The Highland Laird (Lords of the Highlands #8) - Amy Jarecki Page 0,57
not know. She needed, craved more. More kissing, more of him.
She gasped as his lips trailed to her neck. “Show me what happens between a man and a woman. I want to know. I have to know.”
He froze, his body rigid against her. “Och, I cannot take your innocence.”
“Not even if I give it to you freely?”
“I must respect you,” he whispered. But he didn’t push her away. Instead, a big arm braced her back while the other swept under her knees. “However…I can no longer resist you,” he growled as he stood.
Emma sighed as she curled into him, smoothing her hand over his chest.
Ever so gently, he set her on the bed and slid in beside her. “Are you certain you want me to bed you?”
She cupped his cheek with her hand then slid it down over his hammering heart. “Please. I want this. I want you.”
“Then lie back and I will show you what it means to be worshipped.”
She rolled her shoulders into the pillow. “You tease me.”
He tugged open the lace on her kirtle. “Never.”
Emma gasped as she caught his fingers. She had some understanding of how it all worked. She’d heard enough comments by the servants, but otherwise, she was two and twenty and totally clueless as to how men and women actually made love. “What are you doing?”
“Untying your bodice so that I may kiss you…” He brushed his lips over the top of her breast. “Here.”
She shivered with delight. “Oh.”
“Does that meet with your approval?” The rumble of his voice vibrated across her skin.
“Aye.”
“No stays?” he asked.
Scraping her teeth over the corner of her mouth, her shoulder inched up. “There wasn’t time.”
“All the better,” he said.
As he tugged her shift away from her breast, she felt no bashfulness. The fire in her skin was too hot to be shy. She arched her back as he took her nipple into his mouth and swirled his warm tongue around it.
“You need no stays. Your breasts are perfect,” he said as he licked her tender flesh.
Perfect? He is perfect.
His hands trailed down her body and lower over her thighs and to her calves.
She writhed with the allure of his touch. “What are you doing now?”
He pulled off her one boot and then the other. “I intend to strip you bare.”
She crossed her hands over her naked breasts. “Completely?”
“How else can I feast my eyes upon all of you?”
“But—”
“Hmm?”
“What if you don’t like what you see?”
“Och.” He pulled the ribbon on her garter and tugged away her stocking. “There’s no chance of that. I’m certain of it.”
Yes, he had seen her once before. Fair is fair. “Then I must see you bare as well.”
“After you,” he growled, removing her second stocking.
Smiling with the anticipation of running her hands over Ciar’s naked body, Emma moaned as he kissed the bottom of her foot. “Every place your lips touch makes the fire within me burn hotter.”
“Mm,” he agreed as if he knew exactly how she felt.
The mattress depressed as he crawled upward, grasping her skirts. In a heartbeat, he tugged them up her back and over her head.
“My God.” Those two words came out low and breathless.
Emma instantly crossed her arms over her body, but he caught her wrists. “No. You mustn’t cover yourself. I-I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight in all my days.”
“Truly?” she whispered.
“Och, if no one has told you that you are a goddess, then allow me to be the first.”
“And you are a magician.”
His lips nuzzled her neck. “Why would you say that?”
“Because only you can make me feel as if I am indeed a goddess.”
“My goddess.”
Floating on a pillow of happiness, she untied and tugged away his cravat. “Now you.”
“I’m easy.” He pulled her up to sit and guided her fingers to the circular brooch at his shoulder. “Release this, unfasten my belt, and remove my shirt, and I’ll be bare.”
“What about your hose and garters?”
“Already gone.”
Scraping her teeth over her bottom lip, she carefully unfastened his brooch and let him slip it from her fingers. Her heartbeat raced as she slid the plaid from his shoulder, then traced her hands downward and found his belt. “Are you ready?”
“Aye,” he said hoarsely.
It only took a tug and he was right, the wool pooled around them.
After dropping the kilt to the floor, she clutched the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Sitting before him, she was scarcely able to breathe. “You’re bare to me like you were outside?”