Read Online If You Dare by Kresley Cole - Free Book Online Page A

quelled the thought.
    He molded her backside with insistent fingers, squeezing her into him, then grasping her around the waist to—oh, Mare de Déu —move her pelvis against him. Wrong! her mind cried.
    Just as she would pull away, he gathered her closer to kiss her earlobe, and she wondered, mystified, why she’d deemedthis so terrible. They weren’t doing more than pressing bodies together. Of course, he wouldn’t make love to her.
    Before she had any comprehension of what he was doing, he’d unfastened the top few buttons of her shirt and would’ve done more if she hadn’t seized the next button in her fist. He made some noise as if her action amused him, but he didn’t continue. He spread what he’d opened, uncovering her upper chest to her chemise, then placed his hands on her back to arch her to him. To her bewilderment, he groaned deeply and rubbed the side of his face against the tops of her breasts. She felt the low guttural sound, and it frightened her, but not more than it exhilarated her.
    Her brows drew together as she watched him—he kissed her skin as if he’d lost himself. That’s what had happened to her—she’d lost herself. Her mind was separate, as if looking on, noting her body’s response as he set her atop the desk to stand between her legs. Her breasts were growing heavy and sensitive, and her own panting breaths sounded loud.
    She was embarrassed that he heard her like this, and that he was the cause. Embarrassed that he saw her with her skirts hiked up her legs nearly to her garters and her blouse partially unbuttoned.
    â€œLet me see your hair.” He rasped the words against her damp skin, and she trembled. “I know the treasures you hide. I’ve seen them.”
    Hazily, she wondered when, but then he kissed at the line of her chemise, and she couldn’t bite back a soft moan, the pleasure was so intense. He raised his face to brush his lips over her ear, and she could feel his warm breath there. He’d begun loosening her hair, and she wanted him to.
    With each kiss, Annalía wanted to show this brutal Highlander more of her, to bare her breasts and let her hair down so he could run his fingers through it. But when it fell about her, he didn’t touch her so gently. He wrapped the endsaround his fist as his lips returned insistent against her neck. His tongue flicked her skin, and her eyes flashed open, then slowly slid closed.
    But he tensed and drew back, releasing her.
    â€œQuè li passa?” she murmured. As if coming out of a daze, she opened her eyes and repeated in English, “What is it?”
    She heard it then—the coming of riders into the manor’s courtyard.
    â€œStay here,” he ordered, his face more menacing than she had ever seen it. “Lock the door behind me and doona come out for any reason. Do you ken?”
    In the space of a heartbeat, the fierce look of intent had vanished, replaced by one of barely controlled fury.
    When she didn’t answer, he grabbed her shoulders. “Anna, do you understand?”
    â€œYes,” she began, but the voices of several men sounded, just before a pounding on the front door.
    They were Scottish.
    â€œWe’re looking for Courtland MacCarrick,” a man shouted.
    MacCarrick relaxed and put his forehead against hers. His hand rested on her face and his thumb stroked her bottom lip. “They’re no’ known for their timing.”
    More of them? The thought of additional Highlanders traipsing across her property made her insides roil. She prayed Vitale wouldn’t wake.
    Now that the fire in her blood had cooled, shame set in. With fumbling hands she pulled her blouse together and turned her face away. He drew back from her and seemed angered by her reaction.
    â€œMore Highlanders?”
    â€œAye. We’ll stay until I can ride.”
    â€œStay?”
    She choked out the word. “They don’t