Looking up, she saw his face hovering close, its lean lines hazed in the swirl of shadows and the tangled strands of his dark hair. Only his eyes caught the weak flicker of the lantern, and within their depths an amber fire suddenly flared to life.
“Anna.” Devlin dipped his head and now the sparks were dancing along the sinuous curl of his mouth.
Oh, that mouth.
Mesmerized by its sensuous shape, she arched up to touch her tongue to his lower lip.
“You,” he rasped, “have been transformed by some ancient Highland sorcery into a temptress too powerful to resist.”
“It’s no sorcerer’s spell,” answered Anna. “It’s…”
It’s some far more personal alchemy. But she dared not voice such a thought aloud.
“It’s some other potent force, though I can’t yet give it a name.”
“Whatever it is,” responded Devlin, “it’s as intoxicating as Scottish whisky.”
The sliver of space between them gave way to a deeply intimate kiss. Their tongues teased and twined, sending a sudden rush of liquid heat coursing down to her feminine core.
A gasp, a shudder. Devlin seemed to need no words to understand. He covered her body with his, lithe muscle molding to her heated flesh. Instinctively her legs parted, allowing his maleness to nudge up against her feminine folds.
Fire on fire. Igniting a burning need.
Looping her arms around his neck, Anna whispered—she knew not what—in his ear. A cacophony of feelings were echoing in her head, but only two words rose above the din.
Need. Want. Need. Want.
She had teased tantalizingly close to the flames before. This time, she wished for them to consume her.
With a low groan, Devlin hitched his hips and suddenly he was inside her.
Anna felt a sharp pinch, and then the tightness softened as her body adjusted to their joining.
He stilled. “Did I hurt you?”
In answer, Anna arched up. “No, it feels wonderful—more than wonderful.” Slowly, sweetly, he resumed his earlier rhythm, and somehow her body knew just how to move in elemental harmony with his.
Two as one.
Devlin shifted, and she was acutely aware of myriad subtle sensations—liquid heat, thudding hearts, the exquisite friction of flesh against flesh. Everything seemed to be quickening. Her breathing was turning into ragged little gasps. With each rise and fall, Anna felt the pressure inside her growing, a cresting force searching for release.
She knew what was coming, and yet the entwining intimacy seemed almost too intensely exquisite to bear.
Clutching his shoulders, she cried out, giving voice to its need. His skin was damp, his muscles bunched taut beneath her fingertips, and she could feel the same thrumming pulsing through him.
Gilded in the golden lamplight, their bodies arced on the makeshift bed, the velvety whisper of the cloth echoing the swirling sounds of passion.
Anna felt his mouth, warm and wanting, possess hers, and for a perfect moment they seemed to be melting and molding together, two hearts beating as one.
Thud, thud.
And then…and then…
The exquisite sensation was too much to bear. As Devlin’s hips thrust against hers, she felt herself shatter into swirling shards of crystalline light.
Chapter Twenty-One
The stirring was soft as a dream at first, but quickly became more insistent, drawing him out of a honeyed sleep.