“Here,” he ordered, tugging her hand and guiding her under the shelter of a towering pine. He sat down, leaning against the trunk. “Now, what is it that is so important that you’ll risk freezing to death?”
She shot him a skeptical look and sat down entirely too close. “Isn’t that a bit dramatic?” When he didn’t answer, she continued. “I wanted to ask you two favors and send a message to my brother. I also wished to speak to you without the entire household listening.”
Reasonable enough. “The first favor?” he prompted.
“Before I ask it, I feel that it’s important for me to tell you how worried I am over tomorrow’s trial. You could be killed.”
“’Tis true,” he allowed, “but unlikely. ’Tis more likely I would be wounded and survive.”
“Finn,” her voiced faltered, “I would really miss you.”
“What are you asking me, Eva?”
“I want you to kiss me again, and not get cross with me this time.”
“I wasn’t cross with you,” Finn told her. “I was angry with myself for betraying your brother’s trust. He sent me to watch over you and instead I took advantage of you.”
Eva pushed up onto her knees, so close that her leg brushed Finn’s and sent a burning sensation straight through him. “You didn’t take advantage of me,” she corrected him, her voice husky. “I asked you to kiss me. And I’m doing it again. Let me worry over my brother.”
Against his better judgment, Finn cupped the back of her head, pulling her lips onto his in a searing kiss. The last time he had been gentle, in case it was her first. This time he let his passion run wild. He didn’t just want to taste her. He wanted to devour her.
His tongue parted her lips. His hands ran through that hair she’d been tempting him with for more days than he could track. She melted into his kiss, her body contouring perfectly to his own, but he needed more.
Slowly, so that she could stop him if she wished it, Finn’s hands dropped from her hair to her hips. All he could imagine was holding those hips tight while he thrust himself deep inside her. He squeezed them, catching her gasp with his mouth before his lips carved a sensuous path down her jaw to her neck.
“Do you want me to stop?” he heard his own ragged voice, hardly able to believe he managed the question.
“No,” she replied firmly. “I want more.”
Good. So did he.
He picked her up and set her in his lap facing him, so that her legs went to either side of him. Gods, she weighed less than those damned shields he was tossing around all day.
Her hands went straight to his chest, her eyes clearly trying to see straight through his shirt.
He let out a rough laugh. “I saw you watching me.”
“You had your shirt off.” Her fingertips brushed his collarbone seductively. “I didn’t have a choice.”
He captured her mouth again, taking her over and over as he grew so hard he thought he might explode. His hands swept up from her hips, spanning her waist briefly before he brought them to rest over her chest. She moaned as he began massaging her, letting his hands explore the fullness of her perfect breasts.
The longer he caressed her, the longer he kissed her, the more difficult the thought of stopping became. He knew ’twas now or never, and though he apparently no longer had problems kissing Eva, he was most certainly not going to bed her.
Keeping her in his lap, his hands about her waist, hers rubbing his arms, he pulled his lips away and smiled at her.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her forehead leaning against his, their noses touching.
“My pleasure,” he replied honestly, wondering how long they could sit this way before his desire got the better of him. “What was your second favor?”
“Tomorrow, after the trial, there will be a feast. A celebration for those who succeed at such a difficult test of skill. I want you to dance with me.”
Finn brought his hands to her cheeks, holding her face tenderly as he gave her the answer she wouldn’t like. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Her face fell. “You can kiss me like that, but you can’t dance with me?”
“Dancing is public. That kiss wasveryprivate.”
Eva thought that over. “True. But people dance together all the time. And you tutor me already in public. No one would think it odd.”
