“I didn’t mean you,” she blurted, her heart fluttering as he pulled the shirt over his head, revealing the broad expanse of his well-muscled chest and –dear heavens!– that it was made all the more fascinating by a light T-shaped dusting of glistening, black hair.
Stirring, masculine chest hair that narrowed into a thin line that cruelly disappeared beneath his kilt-belt.
“You are naked,” she gasped, staring at him. “Already.”
“I am no’ anywhere near naked,” he argued, smiling as he locked his gaze on hers. “But I will be soon, and so will you.”
“Can it not be done in our clothes?”
He chuckled again, and something in the way he was looking at her made the secret place between her legs tingle. She also felt warm there, as if she were melting.
“Itcan be done in many ways,” he told her, his amusement clearly at war with the smolder in his gaze. “Even so, I am a Highlander.”
“I know, but…” She felt the floor dip when he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his kilt. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything,” he said, blessedly not making any move to whip off his kilt. “Highlanders enjoy being naked with their ladies. It is a proud tradition of our hills.”
Melissa felt her lips twitch, also the tickle of laughter building inside her. “You are making fun of me,” she said, lifting her chin. “Teasing me because I haven’t done this before, or maybe because I am English. Or because-”
“None of that.” He crossed the short space between them in two long strides. “I am teasing you because you are so refreshingly delightful. And because” – he framed her face and lowered his head to kiss her – “I am absolutely besotted with you.”
She blinked. “You are?”
In answer, he swept his arms around her, almost crushing her to him. And this time when he kissed her, it was a rough, hungry kiss full of tangled tongues and hot, shared breath as they melded together, the deep intimacy of the kiss ripping away every last shred of her modesty and instead, sending fiery female need racing through her so that she forgot everything except how much she wanted this – how much she desired him.
“Oh, my.” She gasped when he finally released her. “I see you do care for me.”
“Care for you?”
She nodded, knowing she now played a dangerous game, but the excitement inside her wouldn’t let her stop.
Was she a wanton?
She didn’t know, but doubted such a hankering could possess a soul so quickly, and out of nowhere. And that meant it must be him, as she had suspected all along.
“I love you,” she announced, not wanting any doubts or wonderings between them. “I suspect I have since the start. And…” She wriggled from his grasp and darted into the bathing chamber, now eager to have her bath and get on with the natural flow of their bridal night.
As fast as she could, she began undressing, thinking to jump into the tub before he could see anything.
Turning her back to him, she let her garments fall to the floor, then lifted her leg to climb into the water.
“I would bathe now so that-”
“Too late, lassie,” he almost growled, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her away from the tub. “You just told me what I’ve been hoping to hear for some time now – that you love me. Further, you just gave me a tantalizing peek of that wonderful part of you that has me so ravenous, and that means-”
“You want to doitnow?” Her eyes flew wide. “Without any preliminaries?”
“You just decided the preliminaries by flashing your woman’s flesh at me,” he said, sweeping her up into his arms, against his broad, naked chest, as he marched across the room with her. “We will engage in all the foreplay you can handle later.”
“Oh, my.” She pulled back to stare at him, his words exciting her. “Woman’s flesh and foreplay? The things you say…”
And now I know I’m a wanton.
“The things you are, minx,” he growled again, lowering his head to nuzzle her neck and – she couldn’t believe it – rub his face in her unbound hair, inhaling deeply as if he wished to drown in her scent.
“You are a Jezebel if ever there was one and I hope you don’t make me spent and gray before the year is out.”
“Why would I do that?” she asked the instant he placed her on the bed.
