Her eyes roamed over him in a thorough assessment, taking in the hard contours, the robust swell of his arms, the flat ridge of his abdomen, the flesh, thick and rampant between his legs ...
“No more teasing, Rheda,” he urged, gripping her wrist and pulling her up on her knees. “You set this in motion, and now I can’t—I don’t want to—stop. Damn the consequences.”
His face was still hard and emotionless, but his eyes burned with intensity as he bent her over his arm and laved her nipples. “I want you. God help me I’ve wanted you since the first day I saw you on that damn cliff with that barrel.”
She gave him a small smile. “I think I have wanted you as much. That is why I have fought you so hard. It scares me. This power you have over me.”
“Power! I’ve felt powerless since I met you.” Raw desire darkened his husky voice. “I want your softness clenching and shivering around my hardness.”
His mouth, hot and moist, licked the space between her breasts, sending heat searing to her very core. Rheda gripped his shoulders for strength, but she knew he wouldn’t let her fall. He licked and kissed, whipping her into a frenzy. When his delicious mouth grazed one jutting nipple, she arched more. He parted his lips and took the puckering bud into his hot, wet mouth, and she all but collapsed back onto the bed. Nothing had ever felt this amazing. The pleasure was almost more than she could bear. Every nerve ending screamed for more.
Turbulent emotions came bubbling to the fore. All her feminine instincts took over, and she found the courage to slide her hands over the skin she’d been hungering to explore. It was firm, hard, yet sensual.
She was conscious of his hand sliding lower. Rufus flicked his tongue over her nipple and then drew it fully into his mouth. He sucked at her breast while cradling her mound in his palm. Any thought of resisting him had gone from her mind. She didn’t want to stop him.
But he broke away from her, leaving her bereft. Her breasts felt raw and ravished from his delicious ministrations. If he asked her questions now, she might break. She yearned for his lips and hands on other parts of her, too.
As if sensing her every desire, he let her nipple slip between his teeth, and he turned his ravenous attention to her belly.
Hot lips pressed a trail against her taut skin, over her hips and down her thigh, branding her in the most wicked way. Her entire body trembled with the knowledge of what was to come—hoped was to come. She knew where this would end, and she couldn’t regret it. Her legs parted to make his access easier—faster.
She dragged in a deep breath as his hand went between her thighs, burning her skin.
“I still have the taste of you imprinted on my brain,” he ground out, his voice rough and turbulent, the tension of his restraint evident.
He parted her legs farther. The flesh tingling and exposed to him—he needed no encouragement to take eager advantage.
His fingers parting the curls at her junction, Rufus, holding her gaze, lowered his head. The heat in his eyes blazed, and she closed her eyes at his first lick.
She arched and cried out as his hot, slick tongue lapped the sensitive area. Her fingers curled in the sheets, and she let out a deep and guttural groan as pleasure so intense—soul-wringing pleasure—raced over her.
He lapped her dewy folds of flesh, softly, almost reverently, then flicked the tip of his clever tongue over the delicate hardened nub, causing her to sob and cry out. “Oh, Rufus.”
His lips kissed through her folds expertly in fluid strokes, stirring a welter of emotions in her belly, making her thighs flex and her hips lift in unrestrained longing.
A tight bolt of lightning began to unfurl in her stomach, and she couldn’t help grinding herself against him. His tongue stroked faster, and just when she couldn’t stand another second, he plunged his tongue deep inside her and she shattered. Shooting stars clouded her mind, and she floated in a haze of sensation.
When she finally brought her emotions under control it was to find him leaning over her, his stormy brown eyes tinged with gold, so dark and smoldering that she shivered at the intensity reflected in the deep chocolate pools.
She wanted him so badly, it hurt. An ache deep within her belly that only he could appease.
He kissed up her body and rose onto his thick, muscle-bound arms to stare at her with a force of need that humbled her. He lowered his head, fingers threading through her hair, spreading it out on the pillow beneath her. His mouth softened, its beautiful lines stark and sensual.
Rheda fought back a moan as his lips began to caress hers. She could feel his passion. Feel it matching hers.
“I shouldn’t want you like this. Be consumed by you. But I can’t deny my need for you ...” His whisper filled her mind and stirred a quickening deep within her. His touch felt so right ... Even though he was her enemy. He could take everything she loved away from her. His tone deadly calm he added, “Once this is over, once I capture Daniel, I can’t promise to protect you, but I’ll try.”
Before she could respond, giddiness made way for panic as she felt his turgid manhood nudge her entrance. She knew she had to relax. Meg told her it would hurt more if she didn’t. If she was to try and hide her innocence she mustn’t react. How painful could it be? Just looking at him hurt more than she could bear.
He withdrew and slipped a finger into her wet passage. “You’re so tight,” he breathed.
She took a deep breath and tried to get her unused muscles to loosen. She concentrated on Rufus’s clever fingers; another finger had joined the first, intensifying the pleasure, evoking first a resigned sigh at the pain to come, and then a low, whimpering moan at the gratification he was stoking deep within her. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad.
He kept up his sensual assault, egging her on, until she warmed and softened and surrendered to the dark magic he commanded. Rheda threaded her arms around his neck, pressing closer. She desperately wanted him, and a whimper of need escaped, begging him to ease the inexplicable hunger.
His fingers left her, and she didn’t protest when she felt his thick, velvet-smooth shaft pressing against her thigh. Her breasts swelled beneath his luscious mouth, while her body quivered at the promise of that thick, rigid flesh giving her pleasure.
The tip of his shaft pierced her slick passage. She arched her back and lifted her hips instinctively seeking, and he thrust inside her to the hilt. Pain tore through her, and she couldn’t stop crying out in shock, digging her nails into his shoulder as she gasped and whimpered.
Rufus stilled above her. “Christ.” His eyes widened, and his face filled with fury. “You’re a virgin.” He struggled to get his breathing under control; sweat beaded his forehead. “More deceit. What did you hope this sacrifice would bring? I won’t be forced into marriage with you—and even if I were I won’t save you if you are guilty,” he growled.
“I tried to tell you on the cliff top that I’d had no lover. I’ve never had a lover. Tonight, would you have listened to me if I’d pleaded my innocence?”
His hair had fallen forward and shielded his eyes. Already she felt him tense with guilt.
He was still embedded inside her, but he held still. The pain was easing. Tentatively she moved, lifting her hips, drawing him deeper within her.
He shuddered above her. “Don’t, Rheda. I shouldn’t have done this ...”
She moved again and lifted her torso off the bed to lick his nipples. “Let go of your guilt and make love to me. I’ve waited a long time to experience passion. Please make it special. Don’t let me have wasted my ...”
At her breathy entreat, she felt his body surrender to her.
“I know this is wrong, but it feels right. You feel right. I can’t stop,” he groaned, voice rough. His fingers trailed down and moved between their bodies, softly stroking the sensitive bud of nerves at her apex. Then he bent and took her lips in a kiss so full of feeling her heart melted.
She wanted him. Far too much. He would be her first lover. God, she wanted him to be her only lover ... To fill her, to teach her about—love. Her eyes welled with tears. There would be no love—he would despise her when he realized who she was—Dark Shadow, the smuggler he sought.
Then he moved within her, and Rheda closed her eyes and forgot everything except for the hard lean body above her. She took the newfound comfort of his tender kisses and caresses. But as he began to stroke inside her, all thoughts of tenderness flew out the window.
He withdrew slightly, then thrust back into her. Slow at first, he eased himself from her sheath, then pushed back inside—all the way in—in a relentless plundering that made her feel more than she ever thought possible.
More painful than losing her virginity was the knowledge that Rufus would never look upon her with anything other than disdain once the truth came out.
For a long moment Rufus didn’t move. He was caught up in the enormity of what he had just done. Could he be wrong about everything?
If so, this night would cost him.
Soon he could feel her softening, warming around him, feel her virginal tightness become wetter with her increasingly renewed arousal. Finally, she moved her hips beneath him. He heard her breath catch in a startled gasp of pleasure as his powerful length filled her.
Sheathed tightly inside her, he began to move, withdrawing and thrusting again, forcing himself to go slow, to hold back, to restrain the excitement flaring through his senses. She was moist and hot and insanely inviting. Yet her instincts, too, were quickly driving him to completion.
She wrapped her legs around him and lifted herself to match his rhythm, but he felt her innocence. Calling on all his willpower, he began to coax a sexual response from her. When Rheda’s thighs parted to accept more of him, Rufus clenched his teeth, fighting the scorching hunger of his body.
This was the space between heaven and hell. A scorching hunger singeing every part of her. The heavy, burning ache inside her was growing, melting the pain in her heart.
Rheda felt the heat and desire. Her entire body throbbed at the feel of Rufus’s hard flesh joined with hers.
His hot breath seared her nipple just before he took it deep into his mouth. The twinges of pleasure sharpened. She tried to press closer, molding her skin to his as she felt the hot, coiling tension rise, spiraling through her body; her need was ravenous. She opened wide to him. In reward, he sank deeper. She whimpered, pleading, needing ... He thrust harder, faster, and Rheda suddenly erupted in a blinding flash of stars.
Rufus captured her wild cries with his mouth. When she shattered, rigid and lost in her release, he followed, shuddering and spilling his seed deep within her in a burst of explosive need, his hoarse groans mingling with her cries as he convulsed against her.
For a long while afterward he lay there, breathing harshly, shock waves still pulsing, his face buried in the riot of curls surrounding her face.
She moved slightly beneath him, and he rolled onto his back, his skin layered with a sheen of sweat from their wild lovemaking.
He cursed his own weakness. Guilt ate at his soul. Not only had he taken her virginity, he’d knowingly done so when Rheda knew she was all but a prisoner.
She’d stripped him of his honor as easily as a whore raised her skirts. She proved exactly what sort of man he really was.
He stood and picked up his trousers. Unable to look at her he said, “You will get dressed and join me in the library. We have much to discuss.”
She sat up, a look of startled surprise on her beautiful face. She gathered the sheet tightly against her breast to cover her nakedness.
“Do not keep me waiting long or I’ll send my men to get you, whether you are properly dressed or not.”
Then he was gone.
Rheda pictured him fierce and angry, striding down the hall with each heavy footstep thumping the boards. He probably hated her with a vengeance right at this very minute.
She ran a hand through her tangled hair. She must look like a wanton. She cringed. What had she done? This was her fault. She could have stopped him. If she’d struggled harder he would have stopped. He would never have taken her against her will. Deep down she knew that.
She was the one who’d behaved appallingly. She’d behaved selfishly. She’d wanted him, so she’d had him.
In the dim firelight she searched the room for her clothes. She hesitated in her dress. What a mess. She sunk down to sit on the end of the bed, her heart heavy. She thought about all that had happened over the past few weeks. All of it she had caused. It hadn’t started the day she’d disobeyed Daniel and rolled the barrel to Meg’s. No, it had started long before that. It started when her father died and left her with a mess to clean up.
A tear seeped out of the corner of her eye. She’d selfishly decided to make her own way in this world. Turning down Christopher’s honorable offer of marriage and setting up a smuggling ring—what had she been thinking?
And there was the problem. She didn’t think. She was so full of pride and scorn for the world of men that she thought of no one else but herself.