She shook her head.
His fingers got to work, and her eyes drifted shut. He liked providing her bliss. In fact… “Do you know what would make this foot rub even better?”
“Hmm,” was her reply.
“If we removed your stockings.”
Her eyes fluttered open. “Is that so?”
“Skin on skin makes all the difference,” he said, low and velvet.
He hadn’t started this as a seduction, but it was very quickly turning into one.
And Valentina didn’t appear resistant to the idea.
“I’m content to defer to your expertise, my lord.”
Her other boot fell to the floor.
A foot in each hand, he dug thumbs and fingers into muscle, pulling moans and groans and soulful sighs from her as he moved up ankles and calves. That hint of a wicked smile curling about her mouth… It was new. She might have learned it from him.
He felt no small amount of gratification that he was the man to pull that smile from her. A possessive feeling surged through him.
Her wicked smile belonged to him.
What a novel feeling—this need topossess…to claim.
For all his aristocratic titles and well-bred manners, was he not so very far removed from warlord ancestors who claimed and possessed as their right?
A thought for another time perhaps.
For now, here was Valentina, in his hands, looking very much like she wanted nothing more than to be claimed and possessed.
His hands moved up to her thighs, smooth and firm beneath his fingers. He slid forward and off his bench entirely, coming to his knees. From beneath her eyelashes, she watched him kneeling before her. He her supplicant; she his goddess.
Her skirts bunched to her upper thighs, a band of skin showing above her gray stockings. A stretch of skin that was temptation itself.
Archie’s mouth went dry.
And he knew exactly how to wet it.
Though she looked more than willing, he needed ayesfrom her. “Can I do something else for you?” he asked.
“You can do anything to me,” she said. A light blush turned her cheeks dusky rose, but her eyes burned bright with assent. Perhaps she’d shocked herself, but she wanted what he offered.
And it was the latter that was winning out.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he said.
“With you?” Again, her full lips curved into that new, wicked smile of hers. “Always.”
His hands inched forward, savoring the feel of her creamy thighs. He ducked beneath her skirts and heard a gasp.
“Archie!”
He chuckled.
“What are you?—”
