After watching them go, Kell shut the door softly, but he took a deep breath before turning to face his dilemma. What in hell’s name was he to do with the suffering, senseless woman in his bed?
Most certainly he couldn’t return her to her family in this pitiful condition. Indeed, for her own safety, he would have to keep a close eye on her. If the aphrodisiac she’d been given was even half as powerful as cantharides, she would be driven by sheer lust. And if left on her own, she might assault any man she encountered…
No, better to let her sleep off the drug and return her to her family in the morning.
Kell frowned. Raven Kendrick had thrown off the cover and was thrashing her bare legs feverishly, twisting her head side to side on the pillow. Steeling himself, he approached the bed.
She had turned onto her back, and her gossamer chemise did little to hide her sweet, firm breasts with their rose-hued nipples or the dark thatch of curls between her thighs. But it was the glorious raven tresses framing her heart-shaped face that held him momentarily spellbound-
Suddenly she reached out, her fingers clutching his arm with surprising strength as she gazed up at him, her eyes wide and unfocused. Kell found himself staring into deep pools of blue fringed by heavy lashes.
He cursed, damning the sudden quickening in his loins.
Yet, as if comforted by the sight of him, she abruptly stilled and let her eyes close. “My pirate,” she whispered. The faint smile that wreathed her delicate lips held incredible sensuality…
Hell and damnation. It was nearly impossible for him not to soften toward his beautiful, unwanted hostage. But he had to harden his heart if he had any chance of making it through the night unscathed without becoming her victim.
Extricating his arm from her astonishingly strong grasp, Kell went to the washstand to make certain the pitcher and basin held enough water to cool her fevered body. He’d seen the effects of a similar drug before, at a debauched revelry during his wilder days. She would eventually become hot as a volcano, simmering with sexual need, threatening to explode at any moment. Whatever pain she’d endured at his brother’s hands would pale in comparison to the torment she would experience from the drug if she didn’t find relief. And if he had the least measure of compassion, he would have to provide it for her, would have to help ease her suffering…
He glanced at the windows where a gray winter light still shone, grimly noting that it was late afternoon. Crossing to the fireplace, he stirred the embers and added a scoop of coal to counter the growing chill. He would have Emma bring up supper later.
At the bureau, Kell poured himself a generous glass of whiskey from a crystal decanter. Then gritting his teeth, he sank into the chair to wait, knowing it would doubtless be a long night.
Chapter Three
Raven arched against her lover’s hand, desperately seeking the exquisite relief of his touch. Her senses were painfully acute. Her skin felt too tight, too sensitive, the ache between her legs unbearable.
“Please,” she begged, “make it stop.” She felt so feverish, so hot, as she wavered between illusion and awareness.
“Steady,” he murmured in reply, as if gentling a fractious mare.
His hand slipped inside her bodice and gently stroked the tender flesh of her breasts, playing over her taut nipples. She sighed at the soothing coolness of his palm offering her relief.
Her fantasy had never been so vivid, so intense. She was acutely aware of her pirate lover in a way she’d never experienced. The animal heat radiating from his body. The male musk of his skin. The delicious taste of his mouth. The demanding gentleness of his caresses…Nearly shaking with desire, she reached for him, wanting him with a blind, ferocious need.
He wanted her as well, she could tell. He hadn’t fully undressed, but beneath his breeches, he was hard, swollen, ready to take her. Yet when she touched his loins, he stiffened and drew back, out of reach.
His hand moved lower, though, down her body, slipping between her thighs, as if he knew exactly what she craved.
“Let me help you…”
She scarcely comprehended the words, but his voice sounded like poetry: dark, sensual, arousing. Whimpering, she lifted her hips to him and dug her fingers into the bedcovers.
His hands were magical against her moist, yearning flesh, assuaging the terrible sweet ache that consumed her. When he relentlessly increased the pressure, inciting a wild throbbing inside her, a cry of longing escaped her.
Still stroking, he bent to her, his lips finding her peaked nipple through her chemise. Wet, white heat scalded her through the thin fabric.
She moaned aloud at the sharpened pleasure, while his fingers continued to work their sorcery, ravishing her with tenderness.
His caresses roused her blood to liquid fire. She was simmering from the molten heat, assaulted by raw, unbridled feeling. She bucked in an effort to escape the intensity of it, but the dark velvet of his voice urged her on.
“That’s it, let go…”
Thrashing her head, she strained against his hand, begging him to take her. How she longed to feel him inside her! But still he refused. Yet to her profound relief, he slid his fingers deep within her, penetrating her slick cleft. She felt her pulse racing, her blood pounding at the hot, voluptuous sensation. She was burning, crying out for fulfillment. She writhed with the frenzied need coursing through her, her body shuddering as her hips undulated.
The rush of sensation ruthlessly intensified, and she went wild with excitement. An instant later she screamed as agonizing pleasure tore through her senses, erupting in pulsating waves, her climax so prolonged, she thought she might die of the painful bliss.
For an endless moment, she shook in uncontrollable spasms as he continued to wring every last drop of relentless pleasure from her quivering flesh. Finally she fell back, delicious rapture washing through her exhausted body. Her limbs felt limp and heavy and utterly boneless as the fiery heat cooled…