‘I should have thought of that with the duchess.’
Thomas held back a laugh and tried to remember they were arguing, and he was quite possibly losing. ‘It hardly seems sporting.’
‘This isn’t a sport. It’s murder. And we don’t need to go back to the horrid housekeeper. I still think I could get Berty to talk.’
‘Not unless I’m with you.’ The very idea of Berty putting his sweaty hands on her body was enough to provoke a jealousy he hadn’t felt since Lissa.
‘You don’t trust me to contain all my lusty desire with a gentleman as debonair as Berty?’
He was being ridiculous. Berty was disgusting. And even if he had been a dashing duke ripe for marriage, Clio was nothing like Lissa. She would never betray his trust.
But would she accept me if she knew everything?
He shut down such dangerous thoughts. The very idea was madness. And what kind of selfish bastard would he be if he let her sacrifice her future to be with him?
She squared her shoulders, always ready to meet him in a challenge. ‘Does it matter? You’ll have to trust me with this.’
‘Trust. It’s a funny thing. So difficult to give, and so easy to break.’
Tension pulled tight between them.
‘I’m trusting you tonight. I wish you would trust me with whatever it is haunting you. I’m good with ghosts, you know.’
Thomas shook his head. ‘That sounds dangerously close to a question you promised not ask. I think we are done discussing the investigation. It’s time to move on to the second reason we are here.’
She lifted her chin, always so defiant. ‘What is that?’
‘Pleasure.’
Her throat hollowed as she sucked in a breath. ‘Perhaps I would gain pleasure from hearing about your past.’
Thomas’ eyes hardened into emerald shards. ‘You would not.’ He pushed down the panic and shame conjured by her words and focused on what he could control. Her desire. And his own. ‘But you will gain a great deal of satisfaction from what I have planned, Clio. I promise to fan your witchfire into a conflagration that will consume us both if you follow my instructions.’
She narrowed her gaze. He knew everything in her wanted to challenge him. But he also knew she wanted to let go. The lights flared as sparks gathered in her palms. The glow covering her skinwas an eloquent expression of her desire. ‘You really are an impossible man, Thomas Grey.’
‘It lends me a certain charm, don’t you think?’ He lifted his brow. ‘Stand up and take off your robe, Clio.’
It was a test. If she refused, then she was not ready. Whether she knew it or not. And he would need to rethink his plan. Because the goal was still the same. Bringing her pleasure so bright, so hot, their time together would stay with her for all her days. He would be seared into her memory. A brand she could never erase. After their first night together, he knew he would spend the rest of his life craving her. Maybe she had bewitched him. Perhaps he was under her spell, but one good charm deserved another, and he was determined to weave his own enchantment over Clio. He might not have her power. He might not have any magic. He might not hold value to Lissa, the beau monde, or himself. But he would do something worthy for Clio. He would bring her beauty or blaze like a dying star in the attempt.
She pushed to her feet, straightened her shoulders, and lifted a shaky hand to the tie around her robe. When she paused, he held his breath. Waiting. Yearning. Needing her more than the next beat of his heart.
She slipped the tie loose, her heavy robe falling open to reveal a nightgown of nearly sheer cotton. With a slow shrug, the velvet slipped to the carpet.
Thomas couldn’t stop his gaze slipping down her body. There was something undeniably erotic about seeing the hint of her nipples, the shadow of her mons, but still not knowing her exact taste. ‘Good girl.’
‘I hardly think a good girl would stand in her unmentionables in front of a gentleman, but isn’t that the point?’ Her lips curled in a devilish smile, and Thomas felt his cock grow heavy and hard. Hewas supposed to be in control, but she summoned his arousal as easily as she conjured her flame.
Not able to stay still, he stood, prowling around her, watching as the pulse in her throat quickened. He walked behind her, and when she turned her head, he tsked. ‘Face forward, Clio.’
She clenched her jaw, mutiny flashing in her eyes, but did as he asked.
‘I told you I would strip you bare. I meant what I said.’ He stood close enough, their bodies almost touched. Heat pulsed off her in waves so powerful, the air shimmered between them. Before he could reach for her nightgown, it began to smoke, the cotton flared like a lantern wick, then turned ashy grey and fell from her body like burned paper. Sooty dust lay around her feet in a ring on the carpet.
He whistled low, stepping back to admire her generously curved arse. ‘That was a wicked little trick, my sweet witch.’
‘Wicked witches have the best tricks and the most fun.’ Clio didn’t move, but he knew she was smiling.
He took a single finger and traced it down the pearls of her spine. She hissed in a breath. Pulling her hair to drape over her shoulder, Thomas forced himself to remain focused. It would be so easy to get lost in the silky tresses. But there was so much more to discover. He leaned forward, pressing his lips where her shoulder met her neck.
