A Christmas Wish: Dane by Liliana Hart Page B

men. A perverse creature if I’ve ever seen one.”
    “You’re not showing the proper appreciation for my strength and manliness. This isn’t easy, you know. You weigh a little more than you did since the last time we did this in a barn.”
    “I was sixteen. And bringing up my weight is also not romantic.”
    “I’ll make a note for next time. Though I should say I really like where you’ve filled out.”
    H e’d been carting bales of hay and other things into the loft since he was a boy, so a package as light as Charlotte, even with a few extra curves that hadn’t been there when she was sixteen, was no trouble at all.
    “Now tell me how my rippling muscles and prowess turn you on, and that you’re impressed by my show of strength. Don’t you know you’re supposed to stroke a man’s ego?”
    She snickered. “Sorry, I didn’t know we were to the stroking part yet.”
    “Smartass.”
    He felt her sigh and knew without looking that she was rolling her eyes. “I’m very impressed by your strength and manliness,” she said dryly. “Can you put me down now?”
    “And tell me this is romantic.” Dane made it to the loft and dropped her to her feet, steadying her when she swayed.
    “Yes, it’s very ro—“ her words cut off as she turned and saw the scene he’d set.
    A soft feather mattress sat in the middle of the loft. It had been hell to get up there. God knows he couldn’t have asked his brothers for help without being ridiculed for the rest of his life, so he’d ma naged to do the task on his own, cursing and nursing bloody knuckles the entire time.
    Soft sheets and a thick down comforter cover ed the mattress and red rose petals were scattered over the stark white of the blankets. The hayloft door was open just enough to let the moonlight in to bathe them in a soft glow.
    “I guess I won’t murder you after all.” Her voice was raspy with emotion and he pretended he didn’t see the moisture clinging to her eyelashes. Charlotte hated to cry, and she liked having a witness to her tears even less. Her strength was only one of the reasons he loved her, but that core of vulnerability she tried so valiantly to hide made him want to protect and coddle her even more.
    She hadn’t had anyone to take care of her over the last ten years, and God knows she didn’t need it. Charlotte worked hard and was as stubborn and independent as anyone he knew. It was that independence that made him want to give her what she’d gone without for so long. Maybe he needed to give it to her to make up for what he’d done.
    “I’m relieved to hear it, ” he said.
    Her black hair had a bluish tint in t he moonlight and he moved it away from her neck, kissing her softly on the nape. The blanket he’d wrapped around her dropped to the floor and he felt her tremble beneath his lips.
    “I love you,” he whispered. “Always.”
    He felt her sigh as his hands came up and cupped her breasts. Her head fell back against his shoulder as his fingers worked at the buttons of her pajama top. The fabric parted and his hands touched warm flesh.
    “Touch me,” she whispered.
    He weighed her breasts in his hands, feeling them swell beneath his touch, and his thumbs skimmed across her rigid nipples.
    “Like this?” he asked.
    “More.”
    The pajama top slipped from her shoulders and down to the floor, leaving her bare to the moonlight. He trailed his fingers down her belly, feeling her quiver beneath his touch, as he skimmed the elastic waistband of her pants.
    His heart thudded in his chest and his blood pumped with the anticipation of what was to come, but he moved slowly, despite his need to bury himself inside her. His hand slipped beneath the elastic and down lower to the bare folds of her sex.
    She went liquid beneath his touch and cried out as his finger pressed against the swollen bud of her clit. His fingers moved in slow, lazy circles, building anticipation toward the climax he knew she was so close to.
    “Jesus,