And while his tongue touched and tasted, one lean hand was riding up her rib cage to tease around a swollen breast. Even through three layers of fabric, the sensation was devastating. He held her gaze the whole while, intoxicated with the way she responded to it, with the look on her face, the shocked, almost terrified fascination in her misty, dilated eyes. When his thumb suddenly stroked her taut nipple she shuddered and moaned sharply.
He lifted his head, because he liked that. He wanted to see if he could make it happen again. And he did. Again and again, the sound of his fingers faintly abrasive against the fabric of her bodice unnaturally loud in the cab of the Jeep. His hand became more insistent on her soft body, openly caressing now as she gasped for breath and stiffened in his arms, lying helplessly against him and without resistance.
“Yes, it feels good, doesn’t it?” he breathed, pride and faint arrogance in the way he was watching her. “You’re very, very aroused, little Allison,” he said softly, turning his attention to the hard tip of her breast, so very visible through her thin dress. “And just so you won’t forget until I see you again...”
Before she realized what he meant to do, he bent and put his lips over the hard nipple and suddenly closed his teeth on it.
She gasped and pushed at him frantically, shocked and frightened by the intimacy.
He lifted his head, frowning, because her reaction puzzled him.
“My God,” he breathed. “You don’t surely think I meant to hurt you?”
“Di...didn’t you?” she whispered shakily, all eyes.
He touched her gently, soothing the place his teeth had been, noticing that she flinched at even that light caress. “I’m sorry if I frightened you,” he said tenderly. “Evidently you’re used to gentler men altogether.”
“Well, yes, I am,” she faltered. It was true, too, but not in the way he meant it. She was still shivering from the force of what he’d made her feel.
“I’m not a gentle lover,” he said quietly, searching her eyes. “I’ve never had to be. My kind of woman can match my passion move for move, and it’s always been rough and wild because I like it that way.” He drew in a slow breath, and his hand flattened over her breast suddenly, in an almost protective gesture. “It never occurred to me before that some women might find that kind of ardor intimidating.”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t quite know what to expect.”
Why in God’s name he should feel guilty, he didn’t know. But he did. He bent and kissed her with noticeable restraint, almost with tenderness. “Next time,” he whispered at her lips, “I’ll be a little less wild with you, and a hell of a lot gentler. The last thing I want is to make you afraid of me.”
She searched his dark face with wonder. He seemed as surprised by what they’d shared as she did. But he wasn’t inexperienced. Shouldn’t it have been routine to him to make love to a woman and experience those feelings? She wished she could ask him, but that would mean admitting her naïveté. And once he knew how innocent she really was, he’d never come near her again. He’d said so.
She tried to relax, to carry on the fiction of sophistication. But the blatant masculinity of his body against her made her uneasy.
“I’m not afraid,” she said.
He moved his hand away from her breast and lightly touched her mouth, liking the way she lay so softly in his arms, her long hair draping around her shoulders, her eyes gentle and trusting now. She was a woman who needed tenderness, and he was angry with himself for the way he’d treated her. What had been natural with other women seemed out of place and crude with her. He remembered what he’d whispered to her, and winced now, wishing he could take it back.
“What is it?” she asked, having seen that change of expression.
“I said something pretty crude to you a few minutes ago,” he said with quiet honesty. “I’m sorry. I suppose I’d forgotten that a woman with some experience can still be a lady, and deserves to be treated like one. The next time I make love to you, it won’t be like this.”
He moved her gently out of his arms while she was still absorbing the shock of what he’d said.
He went around the cab and helped her out, holding her arm protectively as he escorted her onto the well-lit porch. He looked down at her and his eyes fell suddenly to her dress. He smiled ruefully.
“Good thing Winnie’s not up,” he murmured.
She followed his gaze and flushed. There was a very obvious dampness on her dress around the nipple that no engaged woman would mistake the reason for.
He cupped her face in his hands and held it up to his eyes, smiling indulgently at her. “Don’t worry, no one will see it. Next time,” he breathed, bending to her mouth with agonizing slowness, “we’ll make sure the fabric is out of the way before I put my lips on you.”
She gasped and he smiled against her mouth as he kissed it. His body went rigid instantly, drawing a shocked gasp from his own mouth.
“God, you excite me!” he said roughly, drawing back. “I’d better get out of here before I shock us both. I’ll call in a day or so and we’ll set a time for that trip to Hardin. By the way, you can tell your mother hen that I won’t keep you out this late again.”
“I will.” She was holding his arms for support. It wasn’t easy to let go. She didn’t want to be away from him for a minute, much less two days. “Well, good night. I enjoyed the dinner and the concert.”
“Not the movie?” he murmured dryly, smiling at her faint flush. His smile faded as he looked down into her eyes. “Never mind. I
