Draycott Eternal - Draycott Eternal Part 34
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Draycott Eternal Part 34

"You should sell it. You"d make a fortune." His hands eased over the sheer silk, warm with the heat of her body.

"Your hands," she said raggedly. "They"re-"

"Trembling. I know." Ian challenged her to look away as he slid his fingers into her hair. It was only for a moment, he told himself. He could stop when he had to.

His pulse kicked sharply as color filled her cheeks. "God, don"t blush again. I"m in serious danger already."

Her eyes widened as she moved against his thighs, where his arousal was unmistakable. "But before, you said that you-that we-"

"To hell with what I said." His hand slid along her hair and gently freed it from the button.

Then his fingers splayed open around her slender waist as he pulled her against him. "Does this frighten you?"

"No," Jamee said slowly. "I feel restless. A little dizzy. More than a little dizzy, actually." Her brow furrowed. "Is it supposed to feel like that?"

"It"s supposed to feel however it feels, Jamee. Sometimes it"s wrong to bring your preconceptions into this."

She smiled. "The idle rich don"t use words likepreconception. I doubt they"re this nice, either."

"Pay attention, woman," Ian said huskily. "I"m trying to be serious here."

"So am I. I"ve always wished..." Her voice broke. "Any second, I expect the fear to kick in.

But it hasn"t, Ian. Not with you. It"s some kind of miracle how I feel around you."

Her honesty stunned him to immobility. "Jamee...you don"t have to..."

"I know I don"t." She tilted her head. Smiled slowly. Opened her hands on his shirt. "A kiss would probably be in order about now, McCall."

Ian swallowed. Her hips moved. He felt as if he"d been kicked by a horse. "A kiss?"

"You know, that thing two people do with their mouths. Preferably hot and slow."

"I know damned well what a kiss is," he said hoarsely. The kiss wasn"t the problem. The problem was that Jamee"s lips were the color of ripe plums and if he kissed her, he"d never be able to stop. She"d be naked before the fire, her slip in shreds, and he"d be buried inside her before either of them knew it.

"Just one." Her head tilted. "What could be so dangerous about one little kiss, Lord Glenlyle?"

Ian found out a heartbeat later when he grasped the back of her neck, urged her head down and touched her mouth with his.

The room tilted crazily.

She sat very still. Waiting to panic, he realized. He slid his lips from side to side over hers with gentle pressure. Her mouth softened, her breath coming in faint puffs.

"Frightened?" he murmured.

She leaned closer. Her fingers eased beneath his collar. "Umm."

"Jamee, tell me if you want-"

"I do." Her lips feathered open beneath his. "Very, very much."

The room took another sudden lurch as her tongue brushed his. Ian was glad he was lying down.

"That wasn"t so bad," she said gravely. Her hands circled his neck. Gently, she caught his lip between her teeth.

Ian bit back a groan, slammed by heat that gave new meaning to the wordpain. But he didn"t move, didn"t strain, capture or take. The moment was hers, the control in her hands.

God knew, he wasn"t in control.

She savored her power, savored him, learning the textures of his mouth and what it meant for a man"s strength to be held rigidly in check.

Finally she pulled away and drew a hard breath. "You didn"t move."

"No." His voice was husky.

Her eyes widened. "You were waiting...for me?"

The test had been for them both. Jamee had passed. It was his own control Ian was worrying about.

She studied his mouth. "You didn"t tell me that this kind of thing could be so pleasant, McCall."

Ian struggled for sanity. For the strength to push her away. "Jamee, what you"re feeling is hormones, pure and simple. It means nothing. These things often happen during forced confinement."

"Not to me, they don"t." Her eyes glistened. "Never to me."

"Never?"

"Not even with my ex-fiance. Our relationship was pretty much platonic."

"Then he was a bloody fool," Ian said harshly. "A woman like you needs more than stability and normalcy. You deserve adventure and excitement. A little recklessness." He looked at the fire to keep from staring at her face. Her shoulders. Her softly rounded breasts. "Dammit, you"ve got your whole life in front of you. Go rent a white house on a Greek island. Sail the South Pacific and camp out on a pink sand beach in Thailand. Make love under the Southern Cross."

"I have," she said. "All except for the last part." She shrugged. "But you know all about that.

Why I haven"t."

She wasn"t doing a damned thing to help his control. "What if I couldn"t stop? What if I took this farther than you wanted to go?"

"How fardo I want to go?" she asked, toying with the hair at his neck.

"Dammit, Jamee, you"re not helping here."

"No, I don"t think I am." Her eyes darkened to azure. Ian saw flecks of firelight reflected in their depths. "Not a bit."

Against all conscious thought, he covered her warm breasts and traced the dark, silken centers that had tormented him for an eternity. Small but perfect, she filled his fingers, her response immediate.

"Ian," she whispered. Her breath caught on a gasp as he eased the sensitive crests beneath his fingers. "That. What you"re doing." Another gasp.

"This?" He slipped his hands beneath the sheer silk and met the eager thrust of her naked skin.

"God," he whispered hoarsely. She was too beautiful, too responsive. When had she skated and laughed her way past all his barriers?

She arched her back and rasped his name. Hunger exploded through Ian like a caged animal suddenly freed.

Her gasp became a sigh. Became a husky moan as his hands tightened. She blinked, her eyes luminous with passion. "If you happen to think-Well, to want to-"

"I can"thelp wanting to." Ian tried to ignore the small, restless movements she made against his thighs and the way her fingers kneaded his shoulders. Her breasts were heavy in his hands, pebbled and tight.

Yes, he wanted. His blood was screaming to have her. She was life and color and warmth when Ian had resigned himself to shadows.

The thought brought him crashing back to reality. He closed himself to the waves of slashing hunger, shut his eyes to Jamee"s firelit beauty. He thought about the thousand reasons this pleasure could never be taken.

Not honorably.

Not with Jamee.

Slowly, he slid away from her and rose to his feet. "We"ve got to stop," he grated. "This can never happen again."

Jamee gave a throaty laugh. "Never is a long time, McCall. I like the sound of tonight" or ten minutes" a whole lot better than never.""

Ian clenched his jaw and said nothing.

She hugged her knees to her chest. "What"s wrong?" she whispered.

Everything,Ian thought, cursing the fact that he had ever accepted this bloody job. Wishing he could have met this woman under different circumstances.

She gave a wobbly smile. "You"re not going to tell me you have a social disease, I hope."

He didn"t smile back. "No."

Jamee stared at his obviously aroused body. "I...see."

Ian felt the strain at his zipper grow and knew what she must be seeing, what she must have felt while she was curled against him.

"I hate to tell you this, but the excuse of a tragic war wound just isn"t going to carry much weight right now."

Ian cursed silently. No, that lie wouldn"t work. If so, he might have tried it.

Other equally weak excuses came to mind, but he knew that lies simply weren"t an option. Not now. Jamee Night deserved a whole lot better than that. Lies were degrading to teller and listener and they were generally useless in the end.

Ian frowned, remembering the light he had seen earlier. Even now, someone watched them in the darkness. Jamee deserved to know that, in spite of his promise to her brother. She deserved the rest of the truth, too.

Ian held her gaze. "Not because of that," he said tersely.

"Then why?" Her face was pale, too pale.

Ian forced himself to watch her eyes as he spoke, waiting for her anger and shock. "Because I"m a bodyguard, Jamee. I"m not a casual traveler who was caught in the fog. I was hired two weeks ago by your brother Adam to protect you."

CHAPTER TEN.

"HIRED?" JAMEE BLINKED HARD."You"re a bodyguard?"

"That"s one word for it."

She clutched her legs tightly. Something hot filled her throat and made it impossible to breathe. "Adam-my brotherhired you?"

"I"m afraid so, Jamee."

She couldn"t seem to stop shivering. "But you said you were-"

"I know exactly what I said," Ian growled. "Glenlyle is the name of my estate. That much is true. Duncan MacKinnon knows that I"ve been following you, keeping you in sight to protect you."

Jamee clutched at the arm of the chair, wanting stability. Wanting solidity. Wanting Ian"s arms around her.

But not because he washired.

"Go on and yell," he said. "You"re entitled."

She wanted to deck him first, then do the same to her interfering brothers. But Jamee saw the pain in his eyes. The tension in his locked shoulders. The betrayal had hurt him almost as much as it hurt her, she realized. He wasn"t the sort of man to take lying lightly.

A man of honor.

More than decking Ian, she wanted to touch his face and soothe the anger that burned in his eyes. The intensity of that wish shocked her. "If I screamed, would it make you feel better?"

"It would be a start. Ilied to you, Jamee. Your own brother lied to you. This whole business was a world-class act."

Jamee clenched her fingers to keep from touching the frown cut into Ian"s forehead. "You must be very good. Adam only chooses the best."

"Oh, I"m good." The acknowledgment was bitter. "At least I used to be."

"Used to be?"

He shrugged. "Until I met you. Then every sane thought seemed to fly out of my brain."

Jamee reached out a hand, then let it fall. "It"s not your fault. The wealth my parents left will always make me a target."

"That"s true," he said gravely. "You need to take precautions-real precautions-for your safety. Not just for a day or two, Jamee. This is forever."

Something blurred her vision. "Are you signing on, Lord Glenlyle? Forever?"

"Forever"s not an option for me, Jamee."