Stranded With The Scottish Earl Read Online Free PDF Page A

and tumbled her onto the bed. As she fell back, the towels cascaded to the carpet.
    Eagerly he came down over her to lie between her thighs. Yielding to the wonder that was Charlotte Warren, he reveled in his fate. Lost to animal instinct,
    he moved his hips, pressing into the soft curve of her stomach with a primeval rhythm. A rhythm that promised a more profound invasion.
    Soon.
    A moan of pleasure escaped her, and her body softened in preparation for his. The muffled sound shuddered through him and played sweet counterpoint to the
    trumpets and drums of victory. Lightheaded with excitement and lack of air, Lyle abandoned that miracle of a mouth to rain wild kisses, wilder than the
    storm outside, over that lovely, flushed face, the slender length of her neck. The air was thick with the scent of her arousal.
    “Damn it, you’re wearing too many clothes,” he panted, reaching the barrier of her dress. He wanted more of her. He wanted everything.
    Her demure collar fastened to the throat. He needed to touch her breasts or he’d go mad. When he fumbled for the hooks at the back, his usual aplomb
    fled. He took forever to find the trick of releasing them. By the time he did, he and Miss Warren were both panting, the saw of their breathing rising
    above the slap of rain on the windowpanes.
    With shaking hands, he tugged until her dress drooped over her chest. The sight of her plain white linen undergarments blasted him with such heat, he felt
    like he burned alive. When his hand settled on her breast, they both groaned with relief.
    Her nipple was a hard, insistent point beneath his palm. When he brushed it with his thumb, she jerked against him. He teased her until she shook. His
    other hand slid down her flank before settling between her legs. He found the slit in the drenched cotton of her drawers, and his fingers curled around her
    mound.
    Before he could venture farther, she stiffened in his arms and gave a muffled protest against his lips. For one breathless moment, they both lay unmoving,
    then she began to struggle.
    Damn and blast. He’d gone too far.
    “Stop!” She shoved clumsily at his chest. “Stop, curse you.”
    For one blazing moment, he considered ignoring the code of a lifetime. But when he rose on his arms to look down into her face, flushed, frightened,
    lovely, he couldn’t do it. Somewhere beneath the raging desire, a minute speck of honor remained. He was ashamed how close he verged to disregarding
    it.
    With a guttural groan, he wrenched away and flopped onto his back beside her.
    For a long time, he stared up at the heavy oak beams crossing the ceiling and battled to contain his desire. His conscience chose this moment to return,
    armed with a big stick. He couldn’t do this to her. He knew he couldn’t do this. But good God, how he wanted to.
    Gradually his breathing calmed until he could hear the rain and the crackle of the fire over the thunder of his blood. Surprise was the last reaction to
    surface from the mire of shame and frustration inside him. He’d let Miss Warren go. So why the devil hadn’t she fled to safety?
    “Please say something,” she said in a shaky voice. She didn’t sound at all like the stalwart creature who had grudgingly invited him
    inside the manor this afternoon.
    He turned his head until he could see her lying beside him. Night had fallen, but he’d lit a few candles when he’d set the fire. He watched as
    she pushed herself up against the pillows. One graceful hand clutched her bodice and her hair fell about her shoulders in shining dark blond waves. Her
    lips were red and swollen with his kisses.
    She looked utterly ravished—and ravishing.
    Without thinking, he lifted one hand to touch her mouth, meaning only to soothe. She flinched away with an incoherent murmur of denial.
    “I’m so sorry,” he said, even as some wicked element reveled in the transformation of his self-contained hostess into this ruffled,
    irresistible, brazen creature.
    He wanted