Free Dangerous Magic by Alix Rickloff Page A

with every honey-slow kiss.
    What was it about this pirate captain that drew her to throw caution to the wind despite a lifetime of vigilance? His heady combination of arrogance and vulnerability? His mystery? Was that what called to her? Or was it something more? Something altogether too dangerous.
    Her concerns melted under the expert touch of his hand gliding up her side, tracing the curve of her breast. His touch confident and sure, but not rushed.
    Reaching up, he drew her hair free of its combs. It rippled and curled across her shoulders.
    “A river of silver and gold,” he murmured, nuzzling the curve of her throat before capturing her mouth. Teasing her with slow, delicious kisses that shot sparks into her eyes. Made her moan with desire. With a quick tug, he pulled her shawl from across her shoulders and draped it upon the ground. Between one breath and the next, he swept her up into his arms and laid her gently upon the makeshift blanket.
    Accustomed now to the dark of the night, she saw the greedy look in his eyes as he kneeled next to her, seeming to hesitate, unsure of how to proceed.
    “You wait on something?” she asked, her voice throaty and deep.
    His laugh came rough with awkwardness. “It sounds ridiculous, but…but I feel…I mean you’re unlike any woman I’ve ever met…You’re…different.” He plowed a hand through his hair. “I told you it sounded like madness.”
    Gwenyth reached up. Linking his hand with hers, she brought it down to her breast, the fabric not enough to keep her from enjoying the scalding fire of his touch. He kneaded the soft mound, rubbing a thumb over the nipple until it hardened. Until she gasped. “I’m a woman like any other.” Her voice was shaky. Ragged. “The added gifts of Sight and knowing do not take from that. I want what every woman wants. A home, a family—”
    “A man?” Rafe asked. He captured her beneath him. Allowing no escape. Not that she wanted to. She was exactly where she wanted to be.
    He moved to her other breast, fondling her to arousal through the thin cotton of her gown.
    Gwenyth swallowed the hard lump lodged in her throat as she fought the unwelcome return of the hot, slow tears. “Oh, yes,” she breathed, holding her hands out to cradle his chin between her fingers.
    He lowered his mouth to hers in a searing kiss that sent a blaze of longing through her. His tongue slipped between her lips, and she responded with a passion of her own. Slowly, sensuously, he undressed her. Everywhere his hands touched her exposed flesh, she burned anew, and when he moved on, she shivered with want. The ache pooled to her center, became a throbbing to match her racing heart. She wanted this feeling to go on forever, even as she urged Rafe to satisfy her. To end the exquisite torture.
    The moon rode high overhead. Almost full, it splashed soft gray light across them, silvering his dark hair, casting deep shadows within his beautiful eyes. She watched him with pleasure as he abandoned her naked upon the shawl and leaned back upon his heels. He yanked his shirt off over his head, revealing the lean lines of his torso and the stretch of bandage across his ribs. Sliding off his boots, he tossed them aside before reaching up to unbutton the fall of his breeches.
    She welcomed his return, the heat of his skin adding fuel to the fires consuming her. As he possessed her mouth with another dizzying kiss, Gwenyth was caught off guard by the tantalizing caress of his hands skimming the curve of her ribs, the flat of her stomach. Dropping his head to her breasts, she gasped as his tongue curled around an already taut nipple. This time there was no restrictive clothing keeping her from the full force of his seduction. Arching her back, she clung to him, begging him with her body to take more of her than just this unsatisfying taste.
    His member pressed hard against her thigh and reaching down, she heard a satisfying grunt of pleasure as she curved her palm around