Border Lord's Bride by Gerri Russell Read Free Book Online Page B

Elizabeth."
    She swallowed roughly, then nodded, uncertain what exactly he meant by his words. A part of her was frightened, another part hopeful, as she allowed him to lead her inside the kitchen.
    Lucius shooed his sisters out of the chamber. "I'll inform you when Elizabeth is cleaned up."
    "Goodness!" Marie swung around from where she stood near the hearth, her hands covered in flour up to her elbows. She turned white at the sight of Elizabeth's head and gown. She wiped the flour from her hands with her apron. "What happened?" Marie grabbed a bowl from the table near the hearth and filled it with water from a pitcher.
    "A tree," both Elizabeth and Lucius said in unison.
    He picked up a length of clean linen folded on the table, then knelt beside her. After dipping the cloth in water, he gently patted it over her sensitive flesh.
    Lucius's touch was warm and excruciatingly intimate as he pushed back her hair from her cheek and dabbed at her jaw and her throat. His hand felt heavy, and her throat fragile and vulnerable. She swallowed. "Is the wound deep?"
    "Nay. You are very lucky to have no serious injury."
    The color returned to Marie's face. "If the two of ye have the situation in hand, then I'll go check on the girls."
    "We're well enough, Marie." Lucius's gaze never left Elizabeth's face as he spoke to the older woman.
    Elizabeth's heart accelerated as he dipped the cloth in the water, then caressed her skin from her temple down to her neck. She could feel her skin warming at his nearness. A pulse thrummed at his temple, and she was highly aware of the feathery curve of his half-closed dark lashes.
    Did he feel it too? The strange tension that flared between them whenever they touched? She caught the faint fragrance of his scent—cinnamon bark and something deeper, more intimate. She leaned slightly closer and inhaled. She had always loved his unique scent. A heartbeat later she realized what she was doing and straightened.
    Could he see her response to him? Would he hold himself back as he had last night by Marcus's graveside? Elizabeth willed herself to breathe slowly, evenly. But even that could not stop the flush rising to her cheeks or the tremble that came to her fingers.
    He stood and took the linen he'd used to the table before returning with a clean cloth. He tore it into a thin strip and wrapped it about her head.
    "Thank you for being so kind to me."
    "Kind?" His laugh held a note of self-deprecation. " 'Tis my fault you slipped."
    "When you try to be charming, you truly are."
    "Nay, I'm not," he murmured as his lips descended to hers.
    All her senses became focused on the feather-light pressure of his mouth, on the teasing, taunting dalliance of his tongue as it stroked her lips. He shifted toward her and pulled her close, embracing her in a way that made her feel molded to the hard contours of his chest. This moment was everything she'd ever wanted.
    His lips slanted more forcefully over hers, and his tongue slid possessively into the heat of her mouth. Her fingers came up to spread across the thickness of his woolen tunic and inched higher…higher…until her arms circled his neck. She pressed herself into his embrace, thrilling in the strength of his arms as they held her.
    The kiss she'd given him last night was nothing compared to this kiss. She brought her hand up to tease the hair at the nape of his neck, needing to feel more of him against her.
    She drew a deep breath, and it was then that she surfaced enough from her bliss to note the tension in Lucius's shoulders and the stiffness of his posture. Despite the thoroughness of his kiss, he held himself back. Tears pooled in her eyes.
    She pulled back with a sob. "Are you kissing me to kiss me, or does this mean what I want it to mean?"
    He stared down at her, the line of his cheeks hollow with tension. "Is this not what you wanted?"
    His kiss was everything she'd dreamed of. But suddenly it wasn't enough. She didn't want to be alone in her passion.