‘Mandy…Mandy…Mandy!’

The last word was muffled as his lips touched hers in the kiss that had always been waiting for them, and had taken too long. Now she could be honest with herself and admit how badly she’d wanted this. His mouth was just as she’d known it would be-strong and generous, teasing, coaxing, silently imploring her to respond wholeheartedly.

There was no resisting that plea and she yielded to it with joy, moving her lips against his until his urgency overwhelmed her and she opened to him, letting him entice her with his tongue. He was as skilled as she’d known he would be, and at one time-a few days and a thousand years ago-she would have resented that skill. Now she revelled in it, answering with flickering movements of her own tongue, in an echo of the duelling that had always been how they communicated.

They were moving their hands, touching each other wherever they could reach, frustrated by the thick clothes they were wearing. But the need to be naked with him was greater than any cold, and she began pulling open her zips and buttons.

‘Careful, it’s freezing,’ he muttered, but he was fumbling with his own clothes as he spoke.

They helped each other undress and went completely under the blankets to escape the icy air. She could feel him beneath her fingers, lean yet muscular, full of tensile strength, exploring her as she was exploring him.

At first she was tentative, learning about the man even as she learned about his body. But suddenly she discovered that everything she did was right, because a thrill went through him, so intense that she felt it herself, and he said fiercely, ‘Do that again, don’t stop-don’t stop!’

‘I’m not going to,’ she said joyfully, redoubling her efforts and feeling him respond with vigour.

Mandy had known desire before but never like this, the feeling heightened by the fast approach of the unknown, sweeping her up, filling her with the desperate desire to experience this while there was still time.