10 BOLD WORDS
ALEC’S LIPS PARTED, heat igniting in his gut at her bold words. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough. “Careful, Liza … ye shouldn’t play such games.”
She shook her head. “This is no game,” she replied, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “I’ve thought it through.”
He frowned, even as his pulse quickened. Christ’s blood, what was the woman doing? He’d fallen asleep thinking she too was resting. But instead, she’d been plotting.
“Ye don’t want this,” he said firmly, rolling off the bed and rising to his feet. She’d ripped him from a pleasant slumber. How the devil would he be able to sleep easily now? “After everything ye have suffered of late, ye have—”
“I know my own mind.” Liza climbed off the bed and skirted it, making her way toward him. She stopped when they stood just a couple of feet apart. “And I know what I want.” She paused then, her dark eyes glinting. “Tomorrow, my life will change forever. If I wish to be a strong laird and a good mother, I will have to push my desires aside … but for one night, I want to be selfish. To do something just for me.”
“But I thought ye didn’t want me to touch ye?” Curse it, he was weakening. He shouldn’t even be entertaining the idea of bedding her. But he was. He fought his desire for her though, for only a base knave would take advantage of a woman like this, when she was at her most vulnerable.
“That was before … when I thought ye were manipulating me.” Her expression was fierce, and it made her even lovelier to look upon. “But this is different. Now, I choose to give ye my body of my own free will.”
They stared at each other, tension shivering between them, before Alec breathed a curse. Raking a hand through his hair, he eyed her. “What if ye regret this in the morning?”
“I won’t,” she said firmly, lifting her chin in that gesture of defiance he’d already noted several times during the past day. She’d been nervous when she’d first proposed this idea, but as they’d spoken, her confidence had grown. She’d dug her heels in now.
Even so, her throat convulsed as she took another step closer. “Do ye not want me?”
His heart kicked against his ribs. “Of course, I do,” he murmured. “It’s not that.”
“Then I’m yers tonight.” A challenge crept into her voice as she added. “Show me how a real man treats a woman.”
Satan’s cods, she was goading him now—and he enjoyed it.
He liked it far too much.
And, curse it, he wasn’t made out of stone.
Moving closer still, he looked down at her. “We’ll take this slowly,” he said after a pause.
Her eyes darkened. “Does that mean ye agree?”
He nodded. “I swear to ye, there will be no pain,” he assured her. “I will be gentle.”
“Thank ye,” she whispered.
Liza shrugged off the blanket, letting it fall to the ground. She then reached out and tugged at the hem of his lèine. “Will ye take this off?”
Her boldness made the heat in his belly smolder, and his mouth quirked. “Aye, if ye wish.”
“I do.”
He reached down and untucked his lèine, pulling it over his head in one deft movement.
Tossing it aside, he noted the way she observed him, her full lips parted as her breasts rose and fell rapidly now.
Alec reached out a hand. She took it, her palm damp, a tremor in her fingers.
Her reaction gave him pause. The lady wasn’t as brave as she appeared.
Lifting his other hand, he brushed the heavy waves of hair back from her face and skimmed the smooth, warm skin of her neck and shoulder with his fingertips. “Ye are lovely, lass,” he murmured as his finger traced her collarbone.
“Thank ye,” she whispered.
Lowering his head, he kissed her then, his lips moving across hers languidly, until she opened for him. A groan rumbled in his throat as he tasted the sweetness of her mouth, and when her tongue timidly stroked his, lust flared hot in his belly.
This woman had no idea what a temptress she was.
He kissed her long and slow, until she melted against him—until she started to make hungry noises in the back of her throat.
Breaking off the embrace, he slid his fingers over the satiny skin of her shoulders, pushing aside the straps of the lèine and sliding the tunic down to reveal the tops of her breasts.
Liza’s eyes fluttered shut, a sigh escaping her.
His mouth curved. Good, she was relaxing into this. He’d show her that a pirate knew how to treat a woman in bed, better than her laird husband.
He drew down the lèine, rolling it over the swell of her bust and then letting it flutter to the floor, around her ankles.
Liza was naked now, and what a glorious sight she was. All womanly curves and sun-kissed skin. She had broad hips and strong thighs, and his gut clenched when he thought about what lay between her shapely legs.
He slid his hands under her breasts then, feeling their weight, before lifting them, his thumbs grazing over their tips.
Her eyes snapped open, a gasp escaping.
Stroking her once more, Alec smiled. Her nipples were large, like two strawberries. And he wagered they were just as sweet. Bowing his head, he tasted her.
Liza swallowed another gasp as pleasure arrowed through her left breast, straight down through her navel to her lower belly.
She watched Rankin sink to his knees before her. He then began sucking her nipple with slow, languorous determination. His eyes were closed, his long brown eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks.
Pleasure spiked through her belly once more, stronger now, and she let out the moan that had been building in her chest. A melting sensation then quickened in the cradle of her hips.
The Virgin forgive her, she was enjoying this.
Releasing her swollen nipple with a wet sound that made her knees tremble, Rankin moved to her other breast. His eyes opened then, and he glanced up, meeting her gaze. “Ye have delicious tits, Liza.” And with that, he drew her right nipple into his mouth and began to suck with the same lazy sensuality as before.
Heat flared between her thighs then, and she started to tremble.
He took his time over her breasts, sucking them both until her nipples ached, until sweat beaded upon her skin and hunger gnawed at her belly.
Finally, he ceased his delicious torture and rose to his feet.
Liza couldn’t help it; she dragged her gaze down over his strong, hard-muscled torso, to where his braies sat low on his hips.
She’d have to be blind not to notice the huge erection tenting the thick material.
Her heart started to pound, even as desire clutched at her once more.
“Lie back on the bed,” he murmured, unlacing his braies now.
Swallowing, even as she yanked her gaze up to meet his, she caught the glint in his eye. Rankin had seen her looking at his groin and marked the way her breathing quickened.
The desire between them smoldered, and Liza shivered from the need that now pulsed low in her belly.
Obeying him, she shifted back and stretched out upon the soft sheepskins, aware of his hot gaze raking down her body, charting every inch of her like a sailor scrutinizing the night sky.
“I swear ye are the bonniest woman I have ever seen,” he breathed, his expression altering then. Indeed, he looked … awed. “Lovely enough to start a war over, like Helen of Troy.”
Heat flushed over Liza at these words, a blush rising across her chest and spreading up her neck. She shouldn’t like hearing him say such things, but she did. Leod hadn’t ever made her feel desired, not even in the beginning.
Her gaze dropped to where he was now sliding down his braies. She lost her train of thought then, at the sight of his rod, proud and strong, straining against his flat belly.
He was even beautiful down there.
Climbing onto the mattress, he gently spread her legs. But instead of pushing into her with his shaft as she expected, he lowered his head and shoulders between her thighs. Realizing what he was about to do, Liza gave a shocked gasp and reached down to push him away. However, he caught her hand in his, entwining their fingers. “Don’t worry, lass,” he said, his voice thick with lust. “Ye shall enjoy this … I promise.”
She stilled. His voice soothed her, made her trust him.
Keeping his left hand entwined with her right, Rankin spread her wider still with his free hand, gazing upon her most intimate place.
She watched his pupils dilate, and his lips part, before he whispered. “Exquisite.”
Another shiver went through Liza, her breathing shallow now.
A moment later, he dipped his head to her sex, his tongue lathing and flicking. And all the while, his hand held hers, anchoring her to him.
Warmth gathered in her stomach, pleasure coiling there like a spring. And she gave a long guttural groan.
She’d never had a man’s mouth on her before—for her encounters with Leod had consisted of her on her hands and knees with him rutting her, painfully, from behind.
This new experience was wicked, yet wonderful. She melted under the play of his lips, his tongue. He explored, savored, devoured—and when he slid a long finger deep inside her, Liza shuddered, choking off a cry.
“That’s right, lass,” Rankin murmured, his breath feathering across her most intimate place. “Let me hear ye.”
His mouth resumed its delicious torture once more, while his finger slid in and out of her. A short while later, a second one joined it. And then when he curled them up slightly, his tongue flicking the pearl of flesh he’d found, Liza went wild.
She bucked against him, her cry filling the room, pleasure rippling and throbbing through her loins.
Falling back on the bed, panting, she whispered an oath. “Lord have mercy,” she gasped. “What was that?”
Rankin rose up from between her trembling thighs and sat back on his heels, his lips curving. His rod thrust up between them, its crown glistening now, although he ignored it. Instead, his gaze met hers. “Ye have never reached yer peak before then?”
She shook her head. “My peak?”
“Aye … it’s when yer carnal pleasure reaches its height, and the walls of yer quim spasm.” He slid a lazy finger down her slick sex then, making her whimper.
“I thought only men reached such a frenzy of sorts,” she replied huskily. “When ye spill yer seed?”
“No,” he said, his smile widening. “Women do too … let me show ye again.”
She gasped, her eyes flying wide. “Again?”
“Aye.” His eyes glinted. “The night is still young … and we have only just begun.”