Page 34 of Kidnapped By her Highland Enemy
Sagging against the tub, Lucas kept his eyes closed to hold unto the image of Maisie behind his eyes, but she flitted away. By the time he went back to the room, he would be right back where he had started, wanting a woman who he could never truly have.
12
The bed was so soft, Maisie found it sinful. While she had eaten, the serving girl had gotten her fire going so now, while tugging the sheets over her, she felt a comfort that she only used to feel at home. The down-stuffed pillow was soft under her head, and she mourned leaving such comfort the next day.
As she dozed, Lucas’s truncated knock roused her and she sleepily slipped out of bed to open the door for him. He came in and she smiled softly before turning back to the bed—only she spun right back to him and stood, trembling.
Lucas was naked from the waist up. Moonlight illuminated the hard planes, dusted with darker hair, blanketing bulging muscles and sinewy ridges which made her mouth go dry. Maisie idly wondered how he would feel if she pressed her hands against his chest. Looking up, she met glittering green eyes that held her captive, and her tongue cleaved to the roof of her mouth.
He came closer, cupped her face, and kissed her softly, rubbing her cheek with his thumb. “Go back to bed, lass, it’s been a long day.”
Wordlessly, she obeyed and slid between the sheets, suddenly unable to go back to rest. She kept her eyes closed as Lucas pulled spare furs from the bed and made another makeshift cot on the ground. Slitting her eyes open, she watched as the firelight burnished the skin of his back a dark bronze as he ate his supper. Again, her hand trembled with the need to reach out and explore his awe-provoking body.
Time seemed to slow to an aching speed, while everything under her skin heated with every breath. When Lucas dropped down to his bed, the clench in her stomach lessened a little but did not dissipate.
The more she tried to fall back to sleep, the more her body rebelled, and she was attuned to Lucas mere feet away from her— twisting and turning on the floor. The more it went on, the more agitated and a bit confused Maisie felt.
Flinging the covers back, she sat up. “For heaven’s sake, Lucas, get off the floor and come to the bed. There’s plenty of space up here for both of us.”
Lucas sat up and rubbed his face, “Lass…” his tone was dark and sinfully ragged, “It’s better if I stay where I am.”
Rolling her eyes, Maisie stepped off the bed, “I ken why ye would do this, but nay one is going to attack us in the middle of thenight, two stories high. Do ye ken how many drunken men a horde of attackers would have to plow through to get to us?”
“It’s nae that,” Lucas was on his feet too. “I am simply tryin’ to stop myself from making a mistake that might cost me life.”
Frowning, Maisie went to his side, “And what mistake is that? Do ye ken that ye’ll take advantage of me if ye share abed? Ye willnae, if that happens to be what plagues ye at the moment.”
He came closer. “Daenae tempt me. If I touch ye now, I will never stop.”
She made to agree with him, but instead, no words came, because truly, she wanted his touch. It was what her heart clamored for. Swallowing, Maisie reached out, the tremble of her hand plain as she rested her palm on his bare chest. The firelight flickered over his chest, rending his skin ombre and while the hair on his chest was wiry, his muscles were warm and his skin smooth.
Lucas hissed out a breath when her other hand joined her first in their bold investigation. God bones, but he was huge, and the thought of all this barely-contained power unleashed on her body made her dizzy. His hard stomach heaved beneath her hands as she drew them lower.
Inches away from the tantalizing vee of his belly, Lucas grabbed her hand and growled, “Yer playing with fire. If I touch ye right now, there’s nay turning back.”
Tilting her head up, Maisie quietly replied, “There’s naything there for me, Lucas. The moment ye kissed me, what I’d left behind me began to fragment away anyhow.”
After a tense moment, he broke their mesmerizing connection to wrap his heated, strong hands around her and pressed her to his chest. He kept wrapped her arms around her own waist, covering them with his and pressed right over his heart. At the feel on his skin, tremors started coursing through her.
This was how it felt to be held. To be protected. To be cared for… and it felt marvelous. All her life, the only thing she knew was propriety, the men who she met only bowed to her—not once had they touched her. With Lucas, propriety flew out the window.
“Sweet, lass,” he whispered roughly. His hand slipped away from her hip, up her back and into her unbound hair to grasp her nape just as his mouth covered hers. He clasped her waist, pulling her against his body as he angled his face to run his tongue along the seam of her lips and the moment she admitted him—he became ravenous.
His mouth was demanding, possessive, unhinged and the sensation sweeping through her body was like a bird, beating its wings as it made ready to take flight. Kissing him back became more vital than taking her next breath.
The hands she had pressed against his chest in defense now drew in the warmth of his body, allowing her to feel the rapidbeat of his heart. Lucas suddenly withdrew, lifting his mouth from hers only to press kisses down her neck.
The kiss of his heated mouth on her skin caused gooseflesh to blossom everywhere, and her nipples to constrict into aching beads. His mouth found hers again, his mobile tongue exploring the recesses of her mouth, laving, stroking, cajoling and singularly focused upon her ravishment.
A deep moan rumbled from the back of his throat as he backed her to bed, and the world ceased to exist as his hand pulled every stitch from her body. When the cloth fluttered to the floor, Lucas perched a knee on the bed behind her.
“Such a bonny little thing,” he remarked while he teased each nipple with little flicks of his thumbs, smirking when he drew a sharp gasp from her, then a yearning moan. Ducking his head, he dragged his tongue slowly over one while stroking the other with his thumb.
Gently, he rested her on the bed to do away with the pair of boots and breeches. Maisie bit her lip at the sight of him. Gifted with thick arms, chest and legs, his manhood was no less blessed. Lucas smirked at seeing her eyes roam over him and he joined her on the bed.
Kneeling on the bed, he gently parted her legs and notched his body between them and while he braced the bulk of his weight on his bent arms, she felt the muscled mass of him rest on her body—and felt heat lance itself up her spine at the feel of him.
Lucas claimed her mouth again and felt her every inch of her skin prick alive when his rough hand coasted over her body. The first hungry lick of his tongue took her breath away, and as his hand slipped under her body to squeeze her plump behind, she arched into his touch.
