Uneasy Alliance by Unknown Page A

won't
    get more complicated. Trust me, honey. Let me give you what you need
    tonight. I'll take care of you, protect you. Just give yourself to me and
    forget about everything else."
    Abby shuddered beneath the soothing, enticing onslaught of Torr's
    gentle words. They seemed to surround her, offering comfort and pleasure
    and security. His arms did the same in a far more tangible way. She could
    feel the strength in him, but it didn't frighten her. Instead she sensed the
    promise of safety within his embrace and she found herself nestling closer
    to the hard, lean planes of his body.
    "Put your arms around me, Abby. Let me feel you holding me."
    Instinctively she did as he commanded, unable to resist the soft order or
    her own wish to comply. She wanted him, Abby thought in wondering
    amazement. She really wanted him. The desire in her was unfamiliar and
    unsettling. Was it a function of her own fears and her need for
    reassurance? If so, it was startlingly vivid and strong. She'd never
    experienced such a rush of feminine hunger. The force of her own rising
    passion confused her.
    "Torr, I can't seem to think straight. I need a little time," she mumbled
    into the fabric of his shirt. "Please let me have a little time."
    "Time won't make any difference in the way either of us feels. You know
    that. Tonight, tomorrow night or next week—it will be the same between
    us. It would have been like this the first night I'd met you if we'd allowed
    ourselves to step over all the barriers."
    She sighed, an awareness as old as time telling her he was right. There
    was no point in even trying to resist this man. He offered everything she
    needed tonight. What was so wrong or dangerous about accepting what he
    had to give?
    "Torr, in the morning…"
    "In the morning we can talk," he assured her as his fingers sank heavily
    into the curve of her thigh.
    "Yes."
    "Right now I can only think about the way you feel under my hands. I
    want you, sweetheart. Can't you feel what you're doing to me?" He caught
    one of her hands and trapped it against his chest. When she raised her
    head to look up at him with wide, questing eyes, Torr covered her mouth
    with his own.
    As always, his kiss overwhelmed and claimed. Abby felt his tongue
    thrusting between her lips before she'd even had a chance to adjust to the
    pressure of his mouth on hers. There was a soft sound, tiny and primitive.
    The cry of a female animal accepting the advances of her mate.
    Torr reacted to it with a heavy answering groan of desire and he pushed
    her hand down his chest, over the flat plane of his stomach to the
    aggressive shape of his manhood. Abby caught her breath at the
    unmistakable readiness of him. Her senses swam as she tried to assimilate
    the potential ramifications of what was happening, but all she could think
    about was the compulsion she felt to surrender.
    Beneath the fabric of his clothing Torr was aroused and ready. Abby
    wanted to satisfy that arousal. More than that, she wanted to be the only
    woman who could satisfy him.
    "Abby, honey, I need you tonight." Torr pulled his mouth from hers long
    enough to explore the line of her throat. His fingers moved up her spine to
    the back of her head and then burrowed beneath the tangle of honeyed
    hair to find the sensitive nape of her neck.
    "Oh, Torr, please !" Eyes closed against the exquisite pleasure of his
    touch, Abby leaned more heavily into Torr's waiting body.
    "Just let go, honey. Let go and I'll take care of everything."
    Torr feathered her lashes with his warm breath as he let his fingers trail
    lightly around her throat. His searching touch found the buttons on the
    front of the flannel nightgown and he undid the first with great sureness.
    Abby gasped at the knowledge that matters were now drifting well
    beyond her control. In a small gesture of belated denial she covered his
    hands with hers and in the process dropped the yellow rose, which she had
    been clutching in the fingers of her right hand.