Read Online Lord of the Black Isle by Elaine Coffman - Free Book Online

Ronan and moved on, didn’t she?
    Elisabeth, just who do you think you are fooling?
    She had never been the shy type, but she seemed to have all the characteristics of it now, for she felt… well, tremulous. Yes, definitely the symptoms were there, for she was a trembling, quivering, dry-mouthed lump of timid reserve that made her feel completely witless. While she sat there, looking up at him like she was searching for her brain, he lifted his hand to her cheek and gently stroked it with the back of his fingers, and that opened Pandora’s box, while a flurry of butterflies seemed to be loose in her stomach.
    She stopped breathing when his hand skimmed lightly over the skin of her throat. Her eyes fluttered and then closed when his index finger came out to follow the curve of her bodice, lightly skimming over the swell of her breasts. And it stopped there long enough for his mouth to capture hers, while his hand cupped her breast, finding and caressing the point that sent waves of sensation coursing through her. The sensation was so powerful she groaned, for her body seemed to be flooded with liquid warmth.
    Just when the kiss seemed to go on forever, it ended and reality began to settle around her. Embarrassed now, her eyes flew open and she saw him watching her, knowing he had touched her in a throat-catching way that made her natural instincts take over. She was breathing heavily. Her throat was dry. There wasn’t an intelligent thought in her brain… well, other than the thought that she wanted him to kiss her again.
    He must have been thinking along those same lines, for he was having feelings he thought long dormant, while a gentle wave of emotion filled his battle-hardened body and seemed to glow like a hot coal inside him. He was acutely aware of everything around him, for the sun seemed brighter, the air fresher, the birds noisier, the trees fuller leafed and a darker shade of green, and the heat of desire within him greater and more powerful than he had, heretofore, experienced.
    It was as if every part of his body had joined forces in order to make him more acutely aware of her—the feel of her skin, the scent of her hair, the softness of her breast, the slender curves of her body, the ripple of ribs. His mind jerked back to awareness when she grabbed his hand and said, “That will do, Lancelot.”
    He dismounted and hauled her out of the saddle. She made the mistake of looking up at him and saw he was studying her face intently, looking for clues… of what? The last vestiges of her aching desire for him? And he must have seen how she was not yet recovered from the intimacy they shared. Did he know how difficult it was for her to end it, or how intensely she wanted to make love to him? Was he aware of his hand that was mere inches away from having the proof of her desire when she stopped him?
    Or, were his thoughts returning to normal and his sharp eyes searching hers for a hint of her truthfulness? Her deceit? Her moral values?
    She, meanwhile, was still stuck on how she reacted to him, how she melted when he touched her, and how a little part of her wished he would simply ride off into the sunset and take her with him.
    Still holding her in his arms, he looked down at her and asked, “What are ye hiding? And dinna think aboot lying. I will have the truth.”
    Back to that, are we? Just when I thought both of us were happily diverted. “I hide nothing. I have answered your questions honestly.” Well, maybe not the one about my accent.
    There was something in his gaze that was overpowering and, because of that, a little frightening. She realized their little interlude of passion had not only cooled, but the lava was now rock hard. With a sigh, she realized she was not Alice, and this was not Wonderland. Nothing like a swift kick of reality to one’s backside to change the slant of things. “You can put me down now.”
    He made a grunting noise and lowered