“Christ, MacKeltar,” Gwen breathed, stunned. Six and a half feet of sculpted naked warrior stood before her, unselfconscious in his nudity. Proud, in fact, and well he should be. He was raw and male and powerful beyond compare, and it had certainly not been a sock or twenty in his jeans. He was breathtaking, and he had a remarkable amount of mass that she had not been factoring into her equation of why she was orbiting him, but she certainly would be in the future. It explained a great deal.

His eyes drifted over her breasts, down her belly, then lit on her kitten thong, and he made a strangled sound. “I thought that was some strange ribbon to restrain your hair. ’Twas why I put it on your pallet that night, thinking you might plait it before you slept. But, ah, lass, I far prefer it there,” he said roughly. “ ‘Tis wise you did not tell me that was beneath your trews, for I would have walked around hard all day thinking of removing it with my tongue.”

He likes my thong, she thought, beaming. She’d always known that if she’d picked the right man to pluck her cherry, he would appreciate her good taste.

Slipping to his knees before her, he proceeded to do as he’d threatened, lifting the strap of her thong away from the smooth curve of her hip with his teeth and licking the sensitive skin beneath it. He tugged the silk down with little nips, curving his tongue beneath it. She dug her fingers into his shoulders as he licked again and again, building resonance beneath her skin. He sucked her sensitive nub through the silk, making her arch against him, begging for more. Each inch he bared he swept with a hot stroke of his tongue, alternating tiny love bites. His callused hands glided up her thighs, and the delicious friction created by his rough palms against her smooth skin awakened erogenous zones she’d never known she had. Her knees trembled and she clutched his muscled shoulders for support.

“Lovely you are,” he purred, slipping his hands between her thighs, kneading and tasting her. “I doona know which part of you to taste first.”

“Drustan,” she moaned, pressing against him.

“What, Gwen? Do you want me?”

“God, yes!”

“Did you want me when you saw me in those blue trews?” he pushed. “Did you want me then too?”

“Yes.”

“Do you feel the heat when I touch you? Does it hit you like a thunderbolt too?”

“Yes.”

He stripped off her thong and rose to his feet. He drank in the sight of her nude body for a long moment before dragging her into his arms.

They both cried out as skin met skin, stunned by the intensity of the contact, sizzling where they touched. He kissed her deeply, his tongue hot and hungry, plundering her mouth. She arched her back, rubbing her breasts against him. When he cupped his hands beneath her bottom, she clasped her hands behind his neck and wrapped her legs tightly around him, so his erection was firmly trapped in the vee of her thighs. She squirmed, wanting him inside her right now, but either he wasn’t cooperating or she was too clumsy to angle them into the right position, which, she rued, given her inexperience, was possible. But it doesn’t seem that he’s being particularly helpful, she thought mulishly, breaking their kiss long enough to look at him. His silvery gaze was wicked…and cockily amused.

“Are you torturing me?”

“My pace, lass. You’re the one who said no and wasted days. We might have done this yesterday when you stuffed me into those torturous trews. And later that afternoon. And later that night, and this morning, and—”

When she tried to reply, he kissed her so hard she forgot what she was going to say. He rocked himself against her, mimicking sex, gliding back and forth in the slick vee of her thighs. Millions of tiny nerve endings screamed for more. Well, if he won’t, I will. She knew better than most people that forces of nature should not be resisted or subdued. She twisted against him, rubbing herself wantonly, pushing herself to the peak.

As her soft panting became more frantic, Drustan broke the kiss and looked at her. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes brilliant and wild, her lips kiss-bruised and parted.

“That’s it, lass, take your pleasure.” He was riveted by her unabashed hunger for him; she was making him hotter and harder with every insistent thrust of her hips. If he wasn’t careful, he’d spill without ever entering her. He doubted a woman had ever desired him so intensely.

She whimpered as she came, she purred, she rubbed against him like a love-starved kitten.

“Yes,” he breathed, flooded with purely male, possessive triumph. When her shudders subsided and she relaxed against him, he lowered her to the ground on his plaid, then sat back on his knees and gazed at her for a long moment. Long enough that she began to squirm, and it wrought havoc upon his fleeting control. She arched her back, raising her breasts toward him, her nipples dark berries, begging to be suckled.