Raven’s Prey(24)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

No, he thought savagely, he wanted it to be the best for her. So unbearably perfect that she would never again think of another man. He wanted to blot out any flickering dreams of romance and love she might be harboring in her feminine fantasies. He wanted to fill her thoughts solely with images of her surrender in his arms.

“Judd?” Her nails began to bite into the flesh of his shoulders and her legs curled and uncurled restlessly on the cot. When he looked up he saw that her eyes were tightly closed and in the moonlight he could read the strain of passion on her face.

“You want me, Honor, don’t you? Tell me that you want me!”

“Oh, yes, Judd. So much.” She gasped for breath as he began to explore the dampening heat between her thighs. “I never dreamed it could be this way!”

He stretched out beside her, tangling his legs with hers and finding an intense pleasure in the contrasting textures of their skin. She was so soft, so warm and inviting, Judd thought dazedly, how had he managed to keep his hands off her for the past three nights? Why hadn’t he taken her that first night? Then he could have spent the rest of the time in Mexico in her arms. What a fool he’d been!

His hand shaped the curve of her thigh and she arched closer, turning her face into his shoulder. He felt the tiny shudder that coursed through her and gloried in the knowledge that his touch had elicited it Slowly, tantalizingly, he clenched his fingers into the resilient flesh of her bu**ocks.

“Ahhh!” he heard himself exclaim. “Honey, you feel so good. My God, I want you!”

When she responded by slowly trailing her palm down his chest until she found the flat, lean line of his stomach, Judd thought he would go out of his head. Deliberately he began to urge her legs apart by drawing small, erotic little circles on the outside of her thigh. She wriggled delightfully and he felt her toes, which were lying alongside his calf, begin to curl. The subtle sign of her passion inflamed him and he began to draw the circles much closer to the heart of her femininity.

Then her warm hand trailed shyly lower on his body, cautiously eager for the feel of him. He waited for an instant, aware that he was holding his breath in anticipation of her touch. When it didn’t come he wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her closer, leaning over to whisper darkly, “Don’t tease me tonight, lady. I can’t take it. Put your hands on me and show me that you want me.”

Then he thrust himself against her palm, sighing as she gently clasped the rigid manifestation of his desire. She leaned into his shoulder and sank her teeth lightly into the muscle there. Judd groaned heavily, his blood flowing like fire in his veins.

“Oh, my darling, Judd!”

Her soft words left him hungry for more of the same. He wanted to hear her call his name again and again in passion and he didn’t think he would ever get enough of those small cries that came from far back in her throat. She was so exquisitely sensitive to his touch, he thought in pleased wonder, loving the way she moved every time he stroked her here or there or down the inside of her leg.

“Sweetheart, you’re wonderful. Like fire in my arms.” With his foot he drew her legs apart slowly. The deep surge of desire in his loins was an ache now that would have to be satisfied soon or he would go crazy. There could be no peace for him until he had taken Honor Knight completely.

“Darling Judd, I want you so!”

Her hands fluttered over him, driving him wild. He couldn’t wait any longer. Dropping tiny, biting kisses along her shoulders and down her br**sts Judd slowly eased himself over her until his shoulders blocked the path of moonlight to her face. In the shadows he could see the way she watched him from beneath passion-heavy lashes, her eyes deep with mystery and feminine desire.

In that moment she was woman, the primitive female whom he must take for his own. The urge to possess was on him in a way he had never known before, leaving him unable to contemplate any other ending to this night than total sensual victory.

He moved against her softness, seeking to bury himself in her warmth. She cried out as he took her completely, the impact of his body making itself felt on hers. For an instant he [_froze, _]fearful that be had hurt her, but when he scanned her face he realized she was too far lost in the realm of physical sensation to care, and then she was clinging to him.

“Honor, my God, [_Honor.” _]The feel of her nails on his back and of her legs surrounding him was incredibly intense. It was beyond anything he had experienced and it fed his desire as nothing else could have. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. There was no aphrodisiac as potent as mutual hunger and need. Every fiber of his being responded to it.

He rode her body with the driving power that seemed to be flowing in him Never had he felt so strong, so vibrantly alive or so shatteringly passionate. She called his name in short, breathless tones just the way he wanted to hear it He felt her slender frame tighten and knew that he was going to be able to satisfy her fully. The knowledge thrilled him.

At the height of her response he saw the way her eyes squeezed shut and she clamped down on her lower lip with her own teeth. Then the tiny, delicate ripples of satisfaction began deep within her. He felt them at once and held himself in check so that he could enjoy her fulfillment before giving in to his own.

“Let go, sweetheart,*’ he muttered. “Just let go. Let it take you, I’ll keep you safe.”

As if his insistent voice were all the urging she needed to send her over the edge, Honor shuddered in his arms and gave herself up to the finale of their passion.

“Judd, oh, please, Judd….”

He could resist no longer. With a half-stifled shout of exultant satisfaction Judd followed her over the brink and into the drifting velvet beyond.

It was a long time before Honor came back to her senses. She floated blissfully for a while, luxuriating in the warm dampness of the male body against which she was curled. And men slow contentment carved her mouth and filled her sleepy eyes.

It had all been worth it The risk of building the bridge of understanding on a foundation of passion had worked. She knew it had worked. There was no way a man and a woman could share what she had just shared with Judd and not wake up the next morning with an indestructible tie between them.

He had been as caught up in the rapture as she had been and he had shown her the tender, responsive side of his nature, the side he kept so well concealed most of the time. Judd Raven could not fool her any longer, she decided in wise, gentle, very feminine amusement. He was a man of passion and sensitivity. He had given all of himself, determined to satisfy her completely.