Seven Years to Sin(71)

“Ah, but you didn’t accept. You asked; I accepted.” He nuzzled the tip of his nose against hers. “And I cannot tell you what it means to me that you did.”

“You can show me.” Her fingers stroked his nape in just the way he loved.

Alistair slid to the side of her. “Roll over.”

She did as he bade, her spine tingling as she faced away from him. He released the tie at the small of her back, then deftly unfastened the buttons that secured her pale lavender gown. As the pressure of his fingers worked downward, her anticipation grew. For all her teasing about his sexual appetite, hers for him was equally fierce. After a week without him while her courses ran, her hunger for his touch and attention was ravenous.

“I want you to buy a trousseau,” he said. “Spare no expense. I do not begrudge your mourning for Tarley—I know he was good to you—but I don’t want to see you dressed in tribute to your grief whilst wed to me.”

Looking over her shoulder, she nodded, loving him all the more.

He stroked his tongue between her shoulder blades. “I should like to see you in red. And gold. Also a vivid blue.”

“To match your eyes. I would like that. Perhaps you should come with me to the modiste’s.”

“Yes.” His strong hands reached into the parted halves of her gown and gripped her waist. “You’ll be half-dressed while they measure you. I would enjoy the view.”

“At the moment, I would enjoy being undressed.”

He squeezed her gently, then rolled to his back. “As you desire.”

Jess slid off the end of the dais and stood.

Tucking a pillow behind his head, Alistair settled more comfortably. He bent one knee and set one wrist atop it, presenting a relaxed and somewhat insolent pose. The multitude of colorful pillows and the netting between the posts reminded Jess of the story she’d told about a desert adventure and a lusty sheik.

She lowered her head deliberately, affecting a meek and submissive posture. Lifting her hand, she caught the neckline of her gown and tugged it over her shoulder. First one side, then the other. The bodice caught on her breasts and she stilled.

“You could ransom me, Your Highness,” she whispered. “The price you could fetch for me, in addition to the spoils from the caravan, would certainly outweigh whatever pleasure you might have from me in your bed.”

The surprise Alistair felt was tangible. For a moment, he held his silence, his chest lifting and falling with studiously steady breaths. Then, “But you are the reason I raided that caravan, my lady. Why expend the effort if I only intended to give you back?”

“For the fortune you will gain upon my return.”

“The only treasure that interests me is between your thighs.”

A rush of heat swept over her skin.

He jerked his chin imperiously. “Take it off. Let me see you.”

Jess licked her dry lips and took a heartbeat longer to obey. Catching her skirts in her hands, she tugged downward gently, as if she was shy about revealing the body he knew better than she did. The dress slipped from her arms and torso, and pooled on the planked floor.

“Now,” he said gruffly, “the rest.”

“Please …”

“Don’t be frightened. In a few moments, I will give you pleasure such as you’ve never known.” His gaze narrowed slightly. “Nor will you again after me.”

Jess shifted from foot to foot, glancing at him furtively. He reached between his legs, brazenly stroking the thick length of his erection. A voluptuary to his bones. Skilled … far more experienced than she would ever be. Unless he remedied that lack of knowledge, which she doubted he would unless she pushed him. She suspected he feared corrupting her any more than he believed he already had, while she feared his boredom in her bed.

“I cannot say the same,” she said softly.

Alistair rose gracefully to his feet, moving with a sleek and predatory fluidity. “Yes, you can.”

He rounded her, as if examining her charms. Then he drew to a halt at her back, sliding his arms under hers and embracing her from behind. In a swift possessive grasp, he filled his hands with her breasts, startling a gasp from her.

Her head fell back onto his shoulder. “But you’ve had so many concubines who are more adventurous than I know how to be. What will become of me once the novelty wears thin?”

“You underestimate my desire for you.” His lips moved against the shell of her ear. He pulled her against him, making her feel the undeniable evidence of his arousal. “Feel how hard I am for you? I’ve wanted you too badly, for too long. I’ll never have enough of you.”

“Before the raid, did you imagine having me? Did you dream of how you would have me?”

“Every night,” he growled, his fingers clasping around her taut nipples.

Turning her head, she pressed her cheek to his. “Show me how you dreamed of me. Teach me all the ways I can please you. I want to learn.”

One hand slid down her stomach, then between her legs. “You no longer wish to be ransomed?”

Jess gasped as his fingers slipped into the slit of her pantalettes and parted her. With fingertips roughened by the woodworking required to build her this place of seduction, he stroked over her clitoris, knowing just how to touch her to make her writhe. “If you do, who will quench this fire in my blood?”