Beyond the Highland Myst(513)

She was so aroused that she throbbed, aching and empty. She whimpered into his mouth when he shifted that last bit, fitting them together so the hard ridge of him was cradled in her yielding heat. Oh, finally! After denying herself, refusing to even let herself think about it, he was there, trapped snugly in the vee of her thighs, huge, hot man. He braced her back against the stone again, grinding himself against her, driving her to an erotic frenzy.

Tangling her fingers in his thick silky hair, she strained against him, arching forward each time he thrust, meeting him. His lips were locked to hers, his tongue deep in her mouth. She was delirious with need. Her defenses had not merely dropped, they'd toppled, and she wanted shamelessly, everything, all that he'd been teasing her with for so long now.

As if he'd read her thoughts, he captured one of her hands in his and guided it between them, pressing her palm to the hard ridge in his jeans, and she gasped when she realized how big he was. She'd only caught a glimpse of him when he'd dropped his towel, but she'd been wondering about him ever since she'd found those incriminating condoms. It wasn't going to be easy to take him, she thought, with a dark erotic shiver. Everything about him was too much man, and it exhilarated her, seduced her into finally acknowledging her most private fantasies. By his sheer nature, he was the answer to them all. Dark, dominant, dangerous man.

She touched him frantically, trying to shape her fingers over him through his jeans, but the damn things were too constricting, strained by his heavy bulge. She gave a small whimper of frustration and, growling savagely, he shifted her in his arms, braced her against the stones, holding her with one arm, while roughly unfastening his jeans.

Chloe panted, her eyes wide, watching his beautiful dark face, taut with lust while he freed himself. She wanted, needed, was beyond thinking about it anymore. The intensity of the attraction between them was mind-numbing. Then he was pushing the hot, thick hardness of himself into her hand.

She couldn't close her hand around it. Her breath hitched in her throat and she dropped her head forward against his chest. There was no way.

"You can take me, lass." He cradled her jaw with his palm and forced her face back up for more urgent, heated kisses. He closed his hand over hers, moving it along his thick erection. She whimpered, wishing her jeans would just melt away so she could take him inside her.

"Do you need me, Chloe?" he demanded.

"I'd say she does, but I doona think'tis either the time or the place," a dry voice cut through the night briskly.

Dageus stiffened against her with a savage oath.

Chloe made a sound that was half-startlement, half-sob. No, no, no! she wanted to scream. I can't stop now!

Never in her life had she wanted so desperately. She wished that whoever had spoken would simply disappear. She didn't want to come back to reality, didn't want to think about the consequences of what she was about to do. Didn't want to return to the myriad questions that she would have to face: about Dageus, about her whereabouts, about herself.

They froze in that intimate moment for what felt like a miserable eternity, then Dageus shuddered and with a hand beneath her bottom, leaned her against the stone and dislodged her hand. She had a hard time making herself let go and they waged a short, silent, silly little battle that he won, which she reluctantly conceded was probably only fair since it was part of his body. He stood still, inhaling measured breaths, then lowered her to the ground.

It took him several minutes to refasten his jeans. Dropping his dark head forward, lips to her ear, he said in a burr thickened by desire, "There will be no takin' this back, lass. Doona even think to be tellin' me later that you willna hae me. You will hae me." Then abruptly, wrapping one strong arm around her waist, he turned them both to greet the intruder.

Still dizzy and breathless with desire, it took Chloe a few moments to focus. When she did, she was startled to discover that the fog had vanished as utterly as the storm, leaving the night bathed in pearly luminance by a fat moon hovering just beyond the mighty oaks that towered around the circle of stones. She refused to dwell on the fact that a short time ago there had been no oaks around the circle of stones, only a vast expanse of manicured lawn. If she thought about that too long, she might start to feel sick to her stomach again.

So she concentrated instead on the tall, elderly man, with shoulder-length, snowy-white hair, clad in long blue robes, who stood about a dozen paces away, his narrow back to them.

"You can turn around now," Dageus barked at him.

"I was but ceding you what privacy I could," the man muttered defensively, his posture rigid.

"Had you wished to cede me privacy, you would have steered yourself right back into the castle, old man."