lingered with Preeya in the kitchen this evening couldn't
have been helped. Just as Preeya couldn't have been hurried
off to her room once he'd gone. A warmer bath certainly
would have been nice, but she hadn't been capable of being
quite so philosophical at that particular point. In her head,
she'd heard each and every second as it ticked away into the
past. An abiding sense of urgency and the heat of the kitchen
had made tepid bathing perfectly acceptable.
Now, though ... Alex laid aside her brush and looked at
her reflection in the dressing table mirror. She was bathed,
oiled, powdered, scented, and as coiffed as a woman needed
to be when going to bed with a man. But not just with any
man. No, with Aiden Terrell. Who, she sighed, had no doubt
given up any hope whatsoever that she'd appear at his door
tonight.
She wanted to do this; knew that for the absolute certainty
it was. If she didn't, she'd spend the rest of her life
wondering and wishing she had a chance to live this night
over again. Although, if she were being honest, she'd have to
admit that she'd prefer to have Aiden come to her door. It
was a quibbling point, but still ... There was something so
terribly unemotional and deliberately rational about presenting
herself and asking if he might still be interested in making
love with her.
Alex smiled, realizing that Aiden probably felt exactly
the same way about the possibility of making his way down
the hall. Only for him there would be, in the aftermath, a
sense of having forced the decision and himself on her.
Given the ease with which he regretted, though, he probably
would feel that way regardless of who arrived at whose door.
She arched a brow and met her own gaze resolutely.
There was only one way to keep him from doing that to himself.
She was going to have to summon everything she'd
ever heard in the women's quarters and everything she'd
ever read in the ancient texts and take the lead from him.
When Aiden looked back, as he inevitably would, she wanted ·
him to exhale long and hard and marvel at how he'd been so
absolutely powerless, thoroughly seduced, and sweetly ravaged.
By a virgin.
Alex laughed, rose from her seat, and took her wrapper
from the end of the bed. She was ready. It was time. Hopefully,
he was still awake and everyone else was blissfully
slumbering and completely unaware. And if the gods were
truly benevolent, somewhere early in the course of things it
would all stop feeling so terribly formal.
A candle burned on the other side of the door; she could see
the faint flickering line, of light on the floor in front of her
toes. She closed her eyes, lifted her chin, and forced her
hand up from her side. Mindful that Preeya and Mohan slept
behind doors only a few steps away, she rapped softly and
just twice. Then opened her eyes and held her breath.
The knob turned and the door swung fully open on
soundless hinges. Aiden stood there, a satin sheet barely
twisted around his hips, his wide shoulders bare and bathed
in the soft light. His hair, as always, was untamed, tumbling
down over his forehead in a decadent invitation to touch.
And his eyes ...
The coolness in her stomach eased as she studied him.
He'd been waiting for her, afraid that she had changed her
mind. Wonder and appreciation and adoration shone in his
eyes and she knew that for as long as she lived she'd measure
the devotion of all men against the light she saw in his
eyes as he smiled at her now. Wherever this night led them,
she'd always remember this moment, this feeling of having
at long last come home. Part of her wanted to throw herself
into his arms and tell him that she loved him. Another part
simply wanted to stand there and appreciate the incredible
gift that he was.
He could see it in the tilt of her chin and the shallowness
of her breath: she was unsure of what to say, what to do. His
innocent, daring duchess. "Alex," he whispered, offering his
hand. She accepted it and let him draw her across the threshold
and close the door behind her.
Turning, still holding her hand in his, he thought to toss
out some jaunty comment that would make her smile, would
ease her trepidation. But he couldn't do anything but drink in
the sight of her. God, she was the most beautiful woman he'd
ever seen. Her eyes were dark in the candlelight, her skin so
softly burnished. He lifted his free hand and gently trailed
his fingertips over the smooth arch of her cheekbone. He'd
always thought that heaven would smell light and flowery
sweet. He'd been so very wrong. Heaven was rich and deep, '
heady and spicy.
"You asked me this afternoon," she said softly, "whether
I'd feel English or Indian tonight."
"And you said you didn't know." That angels were
golden-haired. "I gather that you've decided?"
"Actually, no," she admitted with a tremulous smile. She
moistened her lower lip with the tip of her tongue and took a
breath that might have steadied her, but made his knees go
weak with anticipation. "But I am certain about a few other
things. I like how I feel when you hold me, when you kiss
me and touch me. And I want-more than anything else in
the world-to know what it feels like to fall asleep in your
arms."
His heart was trying to hammer out of his chest, but that
was all right. Such perfect lips, so full and ripe. He traced
them with trembling fingers, marveling in the softness, remembering
the taste of them, the passion in touching them
with his own. "I can't promise you sleep."
She kissed his fingers, lingeringly and so reverently that
his heart slowly skipped a beat, then settled deep into the
center of his chest, its tempo even and so hard that he felt it
in every fiber of his being.
"I don't want any promises, Aiden," she whispered, the
doubt gone from her eyes as she looked up at him. "What
there is between us in any moment is all that there is. I don't
require anything more."
He released her hand to cradle her face in his palms. "Do
you know how very rare and special you are?"
The smile that curved her lips was soft, but no less seductive
for it. "Show me."
God give him the patience and the skill to be the lover she
deserved. "There'll be pain, darling," he warned, knowing
what would have to happen and his soul aching for his necessary
role in it. "Brief, but unfortunately unavoidable."
"I know, Aiden." So serene, so accepting. And then her
eyes sparkled with a quiet joy and a confidence so sure that it
stole his breath. "I was raised in the women's quarters. I
might not have had anything to contribute to their conversations,
but I did listen. Attentively."
Her certainty, her happiness flowed into him, filling him
to the marrow and, oddly, both lifting and settling his sp
irit.
There was no wrong way to make love to her, he realized.
However it happened, it would be right. That's what Preeya
had been telling him that night in the kitchen.
"So you think you know what you're doing, do your' he
teased, releasing her face to gently slip free the sash that
held her wrap closed.
"I have a general idea." she replied, shrugging and letting
the silk slip down and puddle around their feet. "I was rather
hoping you'd be willing to teach me the finer details."
Angels didn't wear long white robes, either. They wore
nothing at all. God, she was his every dream. Full, firm, and
high breasts, her nipples sitting enticingly dark and taut. Long
sweeping lines of torso, hips, and legs, so sumptuously curved
and so perfect for holding. He willed his hands at his sides and
fought for enough air to warn, "You're at the line, Alex. Think
She held his gaze as she reached out and neatly undid the
sheet around his hips. He was forcing himself to swallow
when she gently stepped up against him, slipped her arms
around his neck, smiled softly and said, "I'm done thinking.
Will you make love with me, Aiden?"
There was no denying her. Or himself. He bent his head
and kissed her waiting lips, nibbling at her lower one, teasing
the inside curve of it with the barest tip of his tongue.
She moaned softly and melted into him, her breasts hot and
tantalizing against his chest, the feminine pillow of her abdomen
cradling the hardened length of him.
Alex stifled a cry of disappointment when he drew away
and lifted her arms from around his neck. But the look in his
eyes reassured her even as it took her breath away and
ignited a fire deep in her soul. Her hands in his, he backed toward
his pallet and she went, her heart hammering wildly
and her core going molten.
He stopped, placed his hands on her shoulders, and
smiled as he leaned down and kissed her again. She tried to
reach for him, to close the distance between them, but he
stayed her gently and bent his head even further to plant a
lingering kiss to the side of her throat. Tilting her head back,
she granted him free passage, surrendering her body to the
sweet mastery of his touch, the certainty of his intent.
Her mind lingered, vaguely present beneath the heady
delight of physical sensation and the swift burgeoning of an
elemental hunger. He kissed the hollow at the base of her
throat, languidly tracing the curve of it with his tongue, before
he moved lower .. Oh, yes, she knew where he was going
and the sweet torture he could inflict in getting there.
She arched back to tempt him, impatient for the pleasure
she remembered. His hands tightened on her shoulders and
he groaned, but he conceded to her wordless plea. She gasped
as his mouth closed over the tender peak of her breast, staggered
as he suckled hard and the bolt of blinding pleasure
shot into the swelling tide of need. The fire was instant and
consuming and she grasped his forearms, hanging on, breathless
and weak in the delight of it.
But he didn't leave her time to fully explore it, to find a
comfortable place for herself among the waves. With a long,
hard pull, he surrendered the prize to press a kiss to the inside
curve of her breast. And then move lower still.
"Oh," she breathed, her mind lushly whispering of his destination.
His hands slipped off her shoulders to slowly skim
over her breasts, to gently pinch her nipples as he planted a
kiss at the juncture of her ribs. His palms heated, his fingers
firmly gentle, he stroked her sides to her waist as he bent to
one knee and laid a trail of branding kisses to her navel.
Her body quivering, Alex threaded her fingers through
his hair, desperate to endure, and then arched her back in a
silent plea for deliverance. His tongue traced the edge and
she tensed in anticipation, shuddered in delight as he dipped
in--once, twice-and then moved lower, his kisses slow and
incendiary.
"Aiden," she groaned, a molten heat surging into her
thighs and her knees trembling, weakening with every frantic
beat of her heart.
He ignored her, slowly, gently, relentlessly kissing his
way into her curls. Her mind marveled at the thrill of the intimacy.
Then there was no thinking at all, no conscious
awareness of anything other than the bolts of luscious fire
arcing through her, slowly, singly at first and then faster until
they came one on the other, spiraling her senses upward
until her world narrowed into only an urgent, burning desperation
to reach the top.
And then the pleasure and the need became one and she
was hurled upward, gasping and quaking until it exploded in
and through every fiber of her body, overwhelming and possessing
Aiden smiled, savoring the moan that came, low and quietly,
from deep in her soul as she collapsed by small, quivering
degrees into his arms. Her face buried in the curve of his
neck as she raggedly gasped for air and her arms draped
limply over his shoulders, he gently laid her down on his
pallet and took the sheath from the night table.
Her unstinted embrace of passion, the wholeness of her
surrender to pleasure ... He brushed a tendril of dampened
hair from her cheek, knowing that he'd never lain with a
woman like her. Pleasing Alex was an unbelievably potent
pleasure in itself.
She sighed against his lips when he kissed her, murmured
his name against them while he settled between her thighs,
and then gently sucked the air from his lungs as he pressed
against the gate of her citadel. His hands deep in the feather
pillow on either side of her head, he waited, gazing down at
her and marshaling control until her eyes fluttered open and
she met his gaze.
Her eyes sparkled and then she arched a brow and smiled
in the deliciously wicked way that was hers alone. "Would
you think it too terribly selfish of me to ask for more?"
She was, without question or doubt, the most delightful
creature who had ever come into his life. How she could
make him laugh and bum with need at the same time .. . "I
absolutely adore you," he confessed. laughing and leaning
down to feather kisses at the comers of her mouth.
Twining her arms around his neck, she caught his lower
lip with her own and gently suckled it His amusement faded
beneath a rushing wave of heated desire and he pressed his
hips closer to hers, needing her, profoundly wanting her to
need him, too.
She shifted. lifting her hips and fitting them, taking him
in with a slow, luxurious ease that tore a moan from deep in
his soul and sent heated pleasure rippling through his body.
Clinging resolutely to conscious thought, he held the speed
of his advance in check, determined to give her as much enjoym
ent
as he could before she had to endure the pain.
Her flinch was abrupt and involuntary and he instantly
eased away from the barrier. The friction was exquisite and
he gazed down at her, stunned by her beauty, by the pureness
of the joy in her smile. He stopped and then gently swept forward
again, mindful of the limits of her body, reveling in the
heat of her welcome, in the sound of her languid, luscious
gasp.
Again he stopped short; again he withdrew. And yet
again, always watching her, ever aware of her rising ardor,
ever aware of his swiftly building need. At the edge of his
control, he drew back one last time and slipped his hands
lower on her hips.
"No," she declared softly, pushing her hands against his
shoulders to stay him.
Aiden froze, straining to hold back, understanding her
command but knowing that delaying or even slowing
wouldn't make it any less painful for her. Willing himself to
be patient, he leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers,
murmuring, "You tell me when, darling."
She kissed him while shifting slightly beneath him and
hooking her leg over his. He groaned as their fit changed and
he lost the angle he needed, but resolving to let her have the
time she required, he didn't resist. He closed his eyes, hoping
to God she didn't make him wait too much longer.
"What the-" He gasped as she arched up and neatly
flipped him over on his back. She looked down at him with a
sultry smile and, fitting them just as perfectly as before, settled
herself astride him.