As he lifted his head, he caught a flash of guilt in her eyes before dark blond lashes veiled her expression. Occasions like this, his suspicions threatened to overpower his beguilement.
He’d always known she kept secrets. He prayed those secrets didn’t promise disaster.
“Don’t go yet. I want to talk to you,” he murmured.
“You’ve had my attention all day, and now you want to talk, just as I’m leaving?” Unexpectedly, her voice was sweetly amused. “You’re like a cat, Ashcroft. When you’re inside, you want to go out. When you’re outside, you want to come in.”
“You know how to make me purr.” He brushed his lips across the crown of her head and wandered back toward the bed. He stretched out on the mattress again, draping a sheet across his legs to save her blushes.
She turned. “I’m not coming back to bed. We’ve been at it like rabbits all day. Haven’t you had your fill?”
He smiled back, liking her description of their activities. “Never.”
Her lips twitched. “I see why you’ve been through so many women in your nefarious life. You wore the poor creatures out.”
He laughed, although he hated her talking about his raffish past. Compared to Diana, his previous affairs seemed shallow, base, unimportant. He’d never had a lover like her.
He patted the empty space next to him. “Sit here.”
The enchantress again, she flicked him a glance under her lashes. The brief awkwardness might never have existed. “You know what will happen if I come within a foot of you.”
He stroked the sheet again with a deliberately sensual gesture. “I only want to talk.”
As nervously as a young deer emerged from the forest at dawn, she stepped closer. “What about?”
“Sit,” he said softly.
She released a splutter of laughter. “I’m not your spaniel, Ashcroft.”
“Pity. I’ve got a juicy bone for you.”
Shock tinged her laugh. He loved how she reacted to ribald humor. He only had to make a suggestive quip to know she was a gorgeous innocent.
His joke coaxed her to cooperate. The mattress dipped, and her hip brushed his flank, but he resisted her nearness. He really did want to talk.
“Thank you, but I’ve eaten already.” Her smile was sly.
He burst out laughing. “Perhaps you’d like to bury it for later.”
She cast him an unimpressed look. “And perhaps not.”
“Wicked girl.” He picked up her hand and kissed her palm, feeling her tremble. “Sure you haven’t got room for pudding?”
“You wanted to talk,” she said breathlessly, trying without enthusiasm to tug her hand away.
“I do.” He folded her fingers over her palm to keep the kiss trapped inside. He nipped at her wrist and felt her start. He soothed the sting with another kiss. If curiosity wasn’t a tightening noose around his neck, he’d let this game reach its exultant conclusion.
“Ashcroft…” Her low warning was a seduction in itself.
He sighed. It was so delicious to tease her, titillating his desire with words. Whereas he was about to shatter the mood as abruptly as a brick pitched through a shop window.
He firmed his grip, so she couldn’t run away. He drew in a breath, surprised at his reluctance to destroy the gentle warmth.
“Diana, why are you really in London?”
Chapter Twenty
As Ashcroft had expected, the lovely fluidity drained from Diana’s body. She gasped with shock, and the pink leached from her cheeks.