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In the life she remembered, Cárcel had earned glory and honor upon his return from the battle, inheriting Admiral Calderon's formidable reputation. His name eclipsed even Oscar's in fame.

"That is why I do not fear this conquest like your father does," Inés said, her tone resolute as though willing herself to believe her own words. "You will return to me safe and sound."

She recalled how, in her past life, Cárcel Escalante had lived a life of glory and renown, though his fame brought with it envy and malicious gossip. He was too stolid to be shaken by the jealous murmurs around him, but now, with Oscar's intentions laid bare, she feared a darker trap was awaiting Cárcel than the mere isolation he had gone through in that life. The current emperor had never promoted anyone as quickly as he had Cárcel, which meant that this was a deadly trap.

Oscar's warning echoed in her mind. "No one can deny his honorable reputation, and yet he spoke as though he was not honorable for failing to die a soldier's death on the battlefield. Your husband resembles him greatly, so you must be careful."

His words were heavy with premonition, as though Cárcel's fate was already sealed, destined to follow Admiral Calderon's doomed path. Because he was an officer who pursued honor.

Oscar wanted her to believe that Cárcel would be sent to his doom. And if Cárcel died, the crown prince would take pleasure in destroying him without dirtying his own hands, but if Cárcel returned, Oscar would make his life a living hell. He would strip him of honor and bleed his reputation dry before getting to her. Then Inés herself would be left with no choice but to submit to him. Everyone would think that she would much rather become the crown prince's concubine than live out her days in misery. She swallowed the bitter bile that rose in her throat. Oscar had said he'd fostered patience she could not even begin to fathom. Indeed, he had become surprisingly patient. But did he really have more patience and perseverance than the man who wasted several lifetimes on an unrequited love?

More than the man before her now, who had endured so many unfortunate lifetimes of waiting, of wanting, and finally won her?

Reaching out, Inés caressed Cárcel's cheek. "You will come back to me alive, no matter what."

"Whatever it takes," he replied, his voice an unbreakable vow. "I will come back to you, Inés."

"I know you will."

"I promise."

She rose up from the warm bath and seated herself next to him, wrapping him in a tight embrace with her wet arms. He reached out with his good arm to scoop her onto his lap and held her fast, their hearts perfectly beating as one, resolute.

She had learned a thing or two about patience as well. The men and women of Perez tended to be stubborn and belligerent; they would do anything to emerge victorious. Whatever Oscar schemed, whatever obstacles lay in the path, Cárcel would return to her alive, and she would never leave him to fall into a pit of despair. She would make sure his glory would not be overshadowed by false rumors and would not let his honor tarnished by lesser men's envy.

"When you return, no one will dare slander your honor this time," she whispered firmly. "I will make all of Mendoza sing your praises and celebrate your return for all to see."

Until the day Luciano would reach the pinnacle of society in Mendoza, and Cárcel would hold command of the navy. Until the day she would destroy the influence of the court. And until God's hand would finally crush Oscar.

She would endure anything-so long as she remembered this strong arm holding her close, this precious warmth.

"Give me a child before you go, Cárcel," she breathed against his lips and nipped at his lower lip, igniting a fire that swept them both into a whirl of passion.

*** 

Cárcel eased her down on the dresser just outside the bathroom door, her bare skin pressed against his with a heated urgency. Her wet hair brushed across his bandaged arm, but neither of them had the wherewithal to care.

He left tender love bites all across her chest until she pulled him up and their lips crashed against each other. His hands traced her lower back, moving up to cup her ample bosom, fingers tracing her curves. His good hand pinched at her left nipple that had stiffened in the cold air, while his bandaged hand rubbed against the soft curve of the other ample mound. A delicate moan escaped her lips.

Though usually tender, his restraint waned when it came to her breasts. He reined in his desire to thrust up into her like a beast by tormenting her breasts that wobbled with each movement, and whenever her unpredictable responses inflamed him further, he would pay more persistent attention to her nipples.

His cheek hollowed under his glorious cheekbones as he took her nipple in his mouth and grabbed her breasts from below to lift them up and squeeze. He twisted and pinched her nipples harder and harder. Her skin pulled and stretched under his ministrations, and his lips sucked at the mounds of flesh that bulged out between his grip. Her hands traveled from his cheeks to his head, digging through his hair.

Cárcel moved lower, traveling past her flat stomach before burying his face between her legs.

"Cárcel..." Ines moaned.

His large hands took hold of her inner thighs and pushed them apart before taking hold of her ankles and making her spread her legs apart wide on top of the dresser.

It was a position far too humiliating for a dignified lady, and so incredibly lewd that even Inés felt a blush warm her cheeks. Her legs weren't spread apart just enough for him to get between them-her feet were in the air as far apart as they could go, and her delicate folds were mere inches away from his face, fully on display.

Cárcel took in the sight of her with adoration and desire. Then he leaned in and nudged his nose through the folds as he kissed his way up. She had no choice, with her ankles trapped in his grip, but to yield to his touch. Her every sense was attuned to his damp breath against her twitching entrance.

A thrum of desire coursed through her veins, and her breath grew louder. Sweat beads trickled down her back-evidence not of anxiety, but of desire. In truth, she even loved the way he took away her freedom of movement. She didn't mind if he embarrassed her, as long as he was the one to do it. In the end, everything led to ecstasy.

His tongue licked up her sensitive bundle of nerves, drawing languid circles around it. She caught glimpses of his eyes behind his hooded lids as he glanced up to meet hers-sometimes subservient, sometimes fierce. His tongue entered her and he savored her, lapping at her fluids, his lips sucking them up with relish. She gripped his hair, her fingers tightening, her pulse racing until her whole body surrendered in waves of pleasure. Her legs draped over the dresser as he finally released them.

His lips, glistening with her juices, quickly came up to swallow her up with another passionate kiss. When Inés furrowed her brow in response, Cárcel chuckled with his lips pressed against hers.

In that very moment, his thick, long finger slipped slowly into her entrance and circled the inside as if to widen the opening. He swallowed up her breathless moans. He added a finger, then another as he opened her up, and it made her feel like it had been far too long since they had done this.

The strange feeling of his fingers inside her made her twitch, but longing stirred anew. Once again, she was not happy with how patient he was in these moments. She hastily wrapped her dangling legs around his waist, urging him closer. His hands were behind her buttocks as he pulled her closer, and just when it felt like she was barely sitting on the edge of the dresser, she fell onto her back with a gasp.

He groaned out her name, voice rough with longing as he pushed himself inside her, her back arching in response. Though she already found it too difficult to keep her legs up, Cárcel very easily held her up by her thighs, and, without even wrapping her legs around him, he began to thrust up into her as easily as though they were horizontal on the bed. With every powerful thrust, her breasts bounced wildly up and down.

Cárcel panted as he took hold of one of them with his injured hand and squeezed. "If your breasts get any bigger, it would be hard for you, wouldn't it?"

She answered with needy moans and gasps.

"I'm worried about you, Inés. You are so frail that even these must be too heavy for you..." His fingers pinched her nipple and gripped her breast hard, so that his concern sounded more like mocking.

Inés scoffed and reached up to wrap her arms around his shoulders. "At least you... ngh... will like them more..."

He leaned in to nuzzle his nose against her cheek as he muttered, "Actually, I would like anything attached to your body."

Though he had seemed so lewd earlier, he now sounded to her like a young boy who knew nothing of the world. His innocent face was completely different from his vast member she was barely able to take in as he left butterfly kisses along the curve of her ear and by her eyes.

"I want... to bear your child before you leave," she managed to say between moans. "So that by the time you get back... the child will be born."

"How long do you plan to send me to war?"

"I don't know."

"It should only take half that long. I swear it. You will not have to give birth to our child alone."

"Are you prepared for what I will do to you if you break that promise?"

"Blast it... I refuse to see you get remarried. All right?" he spat out, sounding irritated at the mere thought.

Inés let out a laugh. "If you die and make me a widow, you wouldn't be able to see anything."

Cárcel paused at her words, as casually as she had said them. She kissed the tip of his nose reassuringly and pulled him closer by wrapping her legs around him. As she pushed him in even further, he let out a gruff moan.

She pressed her forehead against his and muttered calmly, "In the past, you told me to get remarried as many times as I want."

"That is not the case anymore."

"So I cannot remarry anymore?"

"That's right. You cannot, Inés."

"I didn't think I needed your permission." She laughed teasingly, at which he bit down on her lower lip as if to warn her that even joking about this was taboo.

"Never again, Inés. We won't let anything like that happen again." His blue eyes took her in with such persistence that it felt like he meant to keep her prisoner in his gaze. "Now that you will always be my answer to everything, and that I have become yours."