‘I am staying, Brodie,’ she whispered.
He stepped outside and dismissed Dougal and the other guards from their duties. He wanted no witnesses to what was to come. Tugging the rolled canvas loose, he let it fall over the opening, shielding them from prying eyes. Then he walked back to where she stood, staring with a wide gaze at him.
‘So now what?’ he asked, fighting the very strong need to take her completely. He knew she was a virgin and he did not want to frighten her with his ardour in the first minutes.
‘I was hoping you might know.’
‘Oh, lass, I do.’ His mind raced with the things he wanted to do to her, with her, on top of her and beneath her. And in her, especially in her. He ached for her even as his body readied itself for her.
‘Show me what to do.’
How he retained a semblance of control, he would never know, but he did. Though his blood raced as his heart pounded in his chest, he dropped his hands to his side, swearing he would not touch her...yet.
‘Undress me, Arabella.’
It was more a plea than an order and he knew he was in deep trouble when she smiled and the edge of her tongue slipped out to lick her lips. He’d watched her take to tasks with a curiosity and interest and he was now that task.
Her hands slid along his chest as she pushed the leather jack off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Then she untied his shirt, pulling the bottom edge of it free from his breeches. The friction of the fabric over his arousal made him clench his jaws. For now, the plaid wrapped and draped around his waist hid it from her sight.
‘Did I hurt you?’
‘Oh, nay, lass. You are doing fine,’ he said.
Arabella ran her hands under the shirt, over his shoulders and down his arms until the garment fell. Her hands lingered, touching his skin and exploring the lines of his muscles, sliding back up on to his shoulders and then down on to his chest. He hissed at the sheer pleasure of her caresses. When she grazed his nipples, dragging her fingertips across them and through the hair on his chest, he silently promised retribution in kind.
She gazed up at him and then down at her next target. She was being wonderfully bold, just as he would have expected. Reaching for the end of his belt, she tugged until it came out of the buckle, allowing the length of plaid to follow his other garments to the floor. Her breathing grew ragged then and she paused as she reached for the ties on his breeches.
‘Courage now, lass.’
When she hesitated, he drew her into his arms, pulling her up against his heated skin and filling her mouth with his tongue. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her against him, sliding his hand under her bottom and pressing his hard flesh against her. Her legs eased around his hips as much as her gown allowed and he knew she could feel him. Feel his arousal.
‘You are wearing too many clothes,’ he whispered, as he moved his mouth from hers. She slid her legs down his and stood before him. ‘Let me take them for you.’ She nodded and watched him through passion-glazed eyes.
He moved behind her and loosened the tie on her braid. Dragging his fingers through its length, he shook the hair free of its restraint and watched as it curled around her. Then, he wrapped it around his hand and lifted it, exposing the curve of her neck to him. He kissed her there, trailing kisses and caressing her skin with his tongue as he untied her laces and opened her, inch by inch, to his attentions.
When her gown was loosened all the way to her hips, he pushed it off and let it slide down over her belly and hips and legs to join his garments there. Then he kept his mouth on her neck, nipping along the edge of her ear until she trembled. She clutched behind her at his legs, trying to steady herself against him.
‘Hold on to me, lass,’ he whispered. Her body arched, opening to him and beckoning his touch. So he did.
Chapter Seventeen
Brodie moved his hands, sliding one around her waist to hold her close and the other to cup her breast, first one then the other. He teased her nipples with his thumb, rubbing against them until they hardened. She was gasping with each caress now. This was more than she had expected. This was nothing like she had expected.
His mouth was hot against her neck and she leaned her head back. He kissed and licked and then took the sensitive skin between his teeth and nipped at it. Shivers of ice and fire drove through her blood to a place deep inside of her. His arm trapped her between the teasing torment of his hand and the hard ridge of flesh pressed against her back.
Her body reacted on its own, pushing and arching against his every touch. Then she felt his hand slide over the material of her shift, gathering its length up and exposing her legs to the coolness of the cave. Only his arm wrapped around her held her up when his hand brushed the curls between her legs. The moan escaped before she knew it.
‘Do you like that, lass?’ he whispered against her ear. A moan was all the sound she could make and he laughed at it.
Biting her ear gently, he slid a finger between her legs and drew it up. Her legs shook at such pleasure and such a shocking touch as this was. But that place ached for more and her hips arched against his hand, asking for it.
‘Open your legs for me, love.’
Her legs opened and he dipped his finger into the wetness there, finding the very spot that needed to be touched. He slid along the wetness, drawing it forward to a sensitive place that made her scream out. He reached up and turned her face to his, caressing her tongue, and he rubbed that place deep in the folds of her flesh.
Something ached there and every movement of his fingers as he used more of them to slide inside her and caress her woman’s flesh made her tighten inside. Some connection made her feel every touch in her breasts and in her core. She could only pant, her lungs sucking in short, shallow breaths with each slide of his fingers.
And then whatever tied her tighter and tighter snapped and she cried out against his relentless mouth as her body fell apart at his touch. She arched against his hand but he did not stop, pressing deeper and spreading her with his fingers. He whispered against her mouth, urging her for more and more and more until she was spent and collapsed against him. When he eased his hand from between her legs, another wave shuddered through her and another until she lost her breath.
