Page 35 of A Rogue in Twilight
“Who?” he asked.
Then she pulled his head close and kissed him, hard and frantic, not wanting him to see them. She gasped at the touch of his warm, pliant lips, and pressed her body to his under the plaid that billowed about them. He caught her tightly to him and renewed the kiss. Beyond them, lights and shadows glittered in the bank of fog, waiting.
“You shall not have him, you!” The words spilled out of her. “He is mine and I am his!”
Chapter Nine
“You are mine,I am yours,” he repeated, “but if you want—”
“I want, I want. Hold me tight, do not let go,” she said, and felt him take over the moment, pulling her to him at her waist, his other hand cradling her head. He kissed her, her lips opening beneath his, and she held him close, not wanting him to see the Seelie Court or the magical lady who would take both of them into her realm.
“Hold me,” she whispered again. “Do not look back.”
He scooped her against him, his kisses as powerful as the wind that rocked them in the long grass, nearly taking her to her knees, her limbs melting more with each kiss.
Fairy lore claimed a loved one could be saved from the pull of the Fey by a fast and hard embrace, by not looking back or letting go until the danger passed. They were fickle sorts, the Fey, and if thwarted, would move on and find another to lure away.
James kissed her again and she sank against him, feeling as if a whirlwind spun around them. Her hair bannered out, his fingers threading into the strands as she tilted her head back for kisses renewing, wild and hungry. The wind shoved them, turned them about, and Elspeth strived to keep him from looking toward the riders.
Sensing a change, she glanced through her lashes to see the riders fading into mist. The man who rode in the lead with thewomen looked back. He looked strangely familiar, but Elspeth could not think why. Then he vanished with the others.
Soon you will be with us, Eilidh,came the echo of his voice on the wind.
Now she had seen them and felt their power; now she knew what her grandfather had known all along. They did exist, if her eyes told the truth. And they wanted to take her away, just as Grandda had said.
But snug in the circle of James’s arms, she felt safe. Loved, if just for the moment. Real or not, she wanted that feeling to last. She wanted to be with him.
The mist and the chime of tiny bells faded, leaving drizzle, fog, and darkness. The air was damp and ordinary and the wind had died. The danger had passed.
She had saved James; they had saved each other. He leaned to kiss her again, slow and tender this time, and he wrapped the plaid around both of them as the kisses resumed, still hungry but different now, nurturing and certain. The rain wet her face, slicked her hair, her hands, wet their lips in slippery and delicious kisses. He cupped her face, lips caressing, coaxing. She wanted only this, only him, the need, and the cleansing rain.
“Hold me,” she whispered, pressing against him. “Hold fast, never let go—”
He groaned low and tightened his arms around her. She slid her hands under his overcoat to his shoulders, where fabric and muscle felt warm to her chilled fingers. She pulled at his open collar, starved for skin and warmth, still seeking wildness. He slid his hands along her arms, over her waist, up over the damp nightgown to find her breasts, and she sucked in a breath at the sweet shock of his touch.
They turned, slow and dance-like, his fingers cradling and teasing, thumb grazing. She cried out softly and found his mouth again in a deep kiss. His tongue glided now against hers as hishands teased her breasts, finding the tips. As her knees folded a bit, she sank down into the soft, wet grass. In a way, the thrall of the Fey was still with her, weakening her, driving her to act impulsively, craving without thought. James sank to his knees with her, pressing together, chest to breast, abdomens tight, so that she felt his desire for her, hard and sure. Melting within, she pressed closer, arms around his neck, lips caressing, his fingers seeking, their breathing heightening.
The mist thickened once more around them, suspending them in a place that was nowhere and everywhere, faded light, cool and heat, kiss and caress, breath and touch. She wanted this, his touch, his kiss, whatever he wanted, she craved too, anticipating with thudding heart and pulsing body the next moment and the next.
Arching as the strength of it built within her, she gasped, hungry for him, sliding her hands over him, tugging at his shirt, shaping his chest, his shoulders, the power of his torso. He pulled her deeper into his arms, rolled with her as she rocked her hips against his, intimate, daring, wanting.
He whispered softly at her ear as her nipples turned to pearls beneath his fingertips. She moaned as he dipped his head, lips seeking, hands rucking up the damp fabric of her gown, and when his lips found her breast, she gave an ecstatic gasp. His hand slid boldly down, fingers cupping, slipping, teasing. The delicate pressure, the deepest wanting, took her breath away. Shaping her hand over his breeches in silent answer, she felt his heat, his steely solidity. She felt wanton, tingling deep, wild as one of the very Fey herself.
Something powerful moved through her, a craving to be free, act as she pleased, do what she willed, a freedom and a commitment to what she was allowing, what she wanted, all this with him.
“James,” she whispered as she drew his head up to kiss him again. “James.”
As if in answer, he drew his hand up, away, outside the plaid. He angled on an elbow, lying with her in the wet grass under a thin blanket of fog, and pushed back her rain-slicked hair.
“Dear God,” he rasped, “what is this?”
“A wild pledge on a fairy night,” she whispered, breathless, and kissed him again. She felt that her pledge was true, even if this was all they would have.Love, her thoughts repeated.Love.Could it be as quick and sure as this? She was often impulsive, direct, and certain, and she felt that now. But he was pulling away.
“Not here, not like this, savage in a garden.” He got to his feet, and reached down to pull her up beside him. “My God! A wild pledge on a fairy night—I could almost believe in fairies.”
“Did you see them?” she asked.
“Who?” He looked around.
