“Sadie,” Nicholas sighed, “I’m not going to forget that you haven’t accepted the charm.”
He held his hand out again, uncurling the fingers that had wrapped around the amethyst as they spoke. For a moment, Sadie understood Helen’s protestations that she “couldn’t.”
As a proper lady, Helen couldn’t refuse an offer of marriage from a baron. She couldn’t tell him that she didn’t want to marry him. It had seemed almost silly to Sadie at the time, but as she looked at the gem in Nicholas’s hand, all she could think to say was, “I can’t accept that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too much.”
“It’s a small charm I carved in a single morning.”
“It’s a jewel.”
“An amethyst is hardly on the same level as a sapphire or diamond.”
“I won’t take it.” Sadie said, finding her footing again. “Won’t” was so much better than “can’t.”
“If you don’t take it, Sadie, I’m going to be forced to do something drastic.”
“How will you make me accept it?”
“No, that’s all the warning you get. Accept the charm with grace, or be prepared to deal with the consequences.”
Sadie crossed her arms. “I’m not taking it.”
Nicholas rolled the amethyst in his hand, until he held it pinched between thumb and forefinger. He held it up a little higher, his hazel eyes glinting nearly emerald in the dappled light, daring her.
She accepted the dare with a lift of her chin.
Nicholas stepped forward, holding the stone between them at the height of her collarbone. His eyes went dark as hisgaze drifted down. She sucked in a breath, and he dropped the amethyst into her bodice, directly between her breasts. His fingers hadn’t even grazed her skin, yet she burned with awareness of how close they had come.
Nicholas looked up again, a flush highlighting his cheekbones. “Ready to accept it now?”
Because of the size of the stone, it had fallen too deep into her corset for Sadie to fish it out with any sort of dignity. But that didn’t mean she was conceding. “This won’t make me keep it forever.”
“If you return it to me, I will give it back to you in the same manner. As many times as it takes.”
“I won’t give you the opportunity.” Oh spirits, she sounded breathless rather than firm.
Nicholas groaned. “Sadie.”
In his mind, he was leaning in for a kiss. He pictured it in exquisite detail, his head dipping lower, Sadie tilting up her chin to meet him, their bodies swaying closer.
Sadie saw the thought, and braced her hands on his chest, going up on tiptoe before she could think it through. It was a mistake, reacting to thoughts rather than actions. The type of mistake that betrayed her.
Except …
It wasn’t a mistake. Nicholas moved almost in time with his thoughts, leaning down and taking her lips at the same instant she lifted toward him. He cradled the base of her head with one hand, but before he could use that grip to angle her head for a deeper kiss, she was already moving, responding to what she saw in his thoughts, wanting it all as much as he did.
Her telepathy opened up, a flower unfurling to soak in the sun. She didn’t fight the images as Nicholas’s control gave way and more and more of his thoughts slipped to the surface. Shecould hardly tell what was real and what was only in her mind, but it didn’t matter, because it was all wonderful.
Nicholas kissed with a focus on details that Sadie had never before experienced. He didn’t just press his lips against hers, he changed the pressure, testing until he found the exact point she melted into him. Then he licked at her lips, tasted her, and devoted himself to discovering what made her moan, what made her chase if he pulled back, what made her dig her fingers into him.
She reciprocated, using the knowledge her magic gave her. He pulled her closer when she bit down on his lower lip. The hand at her nape drifted around, down over her collarbone, and to the skin that had burned for his touch earlier. His finger dipped just under the edge of her bodice, and she couldn’t hold back her gasp.
His hands fell away and Nicholas stumbled back.Mistake. This is a mistake.
He pulled himself together, his thoughts disappearing under a layer of control that had been absent moments before.
