“Your eyes. They are blue-gray, like the belly of a dove.” Mikhail didn’t bother pulling her back into his room; she came willingly because the bathroom was icy. But she wanted to make it crystal clear she was not going to sleep with him, even if the crazy side of her brain seemed fine with that. He pulled off his shirt and tossed it onto the back of the chair by his fire. Shegasped.
A massive dark blue tattoo between his shoulder blades caught her eye. A dragon. Its wings were spread wide, the clawed tips arching over his shoulder blades, and it seemed to move when he moved his muscles. It was not unlike the dragons stitched on the dressing gown she wore. He must have an obsession with dragons. It was a bit odd, but who was she to talk when it came to obsessions? She loved old stones, and not because they were old or because they were sparkly or valuable, but because they were something pure and amazing that the earth hadcreated.
“Yes, you will sleep with me.Onlysleep. You’re too tired for anything else, as amI.”
She almost hissed at him. “Tired? It’s not because I’m tired. You’ve kidnapped me. You stole the Cheapside hoard, and you somehow gotmeto help you!” She jabbed his bare back with a finger. He turned and captured her wrists, pinning them against the bedpost. Startled, she didn’t fight when he retrieved a tie from the floor and tied her wrists to the post above her head. That sense of being entranced, of not being fully in control, hadreturned.
Mikhail cupped her chin, and she parted her lips when he pressed his fingers gently against her cheek. Then he slipped another tie between her lips, gagging her. He tied it behind her head, and she growled at him when he stood back to admire his work. The spell broken, she let loose a string of curse words that would’ve shamed even him if they hadn’t been muffled into a series of unintelligiblesounds.
He trailed a fingertip down her throat, to the V-neck of the oversized black T-shirt she wore. “I find you bound and gagged a most arousing sight, littledove.”
Piper tried to breathe past the panic, but the danger of her situation was hitting her hard again. She was tied up and gagged, completely vulnerable with a thief and kidnapper. Aside from how she’d ended up here, this was part of the fantasies she’d always imagined and been ashamed of. Surely he wouldn’t touch her. If he did, he’d know how aroused and embarrassed shewas.
Mikhail frowned. “You’re afraid.” He raised one brow and crossed his arms over his chest. “You need never fearme.”
Piper stared at him, silently pleading with him for mercy, but not because she was afraid of him. She was afraid of her own dark desires because he could make them areality.
“I will tell you a secret that I haven’t told anyone besides Randolph Belishaw. The jewels we stole tonight aremine. They belong to my family. Elizabeth I stole them from my family. We received them from the Belishaw family as part of an ancient agreement. They don’t belong to the Crown or to England. I have letters dated from 1559 that prove the treaty, and they list the jewels included as payment. I am no thief. I was simply taking back what rightfully belongs to myfamily.”
That was not what Piper had expected him to say. She was freaking out over what he might do to her, and now he was telling her he wasn’t a thief and he had proof with Elizabethan-era letters? She worked at the gag, finding it loose enough to spitout.
“If you have the letters, then why didn’t you just show them to the authorities? Make your claimpublic?”
A shadow flitted across his face. “It is not that simple. I can show you the letters, but not the world. Shedding light on my family’s past is…undesirable.”
“Undesirable?” she pressed. She didn’tunderstand.
“One day I will tell you, but nottonight.”
She scowled at him. Having proof but not being able to go public with it? That had scam written all over it. “You’re really not giving me much reason to trust you. You’re just creating more questions than answers. And you’re scaring the hell out of me!” She jerked on her bound handsagain.
“You were never in danger tonight. Nor were you ever truly in control, and for that I apologize. I have ways of making people compliant. It’s a talent I was born with. I didn’t want to use it on you, but I needed to make sure you stayed quiet and helped me retrieve what was rightfully mine. I won’t use that little trick on you again unless I have to. We have chemistry, you and I, and I want to explore it, if you’rewilling.”
“And if I’m not willing?” she challenged with a fieryglare.
Mikhail crooked a brow and smirked. “Tell me you aren’t. Speak the truth and I will let yougo.”
Again that weird sensation that she had no control came over her, but this time, she knew that her words as they left her lips were true, not lies that he put there to satisfy his male pride or his lust. She spoke a truth she couldn’t even fully admit toherself.
“I…I do want you, and…” She growled in frustration, hating that he’d somehow made her admit that much. “Dammit, stop that! Stop whatever you’re doing tome!”
“We both needed to hear you tell the truth. You want me. So you will stay, then, won’tyou?”
She glared at him, less afraid now, not that she could explain why. “I’ll stay. For a day, but after that, if I want to leave, I’mleaving.”
“If after a day you still wish to leave, then you will be free to do so.” He then came back to her and touched her lips. “Now, you wish to ask me questions, and I will answer them.” He stroked his fingertips down her throat, then pulled them away and gave her spaceagain.
Piper sagged in relief. She drew several calming breaths before she finally spoke. “Why did you kidnap me? I was totally ready to go out with you tonight, you know. I was waiting for you to come back, and I thought we could go grab a drink or something. But then you went all hypnotic jewel thief on me.” And ruined the night she’d been hoping to have, one where she and Mikhail ended up in bedtogether.
Mikhail grinned. “I am from the old country, little dove. You showed me your desire, and I wanted you as well. It’s a custom in my family for a male to take a female away to his lair and seduce her there. I would never force you to my bed, but I sensed that you might like a bit of fire and power in your partner.” He reached up to her wrists and stroked a hand down her arms as he leaned in. “And I can give it to you, but you must be ready to admit youwantit. You cannot deny it, not after you told me the truth just now. You wantme.”
She started to say she didn’t, even if it was a lie, but he covered her lips with hisfinger.
“You don’t have to argue with me to prove your strength, Piper. I know you are strong. Strong females, not weak ones, need a strong male, and I am here for you when you decide you are ready. So tonight we sleep, and you will sleep besideme.”
“Why do you want me to sleep with you?” she asked. What did he get out of her just sleeping next to him if it wasn’t forsex?
He was still leaning close, his body heat warming hers. “Because it is a cold, old house, and you will want the heat my body can provide.” He brushed a thumb over her bottom lip, then feathered a hot, slow, seemingly innocent kiss on herlips.
