She found his mouth and dove into the taste of him, plunging her tongue deep in answer to his request. She kissed him full, kissed him hard, kissed him with every last shred of emotion crashing inside her. Then she pulled back, still holding his face between her hands. Her lips barely brushed his as she spoke. “Just love me,” she said in a breathless whisper against his warm sweet mouth. “I just need you toreallylove me.”
“Done,” he groaned as he rolled her to her back and settled his body over her.
She wrapped her legs around him, arching into the heat of his claiming kiss. The hard ridge of him rubbed against her with a maddeningly sensuous rhythm. He slowly, methodically, rocked against her, teasing her through the layers of their clothes. “You’re killing me,” she panted against his mouth.
“Ye will surely freeze if ye shed yer trews.” He raised up a bit then rocked between her legs with an even harder thrust as he slid a hand inside her neckline and found her breast. He nuzzled a burning trail down her throat as he fondled her nipple. With an impatient huff against the neckline that would stretch no more, he pulled his hand out of her shirt and attacked the job from the hem.
She laughed as he yanked her multiple shirts free of her jeans and pushed them up out of the way. Somehow, the combination of icy wind and Ronan’s hot mouth on her breast took her breath away. A delicious shudder rippled through her as he sucked her nipple deep into his mouth. Freezing or not, she had to get out of her pants and into his. She pushed him away.
Ronan lifted up; his brow furrowed with concern.
Before he could say a word, she undid her jeans, pushing and wiggling them down to her ankles, her panties nested inside them. The freezing air kissed her burning wetness and the cold hard ground bit at her back. She didn’t care. As hot as she was, she’d thaw the entire mountain. She kicked the clothes aside and yanked at the waistband of Ronan’s pants.
Ronan covered her hand with his and held her still. “I have none of yer wee condoms.”
A montage of safe sex and birth control speeches flickered through her mind. Now what was she going to do? Her lovely little prescription pretty much guaranteed no baby, but she had always believed in the added protection of condoms. A throbbing fire burned inside her, demanded to be tended. To hell with the condoms.
“I need you,” she said as she rubbed her bare thighs against either side of his frustratingly still clothed hips. She rocked up against the hard ridge that promised delicious relief.
“Lore, lass. I need ye as well. But I willna take ye and have ye regret it.” He hovered above her, supporting his weight on his elbows propped on either side of her shoulders. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers with a heavy sigh. “Tell me what ye truly wish. Whatever ye say, shall be done.”
Mairi slid her hands up his shirt. Their mutual need was palpable, a tingling force humming against her. She’d always been so careful. So level-headed. She nuzzled the salty sweetness of his throat. His scent, his taste, his trembling body decided it. Screw careful. Screw level-headed. Where had that ever gotten her?To hell with the condomsroared through her mind again like an ancient battle cry.
“Take me,” she gasped against his ear. “Take me now.”
“As ye wish, my love.” He rolled sideways and shed his pants in one hurried move. A rumbling growl escaped him as he lowered his hot naked body back between her legs.
She arched into his lunge as he buried himself inside her. She rocked and met him, thrust for thrust, writhing beneath him as he filled her. The play of his muscles beneath her hands, the heat of him, the glory. Her world exploded with an overload of sensory bliss. Wave after wave crashed through her, taking her eons away from the frozen mountain and the troubles of the day.
Ronan roared, pounding harder until his entire body tensed then jerked to a stop and shuddered. She closed her eyes as he collapsed atop her. A satisfied smile warmed her face as he took care not to crush her.
He reached back and pulled the plaid up over them both while still remaining inside her. “There is nary a thing so fine as sleeping inside yer woman’s sweet warmth.”
She slid her hands down his back, cupped his buttocks in her hands, and snugged him even tighter between her thighs. “Agreed,” she whispered as the coziness of their icy cave lulled her into contented oblivion.
CHAPTER18
Ronan squinted against the sun’s sparkling reflection atop the thin crust of snow. Scattered clouds, wisps of pure white brushing across the saltire blue of the sky, promised a clear day ahead. He stretched his arms wide and filled his lungs with the crisp clean air. Not for the first time since meeting his sweet Mairi, a sense of peace flowed through him.
“Thank you for finding my boots.” Mairi came out from behind a tangled cluster of young rowans, straightening her clothes as she walked.
“Ye are quite welcome, my own.” He loved the way the cold air heightened the color of her cheeks. “I like yer hair loose.” He smoothed a windswept curl out of her face then combed his fingers to the nape of her neck and pulled her close. He breathed in the delicious scent of her and pressed a kiss to her temple.
“It reminds me of how ye look when ye lie beneath me,” he whispered. A hungry groan escaped him as he brushed his lips against the sweet softness of the skin just beneath her ear.
She melted against him then cleared her throat and gently pushed away. “We really need to get to the keep.” With a hand pressed just beneath her throat, she delighted him with a shiver and quick intake of breath. The tip of her tongue raced across her barely parted lips. A pleasant knowing warmed his heart. Aye. She hungered for him too.
“Aye, we best go.” He reluctantly forced himself to concentrate on the frozen landscape around them. Mairi was nay accustomed to traveling in such a manner. She needed shelter. She needed food. Loving could come after. He glanced up at the position of the sun then turned north. “The keep lies a bit farther beyond that stand of trees. Just a wee stretch of the legs.”
Mairi shielded her eyes and looked to where he pointed. “I think I see smoke rising past those treetops. Is that the keep?”
A familiar howl interrupted them, echoing down the mountainside behind them. The chilling cry rose to a high pitch then tapered off to a soft whisper.Máthair.Ronan scanned the rough terrain, paying particularly close attention to the cluster of boulders and low growing scrub just above them. The howl sounded again, deeper this time, and ended with a sharp yip. Nay. NotMáthair. One of her older charges.
“Is that a wolf?” Mairi blew into her cupped gloved hands as she peered worriedly toward the sound.
“Aye, but dinna fear. They’ll not harm ye.” He tensed against the deep primal urge burning within. His wolf strained to emerge and howl to the winds that at long last he had found his true mate. He could not shift. Not now. He could not bear what would be lost if he broke Mairi’s trust again.
She kept her gaze glued higher up the mountain. “It sounds like there’s more than one. What makes you so sure they’re not looking for breakfast?” She edged closer to him. “I would love to see a wolf but not if I’m on the menu.”
