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"Don't!" he said harshly, moving his hand down along the front of her skirt to urge her legs apart. "Don't lock me out. Your body wants me. You want me. Don't deny us this, Pru."
Finding a small amount of courage, she spoke. "I'm frightened, Zac."
He pressed his face alongside hers. "I know, honey, but don't be. I won't hurt you, and you won't be sorry. I promise. Trust me. Let me love you."
Love you. Yes, she wanted him to love her. Oh, how she wanted him to love her.
"Don't think, Pru," he urged. "Don't think." With that, his hand began to release the band of her skirt.
CHAPTER 16
The flickering light of the fire cast strange shadows around the room. The odd forms dipped and swayed gracefully. Their peculiar shapes reminded Prudence of dignified couples with their heads and bodies bowed in conversation. It was odd, for she imagined their whispers concerned her. She could even hear their faint hisses and sneers of disapproval.
Shocking.
Outrageous.
Disgraceful.
She shivered though she stood before the warmth of the fire's glow. All that remained of her clothes were her undergarments and grateful she was for their meager protection.
"Zac," she whispered, grasping his hand before he could remove her cotton chemise.
Zac heard the uncertainty, ragged and breathless, upon her lips and felt the reluctance in her shiver. "Don't think about the doubts, honey. Lock them out. Push them away. Tonight there's just you and me."
She was frightened, not of the intimate act they would share but of how he would view her. She would be naked, yet worse, vulnerable. Could she trust him to understand? This man who was her husband but not by his choice. This man who didn't love her.
His hand shifted its way beneath the thin chemise to cushion her heavy breast. "Do you know how good you feel to me? Do you know what touching you does to me?"
Her back was still to him, and his face nested in the crook of her neck, close to her ear. A sensitive spot that tingled each time his breath fanned it. She turned her head to shake her head unable to get the words passed her trembling lips. The slight awkward movement could be read otherwise.
The invitation, even if it weren't meant as such, was too much for Zac to resist. "Pru." His warm breath rippled along her sensitive flesh, sending gooseflesh down her arms. He ran the wet tip of his tongue along the column of her neck as his lips traced in feathery lightness.
This time the tingle shot to her toes.
His hand, cushioning her breast so gently, began to massage it in alternate strong and soft squeezes. "I want to taste your nipples, Pru. Will you let me taste them?"
Her mind was muddled with emotions she didn't understand. Didn't want to understand. At the moment all that mattered was that Zac did not stop touching her.
She nodded, her voice failing her once again.
His hand left her and she protested with a desperate sigh.
"Easy, honey, easy," he urged, taking only minutes to slip out of his clothes.
His touch returned to her, but this time to unfasten the remaining garments and strip them from her body before she could change her mind.
Prudence almost faltered, fear suddenly attacking her senses, fighting its way through the fog of sensual pleasure Zac had created.
He had expected this moment of resistance. That was why he was now bent in front of her, removing her last garment. After tossing it aside, he came upward slowly, carefully inspecting each inch of her with a soft, tentative touch until he reached her flat belly.
He kissed her then, right below her navel, and he felt her sharp intake of breath. He circled her navel with the tip of his tongue, before slipping up along her midriff to between her breasts. He didn't pause or give thought to his actions. He had planned every move. His tongue flickered across her nipple like a fluttering butterfly wing, and Prudence's legs gave way. Zac grabbed her, turning her back to him and turning them both to face the fire's light.
Prudence's breathing was rapid. Her heart beat madly. And she could swear her legs were no longer attached to her.
The fire's light bathed her in shimmering reddish glow, making her pale flesh appear simmering hot and appetizing.
"You're beautiful," he whispered, stationing one arm firmly around and beneath her breasts while his other hand ran over any part of her flesh he could reach. "Your skin is like plush velvet. It excites me. Your hips are full and strong enough to take the strength of me. And your legs are not thin slivers, but taut and strong. Lord, but I can't wait to have them locked around me."
The sensual fog still muddled her brain, but a small voice cried out like a beacon, does he mean it? She wanted to believe they were so strongly connected that he could read her thoughts and that this caused him to answer her concern.
