Page 48 of Kiss of Wrath

She crossed her eyes with frustration. “Am what?”

“Tempted.”

“You are crossing a line with these inappropriate words.”

“I don’t see why my remarks would be deemed inappropriate. I am just stating a fact. ’Tis amazing, but it is what it is. I am attracted to you.”

“That is the most lame compliment I have ever heard.”

“I have not felt such instant . . . uh, attraction in such a long time that I am amazed. I am not saying this right.”

She tilted her head to the side. “I should be alarmed by that statement, but, as a psychologist, I know that it is mere testosterone speaking. A natural attraction based on scientific principles of . . . what? Why are you shaking your head?”

“Because it is more than that. By the by, if it is mere science, are you feeling the same . . . arousal?”

“I am not!” she said, but her denial was belied by a blush that covered her face and crept down her neck to parts unknown but tempting as water to a thirsty man.

Her hair was upswept, exposing small shell ears pierced with dangling jade earrings and also highlighting the graceful line of her neck. He ran a forefinger along her jaw from ear to ear.

“Amazing!” he repeated in a sex-husky voice.

“You keep saying that. Why is it so amazing?”

“Because I have not had such thoughts in three hundred years.”

“Oddly, it seems like three hundred years for me, too,” she confessed.

And then he kissed her.

Nine

Trouble comes in big packages . . .

Mordr kissed her.

Three hundred years since he last had a woman? Hah! Talk about exaggeration! If it truly had been a long time (she suspected something more like three days) since he’d last had a woman, he hadn’t forgotten a thing. Kind of like riding a bicycle, except better. Way better!

Maybe it was a Viking thing. A mere kiss from him was about a seventeen on the Richter scale. The man had hidden skills. He certainly made her quake in certain places.

He was a big man. Tall, hard-muscled shoulders and chest with big workman’s hands and long, tree-trunk legs, evident in a blue Minnesota Vikings T-shirt that matched his pale blue eyes, tucked into well-worn denim jeans and sockless athletic shoes. He had to bend his knees slightly to put himself on eye level with her, rather lip level. With ease he extended both arms and braced his hands on the upper curves of the archway leading from the family room to the hallway. His lips pressed to hers were soft and entreating.

She sensed that he was giving her the opportunity to resist, to shove him away and tell him he was being a jerk. That his behavior could be interpreted as sexual harassment on the job site. Instead, contrary to her usual cautious personality, she raised her hands to his shoulders and moaned.

That moan represented assent to him, she could tell.

Before she realized what he was about, he yanked her into the room and pressed her up against the side wall, raising her so that only the tips of her high heels touched the floor, the whole time devouring her with a deep kiss that went on forever. He moved his head from side to side ’til he got the perfect fit. Then he nipped at her lower lip and plunged his tongue into her open mouth. His mouth moved on hers, a constant demand that she respond. And she did.

The low growl of appreciation in his throat triggered arousal deep in her body. His hands were everywhere, making wide swaths of her back, caressing her buttocks, cupping her breasts, and strumming the nipples with his calloused thumbs.

“Oh Lord! I forgot.”

“Forgot what?” She tilted her head to the side, giving him better access to that sensuous spot at the curve of her neck.

“How good it feels to hold a woman,” he husked out, nibbling at her skin. “I am in so much trouble. So.” Nibble. “Much.” Nibble. “Trouble.” He ended his nibbles with a quick bite.

Places long neglected in Miranda came alive. This was insanity, allowing a near stranger such intimate access to her body. And it was not enough. Not nearly enough.

Thus, she didn’t protest when he released the bow at her side and separated her dress. In a sex-thickened voice, he murmured, “You should be careful where you wear a dress like this.”