“I want—” “What?” He leaned forward, his hands moving from her thighs to her stomach and stopping to caress the mounds of her breasts. She sighed at the exquisite feel of his touch. I am made for him only. “I want you to love me.” To her own ears, her voice sounded desperate but she needed him to understand how important this moment was to her. He smiled softly as if he did. “I always have and I always will. You are my true love.” True love. Yes, that was what this was. Augusta pushed her body against his wanting more, trying to entice his shaft to fill her as she craved. “What if—” Was this too perfect? She looked at him in panic. Nothing in her life had ever been this glorious. The man tenderly pushed back the hair from her face and kissed her lingeringly. “There are no what ifs between us. You are mine as I am yours.” “Make love to me.” “I can’t.” There was a tortured sound of regret in his voice. “This is not the time. But soon, very soon…” He pulled her lower body up to meet his mouth as his lips fastened on her clit and he sucked hard. Another scream tore through her. Augusta tried to hold her lover to her but he was dissolving in her arms until there was nothing left but her and an empty bed with twisted sheets. She curled into a ball and closed her legs together tightly as if trying to keep in the wondrous feeling that assailed her. “Soon,” she murmured as she drifted off to sleep, knowing it was inevitable that their worlds would collide.