Page 65 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
Hunter’s hands closed around Grace’s wrists. Her mouth was a temptation, and her breath caressed his lips, urging him to relent. He caught the intoxicating scent of her hair. The breeze in the valley forced it into his senses as if it, too, wanted him to give in.
“I shouldnae be surprised that ye dinnae ken what’s good for ye,” he said, fighting every impulse to finally have what he desired most. “Ye wouldnae have ended up in a reformatory if ye did.”
She laughed in his face. “Are you trying to insult me now to see if that will get me to leave? It won’t work, my darling. I have hadyearsof practice, and you’ll find my skin is thicker than you think. Touch it—see for yourself.”
“Idinnaewant ye to leave,” he growled, grazing his teeth across his lower lip. “That’s the problem. There’ll be nay runnin’ away once ye’re mine.”
“Good,” she countered, sliding her palms up his chest. “I hate running.”
If it hadn’t been for those MacRannock idiots appearing in the woods, and Trevor showing his face in the village today, this conversation wouldn’t have carried nearly the same weight. He’d still have told her everything that had happened between him and Ellie’s grandfather, but he wouldn’t have had a reason to try and push her away from him.
Ye dinnae ken what war means, lass. And I dinnae ken what war means when ye have two people to fight for, to make it home to.
How was he meant to ride off toward certain danger, leading his army, with thoughts of Grace swirling around in his head? He’d almost missed an ambush because he had been too busy thinking about her. He couldn’t afford to make those mistakes on a battlefield.
“I should put ye on me horse and take ye back to that school of yers right now,” he said in a throaty voice that became a growling moan as she suddenly took his lip between her teeth and tugged gently.
“As I said,” she murmured as she let go, “I’d like to see you try. But it doesn’t feellike you will.”
A dark chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Ye willnae tempt me, lass.” He freed one of her wrists and cradled the back of herneck, sliding his hand into her hair. “What I said the other night hasnae changed. I willnae relent.”
“What if I told you that I am burning for you?” she whispered seductively while arching her neck. “What if I told you that desire counts, and I was wrong before? What if I said that I have never wanted anything more than I want you right?—”
His mouth was on hers before she could finish. His arm slid around her waist, pulling her flush against him. She gasped against his lips. Her hands grabbed at his shirt, pulling herself even closer as she kissed him back. A hard, desperate, feverish kiss blossomed between them and made separation impossible.
Hunter had just sailed past the line where he would have been able to let her go for her own safety. There’d be no going back now, and as his hand skimmed over the swell of her backside, kneading the glorious, soft flesh, he didn’t care at all.
If he had to protect her with his body and his life from now on, as he planned to, then he intended to let his body know bliss as well as pain. He would savor every bit of the joys of life with her to counter the things that wanted to take it away.
Just enough,his mind warned, though whether he would listen or not, whether he would muster the discipline to stop short of claiming her entirely, remained to be seen.
Slowly, with his arm around her waist, he walked her back toward the bridge, kissing her all the while. He relished the searching touch of her hands, wandering over his chest, tuggingat his shirt, smoothing over the muscles of his arms and the dip of his waist, caressing the column of his throat and his broad shoulders.
“Hunter!” she gasped as he pressed her back against the railing of the bridge. “It won’t hold me!”
He caught her by the chin and kissed her hard on the mouth. “Aye, it will. And if it doesnae, it willnae stop me.” He smiled slyly. “I dinnae mind ye wet, lass. That’s how I want ye.”
She frowned. “But… won’t it be cold?”
“Nay, lass.” He bent his head and kissed her neck as his hand smoothed down the supple curve of her thigh. “Nae cold at all. And ye willnae fall in, lass, because I willnae let ye fall.”
Her eyes widened, and with a radiant smile, she grabbed his face and kissed him as if she never meant to stop.
Grace panted wildly as Hunter’s mouth teased her nipple. He drew his tongue over it until anticipation surged like madness in her veins. If she didn’t feel the hard suction of his mouth soon, she would take leave of her senses.
“Patience,” Hunter purred as if reading her mind.
“I never said I had any,” she moaned, faintly aware of the brush of his hand over the dip of her waist.
He smiled against her skin and rolled his tongue slowly up her erect nipple, while his hand began to gather the fabric of her skirts, pushing them up to her hips. Only half certain of what he was up to, she leaned back against the railing, content to be surprised in the most delicious way.
She cried out in dismay as he left her nipple unsatisfied, kissing his way across to the other. But the quiet laugh that rumbled in his chest was almost worth the ongoing, torturous, exquisite anticipation of untold pleasures.
“Oh…” Her cry turned into a breathy gasp.
Her satisfaction soared as his fingertips lightly touched that secret bud of pure bliss between her thighs.
At the same moment, his mouth closed around her nipple and he sucked gently. Light exploded behind her eyelids, while sparks ignited throughout her body. A chain of wildfires that his touch had set ablaze at once burned in unison.
