Scarlet and the White Wolf [02] - Mariner's Luck by Kirby Crow Page B

had known that from the moment they met. Scarlet had no experience in love or the complicated dance of power between couples, and Liall could have easily manipulated him. He might even gave done it, if not for his own guilt over the way they had met.
    "I'm sorry," Scarlet said contritely. "I don't mean to make you feel..."
    Liall sighed and put his fingers to Scarlet's lips. "Hush, the fault is mine." Yes, the fault is mine, he thought. It is a great responsibility for a man my age to take a lover so green and youthful, for I have the knowledge and skill to do you harm or manipulate you terribly, and I must never use it. I must protect you always. Yet ... one kiss cannot hurt.
    "No, it's not, I—"
    Liall slipped his hand around the back of Scarlet's neck and pulled him closer. "I said," he repeated, his breath gusting over Scarlet's mouth. "Hush."
    After the first heated touch of skin to skin, mouth to mouth, Scarlet exhaled in a shaking sigh and his tense body relaxed, sinking against Liall. Liall wound his arms around Scarlet and rolled on the bed until Scarlet was half under him.
    Liall's hand roamed over Scarlet's shoulders and stomach, snaking down to caress the warm line of his thigh.
    "Liall," Scarlet whispered shakily, when he was allowed to breathe.
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    Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]
    by Kirby Crow
    "Yes?" Liall murmured back, pressing Scarlet's body to him deliciously, loving the feel of him, the lean slenderness and wiry muscle contrasted by the incredible softness of his skin, the silk of his hair and the full, wet mouth. Scarlet was altogether intoxicating. Liall found himself rubbing against Scarlet's body like a cat, for that is what Scarlet reminded him of: a small, elegant cat with ready claws and sharp teeth.
    There was a fire building in Liall. It roared in his ears as he drowned his senses in the feel of Scarlet's mouth, the way his lips parted to allow Liall's tongue entrance, the way his legs opened sweetly to pillow Liall's hips.
    Liall ground against him, pushing their bodies together, stoking the melting heat in his groin, clutching and thrusting, frantically close, so very close
    "Liall!"
    Liall jumped back like a shot, his heart thudding. "What?"
    "Can't you hear me?"
    "Hear what?" Liall wiped his mouth. He had been right on the verge, so close that the dull ache of unfulfilled passion scraped on his nerves like sand in an open wound. Scarlet's eyes were wide and his breathing ragged, and Liall recalled suddenly—and with some shame—that all was not as he had imagined in his ardor. Scarlet's legs hadn't opened to him: he had thrust them apart with his knee. Scarlet's mouth had yielded at last to his probing, but only after Liall nipped his lower lip and Scarlet yelped in surprise.
    Liall looked away and recoiled to the edge of the bed, head down, breathing raggedly as he rebuilt his shattered composure. It was not easy. The same berserker rage that 97
    Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]
    by Kirby Crow
    often took Rshani warriors into battle-madness made them intemperate lovers as well. Truly, he thought dizzily, there is a reason for our proper ways and fine speech: it hides the animal inside.
    He reminded himself that Scarlet still had not realized how very unlike their races were, that the differences between Hilurin and Rshani ran deeper than skin and hair and the color of their eyes. They were a completely opposite species, at times as brutal and savage as Hilurin are aloof and cool, swift to temper and swifter to passion, and not all of it wholly controllable.
    "Sorry, I'm sorry," Scarlet stammered. "I wanted you to, I just ... I don't know what happened."
    "I crave your pardon," Liall was able to say at last, though it stuck in his throat. His bed would remain empty for a while yet. Months, maybe. Oh, Scarlet was worth it, he knew. At that moment, however, his body knew no such thing.
    Scarlet touched Liall's arm. "Liall—"
    Liall jerked away. "Spare me