He leaned in to kiss her. He meant for it to be a brief embrace, but he couldn’t pull himself away. Their lips made a soft smooching sound in the room. Their tongues met and dueled. This time she was more confident and much more passionate, willing to meet him halfway and demand her due.

“We have a few hours before dawn. Come back to bed with me, Keeley. Let’s not waste the time we have left.”

Her smile lit up the entire room. Then her eyes glinted and her smile turned mischievous. She put her hands to his shoulders and pushed until he reclined on the bed.

“Granted I have no experience with these matters, but it seems to me that ’twould be just as easy for me to do the loving as it is for you.”

He lifted an eyebrow but his eyes gleamed devilishly. “That’s an arrogant statement, lass. Seems to me you have to back up that statement with action.”

Her hair fell in a curtain over her shoulder as she straddled his naked body with her own. His approval of her arrogance was evident in his straining arousal. The idea of her covering him with her softness and of taking the initiative in loving tested the bounds of his discipline and control.

He was a patient man, but at the moment he felt the insane urge to tumble her over and drive between her thighs until it was all either of them knew or could feel.

He glanced up her body as she sat astride him, following the line over her flat belly to her full breasts and then back down to the slim curve of her waist to her fuller hips.

His cock strained upward, thrusting against her soft curls nestled at his base. His breath caught and wheezed out in a strangled gasp when she lowered her hands to grasp his cock.

Her expression was one of wonder as she gently caressed his length. Up and down, she drew the skin tight and then rolled it back down until the blunt crest had widened and blood had rushed to the tip.

It was nearly painful. Each touch drove him more daft by the minute. She was exquisitely gentle, almost as if she feared hurting him.

Finally, he was able to take it no longer, and he curled his hand around hers, tightening her grasp.

“Like this,” he rasped out.

He worked from the bottom up and then down, tightening and loosening until moisture formed at the tip and slipped over their linked hands.

“Ah, lass, you drive me mad.”

“ ’Tis a good thing, I hope.”

“Aye, the best.”