“Me? What am I doing?”
“Looking at me with those sensuous eyes of yours. That is really all it takes, you know,”
“Nonsense,” Katherine scoffed, but she couldn’t help smiling. “And what about what you’re doing? If you don’t stop it”—she gave the same warning—“I’m going to have to—”
“Promise?”
Katherine laughed. “You are incorrigible.”
“What do you expect when I have denied myself this pleasure all these months?”
“Now why do I believe that?” Katherine said in some surprise.
“Because it’s true…and because I have quite proved to you these last few hours how great was my need. Haven’t I? Or do you need more proof?”
“Dimitri!” She giggled as he rolled her beneath him. But she found he wasn’t teasing as he entered her, quickly and deeply. “Dimitri.” His name was a sigh now, just before she reached up to capture his kiss.
When Katherine’s breathing returned to normal awhile later, she was about to make a comment on Dimitri’s insatiability, but he beat her to it.
“You are going to be the death of me, woman.”
“There you go exaggerating again.” She laughed. “Why, I can recall two separate occasions when your stamina was quite remarkable.”
He glanced down at her in surprise. “And appreciated, perhaps?”
“At the time, certainly, which isn’t to say I couldn’t have done without such experiences. I much prefer my own spontaneity and freedom of choice.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.Shehad brought up the druggings and without the slightest trace of anger. She had forgiven him. And she was admitting that this time was by her choice. She was admitting she had wanted him.
Sweet Christ, how many times he had fantasized about hearing just such a confession from her. “Do you know how happy you make me, Katya?”
It was Katherine’s turn to be surprised, he sounded so sincere. “Do I?”
“For so long I have wanted to hold you like this, to kiss you.” He did. “I have ached with the need to touch you, to love you. This is where you belong, Katya, here in my arms. And I am going to do everything in my power to persuade you to remain in Russia permanently. I will do anything to convince you that you belong with me.”
“Is—is that a proposal?” Katherine whispered hesitantly, incredulously.
“I want you with me always.”
“But is that a proposal, Dimitri?” she asked more firmly.
Damn! “Katya, you know I can’t marry you. You know what it is I am asking.”
Katherine tensed, feeling as if the air had been knocked out of her. Having her temper rear its ugly head while she was in this intimate position didn’t help.
“Let me up, Dimitri.”
“Katya, please—”
“Blast you, let me up!”
She pushed hard enough to slide out from under him and scrambled to a sitting position. Her hair hit him in the face when she swung around to face him again. Her nudity and vulnerability were her least concern.
“I want my children to have a father, Dimitri,” she said without preamble.
“I will cherish your children.”
“That’s not the same thing, and you know it. I’m good enough to be your mistress but not your wife, is that it? Do you know how insulting that is?”
