Sweetwater Seduction (31 page)

She grimaced. Maybe she could wear her socks with her high-button shoes. But that would stretch her shoes, and after all, he was sound asleep. She could see her stocking curled underneath the edge of the stack of clothing on the floor. She tiptoed into the room, knelt beside the bed, and started slowly pulling the stocking out from under the pile. It snagged on something.

She glanced up at the bed, but saw no movement, and stealthily began probing under the stack with her hand. The jingle of coins stopped her dead. A quick glance showed the gunslinger was still asleep. She hurried to finish. Just as she stood with the stocking in her hand, a triumphant grin on her face, the gunslinger grasped her by the wrist and hauled her down on the bed with him. An instant later the sheet that had twisted around his hips as he rolled her under him was the only thing saving her modesty.

“What the hell were you looking for in my stuff?” he demanded.

“Nothing!”

He pulled her clenched fist toward him. “Then what do you have in your hand?”

She opened her hand and revealed a crumpled white stocking.

“Aw, hell.” He let go of her and sat up so she lay between his thighs, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. “You ought to know better than to go sneaking around a sleeping man.”

“I happened to be
sneaking around
in my
own bedroom
trying to find a
stocking
that
you
made me
drop
!” She punctuated her speech with a pointed finger jabbing at his ribs.

He captured her hand again. “All right. You've made your point,” he said irritably.

Then it dawned on both of them that his body had reacted very forthrightly to the fact there was a soft female beneath him on the bed.

Miss Devlin felt the flush begin on her chest and work its way up to heat her cheeks. “You can get off me now,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster.

“I don't think so, just yet.”

His eyes were hooded and looked sleepy, but she wasn't fooled for a second. He was a predator. And she was his prey.

“Kerrigan, I—”

His finger on her lips stopped her from saying anything else. “Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to feel a man inside you?”

“I . . .” She turned her face away so he couldn't see her eyes. He would know she was lying if she said no. And saying yes would be an invitation she was afraid to extend.

He hadn't waited for her answer. He had gone on speaking and she only now heard what he was saying.

“. . . how it would feel if a man touched you here . . .” His fingertips lightly skimmed across her bare collarbone, causing her to gasp with shock at the frisson of delight caused by the contact.

“. . . or here . . .” His hand cupped her breast and his thumb skimmed across the nipple beneath the velvet trim on her dress.

She moaned as she felt her body tighten in places unused to such exquisite sensations of pleasure.

“Think hard before you do anything rash,” she warned breathlessly. “I am a woman of virtue. I—”

He captured her chin and saw the panic in her eyes. “And why—at your age—is that still true?” he demanded, angry because he wanted her and irritated because she was using words again to keep him at arm's length.

“You are well acquainted with my shortcomings as a woman, Mr. Kerrigan. I'm sure I don't have to point them out to you,” she said bitterly.

“Your plainness?”

She flinched.

“Your incredible height?”

She bit her lip to keep from crying out for him to stop.

“Your superior intelligence?”

Eden felt humiliated and furious at the same time.

“Those are all excuses,” he snarled, “to keep the men away. They're not the
real
reason you're still untouched,
Miss Devlin
.”

“Oh no? And what is the
real
reason,
M Kerrigan
?”

“You're a coward.”

She recoiled as though he had slapped her.

“You use your looks and your education like a barbedwire fence to keep a man at a safe distance. Because the truth is, Miss Devlin, every time a man gets close you throw a few Big Words at him and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. You're afraid to love a man because he might die and leave you alone—like your father did.”

Eden rose from the bed like a wrathful goddess. “Who are you to be preaching to me? You want my body all right, but you don't want the things that go along with taking it—commitment—a family—a future together. If I'm a coward, so are you! Don't talk to me about running away. What have you been doing for the past fifteen years? You're not any more willing to take the risk of getting hurt than I am, Mr. Kerrigan.”

“I'm not running from a damn thing,” Kerrigan retorted, following her off the bed with the sheet tucked around him.

“Prove it,” she challenged. “You want my body? You can have it. I'll make love to you, Kerrigan. But you have to take the rest of me too—heart and mind and soul—dreams and hopes.”

The only sound in the room was their labored breathing.

Eden was convinced Kerrigan would back down rather than give anything of himself to her.

Kerrigan was convinced Eden would back off rather than let any man touch her heart.

And so he took his time undressing her, giving her plenty of chances to run away. The snood came off first, releasing a flood of titian hair. He gloried in the sight of it. He spread it across her shoulders, making a special point of curling it around her breasts.

He began to unbutton her dress, one button at a time, certain that any second she would raise her hand and stop him.

Eden was determined to force him to be the one to stop this seduction. He knew the rules. If he wasn't willing to give, he could not take. She watched his eyes, expecting him to shutter his feelings as he so often did. But to her surprise, he shared all his need, his desire, his passion, his fear, with his dark eyes.

His hands touched her freely as he bared her to his gaze. He had her lift her arms so he could get the dress off over her head, and then he patiently eliminated one petticoat after another until finally she was standing across from him wearing only a chemise, her pantalettes, and a single white stocking.

“Let's get rid of this,” he said, kneeling to roll the stocking down and off her leg.

He stood and said, “You take the rest off yourself, Eden.”

She knehe was doing. He was forcing her to take the initiative if she wanted to go any further. If he was right, if she was still running as he had accused, she wouldn't be able to take this last step toward seduction on her own.

Eden's whole body was trembling. Her mouth was dry. She was afraid. She wanted Kerrigan to help her, and she looked at him with that plea in her eyes.

“I can't make the choice for you, Eden,” he said. “You have to make it yourself.”

He was saying he couldn't
make
her love him enough to let him into her life. She had to find the courage to do it of her own free will.

Eden wanted reassurance from Kerrigan that he would keep his part of the bargain before she went any further. Reassurance that if she took down the walls, he wouldn't storm the castle and then ride away into the sunset. She was willing to take a step in his direction, if he would take a step in hers.

“I'm telling you that I'm willing, Kerrigan. Would you . . . would you kiss me a little first. So I won't feel so . . . brazen.”

Kerrigan felt his heart thumping heavily in his chest. He reached out a hand to Eden and saw it was trembling. He leaned down and kissed her on the shoulder as he began unbuttoning the chemise. He kissed her on the other shoulder, and the garment came open.

When Kerrigan stepped back, Eden let the chemise slip off her shoulders and fall on the floor. She put a hand on Kerrigan's nape and drew his head down so he could kiss her naked breast.

Eden gasped. It was the most exquisite thing she had ever felt. “I . . . I . . . think I can manage the rest now.”

With an awkward innocence that Kerrigan found endearing, Eden shimmied out of her pantalettes. She took the trailing edge of the sheet that was still tucked around his waist and used it to cover her own nakedness.

“Guess we're not either of us going anywhere without the other now,” she said with a rueful grin.

Their eyes met, revealing both awe and delight that they should find themselves in this situation.

Eden reached out and touched the hair on Kerrigan's chest.

He lifted a brow in surprise and she explained with a shy smile, “I like the feel of it. It's so soft.”

He reached out and cupped her full breast.

Eden stood very still, and arched a questioning brow.

He grinned and said, “I like the feel of it. It's so soft.”

They both laughed, and before Eden knew what Kerrigan intended, he had swept her up in his arms and laid her on the bed. He made sure the sheet would no longer be a barrier between them, before settling himself on top of her.

Eden sucked in a breath of air as she felt Kerrigan's flesh pressing against her from breast to thigh. To her surprise, she didn't feel crushed by his weight, just conscious of a rich sense of rightness at the solid feel of him.

He kissed her for a long time, his tongue tasting her lips, her teeth, the roof of her mouth. He encouraged her to kiss him back, and she enjoyed the textures and tastes of his mouth. His hands were not idle, and Eden found herself overwhelmed by what he could do with his fingertips as he traced her breasts and the length of her arms, then fondled each rib. His teeth and tongue sent shivers scurrying across her neck and shoulders. The instant he reached down to touch her upper thigh, she automatically clamped her legs together like the scared virgin she was.

“Eden?”

She couldn't meet his eyes. “You won't hurt me, will you, Kerrigan?”

He took her hand away from the portal it guarded and kissed each fingertip. “I'll be as gentle as I can, Eden. But sometimes, the first time for a woman, there can be pain. I can't help that. I promise you I won't do anything you don't want me to do.”

She looked up and there was so much tenderness, such caring and concern in his gaze that she was moved to say, “I trust you, Kerrigan.”

Kerrigan felt a swell of protectiveness inside him so strong, it made his throat ache.

Eden was still tense when his fingertips touched her again, but he was more gentle with her than he'd ever been with a woman before. He felt like shouting when he discovered she was already slick and wet with desire for him. He used a finger to open her and found the proof of her virginity. He was nervous because he wanted this to be good for her, and he knew now there would be pain.

He placed his hips between her thighs and kissed her as he slowly eased himself inside her. He felt her body tense as she stretched to accommodate him, and murmured against her lips, “If you want me to stop, say the word.”

She bit her lip against the pain, welcoming it as a sign that she had stopped running from the past, that she was ready to give herself wholeheartedly to the man in her arms.

“Kerrigan?”

He tensed and withdrew immediately. “Is something wrong? Are you all right? Did I hurt you?”

“I . . . It's all right. I mean the pain is not unbearable. I had no idea it would be like this.”

“I am hurting you,” Kerrigan said flatly.

Eden grasped his shoulders before he could lever himself away from her. “No! I mean, yes, there's some pain. But I don't want you to stop. I only . . . I was a little nervI guess.”

Kerrigan managed a smile. “Me, too.”

“Can you pick up where you left off?”

Kerrigan chuckled. “You are so unbelievably innocent . . .” He had completely lost his erection when he'd thought he was hurting her.

“What's wrong?” Eden reached down to touch Kerrigan's belly and he groaned with pleasure.

“Nothing at all. But how about if we go back a few steps and get a running start?”

“Is it all right if I touch you?” she asked, letting her hand slide down to envelop him.