Secrets of Seduction (Legendary Lovers 3)

The proscribed separation created an undeniable tension between them. The first night in Wexford when Hawk made to retire alone to his own room, Skye could imagine following him, and a vision filled her mind of his magnificent body … of smooth, rippling muscles and sleek warm skin.

She was almost certain that Hawk felt the same tension. When his intent gray eyes fixed on her, she felt the impact like a caress, almost as if he had touched her. Her yearning was actually a physical ache, yet she knew she would have to live with the pain for the time being.

At least the journey went smoothly. The next morning, they weren’t required to wait long for the ferry. And the weather was fine enough that when they reached Bristol late that afternoon, they hired a fresh team for the carriage and set out across England, making it partway to their destination before stopping at a posting inn when it grew too dark. By then another autumn storm threatened.

Skye would have been gratified to know that Hawk was having similar difficulties adjusting to the enforced segregation. His sleeping hours were still visited by tantalizing dreams of Skye lying in his arms, sharing her incredible passion, and he woke each morning hungry for her. But that evening, with the rain lashing on his bedchamber windows, sleeplessness returned with a vengeance.

The storm eventually subsided and the night sky cleared of all but a few scudding clouds, but Hawk was still wide awake hours later when a quiet rap sounded on his door. When he opened it, he could recognize the shadowy figure in the faint moonlight coming from the window at the end of the corridor. Skye stood there garbed in her traveling cloak, her pale hair falling around her shoulders in disarray.

One look at her face told him she had suffered another nightmare. Her eyes had that haunted look that couldn’t be feigned.

“Please … may I come in?” she pleaded in a hoarse whisper.

Silently he stepped aside and let her enter. When he shut the door softly behind her, she moved directly into his arms and buried her face against his nightshirt, seeking shelter from her fears. His arms closed around her instinctively, and when he felt her trembling, he couldn’t deny her comfort.

She remained there shivering for several minutes.

“I am sorry to wake you,” she finally rasped. “At home, it helps to keep my nightmares at bay with warm milk and a splash of brandy. But I have neither.”

“I have brandy.”

She shook her head and pressed closer, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. “I don’t need liquor as long as I have you. Bad dreams never trouble me when I am with you.”

It was the same with him. He could dream peacefully when she was with him. Suddenly, though, he registered that her cloak had parted enough to expose her attire beneath. Just like that he became keenly aware of the soft mounds of her breasts and the feminine warmth of her hips and thighs through the delicate fabric of her nightdress.

All thoughts of peace vanished for Hawk. He had intended only to hold her, but his feelings went from sympathetic to sexual in the space of a heartbeat, and his loins swelled and hardened.

The sudden heat sparking between them was like dry kindling catching fire. Skye felt it, too, he knew, for she slowly raised her head to gaze up at him.

In the moonlight seeping beneath the window curtains, he could make out her lovely features. Her eyes looked like dark, fathomless pools, wide and lustrous.

“Please, Hawk … may I stay with you?”

When he hesitated, she swallowed and licked her dry lips. “Please. Do you realize … this could be our last night alone together? There may never be another chance once we reach your home.”

She was entirely serious, he realized. There was no teasing in her tone. No attempts to cajole or beguile him. There was only an honest solemnity that tugged at his heartstrings as well as his body.

Dropping his arms, Hawk pulled back, refusing to get lost in her eyes. Instead, he gazed up at the ceiling, striving for self-control.

But Skye went on in her quiet, imploring voice. “My family has always believed that we should make the most of our time on earth. I believe that also, Hawk. And we both know that life is too short and too precious to waste.”

It was an argument that resonated strongly with him. He knew better than anyone that life and happiness could be snatched away in the blink of an eye.

“What is so wrong with comforting each other?”

“You know very well. I could get you with child if you are not already.”

She pulled a small silk drawstring bag from the pocket of her cloak and held it up for him to see. “I told you I know a way to prevent conception. These sponges are designed for just that purpose.”

Hawk felt himself frowning. “How did you come by those?”

“Aunt Isabella gave them to me.”

He shouldn’t be surprised, Hawk realized, torn between disbelief and amusement. He knew that Skye’s relationship with her aunt was astonishingly frank and open about carnal matters.

Reaching up, Skye parted the lapels of her cloak completely and let it fall to the floor. Then she swallowed, as if gathering courage, and began unfastening the small buttons at the front of her nightdress. Her slow fingers were a beguiling dance that riveted his gaze as she eased the collar over her shoulders, and then that garment fell away, too.

Hawk drew a sharp breath at the sight of her. It was his most erotic fantasy: Skye nude, standing before him in the flesh, offering herself to him without inhibition or restraint. Moonlight gleamed on her white skin … the ripe swells of her breasts, her narrow waist, her gently flaring hips, her sleek, slender legs, the golden curls that hid her heavenly sex.…