Taming the Lone Wolff(48)

                “I’m thinking you know way too much about women.” Her body leaned into his, trusting, fluid.

                His chuckle was ragged. “I don’t know the first damn thing about you, my dear virginal Winnie. Except the fact that you have a heart as big as Texas and you’re stubborn.”

                “Pot…kettle. And I’m not a virgin.”

                “I may be stubborn—true—but I know innocence when I see it. I believe you. But there’s far more to chastity than a technicality. Has any man ever gotten close to you?” He rested his chin on top of her head, wanting to take down her hair and run his fingers through it.

                She shivered. He felt it. And his gut clenched. Someone had hurt this brave, delicate woman. Badly. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did.

                “I retract my question, Winnie. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. But for now, I need this.”

                She looked up at him, her green-gold eyes clouded with arousal. “This?”

                “This.” He lowered his head slowly, trying to rein in the thundering locomotive that was his libido. First he kissed her forehead, then her small, perfect nose. Skipping lush, moist lips, he tilted her head to one side and raked his teeth down her neck, nipping and licking until Winnie squirmed and panted.

                “We’re still in the dining room,” she muttered. “Someone could walk in.” The need to feel her hands on his bare skin drew a groan from deep inside him. Larkin was losing it. He could tell. And Winnie was right. This was not the place or the time. “Winnie,” he croaked. “Are you willing to go to my bedroom? Now?”

                She froze, her cheek against his shoulder. “I do want you, Larkin,” she whispered. “More than you know. But I need to be sure. Sure that I won’t regret this. You do something to me I don’t even understand.”

                It was the catch in her voice, the bewildered dismay that brought him back from the edge. Winnie was strong and courageous and determined to handle whatever life threw in her way. But even so, she was so damned vulnerable, it broke his heart. He knew he had to protect her, even from himself.

                He released her and stepped back, though doing so nearly bent him double with agony. More than anything in the world he wanted to bury his shaft inside her soft, warm body. He needed to see her face when she found pleasure. Craved the sensation of his body joined to hers.

                “I won’t seduce you into something you aren’t comfortable with. But it might help to talk about it.”





                                      Eleven

                For one long, pregnant moment, Larkin thought he had gotten through to her. But apparently Winnie was so accustomed to keeping her own counsel that it would take more than a promise of confidentiality to breach the walls she kept in place.

                Her eyes downcast, she stood disconsolate where he had left her.

                Sighing inwardly, he conceded momentary defeat. “Do you feel like going for a walk?”

                Her head snapped up. “In the dark?”

                “I know this mountain intimately. You won’t get lost. But bring a jacket and put on some sturdy shoes. If you want to go with me.”

                Some of the strain left her face and she smiled. “I’d like that.”