Dawn of Valor (25 page)

She rested her head wearily against his shoulder. The fifteen-hour flight had left her exhausted. “That’s not it, Chase,” she said softly.

“Then what is it?” he demanded, watching her worriedly.

A slight, deprecating smile pulled at Rachel’s mouth. Lifting her lashes, she met his intense azure eyes. “I—well, I just felt scared for a moment, that was all. One room is fine.”

Touched beyond words, Chase simply held her. It took a minute before he found his voice again. Caressing her hair, he managed an unsteady smile. “There is nothing I’m going to do that will ever cause you to be scared, honey. I love you too much to cause that look ever to come back to your eyes.” Leaning down, he placed a tender kiss on Rachel’s lips. “Trust me?”

His mouth was strong, cherishing, and Rachel smiled. “With my life, darling.”

Giving her one last kiss, Chase leaned down and retrieved his cane. “Let’s get your duffel bag and get the hell out of here. I don’t know about you, but I’m starved for you, some good food and sheets that don’t smell like the hospital.”

“Chase…” Rachel breathed, turning around in the center of the suite, “this is a beautiful room!”

Having tipped the bellboy, Chase closed the door. Rachel stood in her heavy combat boots, a look of wonder on her face as she examined the sumptuous suite. He limped into the main room. An Oriental rug graced the floor, and the antique Queen Anne furniture highlighted the opulent room.

“Far cry from a tent in the middle of Korea, isn’t it?” he asked dryly.

Rachel shook her head, giving him a wide-eyed look. “I never knew places this beautiful existed.” She approached him, sliding her arms around his waist. Chase was unbearably handsome in uniform, proud and confident.

Leaning down, Chase caressed her smiling lips. “What do you want to do first?” he breathed.

Tiny ripples of expectation feathered through Rachel as she tasted the strength of his mouth. “A shower?” Her voice was unsteady, filled with longing.

“Together?”

She smiled shyly. “I never thought of that….”

“I have.” Chase forced himself to stop kissing her, because he knew his own control was rapidly disintegrating.

“You’ve got a lot more experience in this sort of thing,” Rachel accused, meeting his amused gaze. She watched as Chase dropped the cane into a chair and slowly unbuttoned his blouse. The shirt beneath it was starched and pressed to perfection, revealing the breadth of his chest. A pulse leaped at the base of her throat as she dragged her green eyes upward to meet his. Rachel drowned in the darkening blueness of them, snared within the heated look he shared with her.

“My experience is worth nothing if we can’t share it together,” he said huskily. Chase stood, watching the play of emotions across Rachel’s face. He read yearning there, coupled with shyness and nervousness. Reaching out, he traced her cheek. “I want to show you how much I love you, Rachel. In all ways,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’ve missed you, our conversations, our funny moments and our serious moments.”

“Chase…” she murmured, and closed her eyes, his fingers brushing her flesh, creating a fire of urgency within her.

Picking up her hand, Chase drew her toward the large tiled bathroom. “Come on, Angel Eyes.”

All her fear, her apprehension, vanished in the beauty of the moment that surrounded them. The lovemaking in the cave in Korea had been urgent and blindly hungry. Rachel hadn’t thought of her nakedness, or his, then. Now she did. To her, it was like the first time all over again, in a different way. Chase turned on the shower and closed the bathroom door. Rachel stood on the thick rug within the rectangular bathroom, allowing Chase to unbutton the fatigues she wore. Drowning in the piercing blue of his eyes, she was surrounded with his love, and the need to return that love to him dissolved her fear. As each article of clothing dropped away, it became a symbol to Rachel of shedding her old way of living. Today she was with the man who had captured her heart and soul within his trembling hands as he reverently undressed her.

Reaching up, Rachel began to unbutton Chase’s shirt, smiling into his eyes. The softened line of his mouth told her everything as she pushed the shirt off his broad shoulders, exposing his powerful chest, dark and thick with hair. She longed to press her fingertips against the tensile strength of his magnificent body.

Chase read those thoughts in her eyes. “Go ahead, touch me,” he whispered hoarsely, settling his hands on her shoulders. “Like you did in Korea. I never forgot the first time your fingers moved across me….” A ragged groan came from Chase as her fingers glided across his chest, tangling gently in the mat of hair, sending prickles of pleasure through him.

The steam from the shower built within the room. Mist-laden curls of heat flowed across the top of the shower stall, silent fingers reminding Rachel that her own hands caressed Chase’s taut, hard flesh. As he eased the straps of her bra from her shoulders, her breath caught. It wasn’t out of fear, but from the sensual movement of his hands exposing her breasts to him.

“They’re just as beautiful as before,” Chase gritted out, gently cupping them in his hands. Looking into Rachel’s eyes, he saw their depths were dazed with pleasure as he caressed her breasts’ silky roundness, watching the nipples harden into small pink rosebuds begging to be lavished with attention. A ragged sigh came from Rachel as Chase skimmed her nipples lightly with his thumbs. She swayed toward him, her fingers digging deeply into his upper arms.

“So hot, so willing,” he breathed, capturing her against his naked chest. A thin barrier of material remained between them. Rachel’s mouth was liquid warm with welcome, her kiss eager and hungry, matching his need. As they stood in each other’s arms, drowning in the lava heat, Chase worked at slowly discarding the rest of her lingerie. Her fingers trembled as she pulled the boxer shorts down his narrow hips. In moments, they stood naked.

Chase moved his hand down Rachel’s long, slender back, fingers splayed, capturing her hips, drawing her slowly against him. He groaned, feeling her rounded belly against his hardness, feeling her tremble violently. He deepened the kiss that bound them. She felt so good, her flesh pliant, yielding to his exploration. Chase wanted to part her long, wonderfully curved thighs and thrust deeply into her, burning to consummate their coupling.

Shaking with barely controlled hunger, Chase drew Rachel into the shower, sliding the glass door shut, the steam swirling and curving sinuously between and around them. Her eyes were half-closed, emerald with fire, her lips pouty with the strength of their previous kiss.

Water struck Rachel’s back, rivulets streaming down like hundreds of trailing fingers across her, inciting the fire already burning hotly within her. She raised her hands, her fingers curving across Chase’s broad chest, watching satisfaction come to his eyes, hearing his groan reverberate through the mist that cloaked them. Now she understood Annie’s words of wisdom. There was far more to love than a kiss, a letter or a look. As Rachel skimmed her hands across his shoulders and down his taut arms, she was enveloped in the rightness of loving Chase.

Rachel’s hair curled slightly, framing her flushed face. Chase smiled, curving his hands downward from her sculpted collarbone, across her smooth arms to cup her breasts. Her lips parted, silently asking him to touch her again. He saw the pleading in her eyes. Bending his head, he drew the first wet bud into his mouth, tasting her, tasting the sweetness of life from her loving body. A cry tore from Rachel as he suckled her, and Chase placed his hand behind her, drawing her hotly against him. Heat and water mingled and slid between them, creating more friction as he hungrily sampled the other breast, feeling her fingers dig deeply into his shoulders in convulsive movements telegraphing her pleasure.

All the lonely days and nights melded torridly together as Chase focused again on her pouty lips, molding his mouth to Rachel in fiery celebration. Sliding his hand down along the smooth roundness of her belly, he sought and found the juncture of her thighs. Whispering against her lips, he asked her to trust him, and she did, allowing him entrance to that moistness that brought tears of gratitude to his eyes. She was more than ready to receive him. In one movement, Chase lifted her against him, wildly aware of her breasts sliding against his chest. Her thighs parted as he gently brought her down upon him. Rachel’s arms tightened against his neck, and he heard her gasp and then tense. He held her immobile, the warm water trickling down upon them, the steam rising, playing and creating clouds of swirling heat.

Rachel felt his maleness press against her. The sensation was one of pressure, not pain. She longed to complete herself with Chase, easing herself down upon him. He whispered her name and moved within her. A cry escaped Rachel, but it was one of triumph as she arched her back, claiming Chase, claiming the oneness she had hungered for as much as he had. Each slow movement of his hips excited her, sent more throbbing fire curling within her and she moaned, pressing herself against him in need.

Satisfaction soared through Chase as he moved her languidly against him, hearing her cries of welcome. Each stroke, each small movement drove him closer and closer to the edge of exploding. He felt Rachel tense, realizing that she was experiencing a climax. Her little cry of surprise and joy was absorbed by the steam. She lifted her face, lips parted, eyes closed and her body taut against him. Seconds later, he gave her the gift of himself. She was limp in his arms afterward as he gently withdrew from her hot, liquid core. Gently he settled Rachel on her feet, and she pressed her head against his wet chest. They rested weakly against each other, embraced by the life-giving warm water.

All Chase could do was stroke Rachel’s sleek back and hips, cherishing her, placing small, loving kisses on her damp hair, temple and cheek. Gradually she regained her strength, giving him a tremulous smile filled with wonder and joy. Rachel leaned upward, kissing Chase tenderly, telling him in her newfound language that she wanted nothing but him for the rest of her life.

Chase soaped Rachel’s back, running his fingers provocatively across her, spanning her belly. He brought her back against him, resting his head against her shoulder and neck.

“How many kids did you say you wanted?” he asked her thickly. Her belly was gently rounded, hips wide enough to deliver a strapping son, Chase thought, a fierce love welling up through him.

“Three,” Rachel whispered, leaning her head on Chase and closing her eyes. She slid her fingers across his hands resting on her belly. “Two handsome, strong sons and one beautiful daughter.”

Nibbling playfully on her delicate earlobe, Chase caressed her neck with a series of kisses. “Which do you want first?” he teased huskily.

“A boy.” Rachel sighed, submitting to the delicious fire spreading hotly in the path of his mouth. “A girl should always have an older brother to look up to, don’t you think?”

Chase met her emerald look beneath the black lashes framed with tiny beads of water. A very male smile pulled at his mouth. “Maybe every boy needs a big sister to look up to?”

As his hands moved provocatively upward, cradling her breasts, Rachel closed her eyes. “You’ve finally changed.”

With a chuckle, Chase finished washing her. “I had to. You’re the one that convinced me women can be just as independent and different as men are.”

Turning around in his arms, Rachel lifted her chin, smiling into his laughter-filled eyes. “I love you, Chase Trayhern.”

With a sigh, he covered her lips with a long, heated kiss. “Enough to marry me?”

His mouth was strong, capable, and Rachel relished his power at making her feel thoroughly feminine. “Of course…”

“Tonight?”

Her eyes widened considerably and she drew back. “Tonight?”

“Yeah? Like two hours from now?”

She gave him a wary look. “What are you up to now, Chase?”

Chase tried to give her a boyish grin, but Rachel’s pretending to be miffed didn’t work. Instead, he laughed, sliding his arms around her small waist, lifting her up against him, kissing her repeatedly.

Giggling, her hair in limp, ebony ropes around her face, Rachel held Chase. “You had this all planned. All of it!”

“I did,” Chase admitted, licking the water streaming between her small breasts. “When you didn’t come off that transport, I thought all my grand plans were scuttled.”

Chase allowed Rachel to slide downward, the sensation creating a startling need for him all over again. Water softened the hard planes of his face and she shook her head. “What else have you got up your sleeve?”

“I’ve got a minister coming up in two hours, we’ll be married, have a sumptuous dinner and go on our honeymoon.”

Bewildered by his strategy, Rachel simply shook her head.

Alarmed, Chase blurted, “You don’t want to get married?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then why did you shake your head? You don’t want to eat? Or go on a honeymoon?”

His concern was touching, and Rachel took the soap, lathering his shoulders and magnificent chest. “I’m just amazed at that steel-trap mind of yours, Chase Trayhern, that’s all.”

Relief flooded his features. “Then…you want to get married, eat and honeymoon?”

Fingers sliding tantalizingly across his taut muscles, Rachel saw the effect she had on Chase. “I do…but not necessarily in that order….” She leaned upward, pressing a long, inviting kiss against his mouth. A shiver of expectation feathered through her when Chase growled, claiming her lips, his tongue tracing the inner curves of her mouth. Heaven was on earth, Rachel hazily decided, meeting and molding against his powerful male body.

Their children, Rachel realized, would be special in so many wonderful ways. They would inherit Chase’s confidence and tenacity. From her, they would garner sensitivity and faith. Together, they would give the children of their future, courage, a hallmark they both possessed. With a sigh, Rachel succumbed to Chase’s sweet, fiery assault, melting into his arms, wanting nothing more of the future. She had found her mate for life. A life that would be hard and demanding because Chase would always be part of the military. But they had the courage it would take to face it—together.