Texas Proud and Circle of Gold (Long, Tall Texans #52) - Diana Palmer Page 0,116

her soft, generous mouth and it was like lightning striking. He couldn’t help himself. The memory of her body in his arms on the porch swing took away the last wisp of his willpower. He bent quickly and took that beautiful softness under his hard lips in a fever of hunger, probing insistently at her tight mouth with his tongue.

Kasie, who’d never been kissed in any intimate way, even by Gil, froze like ice at the skillful, invasive intimacy of his mouth. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Her hands against his chest clenched and she closed her eyes tightly as she strained against his hold.

Slowly it seemed to get through to him that she was shocked at the insistence. He lifted his demanding mouth and looked at her. This was familiar territory for him. But, it wasn’t for her, and it was apparent. After the way she’d responded to him the night before, he was surprised that she balked at a deep kiss. But, then, he remembered her chaste gowns and her strange attitude about wearing her beautiful hair loose. She wasn’t fighting him. She looked...strange.

His lean hands loosened, became caressing on her upper arms under the short sleeve of her dress. “I’m sorry. It’s all right,” he breathed as he bent again. “I won’t be rough with you. It’s all right, Kasie...”

His lips barely brushed hers, tender now instead of demanding. A few seconds of tenderness brought a sigh from her lips. He smiled against her soft mouth as he coaxed it to part. He nibbled the full upper lip, tasting its velvety underside with his tongue, enjoying her reactions to him. He felt her young body begin to relax into his. She worked for him. She was an employee. He’d just been giving her hell about trying to trap him into marriage. So why was he doing this...? She made a soft sound under her breath and her hands tightened on the hard muscles of his upper arms. His brows began to knit as sensation pulsed through him at her shy response. What did it matter why he was doing it, he asked himself, and threw caution to the winds.

His arms went around her, gently smoothing her against the muscular length of him, while his mouth dragged a response under its tender pressure. He felt her gasp, felt her shiver, then felt her arms sliding around his waist as she gave in to the explosion of warm sensation that his hungry kiss provoked in her.

It was like flying, he thought dizzily. He lifted her against him, feeding on the softness of her mouth, the clinging wonder of her arms around him. It had been years since a kiss had been this sweet, this fulfilling. Not since Darlene had he been so hungry for a woman’s mouth. Darlene. Darlene. Kasie was so much like her...

Only the need to breathe forced him to put her down and lift his head. His turbulent eyes met her dazed ones and he had to fight to catch his breath.

“Why did you do that?” she asked unsteadily.

He was scowling. He touched her mouth with a lean forefinger. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “Do you want me to apologize?” he added quietly.

“Are you sorry?” she returned.

“I am not,” he said, every word deliberate as he stared into her eyes.

That husky statement made her tingle all over with delicious sensations, but he still looked formidable. His lean fingers caught her shoulders and gently moved her away. She looked as devastated as he felt.

Her eyes searched his quietly. She was shaking inside from the delicious crush of his mouth, so unexpected. “What did you mean, about ten years not being a generation?” she asked suddenly.

“You harp on my age,” he murmured coolly, but he was still looking at her soft, swollen mouth. “You shouldn’t tell Pauline things you don’t want me to hear. She can’t keep a secret.”

“I wouldn’t tell her my middle name,” she muttered. “She hates me, haven’t you noticed?”

“No, I hadn’t.”

“It would never have been my idea to send the girls to boarding school,” she insisted. “I love them.”

His eyebrows lifted. Kasie didn’t appear to be lying. But Pauline had been so convincing. And Kasie was mysterious. He wanted to know why she was so secretive about her past. He wanted to know everything about her. Her mouth was sweet and soft and innocent, and he had to fight not to bend and take it again. She was nervous with him now,