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  Argon waved his hand and a glass of water appeared in Augusta’s hand. She gulped it down quickly.

  “I want to sit down.” He sat down on the sofa cushion beside her.

  Augusta clutched the now empty glass as if for protection.

  “What’s wrong with the chair over there?” I will not hiccup. I am in control.

  “You’re not over there, Augusta True.” Argon reached over and took the carton of ice cream from between her knees.

  Hiccup.

  The ice she had been relying on to keep her cool was suddenly replaced by a warmth that shot up Augusta’s spine as she felt the heat radiating from his body where his thigh brushed hers. She closed her legs together quickly.

  “Nervous?” He dipped into the strawberry ice cream and ate from her spoon. “Mmm, delicious.” Argon looked directly at her.

  Hiccup, hiccup, hiccup. Oh the sexy, knowing smile. She knew, the first time she saw him, it would be her undoing.

  “I…” What the hell was I going to say? God he smells good. Is that sandalwood? Are you going to do what you did to me in that dream? Lord, mental head slap, get a grip woman!

  “Yes Augusta True?” Argon leaned into her, his lips a bare kiss away from hers. He gently plucked the spectacles from her nose and smiled at the crude repair job holding them together. “You’re so cute.”

  Hiccup.

  “Um, you should go.” If I kiss him I am surely doomed. She moved backward from him.

  “Should I?”

  Hiccup.

  What was he asking? Should he go? Hiccup. Should he kiss her? Hiccup. Augusta was not the most rational person to answer those questions at the moment. All she could think of was that fate was a bastard to put her in this position. Bloody Hester and her words of doom.

  “Yes.” What am I saying yes to? “Er, you should, you know. Go, I mean.” Hiccup.

  “Oh, Augusta True this can’t be stopped.” Argon caught her in his arms before she had a chance to stop him and kissed her.

  When their lips met and bonded, time seemed to stand still. The most wondrous heat flooded her body. It was like new life was being breathed into her. All her nerve endings were alive with a crazy electricity that surged into her blood and made her push forward for more of the sweet, insistent suction of his mouth on hers. It would have been impossible not to melt into the arms that held her so gently, yet possessively against his chest. He is mine. I am his. Was that the truth or was she being seduced by skilful kisses into believing something that a moment ago she would never have acknowledged? Augusta pushed at his biceps to free herself.

  “Stop it,” she panted frantically.

  “Why?” Argon placed a line of soft kisses down her throat as his hands moved slowly up and down her back, stroking her body.

  “I…ah—” Oh Lord how am I supposed to concentrate when he does that? “I don’t want you or this.” Though his warm breath against her ear was mighty nice. Hiccup.

  “Liar.” He took control of her mouth once more.

  As their tongues met, Augusta’s hands curled around his neck and whatever thoughts she had about fighting him disappeared as she responded with a wild hunger she wasn’t even aware she was capable of. It was like her starved senses recognized the desire that she had been denying for so long. This is wrong, yet so right.

  “Hiccups gone?” Argon murmured, as they drew apart, both breathing deeply. His eyes were knowing on hers.

  “Uh-huh,” she mumbled in a daze. The raw need she saw in his eyes dazzled her. Could any woman do this to him? He was a sexually potent male. Was this more than just raw physical attraction and anticipation of sex that had them both momentarily blinded by lust?

  “It’s all you Augusta True,” he affirmed her unanswered question. “You and I are an unbeatable combination.” He placed soft wet, kisses against her mouth And then the truth hit her with an astonishing clarity. It was both of them. Neither would feel this way without the other. No Cardissan will be able to resist the lure of the Law- giver. Was she drawn to him because the curse had been so long a part of her life or did she truly want him as a man? Why couldn’t she just have had convict ancestors like a normal Australian?

  “Argon,” Augusta gasped as she felt his hands descend on her braless breasts under her pajama top. The feel of them molding her flesh was exquisite. She made herself push back from him once more and grabbed his hands. In doing so, her own became engulfed in his. “This is crazy.” His body was pressed against hers and she could feel his cock straining hard against the fabric of his trousers. She had the urge to know what it would feel like inside her and that was sheer madness.

  “You feel so good.”

  “So do you… I mean we have to stop.” Augusta didn’t want to but she knew the minute his body claimed hers, it would be forever and she wasn’t sure she was ready for eternity with this man.

  “What do you feel at this moment?”

  Hiccup, Hiccup. “I don’t know.” She was hot, scared and confused. Her thoughts were in a mess and making any grand decisions at that moment seemed dangerous.

  “Be honest, Augusta True.” Argon’s eyes locked on hers as he pulled their entwined hands to rest against his heart.

  She saw so much in those eyes that she wanted to believe. Passion, need and love. But could she? And should she? Did she want him because she believed she had no choice or was the hunger she felt natural and meant to be?

  “Hester’s curse—”

  “It’s just words.” Argon kissed her lingeringly.

  “That brought you here.” Augusta knew that without the curse they may never have met.

  “This has everything to do with who we are and you know it.”

  She ran her tongue over her lips as if savoring the taste of him.

  “But it brought us to this point.” Would I be considering anything with him if not for the curse? Why this man and not the others who had crossed my path? Because he is the one. Fairytale or curse? Or am I so desperate to be loved that any man will do?

  “Maybe that’s true but I need you and not because of some words a condemned woman spoke centuries ago. Can you honestly say you do not feel the same?”

  At that moment Augusta ached with a need she had not realized she was capable of. She had deliberately made her world so safe and sterile that any strong emotion was alien to her and she was unsure how to channel it. She had learned not to need any one person and yet all she wanted at that moment was this man. Why him when she had resisted every other man?

  “I dreamed—” She stopped when she realized what she was about to say. That I had sex with you that I want to try it again awake and aware and I want it to be real.

  “What did you dream?” His eyes were locked on hers as if he knew her thoughts.

  “Nothing.” This was all too soon. “I’ve never—” Augusta immediately halted the admission that sprung to her lips. She hiccupped madly and blushed. Argon kissed her with a tenderness that astonished her. How does he know what I need?

  “I know.”

  “What?” How could he know she had taken no lovers? She was almost thirty years old and pathetically a virgin in a day and age where it was most definitely not the norm. Augusta had always told herself the reasons behind that were many and complex, and yet when she looked into his eyes she knew he was the only reason there had been no one else. No one else was supposed to touch her but him. The thought that someone could have such a power over her scared her. Harsh reality told her to fight what she was feeling but instinct told her it was useless.

  “I know everything about you.” Argon’s voice sounded confident.

  “How?”

  “Because you’ve always been mine.” Argon smiled at her confusion as he pushed her back into the sofa. “And you know that, despite every word you may throw at me. We are meant to be together.”

  Augusta’s back hit the cushions and the gentle weight of his body on hers made her gasp. He was hard and hot and despite knowing this was all
too fast and too soon she also knew it could not be stopped.

  “Love is not as difficult as you want to make it.” Argon’s fingers stroked her cheek softly.

  “Love?” He thinks he loves me?

  “Of course it is. What else could it be between us?”

  Before she could contemplate his words any further Argon waved his hand and they were suddenly standing in her bedroom. Or was it? It looked like hers but not. Hundreds of candles flickered softly and rose petals were strewn over her bed. Hiccup, hiccup.

  “Ah, this is a tad clichéd.” And awkward and yes, very sweet and romantic, but she was no sexual sophisticate who could drop her clothes and take any man no matter how romantic the setting. But he’s not just any man is he? And damn, those petals are going to take forever to clean up.

  “I want our first time together to be memorable.” His hands linked with hers as he pulled her against his body.

  Argon could have taken her in front of the television with the cricket droning on in the background and it would have been unforgettable. Augusta felt his hands unbuttoning her pajama top. She grabbed them to still their progress.

  “Please stop.” No one had ever seen her naked and the thought of it made her nervous. “I ah…” Hiccup, hiccup. “I don’t want you to…” Hiccup.

  “See you? Touch you? Taste you?” Argon smiled in soft understanding. He clicked his fingers and his clothes disappeared leaving him naked.

  Hiccup, hiccup, hiccup.

  “Oh, Argon,” her words were choked by shock and awe and hiccups. Of course Augusta had seen naked men before in pictures but none of them had looked like Argon. He was so tall and muscular with a solidness that made her feel hot and needy and yet protected at the same time. She looked at his erection and subconsciously licked her lips as she imagined that hard cock inside her. It was taut, on edge and pointed skywards. Hiccup. “Good grief.” She felt her heart pound with excitement just at the thought of him inside her.

  “Touch me.” Argon reached out and pulled her hand to his chest.

  His skin felt like velvet yet there was a hardness underneath her hand that belied that. The fine sprinkling of hair she felt sent a thrill her up back as she imagined it against her breasts.

  “You are beautiful.” There was no other word to describe it. Her mouth felt dry and her heart pounded wildly. Augusta wasn’t sure what love was but she was certainly feeling lust.

  Argon chuckled at her words.

  “That’s not something I have been called before.”

  He was right. It probably sounded gauche and naïve. She blushed as she realized she was a grown woman gobsmacked over a naked man. For God’s sake not many women were still a virgin at thirty. But for him…

  “Other women—”

  “Are not you and there will be no other for me but you ever again.” Argon’s voice was adamant on that score. “Now you have seen me, Augusta True, I need to see you.

  Oh boy. Hiccup.

  “Ah, well you see, I’m kind of pudgy and—”

  “Please, for me.”

  The soft, loving way he said that made her want to drop her clothes instantly if not for the spiral of panic that was shooting through her body. This was what she had been waiting for all those years and yet the thought panicked her. Once I take this man we are destined to be together for life.

  “I’m scared.” That was the plain truth of it.

  “Why?”

  Augusta shook her head. There were so many reasons why. It was him and the curse and the fact that to need someone made her feel vulnerable. But he did not need to know that. Weaknesses could be exploited.

  “I don’t know.” Before she could say anything else, Argon waved his hands and her clothes disappeared. Augusta gasped in shock. “Hey!” Hiccup, hiccup. She tried to cover herself with her hands but he pulled them away from her body. Her face was hot as his eyes roamed her naked body and then locked with hers.

  “Now you are true beauty.”

  Hiccup. Augusta felt she was anything but. She had big hips, a fat ass and her breasts had never been perky.

  “You need your eyes tested.”

  “There is nothing wrong with what I see.” Argon took her hand and drew her over to the full length, oval mirror beside her dressing table. He moved her in front of him and came to stand close behind her. “Every inch of you is lickable.”

  Augusta jumped forward in surprise as his hard cock made contact with her bottom.

  “This is embarrassing.” And yet the prodding cock was exciting in a forbidden kind of way.

  “Relax, Augusta True.” Argon pulled her back against him, their bodies pressed tightly together. He sighed at the contact. “It’s just you and me and neither of us can harm the other.” His hands encircled her waist and came to rest on the swell of her stomach. “Just relax.” Argon eyes locked with hers. “Do you know what I see?”

  Augusta shivered and shook her head, trembling at his touch and the heat their bodies created.

  “I see a body that is meant to give and receive love. I see generous comfort and great beauty.” His hands moved up to cup her full breasts. “I want to suck these so badly that I could come against you now just at the thought of it. I want to taste every part of you and feel you squirming beneath me. I adore hips that I can grasp and generous, real women’s thighs to lie between. I want your legs wrapped around my body as I take you hard and fast, soft and slow. I need you Augusta and the thought that you may deny me would kill me.”

  Augusta was amazed at his words and the love in his eyes. I’m all that to him? He needs me? Was this what he really felt? What he needed? He was saying everything she wanted to hear and it scared Augusta because she wasn’t sure it she could believe it.

  “Really?” She trembled as his lips touched the skin on her neck. Augusta turned in his arms and looked at him. Who was he really? Was he the man she had feared all these years or was he the lover that his sweet words suggested?

  “Oh hell yeah and your ass is spectacular.” His hands caressed the flesh in question. “I have many thoughts about what I can do to this ass.” Argon chuckled as she jumped in shock. “But most of all I want to bury myself inside you and just be with you as I know we are meant to be.”

  “Why me?”

  “I have been alive more years than I care to remember and yes there have been other women but not the woman for me—not the woman I want to laugh with, make love to or to have children with.”

  It was everything she wanted to hear and yet everything she feared.

  “Oh, Argon I’m scared.” She was more scared of herself than him. Augusta had denied wanting anyone for so long that it felt like a dam was going to burst and swamp her. And I don’t want to make a mistake. But then I don’t want to miss out either.

  “I know but I’ll never hurt you.” He picked her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed, his mouth on hers kissing her with a passion that made her cling to him as if nothing else mattered at that moment. Argon laid her down on the bed and then moved to lie beside her.

  This was just like the dream but better. Augusta was awake and completely aware of everything. When his lips suctioned onto one pert nipple she gasped at the sensation.

  “I shouldn’t,” she moaned as she held his head to her breast. How can I walk away from him after this?

  “Why not?” Argon let go of her nipple with a loud wet pop of satisfaction. His eyes met hers.

  “I don’t know you.” So why do I have this overwhelming need to have you? She unconsciously opened her legs, inviting him to lie within.

  Argon immediately accepted the invitation, settling himself down so the full length of their bodies touched.

  “Yeah you do. You just don’t know yourself.” One of his hands rose up to cup her chin.

  He had the most expressive eyes. When Argon looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman on the planet she wanted to believe him “W-what?”

  “You have let no man touch you like thi
s and why is that?”

  Hiccup, hiccup. His hands were now sliding down her body setting all her nerve endings alight with anticipation.

  “Because it was always meant to be me and you knew that deep in your soul, Augusta True.” Argon lifted her legs and pulled them up around his hips.

  This was just like her dream. “Is this real?” She spoke the words without meaning to.

  “It is an awakening.” Argon pulled her body up to his and trailed a path with his tongue from her breast down to the curls at her pussy.

  Augusta gripped the sheet beneath her as instant heat shot though her veins. She knew she had the power to stop him but for the life of her she couldn’t.

  “Why me?” she panted out as she felt the hot breath from his mouth on the inside of her thighs.

  “Because I have always loved you.”

  When his tongue touched her clit Augusta shrieked loudly. It was exactly like the dream as his lips moved over the pink inner flesh licking and sucking. She writhed beneath him trying to get closer to him. Her body tightened like a bowstring as a thrill of pleasure shot through her. It was followed by the most wondrous feeling of contentment.

  “Oh, Argon…” His hands and mouth were all over her body and she felt utterly, wantonly powerless to stop him. This man was so wrong for her in so many ways and yet if he stopped what he was doing she would be devastated.

  “Are you ready for me, Augusta True?” Argon’s voice was hoarse with contained passion as his eyes met hers.

  “Yes.” There was no other possible answer she could give. Augusta needed him and to deny herself that would be denying the truth of her feelings. “Um, condom?” It wasn’t the most romantic thing to say but sex was one thing, unplanned babies were another.

  “Of course.” Argon waved his hand and one appeared. “Do you want to put it on or are you not ready for that just yet?” He smiled wickedly as she shook her head. “We have plenty of time to learn more about each other Augusta True.”

  As impossible as it seemed, the thin membrane of rubber managed to fit over his straining shaft without tearing.

  “Amazing.” Augusta licked her lips as she looked at his cock. All that was going inside her. Is this even possible?