Once again, many thanks for all your kind and continued reviews! As one of you noted, the possibilities are endless...

It was an unseasonably warm day. They had been pottering about in the garden, the sun and their activities warming them. Anna felt comfortable in her simple cotton dress, discarding her stockings and loosely tying back her hair. John's knee was not giving him any trouble so he insisted on helping her plant. They were just finishing up watering their newly planted vegetables and flowers. She carried the last bits of tools back the the small shed where John was working on putting everything back into place.

She stood in the door watching him for a few moments. He had rolled back his sleeves, showing his strong forearms. His shirt was unbuttoned to show the collar of his under-shirt; it, too, unbuttoned to cool him as he worked. He had caught the sun. She could see his muscles flex under his shirt as he moved; she knew there was a flash of the hair on his chest. She had been captivated by him all day. Moreover, he was not wearing suspenders. His work trousers were held by a belt. Somehow she had not been able to tear her eyes away from this object. He turned and caught her staring. The way his eyes swept over her she knew he had taken her in during the day as well. Tension lightly crackled in the air as his eyes darkened with desire. He smiled knowingly.

"All done, love?"

"Yes, these are the last." She handed him the tools she was still holding. She lingered close to him.

Wiping his hands on a cloth, he rasped softly, "You're staring, Mrs Bates."

She ran her hand lightly from his shoulder down his chest. "Now I'm touching, Mr Bates." Her hands continued to explore his broad torso.

His hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her into him. "How do you expect me to control myself now? I could hardly manage seeing you like this, knowing how little is under this dress," he whispered. He caressed up and down her back. "I could have laid you down in the middle of that flower bed and taken you..." his lips lingered on her neck as her hands raked down his back.

He backed her up against his work bench, where he had spread a blanket earlier when they had sat in the shade to share a cup of tea. He lifted her onto it and bent to kiss her deeply. "What do you want, my love? Tell me," he whispered roughly. His hands slid over her breasts, her nipples hardening to his touch.

Her hands moved down to his belt, tracing it. "I've been fascinated by this all day. I've wanted to undo it...relieve you every time you responded to me like this..." She cupped his groin, letting him know she had seen how he had been walking around half-aroused most of the day, trying to act innocently. He groaned. She pulled him to her for another heated kiss before she breathed in his ear, "...and I have wanted those lips of yours...all over me..."

His hands moved under her dress as he looked deeply into her eyes. He hooked his fingers in her panties. She lifted her hips so he could pull them off, letting him bunch up her skirt. Lifting her leg, he kissed the inside of her knee, lips inching further down the inside of her thigh as he growled against her skin, "I know exactly what you need..." Heat shot through her at his words. When his mouth reached her centre, his tongue parting her, she could not bite back a loud moan. He hummed his approval against her, the vibrations against her skin nearly her undoing. Her hands clenched in the blanket as his tongue traced and explored, teasing her in places where she desperately needed him. She breathed his name.

He straightened, wiping his mouth. She never thought she could be reduced to such animal want. "More, my love?"

"You know exactly what I need, John."

He looked her in the eye, holding her gaze as he undid his belt. The buckle tinkled. Then he was inside her, hot and hard. She clung to his shirt, the warm scent of him invading her senses. She moaned and whimpered in his ear, her senses on overdrive as his breath rushed harshly in hers. She needed his roughness, she needed it when he lost control, buried, faster, harder, until she nearly blacked out from pleasure. Until she pulsed around him as he cried her name.

She remained with her legs and arms wrapped about him, his arms holding her tightly to his chest as their breathing slowed. He kissed her hair, her temple. "The things you do to me, my love. Like a faerie queen, with a magic spell." He cupped her cheek and looked down at her, smiling.

"A faerie queen is nothing without her king, Mr Bates." She smiled mischievously, receiving his tender kiss.