“I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as she seems to think it is. And why should she care whether or not Corbin and I are on the same side?” I asked the silent room as I entered. Faint moonlight entered through the unshuttered open window, but the room was empty, and it gave me no answer… until I started to undress. As I opened the small, battered chest where I kept my clothing, I noticed that someone had been in it. Half tucked down under a pair of striped knickers, as if hurriedly shoved there, was the corner of the letter Corbin had sent me. I sat back on my heels as I considered the fact that it wasn’t where I had left it. Just what on earth was Renata doing going through my things and reading Corbin’s letter?
I fell asleep with my mind whirling with questions about Renata. Interspersed with them were random memories of my last few hours with Corbin, and the sudden knowledge that what I felt for him was going beyond anything I’d felt for a man before.
My brain amused me with the most erotic dream I’d ever had. In it, Corbin was covering my body in hot kisses that had me squirming with myriad forms of desire and need and want. I begged him to stop the torment and allow me to take my turn romping on his playground, but he wasn’t listening to me.
Then I woke up to find out it wasn’t a dream.
“What the—” A hand clapped over my mouth before I could scream.
“Shhh! It’s just me. Don’t yell or you’ll wake everyone up.”
I glared up at the dark shape that loomed over me. “They’ll be awake until it’s morning, and what the hell are you doing here?”
“You’re my wife. It’s traditional to sleep with one’s wife. Since you refused my bed, I’ve come to yours.” Corbin slid to the side on the narrow bed, pulling me up tight against him so I could feel how aroused he was. My body hummed a happy little tune of expectation, one I did my best to squelch until I knew exactly what was going on.
“I didn’t refuse your bed; you refused to take me home.”
“Your home is with me now,” he said, his voice tired.
“That wasn’t our agreement. Why are you here?”
“I told you—we’re married. I want to sleep with you.”
I peered up at the dark blob that was his face. “You sailed four hours just so we could sleep together?”
“Yes,” he said, rather grumpily to my mind. My anger melted away in a warm rush of a much softer emotion. I slid my hand up his belly, tracing a line over to his ribs. He sucked in his breath.
“Does anyone know you’re here?”
“No,” he answered, his body tightening as I gently pushed him over onto his back, bending my head to swirl my tongue around his pectoral muscle.
“How did you get here without being seen?” I asked his nipple, giving it a little lick. He twitched beneath me. “Bas and I ran into a half dozen people on the way home.”
“I designed the island, remember?”
I smiled at the suddenly rough note in his voice. My dream had given me a clear vision of what I wanted to do, and since Corbin had gone to so much trouble just so we could spend a few hours together, I would be a fool to deny both of us. “Yes, I remember. Ooh, a second nipple.”
“There’s a hidden cave that reaches a secret tunnel through the emerald mine. I came up through that without anyone knowing I was on the island. Oh, dear God in heaven. Do that again.”
I scraped my teeth gently on his nipple at the same time I dragged my fingernails up the inside of his thigh. His hips bucked upwards as he groaned.
“Clever man. I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind about the blockade?”
“No,” he said, stiffening. “Amy, if you think you can change my mind with lovemaking—”
“I don’t,” I interrupted, kissing my way down his chest toward his cute little stomach. I swirled my tongue around his belly button a couple of times. “I just wanted to know whether I should do the superdeluxe tongue bath, or the economy version. I guess you’re going for economy.”
He propped himself up on one elbow to glare at me. I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but I knew the disgruntled expression that would be there. I grinned at it. “Oh, all right, superdeluxe it is. But you have to lie there until I’m through with you.”
There was a distinct note of interest in his voice. “What does the superdeluxe tongue bath entail?”
I bent over his hip and bit it. Not hard enough to hurt, but with enough force that he sucked in his breath again. “Biting. I’m in the mood to nibble you to death. You up for it?”
He grabbed my hand and brought it around proof that he was up for it. “What do you think?”
I nipped my way across his stomach, following each love bite with a little tongue swirling. By the time I worked my way down to his party zone, inspiration (and a rumble in my stomach) hit me.
“Don’t move,” I said, sliding off the bed. I snatched up my skirt and shirt, ignoring his whispered demands that I return to bed. “I’ll be right back. Just stay there.”
