As if a simpleyescould encompass the dire necessity pulsing through Beatrix.
As if she’d ever wanted anything more in her life.
“You’ve shown me what more a kiss can be. Now,” she said, driven by an instinct that held demands, “I want you to show me where moreleads.”
“Beatrix…” The low rumble of Dev’s voice quaked through her and settled deep within, made her knees squeeze together with ache. “This isn’t a good idea.”
She understood that.
Truly, she did.
But here was the thing.
She didn’t care.
Tonight, all her hopes and dreams for a good, solid future with a good, solid husband had come to a crashing end.
So, tonight, she would have this man.
He didn’t have to be good or solid or her future.
All he had to be tonight was hersomething more.
Again, she halved the distance between them. Now they were separated by inches. So close she caught his scent of pine andfresh, salty sea and inhaled a sip of air that contained him and held it in her lungs, letting it penetrate her from deep within.
She hardly knew herself, driven as she was by this instinct. Emboldened by the way he watched her—both wary and desirous—by the way he held so still, as if he didn’t trust himself to move.
As if doing so would incite an utter and complete ravishment.
This was power.
She would say it was power unlike any she’d ever felt, but she’d never experienced power in any sense.
But here she was, a mere woman, with the power to seduce the most attractive man she’d ever laid eyes on.
And she was going to use it.
She reached out and caressed his cheek, dark stubble scratchy against her palm, following the strong line of his jaw. Unable to resist, her thumb slid along his full bottom lip. Oh, how she ached to replace her thumb with her tongue.
“You have a reputation, Lord Devil.” She hardly knew her voice.
“Aye.” Nothing he wouldn’t already know.
Oh, the bolt of desire his confidence arrowed through her.
With one hand she grabbed her skirts, as with the other she reached for his shoulder, and with a flurry of motion she moved inelegantly to straddle him.
Yet, still, his hands remained at his sides—even as she now sat astride him.
The thought occurred to her that women might attack him thusly on a nightly basis.
His head tipped back; he watched her as if from a great distance.
In fact, they were very close.
So close she could…
She gave her hips a bold swivel.
