Her body took on a delicate trembling as she ached for his touch. What he made her feel was disturbing, but she was powerless to resist the temptation his body offered. As she lifted her eyes back to his, the gentleness she had seen was barely visible and the smoldering flame that grew there made her breath hitch.
The air around them seemed to be filled with the kind of bold, striking electricity found in a wild summer thunderstorm.
The tight grip of his fingers jerked her into him, until her body was aligned with his. She inhaled a sharp breath, and that quickly, his mouth was on hers again.
It wasn't a gentle kiss either, and it still didn't scare her. The emotions running around her brain were too raw, too needy for her to be frightened. She felt like she was about to fall off a precipice, and although she was powerless to resist it, she wasn't worried because he was there to catch her.
He kissed her with hard passion and she knew she was totally under his control. She relinquished it to him readily, as she opened her lips more fully and let him taste her as he wanted.
His hand reached down and grabbed the hem of her nightgown again, and pulled it up until it was bunched at the waist and he was able to tangle her legs with his.
She didn't know which was more intoxicating, his scent, his taste, or his touch. It all blended together and with a heady delight she gave in to the irresistible attraction that flared hotly between them.
She inhaled and exhaled sharply as she tried to take in oxygen between his kisses, and he slid his lips to her cheek, pushed her hair away from her ear and bit into her lobe while she dragged in air.
His hands moved around and gripped her buttocks covered in only the soft cotton of her pantalets and sensual delight pierced her all over again. He leaned into her ear again and his whispered words were sultry, hot and deep as they vibrated through her. "I love goodnight kisses." His hands kneaded her flesh.
"Yes," she puffed out in agreement and shifted her mouth, seeking his again.
Ravenous hunger filled her as he shifted their weight and their legs tangled together more intimately, his hard, masculine thigh shoving between her legs. The feeling was intoxicating, his body aligned and pressed fully against hers while his tongue continued to make a bold foray into the interior of her mouth.
Her stomach clenched in need, and she felt her body go slack and pliant in his arms.
His brawny arm wrapped around her and he lifted her off her feet as if she were as light as a feather, and took her weight against his body as he continued to shower her with hot, wet kisses.
His fingers explored the hollows of her waist, and he kept one arm clamped around her midriff as his hand slid over her bottom and clenched around her flesh.
She gasped into his open mouth, and she felt a hot, shocking wetness come between her thighs. She trembled against him and he mistook it for a pain coming from her injured limb. "Does your leg hurt?"
"Some," she answered truthfully, but truly, she hadn't noticed it until he mentioned it. He turned around with her dangling in his arms and sank down onto the bed's surface. He pulled her between his spread thighs and put her hands on his shoulders and lifted her right knee until it rested lightly on the bed. She balanced delicately on her left leg, and put a lot of her weight on his shoulders.
She felt no pain.
"Is that better?" his words were gentle, his touch more so as he ran his hands up and down the curves of her body.
"Yes." Emma struggled to think straight as his mouth found hers again and he began kissing her, holding her in such a way that made her know for sure that he wasn't going to stop.
She wasn't scared. Far from it. She was ready for this, for him, for whatever this lovemaking was all about.
She never wanted to have to live her life without him, but if she did, then at least she'd have this to remember him by.
His hands lifted to the row of buttons on her nightgown and his fingers began unbuttoning them, one by one.
When he came to the bottom he parted the sides and pushed it off her shoulders, and let it drop to the floor.
Chapter Eleven
She stood before him in nothing but her pantalets. She crossed her arms over her chest, and desperately wished for the safety of the covers.
He lifted her hair off her shoulders and brushed it behind her shoulders as he stared at her arms protecting her breasts. "I don't want you to worry, Emma. I won't let anything happen to you. I won't get you pregnant."
When he said that stark word, Emma jerked and pulled back from his arms, what they were about to do suddenly dawning on her. The realization that this might lead to a baby foolishly hadn't occurred to her.
But not only was Luke thinking of what the consequences might be, he was promising her that they wouldn't happen to her. He thought she knew all about these things, all about the process of lovemaking and having babies, but she didn't.
But she didn't want him to find out. She knew, deep in her soul, that if he knew she had never been married, and was in fact, still a virgin, that this wouldn't be happening. She wanted it to happen with all her heart, but she certainly didn't want to have a baby. At least, not when she was unwed.
The puzzle of how he would stop it from happening was something that would have to go unanswered for now, but maybe, somehow in the act, she would figure it out and the truth would come to her.
She was also worried that he would be able to tell somehow that she was a virgin, and she didn't want him to know. He seemed to have all the answers when she had none, and the only thing she could think to do to keep this happening between them was to agree with him.
"All right," she said softly, "Thank you."
She didn't want him to keep talking, so she put her lips back on his and softly kissed him as she leaned into his body as he had taught her how to do.
She wasn't to get her wish because after a few small kisses, his mouth left hers and landed on her shoulder as he gripped her hips in a vise that was almost painful. "Emma," he whispered, "You're so beautiful."
Emma's head began to swim and fireworks were already exploding in her veins just from his kisses. She didn't know how she'd be able to stand it when he took off his own clothes and held her naked body to him.
"I want you to promise me something." His voice held a ruthless intensity, a demand that she listen and agree with him and she opened her eyes to look at his.
"Yes, anything." Emma only wanted him to continue what he was doing.
"Promise that you'll only think of me. Don't think of him when I'm inside of you."
Emma closed her eyes as a momentary shaft of pain went through her. If she hadn't lied, he wouldn't be worried. But if she hadn't lied, the chances of this happening were almost nothing. "I promise, Luke. It's just you."
She stopped thinking altogether when he took her hands in his and firmly pulled them apart until he could see her naked chest. He watched her silently for a moment, the only noise in the room the deep breaths that were pulled into their lungs as they watched each other and arousal flared between them.
He stood up and pulled the quilt to the foot of the bed and then lifted her and set her in the center. He turned to the bedside table and lit the kerosene lamp until the room was bathed in the brightest glow possible.
Emma had already taken cover under the quilt and pulled it up to her chin and held it in front of her as she watched him. "Why do we need the lamp?"
"I want to see you," he answered as his fingers went to the buttons of his shirt and he began undoing them as quickly as he could. When he got to the bottom button, he shrugged it off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. His eyes never left hers the entire time.
He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off his boots and then quickly stood and unbuckled the low-riding gunbelt. He pulled if from around his waist and put the gun and belt on the bedside table.
With his back still to her, his hands went to his waist and Emma realized with shock that he was about to open his buttons and take off his jeans. She tried to turn her head, she tried to close her eyes but she couldn't and her gaze stayed on him as he bent down low and slid out of the jeans, one leg at a time.
She'd never considered what a naked man looked like until she met Luke, and now the sight of his nude backside was more than anything she'd ever hoped for. He was muscular and strong, his buttocks the male equivalent of hers, but different in an altogether pleasing and masculine way. Her heartbeat accelerated as he turned and without a pause, pulled back the covers and climbed in next to her.
He'd done it so quickly his front side had been a blur, and she only just had a vague look at muscles and hair and an appendage that would have been threatening had she seen it for more than one second.
But just the memory of that one second was sending trepidation down her spine.
Emma was lying on her back and when he pulled down the quilt, her hands went to her breasts again.
Luke stretched out next to her on his side and propped himself up on one elbow, and watched her with heat in his eyes. He reached out his free hand and ran it gently back and forth across the hands that covered her chest. "Let me see, baby."
Hot, molten lava ran down Emma's body from her breasts to the feminine heat between her thighs, but she didn't move.
Hot brown eyes held hers. "I can seduce you into moving those hands in about ten seconds." His tongue dipped out and he licked his lips as his eyes fell to her breasts again. "But I don't want to do that. I want you to give in to me. I want you to move them willingly of your own accord."