Kimberly Nee - The McKenzie Brothers (12 page)

She nodded. “A bit.”

He stopped then, facing her. “There’s no one here but you and me, lady. Unless, of course,
I
make you nervous.”

She lifted her gaze to his. His eyes appeared black in the darkness — glittering, bottomless onyx pools. “Now why would
you
make me nervous, Mr. McKenzie?”

“I don’t know.” His voice dropped to a low, caressing growl. “Do I?”

“Hardly.”

“That’s a good thing to hear.” His thumbs moved lightly over her cheeks, and then he leaned forward to brush his lips over the stinging scratch on her cheek. “Let us get you home then, shall we?”

Her head fell back as his lips lightly danced along the slope of her neck. She felt dizzy as he engulfed her completely. She wanted to pull him down right onto the dead leaves and twigs of the woodsy floor.

“Does this mean I’ll not be sleeping alone tonight?” he murmured, his tongue lightly tracing the outline of her ear.

Amy Morrison and her delicate beauty was forgotten as she struggled to keep from melting into him. That caress of her ear felt so very nice, causing her head to spin and wreaking havoc upon her senses. All she could manage was a whispered, “Hmmm…”

His laughter washed over her like a warm caress. “Come, then. We’ve an empty house and the entire night left.”

“And I am a filthy mess of scratches.”

“A minor task to clean you up, sweetheart.” Garrett pulled away to catch her hand in his, and resumed his pace once more.

Katherine breathed a silent sigh of a relief once they were out of the woods and Ravenswood loomed in the distance. But she didn’t feel entirely comfortable until they were safely on the other side of the locked door.

Chapter Eighteen

Once they were inside, Garrett brought her directly to his room, where he lit a candle and led her over to his washstand. There, he poured water from the fine china ewer into the equally lovely china basin, took one of the neatly folded linen towels from the shelf below, and dipped it into the water. He wrung it out and brought it over to where she sat on the edge of his bed.

Crouching down, he dabbed the blood from her cheek and her forehead. “What happened out there?”

“I don’t really know,” she answered softly, looking down into his eyes. They were amber again — a beautiful, deep amber. “I was sitting there, minding my own business when that fool who insulted me that night in the tavern was suddenly pawing me.” Her back straightened as she added, “I was only defending myself.”

Garrett smiled, dabbing at the scratch over her eyebrow. “You hit him?” At her nod, he chuckled. “I hope it was as hard as you hit me that night.”

“Harder, I think. I was furious with him, you understand.”

“You are quite capable of defending yourself, aren’t you, love?”

“At times.”

His eyes grew tender as he tossed the towel onto the washstand. “Why, I might say you don’t need me at all.”

“Oh, but I did. You pulled him off me, remember?”

“I did, didn’t I?” He brushed his lips over the jagged scratch on her cheek. “The bleeding has stopped.”

“I hope this doesn’t leaves a scar.”

“I doubt it. It’s only a tiny scratch.”

She reached up to gingerly poke at it, hissing at the sting spreading through it. “Ouch.”

“Don’t touch it, then.”

He straightened up, first stripping off both his frock coat and waistcoat. Then, he unwound his stock from his neck and tugged his shirt from the waist of his trousers. “I don’t know about you, love, but I am grateful to be away from that ballroom.”

“You seemed to be enjoying yourself,” she said without thinking, completely unnerved as he opened his shirt.

“Ah, I put on a good act, don’t I?” he asked, tossing his neck cloth over the back of the chair pushed under the desk in the corner. “I’m not one much for balls and parties and the like. I was there tonight because it’s my family.”

She wanted to question him about Amy, but was hardly in the mood to start an argument with him. She would only sound like a jealous shrew when she had no cause to be one. And besides, did it truly matter? After all, she was the one in his bedroom, not the doll. That was what truly mattered, didn’t it?

For lack of anything better to say, she replied, “I understand your parents were celebrating an anniversary?”

“Thirty-three years of wedded bliss,” he remarked, sinking onto the bed once more to tug off his boots. Then they, too, were tossed into the corner.

“Thirty-three years, you say?”

He nodded. “They were married just under a year before I came along. Thirty-three years, four grown children and happy as ever.”

She felt a pang of wistfulness. “That must be very nice.”

He looked up to hold her gaze. “Yes. I imagine it is.”

Their eyes remained locked for a long moment. Then, Garrett resumed the process of undressing, easing off his shirt to drape atop his stock.

Her breath caught sharply. He was beautiful, arms and shoulders sculpted with thick cords of muscle beneath smooth, swarthy skin. Although she hadn’t seen many nude male chests, she knew his was remarkable. Slabs of muscle lay solid beneath a layer of dark hair that started just below his collarbones and disappeared into the darkness beneath the sheet.

She wanted so much to let her hands skim down over those solid rises, to let them move down over his hard belly, to explore as much of him as she could reach. But she held back. The last thing she wanted was for him to consider her
too
brazen. So, she simply watched, fascinated by how at ease he was in his own skin. His nakedness didn’t faze him at all, nor did her presence seem to trouble him.

Instead, he smiled down at her. “We might want to think about getting you out of that dress, love.”

A blush rose in her cheeks as he caught her by the shoulders and eased her about. Closing her eyes, she couldn’t stop a shiver rippling down her back as he slowly unbuttoned her gown. The cool breeze coming in through the window skittered over the skin he’d bared, only to be replaced by the warm caress of his lips as he brushed them against her.

Another shiver, this one stronger, as he skimmed his palms along her shoulders, and nudged her bodice over her curves. The linen slid free, slipping along her arms, and her bodice pool about her hips and left her in only her chemise.

A heady rush warmed her blood as he eased the dress over the curve of her hips and it fell in a heap at her feet. Only her thin chemise remained between his gaze and her body.

“Turn around.”

She forced her eyes open, only to find him gazing up at her with amber eyes. He shifted, moving forward to plant his feet on the floor, drawing her in between his knees.

“So beautiful,” he murmured, reaching for the pale pink ribbon holding her chemise together.

Heat filled her as he parted the linen and it fell away. He helped it along, his hands skimming up over her belly, in between her breasts, then moving outward. The linen fell from her and she stood there in all her glory before him.

His eyes darkened, the irises widening, and she didn’t miss his sharp inhalation. He leaned in, sliding his arms about her waist, and she started when his lips pressed gently into her belly. The caress was soft, warm, and her eyelids grew heavy at the stroke. Her skin tingled where he kissed her, and she couldn’t hold back her heavy sigh as the tip of his tongue fluttered against her flesh.

Her hands came down onto his shoulders, curving against his warm, smooth skin. Muscles bunched beneath her touch as his arms rose, his hands skimming up her back. His fingertips trailed up.

A shiver.

They trailed down.

Another shiver.

Her knees wobbled, warning her to sink into him or risk having them collapse beneath her. Her head spun wildly at the delightful sensations streaking through her, and her mind paid her knees very little heed.

Garrett rose and caught her by the wrists, guiding her hands to the fall of his trousers. She hesitated, then her curiosity got the better of her. She tugged, wrestled only for a moment, then his trousers were in a heap at his feet, quickly followed by his small clothes.

His hands pressed flat against her back and her belly tumbled as he fell back, pulling her with him. He shifted, and the tick scrunched as he rolled to pin her beneath him and seize her lips in a fierce kiss.

Her toes actually curled.

The crisp hair on his chest teased her tight, aching nipples. His tongue plunged between her lips to fill her mouth, and she groaned as he treated hers to a slick, heated caress. That heat spilled through her, loosened her muscles and stoked her desire until her entire body almost ached for his touch.

His hand curved about her left breast and she broke their kiss to gasp. A soft chuckle warmed her cheek. “Too hard, love?”

As he spoke, his thumb grazed her nipple and tingling fire shot through her. Her head still spun, but she managed to shake it and whisper, “Not at all,” as he teased her nipple again.

“Good.”

Her eyes closed of their own accord as the sensations grew, swelled into a pleasure unlike any she’d ever felt. She felt no fear, no anger — only desire, golden and powerful. It filled her, spurred her on to touch him, to seek him out and explore his body with the same curiosity with which he explored hers.

She bit down hard on her bottom lip as he caught her now-aching nipple between his lips and the wet heat of his tongue smoothed over it. Her back arched at the sudden tension cording her every muscle. There was a connection between her breasts and a newly-discovered core between her thighs, for with every flick, with every stroke of his tongue, that core tightened. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable, either. It made her want to wrap around him, made her want him to do something,
anything
to ease the sinfully wicked tension.

Her fingers reached and found his erection, sleek and hot, and he tore his lips from her as she curled them about him. She looked up, forced her eyes to open, to see his were closed. A muscle danced in his jaw as she stroked him.

“Garrett?”

His lids slowly lifted and his eyes almost blazed gold as he replied, “Hmmm?”

“This is all right?”

A sensual grin tugged at his lips. “Absolutely.”

He went still for a moment, then his lips skimmed down along her neck. He moved with agonizing slowness, pulled away from her touch as his lips devoured her inch by inch down to her belly. She shivered as his tongue teased her flesh and dipped playfully into her navel.

She thrust her fingers into the soft thickness of his dark hair, pulling him closer as his tongue traced the curve of her belly, circled her navel.

Those gentle kisses strengthened the furious want deep within her. Katherine let her fingers move through his hair, down his neck, to spread out over his shoulders. He groaned softly and lifted his head. His smoked-gold gaze met hers a and sinful, wicked smile played at his lips as he slid a hand between them.

A jolt tore through her like a streak of lightning as he gently thrust one finger inside her. Pleasure — scandalous, delicious pleasure — spiraled through her, a tingling rush that left numbness in its wake, a numbness that kept her from feeling anything other than the wondrous sensations arising from where he was now stroking her.

She gasped, her fingers sinking into his shoulders as she tugged on him, desperate for him to quench the fires he stoked to life within her. What he did to her was beyond delightful, beyond amazing, and she wanted to savor every moment, every touch, every feeling. One look into those smoldering amber eyes, and she knew he’d not hurt her. He only wanted her to enjoy what pleasure he could give her.

And what pleasure it was! Never, in the entirety of her life, had she ever felt anything that resembled this explosive bliss.

Garrett smiled as she gave another rough tug on his hair. “Easy, my lady. There is no need to rush.”

“Garrett.” She managed to lift her head to lock eyes with him. “Please…”

He complied, easing his finger free and rose up. He covered her, nudging her legs apart with his hips, and she surrendered as he settled easily between her thighs.

Her fingers tightened, and she didn’t miss his flinch as her fingernails bit even further into him. But he said nothing, only leaned in to capture her lips with his as he braced with one hand and the other vanished from her view once more.

He was heated silk against her. Her back arched at the first sensuous stroke of him against her. That solid, silken iron part of his body sent a heavy rumble through her, another sunburst of tingles that threatened to swallow her whole.

She couldn’t contain her breathless gasp at the feel of him as he entered her. Delicious pleasure swept over her. She wanted to cry out at the delicious steeliness of him, wanted to lift her hips in order to feel him fill her completely. Her body cried out for him, demanded that he sheath himself swiftly and deeply, lest she go mad from the pure, raw desire burning through her.

But burning pain was
not
what she expected and her eyes snapped open as it worsened. “Garrett?”

He must’ve felt something, for he paused. That made the pain ebb somewhat, but it still remained. “Kat…do you wish me to stop?”

“I beg your pardon?” It didn’t hurt
that
much. “It only stings a bit. Is that how it’s supposed to be?”

He surprised her by grinning. “No, love. That’s
not
how it’s supposed to be. At least, not beyond your first time.”

“What?”

“Do you wish me to stop, Kat? If so, speak now for in another moment, I’ll not be able to.”

“No. I don’t wish you to stop. But I am — oh!”

The pain exploded in like a fireball in a powder keg. He surged forth, hard into her, and she couldn’t help crying out from the sudden twisting kink that felt very much as if he was tearing at her insides.

The pain swelled, the crescendo bringing tears to her eyes as he thrust, and she arched to try to stop him. Too late. However, he went still against her, breathing hard, as if it took every ounce of his control to remain that way.

To her surprise, the pain, so white and hot in its intensity, quickly faded.

Perhaps he hadn’t killed her after all.

His voice, muffled by her shoulder, was heavy with concern as he murmured, “Kat?”

“Is that it?”

She didn’t expect him to laugh. And when he did, she certainly didn’t expect the sudden jolt of pleasure as his body moved, including that part inside her. “What did I say that amused you so?”

He rose up onto his forearms, still chuckling. “No, sweetheart. That is
not
it.”