OK, not all of her friends agreed with her on that. Some of them considered coping with one man hell enough.
Lucky girl, though, whoever the model was. As if Ric sensed he’d hit upon her fantasy, he drew her attention to another image. In this one the same four figures nestled together, their loins and bottoms all perfectly aligned so that they were joined in a lewd chain. ‘Are they?’ she asked. The men were clearly pleasuring the female model from front and back, while the third man also penetrated the arse of the handcuffed man. Kara gave a low groan. She didn’t think she’d ever been so turned on by an image before, but something about it combined with Ric’s nearness grabbed her by the guts and rode her for all its erotic worth. This one she’d definitely like to hang over her bed. Sadly, whatever bed there was in the barn, it didn’t belong to her, and Christopher didn’t share her tastes.
Ric nudged against her as he returned the picture to the floor. For just a moment she swore she felt the ridge of his cock pressing up against the seam of her buttocks. Was he turned on? Did he grow erect looking over his own work? How did he maintain his composure while working? For several seconds she literally ached with the desire to push back against him and discover the truth. If she turned around, would she see the evidence lying trapped behind his fly – would she see it in his eyes? Fleetingly, she wondered if Ric ever photographed himself and, if he did, what parts he bared to the camera.
Arousal thickened between her legs, and a rosy blush began to infuse her skin. What would he do if she pressed back or reached out and touched him? What if she were direct enough to touch his cock? Would they make it as far as the bed, or simply fuck hard and fast amidst the disarray of photographic equipment?
Kara’s mouth grew dry. She slowly moistened her lips.
She could picture it so clearly. They’d end up naked, wrapped up in exposed film, surrounded by countless dirty images.
Damn, what was she thinking? Kara risked a surreptitious glance at Ric, who gave away nothing of his thoughts, only a low-level twinkle in his blue eyes hinting at any kind of wickedness in him. What was happening to her? She didn’t routinely jump into bed with strangers, at least not since the days before Gavin. Yet here she was craving the affections of a man she’d only just met, whose nearness had rendered her knickers sopping.
It took every ounce of willpower for Kara to remain still. Every single damn ounce, because what she really wanted to do was to wriggle and cosy up against Ric’s cock, and to know that he was ready for her.
‘About those keys,’ he murmured, not quite breaking the spell she’d woven in her head, for his mouth lay just shy of her neck. If she turned now, their lips would almost certainly meet. ‘I can’t seem to put my hands on them.’
Sod the keys! Having him put his hands on her would be far more gratifying. It took a supreme effort of will to smile at him indulgently instead, like it didn’t matter that her only home at present was whatever decrepit barn her brother had bought, which she couldn’t get into until Ric produced the keys, or that her nipples were so taut they were poked up against her blouse virtually demanding his touch. It didn’t matter that her cunt was wet either, or that it ached for the sensation of something hard to fill it. Or that whatever bed she eventually made it to would be cold and empty.
‘I’ll keep looking.’ He gave her an endearing and rather knowing grin, one that suggested he guessed more of her thoughts than she cared to share, and maybe, just maybe shared one or two of them. ‘That said – it is getting a bit late to be trekking over there at this time of night. The visibility sucks and I wouldn’t want you stumbling about hurting yourself.’
‘Yeah? What are the alternatives?’ She leaned a little closer to him.
Ric’s tongue briefly wetted his lower lip. ‘I’ve a spare bed.’
‘Right. I couldn’t – I mean, I don’t want to impose.’
Damn it with the social niceties, she definitely wanted to impose. She wanted to jump right into his bed, and have him touch her between her legs, where good girls who had just broken up with their fiancés weren’t supposed to ask to be touched. Then again, she’d spent long enough pretending to be the good girl that at heart she wasn’t. Time she stopped holding herself to other people’s standards and lived a little.
‘You won’t be.’ He reached out and very briefly touched a lock of her hair where it rested against her cheek. ‘Besides, it’s my fault. I should have been more organised and had those keys set out ready.’
‘I could bunk down in my car,’ Kara ventured, not really wanting to. Her poor old VW Golf was only just windproof. Even with the heater turned to max she’d have to shiver to keep warm.
The promise of a hot body versus a crappy heater equalled no choice at all.
Maybe it was time to be bad.
People would forgive her. They’d say the break-up had sent her off the rails.
Oh, yes. She wanted to do wicked things with this man. She had no doubts that Alaric Liddell knew how to make a woman sing. He literally oozed sex appeal, like it was a pheromone, from his shirtless back to his beautiful bare toes. She wanted to do bad things, and she wanted to do them now.
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ He leaned closer still so that she could smell his aftershave and the musky bass note of his underlying scent. ‘It’s no problem at all.’ Her pussy clenched tight in anticipation. Her folds were already moist and swollen. Kiss me. Her entreaty rang in her head. She needed him to touch her. She wanted to come.
Instead, Ric stepped back. She’d missed her cue.
‘Come on back down and I’ll fix us a drink. I can show you over to the barn in the morning.’ His grey-blue eyes glittered with mischief. Then his arm shot out, neatly trapping her in the entrance to the stairwell. His palm lowered from the wall to caress her cheek where a few strands of blond hair clung to her skin. ‘Don’t worry. I don’t ruthlessly adhere to the old ways.’
‘Old ways?’
He laughed; the sound seemed to tickle her insides all the way down to her stomach. ‘Welcome to Liddell Island.’ He leaned in, so that her taut nipples brushed pleasurably against his chest, while his mouth closed over hers.
Kara gasped as his kisses zapped fire all the way down to her cunt. Then he took her by the hand and led her back downstairs to the study.
CHAPTER THREE
Kara stood befuddled by the doorway, a glass of malt whisky clutched tightly within her hand, staring at the black-lettered document that granted the Liddells of the islands certain rights over the island’s inhabitants, the primary one being the right to tame any maiden that came to live in their domain.
‘This was never upheld, though,’ she croaked. The tingle of Ric’s kiss still lingered on her lips, while the sight of his still naked torso did nothing to calm her raging libido.
‘I assure you it was. There’s documentary evidence.’ He waved at the shelves of books surrounding them. ‘Lists of who and when, and how old they were and where they came from. Even some stuff about whom they went on to marry, although details about the actual main events are pretty scanty.’ He edged towards her again as he spoke, having returned the spirits decanter to its home.
‘Blessedly so, I’d have thought. Most of them must have been scared out of their wits at being summoned up here to warm the master’s bed for the night.’ Somehow she doubted many of Ric’s ancestors had been quite so beautifully put together. Physically, she got off on the wiry, hard-edged make-up of his physique, and that swathe of flaxen hair. And no way had they smelled as good. His scent, a perfect blend of good old-fashioned male spice and expensive aftershave, reached her at that very moment, sending her senses into another meltdown. He led her across to an armchair, and bent down by its side.
A faint smile played upon his generous lips.