A Devil's Touch (The Devil DeVere #4.5)(9)

"It seems," he stated, dark and ominous, "that what we really have are unresolved issues of trust between us. I have sworn my devotion, my fidelity. We will end this right now. There is no room in this relationship for jealousy and suspicion."

Did he intend to walk out? Panic filled her breast. "What do you mean?"

"You wish me to prove myself to you, Diana? Here and now? Very well then. Quid pro quo."

"I don't understand."

"It means I require an exchange. Since you want proof that I still desire you, you shall have it—but I demand something in return."

"And what is that?"

"I require your absolute and unconditional faith. I won't have this," he made an impatient gesticulation, "hanging between us any longer. Before this night is out, you will trust me, Diana. Fully. Completely. Unreservedly."

His ominous words made her breathless and sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine. This was the man who had introduced her to her darkest fantasies, the man who had made them reality. Her pulse had sprung to life under his touch, and now her blood pumped palpably through her veins. "Very well, then." She turned slightly to meet his heated blue stare. "Quid pro quo."

He returned a grim smile. "On your knees, Diana."

Her eyes widened. What the devil was he about? "What did you say?"

"You heard me. I want you on your knees."

"I don't understand. Do you expect me to beg? Or to take you in my mouth? At the moment I am not of a mind to do either, Ludovic. I refuse outright to do the former, and of the latter, it is not for me to prove my desire for you."

"You misapprehend, my dear. I shall give you what you want…but only after you have satisfied me. I told you I demand your full and complete trust and I will have it, for I refuse to pay for another man's sins any longer."

"What are you saying?"

"That your experience with that loathsome sod Reggie still lingers—that it unfairly casts a pall upon me, that you have never given me your full confidence, as I have given you."

"But that's not true! You know I have." She turned to face him fully, fought the urge to throw herself into his arms, but her pride prevailed.

"Quite the contrary, my pet. Your doubt of my faithfulness proves otherwise."

He was right and there was only one way to repair the rift before it became an impassable chasm. She sank her teeth into her lip and then blurted, "I'm sorry for my jealousy, Ludovic, for my mistrust. I do believe you…now that you have explained everything. And yes, I would not have had you do differently where Salime is concerned."

He smiled softly and caressed her hair. "I appreciate your confession, my pet. But you see that's no longer enough for me. I need more from you than words."

"But I meant what I said. How can I convince you?"

"I shall believe the moment you believe in me. Given your marital history, I have not pressed you all this time we have been together. I believed that time would heal old wounds—that my love, my attention to your needs, my utter devotion to fulfilling your every desire would serve to eradicate the past. It appears I was wrong."

"How can you say such things?"

"What am I to think, Diana? Your mistrust, doubt, and suspicion have cut me to the quick."

"Now you are intentionally manipulating me and turning the tables!"

"Am I?" He cocked a brow with a feigned look of innocence. "Is what I speak not the truth?"

"Damn you, DeVere!" She had no sooner expelled his name than his mouth came down on hers in a ruthless and devouring kiss. Diana clutched her fingers in his hair and breathed him in, losing herself mind, body, and soul in the vortex of desire created by his mouth and tongue. It had always been like this with him, from the very beginning. His merest touch inflamed her with desire. She wanted him. Madly.

But then he released her as abruptly as he had begun, leaving her bewildered and panting.

She licked her lips with a mixture of apprehension and growing sexual frustration as he stripped off his cravat and tore at the buttons of his shirt. "What do you intend to do now?"

"I want you on your hands and knees, Diana. I will then proceed to f*ck you senseless until I have expunged every trace of that vile blackguard from your memory at last."

"But my past with Reggie has nothing to do with this."

"Your past has everything to do with this," he answered darkly.

She drew breath and closed her eyes in dread. "Is this a punishment? Are you going to—”

"Take you in the arse?" he finished for her.

Apprehension suddenly burgeoned to fear, flickering inside her, fierce and alive. "No! Please!" she cried. "You know I can't do that. And you know why. How can you even ask it of me?" What he proposed terrified her, for Diana still sometimes awoke weeping in her sleep from the shame and horror of Reggie's sodomy.

"I have not asked it. You show your mistrust yet again, Diana, for you should know by now that I would never do anything you do not desire."

"Then what do you intend?"

He continued methodically to disrobe. "My unsated lust and your delicate condition have combined to drive me mad. And in my madness I have spent countless hours considering new means of gratification. And as you well know, my dearest love…I am a most inspired man. I intend now for us to discover what greater pleasures might yet exist between us when greater creativity is employed."