Her denial gave him a moment of relief, but it didn’t last long as she finally turned to face him. Her expression was carefully controlled as she tilted her head to the side and arched a brow. “You’re quite arrogant, you know,” she said in a soft, even tone.
A scowled tugged at Phin’s brow. He wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“What made you think I had any interest in marrying you?”
“I…” he started, then stopped. “I assumed—”
“Well don’t,” she interrupted. “I desire you.” Though her statement was strong, he noted the heightened color in her cheeks. He’d wager anything she’d never uttered such a phrase before. “But marriage is something else entirely. I’m capable of keeping the two separate.”
“But I thought—”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t do that, either,” she retorted, a faint smile starting to lift the corner of her mouth.
Phin chuckled, appreciating that she felt comfortable enough to tease him. “Indeed. Overthinking had never really gotten me anywhere in the past. I’m much better at action.”
Her exquisite features formed into an undeniably challenging expression. “Prove it.”
Lust flared bright in his blood at her provoking words. His stomach tightened and his cock pulsed.
In one long stride, he scooped her into his arms, lifting and dropping her to her bed. Her gasp of shock filled the room as she landed softly on her back, her skirts flown up nearly to her knees. Anticipation sparked bright in her gaze.
It was on the tip of Phin’s tongue to tell her how beautiful she looked in that moment. Slightly surprised, breathless, waiting for what he’d do next. But he couldn’t risk saying anything that might shadow that sparkle in her eyes.
Still, she had to know what she did to him.
“You weaken me,” he finally muttered. When shock flickered over her face, he continued roughly, “I’m not usually uncertain—you were quite right about my arrogance,” he noted with a half smile. “But you make me feel…undeserving,” he finished on a ragged whisper.
She shook her head. “No, don’t…please.”
“I didn’t say it would stop me,” he noted with a rueful grin. “I want this far too much for that.”
Her voice was pleading as she started to push herself up. “Don’t put me on a pedestal. I always fall.”
Before she could fully sit up, Phin set his knee to the mattress, between her ankles. Then he leaned forward to brace his hands on either side of her hips as he held himself over her.
She exhaled and softened back onto the bed with her arms bentand hands resting palm up on each side of her head. It was a subtly submissive position. Accepting.
A hard weight dropped from his chest to loins.
“Not a pedestal, sweetheart, solitary and alone.” He answered gruffly. “I’d give you wings. To fly as far and high as you dream of going. But you must know…I’d happily worship you.”
For some reason, that last bit caused a flash of something in her eyes before she narrowed them with a sweep of sooty lashes. She curled her lips with a subtle awakening wickedness. “That sounds…interesting,” she whispered.
Phin chuckled. Then asked in a graveled tone, “What do want of me first, princess?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Eleanor’s heart stopped,then leapt forward before settling into a frantic rhythm.
Shewas to direct this interlude?
Though the idea was thrilling in the extreme, it also brought back a bit of the uncertainty that had been quieted by his unexpected vulnerability.
What if she said the wrong thing? What if the things she wanted…were unusual or simply not done?
Waring’s eyelids lowered over his intense stare. “I could press my lips to yours.” His voice dropped a full register—each word becoming deeper, richer, more textured—as he dipped his gaze along her sprawled form. “Or smooth my hand beneath your skirts.”
Eleanor’s body responded to each new reverberation of his tone with a rush of tingling and warmth. Liquid heat swirled in her core and flowed to her sex.
