Highland Song (39 page)

"But you won't," he said smoothly, nuzzling her breast. "Don't ever tell me to stop. Let me kiss you everywhere."

Lainie couldn't speak but she leaned into him, giving him her consent. This time he didn't wait for a verbal reply.

The dizzying feelings Slade created with his mouth and teeth and tongue left her bereft of words as well as air.

The splintering noise Lainie made owed nothing to pain and everything to sudden, brilliant pleasure. Her resolve vanished. Her emotions spiraled onto a different plain. She could no more stop Slade than she could will her heart to cease beating.

Lainie didn't know what she felt when Slade stopped seducing and renewed his attentions to washing.

I don't dare beg him for more. He will know that I want him more than he wants me
.

"I have never courted you. I should have. You are beautiful, Lainie MacPherson. I've never seen hair as soft and as silken as yours, nor eyes that put the summer sky to shame," Slade said and paused as if in thought. "If you want more pleasure, you have to ask."

She stared at him. "Please Slade, kiss me," she murmured,
then
lowered her lashes as if she were afraid to give him the freedom to do as he pleased. In Slade's mind, she had done just that.

Slade slowly pulled her from the water, and with such reverence that startled Lainie, he brushed his lips across one breast and then the other. "I have no words that are eloquent enough to speak of your beauty."

He set her down in a spot where the water came only to her waist. His long fingers soaped lower, touching her waist her hipbones and her thighs. "Open your legs for me, little darling. I won't hurt you. I need to touch all of you."

When he touched her in dark, secret places, she flinched away slightly, knowing he would venture there, seduce and conquer and, sweet Jesu, she wanted it even knowing the pain and humiliation would return with a vengeance.

And she would curse herself and her lack of control once again. But for now--

She said nothing. She couldn't speak.

"Let me wash you there, ease the pain where I hurt you," he spoke from the heart. "I won't do anything you don't want me to do."

He waited, watching her, watching her eyes so he could see into her soul and feel the pulse of her life. With more patience than he had ever thought he possessed, he waited.

Finally, as if she knew he would not force her and that he was patiently waiting for her to give herself to him, she shifted her position allowing him access to all her secrets.

"That's right, little darling. Open for me. If I could take back that moment when I could have given you pleasure and gave you only frustration and pain, I would," he whispered. "But I would never take back the rest."

His warm sensual caress sent flames sweeping through her.

"Slade…"

"All my life I have searched for a woman as warm and as hungry and as passionate as you are. I've searched for a woman who would give herself honestly and willingly to me and not ask for anything in return except the same hungry passion."

"You never caused me any pain," she whispered.

"I didn't give you pleasure."

Lainie shivered and bit back a throaty purr as Slade's fingers ran the length of her leg and then back only to hesitate near the juncture. His caress was feather light, enticing and seducing all the while giving reassurance.

"Put your legs around me," he told her huskily.

She did as he told her. Her hands trembled as they settled on his shoulders. She froze when his fingertips traced her flesh along the inside of her thighs. Always moving higher, he teased with exquisite tenderness. She closed her eyes and held on to his shoulders so hard that her fingers pressed deeply into powerful muscle, leaving their mark.

"Does this hurt?" Slade asked looking at her.

She saw the tenderness in his eyes as well as the sweet hot rise of hungry desire. "Nay," she whispered letting her head fall forward and rest on his shoulder, unable to withstand the rising passion she saw in him.

"Does it give you pleasure?"

"Ye know it does," she whispered finding words difficult.

"I know."

"Sweet Jesu, but I should tell
ye
to stop," she said. "I shouldn't let ye do this to me again."

"But you won't."

Nay." Lainie looked up again. He brushed his lips over hers in a tenderness that spoke of longing and unfulfilled passion. "Because I want all you can give me. You put a song in my heart--a heart that was dead until you came into my life."

He leaned his head against Lainie's forehead. "I was afraid you would refuse to let me close to you again."

"When you touch me, I loose the ability to think," she murmured.

"So soft and silken," he said, caressing her, teasing her to a point where he could well and truly make her his. But he wanted to wait. He wanted her to need him so much that she begged for his touch.

He set her down beneath the waterfall, her legs trembling. Fire rushed through her body. She forgot everything--her promise to herself, her bargain with the man who would not let her refuse him. All she knew was the sweep of heat and the flames that touched her all the way to her core.

Moving his head from side to side, Slade stroked her stomach and her hips with his cheeks and the silken strands of his hair.

"You are everything a man could want, silky and soft," he told her. "Hot, so very hot a man could melt. Open for me, sweet Lainie. Let me show what making love should be. Open for me as a flower opens for the sun. I want to give you a pleasure you will never forget. I want you to remember this day with pleasure for the rest of your life."

Lainie couldn't help but surrender to the tender pressure between her thighs, allowing Slade access to dark, secret sensitive places. A soft gently exploring touch was her reward. Its gentle heat surprised her, weakening her knees. She made a broken sound of astonishment and pleasure then tried to catch her balance.

"That's good. Just relax. Let me do everything," Slade whispered. "Hold on to my shoulders."

Suddenly Lainie understood why his touch had been so silken and smooth.

"Slade."

He answered with another silken, heated caress and left her trembling from head to toe.

"Relax little darling. Don't fight this. We both know it's what you wanted the first time," Slade whispered. "Let me give you more pleasure than you could ever dream existed."

Slade made a husky sound of pleasure that reverberated throughout her body. She slid her nails across his back as he sent a wave of molten heat right to her core.

"Ah, Lainie, you were made for loving. You're hot and sweet and you swell with my caress."

Lainie couldn't answer. She had no voice, no coherent thoughts. She knew nothing but the inferno Slade ignited within her, releasing her from control and giving it all to Slade.

Heat pulsed through her. She let out a tiny cry, shattering the stillness surrounding the pool. She moaned and lightning seemed to lick through her. Her body writhed and pulsed. Then she melted against him, trembling and spent, wondering at the pleasure that had taken her to the highest point she'd ever been.

Slade moved back watching her and holding her because she could barely stand. He tucked her head against his chest and rocked her slowly while she recovered.

The silence of the forest pool was disturbed only by the waterfall's soothing rush and the soft sound of wind blowing in the trees. Lainie gave a shivering sigh and gazed at Slade's smiling green eyes.

"Pleasure, that's what is supposed to happen between a man and a woman," Slade said, brushing a soft butterfly kiss on her forehead. "Only pleasure, not pain. Now do you believe me? You'll have to take back your words."

A shudder rocked Lainie.

"I don't believe you. That wouldn't happen with any man. Bertram--" And all the painful memories came rushing back. Yet somehow, the thoughts were not as painful and the moment not as horrific.

Slade's hold on her tightened and when she looked at him, he was no longer smiling. A grim expression had replaced the devil-may-care grin and his green eyes were as cold as ice.

"What?" Lainie asked, her lips trembling and her thoughts narrowing in on Slade's words as well as his expression.

"Don't think about him--about Bertram--about what he did to you. I want you to remember only the moments of pleasure and the satisfaction afterwards. You're right. It isn't that way with every lover. But Bertram wasn't a lover."

Slade touched his finger to Lainie's chin, lifting it so she could not take her eyes from him. "Little darling, you let me have my wicked way with you because of passion and hunger and raw desire. Because I made you so hot you had to find a way to quench the flames. Not because of any crazy notion of love."

"The passion comes from love. That's why there is marriage. Hawke and Callie love each other."

Slade shook his head to deny her statement.