“Have you changed your mind, then?” he asked, his voice sounding rusty and unused.
She began plucking the pins from her hair.
His mouth went dry.
She did not stop until her hair had fallen around her shoulders and down her back in dark waves. She raised her fist, clenched around a handful of hairpins.
“Where would you have me put these, Arden?” she asked in her drawl.
The absurd thought that he wanted to keep them pricked the haze of lust clouding his mind. He extended his hand. “Here.”
Her fingertips brushed his palm as she relinquished them. A frisson of desire skated down his spine. Her pupils were round, the fringe of her lashes thick and decadent framing the bright irises. He closed his hand on the hairpins, the metal already warmed from her skin.
Wordlessly, he walked past her, to a marble-topped chest of drawers. Instead of placing the pins on the surface, he slid them inside the first drawer and then turned back to her.
“I have not changed my mind,” she told him. “Have you?”
He wasn’t even certain he had a mind any longer. “No.”
“One night,” she said, startling him. “This can be nothing more.”
Those were meant to be his words of caution to her. He ought to be relieved she had spoken them first. It was best if they knew where each other stood, after all. But somehow, the haste with which she limited their liaison nettled him.
“Have you done this before?” he asked, curious.
She raised a brow. “Would it matter if I have?”
He considered her question, allowing his gaze to trail over her form as he had not dared indulge before. “No,” he said. “I merely wish to know how to proceed.”
She smiled then, and it reached her eyes. He supposed he had passed her test.
“I am no delicate magnolia, Arden.”
He stepped closer, needing to touch her. He traced the backs of his fingers over her cheek, absorbing the soft luxury of her skin, her warmth. “Lucien.”
If they were to be lovers, even just for one night, he wanted to hear his name in her honeyed inflection. He wanted to hear her moan it when he brought her to her pinnacle. He wanted it on her lips when he buried his face between her legs.
Her smile deepened. “Very well. I am no delicate magnolia,Lucien. Do not treat me as if I am one of your sheltered debutantes. As you have said, I am not refined. I am afraid I am missing most of the graces a lady is ordinarily expected to possess.”
He regretted the bitterness he had directed toward her on the first day he had met her. She had taken him by surprise, both with her appearance and her mannerisms, and he had been unpardonably rude.
“I am sorry I paid you an insult that day,” he said, trailing his touch over her jaw. “I was angry at the prospect of being forced to accept a partner. Angry for the mistakes I made.”
“Mistakes?” she asked.
He knew she was curious about The Incident. But now was not the time. Instead, he took her chin in his thumb and forefinger, tilting her head back. And then slowly, his gaze never leaving hers, he kissed her. Long and open-mouthed. He savored, ran his tongue against hers.
Here was the answer he would give her: desire. A leisurely introduction to what they would be doing all bloody night long. If he only had her once, he would make it count. Need blossomed inside him anew, and his prick was harder than it had ever been, his ballocks drawn tight, all while she was yet fully clothed except for the omission of her boots.
And even the reminder of her stockinged feet made him ache.
Her arms went around his neck, drawing him closer still. He stepped into her lush curves, every point of contact between them setting him on fire. Her generous breasts were crushed against his chest. Her belly touched his rigid shaft. With his free hand, he grasped the fullness of her hip, anchoring her to him.
He bit her lower lip, then soothed the nip with his tongue.My God, he wanted to consume her. One night could not be enough. He knew it instinctively, with this kiss. He knew it in his marrow. There was something elemental about the way he wanted her, something irrepressible about the magnitude of his need. And if her responsiveness to him every time he touched her was any indication, she felt it too.
They could fool themselves all they liked.
He kissed the corner of her mouth. “Sweet.” He kissed her cheek. “So sweet.” Then her ear, the dip behind it.
