Katherine was so attuned to Dimitri’s passion that his momentary distraction was like an alarm bell going off in her head. She didn’t know what caused it. That didn’t matter. But she was abruptly jolted back to an awareness of what she was doing—and what he was doing. He was lifting her in his arms. He started toward the door, slowly, not once severing the contact of their lips. But there was a difference in his kiss, a bruising increase of ardor, as if—as if…He’s figured you out, Katherine. He knows what it takes to turn you into a mindless shell.
But it was too late. Her senses had returned whether she wished it or not.
She turned her head aside to break his power. “Where are you taking me?”
He didn’t stop. “To my room.”
“No…you can’t take me out of here like this.”
“No one will see you.”
Her voice had been unsteady. It now cracked like a whip. “Put me down, Dimitri.”
He stopped, but he didn’t set her down. His arms tightened painfully, and she guessed that he was not going to relinquish his advantage so easily this time.
“I helped you in your hour of need,” he reminded her. “Do you deny it?”
“No.”
“Then you can do no less for me.”
“No.”
His body stiffened, his tone was sharp. “Fair is fair, Katya. I need you now, at this moment. This is no time to recall your absurd virtue.”
Thatmade her angry. “Absurd virtue? Don’t compare me with your Russian women, who apparently have no virtue at all. I’m English! Myabsurd virtueis quite normal, thank you, and it won’t change by association. Now put me down, Dimitri, right now.”
He had the urge simply to drop her, he was so furious with her. How could she switch from one extreme to another with such ease? And why was he even talking to her? He already knew that words couldn’t pierce her defenses.
Dimitri let Katherine’s legs slide to the floor, but his other arm around her back dropped lower to bend her into the curve of his hard body. The friction loosened the towel tucked in at her breasts, and only the tight fit of their bodies kept it from falling.
“I’m beginning to think you don’t know what you want, Katya.”
Katherine groaned as his other hand gripped her chin in preparation of a new assault. She wouldn’t be able to withstand it, not again, not now. She had yet to recover from the first. But he was wrong, so wrong. She knew exactly what she wanted.
“Would you force me, Dimitri?”
He let her go so suddenly that she stumbled several feet back. “Never!” he fairly snarled.
She had unwittingly insulted him. She hadn’t meant to. She had only made a last desperate effort to retain a measure of herself, for she was afraid that once she gave herself to him, he would so dominate her, mind and body, there would be nothing left of Katherine St. John.
There was no mistaking his utter frustration. When she glanced at him after a frantic bid to secure her towel, he was raking his hands through his hair as if he meant to pull out every golden strand. And then he paused, impaling her with a look that was confused and enraged at the same time.
“Sweet Christ, you are two different women! Where does the wanton go when the prude returns?”
Was he blind? Couldn’t he see that she was still trembling with desire, her body screaming for his?Blast you, Dimitri, don’t be such a gentleman. Listen to my body, not my words. Take me.
He didn’t hear the unspoken plea. He saw only the lost opportunity, felt only the agony of passion unfulfilled.
After a last heated look, Dimitri left, slamming the door in his anger. But once outside, he regretted his deliberate taunt and the stricken look that had flashed over Katherine’s features because of it. No woman who kissed as she did could be termed a prude. She wanted him. And if it was the last thing he did, he would make her admit it.
He had lost his chance this time by disdaining a rug. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t made love in unlikely places before. Once, on a dare from Vasili, he had made love in his theater box, during intermission, no less, when he was most likely to have been discovered. Damn, he wished Vasili were here now to talk to. He had a knack of breaking down problems so they seemed simple.
Seduction had failed, every direct approach had failed, including an appeal to Katherine’s sense of fairness. She had none. So it was time to change tactics, perhaps take a leaf from her own book of supposed indifference. Women loved to say no, but they didn’t like to be ignored. That might work. Of course it would require patience, which he sorely lacked.
He sighed heavily as he walked away. At least she had called him Dimitri. Small compensation.
Early the next morning, a bed was delivered to Katherine’s room.
