Page 14 of Awakened On Her Royal Wedding Night
He was barely touching her, only cradling her elbow and pressing that light touch under her jawline, but she felt as though he’d conducted an electric current through her, making all of her feel so tinglingly alive that her eyelashes fluttered under the force of it.
He narrowed his eyes and something like satisfaction spread across his watchful expression. His thumb brushed across her lower lip.
“I don’t know what to believe,” she admitted, trying to prevaricate. Trying to tell herself to pull away, but her hand only rested on his chest.
“Believe in yourself. You have more strength and power than you realize.” His light touch trailed into her throat, petting gently, like he was stroking a kitten, coaxing it to purr.
More waves of sensation rippled into her, making her feel prickly and filling her with yearning.
What was he doing to her? She searched his eyes, but her gaze was drawn to his mouth. So stern, but looking as smooth as the rose petals had been. Would they feel the same against her own?
She unconsciously rolled her lips inward, dampening them with the tip of her tongue before she parted them to draw a breath of anticipation.
There was a flash behind his eyes that should have alarmed her, but it only sparked a flame of excitement.
“Do you want me to kiss you?” His voice was a rumble against the hand still on his chest. Was his heart thumping faster beneath her palm?
“Yes.” The word came from the depths of her lungs, without any logic attached. As his head dipped, she closed her eyes.
His mouth settled on hers lightly at first, as though he was giving her time to become accustomed to the wild buzzing that filled her lips. No. His mouth was not the cool softness of the rose. It was hot and damp. He slowly deepened the kiss, releasing a growl of relish, as if she was something he’d been waiting for and he planned to savor every bite of her.
Her heart skipped with thrill. This was a kiss unlike any she’d experienced and she quit trying to analyze it because he was inciting an intoxicating rush that emptied her head. This wasn’t sexual attraction, she realized distantly. It was sexualhunger.
It was visceral and consuming, driving her hands of their own accord to twine around his neck, hanging on because she grew dizzy while he cupped the back of her head and ravished her mouth with his own.
He wrapped his arm harder around her and her sore muscles protested, but there was comfort in the embrace, too. As if he was sheltering her even as he claimed her. It was the tight hold of a lover as he tipped them off a cliff together.
She pressed closer, savoring the ache. She was in danger of drowning all over again, but this time she had someone to hold on to. She wasn’t alone.
They caught their breath and tilted their heads the other way. His teeth lightly scraped her bottom lip before his tongue soothed, then brushed against her own. His wide palm slid down to scald circles of heat across her bottom, sending heat spooling through her abdomen.
She arched closer and felt the thick, implacable shape of his arousal against her mound.
Startled, she drew back.
He kept hold of her, but loosely. His arms were still hard and unbreakable, but he was only steadying her while he looked at her through his thick lashes, expression inscrutable, yet satisfied.
“You’re perfectly safe,” he assured her. “But you didn’t imagine you weren’t having an effect on me, did you?” His thumb stroked her upper arm.
She swallowed, utterly disconcerted by that effect.
“I’m not averse to something more personal developing between us, but we’ll talk about that after we’ve dealt with Francois.” He slid his hand down her hair again. This time it was a deliberate caress that ended with him pressing her hair into the side of her neck.
Words of protest backed up in her throat, making it hard to breathe.
“Shall we go?” He dropped his hand to catch at hers. He led her back into the labyrinth.
“Is there no shortcut out of this?” she asked plaintively.
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” He sounded amused. “But such is life. We’re trapped inside the one we’re given. It’s a pleasant change to have company, though,” he added dryly, keeping hold of her hand as he drew her along the twisting paths.
CHAPTER FOUR
ASMUCHASFelipe enjoyed sex, he rarely took lovers. They always seemed to be poisoned by Francois, either working for his brother, or soon turned away by the blood sport between the twins.
Of the relationships he’d had, however, he had never been impaled by such a searing and immediate desire for anyone.
This haze of lust was as dangerous as any haze of rage might be, he cautioned himself. He ought to be taking their kiss as the warning of an uncontrolled burn that it was, but he spent the walk to the guest wing mentally recollecting the melting of her curves against his front, her soft gasp as they barely stopped for air, and the lovely shape of her bottom filling his palm.
