With the triumphs and horrors of the night still buzzing in her veins, she experienced a sharp need to give into mindlessness. Just this once. To have respite from her demons for just one night. The ever-present anguish surged, yet Marianne knew she could do nothing for her daughter at this moment. Not with her mind and body dulled with fatigue. Not with long-suppressed needs battering her will…
Her mind grew hazier as the kiss deepened. Kent had a way with kissing—a man who truly seemed to enjoy a woman's mouth. His lips were firm, delicious as they roved over her jaw, her ear.
"This is madness, but I don't give a damn. Tell me you want this." His husky growl sent a quiver through her knees. "By God, tell me you want me as much as I want you."
She found she hadn't the wherewithal to lie any longer—to him or herself.
Tomorrow, I'll begin anew, she vowed.I'll investigate Boyer, Ashcroft, Pendleton—and I won't stop until Rosie is safe in my arms once more.
"I want you," she whispered.
"Good girl." Her neck arched at the hot praise uttered against her throat. "Now tell me what you were doing in Leach's office."
She stiffened. Pushed him away. "I can't."
"Can't or won't?" The rim around his irises darkened, making his gaze even more penetrating.
Despite the desire pounding in her blood, she lifted her chin. "It's my private business, Kent. If that's the point of this seduction, you might as well stop now."
"Who's seducing whom?" he said, making her flush. Before she could turn away, he grasped her jaw in one big hand. "If you won't tell me the specifics, then at least give me this: do you have a personal reason for searching Leach's office?"
What good would it do to deny what he'd already guessed? "Yes," she said.
"What does he have that you want?"
She struggled to find some part of the truth to give. "Information."
"Does this information involve crown and country?"
She blinked at the odd question. "No," she said, frowning. "It's of a personal nature."
He stared at her intently, his bright eyes inscrutable.
She shivered. Could he guess her secret? Unfulfilled passion and the night's excitement battered at her self-possession, and she clung to her last shred of good sense.
"It's late," she managed. "It's best you leave—"
The next instant, Kent swung her off of her feet, his mouth so hot and hungry that she could have wept with relief. Instead, she kissed him back with all the desperate need climbing inside her. Her senses spun as he carried her over to the bed, his hard body pressing her into the silken coverlet. He caressed her neck, her shoulders, the rasp of his calluses strangely exciting.
"So beautiful," he murmured. "Selkie, too beautiful to be real."
Her neck arched as he traced her collarbones. "What's a silky?" she said breathlessly.
"Selkie.An enchanted creature from the sea. She enthralls men in the form of a beautiful woman,"—he bent to taste the path he'd traced—"then flees into the sea in the magical skin of a seal."
"A woman with options. I like that," she said, her lips curving. "I believe that is the best compliment I have ever received."
Kent drew a fingertip beneath the edge of her bodice, and her breathing quickened. An inch further and he could reach her nipples, which stood stiff and aching for his touch. As if he knew her desire, his lips quirked, and perversely he withdrew his finger, running it instead over the strings of her front-lacing stays.
"There are ways of keeping aselkie, you know," he said, testing one of the knots.
Quelle surprise.When it came to subjugating women, men always had their ways.
"Let me guess," she said derisively. "You steal her skin. Keep it hidden, locked away."
"That is one method," he agreed. "Not the one I would use, however."
"Oh? Pray tell what your scheme would be."
