Part 4 (1/2)
Kate trembled. She'd wanted the man in the picture for weeks. She'd dreamt of him. Now he stood before her, flesh and blood.
Often she felt like an observer. That's what she did at her job. She stood back and directed. That's what she'd done with the picture. She'd wanted him but she'd wanted him as an observer. Now she was no longer standing outside watching. Now she was in the picture and by G.o.d if she wasn't standing outside watching, she'd partic.i.p.ate to the fullest. She knew she was a bit of an overachiever and this situation was no exception.
This time tomorrow, she'd be waking up in her own bedroom, in her own bed-heck, if this went well, she'd be back home within the hour. There was no need to squander opportunity. And as long as he kept saying stuff like he hungered for her kiss and didn't mention any of that wench stuff, then he didn't necessarily need to keep his mouth shut.
”You fed me when I was hungry. Let me return the favor.” She pulled his head down to hers, but it was MacTavish who took control of the kiss. His mouth whispered against hers, the merest brush, a litmus test, and then returned to claim hers. Kate curled her fingers in his dark hair and absorbed the feel of his lips, the warmth of his breath. Like the unfurling of a tight bud, the kiss grew and deepened until Kate was caught up in the sensation of his mouth on hers, the heat of his big hands on her shoulders.
Instead of satisfying their hunger, the kiss intensified it. His tongue swept the recesses of her mouth.
He raised his head. ”A man could feast on your mouth all day, Katie-love.”
Kate stood there, her mouth still tingling from his kisses. Men didn't say things like this to her on a regular basis, well, okay, they never said anything like this to her and she didn't know how to respond.
”Uh, thankyou.” She stepped back from him. It was much easier to think that way. ”I think we have to have a bit more of a plan than we're working with now.” She pointed toward the painting on the wall. ”That was the painting I came through to get here. As you recall, that's where I was when I got here. I think we should pick it up from there.”
His wicked smile set her pulse hammering. ”Aye. Then I suppose I can't make love to you on that sheepskin rug before the fireplace.”
Kate hadn't exactly known what to expect from DarachMacTavish , but if he did the rest the way he kissed.... ”I have to be home in time for work on Monday, but I'm really not in any big rush. Um...maybe we should work in a practice, you know, just to make sure we get it right.” She had the day off. This beat the heck out of doing laundry. ”Unless you have something else to do.”
”I've left instructions that I am not to be disturbed.”
”For how long?”
”I've instructed Hamish to bring our meals. Otherwise, until I leave this room, no one will dare approach it.”
”What would have to be happening for someone to come up here?”
”The castle could be overrun with Sa.s.senach-”
”Who? What?”
”Thebluidy English. My men would station themselves at the stairs below, but none would come up here. I have spoken and so it is.” He teased his tongue along the line of her lower lip. ”We've got naught to do today but get it right. And I'm going to try very hard to get it right for you.”
There was something about him, a confidence that translated to arrogance, perhaps the innate certainty of a man who operated daily in the role of protector, but Kate found herself letting go of the underlying concern that she might not return home. Never, ever in her life had she done something so decadent with her time as spending the afternoon devoted to carnal pleasure. And now, apparently, she had nothing else to do with her time. She knew she was an overachiever, but she brought the same single-minded determination to this that she brought to everything else. She might not have a lot of experience, but determination and enthusiasm went a long way. And she was feeling very...enthusiastic.
Of course, it was rather mind-boggling that of all the women in the past, present, and future to choose from, this man, who really was rather gorgeous, had apparently zoomed in on her in the cosmic scheme of things. Which was weird, but something of a mega self-confidence booster in the womanly wiles department.
It was as if some unseen force had cut through all the noise in her life and reduced her to her essence-a woman intent on finding her pleasure and bringing pleasure to her man in return.
She caughtMacTavish by the hand and led him to the sheepskin on the stone floor before the fireplace. ”This looks like a good place to start.”
GOOD AND BLUIDY RIGHThe wanted this done thoroughly. He'd ne'er ached for a woman before. Never felt as if he'd trade his soul to the devil for another taste of her lips. Katie Wexford had cast a spell on him and the sooner she was gone, the better. And that definitely meant getting it right, so that no vestige of this hunger remained, extinguis.h.i.+ng the l.u.s.t that coursed through him when she was near. He'd make sure they were both sated before he sent her back to ensure she'd be well and truly gone.
He sank to the sheepskin and drew her down between him and the fire. He was a big man and he didn't want to block the heat and he also wanted to see all of her. There was no shame in admitting she was a mystery to him, so unlike any woman he'd known before.
He lay on his side and admired the play of the flickering fire over her skin, the contrast between pale flesh and shadow. Her shorn hair hugged the line of her scalp and curled about her head. Gold studs adorned her small delicate ears. He noted a p.r.i.c.kle of gooseflesh along her arm.
”Are you warm enough?”
”I might have a slight chill.” Her eyes gleamed with a teasing light.
She was more relaxed-a good sign. ”Ah, could I do something to warm you?”
Was that a blush staining her neck and face or merely a trick of the lighting? ”Maybe a few more kisses would work nicely.”
Darach didn't think Kate a virgin, she was a bit long in the tooth to have not lain with a man, but he'd wager not many had been before him. Not that she wasn't comely and not that her kisses didn't stir a man to the edge of reason. Nay, there was a distance to Kate Wexford. And now there was a charming awkwardness to her flirtation, as if it wasn't a role she'd worn very often.
”Ah, then 'tis my pleasure to warm you,m'lady .” And truly, he could think of nothing he'd like better than to kiss her again, except perhaps bury himself between her sweet thighs...but all in good time.
Bearing his weight on one arm, he leaned over and kissed her. Just as before, heat winnowed through him. With a small moan, she opened her mouth and invited him in with a tentative sweep of her tongue against his lips. She linked her arms around his neck and her touch s.h.i.+vered through him. He kissed her harder, deeper, longer, and still it wasn't enough. He scattered kisses along her jaw, down the length of her neck. With each taste of her, his want grew and pooled thick and heavy between his thighs.
Beneath his lips, her heart raced, the pace matching his own. He traced the upper swell of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and she arched her back with a small moan. He fondled her breast through the material and his rod grew harder still at the press of her nipple against his palm. He eased the material down, baring one full breast with its ripe pouting point. He suckled the tender flesh, relis.h.i.+ng the taste of her against his tongue, the brush of her warm woman's softness, her scent. He flicked his tongue against her nipple and she arched up into him.
”MacTavish.” She uttered his name in a half moan, half pant. Swirling his tongue around the distended point, he drew her into his mouth and suckled. She made a mewling sound in the back of her throat that threatened to send him up in flames. With an impatient tug at the plaid, she freed her other breast.
”Ah, Katie-love, you have a bonnie set of t.i.ts.” He lent his attention to the newly freed one, lavis.h.i.+ng it with the same care and attention.
Beneath him, Kate laughed, a breathy sound that caught in her throat. ”And you've got a bonnie mouth, MacTavish .”
”The better to pleasure you.”
Her eyes dark with desire, she reached between them and loosened the knot that held the plaid in place. She unwrapped the fabric, leaving herself naked before him, like a gift atMichaelmas .
She fair took his breath. She was even lovelier than the first time he'd seen her naked, mayhap because this time she'd taken her clothes off for him instead of just winding up in his bed. She'd made a conscious decision.
He drank in the sight of her-full, round b.r.e.a.s.t.s tipped with pink crests, plump womanly hips to cradle him, soft curls several shades darker than her hair between her thighs, shapely legs to wrap about his waist.
”Aye, you're a most bonnie la.s.s, Katie-love.”
”Thankyou,MacTavish . That's a good thing to say to a naked woman.”
”'Tis naught but the truth.”
”Perhaps you'd like to join me in being naked.”
Darach smiled. She'd not need to ask twice.
WHILEMACTAVISH DIVESTEDhimself of his kilt, Kate reached into her purse and pulled out a condom-not that they were hard to find sinceTorri had shoved a handful her way. She opened the package and took it out, leaving it on the wrapper between them.
She'd seen him naked before and he was just as impressive now. Thick muscles sculpted his shoulders, arms, and thighs. Dark hair sprinkled his chest and his legs. His p.e.n.i.s stood proud among a thatch of equally dark hair. He was primitive power and masculinity and antic.i.p.ation s.h.i.+vered through her.
He dropped to the sheepskin and reached for her.
”What thebluidy h.e.l.l is that?” he asked, eyeing the condom.
”It's a condom. Birth control.” She recalled the limerick on the bathhouse wall the summer she'd camped with her best friend's family. Feeling faintly ridiculous and a bit juvenile, she recited it now. It was one way to make a point. ”In days of old, when knights were bold and rubbers weren't invented, he placed a sock upon his c.o.c.k and babies were prevented.” She dangled the prophylactic between her thumb and index finger. ”I think it's a vast improvement over a sock.”
He threw back his head and laughter rumbled through him. ”Aye. I ken a sheep's bladder is better than a sock.”
Who'd have thought whenTorri foisted a handful of condoms on her that she'd be having a safe s.e.x discussion in the eighteenth century? She put the wrapper off to the side.