Page 63 of Lord of Fire and Ice

“I don’t pretend to understand the mighty passion, but I know love is not something that comes in half measures. Either it is or it isn’t,” he said, refusing to release his hold on her even though she attempted to wrest herself from him. “For me, it is. I do care for you, Katla.”

She ceased struggling. “How can you?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve puzzled over it for weeks, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make sense. All I know is while I draw breath, all I am is yours.”

She froze, as still as a carved rune stone, just looking at him with those enormous green eyes of hers. She was clearly weighing his declaration for truth.

It seemed strange, even to him, who felt it firsthand, but there was such a lump of caring in his chest for this woman, he thought he might choke on it, gods help him.

“If that’s the way of it, then, I take you at your word,” she said with a trembling smile. “And just so you know, I care for you too.”

He placed a hand around her waist and drew her close. Then he caught one of her hands and pressed it against his chest, letting her feel the pounding of his heart.

“You consume me, Katla, and I don’t care a whit. Let the fire burn.”

Brandr had meant to hold back, to wait for her to respond, but something primal surged in his blood, singing the chaos of lust. He had to obey the savage call or burst out of his own skin.

He plundered her mouth, nearly overcome by her sweetness. Her scent surrounded him, intoxicating him, his senses dazed and reeling. When she answered his kiss and leaned toward him, brushing her taut nipples against his chest, blood pounded so loudly in his ears he thought she must be able to hear it.

Then the drumbeat moved much lower, to his swollen cock, throbbing with the rhythm of his life’s blood in ever-quickening pulses.

Brandr pressed her body against his, knowing he should be more gentle with her. She was so small, so fragile seeming, he was afraid if he didn’t hold back, she might shatter to pieces in his arms.

Katla didn’t seem to think she was that breakable, though. When he started to release her, she pulled his head down with a soft groan, urging him to stay.

They took each other’s mouths, vying for supremacy with their entwined tongues. Katla nipped at his lower lip in a tiny love bite, and it made his groin ache all the more. The desperate little noises she made at the back of her throat nearly drove him mad.

His hands roamed over her, finding and exploring each dip and valley, the exquisite curve of her back, the plump lushness of her bottom. He worked her night shift up, hearing the seam part at her hip, but unable to stop till he dragged the flimsy garment over her head.

When Katla lay back on the sheets, he paused for a moment, drinking in the sight of her. Her pale skin was gilded with light from the guttering lamp, setting her aglow like some ethereal being.

That’s it. She was an elf-maiden who’d strayed far from the delights of Aelfham, the elfin home world. She graced his life with beauty beyond a mortal’s capacity to comprehend.

“You’re not stopping?” she asked, her voice dusky.

“Not for all the nine worlds,” he promised. “Guess you don’t want me to leave, after all.”

She shook her head, and her breasts shuddered with a sigh. “Now what?”

“Now, princess, I show you what caring feels like.”

Chapter 22

Slowly, he reached out a hand. Starting at the base of her throat where her pulse fluttered, he began tracing a lover’s journey over her flawless skin.

Oh, the feel of her, all warm and soft and willing!

He paused to dally in every crevice, the crease beneath her slender arm, the delicate skin at the bend of her elbow. He passed over the hot, erotic places he’d normally have focused on to find something as simple and uniquely Katla as the dimple on her knee. Defying the urgency of his rioting cock, he took his time, learning her by heart.

All of her.

He ran his fingertip around the outline of her hands, to the deep base of each finger, and threading his way around her knuckles. He taunted the hidden crease beneath each breast. He drew circles around the shallow indentation of her navel.

His touch dropped lower, and he teased her legs apart. His fingers launched a gentle invasion. All the while, his gaze never left her face.

Brandr delighted in watching as pleasure and need parted her lips and made her eyes go languid.

When she reached out to touch him, he stopped her. “Not yet, princess. You first.”