Devil lowered his head and sucked on her pearl once more. “Now,” he murmured against her sodden flesh, before pressing a kiss there and then sucking.
“Mmm,” came her telling response.
It was all he needed.
Evie woke witha smile on her lips to what appeared to be late-morning sun filtering in through the window dressing of the chamber she had been occupying for the last fortnight. She stretched, still feeling deliciously sated and alive in places she had never imagined existed before.
Everything seemed the same.
And yet, everything had changed.
Theo had kissed her…between her legs. Her face burned at the memory of what he had done in those early-morning hours, but so too did the flesh he had pleasured. She was throbbing there, filled with a strange sensation of emptiness and neediness all at once. A desperation to know more. To feel his lips and tongue on her, his finger inside her, again.
Who could have imagined such raw, unadulterated joy existed? That such pleasure was possible? Certainly not her.
He had been so sweet and tender to her. After he had brought her to the heights of bliss three times, he had helped her to dress and guided her back to her chamber just before the servants had begun to roam the halls for the day. The way he had gazed down at her just before he had left her at the door to her chamber made her heart feel as if it had grown twice its size.
The walls he had continually built had been dismantled at last. He had pressed a kiss to her crown, wrapped her in an embrace. For a moment, he had simply held her, pressed tightly to his chest, his warmth and strength surrounding her. She had breathed in deeply of his scent, clinging to him as well.
All too quickly, it had been over.
He had disengaged and left her standing in the hall with trembling limbs and a pounding heart.
The door to her chamber flew open suddenly just then, interrupting her solitude.
But it was the person flying over the threshold that shocked her more than the intrusion. Addy was racing toward her, face a mask of worry. “Evie, how are you feeling, dearest sister? When Devil sent over a note that you were ill, I feared the worst.”
Her lovely twin sister, the dark to her light, swooped down on her as if she were a mama bird, pressing a hand to her forehead. “You do not feel feverish. Mayhap the fever has broken.”
Feverish?
Ill?
Theo had sent over a note?
The lovely sensations that had lingered as she woke were abruptly dashed as she blinked the remnants of slumber from her eyes and frowned at Addy. “Why are you here?”
“Is it a lung infection? An ague?” Her sister frowned right back at her. “Have you been coughing? I have had a poultice made for you to lay on your chest. How long have you been sick? Devil said it was quite dreadful, these last few days. You do not look pale, however. Indeed, you appear quite hale.”
Suspicion colored her sister’s tone by the time she stopped speaking. But the misgiving in Addy’s voice was nothing compared to the doubt that was suddenly threatening to drown Evie.
“I am not ill,” she told her sister. “Not at all. I am perfectly well, as you can see. What nonsense is that which you speak of?”
“Devil’s note suggested it was quite grave, that I must come here at once…”
Addy’s words trailed off as she appeared to make sense of the situation.
So did Evie. The walls which had been torn down had been erected once more. Only this time, he had built parapets atop them.
A stinging rush of pain seared her. “Where is he?”
She already knew the answer without having to ask the question. However, if there remained the smallest, most incremental chance he had not disappeared from her life as she suspected, she wanted to know. Had to know.
“Where is who?” Her sister’s frown deepened. “Devil?”
Evie almost corrected her withTheountil she realized how her familiarity would appear. As if she had been intimate with him. As if she were in love with him. All of which she was, of course.
Good heavens.
