A Daring Passion

Expecting derision at her words, Raine was puzzled by the flare of emotion that darkened his green eyes.

“Love?” he said harshly. “Do you even know the meaning of the word?”

She blinked at his odd reaction. “I daresay I know better than you.”

“Have you ever been in love, querida?”

“Of course.” She licked her dry lips, sharply conscious of his gaze lingering on the unwitting gesture. “I love my father, and our housekeeper, Mrs. Stone, and Foster…”

“That is not at all the same, as you well know,” he interrupted, his hands sliding up her bare arms to grasp her shoulders. “Have you ever given yourself entirely to another? Have you ever allowed a man to truly know the woman beneath that astonishing beauty?”

Raine shivered, as much from his fierce words as from the searing heat of his touch. Lud, what did he want from her? Was he so cruel that he would not be satisfied until he had managed to break her heart? Did his vanity demand absolute possession?

The thought was enough to chill her blood.

“What does it matter to you?” she demanded.

His lips twisted with a hint of self-mockery. “That is a question I have asked myself too often.”

Raine gave an unconscious shake of her head. She was not sophisticated enough to play this particular game. Her emotions were too vulnerable, too easily manipulated by Philippe. He could wound her with very little effort.

“I think that we have strayed rather far from the point,” she muttered.

“True enough.” His fingers absently skimmed along the plunging line of her bodice, almost as if he were not even aware of his intimate caress. Raine, on the other hand, was vibrantly aware of the sparks of pleasure his touch was arousing. She might battle to protect her ridiculous heart, but her body had long ago declared defeat. “You still have yet to explain why you rewarded my very generous gift with a tantrum worthy of a spoiled child.”

“God almighty, have you listened to a word that I have said?”

“You have said a great number of words, none of which have made the least amount of sense.” His fingers tugged at the ribbons that held her bodice together. “Perhaps the trouble is that I bothered with a conversation at all. We seem to communicate much more effectively without words.”

Before she could protest he was tugging her bodice downward, ripping aside the light shift and exposing her breasts to his avid gaze. She clenched her teeth as her nipples tightened and a familiar ache bloomed in the pit of her stomach. Raine might resent the manner that Philippe could arouse her with the merest touch, but there seemed no means to resist.

“You think you can seduce me to your will?” she demanded even as her body softened beneath the heated kisses he scattered over the curve of her breasts.

Philippe pulled back as he slid his hand beneath the hem of her skirts. A smile touched his lips as his probing fingers brushed over the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.

“I think that I don’t give a damn about anything but sinking myself deep into your body,” he replied huskily, his eyes dark with hunger. “If I cannot please you with jewels, then I will please you with this.”

Her lips parted to protest, but before the words co

uld be uttered Philippe had bent down to replace his fingers with his mouth. She moaned softly as he nibbled his way up her inner thigh, and then his tongue was tracing through her damp heat.

A brief warning that she should refuse flitted through the back of her mind. This was hardly the way to convince him that she was genuinely opposed to being his mistress.

But a larger part of her was already sinking in the sensuous delight. What was the point in fighting? They both knew that she found his touch irresistible.

Her fingers tangled in his hair as her body began to arch. “This changes nothing,” she gasped.

“You’re wrong, meu amor.” Philippe tugged her legs even farther apart as he settled between them. “This changes everything.”

RAINE AWOKE TO DISCOVER herself alone in the bed. She had not intended to fall asleep. It was, after all, only midafternoon. But the combination of her restless night and the insatiable demands of Philippe’s lovemaking had taken their toll.

Feeling slightly sore and utterly sated, Raine forced herself to a seated position. There was something rather decadent about waking completely naked with her hair tumbling down her back, she decided as she glanced toward the mirror in the corner.

She stiffened as she caught sight of her reflection. Not because she looked like a thoroughly ravished gypsy with her tousled blond curls and flushed cheeks. Or because her pale skin still carried the marks of Philippe’s touch.

It was the brilliant sparkle of diamonds that encircled her neck that made her muscles tense and her eyes flash.

Of all the unmitigated nerve.