A scratch at the door alerted Theodora to her lover’s arrival. It was late, and the house had been quiet for some time. She was just giving up hope of seeing Quinn tonight when she heard him outside her door. The move from Maitland House to Newberry House had exhausted her; her last glimpse of the ruins of her former home had brought her grief closer to the surface than she cared to admit.

Catching sight of Quinn in a dark silk banyan and bare feet banished the tension she’d been fighting since coming up to her new bedchamber. She held out her arms, beckoning him closer. Excitement rippled up her spine as he locked the door behind him and hurried to join her.

His lips were hungry as they settled over hers and soothed her as nothing else could.

They did not speak. There was no need. They both were well aware of why he’d come and what Theodora wanted from Quinn tonight.

Quinn’s kiss was exactly as she remembered, but fiercer somehow. Hungrier. As if he was filled with the same desperation she felt after one night of abstinence. Twisting away, Theodora ripped the tie to her robe undone, and he did the same. Given they were both naked beneath, Theodora did not wait to push her body against his, gasping a little at the contact of his hot skin against hers.

He slid his hands down her back, beneath the robe, then lifted her up. “Mine,” he taunted.

Theodora curled her legs about Quinn’s waist and tightened her grip on him. “All mine, too.”

The smile on his face at her claim took her breath away, but she had no time to respond. He backed her against the bedpost, and her lust increased another notch as he kissed her quite desperately.

Quinn’s passion was what she desired in a man. A little rough, but only in a good way. She curled her arms around his head as they kissed, finding new ways to inflame him with her tongue and lips. She gripped his hair and tugged his head to the side to expose his neck.

Theodora settled her lips to his throat and kissed him there until he gasped. She nipped the firm column of his throat, not enough to bruise, lavished kisses on his jaw, and flicked his earlobe with the tip of her tongue until he was moaning. She finished with a firmer bite to the tip of his chin and met his wild gaze.

“Vixen,” he whispered. “You’ll pay for that.”

“Promises, promises,” she teased.

He moved around the bed and dumped her onto the sheets. She gazed up at him as he stripped off his robe completely and reached forward to grasp her hips. He flipped her over onto her stomach before she could protest she wasn’t done admiring him. He dragged her to the edge of the bed until her feet touched the floor. “There’s but one thing to do with a woman like you.”

She lifted her chest and twisted to look over her shoulder, trying to see his face. “And that is?”

“Have you, until you beg me to stop,” he whispered roughly against the back of her neck.

She caught his eye. “That could take all night,” she mused.

“I have a plan,” he countered, skimming his hands down her sides until he reached her hips. He slid one hand beneath her and covered her sex. “I intend to spend a great deal of effort tonight, filling you, bringing us pleasure to make up for what we were denied last night.”

“Good.” He parted her folds as he explained his wicked plan in great detail. When he slid his fingers over her clit, she shuddered and squirmed against him. “Please, Quinn.”

He slid his fingers from her clitoris and thrust into her, again and again.

She groaned loudly. “I need you.”

Quinn widened her legs, and soon he was sliding in and out of her eager body. She gasped each time he reached his limit and whimpered when he withdrew. His fingers covered her clitoris again, and he made love to her until Theodora couldn’t hold back. She came too quickly, jerking on his cock and against his fingers.

He slipped away, turned her over, and surged back inside her before she could catch her breath.

She opened her eyes as Quinn started to move above her again. “My apologies for my unseemly haste,” she whispered.

“Don’t be.” He cupped her cheek briefly, and his expression became serious. “You can never wait to have me, and I’d never deny you. Yours is the most honest passion I’ve ever experienced.”

Theodora shivered. What they shared was so much more than she’d expected. Her experiences in Quinn’s arms far outweighed the desire she’d experienced with her former betrothed, Daniel. It felt briefly disloyal to admit it, but she was having trouble remembering what had made her betrothed special enough to have almost married him. She seemed to have more in common with Quinn, both in and out of bed.

“I’m always honest when it comes to my appreciation of your technique,” she said.

Theodora closed her eyes to savor the moment. She was well and truly over the first love of her life. She had grown beyond that infatuation and moved on to a love affair that gave her everything she’d ever wanted—passion and respect and unending challenges.

Quinn ran his hands along her thighs, and then pushed them high into the air. Theodora opened her eyes again as he curled his fingers around her ankles to thrust slowly in and out of her body.

Theodora smiled at his restraint. Now that her first rush of pleasure had passed, she would admire him, appreciate him, tease him and tempt him in ways he couldn’t resist. He seemed most responsive to praise. “You are a devil in bed,” she whispered.

“I was thinking the same about you.” He buried himself deep and then chuckled. “I’ve made a pact with the devil.”

“For good, not evil,” she promised, then used her own body strength to move against him when he remained still. It may be brazen, but time was too short. One day he’d have enough of her, and fall in love with someone else.

Quinn caught her hips tightly as she set her bare feet against his skin, one on his chest, the other over his shoulder in a bid to still her. However, with the additional leverage, she could rotate on him no matter what he attempted. “I’m very good for you,” Theodora promised.

Those few little movements brought a wicked gleam to his eyes. An expression Theodora had grown to love seeing on his face. Everyone enjoyed a good romp between the sheets, whether they admitted to it or not. Thankfully, she had Quinn for now.

“I should have known you couldn’t be passive,” he murmured, his lips curving into a deep smile. “To be honest, I’m glad we’re in bed together again. It would have been hell working beside you if I couldn’t have this too.”

He thrust hard and withdrew, then repeated the pattern as her breath whooshed out of her lungs from the sheer joy of being so well used. Pleasure built as he continued to hammer her body harder than ever. She put her fingers on her clitoris and let his thrusts jolt her fingers against the hard bud of her sex until she was moaning out loud.

Her body was flushed with heat and sweat when he turned her again, so she lay on her side while he was still buried deep. He moved her to the angle he wanted, held her top leg up, her hand trapped between her legs and thrust very slowly.

“Wait for me,” Quinn demanded.

Theodora jerked her hand away from her quim, but it was too late. She lost her control over her arousal and came anyway. She turned her face into the bedding just in time to muffle a scream.

Above her, Quinn stilled and then, by the short, abrupt thrusts, she knew he was about to join her in bliss.