Ian's Rose: Book One of The Mackintoshes and McLarens by Suzan Tisdale Read Free Book Online Page A

death and no’ even flinched. That ye be a brave and powerful warrior who never backs down from a fight or a challenge.”
    She was poking at his male pride and his ire began to show. “Those things are all true.”
    She shrugged her shoulders again. “I’ve also heard ye be a fine lover, that ye can please a woman until her toes curl and her eyes cross. But I fear that is probably no’ true either. And I fear we’ll never find out, since ye’re settin’ me aside.”
    The space between them disappeared in two long strides. He leaned down to look her directly in the eye. “Believe me when I say that if I were to take ye to me bed, ye’d be more than just pleased. Ye’d be thoroughly and most assuredly loved until ye could no’ walk.”
    With a raised brow, she challenged him. “Prove it.”

    * * *
    L ike any good warrior , he met her challenge the only way he knew how: head on. In the span of three fluttering heartbeats, Ian had his arms wrapped around her waist. Without permission or warning, he pressed his lips to hers.
    He took soft and tender possession of lips he’d kissed before, but not with the fervor and intensity of this moment. Languid. Slow. Treasuring every ragged breath she was trying so desperately to conceal. He reveled in her soft moans of pleasure.
    Surrender was inevitable.
    Whether he surrendered to her or she to him, ’twas not important. What was important was that he had decided he would never set her aside, would never let her go. He was going to make her his, for now and forever. She was his wife, and soon they would consummate their marriage, sealing their fate, their destiny to one another for all eternity.
    The kiss left her breathless, with legs as sturdy as hot honey. Every square inch of her felt warm with thrilling anticipation. And he’d only begun to kiss her.
    His hands spanned her dainty waist before he began to gently caress her back. She swore she could feel how hot his fingertips were, even through her chemise and gown. Shivers of delight trailed up and down her spine, spread to her stomach, her chest.
    Unable to deny the need to touch him, she wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him closer, wanting with desperation to feel every square inch of his body with her palms, her fingertips, and her tongue.
    Ian’s hands found their way to her braid and made quick work of unbinding it. ’Twasn’t until she felt his long fingers combing through her locks that it even registered in her mind he’d done it. Those wonderfully hot lips of his soon left hers and began an exploration of her cheek, her chin, and next, her earlobe.
    Grabbing her hair tightly betwixt his fingers, he pulled her head back so he could leave hot kisses along the length of her neck. There was no denying the immense pleasure he was deriving from making her mad with desire, just as she would not deny she took great pleasure from those fiery kisses.
    Everything she knew about loving a man she had learned from her first husband. Though she might not have had as much experience as Ian, she was not without her own knowledge from which to pull. Though her first husband had been much older than she and not built anywhere near as nicely as Ian, she felt confident in herself.
    But this kiss, these kisses? Nay, Almer had never kissed her like this. These were far different, far more passionate, more intense.
    “Wife,” Ian whispered against her neck, “I dare say I shall never grow tired of kissin’ ye.”

    * * *
    W ife .
    He had called her wife.
    He believed they were well and duly married.
    For a brief moment, she was tempted to remain quiet and not correct him, for she was fearful that if she did tell him the truth, he might be so thankful he’d leave her.
    But she knew she could not lie to him, not now. The moment was too important. She could very well have him thinking they were about to consummate their marriage, only to have him learn the truth later. How would he look at her then? Nay, she could