Page 32 of The Highlander's Inconvenient Wife
“Well, I guess you should listen to me more often in that case.” She leaned in closer with her hands behind her back, resting on the desk until her breasts were nearly escaping the fabric confines of her bodice.
Clearing his throat, Jasper quickly stood and walked over to the shelf of books. “Was there something ye needed?” he asked through a clenched jaw, acting as if he were looking for a book. “I’m quite busy; there’s a few clan matters that I need to tend to.”
Joan felt her irritation growing again as she groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes behind his back. The man was holding to his naïve assumptions that he could avoid talking to her. Deciding that she couldn’t back down no matter what he said, she took a deep breath and pushed on.
“I just wanted to ask about the letter and if it has gone out with the others?” she asked as she readjusted her position and folded her arms in front of her chest. “I need to know how long I will have to stay here before my friends come for me.”
“Aye, the letters have gone out; it could take anything from a few days to a week or two.” He turned to look at her with an intense gaze. “Are ye in a hurry to leave?” His tongue passed over his lips in an enticing manner as he narrowed his eyes, signalling that the game of cat and mouse had only just began. It was now up to Joan if she was going to back down or take the bait.
Her heart began to race as she took in a deep breath, biting her bottom lip as she stared at him. Every fiber of her being seemed to tingle when he looked into her eyes. The power he held over her was more than enough to leave her breathless. “That depends,” she said as she unfolded her arms and swallowed hard, preparing herself for battle.
“On what?” he spoke softly as he took a few steps forward and held her chin between his finger and thumb. The distance he seemed to want to keep between them had suddenly evaporated into thin air, lowering the wall of etiquette that had been erected between them.
“Whether you want me around any longer or not?” she answered in a husky voice with her eyes on his lips. Her chest was beginning to rise and fall with every breath, making her breasts swell above the swoop of her beaded bodice.
“I’m nae keepin’ ye here; ye can leave whenever ye choose.” He placed his hands on either side of her body, entrapping her in his arms as she leaned slightly back, exposing her chest and neck in a manner that she knew he’d find hard to resist. She wanted him to kiss her, despite knowing that there couldn’t be anything more between them.
“Perhaps I want you to keep me entrapped,” she managed to say above the thudding of her own heart. “It might just be for my own good if you lock me back up in the dungeon.” Her breaths came in quick succession.
Jasper suddenly gripped her hips, and he kissed her full on the lips, taking her by surprise as he used his tongue to search her mouth for the passion that they had shared before.
She felt all her inhibitions leaving her body as he deepened the kiss with a hungry sigh of pleasure. Placing her hands behind his neck, she pulled him closer, nibbling on his lower lip as he kissed her back with force. Her body slid back on the desk, knocking an ornament over as the seams of her dress were stretched to bursting from the way he had her bent over the surface.
Gasping in shock from the sudden onslaught of pleasure, Joan turned her face to the side to watch as Jasper used his arm to sweep the contents of the desk to the floor, sending papers and books along with a full pot of ink into the air. She was taken by surprise again when Jasper hoisted her up by the hips and placed her buttocks on the desk, kissing her neck as he parted her knees with his own.
His sudden display of pleasure was making her hotter than she had ever been before. Her body was responding to him in ways that she never even thought were possible. A wave of bumps shot up her legs as he grasped her ankles and massaged the flesh with the tips of his fingers.
Things got heated really quickly when Joan placed her hands behind her back, supporting her weight on her own arms as she allowed Jasper to kiss over the tender flesh of her neck and down her chest. The hungry way he lifted her legs slightly at an angle made her want to devour him in the same way that he was devouring her.
Placing his hand under her dress, he moved her skirts toward her waist as he massaged her thighs, taking his time to knead her flesh with just the right amount of pressure that her scooting forward on the desk.
His lips moved down her chest and over her breasts with tiny strokes of his tongue, inching ever closer to the rosy buds that remained concealed by her dress.
“Jasper…” she breathed hungrily as she placed her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to slow him down. Her common sense was beginning to return as she looked at the books on the shelf where they had had their last steamy encounter.
“Aye?” he growled against her throat just as the tips of his fingers reached the hem of her undergarments, sending a wave of pleasure coursing through her body. He kissed his way back up her neck and stopped at the line of her jaw as he used his other hand to tilt her face to the side.
His hot breath against her skin sent a wave of pleasure rippling through her body as she subtly moved against his waist. “We have to slow down.” Her body moulded to his when he placed the palm of his hand on the small of her back and drew her closer, making her gasp even louder than before from the sensation of his thighs against hers.
“Why, when it feels so good?” He continued to press kisses against her skin as a small moan escaped his lips, driving her wild. “I have nae even started,” he growled in a deep voice.
“It does.” She reluctantly pushed him back and bit on her lower lip as she thought of what would happen if they went any further. “Coming here… was not thought through; I might still have to…” Her voice trailed off painfully as she recalled the baron and the very precarious situation that she found herself in. “Thinking things through doesn’t seem to be my strong suit of late,” she said as she struggled to regain control of her breathing.
The growing space between them was more than enough to cool her loins and remind her of the risks at play.
* * *
Jasper found his anger rising as he looked at the delectable way her dress exposed the flesh of her thigh. He wanted nothing more than to kiss a path to her core and continue what they had started, but the thought of another man touching her was more than he could bare. He tried his best to keep his distance and respect the fact that she had said they needed to stop, despite the alluring way the fullness of her pink lips was drawing him in.
He knew she had been alluding to the fact that she was engaged to be married. He’d wring the life from the scoundrel’s neck if they ever had the misfortune of crossing paths.
Sliding off the desk, Joan fixed her dress and straightened her braid. “There is something that I would like to do before I leave here,” she said as she glanced at him. “I feel as if I can trust you with this,” she stated honestly as she straightened the bodice of her dress.
“Aye?” He felt his heart sinking at the thought of her having to leave but knew that she was right. She couldn’t stay here when she had a situation with a man that she needed to sort out; there was nothing he could do to help her with that even if he wanted to.
“You might laugh at me,” she said shyly.
“Go on.” He felt intrigued by the suddenly gentle manner in which she was asking or his help.
