The Highland Laird (Lords of the Highlands #8) - Amy Jarecki Page 0,49
“I want…” Her stomach squeezed. What if he refuses?
“What do you want, lass?” he asked, his voice low, soothing, making her feel as if she could say anything to him.
Just out with it!
Her tongue tapped her upper lip as her skin tingled, especially her breasts. They felt as if they craved some forbidden desire smoldering deep inside. “Will you kiss me again?”
Chapter Sixteen
Stunned, Ciar froze for a moment. Ever since they’d been caught by Emma’s lady’s maid, it had taken a great deal of restraint not to wrap the lass in his arms and show her a real kiss—one unfettered, intentional, and utterly heart-stopping.
And now the beauty had asked him to kiss her?
His eyes widened as he raked his fingers through his hair. When had he last blinked? “Are you certain?” he croaked like an adolescent lad.
She took his palm and brushed her fingers over his knuckles, her caress as gentle as a downy feather. “I’m two and twenty years of age, and before the eve when I wandered into your chamber at Achnacarry I had never been kissed—at least not really kissed. I have been isolated and sheltered all of my life. Most men fear me as if I am cursed, but you have never been afraid. Moreover for once, I, Emma Grant, am on a great adventure.” She grinned, wickedly waggling her brows. “I am even a fugitive of the crown.”
Holy hellfire, Ciar felt terrible about that. “I will make it right. I give you my word.”
“Mayhap you will, but this is my adventure! I want to be reckless and daring. I—”
Unable to control his actions for one more second, he wrapped her in his arms and captured those tempting lips in the rawest, most unapologetic kiss he’d ever given. God’s stones, a man could only resist temptation so much. As the lass melted in his arms, he plunged his tongue into her mouth and took his plunder.
And, bless it, she plundered him back. Never in his life had a woman imparted so much emotion with a kiss. What she lacked in experience, she made up for with pure, unadulterated passion.
She moved into him, pressing her body flush to his, matching his fervor and urging them higher. His heart hammered as she rubbed against him like a hellcat bent on seduction.
Och aye, Ciar wanted this woman with his entire being. As hard as an iron rod, his cock pulsed. There was a stone shelf right behind them. All he needed to do was lift her up, raise her skirts, and expose those creamy thighs that had tantalized him. Oh, how she’d tempted him when he’d found her nude. In seconds he could be inside her. He could take her to heights of which she’d never dreamed.
But Emma hadn’t asked to be ravished. She’d asked for a wee kiss. And then his mind had instantly plunged into the gutter.
I’m a rogue of the worst sort.
He forced himself to pull back and wipe a hand across his mouth. “Forgive me.”
Hurt contorted her features before she whipped around and hid her face in her palms. “I’m sorry. I-I-I thought you liked kissing.” A peal of tortured anguish ripped from her throat.
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “’Tis not that. I pushed you too far.”
She batted his fingers away. “No, you did not! I asked you.”
“I did. Too much. You released my wicked beast within. I wanted to—” He cut himself off before he proved exactly how barbaric his thoughts had been.
“Wanted to what?”
“Don’t ask,” he growled, scowling as if his hard and dark features would make her stand down.
“I’m so confused. Why is my entire body trembling, yet you are angry?”
“I’m not angry.”
“Do not try to tell me you are anything but. I hear the ire in your voice.”
“I may be cross, though it is not you with whom I am irritated.”
She threw out her hands and started away, right for a break in the wall, leading to a sheer drop to jagged rocks. “There are only the two of us here.”
He hastened forward. “Stop!”
Albert barked, clamping her skirts in his teeth as Ciar wrapped a hand around her wrist.
Emma shrieked as he yanked her back and swept her into his arms. His heart nearly exploded in his chest. “Good God, woman, you were about to fall to your death.”
And judging by the dog’s hellacious barking, Albert agreed.
She jabbed the heel of her hand into his chest. “Then why did you stop me?”