Come Gentle the Dawn (19 page)

Brie nodded, snuggling into the pillow. “When I was scared, she’d come and hold me. Then she’d make me feel better,” she murmured, her words barely audible.

His throat constricted. “Are you scared?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

Raising her lashes and meeting Linc’s gaze, she nodded. “Y-yes…”

“Do—do you want me to hold you?”

She captured Linc’s hand and held it against her cheek. “Will you?”

Taking a shaky breath, Linc nodded. “As long as you want.”

“All night?”

He managed to smile. “All night,” he promised huskily, removing his hand from hers. Linc moved to the other side of the bed. His heart was pounding heavily in his chest. As he slid into bed, he realized that Brie had already sunk back into sleep. He moved to take her into his arms, knowing she probably wouldn’t recall their conversation in the morning. It didn’t matter. All he was going to do was hold her, give her that feeling of safety so she could continue to heal herself.

“Come here,” he murmured softly. A groan escaped him when she turned over and blindly sought his arms. He felt the warm sleekness of her silk nightgown. Brie rested her head against his shoulder, hands pressed to his chest. Her scent entered his flared nostrils, and Linc’s heated blood rushed with throbbing urgency throughout him. He had to strangle the urge to wake Brie and make slow, delicious love with her.…

*

Memories of her house being broken into flooded Brie’s awakening mind, and she burrowed more deeply into Linc’s arms. His naked chest was warm and firm beneath her cheek. As she lay there, listening to his heartbeat, her arm wrapped around his torso, she admitted how much he’d come to mean to her on a strictly personal level. Was it love?

With a sigh, she closed her eyes, feeling Linc’s
arms coming around her as he awakened. She had nearly married once, but the emotions she’d felt then were not as strong and vibrant as what she felt toward Linc. His heartbeat quickened, and she knew he was fully awake.

Wanting to erase the terrible events that were stalking her, Brie pressed herself against his entire body, wanting to lose herself in Linc.

Linc levered himself upward on one elbow, gazing down at Brie in the early morning light. Her eyes were lustrous with invitation, lips parted, begging him to kiss her. He’d waited so long for her silent invitation to love her. He’d done right, and it felt good, knowing that she wanted him at last. He threaded his fingers through her silky hair, and she responded with a sigh. Her fingers moved across his shoulder and back.

“I’ve waited a long time for this,” he told her, pressing his lips to her hair, inhaling her feminine scent. Linc ignored what his mind was screaming at him, that Brie didn’t know he was an agent, that he had come to her in deception and cloaked with lies. Shoving that reality aside, he trailed kisses from her temple, across her cheek and to her awaiting lips, feeling her unfettered response.

“So have I,” she said, sighing, raising her lashes, drowning in his cobalt eyes, which burned with hunger.

Linc nodded. “That night I held you on the couch and caressed you, I had wanted to carry you to the bed. I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than just hold you after you cried.” His voice lowered to a gritty growl. “I wanted to make love to you, Brie. I wanted to erase all that hurt that was left in you from your storm of tears. I wanted to be there in the morning and have you wake
up in my arms, knowing that I was there for more than just a one-night stand.” He shook his head, mystified at the depth of his feelings for her. “I didn’t even want to leave you from that moment on.”

Brie stared at his rugged face and the grim set of his mouth. With a thrill, she realized Linc was revealing another part of himself to her, and elation soared through her. This was the Linc she had always known existed beyond those walls he had set around himself. “So you felt the best way to help me was to create distance between us, of a sort?”

His gaze rested on her serene features. “I want to love you,” he said thickly, his body going hard with need of her. He saw and felt Brie arch against him.

“Linc,” she said huskily, “I don’t want that distance between us any longer.”

With a groan, he brought her to him.

Brie closed her eyes, opening her arms to receive him. The instant his mouth molded firmly over hers, a small moan of pleasure escaped from her. Her arms followed the curve of his shoulders. The white-hot shock of need uncurled heatedly in her as she felt him shift so that she was lying beneath him. His breath was moist and ragged against her cheek.

“Open your mouth,” he rasped, “I want to taste you, Brie. All of you…”

Another bolt of pleasure unwound through her as his tongue gently explored her mouth. An ache, so intense and startling, made her gasp as his hand trailed a path of fire around her breast. She felt her nipples growing hard, throbbing, begging to be touched by Linc. Her breathing became uneven, and she hungrily
returned his fierce kiss. Brie ran her fingertips over his back, reveling in the movement of his muscles.

She was totally unprepared when Linc tore his mouth from her lips, captured one of her nipples beneath the gown and sucked it gently. A cry of need tore from her, and she arched toward him, filled with the ecstasy of pleasure. Another cry tore from her as Linc gave the other nipple equal attention, easing the ache there. His trembling fingers pushed the straps of her gown aside, and Brie froze. Her eyes flew open and she lay staring up at Linc, feeling a mixture of shame and shyness. He leaned down, kissing her lips, and she knew it was a kiss meant to give support, not ignite passion. He was breathing harshly as he rested his hand upon her injured shoulder.

“I’ll be gentle,” he told her.

His hand had begun to push the fabric away to expose the angry red flesh that Brie was so ashamed of. She tensed, her eyes going wide with pleading. He leaned down, kissing her lashes, nose, cheek and finally her mouth.

“Listen to me.” Linc breathed thickly against her ear, holding her close. “It makes no difference to me about your burns. They aren’t the whole of you. It’s only skin, not your heart, that’s been wounded.” He brushed a kiss on her cheek, sensing she was beginning to relax and accept his touch. “It’s what I see and feel from your heart that I want you to share with me. Your warm, giving, loving heart.” He shuddered when she pressed herself to him. “I ache for you. I want you so bad that I would tear this world apart to be with you.” He gently pulled down the strap. “What you have is in you. In your heart, Brie. Give that to me. Let me drown myself inside you…”

Tears clung like shimmering diamonds to her lashes. Then she opened her eyes, wrapped her arms around his neck and met his burning gaze. “Yes,” she whispered unsteadily. “I’m not afraid anymore.”

He smiled tenderly. He leaned down to place moist kisses in the valley between her breasts as he released them from the captive material. She was so beautiful, he thought, after he’d undressed her. He quivered as she lay before him on the dark wine-colored blanket, her body a creamy white with graceful curves. Pleasure sang through him when she sat up and with trembling fingers of her own helped him shed his pajamas. He liked her participation, finding it provocative. And when she came to him, settling on her knees between his legs, pressing her lips to his, his surprise melted into a caldron of fire.

He ran his hands down her torso, rested them on her hips and drew her to him. His body throbbed with heat and growing fire. A small moan of pleasure broke from her parted lips as he suckled her nipples, hands cupping their curved roundness. She was magic. She was a dream. And so much a woman. Dazed by her ability to take and to give in return, Linc brought her down upon him. He knew that because of Brie’s burns, he shouldn’t lie on her and have the sheet and blankets rub against her tender, recovering flesh.

Brie’s heart thrashed wildly in her breast; her body screamed to be freed of the torture of needing Linc. Hot flames were burning inside her, and Brie was barely aware when he lay back, taking her with him. He lifted her easily, as if she were a feather. The instant she settled against his hips and the hardness of his body pressed against her soft, womanly core,
a sweet quiver rippled through her. It was so exquisite, so shattering that Brie could only grip his arms. And when he arched against her, a sob tore from her lips and she felt need as never before. Fire spread through her belly down to where she needed to join with him. As if he had sensed her need, Brie felt herself lifted, and in the next second, she welcomed him into her.

Sensations overwhelmed her as he moved against her in the way only a man can with his woman. Liquid heat built rapidly through her, and Brie tensed. A shattering explosion roared through her, robbing her of breath, stealing her senses and hurling her to the edge of an unnamed universe. She rested her head on Linc’s shoulder and called his name over and over again. His hands gently caressed her back and hips and he called thickly to her, moving, bringing her into fiery rhythm with himself once again. This time, she was aware of his power, his maleness and strength as never before. His hands tightened against her hips and he thrust deep and hard into her. Brie felt their universes collide, then fly apart in an eruption of golden light as they shared the ultimate with one another, the gift of themselves.

Linc lay there long afterward, breathing raggedly, his heart thudding savagely in his chest. Brie lay against him, her head on his shoulder. He could only feel. Thought was nonexistent, banished into exile. He ran his hands lightly down her body, which was slick and hot. Her heart was skittering, and he smiled. She was boneless, her giving, spent body molding and curving to the harder planes of his own. His hand settled on her velvet brown hair and he ran the strands between his fingers.

“You’re like a feline,” he said in a gritty voice, “purring and rubbing against me.”

Brie couldn’t open her eyes, wrapped in euphoria. “I’ve never thought of myself as a cat,” she admitted, her voice wispy.

Linc opened his eyes. “You’re the first woman I’ve met who reminded me of a cat. There’s something about you…” He groped for words that refused to come because he was still held in the glowing, throbbing spell of what they’d just shared. He cupped her face, staring into her half-closed eyes fringed with dark lashes. Her lips were slightly swollen, and he immediately felt regret, not wanting to have hurt Brie. But she had come to him with her fire to match and mate with his, and it had torn away all his best intentions.

“Any regrets?” he asked her.

Brie closed her eyes and gave a small shake of her head. “No.” She opened them and stared at him. “And you?”

Linc warmed to her. No other woman had ever asked him that. Or perhaps, cared enough to ask. For her, physical union went far beyond physical needs. But he had always known that. For Brie, the union was a nonverbal commitment of herself to him, and he was suddenly moved by what had occurred between them. He managed a slight smile, thinking how beautiful she looked after their loving, hating himself for having to keep a lie between them. “No. No regrets,” he told her softly. He saw the smoldering gold flame in her eyes suddenly die, and his hands tightened on her jaw. “What is it?”

Brie placed her lips against his palm, aware of the
roughened texture of his flesh, then rested her head in the crook of his shoulder. “I’m scared, Linc,” she admitted.

His hand came to rest on her uninjured shoulder. “About what?”

“Us. Me, rather.” She took a breath and rushed on, her words coming out in a torrent. “I know your kind. And I accept that. But it’s the first time I’ve accepted it. I’m used to a one-to-one relationship where more counts than just the bedroom scene. I want…no, need that depth of sharing with a man.” She swallowed hard. “And I know from the way you’ve talked in the past that a woman is pleasure. That’s all. I knew all that before we made love with one another, and I accepted that about you. I’m not going to play a game with you and try to get you to change.”

She had courage, Linc thought. And she was clearheaded. She was right—women were to be enjoyed in bed. But he had enjoyed Brie in and
out
of bed. “In the past three weeks you’ve taught me something, little cat—what it’s like to be a friend to a woman.”

There was disbelief in her voice. “I have?”

He smiled and kissed her hair. “I’ve changed my mind about women because of you.” He sighed. “And it’s got to be due to you. I like you as my friend, too. I like all the things we do together.” Then he added as she raised her head, hope in her lovely green eyes, “In and
out
of bed.”

Tears scalded her eyes as she held Linc’s tender gaze. “You mean that?” she asked. His answering smile caressed her.

He wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Yes, I mean that. You’re different, Brie. And it’s hard to put into
words what I’m talking about. You aren’t like other women. You’re unique, one of a kind.”

Brie leaned over and kissed his roughened cheek, then nuzzled her lips near his ear. “No, I’m not so unique, Linc,” she whispered. “All I did was refuse to allow you to put me into that mold. And you had no choice because we worked together. There are many other women out there like me. Circumstances just haven’t been there for you to see or discover that.”

He buried his face in the curve of her neck, tasting her sweetness and the saltiness of her skin. “There may be, but I’m interested only in you, woman. Now, come here…” He gently rolled her onto her back, levering himself beside her. Just the sound of her voice and the brush of her fingertips on his skin sent his body into rigid awakening once again. He wasn’t sure who was more surprised by it—him or Brie. But if she was surprised, it didn’t show in her welcoming green eyes. He leaned down and cherished her full lips, and he knew—she loved him. Brie was incapable of hiding her real feelings, and Linc felt a powerful current of fear and joy jag through him. His new awareness made the kiss he gave her that much sweeter. Brie deserved happiness. She deserved to laugh. He had seen life dancing in her eyes. She was like the sun, touching and coaxing life from the earth.