Page 32 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
He tilted his head to the side, his gaze flitting from her eyes to her lips. “Dinnae pretend that these games are just for me daughter. I’m nay fool, Grace.”
“They aren’t games!” she insisted breathily. “They are… ways of figuring out who you are, for her sake and mine, since you wish to marry me and make your daughter’s happiness my concern.”
“What else do ye wish to learn about me, lass?” he asked quietly, his thumb skimming her jaw. “What is it that ye want to ken most of all?”
A soft gasp slipped past her lips. The sound was akin to throwing a barrel of whiskey onto his burning desire.
“What do ye want, exactly, from a husband that I havenae already offered?” he pressed, stepping forward until there was no gap left between them.
Her bosom heaved as she drew in ragged breaths. Her eyes shone with a curiosity, a hunger that he felt deep in his bones. He didn’t need her to say it; it was there in her expression, in the way she gripped his wrist tightly, in the slight parting of her lips.
I should leave…
He’d put himself in danger, had wandered straight into the ambush, and if he wasn’t careful, he was at risk of not caring about what it might cost him.
“I want…” she whispered.
“Aye?”
“I want… I want to get to know you,” she managed to breathe out.
He bent his head. “And what do ye mean by that?”
“I… don’t know,” she murmured. “I was hoping you would have the answer to that.”
At that moment, nothing could have pulled him back. If an army had charged in through the study doors, he would still have done the same thing. His hunger was greater than his discipline. His stern resolve had been conquered by his desire.
The instant his lips grazed hers, his body pushing up against hers, there was no longer anything he could do to stop it.
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Grace couldn’t remember how to breathe as Hunter’s mouth brushed against hers, soft and searching, thrumming with promise. She could neither confirm nor deny if this was what she’d meant about wanting to get to know him, but it was as good an answer as any she might have imagined.
What do I do? Oh, what do I do?
A flutter of panic ricocheted around her stomach, not because she wanted him to pull away, but because she had no idea how to respond. Literally. She had never been kissed before.
His mouth caught hers again, fiercer this time. The press of his body squeezed the rest of the air out of her lungs. Closing her eyes, allowing a gasp to bring more air into her chest, she threw all propriety out of the window and concentrated on the graze of his mouth.
She grabbed his shirt and kissed him back, hoping she was doing it right.
A small smirk curved his lips, and though she longed to see him smile, she didn’t want to shatter the moment by opening her eyes to see his expression. Instead, she kissed him harder, learning from him as she did, molding her mouth to his, settling into a rhythmic ebb and flow that was a lot like dancing.
They were two partners, mirroring one another, moving in harmony.
Growing in confidence, the fluttering in her stomach became a strange straining of muscles and nerves, tightening in a way that seemed to hold her entire being in a vise. Every breath was ragged. Her heart beat so wildly she feared it might burst. Her skin sparked like a feverish furnace, burning hotter by the moment.
All of her senses were waking up in ways they never had before, and everything keenly focused on him: the heat of his body; the gliding touch of his hand on her waist; the slight tilt of his hips when he caught her mouth with his; the strength of his arms as they encircled her, pulling her even closer; the roughness of his palm on her neck, her throat, her jaw, her cheek.
She heard his breathing quicken and imagined she could hear the fiery rush of his blood in his veins, though that might have been her own, roaring in her ears.
There was a moment of astonishment as his tongue plunged into her mouth, startling her for half a second. But as it glided against hers, teaching her the pleasure of it, she danced her part, trialing a hesitant echo of the unknown step. As she did, she smiled, and her heart raced frantically as the pleasant sensation stoked the fires of her passion, her longing, and her desire to learn more.
Slowly, his lips drew away from her mouth as he kissed along her jaw and down her neck. Then, his teeth grazed her earlobe.
She gasped at the sensation. A vibration shivered through her that seemed to splinter from her throat to her thighs, conjuring a fresh wave of desire that left her dizzy. She couldn’t think straight, even if she had wanted to.
“Is this what ye want to ken?” he whispered against the curve of her neck, his hand smoothing over the swell of her backside, where he grabbed her roughly, pressing them closer than she’d dared to imagine they would ever be.
