Strangclyf Secret by Mary McCall Read Free Book Online

weakness and make me ineffective as a warrior. I would rather
you did not fall in love with me, because you would turn into a
clinging nuisance. I will ponder this matter of a new name for you
and inform you when I decide.”
    She sucked in a breath and
stared at him awestruck. “You mean you will give me a woman’s
name?”
    “ Aye.” He nodded once.
“When I think of one that suits you.”
    A deep dimple appeared on
the right side of Barwolf’s chin as a radiant grin flashed across
her face, lighting her eyes to a dazzling spring-meadow green. She
gazed at him as if he had just granted her heart’s desire, and
honest to God, her smile made him feel warm all over.
    Her dimple fascinated him
and drew his gaze toward her rosy lips. She may be small but she
was definitely all woman. How would she taste and how would her
lips feel yielding under his? Well, she belonged to him. He might
as well find out. “We will kiss now, so put your arms around my
neck.”
    He leaned toward her. She
pulled back, her smile faded and her brow puckered. “Bernon, I
promise I want to please you, so I beg you, do not be angry with
me.”
    “ Are you refusing
me?”
    “ I would never refuse you
anything,” she said solemnly, peeking at him from beneath her
lashes.
    “ Then why do you
stall?”
    A rosy hue swept over her
cheeks and she looked at his chin. “I never kissed anyone on the
mouth before I gave you the title, and I do not know how to kiss
well.”
    Now why did he feel
pleased by her confession? And how could she possibly call that
wispy graze she had given his lips a kiss? “You are not supposed to
know. ‘Tis my duty to teach you.”
    She relaxed. “’Tis a
relief to hear that. This has been a great worry for
me.”
    Bernon placed her hands on
his shoulders, slipped his arms around her, and pulled her against
him. Her eyes widened and she went rigid.
    “ Relax.”
    “ I cannot. Something is
wrong with me.” A hysterical note raised her pitch.
    “ Are you stalling
again?”
    “ Nay.” She clutched at his
shoulders and raised distraught eyes. “I think I am getting
sick.”
    He frowned. “What is
wrong?”
    She gulped and then spoke
in a rapid breathless voice. “My heart is pounding, my stomach is
fluttering, my bosoms feel tingly, and ‘tis getting hard to
breath.”
    Good God Almighty! She is
serious. “You are not sick. Your woman’s
body is excited because it likes touching mine.”
    “ It does?” she
wondered.
    He nodded.
    “ My body must like yours an
awful lot.”
    “ You will cease speaking
now.”
    She promptly clenched her
jaw, bowed her head, and knocked his chin with her forehead. Bernon
rolled his eyes, took hold of her chin between his forefinger and
thumb, and lowered his mouth onto hers.
    Her delicate body was so
rigid in his arms, he feared she might snap in twain, and rapid
puffs of air blasted against his cheek from her nose. He massaged
her back, trying to release some of her tension, but she tasted so
fine. He couldn’t resist parting his lips and stroking his tongue
across hers. She jerked back with a gasp and gazed at him through
shocked eyes.
    “ Open your mouth for me.”
He gripped the base of her skull, recaptured her mouth, and sucked
on her lower lip. Then he swept his tongue inside, brushing the
roof and the walls of her mouth. She tasted like fresh spring
honey. His other hand caressed down her back. He cupped her
derriere and massaged fine supple flesh.
    She came alive in his
arms. An erotic quaver surged through her. Whimpering through her
nose, she slid one arm over his shoulder and twined her fingers
through the short silky hairs at the nape of his neck.
    Her other hand tugged on
his shoulder and he realized she was trying to climb onto his lap.
He lifted her bottom, and she placed her knees on the seat,
straddling his thighs then began sucking on his tongue. Molten
desire surged through him from the eagerness of her untutored
response.
    A pounding on the door
intruded