Page 19 of The Agent and the Outlaw
Antoine frowned but nodded. “We’ll leave them out by the door, along with the dinner tray when we’ve finished. We’re most grateful for your hospitality, but I’m afraid my wife is exhausted, so we’d like to be undisturbed for the rest of the evening.”
“As you wish, Monsieur,” the innkeeper winked at him, then bustled off with a giggle.
Despite the warmth of the room, I was still freezing. The rain had soaked the thick woolen dress and underclothes completely, making it waterlogged and heavy. I eyed the food hungrily but wished for the dry nightclothes with more immediacy.
“Turn around,” I instructed Antoine. “I’d like to change.”
“I thought we were meant to be newlyweds,” he teased, that sly smile returning.
“Certainly not behind closed doors! Hurry up, I want to get changed and eat,” I returned testily.
Antoine’s eyes flashed in a curious way and suddenly my damp clothes and the winter chill were forgotten. My skin heated to a blush under his intent gaze.
“You didn’t have an issue dressing in front of me before,” he said, turning to face the opposite wall.
“Yes, well, I was in a hurry, and I didn’t think we’d see each other again,” I huffed, shucking the drenched skirts and petticoats as quickly as possible. My chilled fingers fumbled at the sodden knot securing my stays, but try as I might, I could not undo it.
“Merde,”I swore under my breath.
“Everything all right? Can I turn around now?”
“No, I can’t get—oh,putain—it’s really stuck. Well, there’s nothing for it now. Antoine, I may require your assistance. The lace on my stays is knotted and—”
Quick as a flash, he was behind me, his hands working at the delicate ribbon. He took to his task with infinite care and patience, slowly pulling this way and that. His breath was warm against the nape of my neck, tickling several strands of hair that had escaped my cap. I shivered with pleasure for the second time that day.
I felt his hands still, but neither of us moved. A pulse of instinctive lust whispered through my body. Visions flashed—his full lips on my skin, his eyes squeezed tight in ecstasy, his hard, muscular body bared before me. My heart pounded. If I turned around now, I could kiss him—taste him.What could it hurt?Longing coursed through me. I shifted, but the air in the room changed. He’d stepped back and was returning to the other side of the room.
“There,” he said in a gruff voice. “You are undone.”
Mon dieu, yes. In so many ways.
6
ANTOINE
November 1, 1767
The road to Gévaudan
I’d enduredcountless miseries in my life, but I was struggling to recall a more agonizing event than undressing a beautiful woman with no hope of bedding her. The softness of her skin, the rain-damp scent of her hair, the hitch in her breath at my nearness… I’d been moments away from ripping the blasted stays off her lithe body and sinking to my knees before her in a bid of sheer desperation. It had been so long since I’d enjoyed any kind of intimacy, I would’vebegged.
Fortunately, I’d recovered my senses in time.Not now, Antoine. Not this woman. She is a spy, and she cannot be trusted. You do not want her.
Don’t I?
I listened to the soft rustle of fabric behind me, which invited torturous images of her naked again. My cock hardened uncomfortably in my breeches.Dieu,could she not hurry this along? It was maddening.
“Are you finished, Comtesse? Our food is probably cold by now,” I grumbled.
“Yes, yes,all right.You may turn around. Only I shan’t apologize for the indecency. If I’d stayed in those cold, wet clothes, I would have certainly gotten sick. Just…be a gentleman about it, would you?” she said, a touch of anxiety in her voice.
“I’m no blushing virgin nor slavering youth,” I shot back. “I’ve seen plenty of women in various stages of undress. Yourself included, Comtesse. I’m perfectly capable of maintaining my composure. In fact, you are not even the type of woman to tempt me.”
“What a relief,” she said acidly. “Since you are not the type of man to tempt me. It makes our arrangement much simpler.”
I turned around, but my sharp retort died on my lips.You’ve already seen the woman naked,I foolishly thought to myself.How much worse can it be?
Much worse.
