Never Love a Highlander (McCabe Trilogy #3)(17)

“What do you want me to do?”

He smiled. “Not a damn thing, lass. I’ll be doing what needs to be done. All you have to do is lie back and enjoy it.”

CHAPTER 6

Rionna couldn’t help her reaction to Caelen’s husky drawl. It prickled over her skin, eliciting a feminine longing deep within. And then he stood, nearly carrying her upward as he set her away from him.

Before she could process the emptiness that suddenly besieged her at the loss of his touch, he began inching her gown up her legs, baring her ankles and then her knees.

She felt sinful and brazen and it perplexed her that she decided she quite liked it. Who would have ever accused her of being sensual? A woman to turn a man’s head?

An indecent thrill sent chill bumps racing across her belly as the gown inched higher. She quite liked that, too. Panic scuttled through her chest about the time Caelen finally pulled the gown free of her head.

Clad now in her most intimate underthings, hardly barriers to his seeking gaze, heat scorched over her flesh and her cheeks tightened as she blushed furiously. He looked at her as though he wanted to devour her whole, like he was a beast closing in on his prey. She should be afraid, but what she really felt was … anticipation.

“I should do this slower so that I can savor the sight of you, but I’m an impatient man, and I can’t bear the excitement a moment longer. I simply have to see you, lass. I want to touch you so much, I’m shaking with it.”

She’d never been a woman to swoon. She’d never fainted in her life, but her knees were precariously weak and she was so light-headed that she feared falling right over.

She had no sense of herself. She felt as though she were floating in some delicious dream she never wanted to awaken from. Only, her dreams had never been this erotic, and they certainly didn’t include a magnificent warrior standing before her, trembling because he wanted her so. Staring at her like she was the only woman in the world.

With urgency he hadn’t displayed so far, he quickly divested her of the last remaining material and suddenly she was clad in only the binding around her br**sts. A shiver overtook her though she was far from chilled.

He stared at the binding for a long moment before lifting his gaze. “ ’Tis a travesty to hide such a wealth of feminine beauty. Are you ashamed?”

Her cheeks tightened in mortification. “Nay, I mean aye. Maybe. They’re inconvenient,” she finally managed. “They get in the way.”

Caelen chuckled, his voice husky with amusement. “I’m torn between forbidding you to ever hide them and only allowing you to reveal them to me.”

“You … You like them?”

“Oh aye, lass. We men are fond of such things. However, I’ll like them more when I get this binding from around you.”

He turned her around and gently untied the ends. Holding one of the strips of material, he walked around to the front and then began unwinding, transferring from hand to hand and reaching around her until her br**sts pushed forward and at last, sprang free from confinement.

He stared unabashedly, though he didn’t just focus on her br**sts. Finally, she was completely nude, and he took his time, sweeping his gaze over her body from head to toe. Then he stared into her eyes. His breath came out in a ragged exhale.

“You are magnificent.”

His palms glided over her, stroking reverently. Her br**sts grew heavy. Aching. And so very tight. Her ni**les puckered and became hard, pouty, begging for his touch.

She sucked in her breath when his fingers brushed over both of her ni**les. Shards of exquisite pleasure streaked through her abdomen and down to her groin. Her womb clenched and her most intimate flesh grew damp. She was swollen and … hot.

Any idea that she could maintain her footing disappeared as soon as he lowered his head and his mouth closed around one taut nipple. She gasped and her knees buckled.

With a groan, he caught her against him, turned, and took a step to the bed. His arms wrapped tightly around her, he fell forward, coming down on top of her as her back hit the straw mattress.

His mouth melted over hers, taking until she couldn’t draw breath. When he tore his lips away, they both gasped for air. Before she could regain her senses, he ran his mouth heatedly down her jaw then to her neck and lower until he shaped her nipple and suckled strongly.

With each pull of his mouth, she moaned and wave after wave of excitement tugged relentlessly at her womb. He swirled his tongue around each peak, one and then the other. He licked and teased until she squirmed in frustration.

He acted like a man starved. And yet he was exceedingly gentle and in turns rough. It confused her.

She wanted more. She needed more. But she wasn’t at all sure what it was she wanted or needed.

He slid his tongue around and then up the underside of her breast until the bud balanced precariously on the edge of his lip. Then he sucked it inside, sweeping it past his teeth, pulling and tugging at it until she cried out and dug her nails into his broad shoulders.

“Caelen, please! Have mercy.”

He raised his head, his eyes reflecting the dancing flames in the hearth. “Mercy? Lass, I have none. Furthermore, you won’t want it. But you’ll beg for more. Aye, you will.”

He kissed the hollow between her br**sts and murmured softly against her skin. “You’re beautiful, Rionna. Never hide what God has given you. You are a woman blessed.”