Night of the Magician by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz

exploration of her soft, exquisitely feminine body. His lips closed over one nipple as his hand passed over her hip and around to the inside of her thigh. Ariana trembled and he soothed her with his low, hypnotic, deeply sensual voice. “Tonight you’re going to take a chance with me, sweetheart. There’s no other way. Tonight we’ll both take a leap in the dark. Open yourself for me, darling. Let me touch you the way I need to touch you.“
    Over and over the husky words were crooned in her ear until the magic of his voice was as much a caress as the feel of his hands. Ariana’s nails dug passionately into his thigh as she obeyed the lulling, encouraging commands and parted her legs.
    “Ah, sweetheart!“ He sought the silk of her, threading his fingers through the tangled thatch of dark, cinnamon brown hair. Ariana sucked in her breath as he inevitably found the ultrasensitive heart of her passion. She turned her face into his shoulder, clinging to him as she had clung earlier that evening when fear had been the impetus.
    And as it had on the first occasion, Lucian’s arm closed around her with fierce possessiveness as he held her close and teased the center of feminine sensation. It flowered for him, revealing mysteries and a need that was as strong as his own. The flowing warmth was a heady, exhilarating call to his senses.
    Ariana’s lashes closed tightly against her cheeks as she gave herself up to the moment and the man. “Please, Lucian. Please come to me. I need you so,“ she whispered in a throaty tone filled with unchecked wonder. Never had she known a need so strong that it caused her to plead for a man’s fulfillment. But never had she been under the spell of magic before, either.
    “I want you so badly, Magic Lady.“ He loomed over her, broad shoulders blocking out the shimmer of lightning in the sky behind him. For an instant the golden brown jewels of his eyes burned over her face, and then Ariana shut her eyes once more, unable to endure the intensity of his gaze.
    Slowly, with infinite masculine power he brought his body to hers, his rough legs sliding aggressively between her soft thighs, the crisp, curling hair of his chest enveloping the berry-hard peaks of her nipples, his mouth taking hers in absolute possession.
    Ariana felt him ready himself for the final union. It was as if he were gathering her completely to him. Then his hips surged strongly against her, and he filled her slowly and totally.
    Lucian’s breath caught in his throat as the impact of the physical bonding washed over him. He felt its reverberations going through the soft frame of the woman under him and knew he was not alone in sharing the sensation. She was right for him, so very right!
    Burying his head in the curve of her shoulder, he held her with near-violence and began to build the magic rhythm that would bring them both the secrets of the universe. He knew an utterly primitive, utterly glorious satisfaction at the evidence of her response. It was essential that she find pleasure in his arms. He had to begin staking a claim somewhere, and this was the most basic method of all for doing so. The need to satisfy her thoroughly, to wipe out the memories of any other man she had ever known was a powerful goad to all his senses.
    The biting pain of her nails in his shoulders, the tightening pressure of her soft legs around his hips and the little gasps which came from her lips were sources of infinite gratification. Lucian’s body and mind were both thoroughly caught up in the turmoil of passion and need.
    The words he whispered against her throat were dark and heavy with an elemental excitement. He reveled in her response to them. He reveled in all her responses.
    At last he felt the fragile tightening of her body beneath his and knew that she was on the brink of the ultimate physical sensation. His own body reacted fiercely to the knowledge and threatened to overwhelm what little was left of his self-control. With