Love in the Time of a Highland Laird (A Laird for All Time Book 3) by Angeline Fortin (whitelam books .TXT) 📗

A smile so broad, a dimple appeared on his cheek blossomed on his face, his blue eyes suddenly alight with roguish satisfaction. He was so beautiful, the sight tore at her heart.

“Excellent choice.”

He levered himself off the floor and for a fraction of a second, she feared he meant to resume his place opposite her and ask his questions. Disappointment pierced her but quickly faded when Keir pulled down the shades on each of the windows and shifted to sit beside her.

Yes, pressed so close she could feel the heat radiating off his massive body.

He took her hat and tossed it on to the other seat next to his. Tilting her head back as promised, he caressed her jaw with the pad of his thumb as he looked down at her.

“Ye made a fine choice, lass. I was afraid ye might nae.” His hot eyes searched her face, settling fleetingly on her lips before lifting to meet her eyes once more. “I’ve contemplated so many ways I might kiss ye, I hardly ken where tae begin.”

“The lips?” she suggested a little hoarsely.

He chuckled. “The lips then.”

Al held her breath in anticipation as he lowered his lips to hers. They were soft but firm, brushing lightly over her mouth. Tasting her before he settled in, kissing her more deeply. With a moan of satisfaction, she melted against him as the fireworks flared more brilliantly than she’d ever imagined.

Breaking the kiss, he glanced down at her with a grin.

“Ah, definitely the lips.”

Definitely.

Parting her lips as his returned to hers, she quivered in delight as his tongue plundered her mouth, teasing, tempting. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any better, it did. He retreated and advanced, nuzzled and nipped at her lips until she was awash with wanting, alternately sighing in pleasure and moaning, craving more.

Chapter 21

The carriage slowed and Keir brushed his lips across hers one last time before lifting his head. Eyes still closed, she sighed softly. The wanton hum of pleasure and desire stirred him even more, bolstering the already painful arousal that had been his constant companion for more than an hour. His body screamed for release. He yearned for nothing more than to bury himself deep inside Al’s luscious body, to spend himself in her hot sheath.

Or at least urge her petite hand to provide the satisfaction he needed so desperately. He did none of those things, though he had fully intended to.

No, he’d known straightaway after taking her lips with his, she had either never been kissed, or at least, had never been kissed properly. Though there was no hesitation on her part, no surprise when he progressed more thoroughly into the task, she employed none of the skill one might when practiced in the art.

His astonishment that the men of her time hadn’t seen to it that she’d been well-tutored returned. She was of an age where she should have been kissed, and often.

Nevertheless, it had been his pleasure to be the one to teach her the true potential of the kiss. To be the first to coax her, guide her to such a level of rapture that she was only now fluttering open her silvery eyes to stare up at him in wonder and with unguarded desire.

Her full lips swollen and red, wet with his kisses. The sight of her tongue sweeping over them as if she might have one last taste of him, tightened his groin painfully.

By God, but he must have her! Though how could he conscionably seduce her into his bed when she was clearly a novice at such loveplay? When what she needed was a slow, thorough schooling on the matter. An experience demonstrating the finest nuances of what two bodies might achieve together.

He didn’t know the extent of her experience—in truth, he didn’t want to know the details—but again she was old enough that she might have taken a lover or two. If she had been as clumsily introduced to lovemaking as she had been to kissing, he’d find himself hard put not to find a way to travel to her time and pummel the life out of the man or men who’d denied her the proper appreciation.

Keir intended to be the one to show it to her. But for all his jesting, a carriage wasn’t the place to do it properly. So, he kept his hands to himself, though the temptation to do more was almost beyond his control.

Easing away, he adjusted his breeches before drawing the curtains and peeking outside.

“Are we stopping?” she asked. “Are we there already? Wherever it is we’re going?”

A purely masculine surge of smugness ran through him as she peered dazedly through the windows to the left and right. She hadn’t a clue the time that had past.

He had done that to her.

He fully intended to do it again, with an even grander conclusion.

*

Al blushed under his knowing gaze and fidgeted in her seat, straightening her dress and skirts. A pointless endeavor as not an inch of it was askew or a single tie undone but she had to do something to hide her embarrassment.

Except it wasn’t truly embarrassment. Rather it was something more akin to awe. For all the books she’d read, she’d never realized how thoroughly one could be kissed. How it might be ever-changing, inducing shivers of delight under the skillful touch of his lips one moment. Lifting her to electrifying heights of euphoria with the passionate stroke of his tongue in the next. Tempting her into the burning depths of pure lust until she practically begged him for more.

“Are we there?” she repeated, clearing her throat when her voice emerged husky with wanting.

“Nay, tis just a stop in Cullicudden tae rest the horses and provide us a change to refresh ourselves.” He opened the door and leapt out, turning to help her down. She took the stairs slowly, hoping her knees wouldn’t give way.

A crisp breeze caressed her hot