She’d been scared, but not terrified. Not until Thomas Mackinnon had surprised her from behind. At first she’d thought he was there to help them. Only when he’d refused to let her go did she realize her mistake. She still could not believe that he’d tried to kill her. She felt sick with the implications of all that her father’s chieftain had done for ambition.
The terror that had eluded her during the attack rushed forth in full force once it was over. And Alex was there to be her rock, a steadying force merely by the solid strength of his presence. The callused hands that had taken life with such savage ferocity now stroked her hair as gently as if she were a newborn babe. He’d moved her away from the scene of carnage to the grassy bank of a nearby burn. After dampening the edge of hisleinein the water, he carefully wiped the trickle of blood from her neck. She was lucky; she’d suffered nothing more than a scratch.
“Shush, love. It’s all over now.” His voice was low and soothing as he whispered words to calm her racing heart.
Through the wall of panic, her heart caught at the sweet endearment.Love.A sharp pang of longing hit her like a kick in the chest.God, how she wished that it were so.
He smelled of sweat and blood, but somehow it reminded her that she was alive. His voice and hands worked magic, easing her panic. She allowed herself the luxury of being rocked in his arms, relishing the security offered by his powerful hold. She burrowed deeper in his lap and tightened her grip around his waist.
He winced.
Her head snapped back to look at him accusingly. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” he said, trying to brush away her concern.
But the fact that he was injured forced her back to reality as effectively as a hard slap. Meg was furious. “Why didn’t you say something?” she said, moving out of his lap. “How could you allow me to carry on about a tiny scratch and not even mention that you were injured?” She knelt before him and began exploring his side with her fingers.
“It wasn’t just a tiny scratch, Meg. His dirk was at your neck.”
Meg ignored him. She didn’t want to think about what she had barely averted, not when he was so obviously in pain.
He tensed as her hands moved across his tightly muscled stomach and back. He was not bleeding, and it didn’t feel as if anything were broken, but she couldn’t be sure. Carefully, she traced his ribs and the cut indentations of his muscled stomach with her fingertips through theleine.When her hand dipped low on his stomach, he made a sound and grabbed her wrist.
“I’m fine.” His voice sounded pained, but this time with restraint. “Just a few bruised ribs, that is all.” Their eyes met, and she could see the desire burning hot in his gaze. He wanted her, and the evidence was growing right before her eyes. She flushed, not with embarrassment, but with the knowledge that her innocent touch had aroused him so powerfully.
She wanted to touch him. To slide her hand along the sensitive flesh. To harness that strength beneath her hands. To revel in the wonder of being alive.
The air crackled between them. Temptation beckoned from the very depths of her soul. For a moment, Meg wavered on the edge of indecision. She wanted him. What was the point in denying it, or herself? Confronting her own mortality had made her yearn to experience life in the most basic way possible. The danger they’d just faced had stripped away everything but the fact that they were two people deeply attracted to each other. At that moment, nothing else mattered.
Desire stretched tautly between them. The dark intensity in his blue eyes bored straight through her. He held perfectly still, jaw clenched, his face an inscrutable puzzle of hard angles, every muscle in his body tense with restraint, awaiting her decision. One move would be all it would take, and his mouth would be on hers, erasing all memory of what had just happened.
The temptation was too powerful to resist.
So she succumbed to the moment, to Alex, and to the pull of desire that bound them in an undeniable way.
Having care for his injured ribs, she leaned over him, achingly aware of the warmth emanating from him and the long, hard muscles stretched out beneath her. Tentatively, she pressed her mouth against his.
It was all the excuse he needed. With a primal growl, Alex took hold of her, and Meg found herself rolled on her back, his body covering hers, and the full onslaught of his mouth returning her kiss with fervor.
“Your ribs,” she murmured.
“To hell with my ribs,” he growled. “Just let me taste you.”
Meg complied willingly. His mouth was hard and demanding, brutal with need. It was perfect. She tasted his hunger and opened to him, taking him deeper as his tongue swept her mouth. He was holding nothing back, and Meg met the force of his desire with her own.
She’d been right. His kiss made her forget. His kiss made her feel alive, alive in a way that she’d felt before. As if every inch of her body were aflame. The passion between them consumed everything in its wake. There was no room for analysis or thought, only for the desperate cravings of their bodies.
She returned his kiss the way he’d taught her. Tentatively at first, and then with growing confidence, she matched the thrust and parry of his tongue stroke for delicious stroke. She couldn’t get enough. The harder and deeper he kissed her, the more she wanted. Meg had succumbed, and she would do so not in half measure, but with verve, excitement, and eagerness.
This was dangerous.Verydangerous. She knew she should stop him, but it felt too good. She’d never dreamed that she could feel this way, that she could so crave a man’s touch. She’d thought that she was not capable of this type of emotion, this type of sensation, this type of burning desire. But when he held her in his arms and kissed her, her heart flipped, her blood rushed, her pulse quickened. All she could think of was drawing nearer to the heat. Of being surrounded by this man.
Her hands explored the breadth of his wide shoulders and powerfully muscled chest. She wanted to touch every part of him, to feel his skin under her fingertips. She clenched him harder as the force of his kiss intensified.
Her frenzy seemed only to increase his own. Alex lifted his head, breathing hard, and the depth of emotion in his eyes took her breath away. It was desire, but also something deeper. Something that made her heart leap high in her chest. Something that she wanted to believe with every fiber of her being.
He watched her face intently as his fingers traced an invisible line down her side, allowing his thumb to slip forward over the curve of her breast. The nipple hardened under his touch.
Meg gasped as his thumb began to stroke small circles over the sensitive tip. She closed her eyes, allowing the warm sensations to crash over her as she gave herself up to his touch. Her entire body felt flushed and hot with pleasure. Vaguely, she was aware that he’d loosened the laces of her bodice and tugged the fabric down below the edges of her stays.
