He moved to her desk and leaned back against it, and there was something nearly obscene about it, though she couldn’t say why. Something about the way he held himself, about those muscular thighs, and how large and battered his hands were, gripping the edge of that desk.
She felt something that she couldn’t even define inside of her. Something that was like instinct, as old as time. Something that was part of her, even if she didn’t know how to define it.
She was innocent of men. In that way. But right then she felt like she knew. Exactly what she wanted from him. Exactly what she could do to him. And what she would want him to do to her.
Her breath caught. “I’m going to help you,” she said.
“That remains to be seen.”
He pushed off from the desk, and moved away from her, out toward the room. “We can meet tomorrow at noon.”
“I will send you a detailed plan ahead of time.”
When he left and closed the door behind him, a breath exited her body on a gust.
Now all she had to do was think of a detailed plan. And not about the way that her hands were shaking.
Chapter Six
IT HAD BEENdifficult to keep his hands off of her when he had been in her room. And the dark thoughts that had taken hold of him had almost made it more difficult, instead of easier.
Part of him wanted to push her. She wanted to use her body to manipulate him then…
Maybe he could show her.
Show her that if it became like that, he would have power over her too.
No.
He was not going to do that.
She was nothing more than another tool that he was using to bolster his country, and he would not allow her to become more than that. He got her itinerary, and didn’t read it before he printed it off. But once he did read it, he found himself storming toward the study where she asked to meet him.
“Dancing?”
“People do love a dance,” she said, standing up from the chair that she was sitting in. She was dressed in a white dress that fell just past her knees, the fabric diaphanous. Nearly see-through. It flowed when she moved, the bodice molded to her breasts. She looked like a virgin sacrifice. A goddess of old sent from Valhalla. The lust that gripped him was visceral. Beyond reason. It nearly blinded him.
And he felt his ancestors rising up inside of him. If he had a sword by his side he would’ve brandished it now and roared. Threatened to slay all enemies. Just for her.
“I don’t,” he said. “And I will not be doing it.”
“I can dance with other men, but that will create conversation.”
“If I don’t dance, there doesn’t need to be a dance.”
“It’s a party,” she said. “There will be spectacular food, music and dancing. People enjoy it.”
“It is opulence.”
“People like opulence. And your people deserve a bit of opulence. Which is why I have suggested that a certain number of citizens should be invited to this.”
“I’m not opposed.” He was attempting to cool down the fire in his blood. “However, I am opposed to dancing.”
“Why?”
He gritted his teeth. “I don’t know how to do it.”
“Is that all? I am an excellent dancer. Because of course I had to be, because I was being fashioned into a lovely, biddable puppet to best represent my country as the sort of feminine woman that my father wished me to be. I can teach you how to dance.”
