Page 16 of To Tempt A Highland Duke
The look of pain reflected in Dougray’s eyes when he opened them made her heart ache. She wrapped her arms about his neck and snuggled closer. “Make love to me.”
He shuddered against her as he pulled her tight into his embrace. She felt safe. Loved. All she could think about was how fervently she wanted Dougray, how much she needed him to show her how much he loved her.
His mouth found hers and gently sought entrance. All it took was a sigh into his mouth for his kiss to grow desperate, as if he needed her to save his soul.
Her questing hands undressed him, and when she broke from his kiss to press her lips to his bare chest, he gathered himself and unhooked her gown.
“You unman me,” he whispered.
“I hope not. I’m expecting wonderful things,” she teased, trying to lighten the mood.
Praise God.He really didn’t deserve her. She kissed him tenderly, letting her warm mouth linger against his as she undid the buttons on his breeches. He drank in her kiss, soaking in her forgiveness. He used his hands to free her copper rich tresses and watched them tumble like waves of sunset over her shoulders and the breasts he’d bared. God, she was so beautiful.
He tried to stop the shudder of fear that hit him. What if she wasn’t barren, what if she fell with child? He could not bear to lose her.
As if sensing his mental withdrawal, she urged him to lie back as she finished undressing him and then herself.
Once they were both naked, she kissed his entire body slowly, letting her soft tresses sweep his body in a sensual caress as she moved lower. He was already heavily aroused, and the erotic image of her leaning over him, her full breasts hanging tantalizingly over his chest, caused him to harden even further. When Flora’s tongue licked the tip of his erection, his hips rose off the bed.
He lost track of how long her mouth tortured him. He grew light-headed as she attended to him, licking, stroking, and exploring every inch of him. She paid special attention with her tongue to his nipples before delivering a feather-light kiss to his stomach. His muscles clenched in a mixture of tenderness and wrenching desire.
He’d never wanted or needed her more.
When her luscious lips slid down his shaft, his hands tangled in her hair. Dougray whispered her name over and over as she loved him with her mouth. She ran her tongue up and down his rampant erection, intermittently taking him deep into her mouth, sucking him. His eyes squeezed shut. He wouldn’t last long if he watched this delicious sight.
Soon the coiling tension became too much to bear, and he pulled her up and rolled her under him. He wanted to be inside her when he came, something that he’d denied himself for many, many, years. Also, he wanted her to have the most intense orgasm of her life so he could feel her tighten around his cock. He wanted to banish Viscount Iain Grafton from her memory.
She was breathing as heavily as he was. Her breasts pressed into his chest, her nipples hard.
He rose above her, the muscles of his arms standing out as they supported his weight. He wanted a moment to soak in the vision of her. “I never thought you’d ever be in this bed with me like this. I will cherish being here with you, cherish this memory, until I die.”
A tear leaked from the corner of her eye. “Just love me. Banish the past for good.”
He needed no further encouragement. Pushing her thighs wide, he slowly entered her tight, wet sheath, never taking his eyes from hers. Only when he was seated deep within her body did he let his eyelids close. He held still, savoring this moment.
Finally, his body urged him to move. He went slowly, willing his own needs away, wanting to drive Flora’s desire skyward. Their joining was heaven, and soon her response made his body throb with sensation. He could feel the rampant need rushing through her into him. His desperate longing caused his heart to ache. She would always be his and only his, no matter the past or what the future held.
The tenderness of their lovemaking gave way to a firestorm of need. In the throes of passion they moved as if one, drinking in each other’s cries, shuddering with each thrust, and soon he could feel the pinnacle approaching and… he couldn’t do it. He pulled from her body and spilled his seed on the sheets.
As the waves of intense pleasure lessened, he realized they were clutching each other tightly. He rolled to his side taking Flora with him, but she lay stiffly in his arms.
They lay like that for several minutes until their breathing slowed, and the stars of ecstasy faded.
He heard Flora softly ask, “Will it always be like that?”
At first he thought she meant the wondrousness of the moment. The closeness, the pleasure, and the love evident in the act. But her next words gutted him like a fish.
“You have fears, well, I have fears too. Do you know what my biggest fear is? That I will never get to hold a babe in my arms. It’s likely that I never will, but I still have hope.” She turned her head to look at him and he saw a tear leak from her eye. “I won’t marry you if you take that slight chance away. If you cannot make love to me as you would a wife, then I will walk away regardless of the fact I love you so much.”
Panic coursed through his body until he could barely breathe. “It was merely a reflex action. I’ve been doing that for years.”
She searched his face. “We have the rest of the night. When we make love again, I expect you to treat me as if I was your wife, not a mistress you don’t want to have fall with child.”
She hugged him tight, but then she moved off to lie next to him. He lay staring up at the ceiling for a long while.
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
Chapter 7
