The Ranger (Highland Guard #3)(41)

Arthur was trying to take it slow, but the little sounds she was making were driving him half-crazed. But even more than he wanted to sink into her, he wanted to bring her pleasure. So instead of ravishing her senseless, he coaxed with long, slow strokes of his mouth.

And she responded.

God, she responded. Tentatively at first, and then with his persuading, more boldly.

With an enthusiastic little moan that went straight to his groin, she slid her arms around his neck and opened her mouth.

A growl of pure masculine satisfaction tore through him at the instinctive response.

He wanted nothing more than to plunge into her mouth, to take what she offered, but conscious of her innocence, he slid the tip of his tongue between her lips for one deft flick before quickly retreating. He felt her shock but didn’t give her time to think. His tongue swept inside her mouth again, longer this time, letting her get used to the sensation. And then when he felt her relax against him, he showed her what he wanted. Circling his tongue against hers, he slid deeper and deeper into her mouth.

Her eager response nearly broke him. Desire, held long at bay, broke free in one torrential storm. He could feel her ni**les harden against his chest, digging into him, egging him on.

He groaned, feeling the demanding tug in his groin, and sank into her.

She kissed him back, molding her sweet little body to his. The instinctive movement of her hips against his c**k was almost too much. The sensation too intense. His blood spiked. His heart hammered. The reins of control began to slip through his fingers as desire took over.

His kiss grew wilder. Harder. More insistent. He covered her breast with his hand, her startled gasp smothered by his groan. The spike of pleasure was beyond belief. He’d been dreaming about her br**sts for weeks, and now to have them in his hands ...

They were incredible. Big, soft, and full in his palm. Rubbing his thumb over the taut peak of her nipple, he teased and plied until a soft moan escaped from between her lips and her back arched into his hand. Naked. He wanted her naked.

God, she was sweet. So responsive. He couldn’t seem to get enough.

He was spiraling down a tunnel of sensation. Quickly moving to a place of no return. He wanted to make her come. He wanted to touch her with his hands, taste her with his mouth, and fill her with his cock. He wanted her weak and wet.

He wanted to make her his.

He liked to think he would have come to his senses—that he would have managed to find the control that had never eluded him before—but he would never know.

The dog did it for him. Probably deciding he’d been neglected for too long, the puppy started to whinge. It was enough to penetrate the haze.

The shock of reality was like a bucket of cold water. All at once, Arthur realized the madness of what he was doing. He broke the kiss, pushing her away more harshly than he intended.

She gasped in surprise.

For a moment, they simply stared at each other in the candlelight, the heaviness of their breathing damning proof of what they’d just done.

Christ. Disbelief mixed with incredulity. What the hell had just happened? He’d never lost control like that, ever.

A kiss, damn it. That was all it was supposed to be. A simple kiss to teach her a lesson. It didn’t mean anything. He’d kissed dozens of women. It was nothing that should have affected him, and nothing that should make him feel this ... rattled.

And he was rattled, more rattled than he wanted to admit. Touching her had been a mistake. What the hell had he been thinking?

He hadn’t been thinking. He’d been angry. Tormented. Pushed beyond reason by her teasing and flirting.

But even as he was condemning himself as a fool, when he looked at her swollen lips and flushed cheeks all he could think about was doing it again.

And that rattled him even more. Enough to make damned sure it never happened again. “Was that enough to satisfy your curiosity, my lady?”

She blinked, confused. “W-what do you mean?”

He took a deep, ragged breath, trying to calm the fierce pounding in his chest. “It means that you have that dog to thank for letting you leave here with your virtue intact.” He held her gaze, his eyes hard and unyielding. “But I can damn well assure you that if you keep up this game of yours, the next time you might not be so fortunate.”

She flinched as if he’d struck her. “How can you say that? How can you kiss me like that and act as if it doesn’t mean anything? As if you didn’t feel—”

“What I felt was lust. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s something more.”

He wouldn’t.

He couldn’t.

She took a step back, her eyes dampening with tears. His chest started to throb and burn.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you deliberately trying to be cruel?”

His fists clenched against the nearly irrepressible urge to comfort her. He was doing it for her own good—for them both—protecting her from an impossible situation. “I’m merely giving you a warning. Your little game is over. Whatever you were doing here, it ends now.”

She gazed up at him mutely, searching his face for something she would never find.

“Take your dog,” he said, his voice oddly rough, “and go.”

Without another word, she scooped up the puppy and fled. He watched her, feeling as if the room had suddenly grown darker.

Only belatedly did he remember the map. He looked down. It was there, at his feet, where it must have slipped from her hand—landing the wrong side up. Had she looked down, she would have seen the notes on the back. But somehow the disaster that he’d avoided didn’t seem to come close to the one that he hadn’t.