Love Song For A Raven

by Elizabeth Lowell

  Then Raven’s long index finger finally slid beneath the torn cotton T-shirt, tracing and freeing a breast in the same motion. Janna’s nipple tightened in a tingling rush. She watched his fingertip stroke slowly across her ribs, sliding closer to her other breast. Before he even touched it, the hard rise of her nipple was clear beneath the cotton. Raven’s smile as he peeled aside the clinging cloth made her breath wedge in her throat.

  “Raven?’’ she whispered.

  He made a rumbling sound that could have meant anything as he traced her tight, velvety peak. She watched in helpless fascination when he bent and touched the dark nipple with the tip of his tongue. A ragged sound came from her that could have been his name. His answer was a husky male laugh and the tender pressure of his teeth closing over her nipple, tugging at her, unraveling her breath and her body in a few rushing instants. She called his name in what she meant to be a question but came out as a broken cry.

  „Yes,“ Raven said, understanding the question Janna hadn’t been able to ask. He nuzzled her breast and the curve of her throat, tasting her with obvious pleasure. „I’m going to eat every sweet bit of you. But first I’m going to find out if your mouth is as hot and wild and welcoming as your body is.“ He laughed again, a sound so low that it was more felt than heard. „I’ve never learned a woman’s secrets in reverse order before,“ he murmured, holding himself back long enough to admire Janna’s mouth. „Once I had learned the last secret, the others didn’t interest me. But you do, small warrior. I ache to know if you’ll open these lips as trustingly as you opened the rest of yourself.“

  Janna saw the sensual curves of Raven’s mouth and the black, silky gleam of his mustache as he slowly lowered his head. She tried to say his name but could not. Her lips parted for him on a husky sigh. She felt the tiny shudder that took him as he brought his mouth to hers, joining them as completely as he had joined their bodies a few minutes ago.

  When Janna felt the hot touch of his tongue, her whole body tightened with a surge of pleasure. His taste swept through her, filling her senses. The tip of his tongue found hers and teased it as he had once teased her breast. She made an inarticulate sound and ran her fingers across the powerful muscles of his shoulders, testing his resilience. As he felt the tiny bite of her nails his tongue thrust deeply into her and withdrew almost instantly, as though he were afraid of hurting her.

  „Again,“ Janna whispered, burying her fingers in the thickness of Raven’s hair, pulling his head down to her. „Oh, please, kiss me like that again.“

  He took her words and her mouth with a hoarse sound, kissing her so fiercely that her neck arched across the muscular thickness of his forearm. With an effort he brought himself under control again.

  „You’re pure hell on my good intentions,“ Raven said huskily, looking at Janna’s reddened lips with a combination of regret and raw hunger.

  She looked up at his narrowed eyes and licked her lips uncertainly. They tingled and felt hot and sensitive, and she wanted nothing more than to feel herself crushed within Raven’s arms again.

  „What do you mean?“ Janna whispered, touching her tongue to her lips again.

  He smiled. „Lick my lips like that and I’ll show you.“

  Janna’s eyes widened. Her hands slid up to his cheeks and she held him as she pulled herself toward his mouth. She licked his lips slowly, loving the feel of his breath rushing hotly over her as he groaned. His fingers thrust deeply into her hair, pulling her head back until her neck was a creamy offering to his mouth and he could see her pulse beat heavily beneath her skin. He bit her lips with sensual restraint even as he held her arched helplessly between his powerful hands.

  Shivering, watching his eyes, she breathed his name.

  „What do you like from a man?“ Raven asked. „Tell me and it’s yours. Whatever you want, however you want it, for as long as you can take it. Just tell me.“

  „I don’t know,“ she admitted. „My husband never wanted this.“ Janna’s breath caught, then came out with a ragged sound as Raven’s teeth closed delicately over the pulse beating in her throat.

  „You told me all I need to know about your husband,“ Raven said, nuzzling against the sensitive lobe of her ear. „Now tell me what you wanted from your lovers.“

  „I don’t know. You’re the only one I ever had.“

  Janna felt Raven become utterly still. Slowly his head came up until he could look into her eyes. She tried to make a joke of her inexperience but the words stuck in her throat.

  „Ever?“ he asked, hardly able to believe that a woman as sensual and generous as Janna had never found a man to enjoy her.

  „I didn’t think anyone would want me. Not really. I even read a whole shelf of how-to manuals for Mark but it didn’t help.“

  Her words ended in a soft, tearing sound as Raven’s tongue thrust into her ear. She moaned softly, and her nails bit into the flexed muscles of his chest.

  „Books, huh?“ growled Raven, biting her ear sensually, teasing her with his tongue, feeling heat burst through him at her helpless response. He laughed softly and thrust his tongue into her ear as his teeth gently devoured her. „Let me know if I miss any paragraphs that intrigued you.“

  „What?“ Janna asked, not understanding anything except the sensations marching over her skin, heat and cold and pleasure impossibly mingling until she shivered.

  „I’m going to love you, Janna. All of you,“ Raven said in a deep voice, biting her neck with enough force to leave small marks. „I’m going to love you until you moan and cry and come apart. And then I’m going to start all over again, and then again, until you would kill or die to have me inside you. That’s when I’ll take you and you’ll take me, all of me, and it will be so good you’ll scream.“

  It was a sensuous threat and a sensual promise, and Janna wanted both to come true. As she reached for Raven, his fingers laced through hers and he pulled her hands above her head. His black, glittering eyes and elemental male smile made her whole body arch as she tried to reach him, wanting to know the hot penetration of his body once again. When he saw the helpless movement of her legs he smiled and then swore lightly when his body went hard in a single wild rush. He shouldn’t want her again this soon, this much, as though he had never taken her at all. But he did.

  And if he let himself look at her hungry softness any longer, he would take her.

  Janna gasped as she felt herself picked up and turned onto her stomach as though she weighed nothing. She started to ask a question, then forgot what she had wanted to say as his hands slid beneath her, capturing her breasts. Heat shivered through her as he kneaded her sensitive flesh until her nipples were hard and her breathing was ragged. She sensed his breath on her spine in the instant before his teeth closed on her nape. Caught between his caressing hands and his mouth, Janna moaned his name softly.

  „Raven, I want to hold you,“ she said.

  She made a broken sound as strong fingers rolled her nipples caressingly, tightening them until fire burst deep in the pit of her stomach. Her leg flexed in helpless response as she tried to roll onto her side, instinctively seeking the fulfillment of his body within hers. His knee slid between her legs, pinning her, making it impossible for her to roll over.

  „Don’t you want me to hold you?“ she said.

  „Oh, I want it,“ he said through clenched teeth. „Too much. You’re so damned sexy you make me lose control,“ he gritted. „Can’t you feel what you do to me?“

  Janna felt the rigid power of Raven against her hip. She moved slowly, caressing and enjoying him in the only way that she could. A husky groan was her reward. Then his hand moved, raking tenderly down her spine until his fingers found the warm crease between her hips. He followed that down and down until he could hold her in his palm once more.

  „All that heat waiting,“ Raven whispered as his teeth sank sensually into Janna’s hip. He laughed deep in his throat as he stroked her with his hard palm, hardly able to believe that she wanted
him so much. He said her name against her skin again and again, leaving sensual marks each time.

  Janna barely heard. Raven’s caressing palm was stripping away her breath, her thoughts, her control. Instinctively she shifted, making more room for him between her legs, wanting more of the incredibly sensual touch. Callused fingertips moved slowly, seeking out and caressing her most sensitive flesh until she made a broken sound and her hips moved with his touch. He rewarded her with another love bite that made her moan. He felt her warmth seep over him at the gently stinging caress and heard her cry of pleasure.

  „God,“ he said hoarsely, turning Janna over so that he could bite the soft heat of her inner thigh. „You make me want to cover you everywhere with loving marks.“ He turned and nuzzled the hot secrets that awaited him. „Everywhere,“ he said huskily as his teeth closed on her with exquisite care.

  Sensations raced through Janna, making her tremble violently.

  „Raven, I-“

  „You taste like the sea,“ he said. „Salty, mysterious, wild.“

  When Raven parted Janna’s legs with his hands, she gave him what he asked without hesitation, abandoning herself to him because there was no other choice. The tight nub of her passion was no longer hidden from him. He had found it and his sweet, hungry caresses were making her helpless. Her back arched as something wild speared through her, tightening her whole body.

  „Raven?“ she cried, sinking her nails heedlessly into his shoulders because he was the only thing real in a world that was coming apart in slow motion around her. „Raven!“

  His only answer was a low sound as his teeth closed around her with dark restraint, holding her captive for his loving. His name broke from her lips in fragments as tension coiled within her body more tightly with each instant. She called his name again, frightened now, wholly at the mercy of the sensations spearing through her with every hot caress.

  „It’s all right,“ he said huskily, „I won’t hurt you.“ He kissed her very gently, cherishing her tender flesh. „Give yourself to me, small warrior. Let me love you.“

  „Yes,“ she whispered as he kissed her again. „Oh, yes.“

  And then the heat and hunger of Raven’s loving stripped the world away, leaving ecstasy in its place. His hands gripped Janna’s hips, holding her against him as he caressed her, increasing the wild pleasure sleeting through her, listening to the husky cries he had called from her.

  When the last shivering finally faded from Janna, Raven moved slowly up her body, licking the mist of passion from her skin. He wanted her with a violence that shook him, but he made no move to take her. He knew that she had found her release; he didn’t expect her to want him now.

  „Raven,“ she said, blindly seeking his lips. „Hold me. Please, hold me.“

  He felt her tears against his cheek and wrapped his arms tightly around her, finding both relief and torment in pressing his erect flesh against her.

  „Be inside me,“ she whispered, touching him with loving fingers. The thought of being joined with him again made her tremble. „Let me hold all of you, Raven. Let me feel you moving inside me. Please.“

  Raven closed his eyes and struggled for control. He knew that Janna might as well have been a virgin, that he shouldn’t take her again so soon. And he knew that if he didn’t feel himself sheathed within her loving softness again he would die.

  „Janna – “ he began, trying to explain why it would be better for her if they waited.

  „You were right,“ Janna interrupted, whispering against Raven’s mouth as her nails bit into his powerful back, urging him closer to her. „I would kill or die to have you inside me.“

  Emotion swept through Raven, changing everything as the world shifted and faded away, leaving only the woman who watched him with luminous silver-green eyes. „I’ll hurt you,“ he said harshly.

  „No,“ Janna said, moving her hips so that Raven pressed gently against her softness. „I was made for your loving.“

  Raven felt the spreading heat of Janna’s pleasure and wanted her even more now than he had the first time.

  „Are you sure?“ he asked huskily, easing into her even as he asked, ready to withdraw at the least sign of her discomfort.

  „Oh, yes, I’m sure,“ she said throatily, feeling the secret, hot movements of her body as pleasure shimmered deep within her again.

  Raven felt Janna’s pleasure as clearly as she did. He made a thick sound and took her mouth, kissing her deeply, moving slowly within her, drinking her soft cries of love. She was heat and a glittering promise surrounding him, calling to him, loving him. She sank into him like the mist into the forest, inseparable, penetrating his very core, filling him even as he filled her; and then ecstasy swept through them in a wild silver wind, stirring them until they cried out and clung to each other, knowing only each other, letting everything else spin away into darkness.

  Chapter 7

  Janna awoke slowly, dreaming that she was lying out in the sun with heat pouring over her in a golden cascade. She smiled and stirred slowly, arching herself into the warmth.

  Raven smoothed his hand down Janna’s body again, enjoying her uninhibited sensuality. When he had discovered that she had never taken a lover, he had felt both fiercely proud – and guilty. He believed that if he hadn’t saved her life, if they hadn’t been locked up together in the inlet’s savage, beautiful Eden, Janna wouldn’t have wanted him any more than she had wanted other men.

  Yet he had taken advantage of their isolation and her gratitude anyway, because he had never wanted a woman so much.

  It was the same right now. He wanted Janna. Right or wrong, passion or gratitude, Eden or hell. He wanted her. She was the sound of laughter on the wind and a wild silver mist glittering within his soul. She was the mysterious taste of the sea and the hot generosity of life itself. He would have given the blood from his veins to believe that she would have come to him no matter where and how they had met.

  But he knew that it wasn’t true. If they had met in a normal way, she would have taken one look at his intimidating size and dark, rough looks, and then she would have smiled politely and walked away from him.

  Raven knew that Janna was a gift given to a lonely raven by the old Haida gods, the cruel gods who gave only that they might teach man the agony of loss by taking back the gift. Raven also knew that there was no way to fight the gods, no way to keep the gift and evade the agonizing loss. He could only cherish Janna for the time that she was his, and open his hands when the time was over, freeing her and praying that she would never regret having given herself for a time to a man she didn’t love.

  „You look as though someone carved you from stone,“ Janna murmured sleepily. Her fingertips traced the fierce lines on Raven’s face, lines that faded even as he turned to kiss her palm. „What were you thinking about?“

  „Eden and the old Haida gods,“ Raven said, smoothing his cheek into the warmth of Janna’s hand. „And Eve.“ He lifted his head and looked at the gift of the gods lying within his arms. „You’re so beautiful,“ he whispered. „All woman, hot and generous. A man could die trying to get enough of you.“ He sank his teeth into her palm with sensual precision. „And I can think of no better way to step into eternity than listening to your sweet cries.“

  Janna stared at Raven stretched out on the bed beside her, as naked and rugged as the mountains themselves. Sunlight streamed through the porthole, pure light washing over his powerful body. He was so completely male, so very perfect in her eyes that she couldn’t even speak to tell him how much it moved her to be desired by him. She could only touch him with a hand that trembled. The knowledge that she had pleased him gleamed in her eyes, tears shining in her lashes like distant stars. With a soft sound she went into the arms that opened for her in silent invitation.

  „I love you, Raven,“ Janna said, holding him close. „I think I’ve loved you since the moment you pulled me out of the sea.“

  Raven closed his eyes as pain twisted through him.
He kissed Janna very gently when she would have whispered her love again. Then he sealed Janna’s lips with a long, callused finger.

  „Don’t,“ he whispered, looking at her silver-green eyes, wishing that she had never spoken. He had already guessed the source of any emotion she might have for him, the reason that he was set apart from other men in her eyes; he didn’t need to be reminded that it was gratitude, not love, even when the reminder came in such a sweet and gentle way.

  Janna stared at Raven, understanding only the pain in his bleak eyes, not the cause. „Raven?“ she asked raggedly. „Don’t you want – “

  His lips came down over hers in a kiss that was as warm as sunlight and as powerful as the sea itself. He held her mouth for a long, long time, savoring her, wanting her.

  „It’s all right,“ Raven whispered finally against Janna’s lips. „You don’t have to love me. I know that you’re grateful to be alive. I’m grateful, too. Without you I wouldn’t have known what it was like to die inside you and then to live again with you inside me. I wouldn’t have known what it was like to be in Eden, to find myself in a place out of time where no one exists but a single man and a single woman who were created for each other.“

  With a swift movement Raven took Janna’s mouth. He felt a fierce elation when she opened willingly for the tender penetration of his tongue. He drank from her deeply and felt himself taken from in return before he lifted his head and looked down into eyes as enigmatic as mist veiling the primeval forest.

  „Let’s take this time, this savage Eden, this gift,“ Raven said huskily, kissing Janna between each word. „Take it without labels or promises that will haunt you when Eden is a memory and the rest of your life is very real. I want you to remember me with joy, for that’s how I will remember you.“

  Janna closed her eyes and tried very hard not to cry out with the mingled pain and pleasure of being with the man she loved, a man who laughed with her and wept with her – and did not love her. Yet he made love to her as though she were the only woman on earth.