“Rachel, you talk too much—”
He wanted her.
She took a step, then another.
Lucas jerked her into his arms and his mouth swooped down to capture hers. Her heart hammered in her ears, while she gave herself freely to the hunger of his kiss. His arms moved around her, and he groaned when she clasped her arms about his neck. She inhaled a mixture of soap and manly scent—Lucas’ scent.
He pushed her back until she bumped against the wall. His mouth skimmed her jaw, down her throat, his teeth grazing her ear and his fresh-shaven jaw smooth against her skin.
Before I go…
A part of her told her that she should stop, that she should think this through, but the other voice in her head drowned her out. She wanted him more than she could breathe.
Rachel gasped when he gathered her into his arms and carried her to the bed.
With no opposition from her, Lucas reached behind and unfastened a row of buttons, pushing her dress away. She shivered as the calico gown glided down her body and pooled at her feet. Naked now, Rachel covered herself. He moved her hands to her sides, her nipples grazing the soft cotton of his shirt.
“You never need to cover yourself. Not with me.”
Trapped in a whirl of heady arousal, she watched, intrigued as he shirked out of his shirt, reveling in the lean muscularity of his chest, arms and shoulders. Lower down on his abdomen his navel was circled with dark hair, muscles flexed and relaxed with the flow of his movements.
She longed to run her hands across his skin, to glide her fingers over every muscle and sinew of him. Pulsing heat spread between her legs.
“The guards?”
“To hell with the guards.” He growled and strode to the door and kicked a chair beneath the handle.
Rachel moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. He watched her with hunger in his eyes. A slight sheen lit his body, sleek and strong, without the excess bulk conspicuous of the commanding officers. He finished shedding his navy breeches, and her eyes widened, her gaze riveted to his manhood…impressed and even a little frightened.
He picked her up, laid her on the bed, scanning his eyes over her nakedness.
“You are truly lovely,” he drawled, and a strange delicious tension scorched below as he devoured her with his eyes, touching her everywhere. He lay next to her, the heat of his body running down the entire length of her, and…keenly evident, his manhood pressed against her thigh, and the barely controlled power wound in his body. Rachel closed her eyes not quite understanding how things were meant to be. How would they fit? She had seen stallions in the pasture…but this was something else.
He drew Rachel up beside him and stopped. She opened her eyes.
Lucas took her hand and placed it on his chest, the strong pulse of his heart drumming beneath her palm.
“We are two to be made one by what is sacred. As I took my vows, Rachel, I made a promise that I’d always care for you. It is not a careless pledge I took.” From the rich timbre of his voice, her heart beat to match his pulse. “I warn you from here on to the end, there will be no other in your life…nor will there be any secrets between us.”
Rachel was mindless to his warning, so lost was she when he used his thumb to circle her nipple. She raised her fingertips to trace his jaw and trailed them down his neck, entranced by the sensual feel of his firm skin and the silky texture of his hair. She memorized everything about him, sensing his vulnerability and reached up to stroke his cheek.
Unable to resist, she kissed his throat and then his shoulder.
Lucas shuddered. “How many times have I conjured this in my mind?” He pulled her body until her breasts pressed firmly against his chest, and her thighs tangled with his own. His hand wandered down her waist, drawing intricate patterns, moving downward to stroke her thighs. She trembled beneath his caresses.
Her curiosity of him was just as searching. Her finger followed across his belly where his muscles rippled, hard and lean. She dreamed of this, touching him, absorbing the beauty of his body with her fingertips, lightly tracing the dark furring of hair running down his chest, and down to where his maleness lay. She circled around it, never touching him there and heard his intake of breath every time her exploring fingertips drew close. She reveled in the power she had over him and raised her eyes to his. They were a darker shade for blue now, darkened with passion, hard and penetrating.
“You are playing with fire,” he growled against the curve of her shoulder, but his words were lost as he took her mouth, and then seared a trail down her throat and shoulder. A warm hand closed over her breast, caressing in circles then capturing a nipple and squeezing it between his fingers before trailing to her next breast.
He crushed her to him, his hands exploring the hollows of her back and down over her hips. Automatically she curled into the curve of his body. Her breasts tingled against the muscles of his chest. His hands and lips were everywhere, the gentle message sending currents of desire through her. His mouth moved to her breast, his tongue caressed her sensitive, swollen nipple.
“Do you like that?”
“Yes.” She arched toward him.
His hand seared a path down her abdomen and onto her thigh. He stroked there, and she groaned, pushing her hips into his hand. His palm sought the warmth of her woman’s mound, circling her wet cleft. She jerked.
“I love the way you respond.” He did it again. She writhed.
