play—with him—tonight.
‘Maybe I want to feel you in my arms one more time.’
Heat rushed through her body as his husky words burned her up inside. How did any woman stop herself from drowning under such blazingly sexual intensity?
‘Do you?’
As if sensing her near capitulation, he gave her a lupine smile. ‘Yes.’ He set her drink aside and swept her into his arms.
Ava’s stomach flipped. She’d like to think that she’d let him walk her backwards onto the dance floor—although that would imply she still had some influence over her actions and she wasn’t sure that she did.
‘What about what I want?’ The question was meant to establish some sense of control on her part, but she suspected that he knew what he did to her and had seen right through it.
He brought the hand holding hers towards her face and rotated it so that his knuckles gently drifted across her cheekbone. ‘This is what you want, Princess.’
A cascade of sensations made her shiver and she told herself to tread carefully. Told herself that there was only one kind of man who parried around a woman all night and then approached her at the end. The kind her mother would have told her to steer well clear of. What it said about her wanting him regardless she didn’t want to think about.
He was so sure. So confident. She should shoot him down in flames. Using his own pistol to do it.
Instead she braced herself against his magnetic sensuality and told herself she would walk away at the end of the song.
‘One dance.’
DANCE? WOLFE DIDN’T want to dance with her. He wanted to possess her. And for a self-confessed non-game-player he had played a game of parry and retreat with her to rival all others.
Not intentionally.
His intention had been to avoid her. But once she’d entered the ballroom in a green dress that flowed around her body like a caressing hand he’d been lost.
Well, maybe not lost. More like mesmerised. And it had annoyed the hell out of him that he’d noticed that every other male in the room felt the same way. The married ones couldn’t do anything about it, but the single ones had been lining up as if she was a participant in some secret speed-dating service.
He, on the other hand, had spent most of the night fighting the urge to muscle his way through the throng of wedding guests and throw her over his shoulder like the barbarian she had accused him of being. Hell, his body had been so attuned to hers he’d practically known every time she’d blinked.
Chemistry. He’d never experienced it quite so strongly. But he knew the quickest way to appease it would be to have her. So far he’d steadfastly stuck to his plan not to go near her but, hell, why not? He was only responding to her like any other healthy male who had held a beautiful woman in his arms and wanted her. Nothing complicated about that. In fact it was so simple he didn’t know why he was dwelling on it so much.
He would have had more to dwell on if he hadn’t wanted her. And as for that instant tilting of the world he’d felt earlier when he’d caught her…well, it was only lust. Raw, pagan, blow-your-head-open lust. Perfectly rational. Perfectly normal.
Wolfe looked down into her face. her cheeks were pink and her lips were softly parted as she breathed shallowly. His gaze drifted lower, to the firm thrust of her breasts, her aroused nipples, and then back up. Her gaze was slumberous but slightly guarded, as if she too were a little taken aback by the strength of this thing between them.
Without making a conscious decision to do so, he spread his hand possessively over her hip, pressing her closer. He knew the minute she felt his hardness because she made one of those softly feminine sounds that had his body jerking in response.
It made him want to spear his hand in her upswept hair and drag her mouth to his, but at the last minute the sounds of the party still in progress penetrated his desire-drugged mind. Instead he cupped her chin in his palm and brought her eyes to his. ‘I want you, Ava. I want to kiss you until you can’t see straight and make love to you until you can’t move. I’ve thought of nothing else all day.’
A shiver raced through her and Wolfe felt as if he was poised on the blade of a knife as he waited for her response.
‘I…’ She blew out a breath. Swallowed heavily. ‘Okay.’
Exalted, and no longer questioning his need for her, Wolfe grabbed her hand and fought to keep his steps measured as he led her off the dance floor.
She’d been allocated a room in the east wing of the château and he didn’t pause for breath until, on the second-floor landing, he felt a soft tug on his hand.
Turning, he watched her run her hands down the sides of her dress, the nervous gesture only serving to mould it closer. ‘Wolfe.’ She cleared her throat. ‘I’m not sure this is such a good idea.’
Wolfe wasn’t sure about anything except that the sound of his name in her husky, accented voice twisted his insides into a mess. A very hot mess. ‘Not sure what is such a good idea? This?’
He backed her against the stone wall and raised his hands to frame her face. Then he used every ounce of skill he possessed and leant down to claim her mouth with his.
Immediately his senses became overloaded with the rich, intoxicating taste of her. He’d known it would be like this. Overpowering. Overwhelming. Her ruby lips were so much fuller and sweeter than he had imagined, and when she parted them and pressed closer the instinct to ravage her consumed him.
His fingers dug into her scalp to hold her steady as he deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into her mouth to explore every corner.
‘Wolfe, please…’
Her soft whimper of need inflamed him to the point of madness. He couldn’t get enough of her. his hands shaped her slender curves, desperate to delve under the dress, and he was keenly satisfied when she ardently returned his hunger. Her uncertainty of moments ago was flung into the flames of a desire so bright it burned him alive.
She was sensational, and he ground himself against her in ardent anticipation. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this frenzy of need before, and it was just dumb luck that a door banged somewhere along the corridor and brought him back to his senses.
Fighting for control, he grabbed her hand again and didn’t stop until they were both breathless and inside her bedroom, the door firmly closed behind.
He hit the light switch and stared at her.
She stood in the centre of the historically preserved room like a pagan offering, her lips already moist and swollen from his kisses. She sucked in a deep breath and he thought he saw a shadow of vulnerability chase itself across her face.
It gave him a moment’s pause.
He had avoided thinking about a woman in any serious capacity his whole life, after having to clean up the damage his mother had caused by her actions. But this
