None of them fit Catelyn at first. Every single one swallowed her when she walked out of the dressing room, but Murat approached each one with a flurry of pins. When he was done, they fit her like a glove. Like a dream.
And she loved it.
Catelyn, he could tell, was trying to act nonchalant, but her face was flushed pink. She turned in front of the three-way mirror, admiring herself.
He caught her eye in the mirror as Murat stepped away from the latest dress. She smiled, her eyelashes lowering, and he had to surreptitiously adjust himself. With the dress hugging her curves like that, it was all he could do not to bend her over the very chair he was sitting on.
“What do you think?” asked Murat neutrally.
“I love this one,” Catelyn said immediately. “But this is—what, the fifth one I’ve loved?”
“This, plus two more,” Rami said, and her eyes went wide. “What? I like to look at my wife in clothing as beautiful as she is. I’d pay anything."
“Rami,” Catelyn murmured. “You can’t simply order clothes for me. It’d be like ordering for me at a restaurant.”
“Oh, I can.” He leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his knees. “We’ll have many other events to attend. Why not be ready? If you want,” he said with a little grin, “we can make a second trip.”
Murat laughed.
“Why would we do that?” Catelyn looked at him with narrowed eyes in the mirror.
“So you could pretend it wasn’t extravagant.”
“Fat chance of that,” Catelyn said with a snort. “These are the most gorgeous things ever to touch my body.” She gave him a look in the mirror that send a bolt of want straight through him. “Very nearly.”
“Two more, then?” Murat said briskly. “Let’s try on the last style.”
Catelyn disappeared into the dressing room, and Rami let his thoughts wander over what he’d do to those dresses after they were finished at the reception. He was lost in the fantasy until Murat came to his side.
They were alone, but he still used a hushed voice. “Sheikh Rami, your wife—” He hesitated.
Rami was on his feet in an instant. “What is it?”
“She’s refusing to come out of the dressing room.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
Rami went down the hall to the dressing room and rapped sharply on the door. “Catelyn? Are you all right?”
“I’m not coming out,” she said, sounding…perfectly fine.
How utterly irritating. “You have to.”
“I’m not coming out,” she repeated, fabric rustling. “I want—”
Rami opened the door and barged in.
Catelyn stood next to a low couch, undressed except for a matching bra and panty set.
“—a surprise,” she finished.
He could not tear his eyes from her.
Rami stuck his head back out the door. There was no sign of Murat, who must have gone to his front office to give them some privacy. He pushed the door so it was nearly shut and came to Catelyn, closing the distance in one long stride, and took her in his arms.
“You are irresistible,” he said in a low growl, and with a little sigh, Catelyn parted her lips and let him in. He backed her up against the wall of the dressing room, lifting her off the ground, and his body shivered with the delight of touching her. It was as if she’d been made for him. It took no effort to lift her to his height, and the way she wrapped herself around him—it nearly undid him. Every time.
He pressed her back into the sumptuous fabrics hanging from the wall and she arched her back toward him, little moans escaping her throat. His blood thrummed in his veins. He could rip those scraps of clothing off her right now. Rami dragged his lips over her collarbone, and she tipped her head back, exposing her neck to him. He licked up the length of it.