“Then I dare you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Cade was not expecting her to do it. He assumed she’d bat her eyelashes at him—and she had the most arresting eyelashes—and murmur a few charming words about how he shouldn’t be so incorrigible. Perhaps she’d give him another of those sultry smiles that he was coming to covet. That would be that until Mary returned.
So he was surprised, shocked really, when Danielle moved from her seat to his in one fluid motion and gently tugged his injured hand into hers. The touch of her hand against his was the most erotic thing he’d felt in far too long. She smelled like lavender. Like the fragrant fields he’d once walked through in Provence. Damn, it was enticing.
Something about this woman made him do crazy things like admit he’d returned to town to help Rafe and share secrets about his childhood. He’d never told anyone about those things before. Ever. But something about her intelligence and savvy combined with her station in life made her seem… safe. It wasn’t a feeling Cade was used to. The truth was that it terrified him, both how she made him feel and how he couldn’t seem to leave her alone.
He didn’t look at his hand. Or her dark head bent over it. Instead, he bit the inside of his cheek and prayed his cockstand wasn’t noticeable. He raised his face to the coach ceiling and tried to think about other things. Fencing. Card games. Riding horses. Riding…
“It looks good,” Danielle finally murmured.
If only she were referring to his cockstand. “Does it?”
“Yes, it’s healing nicely.”
“Glad to hear it.” Was it his imagination or did his voice sound garbled? By God, he was sweating. It was official. This woman made him sweat. He’d like to return the favor.
He wiped his forehead with the back of his other hand.
Danielle remained bent over his lap. “Do you want me to kiss it now?”
He braced his booted foot against the floor of the coach. Hard. And swallowed. Dear lord, did the woman know what she was doing to him? “Kiss it?” He tugged at his cravat.
“Yes.”
Yes, please, God. Bend down and kiss it.
“Your hand,” she murmured.
“Kiss whatever you like.” He couldn’t help himself.
Her dark head bent farther and her lips brushed against his knuckles, then the sensitive skin between his thumb and forefinger.
He braced both boots against the floor. “Is that all you’re interested in kissing?” he managed to ground out.
She lifted her head and the look on her face was positively wicked. “Do you have any suggestions?”
Did he have any—?Thatsurprised him, too. He was used to dealing with forward women but usually the ones he knew had no modesty whatsoever. Danielle was an intriguing combination of innocence and forwardness that he found irresistible. “Oh, sweetheart, I have a list.”
“Really?” she purred. “May I see it?”
“It’s a mental list,” he drawled.
“Then you must tell me.”
“You can begin with… my lips.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t think I’ll do it. Do you?”
“I’m hoping to hell you will.”
She settled her skirts around her and lifted her head to face him, blinking at him innocently. “I have kissed a man before. I already know what it’s like.”
“You haven’t kissedmebefore.”
She sat up, folded her arms across her chest, and shook her head. “You are the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.”
