She squeezed her eyes tight, embarrassed at her cutting behavior, even as she was sopleased with him, so relieved that Hugh hadn't touched that woman. Of course, a major deterrent to her feelings for him had just been eliminated. Which brought abouther revelation.
Was she right back where she'd been at the inn as she sat on the table? When she'd feared letting him out of her sight?
Yes—
Jane's eyes shot open when Hugh's hand wrapped around the back of her neck. He'd pulled on his pants and entered her room silently, giving her little warning before he dragged her to his naked chest. Leaning down, he slanted his lips over hers, groaning at the contact. He broke away only to ask, 'You were truly jealous?' then set back in.
Telling him the truth could open her up to hurt, could accelerate the rate at which she dropped off that cliff. And still, between their licking, seeking kisses, she whispered, 'I didn't want you kissing her. Because you should've still been kissing me.'
At her admission, he tensed, hesitating for only a heartbeat before he lifted her in his arms, striding with her back to his bedroom.
'Hugh?' she murmured in a daze. 'What are you doing?'
'I've something on my mind,' he said, setting her on the bed, following her down. As he leaned above her, his dark hungry gaze flickered over her, and his voice broke low. 'Something I need tae see.'
He rubbed an unsteady hand over his mouth, looking like a man in agony. His body seemed to thrum with tension. Frowning, she brought her palms up to cup his face, but he shuddered, even at that slight touch. What was happening here?
For all the books she'd read, for all that she'd heard from her cousins and learned in London, she'dnever imagined a man behaving like this—as though he were about to die from desire. The erotic books she'd read never had accounts of men's bodiesshuddering with lust, pained with a need so great they could scarcely speak and could barely stand to be touched.
He reached forward to brush her nightdress straps down her shoulders, then dipped a kiss to her collarbone. Just as she felt cool air on her breasts and belly, he hissed something in Gaelic, and sank back on his haunches to stare. She felt his gaze on her bared skin like a touch and arched her back for him.
Leaning forward once more, he rasped, 'Mercy.'
She thought she would scream in pleasure with the first wet flick of his tongue to her aching nipple. He cradled her breast with his whole hand, holding her in place as he sucked her between his lips.
'Hugh,' she moaned, threading her fingers through his thick hair. 'It feels so good when you do that.'
His other hand was easing upward between her legs, his fingers caressing as they slowly ascended. 'Tell me tae stop this,' he said against her breast.
She shook her head, body quivering when he kneaded her inner thigh, coaxing her to spread her legs wider. The rough texture of his hand abraded her tender skin, but she loved it.
'Tell me now.' His palm rubbed upward. She shook her head again and whimpered, afraid she was about to climax. She didn't want this ever to end.
'Ah, God, I canna stop.' His fingers passed the thatch between her legs. 'I need tae stroke you here.'
She cried out when he slipped the pad of his thumb against her clitoris, rubbing it sensuously. Another finger delved to her slick sex. 'So wet.' He lowered his head, and against her damp nipple, he said, 'You'd be ready for me, would you no'?'
When he spread the moisture and continued his slow, agonizing strokes, she writhed helplessly to his touch. 'Please, Hugh,' she said, panting. 'Don't stop.'
He raised his head, studying her face. 'I will no'.' His voice sounded hoarse, lost. 'I want tae make you… make you come for me.' He stroked more firmly. 'Taesee you—'
She gave a strangled moan—she was already there.
Chapter Twenty-three
Hugh gazed in awe as she suddenly arched her back, hands clutching the sheets.
Without thought, he set four fingers on her, cupping and rubbing her sex fast, mouth sucking greedily on her nipple to make it stronger for her. With his other hand, he snatched up her gown so he could watch her body twisting with pleasure.
She gave a breathy cry that made his cock jerk painfully in answer, and her knees fell wide open. In utter abandon, she rocked her hips against his hand, over and over, until the tension left her.
Trembling, she fell back onto the arm he'd draped behind her, lying docile and open as he slowly continued to pet her flesh.
He couldn't catch his breath. The sight of his fingertips against the wet auburn curls at her sex…He was going to lose his seed right in his trousers.
She leaned up to bury her face against his neck. To his disbelief, she whispered how much she loved his touch.His touch. After a decade fantasizing about it, he'd made her come.
And it was the most incredible experience he'd ever had.
Her breaths were warm and quick, and between her words, she gave his neck little licks that made his cock grow impossibly hotter and harder.
At that moment, spending in his pants did not strike him as a bad idea.
He inwardly shook himself and pulled away, but she'd looped her soft arms around his neck and eased a knee up beside his waist.
'Hugh, what about you? Won't you stay with me?' She tugged gently, until he allowed himself to settle his hips between her thighs.
She wanted him to come as well? Could he drag himself away? Not when she undulated her bared sex against him. Impossible. He was burning to free himself and sink into her slick heat, desperate to ride her mindlessly, finally taking what he'd needed for so long.
Instead, when she did that sensual roll of her hips again, he tentatively thrust back against her. She sucked in a breath.
'Dinna hurt you?' he choked out.
When she said, 'No, darling, no,' he leaned up and found his hand shooting between them to rip open the fastening of his trousers. He shoved his pants down to his thighs, baring his cock, so that it hung down over her.
They were both breathing heavily, staring at where their bodies almost touched. Their flesh was so close. Her eyes were half-lidded as she stared at his shaft, at the slick head. As if in a dream, he watched as she rolled her hips again, seeking him. He put his straightened arms on each side of her, holding himself up, sweating with the effort not to take her.
He knew he couldn't have her, even when it felt so right to be here with her like this. He was awash in how right it felt. Yet, unable to stop himself, he pressed his own hips down. Lower, so slowly, until his shaft grazed against her swollen little clitoris.
His eyes rolled back in his head.
She gave a cry and another undulation that nearly put his cockhead inside her, ending everything. One of his hands shot to her hip to pin her down, then he pressed his shaft harder against her mound. He stayed there, letting it throb against her. Where his control came from, he had no idea. He only knew he had to stretch out every second, to make it last the rest of his life.
But when she reached eager hands forward to grasp him, he grabbed her wrists, knowing he'd come before her last finger had wrapped around his shaft. 'Put your arms over your head, Sìne.' She let them fall above her. 'Keep them there for me.' She nodded, as if she understood his struggle.
Soon the urge to thrust grew overwhelming. He obeyed it, pushing slowly over her sex, slipping up to her flat belly, then back, a near-constant groan rising from his chest. With his position and the movement, he was close to being inside her, as close as he would ever allow himself to get. Her cries would be the same—as would the way
