In the Laird's Bed

In the Laird's Bed by Joanne Rock Page A

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Authors: Joanne Rock
Tags: Romance, Historical
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lingered with you too long.” The soft words were not a chastisement so much as an admission of fact. She couldn’t have walked out now if she’d tried.
    He squeezed her to him, his hands skimming upher spine. Her breasts molded to his chest, her legs brushed his thighs.
    “Nay. You have not lingered nearly long enough.” His errant hand that had toyed with her neckline earlier now thrust deeply beneath the fabric, trailing along the swell of her breast. Heat bubbled along her skin. Like a cauldron nearing the boiling point, the warmth concentrated on the outside first, but she knew it was only a matter of time before that fire reached the inside.
    Still, with her last grip on rational thought, she arched up on her toes to better gaze into his eyes.
    “You’ve not won fairly,” she accused.
    “Since we are hardly fighting, I will consider it a victory for us both.”
    His mouth covered hers, quieting all worries and any extraneous thought. There was only this moment. Him.
    Her whole body turned liquid and boneless at the stroke of his tongue. Lights danced behind her closed eyes as he surrounded her. Absorbed her into him. She wrapped her arms about his neck, needing to get closer to the source of all that vibrant feeling animating her limbs. Her belly. Her most secret places.
    She recalled this sinful feeling from other kisses. Other times she’d been alone with him. But the intoxication in her blood was stronger now than ever, perhaps because she knew she would see it through this time. This kiss would not end until she had exploredthat feeling and savored it for herself. She knew Duncan could provide it in full measure—a night of heaven on earth.
    With tingling fingers, she splayed her hands along his broad shoulders, spanning thick muscle and flesh-warmed linen. If her blind groping was too brazen, she did not care. Men knew the source of all this hot frenzy, but she did not. Fumbling with the ties of his tunic, she freed the laces until the shirt loosened enough to make way for her touch.
    “I have dreamed of you,” he confessed, breaking off the kiss long enough to tug the tunic up and off. “Dreamed of this.”
    Taking his hand, she led him toward the pallet and the room’s only source of light—the narrow window casement with the tapestry pulled to one side.
    “It is not enough to see each other in dreams. I want to remember exactly how you look.” She eyed him hungrily, taking in the bands of muscle that started beneath his ribs and disappeared into his braies.
    “Wait here,” he warned her, stepping away from her when she’d been ready to leap back into his arms. “I would like to see you better, as well.”
    Confused, she watched him hasten from the room, bare chested and magnificent. He returned in a trice with a torch in hand. Shoving the door closed behind him, he lowered the bar to seal them in privacy and then approached the hearth. He tossed the torch into the grate atop a small pile of wood, casting the smallchamber in a golden glow. Cristiana watched the way the fire bathed his body in burnished bronze, admiring the sleek perfection of his honed strength.
    He studied her, too. His dark green gaze caressed her, lingering on her bare shoulder, where her kirtle had slipped down. Self-consciously, her hand went there, brushing her bare skin with her fingers as if he’d bid her to do so. As if she could not wait another moment to feel a true caress.
    “Duncan.” She called to him, his name a hoarse plea when her body already trembled for him.
    “Take it off,” he bid her, his own voice gruff with hunger. “I will fix the pallet so it is fit to lay you there. But I would like to see—”
    Fingers flying over the laces, she unfastened the surcoat and let it slide to the floor.
    He’d been freeing a tapestry from the wall—presumably to lay upon the pallet. He tore it down with gratifying speed at the sight of her in the thin lawn kirtle.
    She guessed the hearth fire illuminated her

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