Page 19 of Her Highland Destiny

She lifted her curious stare to him once more. Up his sculpted calves, over the strength of his thighs to where the patch of dark, curling hair embraced the base of his phallus. Fear snagged at the back of her mind and warred with desire.

At least until Fergus touched his fingertips to her chin, just below her lips.

He would be gentle. Loving. The way she deserved. He wanted to please her. With his hands. His mouth. His cock.

She gasped softly at the vulgar word and yet her yearning intensified. He pulled her lower lip down slightly and then kissed her with reserved hunger. She didn’t want this gentleness from him. She nipped at his mouth and arced her tongue against his to encourage a battle of lust.

He growled, a sound which vibrated through her and hummed at her core. The energy soared between them, bright with the promise of sated satisfaction, an end to the drive of sexual frustration. He cupped her breast and toyed with the nipple as he had before. Without warning and so quickly she did not anticipate his movement, he lowered his head over her breast and pulled one pink bud into the heat of his mouth, suckling. A needling pleasure prickled through her.

She cried out, her voice husky. He secured her to him with his arm about her lower back and walked the fingers of his free hand down from her breast, past her navel to where she burned for his touch. He licked her nipple, slowly at first with the flat of his tongue before circling it and flicking it repeatedly before finally sucking it between his lips once more.

Finally, when she was nearly mad with his caresses, he clasped her thigh and drew her leg over his hip. His skin was hot against hers, the hair of the back of his legs prickly where it brushed her calf and heel. Something blunt brushed the juncture between her legs, hard and hot.

Fergus’ body tensed and she sensed the restraint in him become far more difficult to maintain. She pushed her hips forward so the edge of him pushed against her. Their marks overlapped one another, his pointing to the right, hers pointed to the left. Heat fissured between them and raced through their blood.

His arm at her back tightened. The stone pressed between them and threatened to burn Cassandra’s skin where its weight bore into her. A headiness robbed her of breath, though she could not tell if it was the stone, or if it was Fergus.

“No’ yet.” He paused to breathe, and she knew with her heightened awareness they shared that he needed the moment to reclaim his control.

And yet so much of her wanted to shatter it.

His free hand brushed against her inner thigh, caressing while drifting higher up, closer and closer to the heat throbbing between her legs.

“Yer want is making this so damn impossible,” he said in a ragged voice. “Knowing how bad ye want me.” He gritted his teeth. “How bloody bad I want ye.”

His fingers skimmed between her thighs and pleasure threatened to tear her apart, the combination of hers and the power of his. He bowed his head over her and captured her mouth with his as his fingers stroked and stroked and stroked until she cried out with blind need against his lips.

When she thought she could stand the teasing no more, he swept her standing leg from her and wrapped her legs around his waist, carrying her to the bed and carefully lowering them both to the soft surface. His eyes bore down into her, lit with promise and lust and true temptation. Soon this man would lay claim to her and she to him, and their energy would be completely joined in its full magnificence.

Fergus could scarcely think over the mindlessness of his yearning. As if it were not already bad enough for him to control himself, the frantic, desperate thoughts of Cassandra pouring into his mind only served to weaken his wavering resolve.

He wanted to hold down her hands, trapping her willingly beneath him and drive deep and hard into her. But she was a maiden. She needed to be prepared.

Her hips arched in the natural rhythm of sex, enticing him toward her. God’s bones, she would be her own undoing with such movements. Her breasts strained upward, the nipples pink and hard from his ministrations. His mouth watered to close over them again and suckle until her breathy moans filled the small room.

He shifted his hand between them once more so his fingers glided over her slick center. Her body was ready for him, eager for him.

More. She wanted more.

And God how he longed to give her so much more. He nudged the end of his middle finger against her entrance and carefully inserted it within her. She gave a soft exclamation of encouragement.

More.

Her sheath gripped him tightly. So damn tightly. Sweat warmed his brow and lower back. His cock strained ferociously between them. He moved his finger within her, gentle in his attempt to stretch her to accommodate him.

Her legs spread and greedy desperation hummed through her, a combination of her thoughts and the charge of the earth beneath them. She pushed against him.

Please.

He groaned his own frustration. Wanting to be inside her. Not wanting to hurt her. But God, wanting to be inside her.

In one fluid movement he did not anticipate, she grabbed his wrist, pulling him from her, and flipped him onto his back. Strength sang through his blood and he knew he could have stopped her if he wanted to. Her lips quirked up in a coquettish, confident manner.

She was taking the control.

Fergus lay back, pinned beneath her as she straddled his hips. His mark lay a mere inch below hers, like a shadow. He wanted them pressed together once more, pleasantly warm while their bodies ignited with shared passion. The wet heat of her entrance pressed to the underside of his shaft. He gripped the blanket in his fists to keep from lifting her up and thrusting into her. Her fingers ran over his body, lingering near the stone. He arched his hips upward, grinding their need against one another.

Her lashes fluttered and her teeth sank into her lower lip. Uncertainty wavered about her despite her show of confidence and the intent to be in charge. She was, after all, still a maiden.