Page 78 of Enslaved to the Seduction of a Lady
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Alison put on her cloak over her nightdress and tiptoed out of the house. She had heard word that Luke was back, and she desperately wanted to see him. She had no doubt he was feeling the same and would be waiting in the stables for her. She was right.
He was pottering at the back when she arrived, but he turned at the sound of her footsteps. They gazed at each other for a moment, before she ran to him and threw her arms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
“I’ve missed you,” she muttered. He chuckled.
“I’ve barely been gone even a day,” he said. “Less time than I thought.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, pulling away from him and looking up at the sparkle in his eyes. “I still missed you.”
“Well, I suppose that’s a good thing,” he said, an eyebrow raised and a smile tugging at his lips.
“And why’s that?” she asked in mock outrage.
“Because I missed you too,” he said. “Terribly.”
She slapped him playfully on the chest, laughing and he laughed too, taking her hand and raising it to his lips. Her heart flipped, her breath quivering in her chest.
“Come,” he said, taking her hand and guiding her to their normal place on the haystack. “Let’s sit awhile. That’s what I’ve missed most, you know. Just talking to you, being with you.”
She let herself fall onto the soft bed of hay, her cheeks aching with too many smiles.
“You always say just the right thing,” she said.
“Yes,” he said with a sigh. “That’s because I’m perfect in every way.”
“Ha!” She threw her head back in laughter, feeling free and bubbling with joy, as she always did when she was with Luke.
“Laugh, will you?” he asked, eyebrow raised. “Are you suggesting I’m not perfect?”
“No,” she said, smiling but with a softer voice. “I’m not suggesting that at all because Luke, My Love, you are more than perfect.”
She leaned forward and kissed him with a feather’s touch and she felt his lips tighten into a smile beneath hers. She pulled back, looked at him.
“Are you laughing?” she asked.
“Smiling. Happy to be back.”
“How was your trip away?” she asked, raising a finger to his cheek and feeling the soft stubble that grew there.
“I learned a lot,” he said, gazing still into her eyes. “I found out about my mother, and I even found a brother. I have so much to tell you, but right now, Alison, I don’t want to waste our precious time on that.”
“But if it’s important to you, then it’s not wasted time,” she said. She shuffled closer to him, wanting to feel his warmth surrounding her. She could smell him—earthy and rich and mixed with the scent of the hay.
“No,” he said, moving his face closer to hers. She could feel his breath rushing over her cheeks. She let her mouth hang open, so that she inhaled his words. “But there will be time for that. Later. Now, I only want to feel you.”
“Oh, Luke,” she whispered, her hand reaching back up to his cheek. She pulled his face forward until he had no choice but to kiss her, the feather’s touch turned into a passionate embrace.
The back of her neck tingled with desire, the sensation running through her body. She let her fingers rove over his face, feeling out the shaping of it, running over his chiseled chin and down his strong, sinewy neck.
She moaned into his mouth and he shivered gently under her touch. His tongue flickered out of his mouth, over her teeth, and she grabbed it between her lips, letting her own tongue circle it, tasting him.
She moved her hand around to the back of his neck, pulling him closer still to her, until he was over her, his weight baring down on her. And she let her other hand drop to his chest, searching out the muscles beneath his thin linen shirt.
She pulled at it urgently, tugging it out of the waistband of his trousers, and she let her hand slip beneath it, desperate for skin to touch skin. His flesh was dry but perfectly smooth, his skin taut against the ups and downs of his toned stomach. She let her fingers play, as if all by themselves, with the strip of hair that ran from his navel and disappeared into his trousers.
He shifted his weight until he was on his knees, letting her lay down on the bed of hay. He looked down at her, angelic, innocent.
