Page 48 of A Stranger’s Promise
He growled. He needed more of her. Nothing else mattered. He drew two fingertips lightly over her lips. “You’re so bonny, lass,” he said before he reclaimed her mouth in a hot, urgent kiss. He threaded his fingers into her hair, and tugged out the pins to free the curly tresses. She leaned into him. He deepened the kiss. Hot need demanded he possess her. He slid his hands lower down her spine.
Charlotte tore free. “Damnation.” She bit her bottom lip in a gesture that drove him mad. “I have no will when it comes to you.”
“How can I object to that?” He caught her bottom lip between his teeth and nibbled. She stilled, but he glimpsed the rise and fall of her breasts. His blood heated. He forced himself to break away. “I am not a dishonorable man, though you tempt me to the very hair’s breadth of it, I must confess.” Her gaze locked with his. “I am not my brother, Charlotte. I will enjoy your lips, aye, but my intentions are honorable.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Impossible.”
That made him chuckle. “Oh? You find it easier to accept me as your lover?”
She blushed. “Heavens, but…no…I…it…” Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin and went back to simply, “Impossible.”
“Tell me, truthfully, Charlotte. Would you hesitate to accept me were I a stable hand, a sailor, or a cartwright?”
“If only you were.” She sighed. “For then I could not refuse you.”
Alistair threw back his head and laughed. She frowned and he couldn’t resist nuzzling her ear again. “Then it is done, lass. For I have been all three, a stable hand, a sailor, and a cartwright. You cannot refuse me now, aye?”
She stared. Then she shook her head and laughed. Once again, he was lost. Alistair crushed her against him like a man possessed. He groaned against her mouth, and when she wrapped her arms around his neck and her tongue began an exploration of her own, he nearly came undone.
He pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses to her collarbone, but it was a mistake, the passion it unleashed almost carried him too far. He tore himself from her and rested his forehead against hers.
He drew a long, ragged breath. “You have an uncommon way of heating my blood, lass.”
She looked up, her eyes glittering in the candlelight.
“Go, Charlotte,” he warned. He was moments away from sweeping her into his arms and carrying her to his bed. “Or else I will make myself a liar.”
She hesitated and hope surged that she might insist he take her to his bed. Then she slipped out of his arms. He watched her walk at a sedate pace until she rounded the corner up ahead.
