Page 93 of Highlanders for the Holidays
“I’ll keep ye warm,” he said, a wicked promise in his eyes.
She sucked in her breath as he slid his hand up her calf inside the lad’s breeches she wore.
“I’ve been longing to touch your skin,” he said. “And I’ve been imagining what ye feel like under the lad’s clothes since I first found ye and your cap fell off.”
“That long?” she asked, her voice coming out high.
“And every moment since.” His gaze sizzled with heat as he lifted her hand and pressed a warm kiss to her palm.
After he lay down beside her and spread the blanket over them, his big hand came to rest on her hip. He was so gentle as he kissed her cheek and hair and said her name that she relaxed and enjoyed both the kisses and the sensation of his hard body against her side.
Still, a wave of uneasiness swept over her when Roderick pulled her tunic up, revealing a few inches of bare skin. Would he be disappointed? No doubt he had bedded many women who were beautiful—and who knew what they were doing and how to please him.
She was too distracted to hold on to that worry for long. He captured all her attention as he leaned over, kissed her bared belly, and ran his hands up her sides beneath the tunic. When he brushed the sides of her breasts, she sucked in her breath. A moment later, she forgot to breathe altogether as he slowly kissed his way up to her chest, easing the tunic up as he went.
“By the saints, lass, ye feel good,” he murmured against her skin when he finally covered her breasts with his big, warm hands.
She nearly rose off the ground when he began to fondle her nipples, rolling them between his thumbs and fingers.Good heavens, she had no notion that would be so…arousing. Sensations thrummed through her and pooled in her belly and between her legs.
When he replaced his hand on one of her breasts with his mouth, she ceased to think at all. His tongue circled and flicked, teasing her nipple. Then he sucked it into his mouth, drawing tendrils of pleasure that were almost painful all the way from her toes. He moved to her other breast, and she thought she might go mad.
When he stopped and lay beside her again, she nearly groaned aloud in disappointment.
The firelight glinted in his hair and played over his handsome features as he watched her with his head propped on one elbow. “I want to take this slowly.”
He slipped his hand under her tunic and ran a finger along the top of her breeches. How did such a light touch across her stomach, of all places, feel so delightfully wicked?
Their eyes locked as he slid the flat of his hand across her belly, then dipped his fingers beneath the top of her breeches. He paused, his heated gaze never leaving her face, as if waiting for her to object. Her breathing grew shallow as his hand began to inch downward. Her nipples were so sensitive she was aware of the rough cloth rubbing against them with every slight movement.
Her body jerked when he slid his fingers between her legs. She clenched her fist in the blanket.Good God, her Highlander had magic in his fingers. As he worked that magic, he kissed her throat and face and—heaven help her—her breasts. She made a weak attempt to stop making incoherent murmurs and moans like a madwoman.
“Ach, I love the sounds ye make,” he said.
Her head was already spinning when she pulled him into a deep kiss. She ran her hands over his chest, into his hair, down his arms, and over his backside. She felt drunk on passion and could not touch him enough. Closer, she wanted him closer still.
He moved down her body until he pressed his lips to the bare skin just above her breeches.Oh, Lord, he was easing them down. Another inch, and he ran his tongue low across her belly between her hips. She felt breathless and on edge as he slowly drew the breeches down all the way to her knees.
He sat up and tugged them the rest of the way off her legs, then he covered her with his body. Their kisses, hungry and deep, went on forever. And all the while, his hands moved over her, exploring, prodding, caressing, as if he needed to touch every inch of her. When he cupped her breast and squeezed her nipple, she groaned into his mouth and arched her back.
“Tell me my torture is over,” he gasped between kisses. “I must have ye. I must.”
Tension thrummed through her body, and she dug her fingers into his shoulders to pull him closer. And still, she could not get as close as she wanted. His cock was pressing against the place that throbbed between her legs. While it feltsogood, it made the fever raging inside her worse.
“I need to be inside ye,” Roderick said, his voice strained. “Now. Please. Now.”
Her mind was so addled with passion that she was slow to realize what was about to happen. Before she could prepare herself, she felt him start to penetrate her. He was too big. Panic seized her.
“You’re so tight,” he said, his voice desperate in her ear.
Tight? Was that good or bad? Before she could guess which, he thrust deep inside her. Her breath came out in awhoosh, and she stiffened, startled by a rush of sensation.
She was mortified when she had to bite her lip against a sudden threat of tears. Having him inside her, being joined with him like this, set loose an unexpected wellspring of emotions.
“Lily.” Roderick went utterly still above her. Tension radiated from his body. “What is wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said.
Roderick smoothed her hair from her face and gently kissed her forehead, which only made it worse. Feeling too exposed and vulnerable to look at him, she turned her face to the side.
