered through the tree canopy and Ivy sighed with visible relief every time a shady patch appeared.

"I should hope not.” The heaviness of her apparel exasperated her. "I don’t know what Molly was thinking by not packing my summer riding habits.”

"We can go back if you like.”

“No, I'm enjoying this immensely.” She slanted him a glance. "If I rode in breeches it would be a great deal cooler.”

"And a great deal more dangerous.”

"Dangerous? For whom?”

Sebastian’s brow rose. "For you. Myself. The mere thought of you in breeches does horrendous things to my sanity. I would ravish you before you stepped foot outside our bedroom. Should you make it downstairs or - God help me - outside, well, I have a vast appreciation for those I employ. To slaughter a man because his eyes lingered on you would greatly disturb me.”

Ivy waved her hand in disbelief. "You exaggerate, of course.”

He gave her an odd half-smile. "Do I?"

Unfastening three ivory buttons on the delicate shirt, she closed her eyes in delight when a slight breeze discovered the newly exposed skin. "Nevertheless, were it any warmer, I would happily risk your displeasure to defend the poor servant, whomever he might be.” Smiling, eyes still closed, Ivy swayed in cadence with Spring’s even gait. “I’d visit you in the Tower before you swung for murder and plead very prettily for your life.”

When no response came, her eyes opened to see Sebastian leaning forward in the saddle, his gaze bright with speculation and riveted on her bare skin.

"I have the solution.” He grinned.

"Unless you’ve an extra pair of breeches and a shirt hidden somewhere, I fail to see this situation improving. I cannot believe how warm it is. We barely had a spring.” Ivy squinted up at the sun from under the brim of her hat.

"My intention is that you remove articles of clothing. Now, the path is around here somewhere...” Sebastian studied the trail ahead, considering trees and the vegetative twists in the overgrown path. Ivy watched in bemusement as she rode silently behind him.

A gnarled, century-old oak tree with low, sweeping branches brushing the ground grew about twenty feet from the path, served as the landmark for their unexpected detour. "Come along,” he directed, nudging Raven into the overgrowth.

Ivy gave Spring her head, allowing the mare to delicately pick her way through the soft underbrush and knee-high dark green grass. "Where precisely are we going?"

"You'll see.”

They passed the huge oak, the terrain growing steeper the further they ventured into the forest. Very soon after locating the trail Ivy heard rushing water. The mare’s ears pricked up in confirmation just as the woods opened to reveal a wide stream. It did not seem deep but the water plunged from a much higher rise of huge rocks and boulders, the fall creating a crystal clear pool which appeared bottomless. The stream meandered to the banks, snaking between larger boulders gleaming ghostly white in the sunshine. The water was quite shallow and gentle around the boulders then gained momentum to tumble noisily around the bend. Where it flowed from there was beyond Ivy’s view.

A mixture of elms and river oaks hugged the banks along with clumps of wildflowers and lilies, the blooms a mixture of buttery yellow and white. In a broad swath of sunlight, a bleached sand beach stretched like a glittery ribbon. A few of the boulders in the middle of the stream were flat enough for two or more people to climb up and lay on.

Ivy slid from Spring’s back, giving Sebastian a pleased smiled. "You own a magical, secret water garden?”

"I’ve heard it said fairies cast love spells from such places. This looks as though such creatures might reside here, doesn’t it?” Dismounting, Sebastian took the reins from Ivy’s hands to lead the horses a few feet downstream. He allowed them to drink their fill before tying the mounts to the low branch of an oak. As he removed the saddles, he glanced back at Ivy. "I thought you would want to wade in the water. Take off your boots, sweetheart. There’s no one to see you other than myself.”

“I couldn’t possibly…” Ivy stammered.

The heat in Sebastian’s stare interrupted her protest more than his response. “Of course, you can. Take off your boots.”

Dropping to the soft grass, she did as he asked then ventured into the water, the coolness of the stream swirling around her ankles eliciting a sigh of pure pleasure. "Oh heavens, that feels good.”

Sebastian chuckled, tossing his own boots aside. A second later, his shirt landed on a low tree branch, his fingers already working the buttons of his breeches.

"What are you doing?" Ivy’s voice trembled.

“Cooling off. Remove your clothes too, Ivy.”

"You - you're going to be naked?" She squeaked. “Outside?”

"It is as remote now as it was when I last swam here. Do you recall my mention of a stream I hoped to show you one day? I promise, my vision did not involve you wearing so many damned clothes. Now, do as I say and remove that hot, scratchy riding habit.”

Toes wiggling in the stream’s sandy bottom, skirts bunched in her fists to keep them high above the clear, cold water, Ivy shook her head. "I'm feeling refreshed, thank you.”

Sebastian peeled his breeches off and Ivy felt pinned to the spot when he swept her with a heated glance, from head to bare toes.

It was so very hard to gaze at the blatant, male beauty of her husband without thinking of him making love to her. To recall the touch of his hand on her skin, thinking they might make love by this stream was dangerous. It was reckless, wondering what it might feel like to make love in the warm sunshine...

Her husband waded into the water then dove with graceful precision toward the emerald pool where the waterfall pounded and splashed the rocks in an unsteady rhythm. Ivy watched as he swam through the current, his golden shoulders bunching and lengthening with movement. Reaching the falls, he hoisted himself onto a submerged ledge. With the water hitting behind him, his head tilted back so it could drench him.

Tearing her eyes away from his perfect form was impossible. When he slicked his hair back from his forehead, Ivy admired the muscles rippling in his arms and along his chest. Spellbound, she stared as the water ran over the slabs of his ribs, down the muscled bisection of his abdomen, trailing in tiny individual streams across the chiseled leanness of his hips and thighs. Her face flamed hot and suddenly, the cold stream did not feel invigorating anymore. It felt surprisingly warm, as though the heat of her flesh somehow caused the water’s temperature to rise.

Sebastian shook his head, causing water to fly in glistening drops. "Remove everything but your chemise, Countess. Keep it, if you require some semblance of modesty.”

"I don't know how to swim.” Ivy wavered with indecision. The waterfall would be a delicious experience if she dared to try it. That is, should she dare remove her clothes with the sinful temptation Sebastian presented. Such a scandalous thing, swimming naked in the middle of the afternoon. Her heart beat so fast she felt lightheaded.

"I'll teach you.” Calling out to her, his smile flashed white, but underneath was a current Ivy could not ignore. “Do not make me ask you again, my dear.”

She made her way back onto the bank, her legs unsteady. Tossing her hat to the side, she removed her hat, skirt and various articles of undergarments until nothing remained except a thin, champagne-hued chemise. It barely reached the tops of her thighs and just skimmed the edge of her breasts, but at least she was covered.

The last thing she did before walking toward him and into the water, was remove the pins from her hair. The heavy mass tumbled to her shoulders.

Sebastian was strangely quiet as he slid from the waterfall’s edge. He swam to a spot where the water swirled just above his waist then stopped, waiting for her. Ivy knew her chemise revealed far more than it covered. He could probably see the shadowy vee between her thighs and the dark circles of her nipples through the flimsy bit of silk. As the garment grew damp, it became a second skin on her flesh, molding to her curves, highlighting every asset. It took all she possessed not to cross her arms over her chest. Her intent was to stay to the shallows, but the moment he held out a hand to her, Ivy immediately went to him, into the deeper water.

"I did not lie when I said I could not swim. I-I am afraid to go any further.” Ivy glanced down, checking her footing in the water. Here, the stream’s bottom consisted of both larger pebbles and sand. She rolled her toes over the round stones, momentarily distracted by their smoothness and lost her balance. Submerged to her shoulders, Ivy floundered in panic until Sebastian lifted her up.

"Shhh,” he soothed, his arms slipping around her waist. "I won't let anything happen to you.” With the buoyancy of the water, held firmly against him, Ivy bobbed in his embrace, her toes now barely touching the stream bed.

"You'll teach me?" Her smile was self-conscious, her heart racing madly. “What should I do? Lie back or...?

Sebastian’s eyes were dark and serious. A lock of his hair fell across his forehead and Ivy reached up to sweep it back for him. "Later,” he said in a hoarse voice just before his mouth swooped down to take hers in a mind drugging kiss.

He tasted her thoroughly, sweeping the inside of her mouth until Ivy clutched his shoulders to steady herself. Sliding his hands down, Sebastian cupped her bottom, lifting her, holding her against his erection as the kiss blossomed and desire erupted into an inferno of want and need and lust.

Without warning, he sloshed to the middle of the stream to deposit her on one of the sun-drenched boulders. After being clasped against his body, Ivy’s chemise now clung to her, the silk molding itself until every inch of her was glaringly obvious. But as she settled atop the boulder, Ivy reached for him, beyond shame, beyond self-consciousness. Her hand entwined with his. Bringing it to her mouth, she pressed a kiss to his rough palm.

Wild hope soared in Sebastian’s eyes. He seemed to steel himself, slowly pushing Ivy back until she had to brace herself on her elbows. A glazed expression washed over his face as he rubbed his thumbs over the hardened peaks of her nipples. He slid his hands down to cup the fullness of each breast in his palms.

Ivy swallowed a helplessly excited moan, her back arching as she thrust into his touch. Replacing his thumbs with the wet heat of his mouth, Sebastian bent forward, tonguing her nipples with delicious intent, one by one, the smooth friction of silk adding a wicked layer of sensation as he licked and bit her through the cloth.

When she gasped, he forced her to lie prone on the warm rock, placing a large hand on her stomach in order to hold her flat. Moving his palm to the flesh between her thighs, he found her hot and moist. Agitated and growing restless, Ivy tried capturing his hand.

"No. Stay like this, love, and do not move. No matter what I do to you, you will stay here. In this position.” A smile emerged in the tone of Sebastian’s words while he stared down at her. "Holy hell, I may keep you here, like this, forever. If only you could see how beautiful you are...”

Biting her lip, Ivy remained as Sebastian placed her, arms stretching obediently above her head at his murmured directive. With the sun warming her face and the hardness of the stone beneath her, she felt like a pagan offering to the gods. Sacrificial and wanton. Closing her eyes, she was unaware of holding her breath until Sebastian chuckled softly.

“Breathe, my little love. Otherwise, you will not last through what I have planned for you.” A trembling moan escaped her as he explained in a scandalous whisper, "I'm going to taste you now, Ivy. From one end of your delicious body to the other, I'm going to lick...bite...suck you. I'm going to place my mouth on you. Over you. My tongue inside you. Anywhere I damn well please, for as long as I please. No. Stay as you are. I'll tell you when you shall move. Keep your hands there. Open- open your legs for me, Ivy. Open. Yes, that’s it. If you are a good girl and do as I say, you’ll find the reward well worth it…”

The words were hot, liquid honey pouring over her, into her, melting any reluctance or embarrassment she possessed. Sebastian pulled her thighs apart when she failed to respond quickly enough in her languid haze, his large fingers shoving the flimsy barricade of the silk chemise up. It clamped against the soft skin of her lower belly as he held her open with the flat of his palms. When she was bared to him, he stared at her for a long moment, as if he could not believe she was his.

Then he bent and put his mouth upon her.

A shudder shook Ivy from the top of her head down to her tiniest toe, a muffled sob of amazement escaping on a gasp of air. She almost reached down to grip his hair - to pull him away or drag him closer - she wasn’t sure. A low growl of warning reminded her to keep her hands where they were.

She melted into him and tried to shrink away at the same time. But Sebastian would not allow a withdrawal. His mouth became a branding iron on her sensitive flesh. Drawing his tongue over and across the slick heat of the soft folds centered every nerve in her body on the spot he possessed with his mouth, all the sensations pooling into a tangle of exquisite pleasure and quivering need.

Her craving was used as a weapon against her. When she inhaled with delight, he pushed further. When she tightened, legs stiffening, her body coiling, he eased off. He licked and teased her to the point of madness, then moved so he was no longer at her sex but the soft skin of her flat stomach. Ivy moaned in protest, limbs trembling as she receded from the peak he intentionally drove her to. He was prolonging her satisfaction with deliberate intent. He wanted her panting for his touch, trembling for him. If she wished to climax, he required her total surrender.

Gliding over the curve of her hip, his lips explored the inside of her thigh. He raised one of her legs to trail leisurely kisses down its length, stopping to trace the curves and hollows of her knee before discovering her delicate ankle. Using his tongue, he swept away drops of water, his teeth lightly raking her bones until Ivy flinched whenever his lips touched her.

Each time she whimpered in frustration, Sebastian chuckled. How difficult it was to remain in the position he placed her! Oh, her hands remained above her head, fingers alternating between gripping the smooth stone of the boulder for support and lacing with themselves to keep from grabbing him, but her entire body undulated for him. Her cries were for him. And the wet, slick honeyed sweetness of her arousal was for him.

She was completely his.

Sebastian lowered her leg, only to pick up the other and dive into a new adventure involving her skin. The actions repeated in reverse earned several muttered curses from Ivy. Moving from her ankle, up to her knee, then the inner side of her creamy thigh and back to her center once more, he ignored all of her swearing.

Again, his mouth fastened on her sweetness. It would take only seconds to bring her to completion. She nearly sobbed with need. When Sebastian raised his head to murmur, "Lower your arms now, sweet," Ivy’s hands plunged into the thick waves of his hair, holding him to her pulsating flesh. Arching into his mouth, she shamelessly sought the expert strokes of his tongue, his name falling from her lips, punctuated with the word, "please,”. She would have killed an army of marauding invaders for him when his finger slid into her, pushing against a hidden spot on the inner wall of the silken passage. With his finger deep inside her, and unrelenting teasing flickers of his tongue, he pushed her into a kaleidoscope of oblivion.

Ivy flew apart, crying out as pleasure shimmered through her. Sebastian savored every single pulse as she clenched about his finger until he slowly removed it. And as she shuddered, the rippling pleasure sharp and new, while she floated boneless on a cloud far above the little stream where he had her laid out like food for the gods, Sebastian thrust inside her. Holding her hips aloft, the stream curling around them, he delved deep, pulling her legs up until she wrapped them about his waist. Whispers filled her ears; love words, words of adoration, words of need and lust.

“I love you, Ivy, love you, love you.” With restrained impatience, he whipped her damp chemise over her head, his hands molding her bare breasts to the shape of his palm before skating down her waist and flanks to grip her hips again. Holding her tighter so she was not injured on the smooth surface of the boulder, Sebastian stroked in and out, hard, then soft, then hard once more, carrying them to a place where desire, love, and lust jockeyed for position and intertwined with the other.

Ivy teetered on the brink again before he skillfully nudged her into dark, sweet depths. His lips covered hers, his mouth taking hers, swallowing her cry of fulfillment. When Sebastian found his release, she held him close, her hands soothing and warm. Their souls surely mingled on some mystical level, Ivy thought, raining kisses on his face, sighing as the whirlwind of their passion subsided and the world intruded once more.

But never once, in this magical, secret water garden, could Ivy bring herself to say she loved him. The fairies failed them both in that regard.