by Grant, Donna
The heat of him, the delicious manly scent of him, and the sexuality that fairly poured off him had her body aquiver. She shivered, not from the cool night air, but in expectation of what she wished would come.
He took a step toward her until their bodies nearly brushed. “Do you hurt?” he asked as his hand gently touched her forehead.
“Only a little. Whatever Gabriel gave me helped.”
“I’m
sorry.”
She looked into his eyes, made even darker by the glow of the lone candle by the bed. “For what?”
“I should have looked in your chamber before you went inside.” She quickly covered his mouth with her hand. The heat of his breath as his lips opened made her weak in the knees. “Don’t,” she said after a deep breath. “I’m fine.” His gaze searched hers for a moment until he was satisfied with whatever he saw.
He lightly kissed her fingers then gently moved her hand from his mouth.
“What did you hear?”
She smiled then as she recalled what she had heard. “So very much.”
“Tell me,” he urged as he moved her to the table near the hearth.
She sank into a chair and licked her lips. “The townspeople know of the creature.”
“Really?” he asked and sat.
She nodded. “They said as much, but from what I gather, no one has seen it. It doesn’t come to the village. Instead the guards come at night and pick a person randomly.”
“I don’t think it’s random,” Cole said as he leaned back.
“Why? The Baron rarely comes to the village and never lets anyone inside the castle gates.”
Cole tapped a finger on the table. “The Baron may not come into the village, but he has people like Benton that gather information for him.”
“True.”
“And didn’t you tell us last night that Benton had left the tavern?” She nodded. “He left again tonight. He must be going to the castle to give Gyles updates.”
“On you?” Cole asked.
“Could be. Benton made mention that Gyles was paying him to keep me at the tavern.”
Cole leaned forward. “Do you know what they have planned for you?”
“No. I’ve asked several times, but no one will tell me.”
“How about how the villagers are picked for the creature? Is it just young people?”
She shook her head. “Several older ones have been taken. Men, women, young or old. It doesn’t matter. I have noticed that they haven’t taken children.”
“I don’t think they will. Apparently the creature has a large appetite.” Shannon looked away and tried to swallow as she realized Cole was saying the children wouldn’t be enough of a meal.
“I apologize,” he said.
“Don’t,” she said and looked back at him. “You were only stating a fact, despite how gruesome I might think it is.”
“Did you hear anything else?”
“Everyone knows of you and Gabriel.”
When Cole frowned, she quickly amended her story. “They know that two men stopped the castle guards, but they don’t know exactly who. The village is abuzz with it.”
“I was hoping the girl didn’t see us.”
“Apparently she did. She was quick to tell her family about it, and they hastily spread the word.”
“Damnation.”
“That’s not all. Apparently, whatever the creature is will desire two the next time.”
“When is the next time?” Cole asked as he sat up straighter.
Shannon shrugged. “I have no idea. They thought maybe tonight, but if that’s the case, the guards would have already been to town.”
“Exactly. Which means they’ll come tomorrow night.” She nodded, not wanting to think of that just yet. “The family of the girl that was taken last night tried to leave the village today.”
“What happened to them?”
“They were taken to the castle,” she whispered.
Cole nodded and sighed. “Which explains why they didn’t come for anyone tonight.”
Shannon hadn’t considered that. She lowered her gaze and thought about the family that would die this night. “I suppose.” Cole’s large hand covered hers and she raised her gaze to him.
“Gabriel and I gave you a promise. You will be safe.”
“I
know.”
Suddenly, Cole drew in a ragged breath and rose to his feet to pace near the window. “Anything else?” he asked.
“There is a man, a guard that Gyles keeps with him at all times. He’s a giant of a man, rarely comes into town, but the people were speaking of him today. If you see him, run and don’t look back, Cole. He’ll kill you. That’s what he does for Gyles.” Shannon watched as Cole spun around, a small smile on his face. “I saw the man you speak of today. He is a large brute.”
“You
aren’t
afraid?”
He chuckled. “You can’t face what I do every day and fear a mere man.” He had a point, Shannon told herself.
“Do you know what is behind the castle?” Cole asked.
“Behind the castle? No. I’ve never been to the castle.”
“Has anyone talked of it?”
She thought back over her time at the inn and shook her head. “I don’t think so.
What is it?”
“I’m not sure. It’s a stone wall and makes a large circle in the forest.”
“Is that were the creature is?”
Cole shrugged and took a step toward her. Her pulse doubled at the look in his eye, the look of need. She sat clutching the table until he reached her. His hands tugged her from her seat to stand before him.
“You shouldn’t have returned here,” he said.
“You asked me to.”
“I
know.”
His hands ran over her arms, to her shoulders, neck, and into her hair. She had forgotten she had taken down her hair until his hands plunged in its thickness. Her eyes closed, and she reveled in the feel of his hands on her scalp and neck.
“Ye gods, you are beautiful,” he whispered as he lowered his head.
Shannon watched him through half closed lids, silently begging for his kiss.
“Tell me you don’t want my kiss,” he demanded softly.
“I don’t want your kiss.”
His husky voice poured over her like honey. “I don’t believe you.”
“That’s because I lied.”
Cole knew he should send her on her way, forget the passion he felt for her, because if they kissed, if he tasted her sweet lips again, he wouldn’t be able to stop there.
Yet, knowing what he should do and actually doing it proved impossible. He flexed his fingers in her thick, glossy brunette mane and drew her toward him. Her lips were parted, as if she waited for him, needed him as much as he needed her.
Cole tried one last time to make himself release her, but his body simply refused to listen to his brain. And before he could think more on it, he lowered his mouth and took her lips in a kiss meant to intoxicate her and brand her to him.
He smiled inwardly as her fingers dug into his shoulders and a half sigh, half moan broke from between her precious lips as he moved his mouth to her jaw and down her neck.
Her skin, softer than the finest Fae garments, responded to his touch as though she had been made for him. And his body ignited. He returned to her lips and their siren call, plunging his tongue into her mouth and tasting all of her, conquering her.
He couldn’t get enough. Her kisses only made him want more, and the feel of her soft hands on his body had him yearning for her touch—skin against skin, body against body.
With extraordinary effort, he managed to pull away. He looked down at her beautiful face with her swollen lips and eyes burning with desire. He held himself back by a thin thread that at any moment would break, but he had to give her one last chance.
&
nbsp; “Shannon,” he said between great gulps of air. “I’m going to lay you on my bed and make love to you all night unless you leave this chamber right now.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and rose up to kiss him, but he stopped her.
“Last chance,” he warned.
Her honey brown eyes stared deep into his. “I want this. I want you.” Cole let loose the breath he had held as he closed his eyes in relief. Women didn’t turn him away, and this was the first time he had been afraid that one might. He had said he would let her go, but in truth, he wasn’t sure he would have been able.
Thankfully, now he wouldn’t have to find out.
He opened his eyes and saw her small smile as she watched him. With a groan, Cole bent and picked her up. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist with her skirts bunching between them.
Cole walked to the bed and lay down atop Shannon. His body sizzled with unbridled lust and a need that had to be fed. With his hands on either side of her head, he rose up and gazed down at her.
She was an incredible site with her dark hair fanned out around her like a crown and her breasts rising and falling rapidly as she ran her hands over his chest.
Cole leaned back on his knees and began to remove his vest and tunic. Her hands eagerly joined him as she sat up and helped him remove his clothes. When he sat bare-chested before her, she sighed and ran her hands over him as if he was some prized silk.
He leaned his head back and relished in the feel of her hands as they discovered him. Her touch was soft, sensuous, and damn near torture. He bunched the covers in his hands to keep from touching her[*, *] but it was fast becoming impossible.
When her delightful lips met his skin, he jerked and found himself shaking with the need to have a taste of her, learn her as she was learning him.
Her lips, as soft as her hands, kissed and licked his neck, shoulders, abdomen, and chest, and each heartbeat it became clearer to Cole that Shannon was different from the others. His body had known that upon first seeing her.
He allowed her to kiss and touch him until he burned with need so bright nothing shown but Shannon. He quickly captured her hands and found her lips in a fiery kiss.
“My turn,” he whispered as he began to unlace her gown.
It didn’t take them long to shed her clothes, leaving her bare except for a blood red lace garment that covered her breasts and the apex of her thighs.
He reached out and gently touched the lace, amazed at the soft feel of it and how it cupped her breasts to mold them perfectly.
She smiled up at him. “It’s my bra.”
“Your
what?”
This time she giggled. “My bra. It helps to hold my breasts.”
“Lucky piece of lace,” he murmured then looked down at the piece holding her sex. “And this?” he asked as he ran his finger against the lace over her hip.
“My…my panties,” she said, her eyes closed as if she savored his touch.
“I envy both pieces,” he said as he leaned toward her and kissed her. “Take off the…bra.”
Cole noticed her hands trembling, and he wondered if it was because she was frightened or because of her need. He watched, amazed as she unhooked the garment at her back and it fell away to reveal two perfect breasts made to fit exactly into his hands.
Her creamy breasts rose and fell rapidly, and as he watched, her nipples hardened beneath his gaze.
Shannon was drowning in need. As her breasts tightened and tingled and her nipples became hard as stone, all she could think about was Cole kissing her again.
Just as she was about to start begging, he pulled her against him and gave her another kiss that scorched her to her toes. The man was a born kisser, the kind of man every woman hoped to encounter once in there lives that would give them a kiss that tasted like…paradise.
Cole not only gave her paradise, but he touched her deep within, almost as if her soul had awakened. All with a simple kiss.
Dear lord, what will he do to me when he makes love to me?
Shannon had never feared something so much, nor wanted something so much as she did Cole. He made her feel like a woman, something she never thought she would feel.
As his hands roamed over her back to her butt, she moved her head to the side so he could kiss down the column of her throat, his hot breath and wicked tongue daring her to hold nothing back.
The candle flickered light on the ceiling, bathing them in its warm golden glow, and Shannon knew that this moment would forever be etched in her memory.
When Cole pulled her to her knees, she quickly followed, her gaze soaking in his astounding abdomen that could surely be used for a washboard. And his chest rippled with deep muscles, muscles that her hands itched to feel beneath her hands yet again.
The erotic feel of her breasts against his chest left an ache between her legs that made her lightheaded. She moved her hands over his wide shoulder to his thick neck to entwine in his blonde locks of silky hair.
Not a single scar marred his body, not even the injury to his shoulder he had sustained but a few days before. She wasn’t given time to think on that as Cole took her in another dazzling kiss.
She held her breath as his hands moved to her waist, then higher until his thumbs grazed the underside of her breasts. She gasped and silently begged for more. Her body was in control and she gave in to it, letting herself explore Cole and herself.
When his hands cupped her breasts and his fingers skimmed over her nipples, she tore her mouth from his and cried out from the pleasure that ripped through her. Her body shook and her sex clenched as he rolled her nipples between his fingers.
The pleasurable pain became too much to bear, and Shannon rubbed her hips against his leg.
“By the gods,” she heard Cole murmur as he moved until she was lying back on the bed and he sat between her legs.
Small tremors racked her body as she watched, waited to see what he would do to her next. He had barely touched her and her body had responded lightening quick. Now, she ached to have him touch her again as her need grew with each second that passed.
“Cole,” she whispered, not knowing what to say.
His hand moved to her lips. “Shhhh. It will be all right.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than his hands were again on her breasts.
She sighed as he kneaded them, letting his palms scrape her sensitive nipples which ached for his mouth.
When he captured a nipple between two fingers and lightly squeezed as his fingers skimmed over the satin of her panties that covered her, her back arched in abandon as she clutched the sheets, helpless to the sensations rocking through her.
Again and again, Cole ran his fingers over the satin, teasing her until she throbbed and her panties were soaked with her arousal.
Finally, she felt the bed shift and opened her eyes to see him remove his pants.
As he sprang free, she couldn’t help but stare at his rod. He was thick and hard, but instead of being frightened, all Shannon could think about was having him fill her and ease the ache inside her.
She heard herself panting as he moved toward her. Words had abandoned her, but he seemed to know what she wanted as his thumb moved between her and the band of her panties.
Slowly, he pulled her panties down, exposing her flesh inch by inch. When she was fully exposed, she waited breathlessly for him to take her.
But, he had other ideas.
Breath hissed from between her lips as his fingers glided over her heated, wet sex.
Please. Please! Touch me.
As if he heard her silent pleas, Cole’s finger slipped inside her.
A cry tore from Shannon’s throat. His finger moved within her, bringing relief, but not near enough. She needed more.
She
needed
him.
Yet, he wasn’t done with her. With one finger still inside her, he moved his thumb over her clitty, sending waves upon
waves of delight soaring through her. And when his other hand moved up and rolled a nipple between his fingers, she knew true pleasure then.
She felt her climax coming, felt it building with an intensity that she feared would kill her. When he moved another finger inside her, Shannon jerked as her orgasm erupted, sending millions of tiny lights to go off as she rode the ripples of her climax.
Just as she thought it was over, she felt Cole move and watched as he positioned himself over her. Their eyes met, and the desire burning brightly in his dark depths made her breath catch.
