Page 65 of A Deal With a Notorious Devil
“And yet,” he said dryly, “here you are.”
He was right. Of course he was right. “All right,” she said. “I suppose I’m…coming.”
“Oh, not yet,” he said pleasantly. “But you will be.” He jerked his head toward the interior of the room. “In,” he said.
Phoebe skittered inside, blinking into the darkness that was only slightly relieved by the dim halo of light cast by the candle, and with the vague sense that she had taken on the role of the poor, helpless heroine of a Gothic novel, lured into the lair of the villain from which she would not emerge unscathed.
There was a whisk of fabric somewhere behind her as she setthe candle on its plate atop the nightstand, and the fine hairs at the nape of her neck prickled with awareness. Soft, padding footsteps, and then—and then the coolness of the air was burned away by the heat of a body at her back. Her heart kicked behind her ribs, lurching into a harried beat as a hand found her waist, slid around her side and over her stomach to find the tie of her dressing gown.
It slid off her shoulders in a rush of slippery silk, and Kit gave an annoyed huff. “Have you come armored for battle? Just how many layers are you wearing?”
“Well, I could hardly go about in only my nightgown.” The words emerged with a faintly hysterical giggle.
“’Course you could. It’s your damned house.” His fingers tangled in the tie at the neckline of her nightgown, pausing to stroke the hollow of her throat. “Could go about naked if you liked. Hell, I’d like it.” He gave a brisk inhale, his nose buried in the hair she’d bound in a ribbon and draped over her shoulder. A low sound rumbled in his throat; an approving sort of purr.
Scenting her perfume, mostly likely. “I thought you didn’t care for roses?”
“Not generally, no.” The tie came loose at last, and the neckline gaped. “Lift your arms.”
The instruction sparked a low flare of heat deep in her belly. His fingers seized bunches of her nightgown, drawing it up an inch at a time. The thin material rasped her sensitive skin as it slid up, and up, and up—and then he whisked the whole thing over her head and tossed it carelessly somewhere behind him.
“There,” he said, and satisfaction thrummed within his voice. “In bed with you.” His palm slid over her bottom with a pat and a squeeze, and Phoebe jerked at the intimate touch. Flustered, she scrambled for the bed, tossing up handfuls of covers in an attempt to crawl beneath them whilst baring as little skin as possible.
Kit chuckled to himself, bracing one hand upon the mattress beside her hip as she drew the covers to her chin. “Budge up,” he said. “My knee already aches. I’m not walking to the other side of the bed.”
Oh. Of course. How thoughtless of her. Phoebe slid across the mattress, which was still warm with the heat of his body, and settled her head onto a pillow that still carried the impression of his head and the clean, faintly spicy scent of his soap.
“Don’t be so nervous,” he said as he crawled in beside her.
She wasn’t certain what she had expected, really. Perhaps for him to maintain a respectful distance for at least a few minutes while she accustomed herself to sharing a bed with a man. Instead, he invaded her space at once, his hand gliding over the sensitive skin of her belly to find her hip, grasping it in the clutch of his fingers to turn her toward him. His knee insinuated itself between hers, the coarse hair burnishing his leg teasing her sensitive skin.
Hard male flesh pressed against her belly. Her breasts were flattened against his chest. What was she meant to do with her hands? The right one hovered in the air, uncertain where to settle. His face was too close to hers, mostly concealed in the shadows. The candlelight gilded his hair, flickering over the tousled locks to produce a halo.
Despite herself, she swallowed back a laugh. If he happened to be in possession of a halo, it was almost a certainty that he’d stolen it.
He wedged one hand beneath her head to find the nape of her neck and knead gently. “It’s not going to hurt,” he said, bending to brush his lips against hers.
Her hand settled upon his shoulder, fingertips learning the texture of muscle and sinew beneath the warmth of his skin. “You couldn’t possibly know that.” She’d heard just as many worrying stories as she had reassuring ones.
“I give you my word,” he said, and his leg slid up between hers until his thigh pressed against that private place with a sort of slow, insistent pressure that produced a strange throb.
“Oh?” Her voice had come out strangely throaty. “And how much is that worth, exactly?”
He chuckled as he wove his fingers through her hair and tugged her head back gently. His head dipped, and his nose brushed her jaw, then her throat. Another deep sniff; another low, approving sound. “You’re lucky you’re my wife,” he said. “If you were a man, I’d have to take my fists to you. But instead…I think I’ll satisfy my honor with a bite.”
Her strangled gasp sheared through the air as he nipped the delicate skin of her throat. Every nerve quivered with a strange ripple of pleasure, as if they’d been plucked like the strings of a harp, muscles tensing with awareness and then relaxing with a curious lethargy. She hardly even noticed when he rolled her to her back, her limbs loose and pliant.
“Kit,” she whispered, and swiped her tongue across her dry lips, struggling to keep hold of the few fragmented thoughts in her head when they wanted only to scatter.
“Mm?” Only the upward inflection of the sound denoted it as a question, and it had been mostly buried in the valley between her breasts besides.
“Can I—can I touch you?”
A muffled laugh against the curve of her breast, vibrating the soft skin. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you have been touching me.”
His shoulders, he meant, which she had unconsciously seized and sunk her fingernails into. Like a drowning woman might seize at a lifeline when the waves threatened to drag her beneath them—though he’d not complained of it. “I meant…elsewhere.”
His knee stilled, and she nearly breathed a sigh of relief at the slow ebb of that strange pressure that had curled in her belly.“You want to touch my cock?”
