“More to the matter at hand, I’m curious how you became associated with Cole Hawthorne,” he said.
This time, when Sera faced him, she met a piercing, scrutinizing stare. His eyes were beautiful, soft and gray, but in the flashes of rising sunlight slanting through the windows she noted hints of pale blue and silver.
“I…” Should she lie? “I did a few jobs for Thaddeus Wraith—indirectly, of course. Not likely he’d converse directly with a no-one like me, but Hawthorne is one of his top dealers in the Fells.Cole noticed me and he liked the way I looked.” Truth, but with a hundred layers of omission. “They always do,” she added in a whisper, but she didn’t doubt he heard her.
A small silence stretched between them and, when North spoke again, his voice was barely audible over the ambient noise of the carriage.
“Has he hurt you?”
“Why are you interested in my relationship with Cole? And why was it only after hearing his name you decided to drop the charges?” She avoided the question. Everyone hurt her eventually. Cole was no different.
North looked away from her, at the floor, and it was the closest Sera had come to reading a real emotion from him that wasn’t mild annoyance. It looked oddly like guilt. “He was a Winter Fae from a distinguished family at court. And I banished him.”
“He mentioned as much,” she said, but a smile slipped through. Cole hated his banishment and Sera was at the point in their relationship where Cole’s suffering amused her greatly.
“I’m sure,” Kieran acknowledged. “I fear that it was the wrong decision, if he’s going around trapping people into…” He cleared his throat and shifted. A first sign of real discomfort. “Into questionable arrangements.”
Sera sensed an angle. “You weren’t squeamish mentioning sex earlier.”
His eyes snapped on her, stealing the air from her lungs. “I am not squeamish about anything.”
She licked at the corner of her mouth and, sure enough, his eyes followed the motion. “You certainly danced around mentioning my ‘questionable arrangement’ with Cole. Which I’m sure you guessed involved sex—”
His icy stare turned arctic. “I am uncomfortable with the idea of my actions leading to the mistreatment of others. I’m a publicservant. A leader. My role is to stop atrocities, not release them into society. A mistake I will not make again.”
Chills bloomed under her skin and it was not because of the cold or the blanket slipping down her shoulder. “What do you plan to do?”
“I have not decided.”
Sera swallowed as their eyes remained locked, but that shiver of fear shifted into something else, something far more familiar. Want began to ache between her thighs. She wanted him.
A dangerous development. It was the pattern all over again. Her body mistook his indecision about killing Cole as an act of possession, of defense on her behalf.
Gods, the debauched thoughts that began to flicker through her mind as he watched her with near innocence.
Was he innocent, though? She was indescribably curious to know if he’d ever caved to temptation. Had that cold demeanor ever faltered? How would the beautiful lines of his face change if he came undone? Succumbed to passion? Was he even cable of such an extreme? If her situation weren’t so perilous, she would have enjoyed finding out.
Then his eyes told her all she needed to know. The sudden dilation in his pupils, the firm line of his jaw flexing, and rigid posture coiling to spring.
Fae had more refined senses than humans. Especially scent. Cole knew when she was turned on—a fact that made dealing with him precarious as their association grew strained. There was no doubt in her mind Kieran North could sense her arousal.
His stare shifted away, as if she were suddenly in a state of indecency. A gentleman’s futile attempt to preserve her innocence when he knew full well she was no innocent. His breathing was even, calm. She could practically hear the internal mantra to keep his hands to himself. Fingers curled into tight fists on his thighs. It was amusing at first but then, she’d neverknown a man to not attempt for a pass in these situations. A closed carriage, alone? Her attraction clear and unmistakable? This is where he seized the opportunity to get under her skirts.
Yet, he remained statuesque.
Sera forced aside the notion that North might be a decent person. She refused to be suckered, refused to let her guard down. Again. They werealwaysnice in the beginning. Always asking permission and full of charm and respect. Until they weren’t.
Sera approached the situation with her only strength, according to dear old mother.
“You’re very controlled,” she murmured.
His gaze swept toward her.
“One might argue, a bit too tightly wound.” She let the blanket slip further down her arms. Arched her back so her breasts pressed the confines of her décolletage. Allowed her body’s natural reactions to him to build and excite.
Treading this line was dangerous. If she wasn’t careful, her attraction would get the best of her, but if she played it right, then she could usehisagainst him.
“I don’t put much thought into the opinion of others.”
