Seathan stared at the moon against the western sky as it slowly sank beyond the horizon. Another night past.
He scanned the forest below. In the dark of night, black fingers of branches melded into each other.
Two days had passed since they’d arrived at the rebel hideout. Linet had continued to heal, and any doubt of her recovery had fled. As to her being in league with Tearlach, with each discussion, he found himself believing more in her innocence.
Seathan rubbed the back of his neck and hated that, for the first time in his life, a woman left him unsure.
“Seathan?”
At Linet’s soft voice, he rolled over, found her face but a whisper from his own. His body immediately hardened.
Her mouth parted as if to speak.
“Are you well?” he asked, the absurdity of his question not lost to him. After the first night, she’d been able to stand; by the second, he’d allowed her to walk with him. But if he said naught when she watched him with such desire, it would allow his temptation to grow. And ’twas dangerous for him to touch her now. He already wanted her too much.
“You are not sleeping?” she asked.
Nay, his entire body was damnably awake. “It will soon be morning.”
“Are we leaving today?”
“On the morrow.” Silence stretched between them. He should get up, leave her. With his body hard, it was far from safe to remain lying next to her, pretending she needed his body’s warmth. He could have given her another blanket and slept nearby.
Except then, he couldn’t touch her.
A soft pressure made him start. Seathan reached over, caught her, caught her hand upon his chest. His heart jumped.
The moment shifted, became dangerous.
“Do not,” he warned.
“What?” she asked, her voice thick with desire. “Touch you, tell you that you haunt my every thought?”
Damn her, did she know what she was doing to him? “Go to sleep.” He should be awarded sainthood for those words.
“Seathan?”
He glanced around, frustrated to find the rocks he’d made their bed behind now offered a wall of intimate seclusion. His men lay asleep some distance away. “What do you wish?”
“To know…To know if you want me.”
The silence of the night echoed between them. Even after asking Seathan if he wanted her, Linet was stunned by her own audacity.
She should be embarrassed, lower her head in shame at her wanton words. Except, for the last two nights she’d lain beside Seathan, embraced by his muscled body, listening to his every breath, and with each one, wanting him more.
The injury upon her head was healing, but with each passing day, her needs grew to an unbearable ache. Needs that had little to do with her injury and everything to do with Seathan.
Beneath the moonlight, piercing green eyes darkened to vibrant black, eyes of a predator, those of a man who without a word had staked his claim.
She shivered, but felt naught but heat.
And desire.
He leaned a degree closer, his body tense against hers. Frustration flashed on his face; he shoved away.
Panic slid through her, tangled with hurt. “You do not want me?”
“Do not ask.”
The strain in his voice bolstered her courage. She moved beside him and pressed her hand against his muscled chest.
“Do not,” he said, his burr rough.
But he stayed not her hand, allowed her freedom to roam, as if giving her the ultimate choice. Her breath trembled from her lips as she lifted away his tunic. Battle-hewn muscles glistened beneath the moonlight, the hard planes rippling down to where black, coarse hair disappeared beneath his trews. Throat dry, she glanced up to find him watching her.
“I am but a man,” he said through clenched teeth. “Do not touch me unless you want me to touch you…everywhere.”
Another wave of heat washed through her. How could she want anything else? It seemed as if her entire life had spiraled to this moment.
Damn tomorrow or the days ahead. Life guaranteed naught. But here, now, it offered her this moment, a memory however wrong, she would take. If her future was to be without him, then for this one night she would have him, would savor the memories of joining with the man she loved.
“Make love with me.”
Still, he hesitated, his expression torn.
Linet skimmed her fingers across the muscles of his chest, savoring the taut skin, the quiver of flesh beneath.
Seathan caught her hand.
She angled her head as if a dare; her heart pounding. “Will you stop me?”
“No.” With a fierce growl, he hauled her to him, claimed her mouth, hot and hard.
Heat stormed her at his sensual assault, a burn so hot, she doubted she could feel more. Impossibly, he cupped her face, slanted his mouth, and took the kiss deeper.
Waves of need stormed her. Her body shuddered, craved, ached to feel his touch, his mouth everywhere.
“This is wrong,” he whispered as he kissed the curve of her jaw, cupped her face, then covered her mouth again.
She arched her body against his, telling him with actions that it was right and so much more. “I need all of you,” she whispered.
He pressed his brow against her, his entire body trembling. “You are too weak.”
Moved, she laid her palm against his cheek. “My weakness is from wanting you.”
With a predatory hiss, he laid her against the blanket, pressed the entire length of his body against hers. Leaning on his elbows, he stared at her, his breathing hard, stark desire carved on his face.
“Before I touch you,” Seathan said, his voice somber, “there is something I must tell you.”
Fear slid through her. She tensed. “What?” she asked, not wanting anything to extinguish the magic of this moment.
His fierce gaze held hers. “I need you to know that I believe you, believe you freed me to exact vengeance on your brother.”
Emotions stormed her. “You believe me?” she asked, stunned by his admission. “Why?”
He stroked her cheek with a sweep of his thumb. “Never have I met anyone like you, a woman who would dare to go against convention, a woman ready to barter with the enemy to right a wrong, a woman who chooses the right path however difficult.” He paused. “Ever since you appeared before my cell offering to free me, I have suspected you.”
She nodded, still stunned. “How could you not? I was a stranger.”
“But against everything,” he continued, “against my doubts, my suspicions, the challenges offered during our journey, you persevered. When you saw Nichola, it took immense courage to maintain your calm, but you did. Your actions, decisions, are the sames ones I would have made.” He pressed a soft kiss upon her mouth. “Forgive me, Linet.”
Happiness swept through her. Tears of joy shimmered in her eyes. “I do.” Questions tumbled through her mind like an avalanche unbound, but she set them aside. Tomorrow would offer time to talk, to ask more questions. For this moment she would savor this gift, this one night. She pressed her lips against his. “Make love to me, Seathan. I need you so much.”
Seathan stared at Linet, drawn by the sheen of moonlight against her amber-gold hair, the way her eyes shimmered with sincerity and desire. Why had he told her of his change of heart? In the end, she would live in the Highlands with her mother’s clan while his life was here.
“I want to see you.” He cared not that his voice trembled, or that his emotions were wrapped around his words.
She reached up to loosen a tie.
“No, let me.”
“But I…”
The gift of being her first lover came with responsibility, a charge he would savor. He again leaned forward to cover her mouth, tasting her every moan, her each shiver of awareness. Her body began to shift beneath his, a restlessness she’d yet to understand, but he would teach her the meaning and so much more.
“Are you not going to touch me?”
Her voice, rich with desire, evoked his own. “I will,” he whispered. “But this time, your first time, is for you.”
Her eyes widened. “You know I am a virgin?”
“Aye,” he replied, painfully aware of the fact.
“How?”
God in heaven, the lass would be the death of him yet. “I will tell you—later.”
A blush stole up her face. “I am sorry; I am doing this badly.”
“As we have done nothing, I beg to differ.” He focused on her, the fullness of her mouth, the discoveries he’d find this night.
The intensity of Seathan’s gaze pierced her, the blatant desire of which she’d only dreamed. He reached out. With aching slowness he loosened the ties of her gown. At times his finger would graze her skin, but with her garment falling open, he touched her no more. Frustrated, Linet reached up to help him.
“Do not.”
“Is making love supposed to take this long?”
A satisfied smile grazed his mouth. “When it is done right.” Then he lowered his mouth over hers, her body exposed to his, the hard planes of his chest pressing against the softness of her own. She arched against him, wanting more, to be done with whatever caused the overwhelming ache deep within. Floundering, she reached up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him flush against her. His hardness wedged against her woman’s place, the sensation a frustrating bliss.
“Easy, lass.”
The deep timber of his burr stroked her needs. She pulled her mouth away, her breaths shallow. “I want, need—”
He pressed his finger gently upon her lips. “I know exactly what you need.” Dark eyes held hers. “Trust me. Give yourself over to me completely.”
This was making not a bit of sense. “Am I not almost naked?”
Seathan groaned. He pressed his lips to the column of her neck. “Trust me.” His words reverberated against her skin, inciting new responses.
Caught in a turmoil of sensations, her body raging for his touch, she nodded.
He pushed away the last remnants of her gown, leaving her surrounded by naught but the night. Appreciation settled on his face. “I am going to touch you,” he said as his mouth slid along the silky column of her throat, pausing to taste, to tease as he wove his way down. “All over, watch you as you fall over the edge.”
Heat pulsed deep to her core, a steady ache that raised its own demands. “And,” she gasped, “what do I do?”
“Enjoy.”
“What of your enjoyment?”
He laid his brow against her shoulder, his body tense. “I assure you, before this night is over,” he said on a ragged breath, “I will find mine as well.”
“But you are touching me and I am just lying here.”
He gave a pained smile. “I will let you touch me, but not now, not…never mind.”
“Lovemaking is very confusing.”
“Only if you make it. Linet?”
“Yes?”
“Just feel.”
His fingers swirled along her collarbone, along the slope of her breasts, teasing the edge, and for the life of her, even if she’d wanted, she couldn’t speak.
For long seconds he toyed with the curve of her breast, first one, then sliding to attend to the other. Her body tingled, heated, and it was all she could do not to whimper. Never before had she experienced so much, felt so alive. It was as if her skin had become sensitized to his every touch, each of his movements igniting deeper awareness.
Eyes glittering with desire, he lowered his head, touched her nipple with his tongue.
She gasped.
He watched her, held her gaze as he licked her with long, slow swirls until his mouth closed over the hard nub.
A spasm tore through her. “Seathan!”
His finger caught her other nipple, rolled it with his thumb as he continued to suckle.
Sheer pleasure swept through her. When she thought she couldn’t feel anymore, he pressed his hardness against her.
On a gasp, Linet arched against him.
“You taste wonderful.”
Heat flushed her cheeks at his outrageous words, but a part of her savored them.
“Now,” he said with a positively wicked look, “I shall see if you taste as good everywhere.” Seathan slowly slid down her body, tasting, touching her, savoring her as he traveled with maddening slowness to her most private place.
She should stop him. Never should she allow him this intimacy, but when he hovered above her downy curls, looked at her with such raw desire, she wanted nothing more.
“Tell me you want me,” he said, his breath soft upon her most private place.
“I…” She shuddered. “I want you.”
“That you want me to taste you.”
Heat rolled over her.
“Tell me.”
Mouth dry, her body caught in a glorious heat, she nodded. “I—I want you to taste me.”
With his eyes fixed on her, he swept his tongue across her swollen folds, slow, steady, savoring, giving her no quarter.
Sensation built, swirled inside her in a mind-numbing haze.
With a needy moan, Linet arched, and Seathan caught her, settled into a more comfortable position, his eyes never leaving hers. He wanted to watch her as she felt every sensation, as she was initiated into womanhood, and when she fell over the edge. Never had he been with a woman who was so open, so sensitive to his every touch. Already he could feel her body coiled tight, see her entrance glistening, ready for his entry.
Her taste excited him, a sleek, heady aroma of woman and need. His body hardened further, urging him to drive deep within her. He held back. When he found his release, it would be with her joining in the erotic bliss. But not her first time. This special moment he would watch, enjoy her initiation into passion.
So he took his time, savored her whimpers, how she shifted beneath him as he licked the soft, sleek folds, toyed with her hard nub, then slowly suckled, only to begin again. When her movements became frantic, he slid his finger deep inside her tight sheath. She was wet, wonderfully so.
“Seathan!”
He loved watching her eyes glaze, how her body trembled with emotion, then began to shake. “Let go,” he urged, then suckled her mercilessly as he stroked her.
Her body’s tremors grew and she arched, then began to twist.
He held tight, pushed on. With a long moan, she found her release, and he savored this special moment, the fact he was her first, and the pleasure pulsing through her.
As her body shuddered beneath him, he moved up and lay beside her. Gently, he drew her against him, kissed her brow. “You are amazing.”
A breathless laugh fell from her lips. “I think I am the one who should say that to you.”
He smiled, for the first time in his life, truly content. Not wanting to ponder the disturbing thought further, he nipped at her neck; she groaned. “And did you find enjoyment in my touch?”
A sated smile settled across her lips. “You know I did.” Her brows wedged into a frown. “Is it not unseemly to speak of our intimacy?”
Long used to women seasoned in bed, he found her embarrassment charming. “Shall I tell you that you taste of honey, that I love your woman’s nectar upon my tongue?”
She buried her head within the curve of his neck. Touched by her shyness, Seathan caught her face within his hands, needing her to see him, and to know he spoke the truth. “There is no shame in what we do, in what I say. These are the words of your lover. Of that, never be ashamed.”
“No one has ever…”
“As you are a maiden, if any man had, I would be forced to find and kill him.” He realized he meant it.
She gave a shaky laugh. “I am no maiden now.”
“In many ways you are,” Seathan said, suddenly somber. “I have but made love to you with my mouth. Your innocence is still intact.”
“Oh.” She worried her lip.
He stilled, his body screaming in protest. “Do you wish me to touch you no further?” If she said yes, as much as he wanted her, he’d honor her request.
Her expression grew serious. “Nay, I want you, more so than I would have ever believed.”
“Though I have prepared you, our joining will hurt, but only at first.”
“I still want you.”
He wasn’t sure whether he should be humbled or charmed. The woman kept him off balance as no other lass had ever. “Come here.” He wanted her willing, her innocence given without question.
She reached down.
Seathan caught her hand.
Surprise registered on her face. “I was but going to touch you.”
The pleasure of her caressing his maleness drove a shot of heady lust through his already raging body. “It would not be good.”
She frowned.
“Now is not the time to explain.” An understatement.