She almost jumped in alarm when his hands circled her waist. “I am not a man easily distracted, Nesta. A glimpse of thigh or breast will never put me off my duty. Nor will clever lies.” His breath warmed her neck, and then his lips skimmed the edge of her ear. “If you think to unhorse me, woman, you will need to use better weapons than that.”

The bluntness of the offer dismayed her, as did the delicious chills shivering down her skin. So much for keeping this man dangling.

She squirmed out of his hold and turned, backing away. “Such a trade would be unwise for you. Would you have the King’s wrath on you?”

He came toward her. “You expected me to look and desire but not to touch because you are Edward’s woman? That is the armor you use in this joust of yours? It is very old and rusty, to my mind. I do not think the King will care too much. He has not seen you in eight years, and he let you marry another.”

She kept inching away and he kept following. Her back hit the hearth wall. He blocked her. Dominated her. He gazed deeply into her eyes and they were suddenly back in the garden again, under a magical full moon.

A traitorous excitement trembled through her, and she knew that she had made a dangerous miscalculation. He appeared to take amusement in her predicament.

Her heart beat desperately. “You must leave this chamber at once.”

“Coming now, that command has little weight. You should have said that on first seeing me.”

He touched her lips with his fingertips. A jolt of exhilaration jumped inside her.

“You taunted me, Nesta.” His touch drifted lower, down her neck to the low dip of the surcotte’s edge. He watched his fingers trace a line across her skin. Back and forth, his light touch played at the top of her surcotte, and the swell of her breasts peeking above its edge. His vague smile suggested that he guessed what other lines were coming alive inside her. Tantalizing ones. Delicious strings of thrilling pleasure spun through her and began knotting deep in her belly.

“You tempted me shamelessly, lady. A man can hardly stand down from such a challenge.”

“It was no challenge. I was washing and you intruded—”

“Hush.”

His gaze and hand lowered more, to her breasts. His skimming touch made them swell. She struggled to keep her breath even, but when he brushed the tips her sharp inhale was audible.

He dipped his head to kiss her. Before touching her mouth he stopped, and pulled back to look in her eyes, as if checking her reaction.

She just stared like a witless fool.