The more he ignored her, the louder her protests became. He swatted her bottom again. A bit harder this time. Damn, her arse was an excellent handful.
“Devil!” she spat just as he reached the door.
He stopped. “Curse you, lower your voice.”
“Fine. Put me down and I will speak in a quieter tone.”
“It is not my reputation I seek to protect, milady.”
“Why are you so eager to have me removed from your chamber?” she demanded, sounding outraged.
“If you looked in the shiner, you would know,” he told her grimly.
“Shiner?”
“Looking glass,” he bit out. She had him so distressed, he had failed to realize he was using cant.
“You object to my night rail? I do suppose I ought to have worn a dressing gown atop for modesty’s sake, but I was in a hurry.”
For modesty’s sake.
Was the woman a Bedlamite or just incredibly innocent?
“Quiet now,” he ordered her. “We are about to go into the hall.”
“I shall shriek as loudly as I can if you do not put me down this instant.”
The manipulative minx.
Devil thought about giving her rump another swat before ultimately deciding to settle her on her feet once more. He glowered down at her, keeping his gaze trained upon hers. He was not going to look at her damned nipples poking through the fine fabric of her night rail, begging to be sucked…
Fuck.
He looked at them. How could he not?
His cock went harder than a fire poker. He stalked past her to his bed and snatched the counterpane from it before wrapping it around her shoulders. “There. Now you may speak, milady.”
For good measure, he took two steps in retreat. She was no longer within reach.Excellent.
“I am not cold,” she pronounced, milady in full force.
He ground his molars. “Say your piece before I toss you over my shoulder again.”
“There is no need to be a bully, Theo.”
Was she trying to make him tear out his hair? Did the woman take pleasure in his torment?
“Devil,” he bit out, moving nearer in spite of himself.
“You are certainly behaving the part.” She pursed her lips, and the urge to cover them with his rose, impossible to be denied. “However, I do prefer Theo. It is so much more civilized than—”
The final thread of his restraint—frayed beyond repair—snapped. He pulled her near, cupped her face, and lowered his mouth to hers, effectively silencing her.
He was kissingher.
Again.
Mayhap it was wrong. Certainly, it went well beyond the bounds of propriety. But then, so did appearing in a gentleman’s bedchamber in the darkness, wearing nothing more than a night rail. And she had done that. Because she could not bear the distance that had suddenly occurred between them.
