Dont. She jerked away. Kismet shifted restlessly at her riders abrupt movement.
Youve never been kissed before, have you? Merrick didnt sound his usual mocking self. He sounded shaken. The silvery eyes were soft as autumn mist and his mouth was soft, too, full and so tempting it made her ache.
She blinked, horrified to realize she stared at him like a child entranced by Christmas candles. Whatwhat did you say?
He regarded her almost tenderly. A warning clanged in her minds distant reaches. Beware. Beware.
Youve never been kissed before.
She frowned, trying to make sense of the words. Of course I have.
A skeptical lift of one black eyebrow. Thousands of times, Ill warrant.
She flushed and her hands fisted on the reins as she fought the desire to slap him. Well, once. You kissed me last night. Her voice developed an edge. Or dont you remember?
His hand slid under her chin and tilted her face. He inspected her like a bizarre new species under a naturalists magnifying glass. Of course I remember, bella. The memory haunts me. Its just that youre moreuntouched than Id realized.
Annoyance coiled in her belly that he dared to mock her inexperience. She tugged her chin free. I dont make a habit of associating with unprincipled rakes. Why are you making so much of this? You know Im a virgin.
Oh, yes. Something flared in his deep-set silver eyes before he lowered his eyelids and studied her mouth. But youre even morevirgin than Id guessed.
You cant be more virgin than a virgin, she snapped.
He leaned forward with unmistakable intention. Shed had enough of lying kisses and sarcastic teasing. She twisted to avoid him. Kismet snorted and sidled uneasily.
Whoa there! Merrick grabbed Kismets bridle and the horse immediately settled. Get down, Sidonie.
The brusque tone lifted every hackle that hadnt risen when hed derided her awkwardness. Just because I let you kiss me doesnt mean Im about to lie down for you.
He was still laughing at her. Even Im not so presumptuous, bella. But youre overdue for a lesson in kissing and I cant do the task justice when were in danger of tumbling on our arses.
If her face got any hotter, it would burst into flame. I have no wish to suffer further tawdry pawing.
Interest in physical pleasure is perfectly natural. Nothing to be ashamed of. He dismounted and tied the bays reins on its neck so they didnt dangle. Theres no need to apologize.
Oh, she really wanted to slap him. Her hand curled in its glove. Im not apologizing.
He ignored her. You must be burning with curiosity.
Im burning with the desire to box your ears.
He slapped the bays rump so the horse trotted out of the way with a snort, then strode across to where Sidonie sat fuming on Kismet. Repressed passion turns violent if unaddressed.
Only if one is mentally deranged.
I look forward to deranging you, tesoro. Now dont gallop away. He caught the bridle. His instincts were acute indeed. Shed been about to canter off. Wouldnt you rather discover what youve been missing?
You just showed me what Ive been missing. Such a lot of fuss about nothing.
You werent complaining a few minutes ago.
He still smiled. Blast him, he wasnt taking her seriously. Perhaps because, blast her, for one forbidden moment shed been idiotic enough to kiss him back. You caught me by surprise.
Then this time consider yourself forewarned. He released Kismet and grabbed Sidonies waist. She wasnt a small woman. Compared to Roberta, she was a lumbering draft horse. But Merrick easily lifted her to the ground.
The horses will bolt, she said shakily, unaccountably wobbly on her feet with him so near. Her heart dived and swooped in her chest in a most disconcerting fashion. She was unbearably conscious of those hard, strong hands constraining her.
If they do, theyll just go back to the stables and well have a walk back. As if to prove her fears groundless, Kismet sidled a few yards then stopped beside the bay.
Ill run away, Sidonie said without shifting.
Ill chase you.
Why bother?
He took her trembling hands and stupid, weak female she was, she didnt draw away. Danger clanged around her like a huge bell but she remained glued to the spot.
Because youre quite beautiful, dolcissima, he said gently. Dont you know that?
Last night hed told her she was beautiful. Before hed stalked out in a huff. He sounded as sincere as he had then. Just as it had then, her heart slammed to a stop. Thats a rakes trick, to tell a girl shes beautiful.
Is it working? he said amiably, stripping off her gloves.
No. She wished to heaven she meant it.
Pity. He dropped her gloves to the ground and stripped off his own. Damn it, youre always inconveniently overdressed.
Not always.
The thought hovered between them as if spoken aloud. She was free to run; he no longer held her. Go, go, she told her feet, but they stubbornly refused to budge. I dont find it inconvenient at all.
Another regrettable sign of innocence. One day youll be grateful I showed you the ropes.
Her lips flattened in disapproval. This is a public service?
She wished she didnt like his laugh. Every time she heard that deep, musical rumble, another brick crumbled from her defenses. A chap has a duty to his fellow man.
Theyll probably give you a medal, she said faintly as his hands framed her face. Sucking in a shaky breath, she exhorted herself to be strong. She strove to stiffen a backbone that showed a lamentable tendency to curve in his direction.
His palms were warm against her cheeks. A knighthood at the very least.
For services to womankind. She tried to sound sarcastic but the words emerged on a burst of breathless excitement.
A light flared in his gray eyes. Oh, I intend to service you, bella. Before she mustered another unconvincing protest, he lowered his lips to hers.
Heat. Softness. Trembling uncertainty. A hidden longing to respond. Jonas tasted all of that when he dipped his lips to Sidonies. He couldnt say why he was so deeply moved to be the first man to kiss her. His cock swelled to attention. Her merest presence aroused him. It had from the first. Whatever power she possessed, he was helpless against it.
Experimentally, he nibbled, licked at the seam. She was bewitching. Even now when she conceded little more than she had when hed kissed her last night. She quivered under his hands. He still wasnt sure whether she was excited or frightened. Hed read both curiosity and dread in her pansy eyes. Her thick tortoiseshell hair tickled his fingers. After her wild ride, she looked enchantingly disheveled. It made him contemplate other wild rides hed like to take with her.
Raising his head, he stared at her. Her eyes were shut and her lashes fluttered against flushed cheeks. His nostrils flared as he drew in the evocative scents of the sea and Sidonie.
Open your mouth, tesoro. He angled her face higher. Open your mouth for me.
Open your mouth, tesoro. He angled her face higher. Open your mouth for me.
At his raw demand, her eyes flared wide. For a drunken moment, he drowned in glorious brown, rich, autumnal, sensual.
O-open?
He took advantage and claimed her, sliding his tongue into the interior. She made a sound of surprise and tried to back off. No.
Bella, dont be afraid.
She stopped edging away but her lips closed against him again. He returned to demanding nothing more than her stillness. She stood unresponsive, although her choppy breathing indicated she was far from unmoved. She resisted to the point where he thought hed run mad with wanting her.
Just resistance, resistance, resistance. Endless resistance.
Then in the space between one second and the next, endless resistance dissolved. Her hand curved around his shoulder. On a sigh, she leaned into him. Warmth powerful enough to melt the chill from his obsidian heart enveloped him. The hand on his shoulder flexed into a caress. Her lips parted and at last gave up the honey within. Luxuriously he savored her mouth. She was delicious. His tongue flickered over hers and he heard a smothered protest.
If he had an ounce of charity in his soul, hed release her. But her flavor was as addictive as gin to a toper. Hed blithely imagined hed keep his head during this impromptu lesson. Instead she made a mockery of arrogance. She who had never kissed a man.
On a long, languid exploration, he stroked her tongue. This time, he felt faint movement in return. He released a low growl of approval and teased her again. When she tentatively brushed her tongue against his, the surge of arousal nearly blew his head off. He, the worldly libertine, brought to his knees by an innocents clumsy kiss. Except now she cooperated, she wasnt clumsy. She was sweet and passionate and quick to follow his lead. When his tongue danced along her lips, she copied his action. When he sucked her tongue into his mouth, she gasped with surprise then tasted him so deeply and with such unalloyed pleasure, his heart crashed against his ribs.
Even in the throes of delight, he held to strategy. His hands ached to touch her body, trace every curve and hollow. But if he pushed too far, hed lose any advantage hed gained. Heat rose, threatened to incinerate him. Still some distant voice in his mind reminded him this was meant as a lesson only. His arms loosened, although he couldnt summon the will to release her completely. Gradually he doused frantic passion until his mouth glanced across hers in an echo of his first kiss. Except now he knew her taste. He knew the tiny breathless sounds she made when surrendering to dark delight.
Shed be magnificent in his bed.
He chanced once last touch of his mouth to hers then drew away. She was flushed and her lips were red and moist. Her glowing beauty made his heart stumble. A man with one ounce of principle would send her on her way with Robertas vowels safely folded in her reticule. If Sidonie stayed, Jonas would tarnish her shining goodness. Hed drag this angel down to share his hell.
Oh, my, she whispered, staring up with eyes more gold than brown.
Oh, my, indeed. He smiled, he feared, with drunken joy rather than the cynical amusement with which he usually confronted the world.
If Id known a kiss was like that
He loved how she didnt pretend she hadnt enjoyed the kiss, purely for prides sake. The problem rapidly became finding something he didnt like about her. Youd have kissed every man in your vicinity?
A shaking hand brushed her hair from her face. He saw she gradually returned to reality and discomfiting comprehension of how thoroughly shed succumbed to his kiss. Well, perhaps every man under forty.
He was only human. Shall we do it again?
She cast him a disapproving look, marred by the tender fullness of her lips. When you kiss me, I cant think.
Thats good.
I need to think.
He laughed softly. Think inside. I dont fancy a dousing. The weathers closing in.
Oh, she said on a gasp of surprise, glancing around. Another shock of arousal jolted him as he realized shed been so focused on him that she hadnt noticed the change from sunshine to approaching storm.
He easily caught the horses and tossed her up into the saddle. Loving the way the wind played merry hell with her chignon, he smiled at her as he mounted Casimir. Its a pleasure to see a pretty woman sitting well on a good horse.
She blushed. How had such a gorgeous creature lived twenty-four years without becoming inured to compliments? Shed leave Castle Craven knowing how spectacular she was. He stifled a disagreeable pang at the prospect of her departure and urged Casimir to a gallop. Behind him, he heard her shout encouragement to Kismet. Ahead of a rising wind, they pelted along the beach.
Jonas had started this battle confident of victory, but he had a sinking feeling hed end up surrendering as much to Sidonie as she surrendered to him. Damn it, he wasnt sure he could afford the sacrifice.
Chapter Six
Another lobster patty?
Warily Sidonie eyed the long, lean man slouched beside her on the brocade sofa, his legs stretched across a priceless oriental carpet in crimson and cobalt. Merrick hadnt done anything overtly seductive since hed kissed her, unless one counted the lazy, heavy-lidded attention he devoted to her. Still, she didnt trust him an inch.
What shed give for a nice straight chair, the more uncomfortable, the better. If she hadnt known Merrick would mock her mercilessly, shed fetch an oak chair from the hall. Her back ached from the rigid posture she maintained against the temptation to sprawl. She suspected if she started lolling against the cushions, shed end up lolling against Merrick. She knew her starchy attitude amused him. But last time shed lowered her guard, shed succumbed to his wiles with terrifying swiftness.
After their ride, hed brought her to this sultans bower of rich silks and velvets. Outside rain pounded against the mullioned windows but inside Castle Craven, everything was warmth and sybaritic comfort. Stained glass lent the light a sensuous dimness. Heated braziers scented the air with subtle perfume. This seraglio seemed incongruous inside the grim medieval fortress. Until Sidonie remembered idiosyncratic décor was the rule here. Think of the mirror-lined room upstairs.
Foreboding made her shiver. No, she didnt want to think of the bedroom. It reminded her of what Merrick meant to do to her there.
She straightened her back another degree, even as Merricks eyelids sank lower. He looked half asleep but he remained alert to everything around him, including her increasingly frail resistance. Good heavens, he didnt have to watch her to confirm her vulnerability. Hadnt she just let him kiss her into a stupor?
He hadnt mentioned the kisses. Nor had she. But every time she met his glinting silver eyes, she remembered the shocking intimacy of his tongue in her mouth.
You neednt keep pushing food at me, she said, even as she lifted the patty from the gilded porcelain plate. Everything delighted the senses. For a girl who had lived upon her brother-in-laws sufferance for years, and a not-too-prosperous brother-in-law at that, the luxury was overpowering.