Her reply appeared to shock her as much as it did him.“Nay?”
She gulped as if the word had come out of her mouth unbidden.Then she stared at a spot in the middle of his chest and said, “I want ye.All o’ ye.”
“All o’ me?”His voice came out on a croak.“What do ye mean, all o’ me?”
By the shy ducking of her head, he knew very well what she meant.The lass wanted him to swive her.
God, how he wanted to.But they barely knew each other.He wasn’t entirely sure who she was.And she certainly didn’t know who he was.How could two complete strangers engage in such an intimate act?
Still, need smoldered inside him.They didn’tfeellike strangers.And she was offering herself to him.She was obviously not a novice to love play, no matter what she’d hinted at about it being her first kiss.If she ached for him as much as he did for her, would it not be rude to refuse?
Besides, he knew other ways to satisfy her.To satisfy them both.Ways that wouldn’t leave her with consequences, regretting what she’d done in the heat of passion.
“Are ye sure?”he murmured.
She leveled her eyes at the vein he could feel pulsing in his neck.“I want to do this.I wish to feel…everythin’.”
He closed his eyes and let out a shuddering breath.Like an enchanted key, her words of consent unlocked the shackles of his reluctance, dissolving his doubts.
“Then ye shall have your wish,” he murmured.
He lifted her back onto the bed.She sank into the coverlet with a sigh.For a moment he only looked down at her.Reveled in the longing in her glazed eyes.The hunger of her open mouth.The breathless rise and fall of her bosom.
There was no need to rush.
Aye, his body demanded him to seize the moment.Strike while the iron was hot.Take her swiftly before he could be stopped.
But he was no savage.His erection wasn’t going anywhere.Besides, he’d learned the advantages of letting a woman dictate the pace.And, as honor reminded him, taking things slowly would give her the opportunity to change her mind.
Her leine was as sheer as fine mist over her beautiful breasts, which were of modest size, yet far more elegant than he’d envisioned.And lower, the pale linen was shadowy where dark curls guarded her womanhood.
As he loomed over her, she scanned his body as well, dwelling on his shoulders and chest.She tucked her lip under her teeth as if she wished to devour him.
That gesture made him harden with a groan.
Then she lifted her hands tentatively to touch his bare skin.Her fingers felt so delicate upon his ribs.As soft as the sweep of an artist’s brush, painting him in colors of desire.
He lowered his eyes to the top of her leine.
“May I?”he whispered.
She nodded.
He slipped his fingers beneath the neck edge of her leine, sliding the fabric down to reveal more and more of her tempting body.The rapid pulse at her throat.The graceful edge of her collar bone.The soft curve of her bosom.
Her eyes drifted close.Her mouth fell open.She shuddered with anticipation as he peeled the leine off of her shoulders.
He gradually bared her breasts, slowly grazing the tips with the linen, making them stand erect before freeing them from the garment.
“Lovely,” he breathed.
More lovely than he’d imagined.The pale orbs of her breasts were crested with small nipples the color of tawny pink averin berries.
He used his thumb to measure the throbbing in her neck before gliding his fingers along her collar bone and over her sweet shoulders.
Then he ventured farther, watching her face carefully for signs of distress.Her eyes were still closed.But he could read her reactions in the crease of her brow, the tension in her mouth, the pace of her breathing.Lower and lower he swept his fingers, making sensual circles atop her breasts and dipping down between them to caress the flesh with the back of his knuckles.
Sensing no resistance, he widened the circles to encompass her breasts, and her brow furrowed as she strained toward him, as if willing him to touch her nipples.
