The Runaway Bride
Page 22
Boldly, she stroked his face, accustoming herself to the feel of his scar, the texture, relishing the freedom, the right, to touch him so possessively. “Did I ever tell you your imperfections make me weak?”
Before he could answer, she trailed quick little kisses down the length of his scar. He moaned so quietly it whispered from him, hot against her ear.
“Oh, babe, I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” she murmured, lifting her head. The heat in his eyes fanned the fire building inside her. He caught her face in both hands and pulled her mouth to his. If his imperfections made her weak, his kiss made her liquid, breathless. She pulled back, joyful. The need inside her blooming too quickly. She’d waited too long for this moment, ached for it too many lonely nights, to rush.
Jake’s hands curled insistently about her upper arms, but she resisted his tender urging to continue the kiss. She wanted to touch him and taste him and look at him. His hair needed cutting and fell provocatively about his arresting face. His sweeping chest was bare, half-hidden by the blanket, his shoulder decorated with a clean bandage, his breastbone covered with crisp curly ash-blond hair.
She shoved the blanket to his waist and watched a fire flare through his eyes. She began kissing his chest, from one side to the other, reveling in the smell of him, the taste of him, in the delighted groans each brush of her lips pulled from him. She wanted more. She wanted his naked flesh touching hers. She sat up and untied the string at the back of her neck, then holding the dress up with one hand unzipped the back with the other. She stood and let the dress slither to the floor.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. His tongue slipped across his chiseled mouth as though he had a mighty thirst that needed quenching. She sat again as he lifted off the pillow to meet her. Beneath his smoldering gaze her nipples hardened with a fluttering tingle that sent shivers of anticipation through her. His hands cupped her breasts, the pads of his thumbs brushing back and forth across their sensitive centers until she could contain a cry of joy no longer.
It spilled into the room, a tune as old and treasured as the first written song. Sweet music to Jake’s ears. He gathered a mouthful of breast, languishing in the favorite delicacy. He heard her breathing quicken and his urgency returned with such speed it was all he could do to contain his need. He tossed the covers aside. He wore nothing but his desire for her. She sighed, smiling, her gaze a caress against his engorged flesh.
But it wasn’t enough. He gathered her hand and pressed it to him, then he slipped his fingers into the waistband of her panties, a red strip of lace that yielded to his determined touch. His intimate invasion was greeted by a thick tangle of curly hair, more silken than the red satin covering it. He slid his hand lower and found her liquid center.
She gasped as he identified the sensitive tip of her womanhood, massaging it with tender, demanding strokes. Then he slipped his finger inside her.
Laura’s body constricted, the climax hitting her quick and hard and sweet. She closed her eyes and let the sensations spill through her. When the ride slowed, she rose, skimming her panties down her hips and stepping from them.
She wore only his ring. It adorned the finger he’d placed it on so long ago. He noticed it now. Kissed it now. “I love you, woman.”
Laura thought her heart might burst with happiness.
Jake’s gaze crawled hungrily over her, found her face, the teal of his eyes darkening to the hue of a tropical pool. He caught her arms again, intending to sweep her beneath him. But a flash of pain crossed his face as he strained his wound. She urged him back on the pillow. “Be still, love. Let me do this.”
Laura straddled him, locking his legs beneath her, lowering her head to stroke her tongue over his hard, sleek shaft, cherishing the feel of him.
“Oh, Laura.” He gasped. “Now, babe, now.”
With her gaze locked to his, she raised her hips, then slowly, purposefully, sank onto his throbbing need; the joining filled her heart as his sex filled the very core of her.
She rose and fell, rose and fell, each thrust deep and hot. Tiny star bursts tingled through her. Her breath came fast and quick, her pulse picking up the ever-increasing rhythm, lifting her higher and higher.
She cried out his name as the speed of her pleasure licked her blood to flames and burst in one gigantic fireball that exploded to her fingertips, her toes, her scalp.
The quiet that followed held a comfortable, easy peace and Laura knew without doubt that at long last Jake and her dreams aligned as truly as the stars and the planets. Their hopes spiraled around them, fitting together in an interlocking twist of life and love, of trust in each other, in their future.
As he stroked the birthmark on her inner thigh, she thought of her uncle and aunt She felt certain they were smiling at Jake and her, happy that they’d found their way back to each other.
Jake reached for her again. She belonged in this man’s arms, his bed. If ever she ran again, it would not be from him, but with him.
And on the seventh day she did. Jake and Laura eloped.
eISBN: 978-14592-6169-3
THE RUNAWAY BRIDE
Copyright © 1998 by Adnanne Lee Undsderfer
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Books by Adrianne Lee
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Copyright