Kat had to fight a moan. The stifled noise seemed to inflame him, for he slid his kisses from her ankles to her knees. Cupping an ankle, he gently pushed up her night rail even more, parting her legs as he did so. Cool air wafted over her calves and the insides of her thighs.

She felt like a complete wanton, sitting exposed before him. But somehow, she couldn’t help it. Couldn’t stay away, couldn’t pretend that this attraction wasn’t burning through her.

He pressed a kiss to her inner thigh, the movement sudden and unexpected. So strong was her reaction that Kat thought she’d shoot right out of the chair. “Devon,” she gasped.

He stopped immediately, his gaze meeting hers. “Yes?”

She knew she had but to say one word and he’d stop. She could also release the scarf ends and be free to put her gown back in place, and resume her life of unending dignity. She looked down at herself, at the wet circle he’d made around her nipple, at the way the silk gown was bunched almost to her hips. At the sight of her own legs bared and splayed, Devon kneeling between them.

God help her, she didn’t want to stop. Not now, not ever. She lifted her eyes to his and said not one word, but two. “More, please.”

Chapter 16

I’ve had me share of the fair sex. ’Tis a pity the fair sex thinks they’ve already had their fair share of me.

Cold Bob, the fishmonger, to young Peter Franshawe, tutor to the Duke of Draventon’s son after a chance meeting in a pub

Devon leaned back, the candlelight caressing his face, tracing the line of his jaw. He looked so incredibly handsome that Kat’s breath stuttered. This must have been what the angel Gabriel looked like, a vision of masculine beauty that locked the eye and sent a piercing ache straight to the heart.

Kat cleared her throat, wondering if her thighs looked fat from the angle Devon could see them. She suddenly wished for a cover. “I am a little cold.”

His brows lifted. “Afraid?”

The soft words hung in the air between them. Kat’s jaw tightened. “Of you? No. Of course not.”

“Good. There are a lot of things I’d like you to feel when you look at me. Fear isn’t one of them.”

That was certainly unfortunate because a sort of fear was shivering through her that very instant. Fear that her feelings were already so deeply engaged that she could not back away. Not that her body was retreating from him. Oh no. God forbid that Devon touch her any more intimately than he already had or she’d explode into a conflagration of white-hot flames.