She squirmed, warming beneath his gaze. She said with mock humour, “Are you ... Are you going to torture me?”
“I am.”
Before she could protest, he pressed a finger to her lips. “I will not feed from you tonight. But Iwillenjoy my time with you.”
He raised his brows and proffered his hand expectantly.
She half-heartedly lifted her fingertips. He reached for her hand, and she pulled it just out of reach. “I will need assurances,” she said. “I don’t trust you.”
He chuckled. In one swift movement, he wrestled for her arm, pinned it, and shackled her wrist to the other bedpost.
She hissed, “What in the Seven Hells is your problem—”
He tilted his head. “I grew impatient. And I already read your thoughts—you were going to say yes eventually.”
“You—you bastard!” She glared. “How dare you read my private thoughts and use them against me. You utter asshole!”
He smiled and swayed his head back and forth, like he was listening to fine music. “Ah, cursing. Music to my ears. I’m surprised a noblewoman like you knows even a single curse word.” He paused, considering. “If you want to block me out, you need to think of something boring. Chant a song. Freeze your feelings and thoughts beneath a sheet of ice. For weeks, you kept me out. But right now?”His gaze swept her body. “You’re just a bit too … excited. You might as well be shouting them at me.”
She glared.
He looked down at her and sighed. “Most women follow me around like lost little puppies, vying for my attention, and go out of their way to please me during their stay here. You, my pretty Elizabeth, are a puzzle.”
He held up a glass orb.
“Do you know what this is?”
She shook her head.
“It’s enchanted. For pleasure.”
He nudged her knees apart and glided his hand over her skirts, starting at her knee and moving a couple of inches higher before stopping.
The man had the sin of lust down to an art; she had to give him that.
She stared in morbid fascination as he ran the orb up her thighs—slow, lazy strokes against her skirts. All the while, his eyes locked on her face, as if he were drinking in every wrinkle of her brow, and every catch of her breath.
“Tell me how much you think of me when you think no one is looking, Elizabeth.”
Her eyes widened in alarm. “What?” she blurted. “That’s ridiculous. And I have better things to think about.”
His fingers brushed against her legs, gently stroking her inner thighs over her skirts. Slowly, he grazed between her legs and then continued his exploration of her thigh.
She glared. “Are you going to release me? I haven’t given my permission for you to do such things, you know.”
His fingers stilled. “Tell me to stop, and I will stop.”
She pressed her lips together, glancing between his face and his hand.
She said nothing.
“What a lovely little liar you are,” he said, grazing his fingers over her once more. “A. Lovely. Little.Liar.”
He kissed the glass orb, then whispered,“Skaaka.”
It began to buzz like a bumblebee, emitting a deep hum that vibrated up her legs. He trailed the orb over her skirts, her thighs.
“Tell me how much you look at me. How much you want me. Give me that, and I will stop.”
