The Most Powerful Of Kings - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,31

not, whether he was even aware of it, he felt it, because the evidence was there in the hunger in his eyes. As if he recognised the heat inside of her and wanted it for himself.

A mountain was lonely. A mountain was on its own.

She stared up at him as he looked down at her, his hungry gaze following the line of her naked body, zeroing in between her thighs.

Did he have anyone to keep him company? Did he have anyone at all who wanted to climb to the peak and sit beside him in the cold? Or was he a peak too dangerous to scale? There were avalanches and storms, fissures and crevasses. You could get hurt so very easily climbing a peak like that one and maybe that was how he liked it. Maybe he didn’t want anyone near. Maybe he was happy being remote.

Her heart squeezed unexpectedly tight at the thought. No, it wasn’t true. It wasn’t. She would see that there was heat at the heart of him, there was passion and fire, and it was easy enough to spot now.

His eyes blazed as he got rid of his shirt and his hands dropped to the buckle of his belt, undoing it and pulling it off. His movements were slow, deliberate, but his jaw was tight. Tension rolled off him.

He was holding himself back, keeping that fire contained. And perhaps it was a tease for them both, or perhaps he didn’t want to hurt her, because it was her first time after all.

But she didn’t need him to. She was different now because he’d changed her. He’d turned her into someone else; she wasn’t a nun any more. She was the woman who was going to set the fire inside him free.

Anna sat up, running her hands up his powerful thighs as he knelt there, watching him as he undid the fastenings of his trousers.

‘Do you like what you see, little nun?’ His voice was so deep, so dark. Like the sound of a glacier moving. Except this glacier wasn’t cold any more. ‘Do you want to touch me?’

‘Yes.’ She slid her hands over his hips, feeling the smoothness and heat of his bare skin, tracing the hard, chiselled lines of his stomach. ‘Yes, so much.’ And she did. She loved how powerful and strong he was. Loved how hot his skin was and how hard he felt under her palms.

Yes, he was a mountain. And she wanted to climb him.

Not that he gave her any opportunity.

Quickly, he divested himself of the rest of his clothes—far too quickly for her liking—but he didn’t listen to her protests, gave her no time to look at him. One minute he was there with his trousers on, the next she was being pushed back on the couch cushions and he was over her again, and this time he was naked.

And he was glorious. A powerful machine of muscle and bone overlain with taut, velvety olive skin. He held himself above her, his biceps flexing with apparently no effort, and his strength excited her for reasons she couldn’t explain.

She lifted her hands, ran her fingertips over him, stroking him, watching the piercing blue of his eyes get hotter. Then she glanced down and her breath caught.

He was long and thick, and when he noticed her look, he grabbed one of her hands and pushed it down between them, curling her fingers around him.

Anna gave a little gasp of delight. She’d had no idea that the most masculine part of a man would feel so smooth, like velvet. Or so hot. She’d had no idea he’d feel so hard either—not that she’d ever thought about it. Maybe if she had, she might have been more interested in sex. Certainly, if she’d known he’d feel like this she would have been.

Then again, the thought of touching any other man so intimately didn’t have the same effect, so maybe it was just Adonis she wanted to touch.

‘You look concerned,’ he murmured roughly. ‘Are you nervous?’

‘No,’ she said with absolute truth. ‘I was just amazed at how good you feel.’ She studied him, watching the lines of his face tighten as she squeezed him experimentally. ‘Does that hurt? Or do you like me doing that?’

‘No, it doesn’t hurt. And yes, I like you doing that.’

‘Oh. In that case—’

But he didn’t let her finish, giving her a long, hard kiss, before pulling back again. She opened her mouth to protest, but then from somewhere he