BearyMerryChristmas Read Online Free Page B

her back, she realized she was in a real bed, not on the back of a swaying animal.
    Cracking her eyes open, Lara looked around the room. It was beautiful! Sky blue walls gave way to dark walnut trim. Large windows graced the walls on two sides of the room and a hand-carved bureau and armoire sat side by side on the other, a door set between them. A large dresser that matched the other two pieces of furniture sat opposite the foot of the bed with a large beveled mirror over it. Oil lamps, strategically set on furniture throughout the room, provided light through the darkness.
    Lara turned her attention to the huge bed where she rested. It matched the other furniture in the room. Four high posters supported a large canopy draped in rich blue velvet. It was like something out of a fairy tale.
    Like something from a children’s story where the damsel in distress wakes up in a king’s castle surrounded by luxuries she hadn’t dare dream of before. Large logs burned merrily in the deep fireplace between the windows, keeping the room warm as toast. Lara couldn’t help it. After her experience the night before, she snuggled down into the warmth of the soft mattress and closed her eyes. She was dreaming, that was it. This was her last dream before she died out in the cold, sitting on a tree stump beneath the starry night sky.
    A click caught her attention and she turned toward the door. “Hello.” It was the blue-eyed stranger again. Hadn’t he said his name was Duncan? He whispered as though he wasn’t certain she was awake.
    Lara turned toward him. “Hello.” She smiled and sat up, the sheet falling in a puddle around her waist. Any other time she would have snatched it up and pulled it to her bare chest, but this was a dream after all. What could it hurt to allow one of the two most gorgeous men she’d ever met see what he had so obviously come to see? She could tell by the expression on his too-handsome face that he wanted her. He practically devoured her with his gaze as she allowed him to look at what, at least for a little while longer, was one of her best attributes. Lara had worked long and hard to keep her breasts high and firm. She’d done push up after push up along with other numerous exercises to keep them as perky looking as they could possibly be on her almost-middle-aged frame.
    She let him look as her nipples grew tight in the cooler air of the room. She looked down at herself, then back up at him. “Can I help you?”
    “Ye have no idea how ye could help me.” He swallowed visibly. His Adam’s apple bounced up and down in the thick column of his neck. She watched him move across the room, like the predator she’d dreamed him to be. Every part of his body move synchronously as he moved closer and closer.
    Liquid heat pooled low as she watched him move. She didn’t care if it was only a dream. She didn’t care if it made her seem like a loose woman. She wanted this man and his friend like she had never wanted any man in her life. Now, it was her turn to swallow thickly as he approached. The expression on his face left little to her imagination. He wanted her at least as badly as she wanted him.
    Never in her life had Lara been so bold. Never in her life had she ever wanted a man so much and never in her life had she ever bared her body to a man she’d just met. Throwing the covers back, Lara patted the bed next to her and gave him what she hoped was a sultry look. “I don’t care if this is a dream or not. I have never wanted a man as much as I want you.” She felt her face heat. “And your friend.”
    White teeth flashed in the tan of his face as he continued his slow approach. “Ye want Jamie, too?” He stopped for a minute to study her, his head tilted to the side.
    Please don’t let him stop. I don’t want to lie to him, though I fear I will if it will get him moving toward the bed again. What was it about the man and his friend that had her throwing caution to the wind, even in her