Rebel Kiss: A Historical Romance Novel (Scottish Rebels Book 1) (9 page)

Anna felt her
pulse race at Rowan’s gentle touch.

Hesitating for a
split second, Rowan reached down and placed his right hand on Anna’s waist,
while still holding her other hand in his left. Touching her, pulling her close
felt so right.  She smiled up at him as they began to dance to the music, and
right then, Rowan knew that he wanted Anna Stanton more than he had ever wanted
anything in his life.

You cannot have
her. You have nothing to offer her.

Rowan spun Anna in
time to the fiddle music, reveling in the unabashed happiness that played
across her face as she danced.  She was beautiful and he couldn’t take his eyes
or his hands off of her.  Anna’s cheeks warmed with an attractive flush as she
danced.  Her breasts rose and fell seductively above the neckline of her dress,
accentuated by the freshwater pearl that hung on the chain around her graceful
neck.  Anna’s face was alight with joy and the sound of her soft laugh was high
and melodic.  A siren’s call to Rowan’s ears.

Never before had
Rowan experienced such a raw attraction to a woman.

As the song came
to a close, Rowan spun Anna into his arms, settling his hands on her hips.  She
stopped, mere centimeters from his face.  She looked up at him with those big
hazel eyes, hovering so close to him that he could almost feel the warmth of
her lips against his own.

You have
nothing to offer her.

Rowan’s mind told
him to tread cautiously yet his heart told him otherwise.  Rowan knew that he
was playing with fire when he looked into the hazel depths of Anna’s eyes and
yet he could not reconcile letting her go.

And then she
touched him.

Her touch was as
light as air as her hands slowly slid up his chest and settled behind his
neck.  Anna closed her eyes and Rowan felt her fingers casually toying with the
small hairs at the base of his hairline.

Her touch was
exquisite.

Rowan’s heart beat
sped up dramatically.  He knew that he should reach up and take her hands away
from his neck.  He knew that he should rebuke her, but her fingers felt like
heaven against his skin.

  Anna was
breathing heavily.  There was a soft smile gracing her lips and a warm flush
upon her face from the dancing and the ale. A sudden flicker of panic clouded
her eyes when she realized what her fingers were doing.  They stilled
immediately, and Rowan watched as the smile slowly slipped from her face and
her eyes flew open.

Anna did not know
what had come over her.  Perhaps it had been the ale, but deep down she knew
that it was something more.  Her eyes flitted up to Rowan’s.  His green eyes
were heated with a desire that he made no effort to hide.  His gaze danced
across Anna’s skin, hungry and unabated.

Realizing what she
had done, Anna withdrew her hands from Rowan’s body abruptly as if his skin had
burnt her fingertips.  She reached up on her tippy toes and placed a chaste
kiss on Rowan’s cheek.

 “Goodnight,
Rowan,” she whispered before slipping out of his arms and heading up the
stairs.

Rowan stood
numbly, watching her as she walked away.  He had seen her emotions play across
her face just before she had kissed him on the cheek.  There was a sadness in
her eyes, a forlorn look that he could not explain.  

He knew that Anna
had felt the spark between them just as he had.  She had felt the same fire
that he felt, the energy that coursed through his body each time they touched. 
He knew that it had been the same for her; he sensed that she had responded to
his touch in the same way. 

Rowan also knew
that as soon as Anna had felt her body respond to him, she had regained control
and backed away from him.  She was so much stronger than he had been.  His
fingers ached to touch her; his lips tingled with the thought of kissing her. 
He raked his hand through his hair and headed for the stairs. 

You cannot have
her.  Stop this madness.

“I’d bet my life
that she’s not your sister,” came the voice of the innkeeper from the corner,
startling Rowan back to reality.

Rowan turned and
smiled at the old man, embarrassed that he had been caught.

“Don’t let her get
away,” the old man smiled, remembering what it felt like to pursue a beautiful
young woman.

“That’s exactly
what I have tae do,” Rowan whispered so quietly that only he himself could hear
his vow.

                                                           
..ooOoo..

Rowan trudged up
the stairs, vowing to push Anna out of his mind.  His boots felt as though they
were made of lead.  He cursed himself for not having more restraint.  Anna was
a highborn lady and as such, she deserved more than a simple farmer’s son with
nary a shilling to his name.

Pushing Anna from
his thoughts became problematic because she was still standing in the hallway,
leaning against the door of her room, eyes puffy from crying.  The key to her
room was clasped in her hand. 

When Anna heard
Rowan’s boots on the stairs, she opened her eyes and looked towards him,
sniffling audibly and wiping away her tears as she fought to regain her
composure.

“I’m so scared,
Rowan,” Anna said, rubbing her eyes, trying to hold back more tears.

Rowan responded
against his better judgment and closed the distance between them. He pulled
Anna into his arms, cradling her cheek gently with his palm as he pressed her
head to his chest.  He held her against himself, stroking her hair, all the
while cursing himself for not having the will-power to walk right past Anna and
lock himself in his room.

Anna threaded her
arms around Rowan’s waist, relishing the muscular feeling of his body beneath
her fingertips.  She inhaled his scent, sweet and masculine as she buried her
face in his linen shirt.

“What are ye
scared of Anna?” Rowan whispered into her hair, suddenly realizing that he was
also scared.  Scared of the response that his body had each time he touched
Anna, scared of how a single glance from her could cause his heart to race. 
Scared because he was a man who was used to being in control and with Anna, he
felt anything but in control.

“Everything,” Anna
said against his shirt.  “I was not raised to be like this, weak and crying,
and…”

“Yer no weak for
crying.”

Anna fisted her
hands in Rowan’s shirt.  His presence overwhelmed her senses, from the
masculine scent of sea and sunshine that wafted off his skin to the new
sensation that his hands evoked as they set fire to her skin when he touched
her.  She drew her face away from his chest and looked up into his eyes.

Rowan smiled
lopsidedly.  Cradling her face between his hands, he used his thumbs to brush
away Anna’s tears.

“Yer no weak for
crying,” he said more firmly.

Anna’s eyes darted
away.

“What are ye
afraid of, Anna?”

“I’m scared of
you, Rowan,” Anna said, the words flowing from her lips as if a flood-gate had
been opened.  Denying her attraction to the man that held her in his arms was
completely futile.  “I’m scared of the feelings that you rouse within me,” she
admitted, speaking against the solid plane of Rowan’s chest.  “When you touch
me, I have feelings that I’ve never felt before,” she said honestly, looking up
at Rowan with questioning hazel eyes.

 “I feel it too,
Anna.  And I’ve tried tae deny it, just as I’ve watched ye try tae push yer
feelings aside, but I doona ken just how tae stop it,” Rowan admitted, feeling
defeated by the power that Anna held over him.  Rowan knew that it was not
right to be holding her, to be entertaining the idea of how good it would feel
to kiss her again.

Feeling as though
he was outside of his body, Rowan slowly slid his hand up Anna’s neck.  She
leaned into his touch, closing her eyes as he caressed her cheek with the backs
of his fingers, tracing the graceful line of her jaw.  Rowan wanted to know
what it would feel like to touch Anna just this once and then he would force
himself away from her.  He gently captured her chin between his thumb and index
finger and tilted it up so that she would look at him.

“Ye should go tae
sleep, lass,” he said in a half-hearted effort to stop himself from going
further.

Neither of them
moved.

 Anna opened her
eyes.  She slid her hands slowly up Rowan’s chest, delighting in the feel of
his expansive muscles beneath his linen shirt.

Rowan took in a
breath swiftly as he fought his response to her touch.  Anna’s touch would be
his undoing.

Anna brought her
hands to rest behind his neck and continued to keep her eyes locked with his. 
She wondered how something that felt so right could be so wrong.  When she saw
the bold desire in Rowan’s green eyes, her heart skipped two beats and then
raced wildly. 

His eyes silently
told her how badly he wanted her, yet there was sadness in their green depths.

Unable to fight
his feelings any longer, Rowan leaned forward so that his lips hovered just
above Anna’s, so close that he could feel the shakiness of her breath.  He
brought his hand behind her neck and caressed the skin at the base of her skull
with his thumb.  His body thrummed with energy and his heart hammered in his
ears, knowing that his last shred of restraint was evaporating. 

Ever so slowly,
Rowan lowered his lips to Anna’s, kissing her gently, sweetly.  He felt as
though his body might explode from the sheer joy of touching her so intimately,
of allowing himself the forbidden pleasure of kissing her.

Anna leaned into
Rowan’s chest, pulling him closer towards her.  She parted her lips slightly
and Rowan heeded her invitation, deepening their kiss. She kissed him
thoroughly, maddened as she was by the taste of his lips upon hers. 

Rowan’s mouth
slanted greedily over Anna’s.  She returned his passion, opening her mouth to
receive his kisses.  He moved his hands up to cup her face, still kissing her
fiercely, staking claim upon her lips.  Rowan was deliberate in his seduction
of her, using his kisses, his tongue and his lips to explain the feelings that
he could not express to Anna in words.

Anna raked her
fingernails up Rowan’s chest and feared that she might faint from the sheer
pleasure she felt as she kissed Rowan.  Her toes curled in ecstasy and she let
loose a small moan of pleasure, eliciting a hungry growl deep in Rowan’s
throat.  Anna knew that she should move away from Rowan but she could not force
herself to let him go.

Using his body to
press Anna against the wall, Rowan tore his lips away from hers and placed soft
kisses on the sensitive skin of her neck, running his fingers ever to lightly
over the skin just above the low neckline of her dress.  Anna sighed with
pleasure and melted against Rowan.

He trapped her
next moan with his lips, moving his tongue into her mouth, demanding complete
possession.  She opened widely in response to him, and he deepened the kiss,
slanting his lips over hers again and again.  Anna felt her knees going weak
and she trusted Rowan’s strong arms to support her as she succumbed to the
assault of his kisses.  He was hard and hot against her, his tongue hungry to
give her the taste of his desire.

Rowan was the
first to regain control.  He gently ended the kiss, slowly drawing away from
Anna so that his mouth was hovering just above her lips.  His breath was ragged
and it was obvious that the kiss had shaken him as much as it had affected
Anna.

 Rowan was ashamed
of himself for taking advantage of Anna in her moment of weakness, ashamed that
he had given in albeit momentarily to the lustful desires of his body.  He
should have never allowed himself to touch her.

 He should have
been stronger.

Anna bowed her
head in defeat, letting her feelings for Rowan rise to the surface.  It was
impossible to deny them any longer.  Rowan kissed her on the forehead and
exhaled slowly, trying to regain his shattered control.

“I’m scared that you’re
going to break my heart, Rowan,” Anna whispered, lowering her head to his
chest, relishing the feel of his strong arms around her as he held her close.

Rowan sighed and
brought his hand up to cup Anna’s cheek, forcing her head up off of his chest
so that she would look into his eyes.  “I wouldna do that, sweetheart,” he said
softly.  His fingers trailed lovingly down Anna’s neck.  He traced the line of
the gold chain about her neck with his index finger, stopping to brush over the
freshwater pearl.  “I would never do that, Anna,” he whispered.

“I’m afraid that
you will have no choice,” Anna said as she met Rowan’s eyes.

“I’ll speak tae
yer family when we arrive in Williamsburg,” Rowan said as he brought his hand
back up her neck and threaded his fingers through Anna’s hair.  “I’ll ask for
permission to court ye, all proper and the like.”

Anna leaned into
Rowan’s touch, closing her eyes at the sweet promise that his words held. 
Rowan was breaking his promise already, for Anna felt her heart beginning to
ache.

“You cannot do
that,” she whispered, opening her eyes.  “He will never…my uncle will never…”
her words trailed off.  Tears began to well in Anna’s eyes as she looked up at
Rowan. 

Rowan felt his
breath hitch in his throat.  He tore his hands away from Anna abruptly.

“Just what are ye
saying, Anna?” Rowan asked, his voice harsh.

Anna said
nothing.  She reached out to touch Rowan and he took a step away from her. 

“Are ye saying
that he will never accept my request because I’m no good enough tae court ye?”
Rowan asked, his words heated.  “Has all of this meant nothing tae ye?” he
asked, his eyes filled with hurt.

“No!” Anna
refuted, reaching out to touch Rowan’s chest.

He pushed her hand
away.

“Sae I’m good
enough tae kiss ye, good enough for ye tae toy with at yer leisure, but not
good enough tae bring home tae yer family?  Is that how it is, Anna?” Rowan
seethed.