Highland Grace (29 page)

Jesslyn took off her mantle and placed it
next to the fire she’d just built. With the added light the fire
provided, she was able to clearly see Bao’s worsening state and
rushed to his side. “Bao, you must help me. I will not be able to
get your tunic and shirt off by myself.” She pressed him to his
back and then struggled to lift him to a sitting position.

His head lolled to the side. “Dnnn...mmfff,”
he said irritably through clacking teeth, his eyes a bit
glassy.

“I
must
move you, at least while we
get these wet things off of you,” Jesslyn said firmly. Thankfully,
Bao gave her no more trouble and, though his movements were jerky,
he aided her in the removal of his garments. Afterward, she
retrieved her mantle and, tho’ it was difficult, managed to get the
garment, first around him, and then stretched out beneath him. The
fur lining would help to warm him, as well as shield him from the
coldness of the cave’s floor.

She was relieved when, after only a few
moments, his teeth stopped chattering. Quickly, she gathered up her
pan and went outside once more. After filling the container with
snow, she returned and held it near enough to the flames to melt it
and warm the liquid.

* * *

Bao watched Jesslyn work. Her movements were
so sure, yet there was grace in them as well. Grace. Wasn’t that
what he’d been seeking from her—mayhap, even from the day he first
met her? Her good will and her pardon—her love?

His wife sat the pan down and took her head
covering off. She absently brushed the back of her hand over her
brow before placing the wimple on the ground next to her. Distress
and the heat of the flames were causing her skin to become damp.
She loosened the tie holding her chemise closed and stroked away
the dew that had formed on the heated skin between her breasts with
the tips of her fingers.

Bao’s pulse raced and his manhood shot to
full attention. Aye, he’d sought all of those things—and her body
as well. Christ’s Bones! Did she have no idea of how her movements
were affecting him? When she touched herself in that way, it
reminded him of when his own hands had done the same.

As even more blood rushed from his head to
his male member, so too, did his better judgement speed from his
mind. In a flash, all of his good intentions of wooing her, winning
her trust, flew away, like so much faery dust, as he was struck
with an idea. A way, tho’ not so honest, of touching her once more,
holding her, making love to her. Surely, ‘twould melt her anger,
her reserve with him, as well. He grinned but then quickly sobered
and closed his eyes when she looked up suddenly.

“I’ve warmed some water for you and I want
you to drink the whole of it, all right?” Jesslyn said.

Bao lifted his eyelids only slightly. Seeing
the concern in her countenance, he experienced a momentary pang of
conscience. But he was using the only means he knew how—the only
means that had ever worked for him—so he squelched the feeling and
instead used her concern to his advantage by shivering dramatically
once again. With a jerky nod of his head, he answered, “Aye.”

Her brows came together in worry. She quickly
brought the liquid over and kneeled down next to him. Then she
helped him to raise himself up to a sitting position so that he
could more easily swallow it.

Bao bent his knee, concealing the evidence of
his desire before she could see it, and then drank down all of the
fluid. The warm water did feel good going down and, amazingly, was
the final thing he needed to give him his full recovery. But he
wouldn’t let Jesslyn know that. Nay, he had other things in mind
which would not only warm his blood, but warm hers as well. And
mayhap, if he were very fortunate, it would warm her heart also,
enough to make her finally accept him back into her life.

Lying back with a sigh, Bao placed his arm
over his eyes and groaned. Loudly. “I’m so cold! I can’t seem to
get warm.” It was difficult, but he managed to clack his teeth
together fast enough to make it seem genuine, at least to Jesslyn.
“I need more heat! Hold me, I beg you!”

* * *

Jesslyn’s heart pounded with dread. Without
thinking how absurd the exercise would be, she looked around for
anything else she might use to cover him. Of course, there was
naught. What else could she do to warm him other than to do as he
asked and use her own body’s heat? Jesslyn stood up.

Bao opened the mantle and his arm quaked as
he did so. “I’ll better feel your heat this way,” he explained when
she hesitated. “But hurry, I grow ever colder and I need your
warmth.”

Jesslyn shrugged and nodded jerkily. Lifting
her skirts, she settled herself on top of him, laying her head down
on his chest. She could feel his chill through her garments. Even
his manhood was cold—and very hard, she noticed—where it pressed
against her belly. Was that a reaction to the freezing water to
which he’d just been exposed? Lord! What if it was
frozen?
Was that possible? She knew not. She knew dangerously little about
the symptoms of overexposure to the cold, nor how to hasten
recovery from it. She only knew that, in spite of that worry, her
body responded to the contact, softening and readying for his
masculine invasion. She ignored the reaction, concentrating instead
on her patient. It worried her that, even after quite a few
moments, he continued to tremble beneath her, and his skin remained
like ice. She feared leaving him to get help, but what if she
wasn’t able to warm him enough? Mayhap it would be better for her
to get Daniel here. He would know exactly what to do to hasten his
brother’s recovery.

A severe quaking took over his previous
trembling and Jesslyn held him tighter. “I should find Daniel,
he’ll know what to do,” she said anxiously.

“Nay!”

Jesslyn lifted her head and looked at
Bao.

“Nay,” he said less forcefully. “I’m sure I
shall be warmed enough in no time by your own ministrations.”

Jesslyn stared at him, mentally struggling
with the quandary of what would be best for her to do, but finally,
she nodded. She placed her cheek back on Bao’s chest. Unable to
think of any other way to warm him, she began to furiously rub his
arms with the palms of her hands. “Is this helping?” she asked
after a moment.

“A bit, but I can’t feel your heat through
all these layers you wear,” he complained. “Mayhap if you took them
off and we were skin to skin?”

“I don’t think that a good idea.”

Bao shuddered and groaned.

Jesslyn sat up and quickly untied the strings
holding her gown together before lifting it over her head, with
Bao’s rather eager help. Then came her chemise. She tensed,
fighting back a shudder of delight, when Bao’s fingertips
accidentally grazed the sides of her breasts as he lifted the thing
up and over them before bringing it over her head as well. She felt
his hot, moist breath against the sensitive peak of the left one in
that split second when the material covered her eyes, making her
nipples pucker and her passage throb in reaction. In moments they
were lying entwined beneath her gown, with the mantle wrapped
around both of them. This time, she lay on her side, halfway on top
of Bao, with one arm and one leg draped over him—a much more
comfortable position for her and her babe. She was overcome with
guilt. While Bao was fighting for his life, her body betrayed her
own good intentions with its piercing response to his nearness.
With extreme effort, she cleared her mind of all the carnal
thoughts his unintentional touch had incited. After a bit his
quaking stopped, but he was still trembling, and his breathing was
too rapid for her liking. Without lifting her head from his
shoulder, she placed her hand to his brow. It was warm, but not hot
enough to indicate fever. “Are you warming up?”

Bao, who had his chin resting on the top of
Jesslyn’s head, grinned broadly. Aye, he was warm—mayhap a bit
too
warm. “Aye, I’m not so cold now, but I think ‘twould
help if you rubbed my skin, as you were doing before.”

Jesslyn nodded and tried to rise up in order
to use both hands on him, but Bao wouldn’t allow it. Shrugging, she
began her massage using just the one hand. She vigorously rubbed
his arm, his chest, his abdomen, and the top of his thighs, careful
to stay clear of the area she desired most to touch the longer she
stroked his body. Lord, he was magnificent. All sinew and smooth,
golden skin. And the battle scars only added to his masculine
beauty. They were proof of his might, proof of his prowess as a
warrior. She pressed her lips together to keep from caressing the
dark brown nipple directly in her view with the tip of her tongue.
How she craved to cover his massive chest with moist open-mouthed
kisses.

* * *

Bao fought to keep his breathing at an even
meter, but was rapidly losing the battle. With every new sweep of
her hand, he grew more aroused. He moaned. A shudder of intense
pleasure traveled through him.

“Are you growing chilled again—is your
manhood frozen?”

Bao snorted and started to laugh but quickly
turned it into a brief cough followed by a clearing of his throat.
“Beg pardon,” he said in a strained voice. “Aye. I think it must
be. Will you warm it?”

She rose up, resting her arm on his chest and
gave him a questioning look. “But I thought it bothered you to be
touched there.”

He sighed. “Aye, it does,” he said, feigning
sufferance. “But I cannot allow it to remain frozen for much
longer. It serves a duel purpose, if you recall?”

Her eyes widened in understanding and she
nodded.

God, he loved this woman. “I have an idea,”
he said with false humility. “Mayhap, I could put it inside you and
thaw it in that way?” he asked innocently. It was a struggle, but
he managed to keep a serious mien when he rushed to add, “You
wouldn’t have to move, or anything—we wouldn’t really be
doing
the deed.”

There was a very long pause and then:
“Al...All right,” she replied. But he could see in her eyes that
she struggled with her doubt at the intelligence of her
decision.

Bao trailed his hand down her waist toward
the junction of her thighs, with the intention of beginning his
assault on her senses to prepare her for his entry, but when she
straddled him, he positioned the head of his erection against her
opening, and she gently pressed down. With only a bit of
resistence, he slid right up inside of her tight, wet sheath.
Sucking in a breath through his teeth, he bit back a groan, his
heart pounding so hard in his chest he thought it would surely
burst. She had been more than ready for him, it seemed. An acutely
pleasurable surprise.

She shuddered. “It’s cold…hard and cold.”
Placing her hands on his shoulders, she wiggled in an effort to get
him as far inside her as she could. He felt her passage tighten in
reaction, before she forced it to relax. “How does that feel?”

“Hot. Good,” Bao croaked. His hungry gaze
wandered to Jesslyn’s full, white breasts. The rosy peaks were so
turgid, partially from the chill air of the cave, he assumed, that
they were little more than tight, pink balls. He craved to caress
them, to put his mouth on them, but he dared not. At least, not for
just a few more moments. He had to maintain the facade just a bit
longer, else she’d surely bolt.

She threw her head back and closed her eyes,
tossing her long, golden hair off her shoulders. The movement
caused a bit of a glide up his shaft and he sucked in a breath. She
settled back and pressed down, clearly intent on keeping still, but
then her canal pulsed and he felt the hot dew of more of her juices
warming him. It was evident that she bit her lip to keep from
crying out. He watched her breasts rise and fall with her rapid
breath, felt her feminine channel tighten around him.

Bao bit back a groan of agonizing desire, but
managed to remain silent as he continued gazing at his wife.
Whatever she was thinking of, he wanted to be part of it, for it
was evident that it was extremely arousing to her.

She squirmed and a throaty moan burst from
her throat.

Bao’s heart slammed against his ribs and he
ground his teeth together in an effort to stay still. He wanted to
move so badly now, to stroke inside her until they both found
completion, that hot and cold chills ran rampant along his nerve
endings.

She opened her eyes and he captured her gaze.
When he saw that her pupils were so dilated with desire that her
eyes appeared to be as black as midnight, his blood flamed higher
still. Past reason now, he sat up, brought his arms around her and
feasted. First on her left breast, and then on her right.

* * *

Jesslyn moaned in delight, too far gone with
desire to think clearly any longer. She straightened her legs and
wrapped them around his waist, just as she’d imagined doing a
moment before, and then she twined her arms around his shoulders
and curved her back, giving him better access to her aching
breasts.

Bao eagerly obliged, bringing his hands
around and molding them in his palms. He laved the tight peak he’d
just kissed and then rolled it between his teeth, tugging it
slightly at the same time.

Jesslyn jerked at the sharply pleasurable
sensation and then groaned when he took it into his mouth and
suckled, softly tickling it with the tip of his tongue as he did
so. She started to pant and mewl, every muscle atremble, the longer
he worked on her until, finally, unable to control her own body’s
compulsion another moment, she began to move. When he grasped the
cheeks of her buttocks in his hands and rotated her hips several
times, pressing the head of his cock against her womb, she
shattered. “Bao!” she cried out, her head thrown back as thousands
of tingling shocks traveled from her convulsing center out to her
limbs and even to the tips of her fingers and toes, her skin
pebbling in their wake.