Page 41 of The Assassin and the Libertine
“Lie back down, Duchesse,” I instructed. “Relax.”
She did as I asked, but she was far from relaxed. She was on edge, ready to jump out of her skin at the first touch. To comfort her, I clasped her hand.
“This is something not many vampires learn until they’ve had the time and inclination to practice. It may feel a bit…strange, but I promise it will not hurt you. I would never hurt you, Daphne.”
She took a deep breath and smiled tightly. I pulled her chemise up over her hips, fighting every instinct to dive between her legs and wring climax after climax from her.Focus, Étienne.The bruise was the size of a melon, covering much of her side down to the curve of her hip. It was already darkening to an angry purple.The bastard.I should have ripped his head from his body for daring to lay a hand on her.
I delicately ran my fingertips across the discolored skin, and she shivered.
“Relax,” I murmured again. I leaned forward and licked the bruise. Her sharp inhale hinted at her pleasure and I smiledagainst her skin. I dropped wet kisses over her side and slid one hand up her thigh, then bent and lightly scored the tender area with my fangs. Daphne elicited a soft whimper, stoking my desire. I sucked at the small scrapes, tasting her blood.Orange blossoms, vanilla, and—God help me—desire.And something familiar…
“It was you,” I said against her skin. “It was your blood in the porcelain bowl. You fed me from your own veins.”
Her eyes searched for mine in the dark.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, it seemed fitting that this woman—this vampire-hating, strong, beautiful, untouchable woman—would be the best I’d ever have. The thought drove me nearly mad with desire and terror. She’d sustained me in my weakness, tried to protect me from the evil we’d encountered, was the most delicious, and yet, she was not mine.Couldnot be mine. I’d be damned if I let her go back to that bastard husband of hers, but I’d at least have to let her go back to The Order and the life she wanted—while I wandered throughout eternity, hunting for some other woman just as good. Not just to feed from, but…but what?I didn’t know. All I knew was that as delicious as she was, my need for her feltdifferent. She was not food to me. She was the angel sent to drive me to utter madness with wanting.
When I’d finished sucking the damaged blood from her injury, I licked the top of the scrapes again and they healed over immediately. The bruise was gone completely, and her porcelain skin was once more unmarred. Daphne was panting when I lifted my head.
“Well, Duchesse? What does it feel like to heal in such a way?”
She stretched out on the bed and moaned her reply. “It feels warm, hot. I feel…peculiar.”
I chuckled. “Yes,peculiaris one way to describe supernatural abilities.” She twisted on top of the sheets, testing my strength and sanity.
“I feel rather good, actually,” she said, trailing a hand up her torso. “Powerful. Exhilarated.” Her hands moved across her body, lifting to her breasts. Her eyes met mine, hazy with desire.
Every frayed thread of my restraint snapped, and I could not bear it any longer.
“Allow me,” I begged in a gruff whisper. When she moaned her assent, I ripped the chemise down the middle and stroked her body from thigh to neck. She slid her fingers into my hair and pulled my face down to hers for a desperate, searing kiss. She sucked at my tongue and tugged at my shirt, frantically trying to pull it over my head. I eased myself away from her to remove my shirt and breeches, then crawled back across the bed to her. I kissed my way up her legs, pausing just below the blonde curls covering her sex.
“Daphne,” I said, my voice raw with need. “Are you sure you want this?”
Please say yes. Say you’ll be mine—if only for tonight.
“You tried to save me,” she murmured. “Back in the cellar.”
“You tried to save mefirst,” I argued, slowly caressing the inside of her thigh. Her breath hitched. “And you didn’t need me to save you, anyway.”
“No,” she agreed. “But it was…nice. The thought, I mean.”
I ran two fingers along her sex, dipping one into her slick folds. She whimpered.
“Will you allow me to demonstrate some morenice thoughtsI have?” I begged.
In answer, she pulled my face to hers again and caught my lip in her teeth, then hooked one of her legs behind mine and arched her hips up, seeking friction from my hardness. At the feel of her wetness sliding across my cock, I abandoned myattempt at chivalry and uttered a string of oaths.Dieu, I would give this woman anything. Everything she asked for.But she is not yours.I shoved the thought away and turned my gaze back to her.
She is tonight.
Setting my lips to her breasts, I reached one hand down, trailing along her abdomen, back to the slick seam between her legs. She cried out when I circled one fingertip against the bud of her pleasure and dipped another finger inside her, stroking as she bucked against my hand.
“More,” she moaned. “Étienne, give me all of you.”
My self-control already past its breaking point, I positioned my cock at her entrance and stopped again, my thumb working her core with firmer and firmer caresses.
“Tell me you’re certain. Tell me you want this.”
