Amethyst Destiny (18 page)

“You’ll see that Hegarty sends her home?”

Rourke nodded. “We will.” His gaze swung to Brenna. “We’ll go to Old Inghinn on the morrow.”

Brenna’s face fell, but she gave a nod that quickly dissolved into a yawn. “I’d love to stay up and chat, but I’m nearly asleep on my feet. Julia, do you want me to stay with you tonight? Or ...” She met Talon’s gaze.

Talon’s grip on Julia tightened.

Julia raised her head. “I’m feeling better. I’ll be fine, Brenna. Thanks.” But as she started to rise from his lap, Talon caught her tight against him and rose. “I’ll carry ye back to your chamber, lass.”

“You don’t have to do that.” But she hooked her arm around his neck and held on.

“Aye, I do.”

Rourke picked up the chalice. “I’ll put this somewhere safe tonight and give it to you in the morning.”

Talon nodded his thanks. He didn’t want the thing anywhere near Julia, but he refused to release her to take it. Not until he had to.

As Talon carried Julia back to her chamber, he felt her fingers in his hair, the sweet touch stealing a measure of the chill that had come over him when she’d walked into the solar to find him on his knees.

The press of her soft lips to his temple dispelled the rest of the cold. “Thank you for telling them the truth. It meant a lot to me that you did that.”

“Aye. ’Tis the reason I did.”

He felt her smile, and felt her head brush his own. “I know.”

When they reached her door, she lifted her head and met his gaze. “Come in with me.” Her eyes glowed with a softness that wove through his heart and a heat that had the blood pumping hard through his veins.

Her cool fingers trailed down his cheek. “If this is our last night together, I want ...” She looked away, a shyness stealing over her features. Finding her courage, she again met his gaze. “I want you to teach me what it can be like. I want ...”

She pressed her cheek to his and whispered in his ear. “I want you to make love to me. Stay with me, Talon.”

As his body caught fire, he squeezed her close to his chest, wondering how he was ever going to live without her.

FIFTEEN

Julia clung tightly to Talon’s neck as he carried her into her room. All her life she’d told herself she didn’t need anyone. All her life she’d lied.

Sadness swept over her as she pressed her head against his, filling her lungs with his scent, a scent that had become increasingly familiar. Increasingly dear.

How was she going to stand it, knowing she’d never see him again? Knowing that the moment she returned to her own time, he’d be long dead?

Her arms tightened around his neck. In the morning he’d leave and she’d stay, waiting for Hegarty to come and send her home.

She’d never see Talon again.

Talon pushed the door closed with his shoulder, then strode with her to the bed. She looked up at him in the dim glow of the hearth embers. A shiver tore through her at the thought of giving herself to him totally. Was she sure she wanted to do this? The thing was, she knew he wanted to. And the thought of giving him this ultimate gift—her body and her trust—filled her with a sweet pleasure all its own.

A gift. To the man who’d shown her caring and friendship, loyalty and tenderness, when no one else ever had.

A gift. To the man she’d come to care for beyond anything that was wise.

She’d never thought of sex as a gift. There had never been anyone she’d wanted to give herself to. It didn’t matter that she wouldn’t enjoy the act itself. Holding him in her arms as he found pleasure and release in her body was enough.

Talon laid her gently on the bed, then turned away.

“Talon ...” Was he leaving? Hadn’t he understood? But as she sat up, she realized he was only going to the hearth to put on another log.

He tossed the wood on the embers, sending sparks leaping and flying, then rose and returned to her, his walk strong and sure, his face in shadow. But when he reached the bed, he didn’t take her into his arms. He didn’t try to undress her ... or himself. Instead, he sat on the edge of the bed, facing her, his thigh brushing hers.

When he lifted his hand it was only to trail his knuckles softly down her cheek. “You’re so beautiful, Julia-lass. I don’t ever want to forget you.”

She reached up and took his hand, then pulled it to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. Her heart began to flutter in her chest like a trapped bird. She was as inexperienced at seduction as a virgin.

“Make love to me, Talon.” She couldn’t quite force herself to meet his gaze, but she felt him watching her intently.

He made no move to comply, and she was suddenly afraid he didn’t want her after all. With his free hand, he slid his fingers into her hair, cradling her head.

“Look at me, Julia.” When she forced herself to, his gaze bore into hers as if he were trying to delve into her mind. “Why, lass? Why do ye want me?”

She watched him uncertainly. “You don’t want me?”

“Aye, I do. More than anything. But what do you want?”

Her gaze fell to his chest. “I want ... to hold you. While you find pleasure.”

His thumb traced soft circles on her cheek. “And what of your pleasure?”

“I’ll find mine, too,” she added hastily, suddenly remembering all the talk in movies and magazines about women faking orgasms to spare their partner’s pride. Could she do that? Fake an orgasm? Probably. She’d seen
When Harry Met Sally
three times.

The problem was, Talon had made her come for real last night in the inn and she’d been so out of control, she didn’t have any idea what sounds she’d made, or how she’d acted. She had no way of knowing how to duplicate that.

Would he know the difference? Could guys tell these things?

Talon continued to stroke her cheek, watching her as if reading her thoughts. If he didn’t make a move soon, she was going to lose her nerve. Shoving through deep layers of inhibitions, she reached down between his legs and slid her fingers along the thick ridge of him. The thick,
huge
ridge of him.

Talon sucked in a hard breath.

Julia’s hand recoiled at the thought of that thickness pressing painfully inside her.

“Lass, ye needn’t ...”

“I want to.”

“Julia.” He framed her face, looking deeply into her eyes. “I think ye do. But I think ye don’t.” His thumbs stroked her cheeks. “Ye can stop it at any time, aye? Tell me to stop and I will.”

“I’m not a virgin, Talon.”

He continued to hold her face, touching her as if he held a rare orchid in his hands. “Aye, ye are. In all the ways that matter, you are.”

His words made her chest ache and her cheeks burn. He understood more than she had herself. That she was afraid. That those early sexual experiences had been too much, too young.

“We’ll go slow, lass,” Talon said quietly. “’ Twill be unlike before. I vow it. This will be your first time.” He gave her an impish grin. “If ye want your maidenhead back, I’ll ask the ring for it.”

Despite his grin, she realized that if she asked him to do that for her, he would.

She smiled softly. “No thanks. That first time was the worst.”

“It always is.” His eyes turned serious and he slowly leaned in to kiss her, a featherlight brush of lips on lips that sent pleasurable shivers tripping through every cell in her body. For long moments he kissed her, nothing more. As if that was all he wanted, as if that was all sex was about. His mouth on hers, plundering, sweeping, stroking. A simple touch that lit fires in her limbs, her chest, her abdomen, and deep down low until she felt the tension building, her body turning restless. Needy.

Unhurriedly, his hands began to roam. Into her hair, over her shoulders, down her back, avoiding the critical zones, taking it slow. Building the heat and the excitement, without triggering her natural defenses. On a purely logical level, she understood he was deliberately easing her along, intentionally not pushing too fast.

His approach was masterful. His patience and gentleness melted her, strengthening her wish to give him anything. Everything. She’d been prepared to take nothing in return. Instead, he was the one giving to her.

His mouth dipped, his lips claimed her neck, and all thought fled. With a gentle tug of his fingers, her bathrobe fell open. Her shift slipped. His mouth covered her bare shoulder and desire skyrocketed.

She felt his fingers at the ties of her shift, loosening the neck further. Then cool air slid across her bared breast. As his thumb brushed her sensitive nipple, she sucked in a trembling breath, loving the feel, even as she watched his head dip.

Just as he’d done last night, he took her breast deeply into his mouth. Her head fell back as she absorbed this intimate and wonderful touch.

“Talon,” she said on a gasp. “You don’t have to do all this if you don’t want to. You can take your pleasure.”

He lifted his face, peering into hers with a heavy-lidded, lazy grin. “This is my pleasure.” He planted a small, sweet kiss on the end of her nose. “There is nothing more exciting to me than watching your passion rise, hearing your breathing change, listening to your quick gasps and low moans as I touch you. As I lick you.”

He pressed a kiss to the curve between her neck and shoulder and she tilted her head away, giving him full access.

“The only thing I would ask, when you’re ready, is that ye allow me to undress you. I wish to see you, Julia. All of ye.”

His voice throbbed with such carnal pleasure, she felt answering pulses all the way to her womb.

“Undress me, Talon.”

A smile broke across his face, a smile at once sweet and dangerous and oh so hot. He pulled off his shirt first, revealing that beautiful body once more. He pulled off his boots, then turned to her.

His expression, as he pushed the robe from her shoulders, was fiercely tender. He tugged the sleeves off her arms, then rose to his feet and pulled her to hers. The bathrobe pooled on the bed behind her. Talon lifted her shift up and over her head, baring her to his sight with one quick movement.

Julia stood before him as she’d never stood before a man. Naked. And strangely, amazingly, comfortable in that fact.

His eyes roamed her body, lighting fires everywhere his gaze caressed her. “So bonny.” He gathered her to him then, pulling her tight, flesh to flesh.

With a low sound of impatience, he swept her into his arms and deposited her in the middle of the bed, then followed her down. His lips were everywhere, grazing her shoulder, her neck, the hollow between her breasts.

He took her in his arms and rolled her to her side as he kissed her, his hand sliding over her hip and her buttocks. His fingers stroked her flesh, digging in firmly, tensely, as if he wanted to do more but was determined to take it slow. His deeply sensuous ministrations sent the pressure building inside her.

Slowly, his hand began to move again, sliding down the back of her thigh, sending her heart soaring and her body weeping with excitement.

His fingers curled around her knee and he lifted her leg, pulling it to rest on his hip, opening her. Little by little, as her breathing grew ragged, his fingers slid the length of her inner thigh toward the aching, throbbing source of her heat.

The first brush of his finger along her swollen lips made her jump, then moan with pleasure, even as her body tensed for what was yet to come.

But Talon, she was beginning to realize, had infinite stores of patience. Over and over, he stroked her heated flesh, flicking the nub of her clitoris, moving away, then flicking it again. Each finger stroke along that open line moved easier. Slicker. Every stroke of her clitoris made her arch and gasp until she feared she’d forget how to breathe.

And all the while he kissed her—her throat, her forehead, her cheek.

The first dip of his finger inside her sent sensation exploding outward from her core in a brilliant arc, eliciting a harsh groan and sending her hips thrusting to meet him, to deepen his claim on her body.

“Talon.”

“Ye like that.”

“Oh God, yes. More.”

His finger dove deeper, stroking her sensitive inner walls, then circling around and around, sending her into a swirling mass of pleasure and need.

As his head dipped to pull her breast into his mouth, his finger pulled out of her, only to return, thicker, fuller than before. Not until it moved in two directions at once, fluttering insanely, wonderfully, did she realize he’d pushed two fingers inside her this time. Pleasure danced deep within her with the fluttering of his fingers until she lost control, gasping and rocking against his hand. Deep inside, she felt things tightening. Rising.

“Talon, I want more. I
need
more.”

He released her breast and lifted up to look down into her face. In his eyes she saw a deep, tender satisfaction. On his mouth a small, devilishly sweet smile.

“Do ye want me inside you?”

“Yes. You. Only you.”

He pulled his fingers from her depths and stood, shucking his pants, revealing a long, hard erection. She’d expected the sight of him to fill her with dread, as the feel of him had initially, but as aroused as she was, the sight of him had the opposite effect. Amazingly, the thought of that length and breadth spreading her, filling her, only excited her more.

He came to her and she opened her arms and thighs for him, sliding her hands around his broad shoulders as he settled between her legs.

But he didn’t enter her right away. Instead, he took her head in his hands and stared down into her face, his own a tense mask of barely leashed passion and precious gentleness.

“Now, Talon. Come to me.”

He kissed her, capturing her mouth even as she felt the hard press of silken flesh against her slick opening. He pressed forward, the pressure building, building, millimeter by millimeter, but she felt no pain. Only unimaginable pleasure.

He took her slowly, with infinite care, then pulled out and repeated the process only slightly faster than before. As he pressed all the way into her, his tongue sliding against hers, a feeling of profound rightness enveloped her. She’d always known the others had been a mistake, but she hadn’t realized just how big a mistake. Until now.

And yet, it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d been older. Or if she’d cared for them. Deep inside, she knew Talon was the one she’d been waiting for. The only one who would ever matter.

Over and over, he pulled out and pushed into her again, faster and faster, filling her, delighting her, driving her toward that bright, spectacular release he’d brought her to last night. She met him thrust for thrust, the desperation building inside her to join with him on the most fundamental level, to become one with this man who was beginning to mean everything to her.

Her chest swelled with emotion even as her body rose.

His thrusts grew faster, harder, and she urged him on, rocking to meet him, groaning every time with the pure, exquisite joy pulsing through her. The pressure started up again, building and twisting, up and up until the orgasm tore through her, a cataclysm that unraveled her and knit her back together again in a different pattern than before. Whole, as she’d never been.

As Talon groaned with his own release, she felt reborn.

For minutes on end, they lay there, joined, their breathing and pulse rates slowly falling back to normal.