Page 10 of To Tempt A Highland Duke
His warm, silken lips caressed hers. Oh, sweet bliss. Never had a kiss created such a riot of sensation. This was nothing like the kisses they had shared years ago. He was giving all of himself to her, no doubt because she was no longer a young virgin, but was an experienced widow.
Just the type of women he loved to dally with.
She didn’t care…
Flora wrapped her arms around Dougray’s neck in a mix of hapless craving and wild relief. This was her chance—her one chance before he married—and she would give herself over to it. When he pulled her onto his lap, she did not resist.
His kiss blurred the lines between fantasy and reality, and she didn’t care. She’d waited and wanted this for too long. Besides, she’d never felt so alive—never. Recklessness sang through her veins, screaming take it all! Joy thrummed along every tingling nerve ending. All the while, not believing she had been brave or foolish enough to do this.
Unsure of herself, she soon lost herself in the kiss. Dougray’s hand curved tenderly around her nape while the other sunk into her hair. His grip was tight, but it thrilled her.
His lips beguiled hers, moving back and forth with exquisite skill. She tilted her head back farther and seized on the idea to take the lead. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and savored the taste of him. He was delicious. Her pulse was a reckless rhythm as she clung to him. She could feel the hardened length of him pulsing against her bottom and it spurred her on, transporting her to a state of dizzying heights.
She wanted him to take her. To lay her down, strip her of her gown and make love to her. To ravish her on this couch before her bravery fled, and she thought too much about the other women before her and likely those to come after her.
For the past three years she had ignored the lonely ache to be touched, caressed, held. Iain had been a good man, but he never fired her body like this. She had never loved Iain.
One simple kiss told her that Dougray knew exactly what her body yearned for. Her hands clutched his broad chest, wishing she could feel his heated skin. She let her hands roam his chest while her tongue reveled in his virile taste. A moan escaped as he drew her closer, trapping her hands between his muscled strength and her softness.
He left her gasping his name as his wayward mouth left her lips and descended along the side of her neck. Her hands moved lower too, stroking him through his trousers as his lips found the top of her exposed bosom.
“Undress me.” Only when he stopped did she realize she’d said the plea aloud.
* * *
He’d almost drivenhimself crazy all day wondering what her lips would feel like. It had been so long since he’d last kissed her, and he’d let no kisses go this far. Since the conversation in the dining room this morning, he had thought only of her.
At her impulsive kiss he had his answer as to if he could get her to agree to wed him, and it exceeded his expectations. She wanted him too. He had to rein in his need to devour her. Did she still love him?
Instead, he let her take the lead as she tentatively moved her lips over his. His body shuddered as she slipped her tongue into his mouth.
He sunk his hand into her glorious soft hair to anchor her mouth to his and called on all his experience not to take over. Her tongue stroked the inside of his mouth, making his groin tightened unbearably. Too much more of this and he’d lay her down and take her on this very settee.
He reluctantly broke the kiss and tried to cool both their ardors by trailing his lips over her skin.
“Undress me.” At her plea, his body surged with triumph. He could take her here and now. Sink between her sweet thighs and claim that which had been denied him all these years. He shook his head and pulled away from her to clear his mind of her scent and taste.
There would be no taking until she agreed to be his wife. He had too much at stake to risk a mere coupling to ease his need of her.
He leaned back and studied her beneath semi-closed eyelashes. She was still a beauty.
He let his heated gaze travel over her, feeding his growing desire. The candlelight scorched her copper highlighted hair. Her up swept coiffure, that his fingers had messed, made her neck look as graceful as a swan’s, with alluring tendrils stroking the curve of her bosom. Her bodice drew his appreciative eyes, sweet rounded breasts, lush, and bonny.
The inviting arch of her body almost swayed him from his plan, but one did not seduce—a friend—for that is who she was. He wanted her as his wife to finally allow his heart to soar—a voice inside his head added, and to save you from loneliness.
“Why are you stopping?”
He removed her hand from his groin and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “I didn’t realize we were in such a rush. Anticipation heightens the desire.”
With a shrug she admitted, “I have no idea. This is my first tryst. Or seduction, or whatever it is you call this.”
He cupped her face between his two hands, gently drinking from her sweet lips. His possessive side loved that he was her first tryst. He didn’t like to think of her with any other man. His one regret was he did not get to be her first, but if he had his way, he would be her last.
That made him sit up straighter.
He cleared his throat. “I would willingly desirously make love to you tonight but I have to ask you something first.”
She wiggled excitedly in his arms. “Yes, I’ll respect you in the morning,” she giggled. More seriously, she added, “And I won’t expect anything more. I know you are going to announce your engagement, and I shall ask for nothing after this night.”
