He was hard and had been almost since he’d recovered from his bout of coughing. His imagination—which had a will of its own tonight—visualized bedding her, watching her eyes darken as he brought her to crisis. He imagined experiencing the particular fulfillment that only came from pleasuring one’s partner—making her scream and writhe—right before he brought himself to completion inside her.

Gareth clenched his jaw; his desire for her was unfortunate but he was a man who knew how to exert self-control. Now that he was aware of the danger she presented to his concentration he would see to it that episodes such as this one—the two of them alone, thinly clothed—did not occur again.

Tonight he would leave her at her door and then strip and vent his sexual energy on his punching bags.

They came to the entrance to the grand hall and he reached around her to open the door. She reached at the same moment and their hands met.

“Oh!” she tried to move back and found her hand held in his. She looked down and so did Gareth, perhaps even more surprised than she was. His body acted without his consent and he drew her toward him. She came toward him without hesitation, looking up at him, her unbound breasts pressing against his chest. For once, she was not smiling and her lips were parted. Her pupils had flared; a sign of desire. Gareth knew his own eyes would be just as dark. He slid a hand under the curve of her jaw, his fingers skimming the unspeakably soft skin of her slender neck and then he lowered his mouth over hers.

***

His body was hard and warm, like stone made hot from the sun.

Serena knew she should have turned around the moment she found him in the kitchen. She could have left without him ever knowing. Indeed, he would not have suffered a painful and embarrassing coughing episode if she had. But his back had been to her when she’d entered and the sight of his body pressed against the heavy silk of his robe had caught at her. The fabric had flowed over his sculpted backside like molten silver and had drawn a throb of want from her that almost brought her to her knees. Her hands had ached to feel the texture of his body, the heat and shape of him.

His cool, speculative stare had not prepared her for this—for lips that were firm, soft, and hot and his slick, skilled, and determined tongue. He held her in a light grasp that did nothing to disguise the power in his sinuous frame. Fingertips teased and stroked the skin of her throat while he pushed closer, his hardness thrusting against her belly.