Lord of Lightning Read Online Free PDF Page A

too large for her slender frame. Just his luck, he thought, exhaling tightly, the first woman he’d come near in over three years, and she had to be built.
    Humor did nothing to alleviate his tension. He worked open the first button, and his mouth went dry as his fingers accidentally slipped inside the placket of her dress. He hesitated as his skin brushed hers. Velvet doesn’t even come close , he thought. He’d never felt anything so soft.
    He had four more buttons free when he noticed the sprinkling of freckles beneath his fingers. They dusted the valley between her breasts and disappeared into the shadows of her cleavage. Freckles and cleavage, he thought, his heart beginning to thud again. It was a dangerous combination.
    He worked open the next few buttons, slowly, awkwardly, until he had the dress undone to her waist. She stirred a little, her breath escaping in a soft sigh as he grazed her skin, and the sound of it made his stomach tighten. It was a whisper as seductive as the hollow sensation inside him. It tugged at him irresistibly.
    He stood then, staring down at her, his mind beginning to play tricks on him. It was telling him that perhaps she knew what he was doing, that perhaps she even liked it. A fantasy took shape in his imagination ... a supine woman, drugged with passion, languidly allowing a man to undress her, waiting for him to take her sweetly, aching for the hardening organ between his legs . Take me, she whispered, reaching out for him, opening her legs in lush invitation ...
    A film of sweat dampened Stephen’s neck as he broke free of the gripping scenario. He strode to the cabin window and stared out. He was in worse shape than he’d thought. The muscles in his groin ached like fire. He wasn’t going to be able to do this, he realized. Even if he could keep his actions under control, he couldn’t control his mind. Or his body. He was responding involuntarily, muscles hardening even as he stood across the room, ten feet from her.
    It had been too long. He no longer understood the drives and inhibitions of a normal man. He had come from a world where women didn’t exist. Where life itself barely existed. He had lost touch with the human race.
    A moment later he came face-to-face with the reality of his predicament. He had no choice. He couldn’t let anyone else come to the cabin to take care of her. Paramedics roaring around with their vans and flashing lights would be too risky to the vital things he had to accomplish.
    He turned back and glanced at her, disgusted at himself. A woman was hurt and he was acting like an adolescent kid with his first girlie magazine. “Get it together. Gage,” he muttered.
    He got the dress off her fairly quickly once he made up his mind to do it. It wasn’t as tortuous as he’d expected, but her soft sighs every time he touched her didn’t make the task any easier. He could have sworn she was responding to him, or if not that, then dreaming about something she shouldn’t have been. Either way, it was playing hell with his good intentions.
    His jaw muscles clenched as he let his eyes brush over her. She wore nothing under the dress but a pair of soft cotton panties and a cotton bra. No slip, no nylons. No lace. Interesting, he thought grimly, the no-frills model. She apparently harbored no secret fantasies if her sensible underwear was any indication.
    Unfortunately he had fantasies enough for both of them. He averted his eyes, swearing violently as it flashed through his head again, the wildly sexy scenario ... only this time she was the languid woman, reaching out to him, opening her legs, aching to be taken. ...
    His stomach fisted painfully. Get it over with. Gage!
    He lifted her, forcing himself to be gentle—and to ignore her murmurous sighs as he ran his hand along the crevice between her shoulder blades. He was feeling for the back closure of her bra, but all he found was warm skin and elastic fabric. Puzzled, he laid her back down and scanned