Aye, she had made it, but she had yet to act upon it. It was the acting that gave her trouble. She knew Braden wouldn't turn her away.

But how would it change their relationship? Once she had carnal knowledge of him, they would never be able to go back to the way they had been before.

Of course, she really didn't want to go back to being invisible around him.

What do you want?

"I want a miracle," she whispered.

A full-blown, walk-on-water miracle. She wanted Braden to be hers. And if she survived the meeting with the MacDouglas, she didn't want to kiss him good-bye and watch him wander off with another woman.

And if you die?

She trembled even more.

Closing her eyes, she tried to decide what to do. As she concentrated, an image of Braden holding her drifted through her mind. She could feel him, smell him.

Taste him.

All her life, she had wanted him, and him alone.

And it was then she realized the full depth of her love for Braden. Nay, she couldn't go to her grave or even another day without knowing the man who had stolen her heart.

Even if it ultimately meant letting him go, she wanted to know what it truly felt like to love him completely as a woman.

Her entire body shaking, Maggie rose slowly to her feet, then headed off through the trees in search of the only man she would ever love.

Braden grunted as he ran his hands through his sleek wet hair. It felt good to be clean again.

He bent at the waist to rinse his face. And as he straightened, he heard a slight splash behind him.

Before he could move, two shapely wet arms encircled his waist and pulled him back against two perfectly round b.r.e.a.s.t.s that caressed the hollow of his back.

"Braden?"

He froze at the sound of Maggie's voice in his ear as her moist, bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s burned a hole in his spine.

He wanted to say something to her, but his throat was so tight, he could barely breathe.

"Would you let me make love to you?" she asked.

Oh, this is a dream! It has to be a dream.

Surely his little blossom wouldn't...

His thoughts scattered as she loosened her hold on his waist and stepped around him.

Good Lord, she was beautiful. More so than she'd ever been before.

His gaze darted over her glistening body, taking her in all at once. Her damp russet hair curled around her impish, freckled face. Her creamy, bare shoulders sparkled from the droplets of water that caught the rays of the sun.

But most of all, he gazed at her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s, at the tight, taut peaks that begged for a lover's kiss. A lover's touch.

And at that moment, he wished the water wasn't so deep, for it reached to her navel and he wanted to see more of her.

"Maggie," he breathed. "What-"

"Shhh," she said, placing a finger to his lips. "Don't say anything, lest I change my mind." Her gaze raked his body with a hungry, almost desperate look. "And I don't want to change my mind."

Braden knew he should turn her away. It would be the n.o.ble, decent thing to do. But then, he had never been n.o.ble or decent.

And before he could decide anything, she reached out and ran her hand over his chest, across his own taut nipple, dragging her nails ever so gently over his flesh. A thousand chills erupted through him as his body burned from the inside out.

Why was she doing this?

Why would she want a man like him? It made no sense to him whatsoever.

She moved her hand from his lips, then dipped her head to where she could draw his nipple into her mouth and suckle it ever so tenderly.

Braden moaned from the pleasure her tongue and lips gave him. And then she did the most unbelievable thing of all: She dipped her hand beneath the water and cupped him in her hand. That gentle, hesitant touch of her fingers against his shaft went deeper than the physical. It touched him all the way to his unrepentant soul.

Dizzy and on fire, he was past the point of rational thought. All he could think of was finally sating the deep hunger that had incessantly gnawed at him since the moment he'd seen her defying him at the kirk's door.

How he wanted her. It was beyond his understanding and it was a desperation so profound that it shook him all the way to his heart.

Cupping her face in his hands, he tilted her head up to where he could claim her lips with his own.

She sighed into his mouth as she continued to stroke his swollen shaft with her hand.

Reflexively, Braden's body arched against her palm and fingers, letting her have her way with him as he tasted the pure heaven of her mouth.

Maggie feared she might faint as her head swam from the taste of him, from the silken feel of his rigidness under her fingertips. Never had she imagined what a man would feel like. Braden was so strangely soft and hard at the same time. Like velvet stretched over steel.

Aye, she wanted this man. And if this was the only way she could have him, then she would take it.

For this moment in time, he was hers, and she would love him the way she'd always dreamed of loving him.

With the whole of her heart.

There would be no holding back. No timidity.

She would never want any other man to touch her like this. To kiss her. Hold her. Braden was the only man she would ever burn for. To the devil with her fears.

Braden picked her up in his arms and waded with her back to the sh.o.r.e. He placed her down on the plaid she had stretched out on the bank for them.

"You had this all planned, didn't you?" he asked with a light, humorous note in his voice.

Maggie nodded.

"And if I had turned you away?" he asked.

"I wouldn't let you," she whispered, then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head to hers for another long, deep and satisfying kiss.

Braden didn't disappoint her as he plundered her mouth like a Viking of old. She sighed in contentment and ran her hands down his lean, hard back.

He was the man of her dreams and she was going to enjoy this.

His muscles danced and flexed beneath her palms as his chest rubbed against hers. Exciting her, teasing her. Pleasing her.

Oh, but the man felt good. He tasted even better.

Her hero. Her love.

How she wished she could keep him like this forever. Lost in this moment where there were only the two of them. No past, no future. Nothing to separate them.

It was perfect.

He left her lips and trailed a scorching kiss to her neck where he suckled and teased her flesh with his tongue and teeth. Maggie arched her back, writhing in pleasure as his hands skimmed over her body.

Down her freckled arms, over her waist to where he cupped her hips in his hands.

As he moved toward her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, she stopped him.

He looked up with a frown.

"This is my fantasy," Maggie said with a sheepish smile.

Then Maggie rolled him onto his back and straddled his waist.

She took a moment to savor the feel of his hard, taut muscles caressing the sensitive place between her legs. It felt so strange the way those muscles contracted as he breathed. Instinctively, she pressed herself against him, eliciting a quiver of expectation through her body and a deep growl from Braden.

All the feelings she had buried surfaced then, and she gave herself over to her dreams and fantasies. To all the times in her life when she had imagined him at her mercy.

And for the moment, he was all hers. She felt strangely empowered and invigorated. He might leave her come the morning, but he would never forget her.

Never.

Braden stared up in awe of her as he felt the hairs at the juncture of her thighs gently tease his belly.

"And just what does this fantasy of yours include?" he asked as he watched her watch him.

Her smile grew wider. She dipped her head toward his and instead of giving him the kiss he expected, she lowered her mouth on to his throat.

Braden hissed in pleasure at the heat of her mouth as she seared him. Her tongue darted over the stubble of his neck, teasing and tormenting him with wave after wave of ecstasy.

It was so strange. He couldn't count the women who had done that to him in the past, and yet none of them had ever made him feel this odd sense of Tightness. This sense of wholeness.

And what terrified him most was the fact he couldn't push her away. He needed this in a way that defied explanation.

She leaned forward so that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were flattened against his chest and he shook all over.

"Maggie," he breathed raggedly, running his hands over the smooth, satiny skin of her back.

Then she moved her mouth lower.

Slowly, thoroughly, she covered his chest and arms with her scorching kisses. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s pounded against him, flaying his chest with pleasure as her hands explored every inch of his skin.

Braden couldn't remember a woman ever being so bold with him. One who seemed to get her own pleasure from giving it to him. It was incredible.

And in that moment, he realized just how much his little blossom meant to him.

Saints have mercy on his soul. Whatever was he going to do?

Push her away.

He'd sooner die, and yet he knew that he would have to leave her.

Don't think about it.

Nay, he wouldn't. He would just savor the moment and the woman. Live it without thought of tomorrow. Right now there was just the two of them and he wouldn't let anyone, not even himself, separate what they were sharing.

Maggie reveled in the sounds of Braden's moans and growls filling her ears. She should probably be embarra.s.sed by her actions, but she had made up her mind. If she was going to do this, then she was going to do it completely and without reservation.

Before this day ended, she wanted to know him from the top of his head all the way down to his toes.

That thought foremost in her mind, she dipped her mouth to the flesh of his hipbone. Braden sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth as he quivered beneath her.

Maggie laughed in her throat as she continued her relentless exploration of him.

Who would have thought that such a brave, strong man could be laid low by a simple caress?

That knowledge gave her power and excited her all the more.

He was hers.

Braden buried his hand in her hair as he fought the urge to take control of the situation. He would have his chance to fill her shortly. For the moment, he would content himself with letting her have her way with him.

But it was hard. And getting harder by the minute.

She moved her hand again to cup the pulsing ache between his legs. And then, to his utter amazement, she moved her head and took him full into her mouth.

Braden shook all over as her tongue toyed with him. He hissed as he stared in awe of her auburn head buried between his thighs.

She had no idea what that sight did to him. Her selflessness, her giving. She wasn't just taking pleasure from him like his other lovers. She was sharing the moment with him in a way no one ever had before.

And he loved her for it.

Unable to stand any more, he had to touch her. To taste her.