Bound by Wish and Mistletoe (Highland Legends #1.5)(8)

“Whose portion is that?” she asked, nodding toward the food.

Robert answered her. “Yours.” He didn’t add that it was his portion as well. She needed her strength, and he could wait.

She narrowed her eyes, her nostrils flaring. “Aye, by all rights, ’tis mine.”

Robert laughed as she confiscated both of their shares. She whisked her meal over to a sheltered area—as far away from them as possible while still in line of sight—and devoured it.

He and the men broke camp while Susanna wandered out of view behind a thicket. He gave her all the privacy she needed, figuring it was the least he could do in light of everything he couldn’t grant her.

Fifteen minutes later, she returned, stomping into the clearing. Upon seeing her deep scowl as she shook her bound hands high in the air, he had to tap into his discipline as a warrior not to break into a smile or outright laughter. She looked glorious.

He smirked. Apparently, he was unable to contain it all.

She glared at him with the heat of a thousand fires. “You’ve no idea how difficult it is to...to do things tied up like this.”

“I have some idea.”

“Where are your men?” She looked around. “Where’s my horse?” she yelled, advancing on him.

“Ahead of us,” he replied, holding back a smile. The more frustrated and angry she became, the more he found that he liked her. And he suspected she would find great displeasure in that fact.

He pulled her cloak from the branch where he’d hung it last night. The material had completely dried and still held warmth from the morning’s fire. He spread his arms wide, holding it open for her.

She cocked her head, waited, and sighed before stepping up to him and turning around. He wrapped the cloak around her shoulders and fastened the ties at her neck. While close to her, a light floral fragrance drifted up that he hadn’t detected before, and he inhaled deeply, drawn to her scent.

With care not to startle her, he gently placed his hands on her shoulders and dropped his head down, resting his lips on the chilled shell of her ear. Her muscles tensed beneath his hands.

“You needn’t be afraid of me, Susanna,” he murmured. “I give you my word, every action I make around you will be for your protection...or pleasure.”

The lass shuddered within his arms, and her head tilted to the side, dropping slightly. She turned and looked up at him, her dark-brown, tousled hair framing a face almost painfully beautiful.

An intensifying blush deepened the pink on her cheeks. “I’ve never known either. You ask me to trust you. When you doona trust me, how can I?” She lowered her gaze to her hands.

Robert looked down between them at the red ribbon binding her wrists. She spoke the truth. After all he’d observed about her since their first explosive encounter, he doubted she would harm him or his men, as long as she didn’t feel threatened by them.

“You’re right, lass.”

He pulled a dagger from the inside of his boot. With precision, he sliced through the fragile fabric, and the long length unfurled, fluttering to the ground on the breeze.

The jerk of the blade pulled her forward, and she fell into him, bracing her weight against his chest. She glanced up, wide-eyed at the sudden contact.

Those sky-blue eyes mesmerized him. Her full lips parted just as they’d done while she’d slept in his arms. Without thought, he dipped his head and brushed his mouth against hers with the barest touch.

Susanna gasped but didn’t pull away.

He pressed further, making full contact with her lips, flicking his tongue out to taste her.

Sweet. Soft.

A gentle moan came from her throat.

He growled and deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue along the seam of her lush lips until they parted. His tentative licks over the tip her tongue emboldened her, and she soon tangled hers over and under his. She pressed her weight further into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her.

For the first time in the presence of a woman, he truly relaxed, all thoughts drifting from his head. Desire coursed through his veins, hardening his cock, making him want more than the skittish doe in his arms had likely ever imagined.

Increased pressure where her hands rested on his chest sounded warning bells in his head that she’d lost herself. Much as he wanted to keep her under the spell of desire, he pulled away. He sucked on her bottom lip, groaning as he released it.

He gazed down at the temptress in his hold. Black pupils in those sapphire eyes had blown wide and her lips were plump and red from the kiss. Her cloak had parted enough for him to see her chest heaving.

Susanna swallowed hard and took a step back.

Then another.

He followed, step for step, continuing to hold her. He feared if he let go, she’d fall over, the way she heavily swayed.

She blinked up at him in shock, like he’d stolen her most precious treasure...and she couldn’t believe she’d let him. Her mouth opened. She shut it wordlessly, lifting her fingertips and brushing them over the lips he’d just ravished.

“Aye, Susanna. That was only a hint of the pleasure I spoke of.”

She took a deep breath and let out a long shaky sigh.

He did the same, rattled to his core by a woman—something he’d never imagined possible.





CHAPTER FOUR





Susanna stared up at Robert, unable to grasp the fragmented thoughts whirling around in her head as her heart thundered in her ears, her chest, and—to her extreme shock—between her legs. How could her body feel this way?