Bride for a Night

She turned her attention to his nearest arm when a wave caught the yacht and water splashed from the tub onto the floor. Talia hastily began to rise, only to be halted when his fingers encircled her wrist, and his lashes lifted to reveal a smoldering heat in the depths of his silver eyes.

“Paradise,” he murmured. “I could become accustomed to having you play handmaiden.” His gaze lowered to the lace that did little to hide the low scoop of her bodice. “Of course, you would have need of proper attire.”

Talia sucked in a deep breath, acutely aware that her nipples were hardening beneath his heated gaze.

“Proper attire?” she croaked.

“Hmm.” His thumb stroked her inner wrist, no doubt able to feel the rapid beat of her pulse. “Perhaps a pair of those gauzy harem pants that are preferred by the sultans.”

She narrowed her gaze. For all her enjoyment in playing the role of handmaiden, she would be damned if she would dress as a concubine.

“You attempt to put me in harem pants and I will drown you,” she warned.

He chuckled, his gaze flicking over her flushed cheek. “Do you oppose the notion because you are a prude or because you possess the heart of a blu

estocking?”

She stilled, meeting his amused gaze with a somber expression.

“Would it trouble you if I were a bluestocking?”

He lifted a brow. “The truth?”

She gave a slow nod, attempting to hide just how much his answer meant to her.

“Yes.”

He moved forward to press a kiss to her startled lips.

“I find the thought of a clever, well-educated woman who possesses the heart of a warrior and the lush temptation of a gypsy unbearably erotic,” he said lowly.

Her heart melted. It was, of course, the perfect response.

“You do?”

“If you have need of proof…”

With a tug on her wrist, Gabriel lowered her hand beneath the water and urged her fingers to wrap around his thick arousal.

“Oh.”

He hissed out a raw breath of pleasure, a shudder rippling through his body as he surged upright and out of the tub. Talia barely managed to straighten before his arms were wrapped around her waist, and she was being maneuvered toward the edge of the cabin.

“Oh, indeed,” he growled, his arms tightening as he tumbled her onto the bunk, his large body following downward to press her into the soft mattress.

Her hands lifted to his shoulders, barely capable of thinking as the damp heat of his body branded through her sheer nightgown.

“You are wet,” she murmured.

“And now so are you,” he teased, nipping at the lobe of her ear before allowing his tongue to trace a path to the base of her throat. Her breath caught as he nuzzled lower, giving a sharp tug on the nightgown to rip the material and expose her body to his searching lips. “Allow me to be of assistance.”

“Really, Gabriel,” she protested, even as she shivered in growing pleasure. “There is no need to ruin my nightgown.”

“I will buy you another.”

He shifted to watch the movement of his slender hand as it glided over the full curve of her breast, his thumb teasing the sensitive tip of her nipple before moving down the soft curve of her waist. He smiled as her breath quickened, his hand stroking over her hip, and then with a gentle tug he parted her legs to brush his fingers up the bare skin of her thigh.

She had to swallow twice before she could speak. The excitement in her lower belly spread through her body like wildfire. Not that she desired to complain, but it was making it increasingly difficult to concentrate upon anything beyond his hand that moved ever higher.