“Tsk,”she said, clicking her tongue impatiently, and he yanked off his shirt and trousers, first taking out the item of protection he always carried with him (not necessarily because he was an incorrigible rake—after all, the item had many handy uses, such as tying up bank workers and holding stolen coins).
(He was, however,alsoan incorrigible rake.)
As he fitted the item, Charlotte did not shift her gaze from the ceiling. Looking at her, Alex frowned. If she wasn’t anxious, why did she lie there as if the world was a great scratchy weight on her body?
The question flipped itself into its own answer. And with it, Alex felt something loosen around his heart. He lay down on his side next to her and pulled the eiderdown over them.
“Come here,” he whispered, tipping her to face him. She swallowed a breath, her eyes huge and dark but, thank God, not frightened. The same could not be said so surely for him. Bloody hell, he’d done this often enough—there was no need to be nervous.
Then she blinked her long, thick lashes over her stormy eyes, and his heart trembled.
“You’ve taken more of the blanket on your side,” she grumbled, laying a hand against his tattooed chest. Her touch, soft as rose petals, was so gentle Alex thought he might break apart beneath it.
“You’re a she-devil,” he answered, brushing damp strands of hair from her face.
They stared at each other for a long, intense moment.Breathe,Alex reminded himself.Do what now?his lungs replied.
“This is merely to clear the air between us, you understand,” Charlotte said.
Alex grinned. “Darling, I assure you there will be nomerelyabout it,” he countered, and Charlotte rolled her eyes. “However, you are essentially right. We are just releasing the tension.”
“It is not a commitment.”
“Agreed.”
“Furthermore—”
He kissed her. And all her words turned to chaff, leaving her with a more honest silence.
The kiss turned slow, explorative. The stroking hands over bare skin set them both shivering despite the cloistered heat. Charlotte’s bracelet tinkling against him reminded Alex she was a witch to whom he should not even be speaking—but he did not care. In this moment, in this bed, she was Charlotte Pettifer, nothing more, and if he could not get inside her soon, he would likely perish from wanting.
But he tried to be patient, because piracy only went so far, and he’d never take from a woman if it would hurt her. Charlotte’s body was as tight as her attitudes, and no matter how she muttered that they needed to get on with things so they could resume the chase for her amulet, Alex was determined to be gentle. Using first one finger and then two, he offered a preview of what he planned to do to her.
At first, her astonishment was extreme. “Are you sure?” she said, squirming against his hand. “This doesn’t seem very proper to me.”
“It’s entirely improper, darling,” he agreed, moving the fingers slowly, delighting at her adorably censorious frown. But her body was beginning to ease as he drew her with long, stroking movements toward a state of warm, wet disarray.
“I don’t under— Oh!” She went abruptly taut again.
He paused. “What?”
“Do that. Again. With your thumb.”
He rubbed again. “That?”
For the first time since he’d known her, the sounds emerging from her throat were not complaints. In broken syllables and shuddering gasps, she related how he was finally doing something perfectly, and he smiled with the particular triumph of knowing he had pleased her. Continuing as instructed, he watched pleasure swell in her eyes, felt it clench around his fingers as she climaxed. The sensation in her body seemed to spark through his own, and he had to take a deep breath to calm himself.
“Goodness me,” she said at last. “That was—remarkable.”
“I’m glad.” He kissed her, as if he might taste the rare compliment on her lips.
“How do I reciprocate?” she asked, businesslike.
At the question, an unfamiliar emotion tangled up inside him, but he could not identify it and did not dare try. Far safer to just get on with being a rakish pirate and let the murky depths of his psyche deal with themselves. He smiled down at her. Damn, she was beautiful, all flushed and softened by pleasure. He had a sudden fierce urge to protect her from himself, even knowing that turning away now would be physical torment. But she scowled at him, wanting an answer, and the protective urge was overwhelmed by more desperate urges that her own impatience seemed to encourage.
“You are giving me all I want just by being here,” he said. And surprised himself with the truth of it.
Alex did not like surprising himself. He wasn’t particularly fond of truth either, for that matter. He did, however, like kissing Miss Pettifer, so he went back to doing that.
