He didn’t need to wonder what she was thinking now. Her expression wasn’t closed and mysterious, it was open and fierce. He liked getting to her. He hated when she closed up—it was like she wasn’t even there. But she was all there right now. Her blue eyes were flashing dangerously, and that pretty red mouth was pursed into a thin line.

Christ, she was even more beautiful when she was angry. Seeing all that fire—all that passion—light her face was almost irresistible. Especially when that same fire and passion was racing through his own veins. Together they would be incredible. He knew it. Felt it. Wanted it. And it taunted him.

“As do most of the high-ranking lords and barons,” she answered. “Including you, I might point out.” Her mouth curved in a dangerous, catlike smile. “How do you know my errand did not involve you, my lord?”

She might as well have batted her eyes and sidled up to him; the sultry siren call was just the same. She was prodding him again, provoking him, but this time he was too wound up, too stripped to the ugly core from the drink, anger, and jealousy, to find the strength to resist.

Nor, if he were honest, did he want to.

The urge to take her in his arms and cover her mouth with his was both primal and undeniable. He didn’t care that they were standing in an entryway, that anyone might come upon them, that she was the daughter of a friend, or that she might have just come from the chamber of another man. And he sure as hell wasn’t thinking about the knightly code. All he could think about was that if he didn’t put his mouth on hers—if he didn’t finally taste her—he was going to lose his mind.

He wanted to stop the taunting, stop the torture, stop the crazed twisting of emotions wreaking havoc inside him. He wanted to feel her grow soft and weak with desire. He wanted her response. He wanted to know he wasn’t alone in this madness.

He wanted it to stop.

Somehow through the haze he found control enough not to back her up against the wall and wrap her leg around his waist the way that he wanted. She might make him feel like a barbarian, but he wouldn’t act like one. Instead, he slowly slid his hand around her waist and pulled her toward him, holding her gaze the entire time. The connection was like a powerful magnet drawing them together.

There was a poignant moment right before contact when anticipation made everything in his chest jump and his senses heighten. A pause where he wasn’t sure it would happen but wanted it with every fiber of his being. He gave her about a second to pull away before his mouth found hers.