Christina blushed furiously, wondering whether she’d made a mistake. For one agonizing moment he didn’t move, didn’t say a word. Every muscle in his body seemed pulled as tight as a bowstring. The room echoed with a painful silence.
She couldn’t look at him, humiliated by her own boldness. What had she been thinking? What must he think of her wanton request? This had to be the single most embarrassing moment of her life.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, stepping away from him. “You wished to leave. Forget—”
The low sound he made in his throat sent shivers up her spine. It was the sound he made right before …
He seemed to snap. “Like hell,” he said, catching her wrist and pulling her roughly against his chest.
She gasped, the instant bodily connection making every one of her nerve endings crackle with instant awareness. She stared up into his face, finding his expression more fierce than she’d ever seen it before. The tic below his jaw pulsed hard and fast.
Unconsciously, she tried to pull away, a little frightened by what she might have unknowingly unleashed. He was every inch the terrifying warrior—more barbarian than knight.
But he wouldn’t let her go. His searing gaze caught her in its fiery trap. “I’m not going anywhere. And neither are you. Not with a request like that.” He scooped her up in his arms and carried her the few steps to the bed.
Christina’s heart raced with a nervous thrill. She could feel the tension raging inside him, his desire for her radiating on a level she’d never felt before. He seemed like a man pushed to the edge, hanging on by the last thread of his control. It was wild, dangerous, and exciting—veryexciting.
He set her down on the covers with surprising gentleness, given the harshness of his movements as he started to remove his clothes. He jerked off the plaid he wore around his shoulders, his boots, and then his studdedcotun.
But when he leaned over to blow out the candle she stopped him. “Please, don’t.” She didn’t want any more darkness between them. “Won’t you leave it?”
Their eyes met, his sapphire gaze dark and penetrating. He didn’t want to? But why?
She thought he was going to deny her request when he said with a simple nod, “As you wish.”
He removed hisleineand she sucked in her breath. Heavens, he was glorious! Every bit as spectacular as she remembered. A fortress of masculine beauty and strength. Every inch of flesh honed to firm, hard muscle. His shoulders were impossibly broad, his arms thick and defined. His stomach rippled with band upon band of sharply molded steel. How was it that he seemed even bigger and broader without his clothes and armor?
She didn’t know where she wanted to put her hands first.
But it was the sight of his prominent erection that sent warm tingles of awareness prickling between her legs. The bold evidence of his desire thrilled her. Thick and long, the round head plump and swollen. So brutally—undeniably—masculine. It rose against his stomach, growing under her wanton perusal. The thin skin pulled so tight it seemed to shine like marble.
Nowshe knew exactly where she wanted her hands.
“Careful, lass,” he warned darkly, his voice dangerous and seductive at the same time. “Look at me like that and you might get more than you bargained for.”
A flush of pleasure surged through for her, realizing her admiration excited him. “Can I touch you?” she blurted, asking what she’d never dared before.
His stomach muscles clenched. Fisting his hands at his side, he nodded. “Aye.”
She rolled on her knees so that she was kneeling before him. Tentatively, she reached out and brushed her fingertips down the hard ridges of his stomach.
He hissed, the muscles jumping at the feather-soft touch. She bit her lip to stop the smile, marveling at the ability to invoke such a reaction with a simple touch.
Ever so gently she ran her finger along the long length of his manhood. Her lips parted in surprise. The skin was so soft. Like velvet. But underneath, the rigid column was as steely as the rest of him.
She explored him with her fingers and then, growing bolder, with her hand, circling him, though unable to close around him completely.
He groaned at every touch, seemingly in agony.
She let go, gazing up at him hesitantly. “Am I doing something wrong?”
He shook his head. She could see the muscles in his neck and shoulders bunch and strain. “God, no,” he said tightly. “Keep doing what you’re doing.” He put his hand over hers and showed her how to hold him. He looked into her eyes, letting her see the depth of his desire. “Ah, that’s it, Tina, stroke me.”
Tina. She liked it. It was almost an endearment.
Holding his gaze, she did. Something passed between them. Something that went beyond the erotic sensuality of the moment, heightening every touch, every movement.
She watched the pleasure roll over his features as she gripped him tight in her hand and pumped. Slow at first, then faster as the passion built on his handsome face.
