Wilderness Passion by Lindsay McKenna Page A

his fist, gently drawing her head back. He rose above her, his eyes filled with a dark intensity.
    Dan stared down at her, amazed and pleased by her ability to love him just as fiercely as he was loving her. Despite Libby’s fragile Swedish beauty there was a courageous heart in her gently curved body. Lovingly he leaned down, tasting her parted, eager lips. She was unafraid to meet him on his own ground, where it counted. He gloried in that fact, wanting to please her more than he had pleased any woman before. She was responsive, welcoming, sharing, teasing and sensual all at the same time. It dizzied his senses and he lost himself in a sharing that rarely happened unless there was a great deal more than physical desire between two people. He traced her wet, throbbing lips with his tongue and stroked the velvet of her inner thigh with his hand, feeling her tense.
    “Dan,” she whispered breathlessly, “please... Take me,” she begged.
    A tenderness came into his eyes as he slid his hand beneath her slender waist, pulling her beneath him. She was like quicksilver, her undulating form sending a raging, unchecked fire through his hardened body. Gently he entered her moist, welcoming depths, watching her eyes widen with pleasure and surprise over their union. A groan escaped him as he plunged more deeply, feeling her response with unabashed jubilation. They were one. They were eagles in free flight, wheeling and diving with one another. He felt her tense, a cry of joy escaping her parted lips. His heart seemed to burst with an incredible joy he had never before experienced. His own explosive release hurtled him to the edges of the universe. Dan lay on his side, drawing Libby protectively against him.
    Libby gulped, feeling a trickle of sweat between her breasts as she rested weakly against Dan. Her breathing was fast and erratic, her eyes closed. “Oh, Dan,” she whispered raggedly.
    He caressed her hair. “You’re something else, my druidess,” he said thickly. “Something else...”
    She slept afterward, feeling safe within his strong, masculine arms. It was only at dawn that Libby awoke, realizing that Dan was already awake and studying her in the gray twilight. He had risen on one arm and was studying her with tender interest when she roused herself, rolling onto her back. As she lifted her thick wheat-colored lashes Libby saw his features above her. A soft, vulnerable smile fled across her well-kissed lips, lips that still tingled from his branding mouth.
    “Good morning,” she whispered.
    Dan returned the smile. “It is,” he agreed, his voice husky.
    Libby stared up at him. His face was peaceful now. Gone was the harshness she had seen there before. In his own way he was devastatingly handsome. No longer were there lines on his brow or at the corners of his eyes. Instead she saw a flame of tenderness that made her heart blossom in silent happiness. They had shared something far more than just a meeting of bodies. She closed her eyes as he stroked her hair, responding openly to his gentle touch.
    “I’ve been watching you sleep,” he began quietly. “I never realized until now just how beautiful you really are.” He gave her a wistful smile. “There’s a cleanness about you, Libby. Something I can’t quite put my finger on...a naturalness. You proved that last night by the way you loved me. You weren’t inhibited. You were free and giving, like the spirit of these woods....” He shrugged, embarrassed by his own words. “You really are a part of the forest.’’ He stared out of the entrance of the cave at the green carpet of trees far below them. He returned his attention to her, caressing her upturned face. “My druidess.”
    Libby shivered pleasurably beneath his touch and his softly spoken words. “Before I say thank you for all those wonderful compliments, maybe you had better fill me in on Celtic druidesses.”
    “Well,” he began, running his fingers down the expanse of her golden arm,