"Outlaw" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowell Elizabeth)

11

Diana trembled at the sound of Ten's voice, a gentle velvet rasp, like a cat's tongue stroking her. For an instant she didn't know if she would have the strength to walk. But even as the thought came she was standing up, walking, closing the small distance that separated her from Ten. She put her hand in his. The warmth of his hard palm was like a flame against fingers chilled by nervousness.

Ten held out his other hand. A moment later, small cool fingers nestled against the cupped heat of his palm. He lifted Diana's hands to his mouth and breathed warmth over her skin before kissing her palms gently. The unexpected caress made Diana's breath break. Before the sweet sensations had run their course through her body, Ten was lowering her hands, releasing her from his warmth. Diana had asked to be kissed. He had kissed her.

She made a questioning sound that had more disappointment in it than she realized.

"Ten?"

"What?" he asked softly.

"Would you kiss me again?" she whispered.

Ten's smile made Diana want to curl up in his arms like a cat.

He held out his hands and once more felt her smooth, cool fingers come to rest within the curve of his palms.

"You're so warm," Diana said. She closed her eyes and let out her breath in a long sigh, openly savoring the simple touch of her skin against Ten's.

Diana's unguarded, sensual response sent a shock wave of heat through Ten. He hoped she had no idea how fiercely she aroused him with her unknowing sensuality and haunted eyes, her womanly curves badly concealed beneath a sweater big enough for him to wear, and her slender hands lying so trustingly within his.

Ten brought Diana's hands to his mouth and brushed a kiss into first one of her palms, then the other. The tiny sound she made at the touch of his lips was as much a reward as the warmth he could feel stealing softly beneath her skin. He lifted his head and looked at her. She was watching him with eyes that were luminous, approving. Then her dark lashes lowered and she returned the kisses he had given her, breathing a caress into the center of his palm.

"Thank you," Diana whispered.

"My pleasure."

She searched Ten's face with wide indigo eyes, hardly able to believe what her senses were telling her. He had enjoyed the undemanding caresses as much as she had.

"You mean that, don't you," she said finally. Ten nodded.

"It's a relief to find a man who doesn't want… everything."

An odd smile haunted Ten's lips for a moment. "Don't fool yourself, Diana. I want everything, but I'll never take any more than you give me. And I mean give willingly, not because I push you so hard on so many fronts at once that you don't know where to fight first."

Diana smiled uncertainly. "Does that mean you'll kiss me again?"

"I'll kiss you as many times as you want me to."

"And you won't push for more?"

"No."

"Even if you get aroused?" The stark question shocked Diana when she heard her own words, but it was too late to call them back.

"Honey," Ten said, his voice rich with rueful laughter, "if you were standing about two inches closer to me, you'd have the answer to your question."

Confusion showed on Diana's face. Without thinking, she looked down Ten's body. The evidence of his arousal was unmistakable and frankly intimidating. She looked up again, her face suddenly pale.

"Don't worry, honey," Ten said matter-of-factly. "I've been that way every night we've sat around talking and sorting through pieces of the past, and more often than not during the days, too."

"You have?" she asked faintly. "I didn't know."

"I did my best to make sure of that," Ten said dryly. "I'm only pointing it out now so that you'll know you don't have to be afraid of me when I'm aroused."

"But I didn't mean to. Believe me, Ten. I didn't mean anything of the sort!"

"I know. I can't keep myself from responding to you, but I can make damn sure I don't act on it."

"But if I didn't mean to, why…" Her voice faded. "Has it been so long since you've had a woman?"

Ten looked at Diana's confusion and didn't know whether to laugh or swear. Very lightly he stroked his index finger over the inside of her wrist. The touch was gentle but hardly soothing. He felt her pulse rate accelerate, which made his own quicken in response.

"Diana, I could have had a woman five seconds before I walk into a room where you are and I'd still want you. I admire courage, intelligence and a sense of humor. It didn't take long for me to find out that you've got plenty of all three, as well as a fine body you do your best to hide."

Color crept up Diana's cheeks, but she made no move to separate her hands from Ten's while he continued talking in the velvet tones that made her weak. "I've wanted you since the first day you were here, when you put your own uneasiness aside and helped me with that kitten."

Diana's eyes widened in surprise.

"I respect a woman's right to choose or refuse a man," Ten continued. "You made it clear that you were refusing. You're still making it clear. You're as safe as you want to be with me, no matter what kind of kissing or petting we do."

She barely heard what Ten was saying. She was still trying to absorb the realization that he was more aroused than Steve had ever been, yet Ten had made no move toward easing himself at her expense. Nor had he berated her for teasing him into such an uncomfortable state and then refusing to follow through.

Then the rest of what Ten was saying sank in: You're as safe as you want to be with me, no matter what kind of kissing or petting we do.

She didn't doubt it. Despite the provocation Baker had given-and the pothunters-Ten had never lost control over his own actions.

"Where did you learn such self-control?" Diana asked, watching Ten with dark, curious eyes.

"The same place I learned how to fight."

"That kind of training didn't do my father any good. Or Steve."

Ten banked the rage that came to him whenever he thought of a man hurting Diana. "They weren't men, honey. They were boys who never learned the most important part of a warrior's training-self-control. If a man doesn't control himself, someone else will. There are times and places where being out of control can cost a man his life. Your father was lucky. He was never in one of those places. As for Steve, if that fly-boy's luck holds, I'll never meet him."

Ten's voice was so caressing that for an instant the meaning of what he was saying didn't make any impact. When it did, Diana looked quickly at Ten's eyes. There was nothing of amusement or indulgence there, only the icy promise of retribution she had seen twice before in Ten's eyes-and each time a man had ended up flat on the ground with Ten towering over him.

"Now I've frightened you," Ten said, stepping back, releasing Diana. "I'd never hurt you, but after your experiences with the male of the species, I don't expect you to believe that." He turned toward the gooseneck lamp, reaching for the switch. "Let's take a look at those new red shards you got out of the carton." Ten hesitated, glancing at Diana over his shoulder. "Or would you feel more at ease if I left you to work alone?"

Diana's hand went to Ten's, covering his fingers, preventing him from turning on the harsh light. She tugged lightly. He let go of the switch, allowing her to control his hand. She lifted it to her face. Closing her eyes, she stroked his hard palm with her cheek.

"Diana?"

"It's all right."

"Is it? Your hands are trembling."

Helplessly she smiled. "I don't know why they are, but I know it's not fear."

"Are you sure, honey?"

"I know what being afraid of a man feels like. I'm not afraid of you, Ten."

He searched Diana's eyes for a long moment, then gave her a slow smile that did nothing to steady her heartbeat or her hands. Watching him, trying to smile in return even though her lips were trembling, she found Ten's other hand and brought it to her mouth for a quick brush of her lips. Then she turned her other cheek into his palm, framing her face in his warmth, holding his hands against her skin.

"Ten," Diana said huskily, closing her eyes, savoring the slow caress of his ringers, "will you share a few kisses with me until I ask you to stop? I know this isn't fair to you, but-"

"It's all right," he said, interrupting, his lips against Diana's, feeling them tremble against his own. Life is never fair. You of all people should know that."

"But-"

"Shh," Ten said, sealing her lips with a tender stroking of his thumb. "It's all right, baby."

Diana's eyes opened. Indigo depths shimmered with the possibilities that were unfolding within her, possibilities that existed because of the powerful man who was holding her with such care.

"Kiss me," she whispered.

"How?" he asked in a velvet voice. "Hard or gentle? Deep or cool? Fast or so long that you can't remember a time when we weren't kissing? I've never had that kind of kiss, but looking at you, I believe it exists."

Diana's eyes widened and she shivered lightly at the thought of trying each and every way of kissing Ten.

"How do you want to kiss me?" she asked.

"Every way there is."

"Yes," she sighed.

Ten's breath came out in a husky rush that Diana felt an instant before his lips touched hers. His lips were smooth and incredibly soft, fitting over hers tenderly yet completely. He brushed against her mouth again and again, letting her become accustomed to his textures, enjoying hers in return, and what he enjoyed most of all was the way her lips began to follow his, silently asking for more.

Smiling, ignoring the heavy beat of his own blood. Ten gave Diana more of the undemanding caresses. Her mouth relaxed and softened and her breath sighed between her slightly parted lips. The tip of his tongue touched the sensitive peak of her upper lip, then withdrew, only to return and touch her again. She made a murmurous sound and tilted her face more fully up to his. Her reward was a warm, gliding caress that went from corner to corner of her smile. She made another low sound that became a tiny cry of surprise when his teeth closed tenderly on her lower lip, holding it captive. Instantly he released her and began the elusive, gliding kisses all over again.

"Ten," Diana said, the word more a sigh than his name.

"Too much?"

"No." Her teeth closed a little less than gently on Ten's lower lip. She heard his breath break and released him, whispering, "Not enough."

"Does that mean you won't run if I taste that beautiful mouth?"

"Yes."

"The way you were hanging on to my hands, I wasn't sure."

Belatedly, Diana realized that she was imprisoning Ten's hands against her face, holding him hard enough to leave marks on his tanned skin.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, releasing his hands. "When you started kissing me I forgot everything else."

Ten bent and touched a corner of her mouth with his tongue. "That's all right, honey. I just thought you might be worried that I'd start straying out of bounds if you let go of my hands."

"What?"

"Don't you remember high school? Nothing below the collarbone in front or the waist in back."

Diana started to laugh, but the look in Ten's eyes took her breath away. His words were light, his voice was velvet, but his eyes were a smoldering gray that made her knees weak.

"I remember."

"That's the way it will be for us. If you want my hands anywhere else, you'll have to put them there."

"But then you would-you would expect more."

"I expect to spend this night like I've spent every night since I pulled you out of that kiva-hungry as hell. That's my problem, not yours. You've done nothing to encourage me."

"Nothing? What about right now?"

"This isn't encouraging." Ten lowered his mouth another fraction of an inch. His teeth closed tenderly on Diana's lower lip. The tip of his tongue caressed her captive flesh until she made a small sound at the back of her throat. He released her, gave her a quick, biting kiss and looked at her flushed lips with hunger. "This is pleasure, honey, pure and simple."

"Steve always-he said it hurt him."

Ten's answer was another brush of his lips against Diana's, but this time there was no lifting, no gliding, no teasing. His fingers eased into her hair, rubbing her scalp, holding her with gentle care while he joined their mouths in a different kind of kiss. The caressing pressure of his lips increased, tilting her head back, yet still she felt no uneasiness.

Slender fingers threaded into the thick pelt of Ten's hair, holding him even closer, wanting the kiss not to end. When Diana murmured his name, he accepted the invitation of her parted lips. His tongue glided between her teeth, seeking the moist heat beyond, finding it in a slow, deep tasting that was like nothing she had ever known. He memorized the contours of her mouth with teasing, sliding touches, caressing her, enjoying her, cherishing her. Only when she whimpered and pressed even closer to his body did he complete the seduction of her mouth.

Diana had never realized just how sensitive her tongue was, how it could discriminate so vividly between the satin smoothness and intriguing serrations of Ten's teeth, the silken texture and beguiling heat of his mouth, the nubby velvet enticement of his tongue sliding against hers in a dance of penetration and retreat that made her forget who was stronger, who was weaker, who was frightened and who was not. Tender and sweet, hot and wild, the kiss shimmered with both restraint and the sensuous consummation of two mouths completely joined.

Diana was never certain who ended the kiss or if it had truly ended at all. Slowly she realized that her arms were around Ten's neck, his arms were around her, supporting her and arching her into his body at the same time, and he was looking at her mouth as though he had just discovered fire.

"Ten?"

The huskiness of Diana's voice made his whole body tighten. Her heavy-lidded, luminous eyes told him that she had been as deeply involved in the kiss as he had. When she looked at his mouth and her own lips parted in unconscious invitation, Ten made a sound that was part laugh, part groan and all male.

"Do you want to taste me again?" he asked.

The shiver of response that went through Diana was clearly felt by Ten.

"Then take me," he said huskily.

Indigo eyes widened for a startled moment, then her lashes swept down as she looked at Ten's mouth. Her breath rushed out in a sigh that he tasted in the instant before she took his mouth, relearning his textures in a sharing of tongues that had neither beginning nor end, simply the hushed intimacy of their quickened breaths intermingling with the night.

Diana's last thought before the kiss ended was wonder that she could tremble and yet know not the least bit of fear. She had never felt so safe in her life…or so sweetly threatened.