Bride of Ice (The Warrior Daughters of Rivenloch #2) - Glynnis Campbell Page 0,75

for the devastating blow he’d dealt her. To claim victory over the Champion. And to truly seal their bond.

Before he could brace for her swift attack, Hallie rose up and rolled him onto his back. While he lay pinned there in surprise, she boldly reached between their bodies, finding the still swollen evidence of his desire.

He groaned at her touch.

But when she guided him toward the aching hollow of her womanhood, he choked out a warning. “Easy, lass.”

“I want it,” she assured him. “I want this.”

“Ye say that now,” he said on a rueful chuckle, “but later ye may regret—”

Quickly, before he could change her mind and she could lose her nerve, she thrust him inside her, sheathing him like a blade.

He grunted in surprise and pleasure.

But like a blade, despite his velvety warmth, he wounded her. She winced as pain seared her loins.

Seeing her recoil, he sucked in a sharp breath of empathy between his teeth. “Och nay,” he despaired, his brow crumpling in dismay. “Are ye hurt? I’m so sorry, lass.”

It stung, but not nearly as bad as the cut of a knife. Sorry? What was he sorry for? She’d known to expect pain. And it wasn’t like she’d given him much choice in the matter.

“I’m not sorry,” she rasped out.

She reeled at the recklessness of what she’d done. It was the kind of impulsive action Jenefer might have taken. The kind of stealthy maneuver Feiyan might have planned.

But she’d accomplished what she’d intended. The consummation was complete. And in fact, the discomfort was already receding, replaced by a curious fullness.

“It shouldn’t have been like this,” he insisted. “It can be so much better.”

She swallowed as the burning subsided, then said, “Show me.”

He gazed up at her then with smoky eyes, raw with need, yet full of compassion. “Ye’re certain?”

“What’s done is done,” she said. “If we’re to be married, what difference does a few days make?”

Her words convinced him. He nodded. “If ye’ll allow me,” he ventured, “I can help ease the pain.”

She nodded. Now that she’d accomplished what she intended, perhaps it was best to let him take the reins.

Staying within her, he rolled her gently onto her back. Holding his weight on one hand, he used the other to carefully massage the place where they were united.

Gradually, her discomfort abated, and another sensation surfaced. Hunger for more.

“Better?” he asked tightly.

She opened her eyes a fraction. Only then did she glimpse the excruciating restraint in his firmly clamped mouth. The tension in his jaw. The naked avarice of his gaze. The longing he denied himself for want of giving her comfort.

That expression infused her with renewed yearning. The fact he would suffer his own pain for the desire to please her moved her beyond words. She felt a tightness in her throat. A surge of affection. An impulse to reward him for his kindness.

“Aye,” she breathed. “Much better.”

To her surprise, when he carefully withdrew, she missed him at once. When his fingers danced upon her most sensitive spot, she thrust her hips upward, enveloping him once more.

He tensed, but this time she knew it was in pleasure, not pain.

Again he retreated, arousing her with deft movements of his fingeritps.

Again she surged forward, making him grimace with lust.

Their motion became a whirlwind of sensation, as he teased and tempted her flesh to higher arousal. And Hallie, encouraged by his reaction, drove him to greater heights of passion with her thrusts.

Again and again they collided. She clung to him for purchase, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips, finally digging her heels into his buttocks to coax him deeper, harder, faster.

This time, they scaled the slope of revelry together. Their breath made a swirling mist of desire. Where they joined, sweat glossed their skin. Their gasps and groans made sensuous music on the air while their hearts beat in tandem.

Soon she found herself standing again at the precipice of surrender as warm ardor bubbled up inside her, filling her veins and melting the ice around her heart.

But this time she wasn’t alone. This time, he suffered along with her, writhing in delicious torment and gasping in exhilarating anguish. With a last bellow of conquest, he clung to her as they pierced through the clouds in a glorious victory. Then together they dove earthward, shattering on the ground into a thousand pieces.

For a long while, neither could speak. The air was filled with their labored breathing. The soft crackle of the fire. The feathery